Digital Commons Network^™

Using Mixed-Reality Simulation To Teach Job Interview Skills To Young Adults With Intellectual Disabilities, Alex Carlson

All Dissertations

Job interviews are a critical step to obtaining employment, however, the social demands of job interviews are often difficult for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). Both the use of technology (e.g., mixed-reality simulation, video modeling, virtual reality) and attending inclusive postsecondary education programs that teach independent living skills and employment skills have been effective in improving job interview skills and employment outcomes. Using an underpowered randomized-control trial research design, the researcher examined whether using mixed-reality simulation technology to practice job interview skills improved job interview skill acquisition for young adults with ID compared to face-to-face practice that is typically conducted …

Getting Better Faster: An Examination Of Instructional Specialist Role Clarity And Efficacy, Jasmine J. Scott

All Dissertations

An instructional specialist, sometimes also known as an instructional coach or curriculum specialist, plays a pivotal role in improving the quality of education. To fulfill the role of an instructional specialist, the educator must understand the expectations of their role and have the capacity to coach teachers. Effective coaching can play a significant role in leveling the educational playing field. Equitable instructional support requires acknowledging and addressing teachers' diverse needs and contexts (Desimone, 2009). This study is designed to capture and quantify the effectiveness of instructional specialists. This study addresses missing data gaps by providing data from instructional specialists on …

Identification And Validation Of A Measurement Of Emergency Physician Workload During End Of Shift Patient Handoffs, Steven Foster

All Dissertations

Recent increases in emergency physician (EP) workload have been identified as contributors to increased EP burnout, increased staff attrition, decreased patient safety, and increased patient admission rates. Patient handoffs have been extensively researched as critical points in patient care, with existing research primarily focusing on communication errors and interventions designed to standardize handoff communication protocols.

While end of shift handoffs in hospital emergency departments (EDs) intuitively represent a transfer of patient caseload from an outgoing EP to an incoming EP, there is a fundamental lack of literature examining how such handoffs contribute to EP workload, and a similar lack of …

Remote Onboarding Of Software Developers: Leveraging Virtual Reality And Ai Tools, James Dominic

All Dissertations

Software development teams add newcomers to accommodate the increasing demand, complexity of software solutions, and turnover. Onboarding newcomers is expensive and error-prone. It can take up to three years for a newcomer to become an expert on a project. Onboarding techniques described in the current literature focus on collocated teams. As more teams are adopting remote and distributed team structures, I address this research gap in understanding remote onboarding for software developers. I present my research on the use of Virtual Reality (VR) for remote software developer onboarding. I discuss a VR remote pair programming environment. With positive outcomes, pair …

Novel Meta-Materials Application For Pressure-Offloading Of Diabetic Foot Ulcers, Kyle Walker

All Dissertations

Diabetes and its associated complications have seen their prevalence sharply rise in the United States over the past few decades. In fact, the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes has nearly doubled from 5.1% of the US population in 1988, to 9% in the most recent CDC report, which does not include the large percentage of the population with undiagnosed or prediabetes. Of this diabetic population, it is estimated that up to 34% will experience at least one foot ulcer during their lifetime. In worst case scenarios, these ulcers can become infected and eventually require amputation of a portion of, or the …

Exploring Equity In Introductory Biology Genetics Education, Sandy G. Phillips-Long

All Dissertations

The dissertation “Exploring Equity in Introductory Biology Genetics Education” delved into the critical examination of equity within undergraduate genetics education. Chapter One outlined the background, significance, research framework, and manuscripts included in this study. Chapter Two was a scoping review that provided an overview of the current pedagogical approaches in undergraduate genetics education. It identified six active learning pedagogies: Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE); group work; case-based learning; inquiry-based learning; Virtual Reality (VR); and Consider, Read, Elucidate the hypothesis, Analyze and interpret the data, and Think of the next Experiment (CREATE). Chapter Three was a systematic literature review investigating pedagogical …

Improving Academic Attitudes And Motivation Using Literacy Learning In A Rural Literacy Intervention Classroom, Dannie Wilson

All Dissertations

This qualitative study focuses on the importance of reading picture books aloud to improve students' social skills capacity by utilizing literacy and social skills in a rural setting. It is designed to address a problem of practice: the need for striving third, fourth, and fifth-grade students to gain and maintain motivation and positive attitudes toward learning. An overarching research question guided this study: “How does teaching interpersonal skills affect literacy learning attitudes and motivation in a rural fringe school?” The goal was to investigate strategies through improvement science. A short Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle was used as the structure for the research …

Pelvic Sucker Form And Function In Waterfall Climbing Gobies: Variation In Morphology And Adhesive Performance Can Inspire Biomimetic Innovation, Amanda Palecek Mcclung

All Dissertations

Adhesive systems have evolved in many animal lineages and have appeared multiple times among the fishes. Bioadhesion in the gobies, a group found around the world, plays a role in both station-holding and even climbing. Among the Hawaiian streams, we find four species of amphidromous gobies which must face predators as juveniles and climb streams up to hundreds of feet tall to reach adult habitats. These gobies exhibit a range of climbing and adhesive abilities that result in an elevation-dependent species stratification, in which increasingly proficient climbing species are found in streams at increasingly higher elevations. This group is therefore …

The Development Of A Novel Cartilage Analog Scaffold For Chondral Regeneration, Vishal Thomas

All Dissertations

Focal Chondral Defects (FCDs) are cartilage injuries that affect about 900,000 Americans every year. Left untreated, these may lead to osteoarthritis and eventually necessitate painful knee replacements. Current treatment options are limited in terms of durability, cost, and availability of grafts. Tissue engineering, using natural scaffolds, are a highly attractive alternative promising cost efficiency, abundance, and long-term benefits. However, their low mechanical strength and dense matrices are impediments that could lead to sub-optimal repair.

In this work, a natural biomaterial, the bovine nucleus pulposus (bNP), derived from intervertebral disc tissue, was identified as a candidate scaffold for cartilage regeneration. Mechanical …

Presence Of Other People In Urban Parks: Exploring Psychological Effects Using Virtual Reality, Eye Tracking, And Qualitative Methods, Shuai Yuan

All Dissertations

Urban parks are essential public spaces that provide numerous benefits, but the presence of others can significantly influence these benefits. This dissertation explores the complex and context-dependent effects of the presence of other people on urban park experiences by drawing on diverse disciplinary perspectives and employing multiple methodological approaches, including theoretical synthesis, virtual reality, eye tracking, and qualitative methods.

Chapter 2 develops a comprehensive theoretical framework that bridges social psychology, environmental psychology, and practice-based fields. It categorizes the impacts of the presence of others on park users' experiences into perceptual, behavioral, cognitive-emotional, and symbolic domains. Chapter 3 utilizes virtual reality …

Virtually Coached Nature-Based Activities For Perceived Stress In Rural-Dwelling Families With A Teenager With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Deborah R. Logan

All Dissertations

Families with teenagers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can experience more stress than families without teenagers with ASD due to individuals with ASD often exhibiting social behaviors that differ from social norms, and parents having to adjust their expectations and future goals for their child with ASD. Rural-dwelling families of teenagers with ASD may experience additional stress due to their having to travel to access therapeutic services. Research focused on family-based services aimed at decreasing stress among rural-dwelling families of teenagers with ASD is lacking. The purpose of this convergent mixed methods study was to explore the feasibility of an …

Using Improvement Science To Reduce Student Retention In High School Through School-Based Mentoring, Ellen B. Borland

All Dissertations

The disproportionate demographics among retained students must be addressed. School-based mentoring has been recognized as an effective tool for motivating and supporting students at-risk of not graduating on time. This research aimed to explore the impact of a school-based mentoring program on positive student outcomes, specifically academic achievement, among high school students at-risk of not graduating on time. This study followed twenty-three students and mentors throughout the school year, and examined the association between school-based mentoring and grade level retention or promotion. The results were compared to the same group of students and their performance during the previous school year, …

Texas High School Counselors’ And Advisors’ Ccmr Self-Efficacy: An Exploratory Descriptive Study, Amanda R. Jolivet

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the last 20 years, there has been a growing emphasis on ensuring high school graduates are prepared for college and career in the 21st century. This is especially true in Texas, a state that has not only instituted college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) policies but has also monetarily incentivized schools and districts for meeting specific CCMR accountability metrics. Although Texas high school counselors and advisors are responsible for ensuring students across the state have access to CCMR information, support, and resources, not much was known about Texas high school counselors/advisors’ self-efficacy as it relates to postsecondary planning or …

A Robust Genome Assembly With Transcriptomic Data From The Striped Bark Scorpion, Centruroides Vittatus, Tsunemi Yamashita, Douglas D. Rhoads, Jeff Pummill

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Scorpions, a seemingly primitive, stinging arthropod taxa, are known to exhibit marked diversity in their venom components. These venoms are known for their human pathology, but they are also important as models for therapeutic and drug development applications. In this study, we report a high-quality genome assembly and annotation of the striped bark scorpion, Centruroides vittatus, created with several shotgun libraries. The final assembly is 760 Mb in size, with a BUSCO score of 97.8%, a 30.85% GC, and an N50 of 2.35 Mb. We estimated 36,189 proteins with 37.32% assigned to Gene Ontology (GO) terms in our GO …

Narratives Of Grief And Loss From The Children Who Lost A Parent On 9/11, Ryan Sliwak

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Limited research exists on the grief experiences of children who lost a parent on 9/11, particularly how these children evolve in their grief process, including their comprehension of the loss and their evolving attachment to the deceased parent (Kaplow et al., 2018; Alvis et al., 2022). Existing frameworks often assume post-traumatic reactions without fully considering the nuances of grief experiences for these children (Chemtob, 2007; Hoven, 2005).

Two research questions guided this study: (a) How does the pre-loss relationship with the parent influence the ongoing internal relationship with the deceased parent? (b) How does maintaining an internal relationship with the …

Social Support In The Time Of Social Media: Predicting Gen Zers’ Preferences For In-Person And Virtual Support, Carla Mastroianni

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Increased usage of social networking sites (SNS) among young people, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, is well documented. Both positive and negative associations with SNS usage have been found. However, findings lack causal links and describe frequency of usage, applications used, and generalized descriptions of usage type (e.g., to connect with others versus consume content). There is considerable movement toward understanding SNS usage type and trends by subgroup—a precursor to better understanding which groups are using SNS for what purposes, particularly those more likely to experience negative outcomes associated with SNS. This study utilized a cross-sectional design to …

Building Resilience To Contagious Diseases In High Contact Services: An Investigation Of Customers’ Willingness To Dine-In At Restaurants In The Era Of Covid, Hongli Ye

All Dissertations

High customer contact services play a crucial role in our economy, providing essential interactions and experiences that drive numerous industries. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges to these sectors due to their inherent characteristics, requiring close and frequent interactions. To rebound from the disruptions caused by such a contagious disease, service providers must adopt innovative strategies. Thus, this dissertation addresses the dynamic nature of building resilience strategies in high-contact services, which are affected by contagious diseases. In doing so, we propose an integrative framework that outlines essential new service resilience components, based on the CDC guidelines, to conventional …

Evaluating The Use Of The Braden Scale For Predicting Pressure Sore Risk© In Residents Of A Short-Term Rehabilitation Facility, Amelia Simmons

All Dissertations

Background: Pressure injuries are significant health issues and one of the biggest challenges organizations face on a day-to-day basis. Aside from the high cost of treatment, pressure injuries also have a great impact on patients’ lives and on the provider’s ability to render appropriate care to patients The keys to preventing the development of pressure ulcers is to identify at-risk individuals as soon as possible so that measures can be implemented.

Objective: To evaluate use of the Braden Scale© on admission and weekly for three weeks in residents admitted to a short-term rehabilitation facility for two months immediately following a …

Fantastic Trolls And Where To Find Them: Problem Framing In The Defense Against The Informational Dark Arts, Jayson M. Warren

All Dissertations

In the wake of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the notion of state-sponsored trolls engaging in information operations on social media has captured the attention of society. Yet eight years after this policymaking focusing event, sustainable solutions prove elusive and there is still much that is not known about the underlying phenomenon. This dissertation is part explanatory and part exploratory in its attempts to answer the overarching research question: What is the Relationship Between How the Problem of State-Sponsored Trolls on Social Media is Framed & the Way U.S. Federal Policy Attempts to Solve It? Using …

Integrating Artificial Intelligence And Augmented Reality For Enhanced Task Performance In The Construction Industry, Aasish Chandrika Bhanu

All Dissertations

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector, characterized by its complex tasks, often faces challenges in adopting cutting-edge technologies, a trend that can significantly hinder productivity improvements compared to other industries. This dissertation explores the emerging integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) within the AEC domain, investigating how effectively this can be implemented to potentially revolutionize industry practices. AI could be used in the AEC domain for advanced analytical and decision-making processes, while AR could be used for training, visualization, and remote collaboration.

In scenarios where construction site workers require expert guidance, these technologies could be helpful. …

Opioid Overdose Epidemic Modeling, Chelsea Spence

All Dissertations

The opioid overdose crisis in the United States has led to thousands of lost lives and thousands more people struggling with opioid dependence. Disease modeling allows researchers to examine the course that the disease may take and to investigate policies to determine the effects they may have. Disease models can be used to model non-communicable diseases and have been used to study opioid use disorder. Many types of disease models exist with their own inherent benefits and drawbacks.

In this dissertation, we provide a scoping review of the disease models that have been used to study the opioid overdose epidemic. …

Covid-19 Safety: Perspectives From Dental Students, Man Hung, Daniel Yevseyevich, Amir Mohajeri, Nicole Hablitzel, Sharon Su, Martin S. Lipsky

Institute on Aging Publications

Background: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic created challenges for healthcare providers, especially dental professionals in practices and universities. This study investigated dental students’ concerns about COVID-19 and whether institutional communication influenced pandemic-related stressors. Methods: An online survey designed to elicit dental students’ concerns about COVID-19 was distributed to all dental students enrolled at a private non-profit academic institution in the Western United States from 26 April 2021 to 25 August 2021. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the respondents, and Chi-square test and z-test analyses were used to compare students’ experiences. Results: A total of 92 dental students answered the survey. …

A Comparative Study Of Hpv Vaccine Acceptability Across Global North And South Countries: Usa And Kenya, Robert Nyaga, Prince Adu Gyamfi

Faculty Publications

This study examined the HPV vaccine landscape in Kenya and the USA with

a focus on if differences exist in the perceptions of HPV knowledge, vaccine

attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and vaccine

intention among students across country and gender. It also provides useful

findings that can inform the design of persuasive health messages to promote

the uptake of HPV vaccines among college students in Kenya and the USA.

The study used surveys to recruit 1,033 participants (511 Kenyan and 522 USA

students). The two-way MANOVA analysis revealed that the multivariate

main effects showed no significant differences for gender, …

Power For The People: Recognizing The Constitutional Right To Vote For President, Charlie Martel

Cardozo Law Review

On January 6, 2021, a mob attacked the United States Capitol to overthrow the certification of the legitimately elected president and install the election loser, Donald Trump. Before this, there was another coup attempt. Trump and his team pressured state legislators and officials not to certify legitimately elected presidential electors, and to instead certify fake electors for Trump. This was based on the theory that the Constitution grants states “plenary power” to select presidential electors, even if this means cancelling citizen elections or rejecting their outcome. The coups failed—this time.

There should be no next time. The Supreme Court should …

Detection Of Arrhythmias And Myocardial Infarction Using Svm And Ann Algorithms, Mohammad Issa, Ghada Saad, Mohammad Abdo, Aous Mohammad

Baghdad Science Journal

The heart is one of the most vital organs in humans, and any defect in its function is reflected in the general health of the patient. Therefore, the heart and its diseases have been largely studied in order to help the doctors diagnose heart diseases and reduce errors as much as possible. This study aims to investigate and suggest a method for diagnosing heart diseases from electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. Initially, noise was removed from the signal and the morphological and dynamic features of the ECG signal were extracted by an appropriate feature extraction algorithm and wavelet transformation. A support vector …

Reverse Phase -High Performance Liquid Chromatography Technique With Ultra-Violet Detector For The Determination Of Tenoxicam And Ibuprofen Drugs In The Pure And Pharmaceutical Tablets, Allaa Hussein Mhdi, Sadeem Subhi Abed

Baghdad Science Journal

Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) equipped with an ultraviolet (UV) detector is capable of detecting drugs in trace amounts. In this study, a simple and rapid method for quantifying tenoxicam (TNX) and ibuprofen (IBU) in pure and pharmaceutical samples was developed and validated. The target analytes assessed in the present study were separated with a C18 column (HPLC column, 5 µm, 150 × 4.6 mm). Acetonitrile and acidified water [0.7 mL of phosphoric acid (H3PO4) in 1000 mL water at 50/50%] were employed as the mobile phase at a 1 ml/min flow rate and a 20 µl sample injection volume …

Estimation Of Some Biochemical Markers In Acute Myeloid Leukemic Patients Before And After Chemotherapy, Ayinda Mariwan Mohsen, Zeyan Abdullah Ali

Baghdad Science Journal

The aim of this study was to measure the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), peroxynitrite (PN), homocysteine (HCY), and uric acid (UA) in acute myeloid leukemic patients (AML) (before and after taking chemotherapy) and compare results with a healthy control group. The present study includes 120 age ranged 18-70 years old suffered from AML as well as 40 healthy group. Subjects were collected from patients and a control group at Erbil’s Nanakali Hospital, they were classified into four groups: Group 1 (G1) which includes 40 healthy subjects, Group 2 (G2) includes 40 AML patients before taking chemotherapy (newly diagnosed cases), Group …

Fake News Detection Model Basing On Machine Learning Algorithms, Mohammed A. Taha, Haider D. A. Jabar, Widad K. Mohammed

Baghdad Science Journal

The rapid growth of the internet and easy communication has made it quick and simple to create and spread news. Social media users now generate and share more information than before, but some of it is false and unrelated to reality. Detecting false information in text is challenging, even for experts who need to consider multiple factors to determine authenticity. Malicious misinformation on social media negatively affects societies, especially during crises like terrorist attacks, riots, and natural disasters. To minimize the harmful impact, it is crucial to identify rumors quickly. This study aims to build a learning model for detecting …

Adsorption Of Bromothymol Blue Dye Onto Bauxite Clay, Asmaa Nihad Zaki, Kawther Ahmed Sadiq, Shaymaa K. Ghati, Jasim M. S. Jamur, Sarab Jassim Mohammed

Baghdad Science Journal

The goal of the current work is to use an inexpensive, non-toxic material with a high water absorption capacity, bauxite clay, to adsorb the bromothymol blue dye from an aqueous solution. In the production of textiles, leather, paint, food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, synthetic organic compounds are used as dyes almost exclusively in modern industrial processes. Because to their harmful side effects, which include their inherent carcinogenicity, toxicity, and mutagenicity as well as the results of their biological transformation, these dyes pose a serious hazard to the environment when they are released. Clay minerals are valuable as depolluting agents due to …

Evaluating Coll2-1no2 Level In Pre- And Post-Menopausal Iraqi Women With Osteoarthritis, Noor Basil Ghanim, Bushra Faris Hasan

Baghdad Science Journal

Osteoarthritis (OA) is not an autoimmune but a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the joints of humans due to mechanical stress mostly in the knees and the hip. In OA a modification of the cartilage is encountered causing a pain in the joints upon movement. Coll2-1NO2 is a specific sequence of amino acids produced from the degradation of type II collagen, which is abundantly found in the cartilage, followed by a nitration in the tyrosine residue as a consequence of stress-inflammatory events. In this study, Coll2-1NO2 is used as a biomarker of OA to predict the inflammatory stress condition as well …