Digital Commons Network^™

A Phenomenological Study Of Digital Divide In Rural Philippines, Dennis Dizon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The digital divide reflects policy relevant disparities in access to and effective use of internet based information resources, as experienced and interpreted by individuals navigating regulatory environments and governance conditions in the rural Philippines. Policymakers need to understand how the digital divide affects business owners and working-class people, with the impact of high costs and poor internet infrastructure in remote areas of the Philippines. Many of these business owners and working-class people lack access to the privileges and benefits of high-speed internet access. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of these business owners …

Cervical Cancer Screening Among Women Across The United States, Srivathsan Vijaya Raghavan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

While cervical cancer is not among the most frequently diagnosed cancers in the United States, it remains a significant concern due to its preventability through regular Pap smears and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. However, incidence rates are rising as screening participation among U.S. women declines. This quantitative study (N = 15714) explored cervical cancer screening behaviors by analyzing levels of community involvement and social functioning, guided by the socioecological model (SEM). The dependent variable was cervical cancer screening, while the independent variables were community involvement and social functioning. The study controlled for health insurance status, age, race, ethnicity, employment, education, …

Exploring The Black Church’S Role In The Black Man’S Experience With Depression: A Qualitative Inquiry, Terry Edwards Jr.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Black men experience disproportionate mental health disparities, particularly in relation to depression, yet remain less likely to engage in formal mental health treatment due to cultural stigma and barriers to care. The Black church, a historically trusted institution within the Black community, may influence how depression is understood and managed. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore how Black men in Inkster, Michigan perceive the role of the Black church in influencing their understanding and management of depression. The Health, Illness, Men, and Masculinities (HIMM) framework guided this study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 …

Improving The Circuit Realization Of Grover’S Quantum Search Algorithm By Replacing Hadamard With √ × Gates, Ali Al-Bayaty, Ali Al-Shuwaili, Abbas Alzubaidi, Marek Perkowski

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Jozsa, Bernstein-Vazirani, and Grover, utilize Hadamard gates to create uniform superposition states for the input qubits of an oracle. However, Hadamard gates are non-native (non-supported) gates in all real quantum computers. For this reason, Hadamard gates are considered cost-expensive gates when realizing (transpiling) such algorithms into a real quantum computer. This paper introduces a new methodology for cost-effective transpilation of Grover’s algorithm into real quantum computers, by replacing all Hadamard gates with √ X gates. In quantum computing, the Hadamard and √ X gates create uniform superposition states of a qubit on the Xaxis and Y-axis of the Bloch sphere, …

Implementation Of A Process For Tracking Hgb A1cs In A Community Mental Health Organization, Devin Gill

Doctoral Dissertations & Projects

Background: Individuals with a serious mental illness (SMI) are 2 to 3 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, yet are less likely to receive routine screening of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) testing. The purpose of this quality improvement project is to implement a standardized workflow process to ensure consistent tracking of HbA1cs in adult consumers greater than 18 years of age with SMI receiving services at a rural community mental health (CMH) organization.

Methods: The primary intervention is a workflow process, with focus on the clinical information systems and organizational system. This quality improvement project was guided utilizing the …

The Role Of Broadband Access In Enhancing Organizational Resilience, Corporate Adaptability, And Performance, Rachel Gandy

Theses

This paper examines how Corporate Affinity to Technology (CAT) affects organizational resilience among U.S. managers. Based on survey data from 364 managers in the retail, finance, and healthcare industries, this research indicates that the degree of technology use in a firm does not relate to the firm’s level of broadband availability or technology intensity, but rather to the extent to which technology is woven into the fabric of skills development, organizational culture, and the decision-making process. High-CAT firms are resilient under stress; low-CAT firms are fragile, irrespective of the level of technology they have invested in. Recommendations for managers who …

Research On Control Of Coaxial Dual-Rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Based On Improved Reaching Law, Xinhang Chen, Xiaodong Ling, Chengchang Lang, Shijun Zheng, Yiqi Tang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To address the issues of significant chattering, slow convergence speed, and large overshoot in the control system of a coaxial dual-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle, a control method based on an improved double-power and hyperbolic function integral sliding mode reaching law was proposed. A novel reaching law was designed to achieve fast convergence when the system state is far from the sliding surface and smooth transition when approaching the sliding surface, thereby enhancing the overall convergence speed of the system and ensuring that the system reaches the sliding surface within a finite time. The saturation characteristic of the hyperbolic function …

Quality Improvement Project Enhancing Maternal Health Outcomes: Evaluating The Impact Of Universal Social Determinants Of Health (Sdoh) Screening In An Interdisciplinary Pregnancy Care Model, Shannon Morgen

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Social determinants of health (SDOH), including housing instability, food insecurity, transportation barriers, and interpersonal violence, significantly influence maternal outcomes and contribute to disparities such as preterm birth and maternal morbidity. Despite national recommendations for universal SDOH screening, implementation in prenatal care remains inconsistent, limiting opportunities to identify and address social needs. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) quality improvement project was to implement and evaluate a standardized SDOH screening and documentation process to improve referral completion and examine its impact on hospital readmissions among obstetric patients. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Socio-Ecological Model and the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework, the project …

The Rider (2026-04-20), Daniela Chapa-Reyes

The Rider Archives

Vol. 11, No. 27

Occupational Therapy In Adaptive Sports And Recreational Activities: Addressing Social Skills Deficits In Individuals With Disabilities, Deanna P. Pelfrey

Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Doctorate - Doctoral Capstone Symposium

Adaptive recreation programs promote physical participation, confidence, and overall positive well-being; however, research indicates that social and communication challenges often persist when social skills are not intentionally taught (Crespo‑Eguílaz et al., 2024). Additionally, many community recreation settings lack consistent social skills programming to support meaningful social inclusion (Ristevski et al., 2024). This project aimed to address these gaps by integrating social skills instruction into adaptive recreation programming at a community-based recreational facility serving individuals with disabilities. The primary purpose of the project was to strengthen and enhance athletes’ social participation and success by embedding clear social skills modules into existing …

Stricturing Diseases Of The Gastrointestinal Tract—Current Clinical Practice, Monjur Ahmed

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Faculty Papers

Gastrointestinal stricture can occur in the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon, and anorectum. Most of the strictures are benign. The prevalence of esophageal strictures (ES) secondary to eosinophilic esophagitis has increased. Pyloric stenosis (PS) is rarely seen in clinical practice. Sleeve stenosis (SS) and stomal stenosis or gastrojejunal anastomotic stricture (GJAS) are increasingly seen due to bariatric surgery. Crohn's disease (CD) remains a significant challenge even in the biologic era. The symptomatology of strictures depends on the location, severity, and underlying cause. Imaging studies and endoscopic procedures are the primary investigations to diagnose and evaluate strictures. Various treatment modalities are …

Nature-Based Occupational Therapy For Enhancing Education Participation, Malia M. Mendiola, Susan Macdermott

Spring 2026 OTD Capstone Symposium

The project developed nature-based interventions (NBI) resources to support the education participation of neurodivergent high school students. The objective was to increase students’ school participation through nature-based OT for improving emotional regulation, lowering physiological stress, and attention restoration.  Nature immersion was explored through the school's OT program, as well as interdisciplinary collaboration with teachers, other services providers, and community partners. The resource guide focused on benefits, impacts, and practical implementation of NBI for the Winston School and for the broader school-based occupational therapy community.

Russian And Chinese Propaganda In The Modern Era: Two Case Studies Of Corrupt Nations, Matthew P. Clark

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This work is the culmination of my research for an Honors Thesis in Political Science. In the context of my unique definition of propaganda, I compare propaganda in both Russia and China. During the course of this work, I focus on cultural erasure and transformation, economic propaganda, the prevalence of Russian and Chinese state-controlled media to espouse propaganda, and specific quotations by both presidents Putin and Xi. My central contribution to the field of political science is a unique definition of propaganda and an analysis of two different works. The analysis entails a discussion of to what degree each leader …

Shame On You! The Socialization Of Self-Conscious Emotions In Early Childhood, Ashton K. Allen

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how parents and children discuss self-conscious emotions across early childhood. Self-conscious emotions such as shame, guilt, embarrassment, awe, and pride play a critical role in children's social and emotional development. Although prior research has demonstrated links between parent and child emotion talk about basic emotions such as happiness, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, less is known about how parents and children talk about self-conscious emotions. Participants for the current study were 247 parent-child dyads. The dyads completed a wordless storybook task designed to elicit discussion of five self-conscious emotions (shame, guilt, embarrassment, awe, and pride) annually across three …

Impact Of Provider Self-Efficacy On Caring For Patients With Prediabetes, David R. Knight

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Prediabetes affects millions of adults in the United States, yet inconsistent provider knowledge and confidence limit evidence-based screening and management in primary care, a gap well-documented in the literature. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to evaluate whether a structured educational intervention improved provider self-efficacy related to prediabetes identification and management. Guided by Social Cognitive Theory and the Transtheoretical Model, with implementation guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle, this project asked: among family practice providers, how does prediabetes education affect provider self-efficacy over four weeks? A quasi-experimental pre/post design was used. Four asynchronous educational modules focused on evidence-based screening, …

Quality Improvement Project: Faculty Preparedness For Recognition, De Escalation, And Reporting Of Violence In Clinical Education Settings, Dawn "Deedee" D. Moline

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Violence and aggression in healthcare settings present ongoing safety concerns for nursing faculty supervising students during clinical education, particularly when teaching occurs in hospital environments where faculty are not employed. Faculty often rotate across multiple clinical sites and may lack consistent preparation or access to standardized safety education and reporting systems. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice quality improvement project was to evaluate the effect of a targeted educational intervention on nursing faculty perceived preparedness to recognize, de escalate, and report aggression encountered during clinical instruction. Guided by Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory and Lewin’s Three Stage Change Model, …

Promoting Participation In Leisure Activities At The Center For Living And Learning, Katie Eison

OTD Capstone Projects

The Center for Living and Learning is a private nonprofit residential treatment facility on a 30-acre farm in Franklin, TN, housing adults who experience severe and persistent mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. The Center provides opportunities for leisure activities during the day; however, due to symptomology such as avolition, anhedonia, and social withdrawal, residents often struggle with participation in valued leisure activities. This doctoral capstone project aimed to promote participation in leisure activities, social participation, and community engagement. The Interest Checklist and Leisure Satisfaction Measure were administered to determine residents’ individual interests and satisfaction levels with leisure …

Quality Improvement Project: The Impact Of The Clinical Judgment Measurement Model In Nursing Faculty, Lamia Zeidan

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Clinical judgment is essential for nursing practice and can be taught using the Clinical Judgment Measurement Model (CJMM). A needs assessment conducted at the project site revealed that students had limited clinical judgment skills, there was no emphasis on clinical judgment in nursing skills courses, and the faculty had a limited understanding of the CJMM. In response to the findings of the needs assessment, the quality improvement (QI) project was developed using a quasi-experimental design. Guided by Lewin’s Change Theory and Benner’s Novice to Expert Educator theoretical framework, the project aimed to provide faculty with education on the CJMM and …

Bright Star: A Scenic Design, Sariah M, Roberts

Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film: Theses, Student Research, and Creative Work

This thesis documents the process and paperwork of the scenic design and ends with a reflection on how the process affected the final product.

Director, Bobby Pieranunzi

Stage Manager, Savannah Stermer

Lighting Designer, Dean Bressler

Costume Designer, Jamie Bullins

Technical Directors, Bryce Allen, Hayden Honomichl, and Shelby Hindman

Thesis advisor: JD Madsen

Designing, Integrating, And Evaluating Blockchain Assignments In The Undergraduate Computer Science Program, Karol Lejmbach

Dissertations (1934 -)

Blockchains as a technology rely heavily on a wide range of computer science topics. These topics include: algorithms, data structures, network communication, cryptography and many more. These topics align nicely with topics often covered in undergraduate computer science course. Blockchain technology offers an interesting opportunity for computer science educa- tors. Blockchains rely heavily on a wide range of computer science topics. These topics include: cryptography, networking, data structures, and algorithms. Many of these top- ics are explored in undergraduate computer science programs either in core or elective classes. This offers an opportunity for teaching students about emerging technologies, such as …

Capital Projects As Catalysts For Strategic Change And Transformation In Higher Education, Lora Strigens

Dissertations (1934 -)

University campuses and their physical environments are a visible and symbolic representation of institutions. As the higher education landscape continues to shift and faces ongoing disruption, many institutions are considering significant strategic changes or broad transformation to remain competitive and thrive. As campuses around the country contend with aging buildings and infrastructure, they also have strategic priorities related to the changing needs and expectations of students, and the nature of teaching, learning, and research. Among these complex challenges, there is an opportunity to consider how institutions can leverage investment in the physical campus as a catalyst to support the strategic …

Quality Improvement Project: Improving The Clinical Teaching Experience Through Clinical Adjunct Orientation, Elissa Saunders

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Clinical adjunct nursing faculty often transition into academic roles without formal preparation, leading to role insecurity and high turnover rates that negatively impact student clinical experiences. The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project was to implement a structured orientation checklist to improve perceived clinical teaching competency among novice clinical adjunct faculty. The project aimed to standardize onboarding and support the transition from clinical practice to academia. A quantitative pre-post intervention design was used with a convenience sample of clinical adjunct faculty employed for less than one year at a rural university nursing program. The project was guided by Kotter’s …

The Effects Anorexia Nervosa Has On Cognitive Function, Gracie Jensen

Psychology Student Publications

This paper examines the effects of anorexia nervosa on cognitive function and how it impacts children and adolescents' everyday lives. It highlights the importance of increased awareness and support for the individuals affected by the disorder.

Large Language Model For X Language Simulation: Architecture, Key Technologies, And Typical Applications, Laichunyang Peng, Fei Ye, Xiaoming Guo, Jinglin Zhou

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: General-purpose large language models lack training on X language-specific corpora, and traditional fine-tuning methods lack targeted adaptation to the interdisciplinary integration and multimodule coupling of X language, resulting in problems such as non-standard syntax and semantic deviation in generated code. To address these issues, this paper systematically proposed the definition and integrated architecture of a large language model for X language simulation. Modeling subclasses were defined according to the disciplines and classes of X language, and dedicated adapters were constructed for each subclass. By merging their weights during the inference phase, the incremental integration of multi-domain modeling skills was …

Vehicle Routing Optimization For Underground Mines Considering Fuzzy Demand And Time Tolerance, Guorong Wang, Haishun Deng, Ziming Kou, Xuanxuan Yan, Zhixiang Huang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To solve the problem of material demand fluctuation and different time windows in auxiliary transportation of underground mines, a routing optimization method for material distribution considering fuzzy demand and time tolerance was proposed. Based on the fuzzy credibility theory, uncertain demand was constrained by fuzzy chance constraints, and a multi-objective routing optimization model for underground mine auxiliary transportation was constructed with the objectives of minimizing the total operating cost of vehicles and maximizing time tolerance. A multi-objective genetic algorithm with mixed dominance strength was designed to solve the model. By calculating the deviation difference of Pareto frontier solutions, …

Auv Path Planning Integrating Local-Global Strategies In Unknown Environments, Wenlong Meng, Yanbo Pu, Ya Gong

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Existing path planning algorithms often struggle to efficiently explore and generate high-quality trajectories. To address this issue, this paper proposes a path planning algorithm that integrates local-global strategies. By employing the rolling window technique, the global one-time path planning problem is transformed into an iterative process of multiple local planning stages. During the global exploration phase, the rolling window is used to determine high-level path branches and to identify branch waypoints, thereby refining the calculation of local paths. In the local exploration phase, an improved RRT-Connect algorithm is proposed, which combines adaptive circular sampling with dynamic step length to …

Modelling Method Of Unmanned Vehicle Dynamics Based On Neural Network, Jun Wang, Min Liu, Xiaochuan Zhang, Yishan Ding, Juhui Feng, Ye Zhuang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To address the challenges of high data acquisition costs of test data on dynamic characteristics between tires and soft terrain and low speed of numerical calculation for unmanned vehicles in complex terrestrial environments, a modeling method of unmanned vehicle dynamics based on a neural network was proposed. Tire-terrain contact dynamics models were built by using discrete element method (DEM) simulations for tire-terrain contact and experimental data, thereby creating a dataset of tire contact forces for various tire materials in terrestrial environments. The neural network was applied to regressively learn the dataset, and a nonlinear neural network tire model was …

Large-Scale Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm Based On Multi-Region Dynamic Grouping, Binhao Liang, Jingxuan Wei, Fengqin Liang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The decision variable dimension of large-scale multi-objective optimization problems can reach hundreds or even thousands. For existing large-scale multi-objective evolutionary algorithms based on decision variable analysis, which usually consume a large amount of computational resources for grouping and fail to consider the interactions between convergence-related variables and diversity-related variables, a large-scale multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on multi-region adaptive dynamic grouping was proposed. The algorithm employed a Gaussian mixture model to partition the decision space into multiple regions; within each region, feature vectors were constructed for each decision variable, and spectral clustering was utilized to perform grouping. To validate …

Intelligent Competition Platform And Mode Driven By Cloud-Native Simulation, Long Qin, Hesong Huang, Lujia Yin, Chuan Ai, Qi Zhang, Xinmeng Li

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To solve the problems faced by the adversarial competition mode of agents, including difficult development and deployment, low resource utilization, poor reusability, and difficulty in accessing reinforcement learning algorithms, a new agent simulation training platform was designed. The software components of the competition platform were decoupled based on cloud-native technology; a high-performance simulation engine for the competition environment was proposed; a new method of an embedded reinforcement learning model for an intelligent control terminal was designed, with multiple online and offline policy-based reinforcement learning algorithms set. The experiment demonstrates that the development and deployment of the system is efficient, …

Intersection Positioning Algorithm With Spatial Translation Based On Sar Scene Matching, Cheng'en Pu, Yumin Lai, Rui Shi, Yan Liao, Kezi Meng, Lifeng Qu

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To address the problem that the positioning precision of the inertial navigation system cannot meet the requirements of autonomous positioning when the aircraft flies, an autonomous positioning method with spatial translation based on circular scanning scene matching of SAR was proposed. The spatial translation positioning model of the aircraft was established according to the position of the ground matching points obtained by single point and single circular scanning scene matching of SAR, the oblique distance between the matching points and the aircraft, and the inertial measurement information of the aircraft. The characteristic information of the matching point sequence was …