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Relationship Between Motives For Social Media Use And Depressive Symptoms Among Young Adults, Ashley N. Santiago-Fernandez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In today's world, where technology is advancing at an exponential rate, social media has become an indispensable part of the lives of young people. Research on the relationship between social media use and mental health has yielded mixed results, with some studies emphasizing its benefits while others highlight its negative impacts. To delve deeper into this phenomenon, this quantitative correlational study aimed to conduct a comprehensive study of the relationship between social media use and mental health, specifically depressive symptoms, among young adults. To contribute to the theoretical framework, the study consisted of an online survey (N=182) that assessed motives …

Dunning-Kruger And The Reforming Mind: A Causal-Comparative Study Determining The Role That Confidence When Learning Mathematics Plays In Sixth-Grade Students' Mathematics Performance, Rita Renata Davison-Yragui

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative non-experimental causal-comparative study was to determine the relationship between sixth-grade students’ confidence level (high, middle, or low) when learning mathematics and their mathematical performance. This study adds to the current body of knowledge on student learning and contributes to a better understanding of the impact of confidence on student performance in mathematics. The sample comprised 132 sixth-grade public school math students in western Washington who completed the i-Ready diagnostic to determine their mathematical performance. The confidence when learning mathematics portion of the Attitudes to Technology in Mathematics Learning Questionnaire was used to measure student confidence …

Resonating Patterns: Adaptive Resonance Theory And Self-Organizing Maps, Meeti Dixit

Theses

Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) represents a powerful neural network architecture designed to address the stability-plasticity dilemma. Its primary objective is to enable rapid learning without compromising retention. ART embodies characteristics of self-organization and self-stabilization, distinguishing it from traditional neural networks. Unlike error-based learning prevalent in conventional models, ART employs competitive learning mechanisms. One of the distinguishing features of ART is its involvement in hypothesis testing, a departure from the approach of deep learning. This capability allows ART to learn dynamically in real-time environments. Over time, various ART models have emerged that cater to different types of data, such as binary …

Spectator 2025-05-01, Editors Of The Spectator

The Spectator

No abstract provided.

Illinois State University, One Hundred And Sixty-Sixth Annual Commencement, May 2025, Illinois State University

Commencement Programs

Illinois State University

One Hundred and Sixty-Sixth Annual Commencement

May 2025

Stochastic Variational Autoencoder, Shounak Desai

Theses

This work explores a novel generative modeling approach inspired by variational autoencoders (VAEs). Traditional VAEs rely on a recognition model (encoder) that approximates the latent posterior with a single gaussian distribution for each input, limiting their flexibility in capturing complex data distributions. In contrast, we propose a modified recognition model that utilizes stochastic mixtures of gaussians, allowing for a more expressive latent representation. By leveraging stochastic neural networks within the VAE framework, we aim to achieve a tighter evidence lower bound (ELBO) on the log-likelihood of the data. Our approach is a preliminary investigation to enhance the latent space structure …

Wildly Inclusive: A Sensory Inclusive Initiative At The Memphis Zoo, Brianna Jernigan

Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstones

The purpose of this doctoral capstone project is to address the need by applying occupational therapy principles to advance sensory inclusivity at the Memphis Zoo. Through the Wildly Inclusive program, efforts were created to foster a more supportive environment, encouraging meaningful participation and improving the quality of life for individuals with sensory processing differences.

Fostering Holistic Practice In The Outpatient Setting With Upper Extremity Impairment, Montanna Tapper

Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstones

The purpose of the doctoral capstone project is to develop a program that improves psychosocial challenges faced by clients with upper extremity injuries or conditions. The program is designed to be implemented by occupational therapists in the outpatient setting and aims to increase holistic practice with this population by broadening focus past the physical impairment by addressing psychosocial factors.

Occupational Therapy For Older Adults Grieving Non-Death Loss, Zoe Sloas

Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstones

An occupation-based grief support group was developed through literature review, enhancing therapeutic skills, and inter and intra professional collaboration through employing grief-specific occupational therapy interventions with the older adult population.

Genetic Identification Of Lamprey Genera And Anadromous Ecotypes In Watersheds Of The Northeastern Pacific Ocean, G. S. Silver, R. T. Lampman, N. Percival, N. Timoshevskaya, J. J. Smith, K. T. Bentley, J. Wade, S. R. Narum, J. E. Hess

Biology Faculty Publications

Nonparasitic, nonmigratory Western Brook Lamprey (WBL; Lampetra ayresii), and parasitic, anadromous Western River Lamprey (WRL; L. ayresii) are sympatric lampreys that likely represent different life history variations of a single species. Novel genetic tools are critical for differentiating WBL and WRL, whose larvae preclude morphological identification (ID) and will enable comprehensive assessment of imperiled native lampreys of the Northeastern Pacific (including WBL, WRL, and Pacific Lamprey, Entosphenus tridentatus). We developed 47 candidate single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers using whole genome resequencing of WBL (N = 24) and WRL (N = 15) from Ksi Ts'oohl Ts'ap Creek (Nass River, British Columbia, …

Characteristics Of Shallow Convection In Diverse Coastal Conditions, Zackary Mages

Electronic Dissertations and Theses, 2010-current

Clouds are an important component of Earth’s climate system. In particular, shallow convective clouds contribute to the vertical transport of heat, moisture, and momentum in the troposphere, and they generally have a net cooling effect on the planet’s radiation budget. Previous studies have often been limited by a lack of large observational samples needed to understand these clouds and their characteristics. This dissertation strives to overcome this limitation by analyzing observations of shallow convective clouds in two different coastal regions and using two different measurement paradigms. First, shallow convective clouds generated by cold-air outbreaks on the northern coast of Norway …

Naming The Unpayable: Debt, Inheritance, And Interspecies Futures In Mara Pastor’S Deuda Natal, Melissa Pérez Peña

ELIN Graduate Theses

No abstract provided.

Analyzing The Effectiveness Of Maritime Policy For The Management Of Increasing Rates Of Vessel Traffic In The Bering Strait, Izabella Block

Theses and Dissertations

The Arctic is changing at a rapid pace, affecting virtually every aspect of life in the region, with major changes to sea ice, permafrost, and traditional lifestyles. These changes, in conjunction with globalization, have led to a rise in interest in the Arctic and accessing its resources. One considerable facet of accessing the Arctic is via maritime activity, with shorter transport times between Asia and Europe, fishing valuable stocks, and access to offshore oil and gas deposits. As countries such as Russia and China are intent on developing the Arctic and commercializing maritime trade routes, many living in the region …

Glacial-Interglacial And Millennial-Scale Changes In Nitrous Oxide Emissions Pathways And Source Regions, J. A. Menking, J. E. Lee, E. J. Brook, J. Schmitt, L. Soussaintjean, H. Fischer, J. Kaiser, A. Rice

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

During the transition from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the Holocene, the atmospheric N2O mole fraction increased by 80 nmol mol−1. Using ice core measurements of N2O isotopomer ratios, we show that this increase was driven by increases in both nitrification and denitrification, with the relative partitioning between both production pathways depending on the assumed isotopic end‐member source signatures. Similarly, we also attribute a 35 nmol mol−1 N2O mole fraction increase during the Heinrich Stadial 4/Dansgaard Oeschger 8 (HS4/DO8) millennial‐scale event to increases in both N2O production pathways. In contrast, the 25 nmol mol−1 N2O mole fraction decrease during …

The Scream Notation System: A Notational System For Screamed Vocals, Matthew Delcambre

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Western music notation, there is no specified system of notation for screamed vocals, a style of singing that has become increasingly popular since the late 1970s with the advent of metal music and seen increased interest in screams in other genres since. Screams are a unique and diverse vehicle of delivery that can be differentiated according to timbre, technique, pitch and physiology. This research aims to first identify the anatomical and timbral differences between named screams and create a database of screams to be studied. The next task is to design a notational system appropriate for screams and then …

Use Cases For Art Therapy Intervention In Clinical Psychedelic Praxis, Kaitlin Maud

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Psychedelic medicine has existed for thousands of years as a traditional, sacred practice and is now in varying stages of legalization for clinical application in the United States. Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy uses specific psychoactive substances to facilitate altered states of consciousness in which clients have access to unconscious material and there is a greater cognitive openness to new perspectives and possibilities. Art Therapy is a modality of psychotherapy with decades of data to support its clinical efficacy in treating mental illness and other chronic conditions. A review of the literature shows a range of use cases for art in the context …

Temporal Dynamics In Spatial Random Field Theory: A Methodological Advance In Fmri Data Analysis, Theophilus Barnabas Kobina Acquah

Dissertations

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a noninvasive tool for studying neural correlates of cognition by measuring task-evoked brain activity. Accurate interpretation of fMRI data depends on modeling the hemodynamic response (HR), which varies across brain regions and conditions. Brain plasticity adds complexity as functional changes during development and aging affect cognition, emotion, and behavior. BOLD signals display complex temporal dynamics influenced by both neural and physiological factors, challenging conventional models. This highlights the need for adaptive frameworks that account for temporal dependencies and spatial heterogeneity in neural activity detection. This current study enhances fMRI data analysis by integrating temporal …

Himmelfarb Headlines - May/June 2025, The George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Himmelfarb Headlines (2009 - present)

News, information, and resources relating to Himmelfarb Library that is of interest to patrons.

Monitoring The Qosh Tepa Canal Project: A Geospatial Timeline Of Taliban Water Diversion, Enerel L. Crosslin

Honors Thesis

The World Food Program states that “acute malnutrition in Afghanistan is above emergency thresholds in 25 out of 34 provinces and is expected to worsen”. Aiming to support agriculture, the Taliban began to build the 285 km “Qosh Tepa Canal” to divert 17% of the Amu Darya, which supports the livelihoods of millions of people in downstream Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The World Bank estimated that roughly 2.4 million Central Asians could become climate refugees by 2050. Our objectives are to create a timeline of satellite imagery of the canal’s construction. Our research questions are (1) Can we characterize water diversion …

Interdisciplinary Collaboration: The Impact Of Curriculum Support Through Museum/Education Partnerships In Rural Communities, Erin Gentry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Museum education is a dynamic field, and often an underutilized or nonexistent resource in the educational sphere of rural communities. Within the current system of rural K-12 schools, a local museum can serve as both educational enrichment and entertainment/reward. The author’s research explores how museums in rural communities can actively collaborate with schools through a fusion of art and science using an interdisciplinary curriculum model to provide educational support and enrichment to both students and teachers. This research focused on high school students enrolled in a Title 1 charter school located within a rural district in east Texas. The author …

Analyzing Sleep Staging And Cognitive Transitions Using Fmrl Time Series Analysis, Qingwen Zeng

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Understanding sleep stages and their underlying cognitive transitions is essential for advancing our knowledge of brain function. While sleep staging has traditionally relied on electroencephalogram (EEG), this study explores the feasibility of classifying sleep stages using only functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data. We investigate the use of Hidden Markov Models (HMM) and Hierarchical Dirichlet Process Hidden Markov Models (HDP-HMM) to capture temporal brain-state dynamics from task-free fMRI recordings. A series of pipelines—including sliding window, two-stage majority filtering, and prototype-based mapping via the Hungarian algorithm—were implemented to align model-inferred states with EEG-defined sleep stages. Among the twelve tested pipelines, the …

Evaluating Leatherback Turtle Conservation Using The Iucn Red List, Hannah Mcguiness-Piasecki

Theses

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List is a key resource for assessing species extinction risks and serves as a framework for global conservation planning. This study focused on the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), a species currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, evaluating the conservation policies and measures implemented by selected English-speaking countries. The study employed a policy analysis approach, reviewing national and international treaties relevant to leatherback conservation. The findings revealed that while many countries align their policies with global treaties, some gaps remain, particularly in addressing threats to adult leatherbacks …

Safe Or Not Safe? Perspectives Of Mo Gender-Affirming Care Providers In Response To Anti-Trans Care Legislation, Eric Lei

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Senior Honors Papers

Receiving gender-affirming care is a life-saving intervention for many, yet the current wave of transphobic rhetoric and anti-trans legislation, such as the Missouri (MO) Senate Bill 49 “Save Adolescents From Experimentation” (SAFE) Act, continue to restrict trans individuals from accessing gender-affirming care. Previous literature depicts medical providers as enactors of medical power and authority, producing knowledges of trans subjectivities, constructing and controlling trans bodies, and gatekeeping medical care from trans individuals; however, the changing roles, labor, and acts of resistance trans care providers perform under the recent context of heightened social surveillance and legal restrictions have yet to be documented. …

Shielding Resources For Four Common Radiopharmaceuticals Utilized For Imaging And Therapy: Tc-99m, F-18, I-131, And Lu-177, Michael Oumano, Richard Wendt, James Botti, Nathan Busse, David Hintenlang, Stephanie Leon, Kevin Little, Melissa Martin, Richard Massoth, Kenneth Matthews, Rameshwar Prasad, Sharon White, Jessica Clements

Faculty Publications

Introduction: The use of radioactive materials in the United States has been tightly regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other entities for many decades. In 2015, however, the Joint Commission began to require hospital-based nuclear medicine departments to conduct shielding designs and evaluations for radioactive material areas, mirroring established x-ray practices. NCRP Report No. 147 guides diagnostic medical x-ray shielding, but obviously cannot be used alone for nuclear medicine applications. The rising demand for theranostic nuclear medicine shielding evaluations particularly necessitates updated focused guidance, the aim of this report. Methods: Monte Carlo simulations were conducted using GATE software to …

The Affective Poetics Of War In Emi Mahmoud’S Sister’S Entrance, Noha Hanafy

English Language and Literature

The paper attempts to explore the affective representation of war in Sudanese American poet Emtithal (Emi) Mahmoud’s collection Sister’s Entrance (2018). In her debut collection, Mahmuod offers a poignant exploration of war's emotional and psychological toll through the lens of a woman immigrant from Darfur. The poetry in this collection is not solely about the war in Darfur or Mahmoud’s experience during that time. It delves into the war, but it also highlights the repercussions of the war for her and her family. Such repercussions as displacement, becoming a refugee and eventually living with a hyphenated identity in a world …

Elementary Teachers' Perception Of Preparedness For The Elementary Science Classroom, Julie Spino

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the perception of preparedness among elementary teachers to effectively teach three-dimensional science lessons as advocated by the Next Generation Science Standards. A mixed methods approach combining qualitative interviews with quantitative analysis was employed to gain a full understanding of variables that are related to teachers feeling prepared for the classroom and what aspects of teacher preparation and professional experience are areas of success or areas of growth in terms of implementing effective science instruction in a large school district in southeastern Tennessee. Findings revealed teachers completing a full semester of student teaching perceived themselves to be significantly …

Spaced Out: An Exploration Of Potential Adhd Strategies And The Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, Amelia Ribeiro

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The study investigated how implementing academic and behavioral strategies can improve outcomes for students with ADHD by addressing their challenges with cognitive and executive functioning, which impact academic and social skills. Students with ADHD often experience coexisting conditions like anxiety and depression, and they face difficulties in traditional education systems designed for neurotypical learners. Accommodations such as extended time, preferential seating, and breaking tasks into smaller steps are helpful but insufficient. Other strategies included providing digital and written notes, using graphic organizers, incorporating movement, and offering instant rewards to maintain focus and engagement. The research questions focused on the effectiveness …

Female Athletics: Exploring The Impact Of Female Coaches On Perceived Levels Of Athletic Self-Efficacy Among Female Athletes And Their Career Pursuits In Athletics, Alexandra King

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Since the induction of Title IX, women and girls had made significant advancements in sports participation. However, there has been a sharp decline in female representation in athletic leadership positions. This study examined the relationship between female athletes' perceived levels of self-efficacy and their willingness to explore a career in athletic coaching. The research focused on the impact of relationships between female athletes and their female coaches, utilizing the Leadership Scale for Sport to evaluate attributes such as training and instruction, democratic behavior, autocratic behavior, social support, positive feedback. This study addressed key research questions that investigated the perceived influence …

Do Females Counter Against Costly Males In The Degu, Octodon Degus?, Jessica Morales Valenzuela

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Sexual conflict over reproduction may result in females incurring reproductive costs from males. Females may counter against costly males through social support from cohesive relationships with other females. In plural breeders, social support may promote communal offspring care, improving the number of offspring weaned and survival of offspring. We studied the common degu (Octodon degus), a plurally breeding rodent endemic to Chile, to evaluate (i) whether males negatively influence female reproduction, (ii) if cohesive female social relationships counter the influence of costly males, and (iii) whether females reproductively benefit from cohesive social relationships. Degu males delayed female offspring production and …

Synthesis And Characterization Of 3,5 Trifluoromethyl Tpm With A Metal Carbonyl Complex, Emily P. Berkman

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Tris(pyrazolyl)methane (Tpm) ligands have a central carbon with 3 pyrazole rings attached. These were discovered in 1970 and have since been synthesized with many substituents on the rings. Based on the parent structure, my goal was to synthesize a fluorinated Tpm derivative. By adapting existing procedures, I have synthesized a Tpm derivative with trifluorinated methyl groups in the 3 and 5 positions of the pyrazole ring. The fluorinated ligand is expected to be electron withdrawing and exhibit interesting chemistry when bound to a metal center. Future directions of the project will be discussed.