Digital Commons Network^™

Security Governance In Post-Colonial Africa And Implications On Democratic Institutions, Chick Edmond

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

This paper will evaluate how security governance contributes to both the development of democracy and the establishment of stable institutions within newly independent post-colonial states in Africa. Security governance is examined here as it relates to the long-term influence of colonial legacy, military presence, and the politicization of the security services. The authors have based their analysis of this issue on qualitative data gathered from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya. The findings of the research suggest that unless security sectors are subject to civilian oversight and adhere to democratic principles, they tend to serve the …

The Influence Of China’S Economic Soft Power: The Perceptions Of Youth In The Case Of Cambodia As A Small State, Mommarolin Srey

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The debate on the continued rise of China remains relevant and central in global politics. China has been employing soft power as a strategic approach to enhance its reputation as a global power on the international stage. While China has made tremendous efforts in soft power diplomacy to foster positive perceptions among many countries, the global survey on the perception of China remains largely negative with only a slight increase in positive perceptions. This thesis examines the younger generation or youth perceptions of China’s economic soft power. This qualitative research uses the case study of Cambodia as small state and …

How Autistic Children Define Novel And Real Words, Henry James Tomiser

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Word knowledge is highly valuable to Autistic individuals, and although much research has characterized Autistic children’s vocabulary breadth (i.e., the number of lexical entries), less attention has been paid to vocabulary depth (i.e., the richness with which one understands a given word). In this exploratory post-hoc study, 11 Autistic children (one assigned female at birth) participated in novel and real word learning paradigms in which child-friendly referents were paired with CVCV word forms. Participants were then asked to provide open-ended definitions of the words. Definitions were parsed into meaningful subunits, or semantic features. Semantic features were coded by type of …

Superelectrophile Promoted Synthesis Of Heterospirocycles, Mariam A. Adegbenro

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Spirocycles are important scaffolds with a wide range of applications in material science as well as in medicine. The introduction of a heteroatom into the spirocyclic framework can improve its electronic, photophysical, and structural properties. Various reports have been published on the incorporation of atoms other than carbon into the spirocycle. The work outlined in this dissertation involves the development of synthetic methodologies for the synthesis of hetero-spirocycles via superacid-promoted cyclization reactions. These concepts are summarized in Chapter 1.

Chapter 2: Aromatic imines were prepared from 9-fluorenone and azafluorenones, and these substrates were reacted in the Brønsted superacid, triflic acid, …

Personality Theories, Leswin Laubscher

Open Education Materials

Introduction to Personality Theories

Bridging Language And Game Worlds: Semantic Representations And Text-Driven Terrain Generation For Procedural Content, Zhongyu Xie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Procedural Content Generation (PCG) systems produce vast quantities of game levels, terrain, and environments, but lack semantic interfaces: no shared vocabulary exists between natural language, designer intent, and the structured representations generators operate on. This thesis addresses the language-content grounding gap in PCG through two complementary studies spanning semantic analysis and semantic synthesis. The first study introduces a group-supervised contrastive learning framework for semantic representation of symbolic PCG maps under many-to-one semantics, where visually distinct maps may share the same design intent. The framework combines parameter-guided semantic grouping, LLM-based caption augmentation, and a multi-positive contrastive objective that aligns language with …

“None In Velvet Gowns”: Camp Followers And White Womanhood In Eighteenth-Century Anglo-American Warfare, Angelica Labren Torres

History Theses

For over two hundred years, women who followed American and European armies during the long eighteenth century were popularly stereotyped and denigrated as prostitutes, burdens, and generally individuals of ill repute by both contemporaries and subsequent generations of historians. While recent scholarship has largely debunked this long-standing characterization as simplistic and inaccurate, the question remains: why exactly were these women so mischaracterized in their own time, particularly by commissioned officers and other members of Anglo-American middling and elite classes, when ample evidence existed of their material usefulness and comparative marital fidelity? This thesis seeks to address the ideological and cultural …

All Games Have Equilibria, Arthur Paul Pedersen, M. Ali Khan, Maxwell B. Stinchcombe

Publications and Research

Research on Nash equilibrium existence for infinite games has grown into a patchwork of technical preconditions and counterexamples. This paper presents a unified program in equilibrium theory by revising the predominant model of mixed strategies based on countable additivity. A game is specified by a nonempty set of players and, for each player, a nonempty action set and a bounded von Neumann-Morgenstern utility function. Every such game is shown to admit a Nash equilibrium in finitely additive mixed strategies. In addition, the equilibrium correspondence for any such game is shown to be nonempty, compact-valued, and upper hemicontinuous, and the same …

Called To Lead: Leadership Journeys And Workplace Experiences Of Women Presidents In Seventh-Day Adventist Institutions, Gary Thurber

Dissertations

Problem

Although women constitute more than half of Seventh-day Adventist Church membership, they remain substantially underrepresented in senior leadership roles across North America. This disparity raises important questions about the historical, theological, organizational, and gender-related factors that shape women’s access to institutional leadership within the denomination. A growing body of scholarship has examined the life experiences of women clergy in the church; however, limited research has explored the experiences of women serving in presidential leadership roles within Seventh-day Adventist institutions.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to understand and describe the experiences of women serving in presidential leadership roles …

From Platelets To Particles: Optimizing Extracellular Vesicle Isolation In A National Blood Centre, Y. Chintala, A. Waters, F. Mcgrath, A. Lorusso, C. Wynne, S. Meaney

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Background and Objectives: Platelet-derived extracellular vesicles (PEVs) are submicron, membrane-bound particles released upon platelet activation, with a recognized role in haemostasis, inflammation and immunoregulation. PEVs remain insufficiently characterized in blood products. This study compared four isolation methods to evaluate their impact on PEV yield, purity and characteristics, aiming to identify a practical approach for transfusion service workflows. Materials and Methods: PEVs were isolated from expired single-donor aphaeresis platelet concentrates (n = 12) using methods based on different isolation principles: ultracentrifugation (UC), size exclusion chromatography (SEC), mixed size/charge separation (hybrid) and an affinity-based spin column method (affinity). Size, number and biochemical …

Representation In Black Media And How It Affects Generational Mental Health, Amiya Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This article examines how negative media portrayals of Black Americans have harmed their mental health. It traces the impact of persistent stereotypes and the lack of recognition for Black achievements in the media. Each chapter explores how media—from social media to movies—reinforces outdated stereotypes originating in the antebellum era and discusses how Black Americans have challenged these narratives to assert their identity. The article also highlights positive shifts in representation within the media industry, as well as research on how racial discrimination and media depictions influence the mental health and self-esteem of Black adolescents.

Reframing Sexual Assault And Intimate Partner Violence Through A Maternal And Child Health Lens: Implications For Integrated Prevention, Policy, And Practice, Daija C. Gibson

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual assault and intimate partner violence remain persistent public health concerns in the United States, with significant consequences for individual health, family stability, and population well-being. Although these forms of violence are frequently addressed through criminal justice and behavioral health frameworks, less attention has been given to their implications within maternal and child health, where relational dynamics, life course development, and intergenerational outcomes are central. This study reframed SA and IPV as core MCH issues to examine how integrated, systems-based approaches can strengthen prevention efforts. A structured literature review and systematic synthesis of peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2026 …

An Analysis Of Factors At A Private Liberal Arts College That Affect Student-Athlete Sense Of Belonging, Tamija Shrell Tucker

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the factors affecting student-athletes sense of belonging at a private liberal arts college using Strayhorn’s Sense of Belonging Framework. The research used a mixed method approach and combined quantitative survey data from 112 undergraduate students with qualitative interviews from seven faculty members to analyze variations in academic readiness, institutional support and a sense of belonging. Despite that fact that non-athletes reported being significantly more academically prepared, quantitative data indicated that there was no statically significant difference in the overall sense of belonging between student-athletes and non-athletes. There was also a negative correlation between a sense of belonging …

Illuminating The Errors Of State V. Muñoz And The Curtailment Of Due Process Rights When A U.S. Citizen Is Married To A Noncitizen, Kavya Mahesh

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

Gorsuch’S Dissent And The Current State Of Navajo Water Rights Claims, William Clark

Utah Law Review

Water rights have been a key feature of the Navajo Nation’s relationship with the United States. Since the time the Navajo were forcibly removed to the Bosque Redondo in the 1860s, the Tribe has fought for sufficient access to water. A key, but unfortunate, moment in this dispute came when the United States Supreme Court, in Arizona v. Navajo Nation, determined that the 1868 treaty between the United States and the Navajo Nation did not require the United States to take steps to secure water for the Tribe. The Navajo Nation is now on the cusp of settling its Colorado …

Prepregnancy Overweight And Obesity In Kuwait Birth Cohort Study, Abdullah Al-Taiar, Ali H. Ziyab, Eelaf A. Husain, Maryam M.Y. Mohammad, Maryem A. Shamsah, Noor Salah Alali, Reem Sharaf-Alddin, Majeda S. Hammoud

Epidemiology, Biostatistics, & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of prepregnancy obesity and overweight, and to identify a set of sociodemographic factors that could guide weight management interventions for women prior to conception.

Design, Sample, and Measurements: Pregnant women (N = 989) were recruited in the Kuwait Birth Cohort Study during the period June 2017 to February 2020. Prepregnancy weight and height were self-reported, while current weight and height were measured in a standardized procedure. Data on sociodemographic factors were collected through face-to-face interviews conducted by a trained data collector. Multinomial logistic regression was used to investigate the association between sociodemographic …

Paneugenesis: A Regenerative Systems Hypothesis For Advancing Health Promotion, Craig M. Becker, Leslie Hoglund, Beth Chaney, Joseph G. L. Lee, Michael Stellefson, Alex Davis

Epidemiology, Biostatistics, & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Despite major advances in health promotion science, dominant approaches remain largely prevention-and risk-reduction-oriented. The prevailing orientation creates a substantial opportunity to advance generative, system-design strategies that intentionally produce well-being rather than merely prevent disease. This article proposes paneugenesis as a regenerative systems framework and a testable theoretical model for the intentional creation of net-positive outcomes, thereby extending health promotion beyond its traditional pathogenic emphasis. Paneugenesis integrates systems science, salutogenesis, behavioral science, complexity theory, and quality management principles into a unified four-function process: operationalizing idealized outcomes, identifying key precursors, optimizing processes, and continually plotting progress through feedback mechanisms. The central hypothesis …

Monetary Sovereignty In Peril? Cryptocurrencies, Capital Controls And Exchange-Rate Volatility: A Quantitative Global Analysis, Mckeown Boadi Owusu

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines whether the rise of cryptocurrencies affects the constraints states face in exercising monetary sovereignty, specifically in stabilizing their currencies. The analysis tests two hypotheses: first, that higher levels of cryptocurrency interests are associated with greater exchange-rate volatility; and second, that this relationship is stronger in countries with more stringent capital-flow management measures. Drawing on a panel dataset of country–month observations across 46 countries from 2017 to 2024, The results provide no consistent evidence that cryptocurrency interest is directly associated with higher exchange-rate volatility. Similarly, the interaction between cryptocurrency interest and capital controls remains insignificant across all models, …

Crypto Kleptocracy, W. Robert Thomas, Jeffery Y. Zhang

Michigan Law Review Online

Many Americans are worrying about whether they will soon be living in a postdemocracy autocracy. But in the meantime, they may already be living in a crypto-fueled kleptocracy. Less than one year into his second presidential term, Donald Trump has reportedly taken his wealth to new heights by embracing, both as a businessman and a politician, the crypto industry. Trump’s family businesses are involved in minting Trump-themed meme coins, creating America- themed stablecoins, and mining crypto assets—so successfully that most of Trump’s wealth is likely now from crypto, not real estate. All the while, the Trump Administration is rolling back …

A Phenomenological Qualitative Study Of The Experiences Of Board Chairs Toward Governance In Seventh-Day Adventist Schools Across Canada, Shad Lehmann

Dissertations

Problem

There is limited understanding of how school board chairs within the Canadian Seventh-day Adventist education system perceive and carry out their leadership and governance roles. The role of the board chair is complex, involving oversight of the organization, adherence to denominational policies, and alignment with the school’s academic and spiritual missions. Although effective governance is vital for school success, there remains a lack of clarity about how board chairs interpret their roles, fulfill their responsibilities, and navigate the unique demands of faith-based school leadership. This gap in understanding restricts the system’s ability to provide appropriate training, support, and clear …

Women In Music: Experiences Of Women Oboists In Us Symphony Orchestras, Brianna Corgel

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The evolution of women in American music has been a gradual and ongoing process. Historically, women were largely excluded from public musical life and did not achieve widespread acceptance as professional musicians until the 20^th century, largely due to prevailing cultural and societal expectations. In the 19^th century, women typically performed in domestic settings for small gatherings of family and friends. Female instrumentalists were generally limited to the piano and a few string instruments, while wind instruments—such as the oboe—were discouraged because they were considered unladylike or visually unappealing when played. The 20^th century saw the emergence …

An Assessment Of The Reinforcing And Aversive Properties Of Transition-Related Stimuli, Lillian Louise Skiba-Thayer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Transitions from relatively favorable (rich) to relatively unfavorable (lean) activities have been shown to disrupt behavior. Transition-related disruptions in behavior have been observed across laboratories, species, and procedural arrangements. The most commonly reported disruption in basic research is a pause in the reinforced behavior in the signaled transition from a relatively rich to a relatively lean condition of reinforcement (Perone & Courtney, 1992). The present study assessed the function of the stimuli associated with transitions as either reinforcing, punishing, or neutral across two experiments using eight pigeons as subjects. Experiment 1 tested the function of two stimuli, one correlated with …

Three Essays On Urban Transportation, Daniel Amorim Souza Centuriao

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Urban environments are shaped by dynamic interactions between infrastructure development, policy interventions, and episodic demand shocks, all of which can generate unintended externalities in the form of motor vehicle collisions, injuries, and fatalities. This dissertation investigates the determinants of traffic safety in dense urban settings, with a particular focus on how different sources of urban activity affect collision risk and severity. Using New York City as a case study and leveraging high-resolution spatial and temporal data, I examine three distinct but interconnected mechanisms: construction activity, traffic safety policies, and large-scale events.

The first chapter analyzes the impact of urban development, …

Self-Leadership And Perceptions Of Artificial Intelligence: A Single-Case Study, Patrik Garren

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this single-case qualitative project is to uncover how self-leadership’s behavioral and cognitive strategies influence perceptions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI adoption. While existing literature acknowledges that there is an association between self-leadership, technology’s perceived usefulness and ease of use, as well as comfort with AI preparedness and its professional impact, there is limited research on how self-leadership shapes perceptions of AI and AI adoption in real-life contexts. To fill this gap in contemporary literature, this project analyzes qualitative semi-structured interviews with 25 healthcare professionals involved in the implementation of ‘AI Model 1’ at their mid-sized United …

Bringing Patriarchy To Looksmaxxing: Identification And Exploration Of Strategies To Restabilize The Patriarchy In The Looksmaxxing Community, Mackenzie Grace Freeman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Research literature on looksmaxxing is subsumed under the incelosphere, which is acknowledged as a white and male supremacist space. Yet, researchers fail to attend critically to the structure of patriarchy, choosing instead to base their analyses within the mainstream hegemonic masculinity paradigm. Using a Bourdieusian framework, this project fills a gap in the literature by transcending the mainstream paradigm to explain how the looksmaxxing community uses the body as a site of crisis management in response to patriarchal backlash, with the ultimate goal of restabilizing the patriarchy. This project uses a community-led survey from a popular online looksmaxxing community. This …

Programs Of Support For Wardship Experienced Students: Exploring Program Directors' Expectations And Experiences Through A Bioecological Framework, Adalheid Faith Crum

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this research is to explore the expectations and experiences of program directors of campus support programs which center wardship experienced students. This research question guided the current study: What expectations and experiences influenced program directors’ development and reform of a wardship-centered campus support program? This inquiry applies Ürie Bronfenbrenner’s Person–Process–Context–Time (PPCT) bioecological model. Semi-structured interviewing was utilized for this case study. In this research, six directors of campus support programs centering wardship experienced students were interviewed. Additionally, this work employs content analysis of twenty-eight National Research Collaborative for Foster Alumni and Higher Education (NRC-FAHE) publications, introducing fourteen …

Deep-Learning-Based Generation Of Synthetic Contactless Fingerphotos, Christopher Harry Burton

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The collection of biometric data is a labor-intensive, high-resource process that presents significant logistical, privacy, and cost barriers for researchers and developers. To address these challenges, the biometrics community has increasingly turned to generative models capable of producing synthetic datasets that reflect the statistical properties of real data. While substantial progress has been made in synthetic fingerprint generation for contact-based modalities, the contactless fingerphoto domain has remained largely underserved. This work presents a deep learning-based approach to synthetic contactless fingerphoto generation using a Stable Diffusion model guided by multimodal conditions (text and image). The dataset used for training was collected …

Interpersonal Dark Side Of Impostor Thoughts: Predicting Workplace Ostracism Via Surface Acting And Cognitive Dissonance, And The Moderating Role Of Self-Leadership, Asiye Zeytonli

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation investigates the "interpersonal dark side" of workplace impostor thoughts

(WIT), exploring how the internal experience of feeling like a professional fraud translates into

the social exclusion of colleagues through defensive ostracism. While prior literature has

extensively documented the intrapersonal distress associated with the impostor phenomenon,

such as anxiety and burnout this research addresses a critical gap by examining how these

internal states drive behaviors that harm the organizational social fabric. Drawing upon an

integration of Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and Cognitive Dissonance Theory

(CDT), I propose and test a dual-pathway model. The first pathway (COR) suggests that …

Divided Loyalties: Military Recruitment And Emancipation In Kentucky, Jacob Joseph Klinger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation explores how Unionist Kentuckians leveraged their military recruitment to negotiate the scope of federal emancipation during the American Civil War. By 1863, the War Department’s need for troops superseded the racial sensitivities of inhabitants in loyal slave states like Kentucky by promising to free and enlist Black men if white recruits failed to fill the quota. Kentucky’s proslavery Unionists responded and white volunteerism surged by 23 percent, 10 percent more than the national average, to fill the quota and negate military emancipation. Kentucky leaders heralded the recruiting effort but struggled to sustain it alongside an uncredited militia which …

Formation-Based Analysis In Contemporary Saxophone Practice: A Case Study Of Ziwei Shi's The Blue Lotus Bloms, Jiageng Ren

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation examines contemporary saxophone repertoire through a formation-based analytical approach, using Ziwei Shi’s The Blue Lotus Blooms as a case study. It is organized into three parts. Part I establishes the conceptual and methodological framework by introducing the concept of “formation-based analysis,” positioning the “condition of musical formation” as its core. Further situating the study within scholarship on practice-based research, cross-cultural theory, and modernism/postmodernism. Part II provides a detailed analytical and performance-based investigation of the work, including the collaborative commissioning process, the application of Thaat as a pitch resource, the role of extended techniques and embodied endurance, and contrasting …