Digital Commons Network^™

An Evidence-Based Practice Trauma-Informed Care And Pediatric Crisis Management Training Initiative, Annette Renea Porter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Improving Pediatric Mri Access In Academic Hospitals Through Operational Redesign, Caryn Karff

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Childcare Center Administrators’ Challenges To Using Trauma-Informed Approaches With Children Experiencing Toxic Stress, Jessica Lynn Pierce

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Recovering Persuasion In A Post-Truth Classroom, Lydia James

Masters Theses

Modern composition pedagogy embraces pluralism and expressivism that in turn reduces persuasion to mere self-expression or genre performance rather than disciplined inquiry. This thesis argues that the historical shift in composition’s values has created a civic gap. Within this gap, students adopt either powerful or reluctant attitudes due to the lack of ethical responsibility attached to their agency. Surveying the negligence of classical definitions of persuasion in modern models, this research traces the collapse of ethical deliberation through the movements of expressivism, pluralism, and postmodern skepticism. While these movements intended to avoid the rigid dogma that existed over time, they …

Elementary Music Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Impact Of Class Size On Tonal And Phonemic Awareness In Second-Grade General Music Classes, Ariel A. Supinger

Masters Theses

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative study was to investigate elementary music teachers’ perceptions of the impact of class size on tonal and phonemic awareness in second-grade general music classes. The researcher-designed questionnaire was sent to elementary music teachers who teach second-grade general music in elementary schools within urban, suburban, and rural school districts.

Behind The Lines In The Balkans: U.S. Military, Intelligence, And Diplomatic Operations In Romania During World War Ii And The Early Cold War, Timothy W. Brophy

Masters Theses

U.S. involvement in Romania during World War II was significant. This involvement began with a U.S. Army Air Forces bombing campaign against the country’s oil refineries, which provided approximately 25% of Nazi Germany’s oil supply during the war. Initial bombing raids occurred in 1942 and 1943, but it was not until April 4, 1944, that the Fifteenth Air Force (15th AF) launched a sustained bombing campaign against Romania. By August 1944, the American bombing of Romania had successfully crippled Romanian oil production and export to Nazi Germany, paved the way for the Soviets to drive German forces out of Romania, …

The Names We Carry, Christan Hickman

Masters Theses

The Names We Carry explores the weight of the labels and expectations we carry from others and sometimes from ourselves. It tells the story of moving from exhaustion, self-doubt, and trying to be everything for everyone to discovering rest, boundaries, and a sense of wholeness. The book looks at identities people have given us and asks whether these names show who we really are or who we had to become to survive. It is about learning to live fully, care for ourselves without guilt, and embrace authenticity in work, relationships, and faith. At its heart, The Names We Carry is …

The Impact Of Teacher Verbal And Nonverbal Communication On Student Motivation, Claire E. Haines

Masters Theses

The classroom environment is one of vast areas of scholarly literature yet may levels of understanding classroom communication remain unexplored. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the lived student experience with how teacher communication impacts student motivation in general as well as intrinsic forms of communication. Data for this research was taken directly from student accounts of verbal and nonverbal interactions with teachers that impacted their motivation. One of the key findings of this research was the observed process that participants described through interviews. This observed three step process displayed how verbal and nonverbal communication were expressed to have …

Man's Modern Need For God: A Literary Apologetic, Matthew G. Jones

Masters Theses

This thesis argues that modern man’s attempt to dispense with God inevitably results in psychological, moral, and existential collapse, a reality most powerfully revealed through the literary works of Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Leo Tolstoy. Before Nietzsche proclaimed the death of God and called humanity to transcend traditional morality through the rise of the Übermensch, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy had already responded, not merely with philosophical counterarguments, but with stories that exposed the devastating consequences of life divorced from the divine. Through literary apologetics, this thesis examines the broader cultural and spiritual conversation taking place between these nineteenth-century thinkers and …

An Empirical Analysis Of Augmented Reality’S Impact On Fan Engagement And Behavioral Intention To Use: A Technology Acceptance Model Study Among U.S.-Based Major League Soccer Fans, Gozde Sezgun

Masters Theses

Although augmented reality (AR) is becoming a routine part of how sport is consumed, evidence specific to Major League Soccer (MLS) remains limited. This study applies the technology acceptance model (TAM) to examine how perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) relate to behavioral intention to use (BI) and to two experience outcomes−fan engagement and fan satisfaction in the MLS context. The study is a nonexperimental, cross-sectional online survey of U.S.-based adult MLS fans with prior exposure to AR in an MLS context, including live stat overlays, in-stadium wayfinding, interactive replays, and virtual try-ons. Constructs were measured with …

The Message Within The Show: A Cultivation Study On The Impact Of Children's Television On Perceptions Of The Family, Ashley Bowes Fletcher

Masters Theses

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the impacts of popular early 2000s children’s television shows on now-adult viewers’ perceptions of the nuclear family. The problem is that current scholarly literature had not addressed how early 2000s television shows have impacted the perception of a traditional nuclear family’s role in society. This study sought to identify the views currently held by the participants regarding the importance and roles of the nuclear family. The study also sought to identify the participant’s perceptions of the portrayals of the nuclear family in specific early 2000s children’s sitcoms. Through a variety …

Predictive Models Of Student Mental Health: The Correlation Between Academic Burnout And Depression In The Higher Education Environment, Hyejoon Song

Masters Theses

Importance: Over 80% of U.S. college students report significant emotional difficulties, and 58% endorse academic burnout as a persistent concern, yet institution-specific data at faith-integrated universities such as Liberty University remain scarce, limiting evidence-based programmatic response.

Objective: To examine the correlation between academic burnout and depressive symptomatology at Liberty University, identify the most predictive individual burnout item via Random Forest machine learning, and characterize distinct student risk profiles via KMeans clustering. Design, Setting, Participants: Cross-sectional survey (IRB-FY24-25-1491, Exempt) of 236 Liberty University students (mean age 36.9 ± 14.3 years; 84.0% female; 61.0% graduate-level), 2025–2026 academic year.

Main Outcome and Measures: …

From Christology To Ontology: A Diachronic And Exegetical Evaluation Of A Maximalist Sacramental Interpretation Of John 6:51–58, Andrew R. Johnson

Masters Theses

John 6:51–58 occupies a central place in the debate regarding the ontological nature of the Eucharist, frequently serving as a primary scriptural warrant for sacramental realism such as articulated by the Council of Trent as it concerns the dogma of transubstantiation within the Roman Catholic tradition. This thesis conducts both an evaluation of historical reception and a critical exegetical analysis to determine whether the Evangelist’s primary intent was to establish sacramental doctrine in this passage or to further develop already pervasive Johannine soteriological and christological themes.

Methodologically, this study bridges the gap between historical reception and synchronic exegesis. The first …

Avoiding Pandora’S Box: Why Federal Nondiscrimination Statutes Do Not Prohibit Health Insurance Coverage Exclusions Of Sex-Rejecting Procedures, Rachel N. Morrison

Catholic University Law Review

There is increasing litigation over whether employer-provided health insurance and state Medicaid plans can exclude coverage of procedures for “gender transitions.” Plaintiffs claim that gender-transition coverage exclusions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and federal nondiscrimination statutes. While Fourteenth Amendment claims should be foreclosed by the Supreme Court’s holding in Geduldig v. Aiello, nondiscrimination claims require a separate analysis.

This article shows the proper analysis for whether coverage exclusions of transition procedures violate federal nondiscrimination statutes. Looking to the history of coverage exclusion claims, Part I traces sex and pregnancy discrimination claims challenging coverage exclusions of …

Build Digital Annual Survey 2025 And Trends & Comparisons 2022 - 2025, Clare Eriksson, Robert Moore, Bilal Succar

Reports

The Build Digital Annual Survey 2025 provides an overview of digital transformation across Ireland’s construction and built environment sector, drawing on responses from 205 participants across industry, government, and academia. The findings show continued sector engagement with digital transformation, driven by government mandates, project benefits, and partner expectations. Common digital deliverables, such as model-based design, documentation, coordination, and clash detection, are now widely used, while more advanced uses linked to operations, sustainability, interoperability, and AI remain less mature. The report also highlights ongoing challenges, including skills gaps, uneven training provision, limited OpenBIM adoption, and inconsistent implementation of ISO 19650 and …

Linguistic And Cultural Analysis Of Divine Command In 1 Samuel 15: Implications For Biblical Interpretation, Timothy Arnell Dunn

Masters Theses

This thesis argues that ḥērem in 1 Samuel 15 is not a relic of ancient warfare but a sacred act of covenantal devotion that reveals the tension between divine holiness, human obedience, and Israel’s identity as a people set apart for YHWH. Through historical, philological, narrative, and canonical analysis, the study demonstrates that ḥērem functions as a ritualized declaration of divine sovereignty in which destruction becomes consecration and obedience becomes worship. Saul’s partial compliance is therefore not strategic misjudgment but a rupture in covenant fidelity that exposes the costliness of holiness and the danger of selective obedience. Yet the canon …

The Effects Of Phonetic Knowledge And Bilingualism On The Acquisition Of Non-Native Consonant Clusters, Kylie Wakley

Theses and Dissertations

Speech motor learning involves the production of new sounds or sound sequences. This study investigated how explicit phonetic knowledge and bilingualism affect how individuals acquire sound sequences that do not occur in English, or non-native consonant clusters. Sixty adults with typical speech, aged between 18 and 27 years, participated in the experiment. The researcher recruited participants into four groups based on their phonetic background (experienced or not) and language background (monolingual, bilingual). The participants produced stop-stop and fricative-nasal clusters in the initial position of nonsense words across six practice blocks. The duration of each cluster was measured, which in English …

Efficacy And Safety Of Subcutaneous Vs. Intravenous Anti-Tnf Agents In Ulcerative Colitis: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Chimezirim Ezeano Md, Mph, Meklit Hunde Md, Ekow Essien Md

Scientific Day

Background/Significance:

Subcutaneous (SC) and intravenous (IV) anti–tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapies are established treatments for moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis (UC). While both routes are effective, direct comparative data are limited due to few head-to-head trials. Differences in pharmacokinetics, administration burden, and patient preference may influence outcomes. We sought to compare the efficacy and safety of SC versus IV anti-TNF agents in inducing and maintaining clinical remission in adults with UC.

Purpose:

To evaluate whether SC anti-TNF therapy is comparable to IV anti-TNF therapy in achieving clinical remission and maintaining safety in moderate-to-severe UC.

Methods:

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis …

“Being Comrades And Friends”: Friendship Networks Of Activists In College, Lance Paul L. Sunga

Sociology Undergraduate Senior Theses

Friendship is often thought of as a byproduct of activism. People naturally get close and form bonds as they become involved and participate in collective action with others. While scholars have focused on how social networks influence mobilization, there has been a lack of research on the other direction of this relationship, the already commonly held assumption. Using the case of student networks at a liberal arts college, this leads to the following questions: “To what extent do variations in social movement mobilization explain patterns and outcomes of friendship network types? How does activism impact a respondent’s understanding of friendship …

Unlocking The Colleague Next Door, Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Learning, Teaching, & Researching Optimization

The structural barriers that isolate faculty from one another—individualistic reward systems, professional identity protection, disciplinary silos, fragmented time—have been documented in detail elsewhere. This paper begins where that analysis ends. Its sole focus is solutions: what actually works, what you can do without waiting for your institution to change, and most importantly, what you can do today. It is organized in three movements: evidence-based institutional strategies, community-level structures any group of faculty can build, and a granular map of the smallest possible individual first steps—the ones that cost almost nothing and have an outsized probability of changing how you experience …

The Silent Silos Of Academia, Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Learning, Teaching, & Researching Optimization

We work in an environment rich with latent brilliance. Walk down any corridor of a modern university building, and you pass office after office housing world-class expertise, profound pedagogical insights, and raw intellectual power. In terms of human capital, academic faculty represent arguably the most concentrated pool of cognitive resources on the planet. Yet, a strange paradox haunts higher education: despite living and working in such proximity, university faculty remain profoundly isolated. We operate as solitary islands, locked within our own intellectual silos, rarely leveraging the immense potential of our peers.

This isolation is not a personal choice, nor is …

Play And Parents: Influence Of Caregiver Characteristics On Children’S Play, Isabelle Selko

ETD Collection

Play is established as an essential part of development, through which parents play an instrumental role. This study sought to understand the relationship between types of play and facility with and enjoyment of play with parent leisure activities and personality traits. One hypothesis stated that parents’ personality traits and preferred activities would positively correlate with the type of play they engage in most frequently with their child. The second hypothesis predicted that parents will demonstrate more facility with and enjoyment of play if there is a match between their activity preferences/hobbies, personality traits, and most frequent play type with their …

Grief Among Parents Who Have Lost A Child To An Opioid Overdose: A Qualitative Study, Laura Joy Russin

ETD Collection

Grief is experienced in many ways. Many bereaved people demonstrate resilience, however, there are those who suffer a prolonged grief for a variety of reasons including issues related to the relationship with the deceased, the state of the relationship prior to the loss, the nature of the loss, and perceived social support following the loss. In 2024, over 107,000 people died of a drug overdose in the United States and hundreds of thousands of family members were left behind to mourn. Despite the prevalence of drug-related deaths, the grieving process following this type of loss remains understudied. The proposed project …

Return To Nicu Follow-Up: A Multiple Factor Analysis, Jenna Saviano

ETD Collection

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) follow-up programs are critical for monitoring the developmental outcomes of preterm and medically fragile infants. If deemed necessary, these programs may also provide referrals to various intervention modalities; however, loss to continued follow-up remains a concern in pediatric health care. To increase the understanding of how infants can be retained in medical and developmental follow-up programs, this study examined socio-demographic, caregiver, medical, and attendance-related predictors of loss to follow-up among infants enrolled in the NYU Langone Medical Center’s Neonatal Comprehensive Care Program (NCCP). The sample included 193 preterm infants who received neurodevelopmental follow-up between 2021 …

Indigenous Science Network Bulletin - May 2026

Indigenous Science Network

The editorial for this issue of the Indigenous Science Network Bulletin titled: Bridging Indigenous Knowledge, Education and Community: A Living Journey of  Learning and Transformation, is written by Dr Alvin Riffel, a lecturer and researcher in the Faculty of Education at the University of the Western Cape. The Bulletin includes sections on news and views; resources; decolonising science; papers; Indigenous astronomy; and conferences / seminars.

Fiction Novel Chapters: Ghost Orchid, Ronald C. Whetsell

Masters Theses

There is a natural tension between governments whose structures are maintained by strong, centralized control like those of Russia and China, and one built on a decentralized, constitutional democracy such as the United States. Although Russia and China have functioned on the global stage in a manner largely reflecting their own self-interests since the early twentieth century, that configuration will change within the fiction novel, Desert Orchid. The narrative will detail their agreement to combine their resources which will better enable them to compete with the free economy of the United States. Their goal is to usurp the global economic …

The Federal Gap In Sports Betting, Aimen Taqi

LLR Forum

The modern sports betting market has outgrown the legal framework that governs it. Drawing on examples from the NBA, this article highlights four areas in which federal legislation is needed: player specific proposition bets, the rise of bettor harassment directed at players and coaches, the absence of a centralized public reporting and oversight structure, and the growing use of prediction market or event contract labeling to evade ordinary gambling regulation. This article contends that Congress should adopt a federal floor for sports betting that restricts the bet types most susceptible to manipulation, requires uniform reporting and oversight, imposes anti-harassment obligations …

When Platform Regulations Fail: An Institutional Fix For California Social Media Laws, Roz Kohan

LLR Forum

Three recent Ninth Circuit decisions struck down parts of California’s content moderation laws regarding transparency, child-safety, and algorithmic design on First Amendment grounds. Such challenges act as a barrier to effective platform regulation. When examining past speech regulations that withstood such challenges, telecommunications law provides guidance for the platform context. The lack of expert administrative agencies accounts for the failures of content moderation regulation. This Forum Article argues for the creation of a specialized California agency to produce rules and regulations that withstand First Amendment challenges.

Improving A1c Levels Through An Individualized Diabetes Education Among Patients Living With Type 2 Diabetes, David W. Cardona Jr.

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) represents an increasing global health, social, and financial burdens. Nutrition, among other diabetes self-management topics, is a foundational aspect in managing T2DM. Significant knowledge gaps persist among patients regarding the impact of mindful eating habits in relation to euglycemia. Individualized diabetes education focused on healthy eating habits offers a promising strategy to address this gap. The quality improvement (QI) project aimed to evaluate the impact of diabetes education, focused on nutritional awareness, and mindful eating habits on hemoglobin (A1c) levels, weight, and diabetes self-management questionnaire scores (DSMQ-R) were assessed among adults living with T2DM. The …

The Impact Of Translated Phq-9 And Gad-7 Scales On Treatment Recommendations In An Adult Vietnamese Population: A 3-Month Primary Care Evaluation, Vivienne Bui

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Depression and anxiety are prevalent yet underdiagnosed in limited-English-proficient (LEP) populations due to language barriers, cultural stigma, and provider bias. Vietnamese-speaking patients are particularly vulnerable to under-recognition in primary care. This quality improvement project evaluated whether implementing Vietnamese-translated Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) tools would improve mental health diagnosis and referral rates. Guided by the Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice Model, a pre–post design was conducted at a San Diego clinic from March 26 to June 26, 2025. Vietnamese-speaking adults (≥18 years) completed translated PHQ-9 and GAD-7 forms during intake. Providers used scores in conjunction with clinical …