Digital Commons Network^™

Theory Of Mind Across Cultures: Psychological Implications, Lewis Hancock, Simon Dein

Online Readings in Psychology and Culture

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to a set of social and cognitive abilities that we use to infer and understand other people’s mental states. This paper begins by outlining ToM, its component skills, and what research methods have been used to measure it. It then summarises research on how culture and other social factors such as language, parenting, and socio-economic status can impact its development, in particular differences in age of mastery of various aspects of ToM. Mental disorders characterised by deficits in ToM – in particular ASD – are also discussed and used to elucidate its nature and development. …

K–5 Teachers’ Perceptions Toward Implementing An Lgbtqia+-Inclusive Curriculum In New Jersey, Stephanie J. Faille

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem that was addressed through this study is the gap in literature about K–5 teachers’ challenges in implementing an LGBTQIA+-inclusive curriculum in New Jersey. Grounded in Fuller’s concerns of teachers framework and Foucault’s seminal work on the historical treatment of members of the LGBTQIA+ community, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore K–5 teachers’ challenges in implementing an LGBTQIA+-inclusive curriculum in New Jersey. Purposeful and snowball sampling were used to recruit 11 K–5 teachers who self-identified as having implemented the New Jersey LGBTQIA+-inclusive curriculum. Data collected through semistructured interviews were analyzed using a priori codes in …

Visual Ecologies And Language In Digital Environments: Narratives From First-Year Composition Students In Multimodal Learning, Elizabeth Escobedo Salazar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The expansion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) developed new perceptions of learning, communication processes, shaped university students' new practices and has brought about significant changes in social dynamics. Images and visual language have become central to the way humans communicate, communication processes have changed, and the composition and creation of arguments have changes. In this context, the use of multiple screens (Multiscreens) has led to multitasking, but additionally in digital contexts where students are hyper-connected. They do their homework while on social media, texting, creating videos, using a new app, or watching a movie on YouTube or Netflix. This …

Poking Holes And Adding Points In Dictator Games, James C. Cox, Cary Deck, Laura Razzolini, Vjollca Sadiraj

ESI Working Papers

Deviations from choices predicted by self-regarding preferences have regularly been observed in standard dictator games. Such behavior is not inconsistent with conventional preference theory or revealed preference theory, which accommodate other-regarding preferences. By contrast, experiments in which giving nothing is not the least generous feasible act produce data that is inconsistent with conventional preference theory including social preference models and suggest the possible relevance of reference point models. Two such models are the reference-dependent theory of riskless choice with loss aversion and choice monotonicity in moral reference points. Our experiment includes novel treatments designed to challenge both theoretical models of …

Ai Companions And The Lessons Of Family Law, Clare Huntington

Faculty Scholarship

Virtual friends and lovers powered by artificial intelligence are rapidly moving to the center of our emotional and social lives. Millions of people turn to AI companions every day for conversation, romance, sexual intimacy, therapy, and education. AI companionship holds promise, potentially reducing loneliness, supporting people without access to mental health treatment, helping students learn, and offering a judgment-free space for sensitive conversations. But AI companionship also raises significant concerns. The technology's addictiveness may exacerbate loneliness and can undermine human relationships. Therapy bots may prove more harmful than helpful. AI companions can be emotionally abusive. And their access to the …

Child-Taking Justice And The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

The focus of this article is the 2022–2024 Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative undertaken the U.S. Executive Branch. The article chronicles this three-year process, which included sessions with survivors and their descendants, and which resulted in a two-volume report, in an apology by President Joe Biden, and in designation of a national memorial at one of the most notorious school sites. This article examines the initiative as an example of “child-taking justice”; that is, as a process of what is called “transitional justice”, done in an effort to redress the takings of children from their community, followed by efforts to …

Development Of A Ux Effectiveness Evaluation Tool For Mental Health Mobile Applications, Stephanie Caridad Dr. Landicho, Maria Aura Teodora C. Matias

Journal Article

This study developed and validated a comprehensive User Experience (UX) evaluation tool specifically designed for mental health mobile applications. User experience plays a critical role in sustaining engagement and effectiveness in digital mental health interventions, yet existing evaluation tools are not tailored to the unique challenges of this domain. Through a multi-phase process, the research identified 12 key domains for evaluation and developed an initial 48-item instrument, which was refined through expert panel review for face and content validity, resulting in 50 items. Pilot testing with 19 participants demonstrated strong internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.972). Full-scale testing involved 205 …

Perceived Courier Service Quality On Online Sellers’ Intentions To Reduce Overpackaging, Freya Jiana T. Arellano, Marc Immanuel G. Isip

Journal Article

This study focused on understanding the intentions of Filipino online sellers to reduce overpackaging, recognizing their pivotal role in addressing packaging waste. Specifically, the study employed Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and extended it by integrating Perceived Courier Service Quality (PCSQ) to explain Filipino online sellers’ intentions to reduce overpackaging. Additionally, the study examined the mediating role of TPB constructs in the relationship between PCSQ and these intentions. Quantitative data collected from 182 Filipino online sellers revealed positive intentions among these sellers to reduce overpackaging. Results from the Partial Least Squares – Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) identified Attitude and …

Extremism Governance In The United Arab Emirates: A Case Study Using Qualitative Policy Framework, Haya Saleh Almansoori

Theses

This thesis investigates how the United Arab Emirates governs extremism using various models of governance and Gareth Morgan’s metaphorical organizational models. This research goes beyond a focus on security and looks at extremism as a governance and policy problem related to social cohesion, institutional trust, and legitimacy. The research utilizes a qualitative case study design through analyzing federal laws and national strategies, as well as institutional frameworks to understand how authority, coordination and meaning are organized in the UAE’s governance of extremism.

The results show that the UAE’s governance of extremism is characterized as a hybrid governance model with hierarchical …

Ceo-Board Political Alignment And Firm Performance: An Examination Of Declines From Homogeneity That Are Mitigated By Ceo Psychological Traits, James Grabowski, Christina Robichaud, David B. Wangrow

Management Faculty Research and Publications

As people group themselves by their political ideologies, ideological alignment is likely to occur in workgroups—including boards of directors. While some research highlights positive outcomes from shared group characteristics, homogeneity can also hinder decision-making due to fewer perspectives being considered, limited sharing of non-conforming information, and narrowed problem solving. Building from prior research, we contend that substantial political alignment between a CEO and board members aligns them toward a common cognition, which fosters negative effects associated with homogeneity and subsequently reduces firm performance. We further contend that these performance reductions can be mitigated by psychological traits associated with managerial discretion. …

Intentional Creation Of Suboptimal, Realistic Dose Distributions, Skylar S Gay, Mary P Gronberg, Raymond Mumme, Beth M Beadle, Anuja Jhingran, Tze Yee Lim, Zhiqian H Yu, Christine Chung, Meena Khan, Chelsea Pinnix, Sanjay Shete, Brent Parker, Tucker J Netherton, Carlos E Cardenas, Laurence E Court

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Radiation oncology residents report a lack of understanding and confidence in assessing radiotherapy plan quality. A contributing factor is the environment in which plan review is taught during residency, that is, routine clinical practice, which does not provide ample time for self-guided practice in a low-stakes setting. Expertise in plan review requires diverse case presentation and many examples, which are often not achievable in smaller programs and for less common cancer types. As plan quality affects patient outcomes, it is important to address these pitfalls in the education of residents on plan review.

Purpose: To address the identified pitfalls …

Integration Of Genetic And Imaging Data For Alzheimer's Disease Diagnosis And Interpretation, Yanfei Wang, Qing Wang, Minghao Zhou, Jialu Liang, Lei You, Breton Asken, Xiaobo Zhou, Qianqian Song

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by complex interactions between genetic risk factors and structural brain changes. Traditional diagnostic approaches that rely on single-modality data, such as imaging or genomics alone, often fall short in both predictive accuracy and biological interpretability. To address these limitations, AlzCLIP, a novel contrastive learning framework that integrates single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) profiles and MRI-derived imaging features into a unified embedding space is introduced. This joint representation captures disease-relevant interactions between genetic variation and brain structure, enabling both accurate diagnosis and mechanistic insight into AD. AlzCLIP is trained and evaluated on two …

Opposing Roles Of Microglial And Macrophagic C3ar1 Signaling In Stress-Induced Synaptic And Behavioral Changes, Ashutosh Tripathi, Alona Bartosh, Dania Jose, Jocelyn Mata, Usama Hussein, Fernanda Laezza, Zhongming Zhao, Anilkumar Pillai

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The social deficits following chronic stress conditions are linked to synaptic dysfunction in the brain. Complement system plays a critical role in synapse regulation. Although complement has been implicated in chronic stress-induced behavior deficits the cellular substrates and mechanisms underlying complement-mediated behavior changes under chronic stress conditions are not known. In the present study, we investigated the role of complement component 3a receptor (C3ar1) in microglia and monocytes/macrophages (Mo/MΦ) in chronic unpredictable stress (CUS)-induced synapse loss and behavior deficits in mice. We found that deletion of microglial C3ar1 attenuated stress-induced social behavior deficits and changes in neuroinflammatory as well as …

Fontan Circulation And Transplantation: Considerations For The Complex Candidate., Drishti Tolani, Sharon Chen, Edo Bedzra, Kurt R. Schumacher, Shahnawaz Amdani

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

The Fontan operation has transformed survival for patients with single ventricle congenital heart disease, but the long-term durability of this physiology remains limited. Fontan circulatory failure (FCF) is a progressive, heterogeneous condition associated with multiorgan dysfunction, lymphatic failure, and elevated post-transplant risk when not recognized early. With increasing survival into adulthood, heart transplantation has emerged as the definitive "fourth stage" of palliation. However, referrals for advanced therapies are often delayed, with many patients presenting in advanced stages of decline. This review synthesizes current evidence on the pathophysiology of Fontan failure, outlines consensus indications for transplant evaluation, and highlights pre-transplant strategies …

Black And Latine Youth Thinking About Punitive And Restorative Approaches In Relation To Race/Ethnicity, Gabriel M. Velez, Amelia Kasper

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

Restorative practices (RPs) are a growing approach to mitigate racial/ethnic disparities in school disciplinary systems. This qualitative study explores the lived experiences of Black and/or Latine students, examining how they perceive and interpret disciplinary approaches in their schools. Using focus groups across seven high schools (N = 93 participants), we explored how students made meaning of the potential of RP. Overall, participants expressed nuanced opinions regarding the purposes and effectiveness of both punitive and restorative approaches. Specifically, participants demonstrated mixed thinking about punitive and restorative responses, connected the efficacy of responses to context, and stressed the importance of incorporating …

The Impact Of Relative Bridge Width On Highway Crashes In Nebraska, Mujahid Ali Bahadur

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This research examines how bridge width relative to the approach roadway affects crash occurrence on Nebraska highways. The Nebraska Department of Transportation-(NDOT) Bridge Design Manual sets minimum bridge widths based on roadway classification, traffic projections, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ (AASHTO) Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) criteria. While these guidelines ensure structural and functional adequacy, they do not incorporate safety performance analyses based on crash data. This leaves an important gap in understanding how bridge and approach roadway width decisions influence safety outcomes.

This research has four objectives: (1) evaluate crash frequency across different …