Digital Commons Network^™

The Benefits Of Fantasy Book When Used As A Coping Measure Against Interpersonal Conflict In Hispanic College Women, Ruby Kaitlynn Tijerina

Theses and Dissertations

High mental health disparities among Hispanic individuals have been well-documented. One potential contributing factor to mental health challenges is interpersonal conflict, which is prevalent among Hispanic young adults. Effective interventions are needed to treat psychological symptoms associated with interpersonal conflict, and one possible approach is bibliotherapy via fantasy fiction reading. This study examined the therapeutic benefits of fantasy fiction reading compared to self-help and scholarly reading materials among 109 Hispanic college women. Participants attended two lab sessions scheduled one week apart. In Session 1, self-report measures and a reading assignment were administered to participants, while in Session …

How Do Women Deal With Beauty Standards?, Mandy Lashay Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the profound impact of beauty standards on women’s lives, focusing on how unrealistic ideals influence their emotional and physical well-being. Through a series of figurative oil paintings, this work examines women’s actions to conform to and reject these standards. It also explores the consequences of striving to meet or falling short of these ideals, such as emotional turmoil, physical pain, potential social exclusion, as well as the comparison, and competitive beauty culture. This research analyzes the motivations behind striving for beauty standards, such as pursuing attention, success, and validation. Drawing from contemporary literature and visual analysis of …

Joint Modelling Of Longitudinal Egfr Trajectory And Time To Acute Kidney Injury In Lung Transplant Patients, Samiha Zakir

Theses and Dissertations

Progressive declines in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) often precede acute kidney injury (AKI), yet the relationship between eGFR trends and AKI risk remains unclear. This study investigates longitudinal eGFR changes and their association with AKI in 459 lung transplant patients followed for up to 7 years (n = 6419). We applied a piecewise linear mixed-effects model to evaluate eGFR trajectories and a Cox proportional hazards model to assess time to AKI. A joint model was used to explore the interplay between longitudinal and survival processes. Key covariates included gender, age at transplantation, antibody-mediated rejection (AMR), and pre-transplant eGFR. Males …

Linguistic (In) Security And Persistence In Doctoral Studies: A Mixed-Methods Study Of The Impact Of Metapragmatic Discourses On The Persistence Of Multilingual Doctoral Students, Germaine Tondji

Theses and Dissertations

Linguistic beliefs and practices in doctoral studies have often been overlooked, partly due to the assumption that advanced students face fewer language-related challenges. However, research on multilingualism in hypernormative academic contexts suggests that linguistic concerns persist even among the most educated. Multilingual doctoral students (MDSs) operate at the intersection of multiple linguistic and epistemic systems. In English-dominant, monoglossic environments, they must not only navigate the complexities of doctoral study but also reconcile competing linguistic and epistemic identities. This study explores the role of linguistic insecurity (LI) in MDSs' doctoral persistence through a mixed-methods design. The quantitative phase draws on survey …

Black Women During The Great Migration: Transitions From Sharecropping To Black Metropolis, Ryan Daye

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

The origin of the dissertation came about as me being the only southerner within the group of individuals completing the MALS Program. While studying Cultural studies, I began to take a focus on the Great Migration of black Americans migrating from the South to other regions of the United States. As a southerner, I was aware of the migration patterns but never went in-depth on the subject because I felt no connection. While studying, I noticed the perception of black women who were being used as subjects. Women who were being forced out of their southern situations because of segregation, …

Particle-Based High-Fidelity Interface Tracking Algorithms, Taiyuan Zhang

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Accurate interface tracking is essential in simulating multiphase flows, material deformation, and other physical phenomena involving evolving geometries. In this thesis, we present an adaptive dual-particle representation for high-fidelity interface tracking. By combining two types of particles—feature particles and sample particles—we construct an implicit representation that captures fine geometric details. This representation is evolved explicitly using a velocity flow field, enabling accurate and adaptive tracking of dynamic interfaces. We further propose a particle level set method on the flow map, leveraging the state-of-the-art accuracy of particle-based advection. By integrating this approach with the particle level set framework, we achieve fourth-order …

Optimizing Low-Level Light Therapy For Skin Rejuvenation: Efficacy Of Wavelengths And Treatment Parameters In Collagen Synthesis And Aging Signs, Alejandra Sataray-Rodriguez, Zoee Castro Ojeda, Alexis Moreno Montes, Kaylahn Jones, Amal Umerani, Luna Sataray Arriaga, Zubin Mehta, Kelly Frasier

Student Publications

Low-level light therapy (LLLT), particularly using light-emitting diode (LED) devices, has been an effective and non-surgical option for skin rejuvenation, treating signs of aging such as wrinkles, collagen loss, and pigmentation. Despite promising clinical outcomes, variability in treatment parameters such as wavelength, power density, fluence, and treatment regimens remains a challenge in optimizing the therapy for optimal results. Recent studies, including a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded, and split-face clinical trial by Lee et al. (2007), have demonstrated significant improvements in wrinkle reduction and skin elasticity using 830 nm and 633 nm LED wavelengths. These findings highlight the importance of wavelength …

Host Genetics Role In Viral Disease Susceptibility, Christian Willis Eaton

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Viruses and their hosts exist in an evolutionary arms race, with evolutionary promotion of host genetic-based defense mechanisms and evolution of virus genetic-based mechanisms to overcome host defenses. Viruses are capable of much more rapid evolution and adaptation than their hosts, often leading to the use of host cellular mechanisms to promote viral infection and replication. In this study, we describe the generation of a detection assay for atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV), designed to target the viral 5’ UTR, a region of the viral genome which sees less mutations than the protein coding regions. This assay was generated to be …

Men’S Fertility Beliefs, Intentions, And Contraceptive Use, Meagan Kunitzer

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Despite advancements in reproductive technology, gender-inclusive approaches remain limited, and research on men’s reproductive health is scarce. Specifically, little is known about how men conceptualize reproductive health and how perspectives vary by race and social class. As such, the purpose of this study is to further the field’s understanding of men’s reproductive health, including fertility beliefs, intentions, and behaviors. Guided by the theory of conjunctural action, this study uses survey-driven narrative construction to explore how 35 men think about their reproductive health and how this varies by race and class. The main benefit of using this method is that it …

Educational Leadership In A Vuca World: The Crisis Management Experiences Of Rural School Superintendents, Lucas J. Grossnicklaus

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The job of both urban and rural superintendents is challenging, but it is the rural school superintendency that comes with unique challenges that aren’t always faced by their urban and suburban counterparts. The COVID-19 Pandemic brought about a number of crises for school superintendents such as school closures, mask mandates, and navigating positions taken by governors, teachers unions, and school boards. While concerns about school closures and mask mandates has dissipated, conflict within school districts has only seemed to grow since the pandemic.

This multi-case study explored the lived experience of rural superintendents in the Midwest who have experienced a …

Constructing An Attractive Targeted Sugar Bait For Reducing Mosquito Populations, Xi Xian Ng

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Mosquito-borne pathogen transmission continues to pose a significant burden to global public health, well-being, and economic productivity. In the absence of universally available vaccines and amidst rising insecticide resistance that leads to product failures, there is an urgent need to develop new tools to mitigate mosquito-borne disease risk. Two general strategies exist to reduce transmission risk: personal protective measures and area-wide chemical interventions. Attractive Targeted Sugar Bait (ATSB) systems leverage the sugar-feeding behavior of mosquitoes—critical for sustaining their flight, metabolism, development, and fecundity—by delivering oral toxicants through attractively formulated sugar baits. This study aimed to develop an optimized ATSB formulation …

Planting The Seed: Rumors And Ceo Dismissal, Diego Villalpando

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Researchers have investigated the short-term performance implications of CEO dismissals as assessed through investor reactions to CEO dismissal announcements. While the corporate governance mechanism of dismissal that boards orchestrate when CEOs underperform could be positively perceived by investors, empirical evidence suggests that a positive association between CEO dismissals and investor reactions is equivocal. Thus, in my dissertation, I examine investor reactions to S&P 500 dismissal announcements and further understanding about this intriguing relationship through the development of theory that incorporates the important theoretical mechanism of information uncertainty. Since it is increasingly hard for boards to reduce the information uncertainty surrounding …

The Global Classroom: A Phenomenological Study Of International Student Experiences In A Reimagined Intercultural Communication Course, Crystal Bock Thiessen

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation examines the experiences of multilingual international student participants who took part in a semester-long intercultural communication course that was purposefully designed and implemented with half enrollment each of domestic and international students at a Midwestern American university. Despite university efforts towards internationalization, they often fall short of the meaningful engagement needed truly promote intercultural and mutual understanding. International and domestic students share classroom and other spaces on campus, yet they remain overwhelmingly disconnected from one another. Using phenomenology and Baker’s (2011) model of Intercultural Awareness, this study analyzed the international students’ experience in this course to learn more …

Support, School Climate And Teacher Wellbeing In The Wake Of Covid-19: A National Study Using Ntsp Data, Annastashia M. Teepe

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Research indicates a significant number of teachers planned to leave the profession following the COVID-19 pandemic, with national surveys in 2021 revealing about 25% considering departure. Stress, low pay, remote teaching demands, and lack of support contributed to attrition, impacting school climate, which influences productivity, collaboration, and job satisfaction, and is inversely related to turnover. The shift to remote learning also demanded new skills and exposed technological disparities. This quantitative study examined the pandemic's impact on teachers' perceptions of school climate, support, resources, job satisfaction, burnout, and intent to leave using the 2020–2021 National Teacher and Principal Survey. Factor analyses …

The Overturning Of Roe V. Wade And People Capable Of Pregnancy: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Carrie Bohmer

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overturned Roe v. Wade in their decision within Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, removing the constitutional right to abortion within the United States (US). Leading up to this anticipated and highly politicized case, 13 states passed preemptive legislation (i.e. “trigger bans”) that immediately made abortion illegal following the Dobbs decision. Limited research has explicitly explored the intersection of sexual health and reproductive health from a psychological perspective. Grounded in a reproductive justice framework, this interpretative phenomenological analysis sought to understand how people capable of pregnancy living …

Belly Dance In Nebraska: Identity, Social Acceptance, And Perseverance, Alex R. Mohr

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Belly dance is an art form as well as an often-contested practice due to tensions over dress, terminology and cultural practices within the belly dance community because the dance originated outside the United States. Additionally, there is often a need to prove the legitimacy of the dance to those outside its sphere because it is often stigmatized due to the early association with exotic dancing. Belly dance is inherently geographic, as seen through its places of origin, music and movement styles, global spread, practitioners, and spaces of practice. However, it has not been well-represented in geography, and there is also …

Kansas City, Kansas, Vida Davidović

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

KANSAS CITY, KANSAS is a thesis that operates in the tradition of expressionist dramaturgy and playwriting, taking up themes of abuse, imperialism, war, trauma, womanhood, Balkan identities, history of the Balkans, as well as the discourses of psychoanalysis and postcolonial theory. The use of different theoretical frameworks related to both international and personal politics, which are shown to be intertwined, suggests a strong relationship between political processes in the Second World Countries that had experienced many occupations throughout their history and the way women in those countries relate to the questions of body, authority, feminity, and interpersonal relationships. The play …

How A Garden Hoe Changed My Literacy Life: A Story Of Teaching, Coaching, And Becoming, Kelsey J. Walker

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

In this dissertation, I explore how personal practical experiences teaching reading intervention impacted my own understanding of the role of a secondary literacy coach. Drawing on the concepts of dialogism and adult learning theory, I leveraged learning conversations to grow my own body of knowledge. The methodology of this study was done using narrative inquiry and autoethnography. This methodological blend allowed me to closely study myself as the primary participant with a unique positionality as a scholarly practitioner. I unpack the complexities, contradictions, and tensions of my lived experience through stories and vignettes set in a rural midwestern public school …

Maternal Drinking, Stress And Use Of Aggressive Parenting Over The Course Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jennifer Price Wolf, Bridget Freisthler

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic had a demonstrated impact on parenting but little is known about how parental drinking, stress, and use of aggressive discipline (a parenting behavior associated with abusive parenting and negative outcomes for children) have changed over time. We examine rates of alcohol use, stress, and aggressive discipline at three time points during the COVID-19 pandemic and investigate what maternal, child, and time-varying factors predict weekly use of aggressive parenting. Methods: We use longitudinal data from the Central Ohio Family Study (COFLS), including women (n = 234) with a child between the ages of 0–12 and recruited via …

Diverse Residents' Experiences Of Policing And Attitudes Towards Law Enforcement: Findings From A Large Community-Based Survey In San José, California, Soma De Bourbon, Michael Dao, Melissa Mc Clure Fuller, William Armaline, Curtis Asplund, Rachel Kumar, Daniel Desanto, Jaala Robinson, Derrick Sanderlin, Miranda Worthen

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Despite widespread debate on public safety policy, few studies explore diverse community members’ perspectives on safety and policing. This community-based participatory research study assessed perspectives on city spending, opinions about law enforcement policy, perspectives on police and safety, direct experiences with police, and perspectives on alternatives to policing in San José, California, one of the ten largest cities in the United States. Between July 27, 2021 – January 14, 2022, we conducted an online survey, available in 7 languages, and obtained 1,595 responses. Respondents supported increased funding for community safety resources (73%) and helping residents meet basic needs (67%). A …

Temporal Reversibility Of Reactive Systems Out Of Equilibrium: Molecular Dynamics Simulation, O. Politano, Alejandro L. Garcia, F. Baras, M. Malek Mansour

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy production in macroscopic systems is non-negative, reaching zero only at thermodynamic equilibrium. As a corollary, this implies that the state trajectory of macroscopic systems is inherently time-irreversible under out-of-equilibrium conditions. However, over the past half-century, various studies have shown that this principle does not universally apply to the composition sample paths of certain isothermal reactive systems. Theoretical frameworks leading to this surprising observation primarily focus on perfectly homogeneous systems (often referred to as zero-dimensional systems), which inherently exclude the effects of local fluctuations. This oversimplification may account for the paradoxical theoretical predictions. …

Energetic Cost Of Human Disturbance On The Southern Sea Otter (Enhydra Lutris Nereis), Heather E. Barrett, M. Tim Tinker, Gena Bentall, Birgitte I. Mcdonald

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

With increased human populations and tourism in coastal areas, there is greater potential for disturbance of marine wildlife. Because of their high metabolic rates, sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are at particular risk of increased energetic costs due to human disturbance. We used scan surveys to monitor southern sea otter (E. l. nereis) activity and potential disturbance stimuli over 5 years (2015–2020) at 3 California, USA, study sites: Monterey, Moss Landing, and Morro Bay. We developed a process-based, hierarchical model of sea otter behavior, which we fit to survey data to examine how activity varies in response to the occurrence of …

Internalized Homophobia In Midwestern Sexual Minorities, Charissa Farr

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Research into internalized homophobia in sexual minorities has identified several factors that tend to lead to higher levels of internalized homophobia. These factors are parental acceptance or rejection, religion, urban versus rural environment, and societal attitudes. There are, however, few studies that have been done on these factors specifically in Midwestern sexual minorities. Twenty participants that identified as non-heterosexual were interviewed for this study. Participants completed a short quantitative survey on internalized homophobia before being interviewed with questions that looked at the known factors of internalized homophobia as well as what they thought needed to happen for future generations to …

Mash Crashworthiness Of Work Zone Devices And Breakaway Luminaire Poles, Mohammadreza Rajaee

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

This thesis presents a study on the crashworthiness of two commonly-used roadside safety devices: Type II barricades and luminaire poles supported by TB1-17 transformer bases. The first part focuses on designing and evaluating a non-proprietary, Type II barricade that meets MASH criteria. A validated LS-DYNA model, based on a previously-tested Type III barricade, was used to guide the design. The proposed Type II system was evaluated through simulation and confirmed with full-scale crash testing. The second part of the study investigates luminaire poles supported by the TB1-17 transformer base. A previously-developed LS-DYNA model was updated and validated using test No. …

Development Of Timber Bridge Railing And Approach Guardrail Transition, Aaron Lechtenberger

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

Timber bridges with transverse and longitudinal bridge decks are increasingly utilized across the United States. However, limited research exists to develop bridge railing systems for high-service-level roadways that meet current vehicular impact safety standards. In response to this gap, the United States Department of Agriculture - Forest Service -Forest Products Laboratory (USDA-FS-FPL), in collaboration with the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF), initiated a research program to develop, crash test, and evaluate higher-service-level bridge railings and approach guardrail transitions (AGTs) compliant with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH).

This study continued …

A Machine Learning Framework For Packet Anomaly Detection In Smartgrid Substation Networks, Sowmya Bandari

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The increasing reliance on Smart Grid Substation Networks for efficient electricity distribution has amplified cybersecurity vulnerabilities, particularly within Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. The IEC 60870-5-104 (IEC-104) protocol, widely adopted for communication between Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) and Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs), lacks inherent encryption and authentication mechanisms, rendering it susceptible to sophisticated cyberattacks. Threats such as False Data Injection Attacks (FDIAs), command injection, covert attacks and replay attacks pose significant risks by manipulating grid control signals, potentially leading to undetected operational disruptions, cascading failures, or system-wide instability. Conventional signature-based Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) often fail to identify zero-day …

Antiracist Expert Evidence, Jasmine Gonzales Rose, Asees Bhasin, Spencer Piston

Faculty Scholarship

Since 2020, when mass protests against racism swept across the United States, scholars, lawyers, and the general public have become increasingly aware that racism permeates society and the criminal legal system, from overt racial animus to the nuanced effects of structural racism. Demonstrating the influence of racism is therefore vital to the practice of criminal defense, yet many attorneys do not know how to prove racism in court. We surveyed over seven hundred criminal-defense attorneys across the United States, and nearly half had never heard of expert witnesses testifying or submitting written reports on racism—what we call “antiracist expert evidence.” …

A Framework For Quantifying The Benefits Of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Development, Donya Negahbani

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

Under the Biden Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, a significant portion of benefits derived from federal clean transportation investments is required to be directed to disadvantaged communities. Meeting this mandate necessitates a transparent and reproducible approach that quantifies various dimensions of value and allocates them equitably. This dissertation presents a flexible framework specifically tailored for the deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Nebraska, effectively translating equity goals into rigorous spatial and economic analyses. The framework first identifies multiple distinct categories of benefit that reflect the societal value of charging access: energy savings, economic opportunities, environmental quality enhancements, and public health improvements. …

Consultation Summary For Proposed Declared Pest Rates 2025/2026, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Biosecurity published reports

Under the Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act 2007 (BAM Act) the State raises a Declared Pest Rate (DPR) from land or leaseholders (hereafter landholders) in prescribed areas (DPR Areas) and matches the funds raised from the rate dollar-for-dollar.

The combined funds are made available to Recognised Biosecurity Groups (RBGs) who provide support to landholders to fulfil their obligations under the BAM Act to manage widespread and established declared pests on their land. A community-led and coordinated approach is considered the most effective way to support landholders to manage these types of pests.

Each year, the Minister for Agriculture and Food …

Sheep And Goat Industry Funding Scheme 2023-24 Annual Report, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Biosecurity published reports

I am pleased to present the 2023-24 annual report for the Sheep and Goat Industry Funding Scheme (Sheep and Goat IFS) to our participants, key stakeholders in the Western Australian (WA) sheep and goat industry, and the Minister for Agriculture and Food.

The WA sheep and goat industry has faced a challenging year. After a period of relative stability between 2010 and 2019, the WA flock has continued to decline since 2020, reaching its lowest point since 1952. This downward trend is expected to continue due to local factors such as increased turn-off and seasonal conditions, further compounded by political …