Split Alliance And Relationship Satisfaction In Couples Therapy: Examining Split Alliance As A Process Variable, Kyla Yetter

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined how different patterns of alliance development impact couples' relationship satisfaction, with a particular emphasis on split alliances. The retrospective sample of 1149 couples was taken from the IRB approved Marriage and Family Therapy Practice Research Network. Alliance was measured at each session with the Intersession Alliance Measure- Couples version (IAM-C). The outcome variable, relationship satisfaction, was measured before the first and last sessions of therapy with the Couple Relationship Scale (CRS). Split alliance was operationalized using standard deviation differences in partners' alliance scores, and couples were divided into three groups: 1) Never had a split alliance, …

Enhancing Emotional Support For Advanced Placement Students, Laine Mckay Nesbitt

Theses and Dissertations

Although they may struggle with their emotional well-being, academically accelerated students are underrepresented in the research literature. Teachers are in a position to influence students' emotional well-being. Minimal qualitative research with student voices has been conducted. This study highlights the perspectives of students who have participated in an academically accelerated program. Students were interviewed about what their teachers do to help or hinder their emotional well-being and what they wish that teachers could do to support their emotional well-being. A total of 14 high school students were interviewed using the critical incident technique (CIT). The participants emphasized the importance of …

Maternal Perspectives On Support Needs: Insights From The Fonofale Model, Sara Lani Ditto

Theses and Dissertations

This interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) explored the lived experiences of parents raising children with disabilities in American Samoa. Five participants across two focus groups shared their perspectives on navigating educational, healthcare, and community systems while supporting their children with disabilities. Using the fonofale model as a cultural framework, the study incorporated culturally responsive methodology including card sort activities to facilitate dialogue on potentially sensitive topics. Analysis followed the Nizza et al. (2021) IPA approach, progressing from exploratory notes to experiential statements, clustered themes, and finally overarching themes. Findings revealed four major themes: systemic burden on parents, structural and service gaps, …

Respect And Aggression In Intimate Relationships: A Grounded Theory Of Relational Responsiveness, Aaron T. Fife

Theses and Dissertations

The negative effects of aggression in intimate relationships have been well documented through research and clinical literature (Lawrence & Bradbury, 2001; Shortt et al., 2006). Conversely, the positive effects of respectful behavior are well-known (Gottman, 1994; Dew & Wilcox, 2013). This important dimension of relationships is crucial to understanding what makes up healthy and unhealthy relationships. However, little is known about how couples understand the varying types of respect and aggression within intimate relationships, nor how they are lived and experienced relationally. The purpose of this study is to explore the dyadic processes behind respect and aggression as well as …

Toward Passwordless Document Encryption, Isaac Henry Teuscher

Theses and Dissertations

Document files with sensitive information are used across nearly every industry. In recent years, cyberattacks targeting cloud-based file transfer applications have resulted in millions of sensitive documents being exposed. Although document encryption methods exist, they are often limited in usability, security, or deployability. Password-based encryption, the most widely available option, remains vulnerable to brute-force attacks, unauthorized sharing, and human error. We address these gaps in three phases. First, we present a structured comparative framework adapted from the usability-deployability-security model to evaluate nine document encryption methods across 15 design properties, identifying the benefits and limitations of current approaches. Second, we design …

A Lesson In Class: How Parents' Class Identity Changes Relate To Children's Exposure To Social Classes -- A Latent Profile Analysis, L. Caroline Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Class inequality in the United States has reached levels not seen since the late 1920s. This inequality has been linked to numerous harmful societal outcomes and may be particularly detrimental for children, who often experience limited intergroup contact with individuals from different social class backgrounds. Drawing on Social Identity Theory and the significant role parents play in shaping children's social environments, this study examined how White and Black parents' changes in perceived social class from childhood to adulthood relate to the ways they prioritize exposing their children to different social class environments (N = 702, U.S. sample). Latent Profile Analysis …

Likes, Lies, And Body Esteem: The Moderating Effects Of Age, Concealment, And Gender Between Social Media And Body Esteem For Utah Adolescents, Talise Hirschi

Theses and Dissertations

Social media use has become common among adolescents and contains many messages about one's body such as the thin and muscular ideal. Many parents are learning how to help their adolescent learn how to use social media, and some adolescents may conceal their social media use for various reasons. 588 adolescents (ages 11-18; 77% White; 55% female) from Utah filled out surveys about their social media use and body esteem each school year. In a two-wave cross lag panel model, specific aspects of social media use such as time spent on social media, problematic media use (PMU), and social media …

I Will Defend My Self, Emily Ward Hawkins

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines caregiving and motherhood as forms of load-bearing infrastructure. Cultural narratives often portray motherhood through sentimental images of joy, tenderness, and devotion, obscuring the structural labor that sustains family life. This project examines maternal labor as a largely unseen system of support that organizes family life while often remaining backgrounded. Caregiving reorganizes time, space, ambition, embodiment, and future orientation within maternal life. Through sculptural works using architectural materials and construction systems, such as oriented strand board, blueprint racks, metal armatures, and graph paper, the project visualizes caregiving as a structural condition. These materials reference the language of architecture …

Practical Implementation Of Ethnomathematics To Increase The Engagement, Math Self-Efficacy, And Hawaiian Cultural Identity Of HawaiʻI Algebra 2 Students, Kamalani George Mamatuki Kaluhiokalani

Theses and Dissertations

The underrepresentation of Hawaiian cultural practices in mathematics education has contributed to a disconnect between students' cultural identities and their academic experiences, resulting in diminished engagement among Native Hawaiian learners. This design-based research examines the integration of ethnomathematics into high school mathematics curricula, with a focus on Hawaiian cultural practices as frameworks for teaching mathematical concepts. Participants include approximately 100 students in Hawaiʻi from a public school and a private school, as well as two mathematics teachers with varying degrees of experience in culturally responsive pedagogy and ethnomathematics. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study collects data through classroom observations, teacher …

This One's For The Girls: Co-Creating A Social Confidence Group Intervention For Autistic Adolescent Girls, Kendra Noelle Zitzman

Theses and Dissertations

Numerous studies have been completed regarding social confidence-building interventions for individuals with autism. However few studies have studied autistic females' experience with social confidence and targeted interventions for their unique needs. The purpose of this study was to co-create a social confidence curriculum with adolescent and young adult autistic females based on their experiences, perceived strengths and weaknesses, and goals. We analyzed first-person experiences and perceptions about social confidence-building interventions and supports. We used pre- and post-group interviews of the adolescent autistic participants (n =11) and college-aged mentors (n = 4), pre- and post-group measures with the Social Responsiveness Scale, …

Influence Of Timed Repeated Readings On Grade 2 French Immersion Students' Reading Fluency And Comprehension, Kathryn Rosie Baldwin

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of Timed Repeated Reading (TRR) on reading fluency, comprehension, and reading attitudes among second grade students in a French Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program in Utah. Forty-one students from two pre-existing classroom groups participated over 11 weeks, with one class receiving TRR and the other serving as a control. Fluency was measured in correct words per minute (CWPM), comprehension through cloze tests, and attitudes using a seven-item affective survey with a four-point visual scale. A mixed between-within subjects ANOVA analysed pre- and post-test data across four intervals. Results showed significant fluency gains over time for …

Beyond The Bell Curve: Understanding Native American Academic Placements, Sarah-Margaret Clark

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined biases regarding the referrals that teachers make regarding student placement recommendations for Native American students. Special education teachers (n = 97) from around the United States completed a digital card sort task involving 24 fictitious student record cards. The student record cards contained subtle information about the ethnicity of the student, as indicated through the use of racial identification (Native American, Asian, or White) on the student records and the use of student names that may be associated with these three categories. Academic information was equal among each of these three groups. Each group contained identical male …

Calibration And Validation Of An Ogden Material Model For Thermoplastic Polyurethane In 3d-Printed Tensegrity Structures, Caleb C. Swain

Theses and Dissertations

This work is motivated by ongoing efforts within the Smart Materials, Adaptronics, and Shock Laboratory (SMASH Lab) at Brigham Young University (BYU) to develop variable-stiffness, external fixators using 3D-printed tensegrity structures. In the process of designing and evaluating these systems, the need arose to accurately model the nonlinear mechanical behavior of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), the primary material used in prototype fabrication. This thesis investigates how accurately a calibrated Ogden material model can predict the nonlinear mechanical response of TPU in 3D-printed tensegrity structures. Experimental data were used to calibrate the parameters of the hyperelastic constitutive model through nonlinear optimization. An …

Urban Indian Parents' Occupational Perceptions Of Play And Governance Of Children's Excessive Screen Time Preferences And Behaviours In This Digital Era, Joanna Priyadarshini Udaykumar, Tony Sam George

International Journal of Playwork Practice

Abstract

Children’s innate urge to engage in joyous, self-directed, meaningful, iterative activities embodies their unique play experiences and facilitates their holistic development. However, the exponential growth of digital technology in an urbanized world has transformed their social landscape by offering them a plethora of novel play opportunities that ‘pushes children away from the outdoors and pulls them indoors’. Moreover, the radical transition from nature-based recreation to media-centric activity insinuates the surge of a global pandemic characterized by low physical activity, sleep deprivation and sedentary, lifestyle diseases. This emerging trend reflects children’s predilection for videophilia over biophilia due to the dominance …

Passion For Accurate Journalism Fuels Support, Bill Dabney

University of Mississippi News

OXFORD, Miss. – A lifelong belief in the power of accurate journalism, along with a personal connection to the profession, led Missy Pace Callero to support a new initiative shaping the future of news produced from the University of Mississippi.

Institutional Influences And The Governance And Administration Of The Programa Produtor De Água Payment For Ecosystem Services Program In Brazil, Thomas G. Safford

Faculty Publications

Payment-for-Ecosystem-Services (PES) has been promoted as an innovative approach to environmental governance capable of simultaneously advancing conservation and sustainable development objectives. While studies commonly assess the ecological and economic performance of PES schemes, less attention has been given to their organizational and administrative effectiveness. This study examines these governance dimensions of one of Latin America’s most prominent PES initiatives—the Water Producer Program (WPP) in Brazil. Drawing on a meta-synthesis of 125 publications, the analysis investigates how regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive institutional forces shaped WPP implementation. Guided by neo-institutional theory and institutional bricolage, findings show that WPP governance operated through hybrid …

Evolution And Assessment Of Employee/Workplace Services, David L. Groves

Visions in Leisure and Business

No abstract provided.

Exploring Generative Artificial Intelligence Perceptions And Information Retrieval Behaviors Among Students: An Investigation Of Google Search And Chatgpt Queries, Annie Kiele Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Generative AI tools are rapidly reshaping how undergraduate students seek and engage with academic information, yet empirical understanding of what drives adoption and how students behave when using these tools relative to traditional search engines remains limited. This study examined undergraduate students’ information-retrieval behaviors and perceptions when using ChatGPT compared to Google Search, using the technology acceptance model (TAM; Davis, 1989) extended to include trust (Gefen et al., 2003) as the guiding framework. An embedded mixed-methods design was employed, in which Likert-scale perception ratings provided a structured quantitative signal and thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, structured information-retrieval tasks, and concurrent …

Unlocking Potential: Teachers' Perspectives On 504 Accommodations For Students With Adhd, Haley Stubbs

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined high school teachers' perspectives on the development, implementation, and effectiveness of Section 504 accommodations for students with ADHD. Five secondary teachers from a public high school participated in a focus group, and data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Findings indicate that teachers report limited understanding of the 504 process, minimal involvement in eligibility decisions, and little training on how to implement accommodations. Teachers describe accommodations as vague and difficult to apply consistently within the constraints of secondary classrooms, often relying on universal classroom practices and student self-advocacy to meet student needs. Teachers also question whether accommodations …

The Use Of Mobile Applications By Non-Governmental Organizations For Volunteer Recruitment And Retention In Egypt, Mona Sami Morshidy

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract 

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have increasingly used digital technology and mobile applications to facilitate volunteerism. In Egypt, mobile applications offer significant opportunities to enhance volunteer management. This study explores how mobile applications and digital platforms facilitate volunteering recruitment and retention in Egypt. The study employs a qualitative research design based on 34 semi-structured interviews with NGO representatives and volunteers with varying years of volunteering experience. The findings highlight the mobile application's effects on recruitment, retention, and management, as well as the challenges of adapting it. The results indicate that NGOs primarily use mobile applications to manage existing volunteers, with only …

Serum Transforming Growth Factor-Beta (Tgf-Β ) As Diagnostic Biomarker For Ulcerative Colitis: An Association Study With Abo Blood Group And Extra Intestinal Symptoms, Safaa Muhsin Khudheir, Thekra Abdullah Mahmoud

Hilla University College Journal For Medical Science

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a recurrent and remitting inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Anti-inflammatory cytokines such as transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β ) are part of the pathophysiology of UC; these cytokines set off a specific immune response. Extra-intestinal manifestations (EIMs) reported occurrence differs from 14% to 47%, and accounts for the majority of related conditions in UC. This study aims to find the correlation of ulcerative colitis with TGF-β , ABO blood group and EIMs.

Objectives: To determine the serum level of TGF-β in both groups by sandwich ELISA, determine blood group by agglutination slide method, identify extra intestinal manifestation …

Molecular Characterization And Genotyping Of Candida Species Isolated From The Nasal Cavity Of Patients With Nasal Infections In Iraq, Amran M. Al-Erjan, Hind Tahseen Ibrahim

Hilla University College Journal For Medical Science

Background: Nasal infections are commonly associated with opportunistic microorganisms, particularly Staphylococcus aureus and Candida species.

Objectives: This study aimed to molecularly characterize Candida species isolated from the nasal cavity of patients with nasal infections and to determine their phylogenetic relationships using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region.

Methods: A total of 88 nasal swab samples were collected from patients aged 1–80 years in Thi-Qar Province, Iraq, between December 2023 and March 2024. Samples were cultured on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar and Mannitol Salt Agar. Yeast isolates were identified phenotypically using CHROMagar Candida and germ tube tests. Molecular identification and genotyping were …

Artificial Intelligence Empowered Biological Research: Paradigm Shifts, Application Scenarios, And Strategic Layout, Xinguang Zhu, Yiming Bao, Zhenong Jin, Xin Li, Sijia Wang, Yueming Wang, Yungui Yang, Cao Xu, Yan Xiong, Bin Han

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Life related processes are characterized by high dimensionality and multi-scale properties. Understanding mechanisms underpinning life processes helps promote national healthcare, agricultural development, sustainable ecological civilization, and national security. Current life science research is confronted with an enormous challenge of dimensionality stemming from data explosion and data fragmentation, for which the recent rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) provides novel solutions. AI will catalyze a paradigm shift in life science research from the current experiment based empirical induction to a new closed-loop knowledge acquisition including large scale data collection, model building, model prediction, experimental validation, and iterative of these procedures. Life …

Engineering 3d Optical Interconnects And Low-Power Radio Frequency Gaze Tracking, Blake P. Crosby

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents two independent research works in optical in- terconnects and radio-frequency (RF)-based gaze tracking. The first work demonstrates a silicon optical waveguide fabricated from four through-silicon vias (TSVs) produced using two-photon-absorption- assisted photo-electrochemical etching. Unlike conventional TSV fabrica- tion methods, this approach enables highly localized, non-line-of-sight etching in silicon using a focused femtosecond laser. Four approximately 5 μm diameter TSVs were etched through a 200 μm silicon wafer in a 7 μm by 7 μm pattern, leaving a central silicon region that functions as a waveguide. The fabricated structure achieved an aspect ratio of approxi- mately 40:1 with …

Effects Of A Peer Mentoring Program For Adolescent Newcomers On Feelings Of Peer Connectedness And School Belonging, Eden Elizabeth Moon Barnhill

Theses and Dissertations

There is a significant lack of empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of peer mentoring to support newcomer students, particularly for refugee populations. This study evaluated the effects of a peer mentor program for newcomer students on their feelings of peer connectedness and school belonging in a high school setting. Participants were made up of 15 newcomer student mentees across three high schools. Measures were administered pre- and post-intervention, and participants were also interviewed about their experience. Results indicated no quantitative findings of significance but did yield a small positive effect size for peer connectedness. According to qualitative data, many participants …

Hierarchical Parcel Swapping: A Novel Model In Turbulence, Masoomeh Behrang

Theses and Dissertations

Turbulent mixing plays a central role in a wide range of engineering and natural systems, particularly in reactive flows where turbulence--chemistry interactions strongly influence reaction rates, flame structure, and emissions. Accurately modeling these interactions remains a major challenge due to the multiscale and stochastic nature of turbulence, as well as the nonlinear coupling between transport and chemical kinetics. This dissertation develops and evaluates the Hierarchical Parcel Swapping (HiPS) model, a fully stochastic framework designed to represent turbulence-driven transport and scalar mixing without relying on traditional gradient-based closures. HiPS is investigated both as a standalone turbulence model and as a subgrid …

Service Providers' Descriptions Of Survivors' Experiences With Mental Health Treatment, Melanie Gonzales Puente

Theses and Dissertations

Human trafficking survivors experience significant mental health challenges and barriers that limit their engagement towards treatment. A qualitative study was conducted that included semi-structured interviews of 33 professionals working with survivors of human trafficking in the United States. Findings indicate that survivors' engagement in treatment is limited by mistrust of providers, stigma, and a lack of access to services. Providers emphasize that addressing basic needs (e.g., safety and housing) must occur before engaging in trauma-focused therapy. Positive outcomes are associated with strong therapeutic relationships, autonomy, trauma-informed, individualized care, and offering comprehensive services. Furthermore, mental health providers should have certain abilities …

2026-06-20 Commencement Struggle Prompts Outcry Over Palestine And Treatment Of Muslim Students, Dylan Berman, Tristan Scott

The Spectator Online

No abstract provided.

Disaster Preparedness, Prevention And Management In Lagos State University Library, Mausi A. Bokoh, Sophia V. Adeyeye Dr, Oluwaseun Adeola Abiodun-Asanre, Mrs

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Disasters pose significant threats to human lives, infrastructure, and national socioeconomic development. Effective disaster preparedness, prevention, and management are therefore vital for mitigating their impact and ensuring continuity of operations. This study examined disaster preparedness, prevention, and management practices at Lagos State University Library. A survey research design was adopted, and data were collected through a structured questionnaire covering key aspects of disaster management. Frequency counts, percentages, mean, and standard deviations were used to analyze data.  The findings revealed that the library employs basic preventive strategies such as turning off electricity after work hours and ensuring timely evacuation during emergencies. …

Air Pollution And Public Health: Global Evidence And Implications, Mohammed Obaid Al-Mansoori

Al-Bahir

Globally, the issue of air pollution keep being one of most serious challenges that affecting environment and human health, coming from emissions of industries, transport, agriculture and also from the fuel people use in homes, in addition to natural events that make the situation worse. This review try to bring together the available evidences about the sources, types, and the health impacts of the main air pollutants, including the gaseous ones like SO₂, O₃, NO₂, and CO, and the particulate matter (PM₁₀, PM₂.₅). Exposure for short or long time to these pollutants is linked with many harmful outcomes, such as …