Digital Commons Network^™

Closer Than They Appear: Parasocial Relationships, Social Processes, And Emotional Intimacy, Paige Bedore

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Decades of research have attempted to clarify the mechanisms underlying parasocial relationships, or one-sided relationships. Yet, relatively little empirical attention has been given to the subjective experiences of intimacy that occur in these relationships or to making direct comparisons between social and parasocial relational processes within individuals. The present study aimed to address these gaps and to investigate whether selected variables associated with social relationships similarly predicted parasocial relationship strength. Adult participants identified both a meaningful social relationship target and a parasocial target before completing measures of relationship strength, intimacy, attachment style, and cumulative exposure for each relationship type. Hypotheses …

Promoting Adolescent Girls’ Mental Health And Resilience In West And Central Africa, Mame Soukeye Mbaye, Sarah Engebretsen, Maty Dia, Karen Austrian

Adolescents and Young People

The Girls’ Futures in Focus: Evidence from West and Central Africa series examines the challenges facing adolescent girls in the region and highlights evidence-informed approaches to improving their lives. This brief emphasizes the importance of adolescent girls’ mental health and resilience in the West and Central African context. It summarizes the evidence on the burden of mental health disorders among adolescent girls, drawing on evidence from the GIRL Center’s priority countries. The brief points to community-based interventions and strategies that have the potential to transform girls’ mental health and resilience.

Promouvoir La Santé Mentale Et La Résilience Des Adolescentes En Afrique De L’Ouest Et Du Centre, Mame Soukeye Mbaye, Sarah Engebretsen, Maty Dia, Karen Austrian

Adolescents and Young People

La série « L’avenir des filles en point de mire : données probantes d’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre » examine les défis auxquels font face les adolescentes de la région et met en lumière des approches éclairées par les données probantes pour améliorer leurs conditions de vie. Cette note souligne l’importance de la santé mentale et de la résilience des adolescentes dans le contexte de l’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre. Elle résume les données disponibles sur le fardeau des troubles de santé mentale chez les adolescentes, en s’appuyant sur les données issues des pays prioritaires du GIRL Center. …

Intentional Investment In Adolescent Girls In The Digital Space In West And Central Africa, Mame Soukeye Mbaye, Sarah Engebretsen, Maty Dia, Karen Austrian

Adolescents and Young People

The Girls’ Futures in Focus: Evidence from West and Central Africa series examines the challenges facing adolescent girls in the region and highlights evidence-informed approaches to improving their lives. This brief summarizes the evidence on which adolescent girls are most excluded from the digital space in West and Central Africa (WCA), drawing on evidence from the GIRL Center’s priority countries. It identifies digital approaches that may be relevant for adolescent girls in the West and Central African context, while recognizing that rigorous evidence remains limited, especially in francophone and fragile settings.

Climate Change And Adolescent Girls In West And Central Africa: Building A Girl-Intentional Response, Mame Soukeye Mbaye, Sarah Engebretsen, Maty Dia, Karen Austrian

Adolescents and Young People

The Girls’ Futures in Focus: Evidence from West and Central Africa series examines the challenges facing adolescent girls in the region and highlights evidence-informed approaches to improving their lives. This brief summarizes the evidence on how climate shocks reshape the lives of adolescent girls in West and Central Africa, drawing in particular on evidence from the GIRL Center’s priority countries. It examines gendered climate vulnerabilities, gaps in climate policies that overlook girls, and emerging adaptation strategies that hold promise for girls in the region. The brief points to what a girl-intentional climate response could look like across the priority countries.

Parent Emotion Socialization And The Influence On Child Emotion Regulation In A Clinical Sample, Crystal Tracy

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to contribute to existing literature by examining parent emotion socialization (i.e., parent orientation to child emotion) and its influence on child internalizing symptoms. Prior research suggests that parent emotion socialization impacts child emotion regulation and internalizing symptoms; however, there is little research at present focused specifically on the influence of parent orientation to child emotion on child internalizing symptoms through child emotion dysregulation. This study adds to the literature by considering the association between parent orientation to child emotion and internalizing symptoms in a sample of children referred for an ADHD evaluation. Participants included 161 children ages …

The Joint Effect Of Bilingualism And Sleep On Executive Functions Among Children And Adolescents With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd), Yirou Jiang

Doctoral Dissertations

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that significantly impacts cognitive and behavioral functions, leading challenges for individuals across the lifespan. While extensive research has been conducted to understand the connection between executive functioning (EF) and ADHD, research findings related to the contributing factors of bilingualism and sleep still remains inconsistent (Bialystok et al., 2017). Investigating the joint effect between bilingualism and sleep on EF among children and adolescents with ADHD may help further clarify the connection between EF, language, and sleep, and facilitate the development of interventions from the perspective of these protective factors. EF encompasses cognitive processes …

Healthcare Experiences Of Latinx Genderqueer And Nonbinary Young Adults, Sabrina Jessica Ortiz

Doctoral Dissertations

Latinx genderqueer and nonbinary young adults experience intersecting forms of marginalization that can shape their interactions with healthcare systems and impact their mental health. This qualitative study aimed to explore the healthcare experiences of Latinx genderqueer and nonbinary young adults and to better understand how these experiences relate to mental health and wellbeing. Using semi-structured interviews, the study examined participants’ experiences navigating healthcare settings. Participants included ten Latinx genderqueer and nonbinary young adults assigned female at birth (AFAB), between the ages of 21 and 29, who had accessed healthcare services in the United States within the past year. Interviews were …

Capital Cities: The Intersection Of Power And Protest Urban Planning And Civic Design In Brasília And Washington, D.C., Noah Benjamin Gill

Theses

The physical environments of capital cities play a critical role in shaping how citizens interact with governmental power, particularly during moments of political unrest, protest, and democratic conflict. As both symbolic representations of national identity and functional centers of government, these urban landscapes influence how citizens approach, occupy, and confront civic institutions through their planning, architectural form, circulation networks, and spatial organization. Government buildings, public plazas, monumental landscapes, and civic axes do more than provide settings for political activity; they actively shape patterns of movement, visibility, accessibility, and control. The design of these spaces influences not only how democratic institutions …

Puzzles & Frames: Exploring Motion Graphics In Thriller Movie Poster Design, Xingyu Xiao

Theses

This thesis explores how motion graphics can expand the role of traditional movie posters and create more engaging visual communication experiences. The project began with an observation that static posters displayed in busy campus environments can easily be overlooked. This led to the central question of how motion graphics can make traditional movie posters more visually engaging and effective in campus environments. To investigate this question, I developed a series of dynamic thriller movie posters that combine traditional graphic design elements—including typography, composition, imagery, abstraction, and visual hierarchy—with motion. The design process developed through several stages of experimentation. Early studies …

Charting The Martian Future: Long-Term Space Policy Planning Of Nasa’S Human Spaceflight Program, 1957-1988, Angel J. Peralta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From the late 1950s to the early 1990s, NASA’s human spaceflight programs repeatedly encountered political and bureaucratic pressures that prioritized short-term interests over long-term planning. These constraints shaped the development of the Apollo, Space Shuttle, Space Station, and other human spaceflight programs, limiting NASA’s ability to pursue a sustained strategic vision. This thesis traces the evolution of long-term human spaceflight policy through documents and memos produced by advisory committees, research councils, and key individuals during this period. Despite shifting administrations and their respective politics, these sources reveal a consistent goal of human spaceflight ultimately leading beyond Earth to the Moon …

Decision-Making Criteria In Polygenic Embryo Screening: A Survey Of Reproductive Medicine Physicians, Rémy A Furrer, Aayushi Gandhi, Dorit Barlevy, Shai Carmi, Todd Lencz, Stacey Pereira, Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Purpose: Polygenic embryo screening (PES) examines embryos for their genetic likelihood of developing complex conditions and traits. The commercialization of PES places reproductive endocrinologists and infertility specialists (REIs) as the primary decision-makers in its use, despite professional guidelines cautioning that PES is not ready for clinical use.

Methods: This survey examines how 152 US REIs perceive and approach potential clinical decision-making scenarios regarding the use of PES.

Results: REIs were more likely to offer PES for medical conditions (up to 62% for cancer) than for traits (eg, 0% for skin color, 10% for body mass index). When evaluating 11 potential …

Diabetter Together: Outcomes Of A Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating A Peer Mentor Behavioral Intervention For Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes During The Transfer From Pediatric To Adult Care, Marisa E Hilliard, Charles G Minard, Samantha A Carreon, Wendy L Levy, Sarah K Lyons, Randi Streisand, Tricia S Tang, Siripoom V Mckay, Sridevi Devaraj, Barbara J Anderson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective: Transition between pediatric and adult health care is complex, with high risk for loss to follow-up and suboptimal health outcomes for young adults with type 1 diabetes. This trial evaluated the efficacy of DiaBetter Together, a 12-month strengths-based behavioral intervention delivered by trained peer mentors. The intervention aimed to help young adults navigate the transfer process to promote optimal glycemic outcomes, shorten time to adult care follow-up, and improve psychosocial outcomes.

Research design and methods: Using a single-site randomized clinical trial design, we compared the 12-month intervention to usual care among n = 100 young adults aged 17-25 years …

Proteomic Signatures Of 3-Year Progression From Impaired Fasting Glucose To Diabetes: The Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities (Aric) Study, Mary R Rooney, Justin B Echouffo Tcheugui, Jingsha Chen, Keenan A Walker, Christie M Ballantyne, Eric Boerwinkle, Tanika N Kelly, Chiadi E Ndumele, James S Pankow, Morgan E Grams, Wendy S Post, Peter J Ganz, Alexis C Wood, Jerome I Rotter, Elizabeth Selvin, Josef Coresh

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objective: To identify proteomic signatures underlying 3-year progression from impaired fasting glucose (IFG) to diabetes.

Research design and methods: We examined IFG progression in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study from visit 2 (1990-1992) to visit 3 (1993-1995). We tested associations of 4,955 plasma proteins (SomaScan version 4.0) with ∼3-year progression from IFG (FG 100-125 mg/dL without diabetes) to diabetes (diagnosis, medication, or FG ≥126 mg/dL) using logistic regression models adjusted for demographics, cardiometabolic risk factors, and baseline glucose with Bonferroni correction (P < 10-5). We explored biological pathways enriched among the top proteins and calculated improvements in prediction (ΔAUC and net reclassification using 3-year risk thresholds of 6% and 15% in 80% training and 20% internal validation subsamples). We validated results in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) cohort.

Results: There were 3,786 ARIC participants with IFG (mean [SD] age 57 [6] years, 52% female, …

Rates Of, Reasons For, And Reactions To Discontinuation Of Glp-1 Receptor Agonists: A Narrative Review, Henry D Heisey, L Parker Gregg, Christopher D Verrico, Dennis T Villareal, Terri L Fletcher

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

GLP-1RAs are increasingly used for their glucose-lowering and weight-management effects, but many patients discontinue them. In this narrative review we aim to review real-world, quantitative and qualitative GLP-1RA discontinuation, adherence, and persistence evidence as it aligns with an established conceptual framework for understanding medication adherence in noncommunicable chronic disease. Many inconsistencies exist in how discontinuation, adherence, and persistence are studied in this literature. Few qualitative studies have focused on discontinuation of GLP-1RAs. Quantitative approaches often focus on medication-related factors and more superficial aspects of socioeconomic and condition-related factors. Very few studies encompass all 5 dimensions of the medication adherence conceptual …

Transforming The Lives Of Adolescent Girls In West And Central Africa, Mame Soukeye Mbaye, Sarah Engebretsen, Maty Dia, Karen Austrian

Adolescents and Young People

The Girls’ Futures in Focus: Evidence from West and Central Africa series examines the challenges facing adolescent girls in the region and highlights evidence-informed approaches to improving their lives. The series focuses on eight countries that span the Sahel, coastal West Africa, and Central Africa and that reflect a range of fragility, conflict, and development contexts, allowing the GIRL Center’s findings to speak to adolescent girls’ compounded and diverse experiences across the region: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, and Senegal. This series overview brief investigates their education, economic empowerment, mental health, …

Factors Influencing Employee Engagement And Performance In Hybrid Work Environments, Saif Alblooshi

Theses

The widespread adoption of hybrid work arrangements, in which employees divide their working time between remote and office-based settings, has fundamentally altered how organisations manage, measure, and sustain workforce engagement and performance. While hybrid models offer tangible benefits such as increased autonomy, reduced commuting burden, and greater scheduling flexibility, they simultaneously introduce a set of organisational challenges that conventional management frameworks were not designed to address. Chief among these challenges is the difficulty of maintaining consistent levels of employee engagement across distributed work settings, where informal communication, social connection, and direct managerial oversight are structurally constrained. The absence of robust, …

“We Want To Make You A Better Man”: African American Men With Dual Membership In Black Greek Letter Organizations And Prince Hall Masonic Lodges, Lakesha Rae Denton

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the rationale and experiences of Black men who have initial membership within a black Greek letter organization as an undergraduate, who also join Masonic Lodges. The study was guided by one research question: 1) what the rationale is pertaining to Black men, who are initially members of Black Greek letter organizations as an undergraduate, that also join a Masonic lodge, therefore granting them dual membership status. The study was important because the value of BGLO’s has declined due to hazing and lack of leadership and guidance. Black men are not being developed as they should and while …

An Evaluation Of Peer Mentoring In A Pre-Veterinary Science Program Within A College Of Forestry And Agriculture, Amy Neal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mentoring is a tool utilized to improve the retention of college students and can serve as an effort to increase their willingness to persist despite challenges. Establishing mentoring relationships amongst first-year students and more-experienced students can create a sense of belonging. Mentorship programs may be developed within a particular major or program. Within this study, an online survey was formed to analyze the perceptions of first-year pre-veterinary students in Fall 2024 and Fall 2025. A peer-mentorship program was implemented amongst pre-veterinary students in Fall 2025. First-year students who completed the survey in Fall 2024 were not mentored. Many of the …

Neurotypical And Neurodivergent Traits As Predictors Of Memory Performance, Maranda N. Willis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traits associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been observed within neurotypical populations to influence a range of cognitive and behavioral characteristics, including attention to detail and the need for cognition (NC). The present study assessed traits commonly associated with ASD with the 42-item Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory (CATI) for 111 participants. The relations between ASD-like traits, attention to detail, as afforded by the Minnesota Clerical Aptitude Test (MCT), and memory, as measured by vignettes, were examined. Memory performance was assessed using 12 multiple-choice questions on vignette details. Participants read one of three randomly assigned 25-sentence vignettes of varying themes …

Examining Pain Catastrophizing, Mental Toughness, Self-Efficacy, And Perceived Pain In The Performance Of Female Athletes During Their Menstrual Cycle, Carissa R. Martinez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pain is a universal unpleasant or negative experience influenced by physiological, psychological, and environmental factors. Disruption in the neural pathways of pain can affect athletic performance and lead to injury risks. Both negative attributes, such as stress, anxiety, and depression, and positive attributes, such as mental toughness and self-efficacy, contribute to pain perception and catastrophic thinking. The menstrual cycle also plays a critical role in pain catastrophizing, as hormonal fluctuations across different phases may hinder pain perception and performance in female athletes. However, research lacks the inclusion of how these factors impact female athletes. Using a non-experimental quantitative analysis, this …

The Tension Of Retention And Retirement: A Narrative Study Of Full-Time Nursing Faculty Within Five Years Of Retirement At Public, Four-Year Institutions In Texas, Shelley Hunt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This narrative inquiry, qualitative study explored the retirement decision-making process of nursing faculty at public, four-year institutions who were within five years of retirement. Through purposive sampling, 11 participants across eight institutions consented to participate and were interviewed via Zoom. Due to the nursing faculty shortage, the researcher hypothesized that nursing faculty nearing retirement may be retiring not only as a natural progression of their career but also because of factors that lead other early and mid-career faculty members to leave academia. Through thematic analysis, four themes emerged: Finding Meaning and Fulfillment in the Nurse Faculty Role, Institutional Factors Shaping …

Numbers, Patterns, And Memories: Early Experiences Of Mathematicians And Mathematics Education Researchers, Constantinos Xenofontos

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This paper offers a reflective analysis of early mathematical experiences shared by fifty-six mathematicians and mathematics education researchers, including my own, as part of Cambridge Mathematics’ “Seven Questions with . . . ” interview series. Drawing on thematic analysis, I identify five key patterns across participants’ recollections: the context of early mathematical engagement, the influence of significant others, emotional responses, shifts in mathematical thinking, and mathematics as a social or competitive experience. Many accounts emphasise informal, everyday encounters with mathematics—often preceding formal education—as central to developing interest and confidence in the subject. The findings challenge the notion of innate mathematical …

Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Mathematics Achievement And Problem-Solving Ability: Insights From Secondary Schools In India, Laishram Nirtish Singh, Anand Jyoti Sanasam, Jocyline Thokchom, Ningombam Cha Cogent, Laisom Sharmeswar Singh

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted students’ engagement with mathematics. This study aims to contribute to our understanding of the extent of this disrupting by examining differences in mathematics achievement and problem-solving ability between adjacent cohorts who learned Class 8 under different schooling conditions in India: Group A (pandemic-exposed Class 8 cohort) and Group B (post-reopening Class 8 cohort). Using a descriptive design in a natural setting, we selected a stratified sample of 1,200 students from Class 9 and Class 10 across 21 secondary schools in Manipur, India. The sample was stratified by gender, family type, school type, and locality to ensure …

Piracy, Terrorism, And The Law: Differential Equations In Hostage Situations, Gabriel Hallevy

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Pirates have taken the crew of an American ship hostage. They promise to release the hostages only if another pirate who is held in an American prison for commission of piracy crimes against American citizens, is released. Should the U.S. government enter into negotiations with them? Should they send armed forces and risk the hostages? Should they release the prisoner immediately and unconditionally? The article models and analyzes possible policies regarding sensitive situations involving hostages and other related risks using differential equations. The solutions are surprisingly simple, but not necessarily intuitive. Our analysis aims to demonstrate how powerful mathematics is …

Front Matter

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Finding And Using Validated Surveys In Health Science Research, Tracy Ashby

Library Class: Lunch & Learn

Join us as we introduce techniques for identifying and using validated surveys in health sciences research. Learn strategies for finding reliable, evidence-based measurement tools in the databases and gain tips on how to evaluate their quality and relevance.

D3.04 Keynote Vi: The Course-Arc Rpg And The Field Of Applied Educational Ttrpg Design, Garrett Munro, Cristo Leon

10mo Coloquio Internacional de Estudios sobre Juegos de Rol

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Mediation As A Mechanism For Resolving Family Disputes In Lebanon: An Analytical Study Of Current Practice And Development Prospects, Amer El Masry

BAU Journal - Journal of Legal Studies - مجلة الدراسات القانونية

This study examines the effectiveness of mediation as a mechanism for resolving family disputes in Lebanon, with a particular focus on the gap between the legal framework governing mediation and its practical application. The research addresses the extent to which mediation, in its judicial and consensual forms, can provide effective and fair solutions to family disputes within a legal system characterized by multiple personal status laws, diverse judicial authorities, and the absence of a specialized framework for family mediation. It further explores challenges related to the protection of vulnerable parties, the balance of power between disputants, institutional integration, and public …

The State’S Responsibility To Prevent And Investigate Violations Of The Right To Life In The Beirut Port Explosion, Ali Wehbi Dib

BAU Journal - Journal of Legal Studies - مجلة الدراسات القانونية

The right to life is recognised in International Human Rights Law (IHRL) as the "supreme right." It is considered a jus cogens norm, fundamental for both individuals and society as a whole. IHRL provides a general guarantee of the right to life. To effectively protect it, the state must take all feasible measures to prevent violations of the right to life and to respond to them. This includes investigating incidents and, when appropriate, prosecuting and punishing those responsible.

The Beirut Port explosion on 4 August 2020 was one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions in history. It resulted in the …