Digital Commons Network^™

Testing P300-Based Biometric Authentication Paradigms, Jordan Razzak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bench research suggests that P300 amplitude is greater in response to self-relevant stimuli compared to familiar stimuli. This effect could enable a novel method of biometric authentication based on the self-relevant P300. This dissertation aims to: (1) determine the optimal presentation paradigm for leveraging self-relevance in P300-based biometric authentication, and (2) investigate P300 responses from self-relevant stimuli versus stimuli learned over the course of a week.

Two presentation paradigms were compared – rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) and matrix presentation (MP). Participant-specific RSVP and MP classifiers were trained by applying stepwise linear discriminant analysis to data collected during presentations of …

Reapplication And Credential Completion Among Non-Selected Community College Health Science Applicants: A Social Stratification Perspective, Donna G. Whitehouse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reapplication and Credential Completion Among Non-Selected Community College Health Science Applicants: A Social Stratification Perspective by Donna Whitehouse Community colleges serve as primary access points for healthcare workforce preparation, yet thousands of qualified applicants are not selected for competitive admission health science programs each year. Research on what happens to these students following non-selection is limited, and existing studies focus almost exclusively on nursing, leaving allied health programs largely absent from the literature. This study addressed that gap by examining the reapplication behavior and credential completion outcomes among 2,604 applicants to three competitive admission health science programs, Nursing, Occupational Therapy …

Student Motivation In Writing, Technology Integration, And Middle Grade Pedagogy, Carol M. Edge

Dissertations

This qualitative case study explored how seventh-grade students experienced three-dimensional (3D) holographic technology during writing instruction. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Multimodality Theory, the study examined how students’ intrinsic motivation processes were influenced by immersive learning environments that incorporated multiple modes of communication. A qualitative case study design was employed with 15 seventh-grade students. Data were triangulated through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and artifact analysis.

Findings indicated that the 3D holographic environment supported students’ experiences of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Students engaged with diverse modes of expression, including textual, visual, spatial, and gestural forms, which enhanced their …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of African American Female Leaders In Public K-12 Schools In Georgia, Tyisha Davis

Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how the intersectionality of race and gender shapes the leadership experiences of African American women in public K–12 schools. Despite comprising a significant portion of the educator workforce, African American women remain underrepresented in school leadership positions nationally, warranting deeper examinations of their professional pathways and daily realities. This qualitative study employed interpretative phenomenological analysis, guided by an intersectional framework, to understand the lived experiences of 10 African American female educational leaders across K–12 settings in Georgia. Principals, assistant principals, instructional specialists, and a superintendent engaged in semi-structured interviews analyzed through …

Perceptions Of Family Involvement And Its Influence On High School Attendance: Voices Of Families And Mathematics Teachers, Amber Phillips

Dissertations

Chronic absenteeism continues to be a growing concern in high schools, particularly in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. Although family involvement has been widely studied in elementary and middle schools, less is known about how families and mathematics teachers experience school-based family involvement at the high school level. This qualitative case study explored those perspectives at a rural high school in Northwest Georgia. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with five families and five upper-level mathematics teachers, and a focus group was conducted with eight mathematics teachers. Interview and focus group transcripts were analyzed using structural and focused coding to …

The Influence Of Shape Complexity And Exploratory Behavior On Grasping, Mckenzie Gunter

Dissertations

People can orient and configure their hands in many ways in order to grasp objects. The current study investigates how object shape and hand placement influence graspability of objects, and how experimentally imposed constraints on grasping type alter grasping behavior. In a recent study, Gunter and Hajnal (under review) found that the ratio of object curvature and maximal handspan is the variable that defines the affordance of graspability. The current study aims to extend these findings by employing a more precise measurement of finger placement in two experiments using 3D printed objects as stimuli. To capture varying complexities of object …

Hope Kit Program, Monica Reuber

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Suicide is a leading cause of death in adolescents and young adults, with a disproportionate burden of those deaths in rural areas such as Kansas. High rates of depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal attempts, combined with a shortage of mental health providers, emphasize the need for community-based intervention.

This capstone is designed to develop a plan for Hope Kits, a proposed suicide prevention program, among youth in grades 7-12 in Sheridan County, Kansas to improve coping skills, promote help-seeking behavior, and reduce suicide risks.

A logic model guides the program development, which aligns with available literature and Social Cognitive …

Why They Stay: Career Development, Personal Growth, And The Retention Of Higher Education General Staff, Ursula Brady

All Dissertations

Higher education general staff (HEGS) are critical to the operational continuity and institutional success of U.S. colleges and universities, yet their retention remains a persistent challenge. While faculty development has received sustained attention, HEGS have historically lacked equivalent access to career advancement and personal growth opportunities. This study examined how perceived access to career development and personal growth opportunities was associated with job satisfaction and turnover intention among HEGS and tested whether job satisfaction mediated these relationships. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory and Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, this study hypothesized that career development and personal growth would predict turnover intention both directly …

Shared Identity, Shared Trust: How Cultural Sensitivity Signaling And Advisor Race Shape Minority Investors' Trust And Investment Intentions, Kathy J. Kuria

All Dissertations

Persistent racial disparities in stock market participation constrain wealth accumulation among African American and Latino households. This study examined how two forms of representation, a firm’s cultural-sensitivity disclosure (an organizational signal) and the advisor’s racial identity, shape trust and investment intentions among these groups. Drawing on social identity theory, signaling theory, and the impression-formation/stereotype-reconciliation literature, this study hypothesized that disclosure and a minority advisor independently increase trust, that the cues would be complementary, and that trust would mediate their impact on investment intentions. A 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment with African American and Latino adults tested predictions using ANOVA, ANCOVA, …

Beyond Execution: Managerial Attributes For Successful Experiential Marketing, Joann Imosi Emale

All Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between what consumers value in experiential marketing events and the managerial competencies organizations seek when hiring experiential marketing roles. As brands increasingly compete on emotional and sensory engagement, the experiential marketing manager has become central to execution, yet the role remains loosely defined, and the skills it demands are rarely tied to what audiences respond to. This research addressed that gap by asking which event attributes consumers prized most, which respondent characteristics shaped those preferences, and what competencies employers asked for when they hired the managers who built these experiences.

Survey data were collected from …

Social Workers’ Lived Experiences Of Trauma-Informed Training, Ashley Ann Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social workers report limited formal training in trauma-informed approaches, and implementation of trauma-informed care varies widely across settings, with inconsistent training uptake and organizational support for sustained practice change. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of social workers in trauma-informed training. The study was guided by trauma-informed care principles and an experiential learning framework. The research question examined how social workers develop trauma-informed competence and how systemic factors influence practice. Data were collected through 11 semi structured interviews with social workers and analyzed using thematic analysis. Three key themes emerged: (a) trauma-informed competence …

Park Visitor Education And Landscape Conservation: Evaluating Education-Based Strategies To Mitigate Visitor-Caused Damage In Goblin Valley State Park, Jason Beukers

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Goblin Valley State Park contains rare and highly fragile geological formations that are increasingly impacted through visitor-caused damage. While the park’s open-range management approach enhances recreational freedom and the visitor experience, it also leaves vulnerable hoodoo formations susceptible to vandalism and damage by visitor behavior and exploration. Balancing public access with landscape preservation remains a persistent challenge, particularly in large, protected areas where staffing, enforcement, and management resources are limited. This thesis reviews the effectiveness of management strategies, particularly education-based strategies such as signage and visitor messaging, in reducing depreciative visitor behaviors in national and state parks and other protected …

Language Learning Under Pressure: Rethinking Anxiety, Assessment, And Support In Second Language Classrooms, Bryn C. Cole

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This portfolio examines the role of anxiety in second language acquisition (SLA) and its impact on student performance, assessment, and overall participation. Drawing on both the author’s classroom experience and SLA research, it argues that language anxiety should be understood as a structural feature of classroom environments rather than an individual learner deficit. The paper explores how traditional assessment practices may obscure students’ underlying competence by prioritizing performance under pressure. It proposes two key shifts in response: reformatting assessments as a more flexible and context-sensitive process, and integrating peer mentorship as a form of interpersonal instructional support. Together, these approaches …

A Focus On Student Needs In German Instruction, Elisa E. Remund

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This portfolio serves as documentation of the author’s professional progress throughout the Master of Science of Second Language Teaching (MSSLT) program at Utah State University, shown through teaching philosophy, hands-on teaching experience and practice, and demonstrates the author’s use of pedagogical strategies and theory, including but not exclusive to comprehensible input, the sociocultural method, dynamic assessment, and the output hypothesis. It details the usage of current research-based strategies to increase classroom engagement and student proficiency, such as the IMAGE Model for teaching culture and language, collaborative learning, and dynamic assessment strategies. Furthermore, the portfolio includes a reflection on the benefits …

Tales, Traditions, And Tides: The Little Logan River And Its Role In Cache Valley's History, Culture, And Conservation, Emily A. Kovacic

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The Little Logan River (LLR) plays a vital role in the cultural, historical, and ecological landscape of Cache Valley, Utah. Amid growing concerns raised by the Logan River Watershed Project (LRWP), which threatens to alter the river’s environment, this project seeks to understand the significance of the LLR as a cultural and recreational asset through collected oral histories. Building on folkloric perspectives of place-based storytelling, this thesis introduces the idea of vivus locum, or “that place which is alive,” through the example of the LLR to the study of folkloristics. The concept of vivus locum emphasizes the importance of …

Music And Middle School Mathematics, Cheryl L. Hawkins

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The purpose of this project was to see if music playing in the background while learning essential mathematics skills would make a difference in the learning process of middle school students. For nine weeks I collected data on the scores of the special education students relearning skills they had been previously taught in a general education mathematics class. The students took a baseline assessment, then had 30-40 minutes of instruction spread across two days. They then took another assessment to see what the change was. During the lessons and assessments there was one of three conditions happening, one was silence, …

History In The Social Studies Classroom: Developing Historical Literacy And Skills Through Inquiry Lessons, Nancy J. Thatcher

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This Plan B project has created a series of inquiry-based lesson plans and activities for World History classrooms that emphasize historical literacy and disciplinary thinking. Rather than producing a traditional research thesis, this project emphasizes applied historical scholarship by translating historical and professional methodology into three classroom ready instructional lesson plans that are aligned with the Utah Core Standards for Social Studies. The project reflects the History MA’s emphasis on disciplinary rigor while addressing the practical needs of public history and education with pedagogical best practices. This project responds to ongoing challenges in World History education, including constrained instructional time, …

Parametric Assessment Of Nicotine Vapor Self-Administration In Rats, Tiffany Alexandra Gonzalez-Gutierrez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The increasing prevalence of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use among adolescents highlights the need to identify factors that promote nicotine vapor use in populations most susceptible to its long-term consequences. This requires translationally relevant animal models of nicotine vapor self-administration (VSA). Accordingly, the goal of this dissertation was to evaluate 2 key factors hypothesized to influence nicotine VSA in rats, including age and e-liquid vehicle composition. Given recent mandates on studying sex as a biological variable, the present work included both female and male rats. Aim 1 compared VSA behavior during adolescence (adolescent-onset) or adulthood (adult-onset) in groups that received vapor …

Food Insecurity And Parent Engagement In Pediatric Therapy: A Comparative Study Of Feeding, Speech-Language, And Combined Services, Kendra Kendra Rosales

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Pediatric feeding disorders and food insecurity represent two compounding challenges for families navigating pediatric therapy services, yet their intersection has received little empirical attention. This study examined food insecurity rates across three pediatric therapy groups and explored the relationship between food insecurity and parent engagement in therapy. A cross-sectional online survey was administered to 175 caregivers of children actively receiving feeding therapy only (n = 34), speech-language therapy only (n = 93), or combined feeding and speech-language therapy (n = 48). Food insecurity was assessed using the USDA Household Food Security Survey Module: Six-Item Short Form, and parent engagement was …

Domain Adaptation Of Facial Age Estimation For Law Enforcement Mugshot Repositories, Jorge Alejandro Pacheco Roque

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Facial age estimation supports law enforcement via image-based, age-filtered queries, age-progressive re-identification, and bulk record labeling, where prediction accuracy determines if the resulting decisions can be trusted. State-of-the-art models excel on web imagery but incur higher error on mugshots due to domain shift between the professionally lit, filtered, and posed web photographs used during pre-training and the uniform backgrounds, uncooperative expressions, and decades of evolving capture technology found in mugshot collections. We address this gap by adapting SwinFace - a state-of-the-art multi-task Swin Transformer with public code and pretrained weights, trained on color face imagery for face recognition, facial expression …

"Fenomeno Frontera:" Family Language Policy As Lived Experience At The U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, Alejandra Sanmiguel-Lopez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Family language policy (FLP) research expands the understanding of how families' language ideologies, language management, and language practices shape children's bilingual development. However, limited research has examined these processes among transfronterizo families living along the U.S.-México border. This qualitative narrative inquiry explores how transfronterizo families describe and negotiate their family language policies and how these policies relate to their experiences in the borderland, including their relationships with schools. Guided by family language policy and borderlands theory, this dissertation employs Seidman's (2006) three-interview series with five transfronterizo mothers raising children enrolled in dual language programs in the El Paso, Texas, region. …

Essays On Firm-Level Political Risk, Addback Statutes, And Corporate Decisions, Obed Nana Buadi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation comprises three chapters examining how political risk and tax enforcement shape corporate investment decisions and firm value. The first essay investigates how firm-level political risk affects investment efficiency among U.S. firms. Using 40,215 firm-year observations spanning 2002-2022 and exploiting the Hassan et al. (2019) political risk index as a firm-specific measure, we find that political risk reduces investment efficiency exclusively through underinvestment - a one-standard-deviation increase corresponds to approximately $5.7 million in foregone annual investment for a median firm. Mediation analysis confirms that precautionary cash hoarding accounts for 31.8% of the effect, establishing uncertainty - rather than capital …

The Role Of Public Spaces In Facilitating Social Interactions On Summer Weekends, Sierra R. Murray

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Public spaces such as parks, plazas, and pedestrian areas are important places where people meet, relax, and interact with others. While these spaces are intended to bring communities together, their design does not always support social interaction. This study explored how everyday design features influence how people use public spaces and engage with one another. Features such as seating, trees and plants, shade, water elements, and the way spaces are shaped were examined. The goal was to better understand how design choices affect social life in shared outdoor environments. 

The research involved observing how people naturally behaved in different public …

The Augmented Matching Law, Matias A. Avellaneda

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Every living organism, including humans, has a finite amount of time available: 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year, and a certain number of years in its life. At every moment, such an organism will be engaging in one of a multitude of possible activities, such as eating, sleeping, or reading this dissertation. We use the term choice to denote the way in which the organism distributes its time among all these activities, and some of these choice patterns are more beneficial to the organism than others, showcasing the importance of understanding the mechanisms underlying choice. A …

Viability Assessment Of Bovine Embryos: A Public Dataset And Deep Learning Baselines, Erfan Khayyati

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Improving the success rates of cattle breeding is essential for sustainable agriculture, global food security, and high-quality livestock production. Currently, determining whether a lab-grown bovine embryo is healthy enough for a successful pregnancy requires highly trained experts to manually evaluate days of continuous time-lapse video footage. This process is not only incredibly time-consuming but also highly subjective; human reviewers often suffer from visual fatigue when tracking subtle, microscopic cellular changes over a seven-day period, leading to significant disagreement among even top experts on an embryo’s true potential. Furthermore, assessing bovine embryos is notoriously difficult due to their dark, lipid-dense cellular …

Nicotine Aerosol Self-Administration And Reward Potentiation: Using A Preclinical Model Of Vaping To Investigate The Stimulus-Enhancing Properties Of Nicotine, Kiernan T. Callister

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States and worldwide. Nicotine, the primary component of tobacco, is responsible for the addiction to tobacco and nicotine products, such as Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). The widespread consumption of these products is motivated by several complex properties of nicotine, such as its ability to increase the rewarding value of stimuli in the environment. Although reward enhancement has been demonstrated via smoking and other forms of nicotine intake, it is unclear if these effects extend to electronic cigarettes. The present study used an animal model of …

Youth Agricultural Engagement And Its Association With Dietary Diversity, Household Food Insecurity, And Nutritional Status In Southwest Nigeria, Sherif Olasoji

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Youth remain underserved in nutrition research, policy, and programming despite being an integral part of the food systems. While the nutrition-sensitive agriculture framework has been established, there is limited evidence demonstrating how youth engagement in agriculture can serve as a pathway to improve nutritional outcomes. The study assessed youth agricultural engagement and its association with household dietary diversity, household food insecurity, and nutritional status in southwest Nigeria.

Using a cross-sectional design, data on socio-demographic characteristics, agricultural engagement, dietary diversity, household food insecurity, body mass index, and skin carotenoids were collected from 143 youth aged 15 to 35 from Ekiti, Osun, …

Reciprocal Teaching With Emergent Bilingual Students: Promoting Academic Reading Strategies And Fostering Hope, Lorissa K. Nelson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Many students struggle with reading comprehension, and research shows that low literacy skills in a student’s first language can unfortunately lead to lower rates of university program completion, regardless of the language of instruction. When students feel empowered and confident in their ability to achieve their academic goals, they are much more likely to take ownership of their learning. In fact, students who actively demonstrate hopeful thinking and behaviors are consistently more successful in their academic journeys.

My research explores how we can better support these high school students— specifically concurrent enrollment (CE) students—by examining the impact of Reciprocal Teaching. …

The Impact Of Early Exposure To Engineering Concepts In The Form Of Family, School Classes, And Stem Extracurriculars On The Long-Term Sense Of Belonging In Undergraduate Women In Engineering, Hannah Lloyd

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Engineering continues to struggle with the underrepresentation of women, and many women who begin engineering programs report feeling isolated or uncertain about whether they belong. A strong sense of belonging has been linked to greater confidence, persistence, and success in engineering. This study examined how early experiences with engineering before college may influence students' sense of belonging later in their undergraduate engineering programs.

Using survey responses from undergraduate engineering students across the United States, this study explored several types of early exposure to engineering, including family influence, school-based engineering and STEM courses, extracurricular programs such as robotics clubs and engineering …

Evolving Roles: School Counselors Addressing Mental Health In Pk-12 Education, Evin Daines

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

A significant number of children and youth are currently experiencing poor mental health. School counselors work with all students and are in a position to provide support to students experiencing mental health challenges. School counselors can also identify what may hinder children and youth from accessing mental health resources in their communities. This study explores how many school counselors engage in mental health counseling, how school counselors view their roles in addressing student mental health, and what barriers they perceive as keeping children and youth from accessing mental health and behavior services.