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Adapting Dramaturgical Pedagogy Into A Practical Framework For Young Dramaturgs, Kirby Lee

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Dramaturgy, while more established as practice in professional theatre, remains inconsistently applied and often underutilized in university theatre contexts. Despite its historical significance and continued evolution, some theatre companies and many academic institutions still struggle to clearly define or effectively integrate the dramaturg’s role. This thesis hopes to create a framework for novice dramaturgs by examining the origins and development of dramaturgy, analyzing its shifting functions in contemporary theatre, offering my own dramaturgical experiences through the lens of three quite different plays and finally, establishing basic principles of the discipline. Beyond its historical and professional contexts, this study investigates the …

Bridging The Gap: How Sociodemographic Factors Shape Adults’ Decisions To Pursue Hearing Aids, Logan Lorié

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Despite hearing aids becoming more accessible to adults with hearing loss, hearing aid uptake rates remain low, partly due to sociodemographic factors that influence an adults’ decision to pursue amplification. This study systematically reviewed research on how sociodemographic factors – to include age, gender, socioeconomic status, education level, race/ethnicity, and military status – contribute to the decision-making process. This review guided an analysis of these variables using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a large public health database. To ensure enough hearing aid users were included in the analysis, NHANES data were combined across survey cycles from 1999 …

High School Teachers' Perceptions And Experiences Of Legislative Changes: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Marie Lewis

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological analysis was to explore the perceptions and experiences of high school English Language Arts teachers in one public school district in the state of Florida as they navigated educational legislation that has been implemented over the last five years. The study interviewed ten experienced high school ELA teachers who had taught for more than five years in Florida’s public school system. One semi-structured interview was conducted along with brief follow-ups to share thematic statements with the participants. This study also included a document analysis of HB 1467 and HB 1069 as well as the …

Hunter. Hunted. Human: Warfighters' Emotional Responses To Weapons In Tactical & Strategic Context, Simon Mace

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Human emotional responses to weapons have long been assumed to be relatively parsimonious, comprised predominately of aggression, anxiety, and fear responses. However, most research on this weapons effect has focused on civilians – who are notably more likely to be targeted by than to employ weapons. So, there is reason to speculate that emotional responses to weapons vary more than previously believed. This is significant for three reasons. First, positive emotional responses generate more desirable combat behaviors, specifically the willingness to engage adversaries. Second, negative emotional responses catalyze an unpredictable range of behaviors, many of which are tactically and operationally …

The Diversity Of Flavivirus Antibody Dependent Enhancement (Ade) Profiles From A Pediatric Cohort In Mexico, Maiesha Samiha Mahmood

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The Aedes mosquito-borne flaviviruses Zika (ZIKV) and dengue (DENV-1-4) cause an estimated 400 million annual infections globally and pose an increasing threat to public health. Typically, individuals infected with ZIKV or a DENV serotype generate neutralizing serotype-specific antibodies and non-neutralizing, cross-reactive antibodies that bind multiple flaviviruses. Upon secondary heterotypic infection, pre-existing antibodies can either protect or exacerbate disease through antibody dependent enhancement (ADE). ADE occurs when non- or sub-neutralizing concentrations of cross-reactive antibodies facilitate viral uptake into FcγR-bearing myeloid cells, enabling infection of otherwise non-permissive cells and driving severe disease. To date, ADE has not been characterized at a population …

The Amanah Project: A Pilot Educational Intervention Addressing Intimate Partner Violence In Muslim Communities In The United States, Tamara Makki

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This study is a two-part manuscript dissertation that addresses the need for culturally and faith-based responsive interventions for intimate partner violence (IPV) within the Muslim community in the United States (U.S). The first manuscript is a conceptual and literature-based paper that examines IPV within the Muslim community in the U.S. and explores the intersection of religion, culture, patriarchy, and systemic barriers influencing survivors’ help-seeking experiences. Particular attention is given to issues of accessibility, including the limited availability of culturally and religiously responsive IPV services for Muslim survivors. This manuscript argues for the development of culturally responsive, faith-integrated approaches that improve …

Appraising The Uniform: Stress, Predisposition, And Trust In Police Among Latin American And U.S. Latino Populations, Maren J. Mainx

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Public trust in police is central to regime legitimacy, yet reforms intended to build trust produce inconsistent results, and communities facing comparable conditions can respond differently to similar policing. This dissertation accounts for that variation by examining how stress shapes citizens’ responses to police visual cues. It proposes a framework in which citizens interpret these cues through their general trust in police—trust that weighs more heavily under stress. This framework is examined through a multi-method design spanning the Americas. Study 1 merges AmericasBarometer data with the Global Police Militarization Dataset across nineteen countries (2010–2023) to examine how stress and national …

Communication College Students And Their Career Readiness: An Evaluation From The Employer's Perspective, Carson Mann

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Higher education institutions are seen as places that educate students in specific subjects and provide training that leads to either a career or further learning opportunities. Unfortunately, public trust in higher education has plummeted since 2015. The evolution of higher education has been the subject of speculation by various groups, but developing translational skills through effective internships could very well solve the issue at hand. Institutions ought to have data -driven evidence about their disciplines’ effectiveness and their translational ability to the workforce. To understand this, student career readiness must be evaluated. Students' career readiness is a vital measure of …

Genuine And Meaningful Black Character Narratives In Video Games, Derek L. Manns

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The lack of Black representation in video games reflects stereotypes and hollow narratives. Authentic and meaningful design of Black characters allows Black players a reflection of emotional attachments everyone wants when playing a game. Examining racial identities through avatars, critiquing the notion that customization equates to racial inclusivity, limited options and predominant, white-coded protagonists reinforce systemic biases in games (Dietrich, 2013). My Afrofuturistic content analysis framework explores Black culture with a future of speculative fiction. Reimagining the past, present, and future through Black narratives for alternate futures (Womack). Integrating these ideas enhance culture and aesthetics in this dissertation to highlight …

Towards An Understanding Of Learning In Immersive Virtual Reality: Investigating Learning Affordances To Bridge Theory And Practice, Gregory Mcgowin

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation examines how modality-specific scaffolding shapes performance, presence, and transfer in immersive virtual reality (I-VR). Framed through theories of extended cognition, real-time guidance is conceptualized as cognitive scaffolding that structures perception and action by embedding task-relevant information within the environment. Situated within the learning sciences and informed by 4E cognition (embodied, embedded, enactive, extended), this work develops a framework for understanding how I-VR affordances relate to learning and performance.

The empirical study investigates how scaffolding modality (audio vs. visual) influences presence and performance in a VR racing simulation. Using a 3 × 2 × 2 mixed factorial design, 111 …

Experimental Demonstration Of A Laboratory Scale Packed Bed Reactor For Thermochemical Energy Storage Using Embedded Heating Elements, Zachary Monem

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Thermochemical energy storage (TCES) is an emerging technology that is being studied as a carbon-neutral renewable alternative to conventional methods of large-scale power generation, such as the utilization of fossil fuels. TCES makes use of thermochemical materials to store and discharge energy in two-step reversible chemical reactions. Among the most promising TCES materials are metal oxides, which possess significantly higher energy storage densities compared to other TCES materials; consequently, thermochemical reactors are used to store and discharge large amounts of energy during reduction-oxidation cycles using metal oxide materials. The current work focuses on the design and experimental demonstration of a …

Comics In The Classroom: Social Science Teachers' Lived Experiences With Comic Art In Instruction, Robert W. Mcintosh

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This qualitative descriptive phenomenological study explored secondary social science teachers’ lived experiences with comic art in classroom instruction. Existing research suggests that comic art, including comic books and graphic novels, can support student engagement, content understanding, visual literacy, and critical thinking; however, less is known about how teachers experience and make decisions about using comic art in social science education. Framed by Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Social Cognitive Theory, the study treated comic art as a representational instructional technology and examined how teacher confidence and the context of their experience shaped its use. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews …

Hidden Gem, Fraught Liability, Or Visible Asset? The Museum Of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Keidra D. Navaroli

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation utilizes a combination of archival research, qualitative interviews, and data-driven analyses to examine how the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville came under the governance of the University of North Florida (UNF). Founded in 1924, MOCA became a cultural institute of UNF in 2009 during the Great Recession. Tracing MOCA’s reinventions and geospatial movements across Jacksonville, this study considers the ideologies that informed the museum’s development, the locations that defined its service to Northeast Florida, and the financial conditions that necessitated its eventual rescue by a public university. The museum’s challenges are reflective of larger tensions in the …

“How Far Do These Roots Go Down”: An Exploration Of Latinx And Latina Fans On Representation In Disney's Encanto, Noemi Nunez

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

In this dissertation, I examine how Latinx and Latina audiences engaged with and interpreted Disney’s 2021 Encanto, an animated film celebrated for its representation of Colombian and broader Latinx culture. While scholarship on Latinx representation in media has expanded, less attention has been given to how Latinx audiences themselves respond to narratives that are meant to represent them, particularly within fan studies. Focusing on both a broader Latinx fan community and first-generation Latinas in the United States, this project explores how audiences negotiate representation and recognition using Encanto as a media text that centered a Latinx story. Drawing from …

Cracking The Code Of Ai Autonomy: Examining The Role Of Challenge And Hindrance Appraisals And Ai Literacy In Task Satisfaction, Rujuta Parekar

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

AI is constantly evolving and being rapidly integrated into the workplace. Limited research has examined how this integration is affecting employee outcomes, and particularly the impacts of whether employees are expected or mandated to use AI for their work. The present study utilized the challenge-hindrance framework to examine the effect of autonomy in using AI on task satisfaction through challenge and hindrance appraisal among working adults. Since the ability to understand and use AI can influence how individuals perceive it, the moderating effect of AI literacy on the hypothesized research model is also examined. A multi-wave research design was used …

Perspectives Of Poetry: Peering Into Poetry And Aphasia, Kristian M. Perez

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

People with aphasia often experience significant barriers to communication, emotional expression, and participation in meaningful life activities following stroke or neurological injury. Although poetry and creative expression have been explored in broader therapeutic contexts, limited research has examined how people with aphasia perceive poetry. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perspectives of people with aphasia regarding definitions of poetry, level of interest in poetry and the factors influencing said interest. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with adults with aphasia recruited through convenience sampling. Participants responded to questions before and after exposure to the poem Trust by Mark …

Discrete Element Modeling Of Granular Soils: Critical State Behavior Applied To Impact Pile Driving, Esteban Patino Marin

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This thesis investigates the use of the Discrete Element Method (DEM) to study two complementary aspects of granular soil mechanics: critical state behavior of granular materials and dynamic response of driven piles in sand, both of which are governed by the same particle-scale mechanisms of dilation, contraction, and fabric evolution.

The first examines the critical state behavior and fabric anisotropy of granular soils through DEM simulations of direct shear, direct simple shear, and true triaxial tests. Sphere-cluster particles representative of a uniform sand are used in two assemblages of approximately twenty-five thousand and one hundred twenty-five thousand spheres to evaluate …

Performing The Digital Identity: A Media Discourse Analysis Of Online Identity Construction, Dalya Qasem

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation investigates how news media construct narratives about TikTok and its role in shaping digital identity. While existing scholarship has examined issues such as privacy, marketing, and entertainment, less attention has been given to how identity is represented, negotiated, and understood within public discourse. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) combined with computational text analysis through Voyant Tools, this study analyzes a corpus of 111 news articles published between 2020 and 2025 that explicitly reference TikTok and identity. The analysis identifies prominent keywords, topics, and rhetorical patterns across media texts. Furthermore, the research demonstrates a critical analysis of popular understandings …

Visual Cues Of Human-Likeness, Not Salience, Impact Trust-Related Human-Computer Interaction, Jordan Schotz

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

As interactions with digital agents become increasingly integrated into daily life, understanding how visual representations influence social decision-making is critical. Previous research in human-computer interaction has frequently confounded the psychological effects of an agent's perceived human-likeness with the underlying visual salience of the stimuli. To address these persistent gaps, the present study systematically isolated the effects of human-likeness and visual cue trustworthiness on trust behavior while controlling for objective image properties. The present study expanded on and normed the Virtual Avatar Facial Stimuli Set (VAFSS), a comprehensive database comprising hundreds of identity-matched photographs and computer-generated avatars varying across a spectrum …

Exploring Barriers And Facilitators Of Mental Health Treatment For Law Enforcement Officers: The Impact Of Police Occupational Culture, April Reed

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Prior research has explored the impact of police culture on mental health stigma among law enforcement, however, a deeper understanding about how different aspects of police culture may inhibit or facilitate mental health treatment utilization is needed to inform policy and practice. This dissertation explores the relationship between police culture and mental health using a qualitative research design. Twenty-five (n=25) law enforcement officers from a county sheriff’s office in Central Florida were interviewed and participant observations were conducted during a three-month period. The present study sought to address the following research questions: What are the experiences of the job and …

Online Risk And Harm For Marginalized Users: How Social Influence Amplifies Or Mitigates Vulnerability, Tangila Islam Tanni

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Social media has reshaped how people connect, communicate, and influence one another, yet these environments also create harms that disproportionately affect marginalized users. Participation in online communities can expose users to identity-based harassment, emotional distress, and the normalization of harmful attitudes, shaping identity, well-being, and participation online and offline. Prior work has documented many forms of online harm, yet less is understood about how harmful norms and behaviors are reinforced across different forms of social media interaction, from private direct messages to online communities. Guided by the Social Ecological Model, this dissertation investigates how online harms toward marginalized users emerge …

“I Call For The Resurgence And Reclamation Of Our Indigenous Ways”: Institutional Landscapes, Resistance, And The Experiences Of Mmir Advocates, Sara Tehrani

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Indigenous Peoples across Turtle Island experience disproportionately high rates of violence and homicide compared to other racial groups. Rooted in coloniality and sustained by Western institutions, this epidemic is recognized as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) crisis. In response, Indigenous women have mobilized the MMIR Movement to raise awareness and advocate for institutional change. Although scholarship on MMIR has expanded, limited research has explored the experiences of MMIR advocates. This study interrogates the institutional landscapes that shape MMIR advocacy and explores the resistance strategies advocates employ to address the crisis. Using reflexive thematic analysis, this study examines semi-structured …

Puff, Puff, Pass? Examining Cannabis Use Among Black American Adults, Christopher B. Walker

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

In the United States, cannabis has become one of the most widely used controlled substances due to its increase in social acceptance, the growing number of states legalizing it for medical and non-medical purposes, and the expansion of consumption methods.  However, little is known about the modes of cannabis use chosen by Black American adults.  This population is of importance due to existing research suggesting their increased risk of developing cannabis use disorder compared to their White counterparts and their underrepresentation in existing literature.  The goal of this study is to examine cannabis use among Black adults in the U.S., …

How Did Covid-19 Affect Volunteer And Donor Management For Human Services Agencies? What Are The Lessons For Future Response?, Nina Yon

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for human services agencies, disrupting the interdependent systems of volunteer engagement and donor support essential to nonprofit sustainability. This study integrates insights from literature, theory, and empirical analysis to examine how nonprofit organizations adapted their volunteer and donor management strategies during this prolonged crisis. Drawing on Contingency Theory and Resource Dependence Theory (RDT), the research explores how organizational structures and strategies evolved in response to shifting environmental conditions, health mandates, and resource constraints. Using a multiple-case qualitative design, data was collected from semi-structured interviews with 20 leaders representing five Central Florida human services agencies, …

Michigan Academician Volume 50, Issue 2

Michigan Academician

Volume 50, Issue 2 - Abstract Issue

Large Language Models For Neurology: A Mini Review, Donald C. Wunsch, Daniel B. Hier

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Large language models have the potential to transform neurology by augmenting diagnostic reasoning, streamlining documentation, and improving workflow efficiency. This Mini Review surveys emerging applications of large language models in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy, with emphasis on ambient documentation, multimodal data integration, and clinical decision support. Key barriers to adoption include bias, privacy, reliability, and regulatory alignment. Looking ahead, neurology-focused language models may develop greater fluency in biomedical ontologies and FHIR standards, improving data interoperability and supporting more seamless collaboration between clinicians and AI systems. Two future developments have the potential to be particularly impactful: (1) …

Evaluation Of Multiple Generative Large Language Models On Neurology Board-Style Questions, Mohammad Almomani, Vijaya Valaparla, James Weatherhead, Xiang Fang, Alok Dabi, Chih Ying Li, Peter Mccaffrey, Dan Hier, Jorge Mario Rodríguez-Fernández

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Objective: To compare the performance of eight large language models (LLMs) with neurology residents on board-style multiple-choice questions across seven subspecialties and two cognitive levels. Methods: In a cross-sectional benchmarking study, we evaluated Bard, Claude, Gemini v1, Gemini 2.5, ChatGPT-3.5, ChatGPT-4, ChatGPT-4o, and ChatGPT-5 using 107 text-only items spanning movement disorders, vascular neurology, neuroanatomy, neuroimmunology, epilepsy, neuromuscular disease, and neuro-infectious disease. Items were labeled as lower- or higher-order per Bloom's taxonomy by two neurologists. Models answered each item in a fresh session and reported confidence and Bloom classification. Residents completed the same set under exam-like conditions. Outcomes included overall and …

Self-Calibrating Uav Navigation: Reinforcement Learning Approaches For Horizontal Trajectory Estimation, Shirin Nasr-Esfahani, S. Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Accurate unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) trajectory estimation is essential for autonomous navigation, particularly in GPS-denied environments. Visualodometry and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) approaches require precise camera intrinsic parameters, which are typically obtained through predefined or offline calibration. Instead, in this work, we propose a reinforcement learning (RL)-based self-calibration framework that estimates camera intrinsic parameters directly from monocular video sequences, without requiring prior knowledge of the camera, environment, or calibration targets. This intrinsic parameter estimation is then leveraged to achieve robust UAV trajectory estimation using only video data. We formulate the problem as a sequential decision-making task, where an RL …

Enhancing Explainable Ai For Medical Imaging: Improved Lime Interpretation With Influence Mapping, Abiha Tahsin Chowdhury, Dhanush Bavisetti, Daniel B. Hier, Rahul Dubey, Tayo Obafemi-Ajayi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into medical imaging is progressing rapidly. It is essential for these AI tools to be transparent, interpretable, and explainable to gain the trust of clinicians and regulators. Current state-of-the-art explainable AI (XAI) techniques in imaging includes Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME), Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP), and Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM). Recent studies have shown that LIME often suffers from inconsistency and unreliability which limits their utility in sensitive fields like medical imaging. This paper proposes Influence Map based Explanation (IME), an enhanced variant of the original LIME framework, that aggregates multiple runs to …

Perspectives Of Rural Educators On The Dependencies And Drawbacks Of Chat Gpt In Nigerian Higher Education Practices, Adedayo Olayinka Theodorio Dr, Francisca Jumoke Theodorio, Olumide Gbenga Olugbodi, Peter Adebowale Samson, Olusegun Olawale Olakotan

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

ChatGPT remains a valuable tool for transforming teaching strategies and supporting students’ comprehension of subject matter. However, its adoption and research remain uneven within the context of higher education in Nigeria. Specifically, there is limited empirical research that exemplifies real-world experiences regarding the dependencies and drawbacks in rural educational settings. This qualitative single-case study explored this phenomenon at a southwestern institution in Nigeria, involving a purposively selected group of educators. Data were gathered through participatory observation and focus group interviews, which were thematically analysed. The results indicated that the effective use of ChatGPT in rural higher education heavily depends on …