Digital Commons Network^™

Lgbt+ Poc Well-Being And Resilience, Terra Reynoso

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Historically, both LGBT+ individuals and People of Color have each been subjected to stressors linked to oppression, with those belonging to both groups experiencing a potentially higher degree of distress. This study examined factors that contribute to resilience and well-being in LGBT+ People of Color to highlight potential means to mitigate this distress, guided by queer theory and intersectionality theory in order to provide a relevant framework to inform preliminary research, interview questions, and content analysis. Interviews were conducted with twelve participants with subsequent content analysis revealing the use of social support networks, access to community, productive coping strategies, and …

Building Safer Spaces:Exploring Supportive Leadership And Remote Work As Strategies Against Lgbtqia+ Mistreatment, Saray Valenzuela Jaime

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Organizations worldwide are undergoing significant transformations driven by employees’ demands for healthier, more inclusive workplaces (Mercer, 2022). This shift amplified by the influx of Gen Z and Millennial workers, whose higher rates of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) identification have nearly doubled the proportion of sexual- and gender-minority employees over the past decade, reshaping work dynamics. Yet, nearly half of all LGBT employees experience unfair treatment based on their gender identity or sexual orientation (Sears et al., 2021). LGBTQIA+ identity and hostile workplace climates, marked by mistreatment and discrimination, negatively impact organizational effectiveness by undermining employee …

Veils Of Oppression: An Exploration Of Paul Fitzsimmons Eve And His Impact On Enslaved Black Women's Lives, Zoe'swanna K. Mcgee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis contributes to the ongoing study of gender, race, and medicine in the United States, focusing on Dr. Paul Fitzsimmons Eve and his practices. By examining the experiences of enslaved black women subjected to his surgical procedures and experiments, medical racism, harm, and exploitation become visible.

Unwritten Rules: Black Utahns’ Experience With De Facto Segregation In Utah, 1940-1965, Jasmine Mercedes Lowe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis examines life in Utah during the Jim Crow era, utilizing oral history interviews with African Americans who lived in the state between 1940 and 1965. The interviewees selected for this project describe their personal experiences with housing, employment, public spaces, medical assistance, and education discrimination.

Impacts Of 4r Nitrogen Management And Water Optimization On Soil Health, Kamaldeep Kamaldeep

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Farmers in Utah and Idaho are facing growing challenges due to high fertilizer costs, limited irrigation water, and pressure to improve long-term soil health. To better understand current practices and grower attitudes, a survey was conducted in 2020 targeting 5,000 producers of small grains, corn, and potatoes. Although the response rate was low, 146 growers representing over 25,000 hectares of cropland participated. Survey results showed that most growers are open to improving nitrogen and irrigation practices and care about their soil health, even if not all are fully using 4R or precision agriculture methods.

This thesis includes two field studies …

Operation: Twisted Arm, Paul Burdiss

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This science fiction novella explores the postcolonial tensions that can exist between a settler population and the native population of the land they have colonized. It uses the science fiction genre to translate modern issues into a fully fictionalized setting and is written in novella form to best fit the form of the story. This novella is accompanied by a Critical Introduction which explains the methodology and rationale for many of the choices made in its construction, and references both literary works read in preparation for this project as well as works by other writers regarding fiction writing techniques. The …

Distal Impact Of Learning Trajectories On Motivational Factors In Second Language Acquisition Of Adult English Learners, Feng Zhang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Learning a foreign language is a long-term process sustained by learners’ motivation, self-efficacy, and self-regulation. While prior research has established that past performance influences these motivational factors, overlooking the impact of past performance on current motivational constructs. This dissertation explores how past learning performance impact current motivational factors. Using a person-centered approach, three subgroups were identified as latent learning profiles within the sample population based on their performance features: the high-performing early peak profile, the stable profile, and the rising profile. Regression models were conducted to evaluate the extent to which latent learning profiles predicted motivational variables. The results showed …

Understanding Power Dynamics Of Latter-Day Saint Marriages In The United States Of America, Bonnie Young

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Power sharing is a key feature of romantic relationships. It is important to understand how various groups navigate power sharing within their relationships. Thirty-one participants who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (16 women and 15 men) reported on their experience of power-sharing in marriage. In-depth individual and couple interviews revealed that couples engage in four individual and relational processes that impact and promote equality in marriage: systemic influences, self-in-relationship processes, relationship processes, and identity outcomes. These processes have important implications for future research and therapeutic practice with Latter-day Saint, religious, and secular couples.

Building Services Engineering July/August 2025

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Automated Chick Sexing Using Computer Vision, Marta Veganzones Rodriguez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents two complementary approaches to chick sexing, a critical task in poultry production that demands accurate and early gender identification. By investigating both facial and vent-based modalities, we present two complementary methods that aim to improve the efficiency, scalability, and ethical standards of gender classification in day-old chicks through the use of computer vision and deep learning. The first approach draws inspiration from human facial gender recognition to introduce facial chick sexing, a minimally invasive technique that eliminates the need for expert knowledge. This system encompasses a complete pipeline that includes image acquisition, facial detection and alignment, keypoint …

Lifetime Stressor Exposure, Race And Ethnicity, And Habitual Stress Processes: An Evaluation Of Repetitive Negative Thinking And Hair Cortisol Concentration, Harrison Dickens

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Habitual stress processes are thought to influence acute stress reactivity and stress-related disease. Habitual stress processes have been shown to adapt in response to stressor exposure experienced across the lifespan. The current study seeks to explore whether two habitual stress processes, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity and repetitive negative thinking (RNT), were associated with lifetime stressor exposure (self-reported and objective neighborhood-level stressors). Additionally, the current study attempts to quantify how this process may be moderated by race and ethnicity. Participants (N = 134, Mage = 18 [SDage= 1.69], 56.7% female) consisting of White (N = 52), Black (N = 37 ), …

Exploring Commuter Cyclists' Experiences Commuting In And Around Clemson University, Trevor S. Romans

All Theses

Climate change is a global issue, and high rates of automobile usage contribute to substantial social, environmental, and economic issues. One potential partial solution is creating bicycle-friendly communities. Research suggests that bicycle use leads to benefits in physical health, environmental sustainability, economic savings, and social justice. Research supports the roles of infrastructure development, safety policies, and other transportation planning initiatives in increasing bicycling, but less research has been completed about what is needed to develop bicycle-friendly communities. While physical infrastructure affects willingness to commute by bicycle, research suggests that understanding psychological factors and other behavioral aspects is also important for …

The Effect Of Tort Liability For Prescribed Burns On Wildfire Severity: Evidence From Georgia’S 2000 Policy Reform, John Patrick Phillips

All Theses

This paper aims to estimate the effect of Georgia’s shift in its prescribed fire tort liability standard from simple negligence to gross negligence on the area burned by wildfires on privately owned land. In response to wildfire damage, some states in the Southeast relaxed their liability standards, aiming to promote more prescribed burns and to better control future wildfires. Using the variation of these policy changes, I construct difference-in-difference models to estimate the treatment effect of Georgia’s policy change in July 2000, using counties in North and South Carolina as the control group. I stagger my regressions, adding covariates and …

Expandable Tissue Engineered Living Pulmonary Heart Valve For Pediatric Patients, David Podolsky

All Theses

Cardiovascular disease is an extremely deadly disease that affects people throughout the world. It is the leading cause of death worldwide, affecting over a quarter of the population.1 Some forms of cardiovascular disease directly affect the heart valves and their function. Surgery or a replacement device are the most common current treatment options. These treatments are effective in addressing heart valve diseases in adults, but they are less effective when used for children patients. This creates a need to develop a solution for the child population.

Congenital heart defects are structural abnormalities that often lead to infant mortality.2,3 Pulmonary valves, …

Deaf Faculty Members’ Experiences In Higher Education Institutions, Stephanie Proctor Horvath

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Deaf faculty members bring diverse perspectives to higher education, yet their experiences remain underexplored in academic research. The critical first year of teaching can shape their career experiences, revealing both opportunities for growth and systemic barriers. The purpose of this study was to understand deaf faculty members’ experiences, focusing on their transition into academic roles, the accommodations provided in their workplaces, and the challenges they faced. This study employed a qualitative phenomenological design, utilizing semi-structured interviews with 15 Deaf faculty members, whose teaching experience ranges from 1 to 30 years. In the reflexive thematic analysis and AI-coding of this data, …

Did California's Mental Health Services Act Improve Mental Health? Evidence From Self-Reported Data, Bennett Rider

All Theses

This analysis evaluates the impact of California’s Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), which was implemented in 2006 to increase access and improve quality of mental health care for Californians. Difference-in-differences analyses were applied to evaluate the impact of the MHSA on the number of poor mental health days in the past month (PMHDs) that survey respondents had self-reported, relative to a control group with similar pre-policy trends. Using survey data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), this study found that the MHSA’s full implementation is associated with California respondents reporting 0.118 fewer poor mental health days in the …

A Generalizable And Privacy-Preserving Framework For Anomaly Detection In Heterogeneous Iot Environments, Mahshid Rezakhani

All Theses

With the rapid growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices across various sectors, detecting anomalies in such systems has become increasingly challenging. IoT environments produce diverse and evolving data streams, often lacking labeled examples, which limits the effectiveness of traditional machine learning models. These models typically require frequent retraining and struggle to adapt to new deployment conditions. This thesis proposes a flexible, privacy-aware framework for anomaly detection in multivariate time series data generated by heterogeneous IoT systems. The approach integrates a long short-term memory variational autoencoder (LSTM-VAE) with contrastive learning and adversarial adaptation, enabling the model to generalize across domains, …

Criminal Behavior Responses To Changing Penalties: Estimating The Impact Of Felony Theft Threshold Changes, Ezra R. Simmons

All Theses

This study estimates how criminal behavior changes in response to shifts in felony theft thresholds, contributing to broader evidence on the deterrent effects of criminal penalties. Using detailed incident-level crime reports, this study applies econometric techniques to evaluate how offenders responded to reduced penalties. Analyzed within is California’s Proposition 47, which raised the felony threshold for theft-related offenses from $450 to $950. The results show a significant increase in low-level shoplifting (approximately 21%) and more substantial rises (approximately 24% to 30%) in crimes within the threshold overlap ($450 to $950). Additionally, the value stolen in crimes below the $450 threshold …

Biological Hydrogen Process Improvements By High Temperature Simultaneous Saccharification And Fermentation, Frank W. Jeffries V

All Theses

The hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermotoga neapolitana is established as a versatile organism for fermentative hydrogen (H₂) production. Batch experiments were carried out to investigate the cell yield, product yield, and kinetic parameter values for individual media containing five carbohydrates. The highest H₂ yield of 15.56±0.31 mmol-H₂/g-carbohydrate was reported for glucose medium. H₂ yield was measured to be 14.51±0.38, 14.44±1.15, 11.88±0.84, and 11.53±0.73 mmol/g for media containing xylose, cellobiose, arabinose and xylan respectively. Acetic acid yield followed a similar trend, where the obtained values were 0.470±0.01, 0.462±0.04, 0.431±0.01, 0.409±0.03, and 0.406±0.01 g-acid/g-carbohydrate for glucose, cellobiose, xylose, …

Small Stream Restoration In The Piedmont Of South Carolina: Comparison Of Evaluation Tools And Water Quality’S Effects On Salamanders, Camryn Lachica

All Theses

For many years, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) used the Guidelines for Preparing a Compensatory Mitigation Plan worksheets to guide pre-restoration evaluation and determine post-restoration mitigation credits in South Carolina. Recently, the USACE in South Carolina transitioned to the Stream Quantification Tool (SQT), which provides a more comprehensive assessment framework. Our first objective was to compare these assessment methodologies across different landscape types to determine what the SQT adds to mitigation calculations that were not considered in prior worksheets. We evaluated 16 streams in the Piedmont of South Carolina, with four replicates each of forested, suburban, urban, …

A Comparative Study Of Land Use Regulations And Impact On Coastal Estuaries, Mabel W. Dadzie

All Theses

The study presents a mixed method and longitudinal assessment of land cover change, estuarine land loss, and policy implemented to address the past and anticipated estuarine losses in the Cooper River and North and South Santee watershed over the past twenty years. This study uses National Land Cover Dataset from 2001 to 2021, NOAA’s SLR projection data and planning documents from 1990 to 2025 to examine policy evolution among ten major themes. The results illustrate significant changes in land cover, notably the transition of wetlands, agriculture, and forests to developed land, as well as an evident spike in the integration …

Anaphylaxis Definition, Overview, And Clinical Support Tool: 2024 Consensus Report-A Ga2len Project, Timothy E Dribin, Antonella Muraro, Carlos A Camargo, Paul J Turner, Julie Wang, Graham Roberts, Aikaterini Anagnostou, Susanne Halken, Jay Liebermann, Margitta Worm, Torsten Zuberbier, Hugh A Sampson, Ga(2)Len Anaphylaxis Study Team

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: The 2006 National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease/Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network anaphylaxis criteria are widely used in clinical care and research. In 2020, the World Allergy Organization published modified criteria that have not been uniformly adopted. Different criteria contribute to inconsistent care and research outcomes.

Objective: We sought to develop a consensus anaphylaxis definition, overview, and clinical support tool.

Methods: A 12-member writing group developed draft outputs modified with input from a 46-member international expert panel, 31 medical stakeholder organizations, and 15 patient advocacy organizations. The expert panel participated in a modified Delphi process to seek consensus …

Mechanisms Underlying Atrial Fibrillation In Chronic Kidney Disease, Jose Alberto Navarro-Garcia, Joshua A Keefe, Jia Song, Na Li, Xander H T Wehrens

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a serious and progressive worldwide health problem affecting 15 % of the global population. CKD is associated with higher mortality rates due to secondary complications such as cardiovascular disease. Common cardiovascular complications found in CKD patients include left ventricular hypertrophy, heart failure, and cardiac arrhythmias. The most common type of cardiac arrhythmia in CKD patients is atrial fibrillation (AF). Proper management of AF is important due to its high risk of cardiovascular complications and stroke. The incidence of AF remains higher in CKD patients than in the healthy population, highlighting the need to improve our …

Sugar Functionalized Collagen Material For Local Modulation Of Innate Immunity, Francesca Taraballi, Claudia Corbo, Julia Enterria-Rosales, John Otto Martinez, Silvia Minardi, Laura Pandolfi, Xing Wang, Ennio Tasciotti, Kavindra V Singh, Cesar A Arias, Bruna Corradetti

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Small alterations during the early stages of the innate immune response to an implant can drive large changes in adaptive immunity. Biomaterials for regenerative purposes can be engineered to modulate this immune response in beneficial ways. This study presents an innovative patch designed and functionalized to target the innate immunity at the implant site. Mannose moieties are incorporated into collagen patches, resulting in a technology called Local Immunotuning Patch (LIP), designed to directly interact with antigen presenting cells through their mannose receptor. In vitro, LIP shows anti-inflammatory effects on bone marrow-derived macrophages and inhibitory properties even on methicillin-resistant bacterial strains. …

Data-Driven Approach To Dynamic Resting State Functional Connectivity In Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: An Enigma-Pgc Ptsd Study, Carissa W Tomas, Jacklynn M Fitzgerald, C Lexi Baird, Courtney C Haswell, Chadi G Abdallah, Michael Angstadt, Justin T Baker, Hannah Berg, Jennifer U Blackford, Josh Cisler, Andrew S Cotton, Judith K Daniels, Nicholas D Davenport, Richard J Davidson, Terri A Deroon-Cassini, Seth G Disner, Wissam El Hage, Negar Fani, Jessie L Frijling, Evan M Gordon, Daniel W Grupe, Xiaofu He, Ryan Herringa, David Hofmann, Ashley A Huggins, Ahmed Hussain, Jonathan Ipser, Neda Jahanshad, Tanja Jovanovic, Milissa L Kaufman, Yoojean Kim, Anthony King, Saskia B J Koch, Sheri Koopowitz, Amit Lazarov, Lauren A M Lebois, Isreal Liberzon, Shmuel Lissek, Antje Manthey, Geoffrey May, Katie A Mclaughlin, Laura Nawijn, Steven M Nelson, Yuval Neria, Jack B Nitschke, Bunmi O Olatunji, Miranda Olff, Matthew Peverill, Yann Quidé, Orren Ravid, Kerry Ressler, Marisa Ross, Lauren E Salminen, Kelly Sambrook, Chiahao Shih, Anika Sierk, Scott R Sponheim, Dan J Stein, Jennifer Stevens, Thomas Straube, Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Paul M Thompson, Nic J A Van Der Wee, Steven J A Van Der Werff, Sanne J H Van Rooij, Mirjam Van Zuiden, Dick J Veltman, Robert R J M Vermeiren, Henrik Walter, Xin Wang, Hong Xie, Xi Zhu, Sigal Zilcha-Mano, Christine L Larson, Rajendra Morey

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been associated with aberrations in brain networks in the absence of a given cognitive demand or task, called resting-state networks. Prior work has focused on disruption in the static functional connectivity (FC) among specific regions constrained by a priori hypotheses. However, dynamic FC, an approach that examines brain network characteristics over time, may provide a more sensitive measure to understand the network properties underlying dysfunction in PTSD. Further, using a data-driven analytic approach may reveal the contribution of other larger network disturbances beyond those revealed by hypothesis-driven …

Molecular Maestro In The Lung: The Sphingolipid Rheostat, Joselyn Rojas-Quintero, Francesca Polverino

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Professional Pathways In Business: The Role Of Social Capital For Latinx Students, Maritza S. Campo, Manuel Pech, Teresa Madamba

Journal of College Access

Latina/os currently represent one of the most significant contributors to the United States economy, possessing $3.78 trillion in purchasing power. Despite constituting the second largest demographic group in the nation, Latinx representation in business graduate programs and corporate leadership positions, including board memberships, remains below 5%. As Latinx enrollment and graduation rates in higher education have consistently increased over the past decade, it has become increasingly imperative to examine how Hispanic-Serving Institutions can more effectively support Latinx students in their transition from academic to professional careers in business. This study investigates the impact of initiatives implemented by one Hispanic-Serving Institution …

An Electronic Trigger To Detect Telemedicine-Related Diagnostic Errors, Daniel R Murphy, Himabindu Kadiyala, Li Wei, Hardeep Singh

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction

Methods

Low-Dose Metformin Requires Brain Rap1 For Its Antidiabetic Action, Hsiao-Yun Lin, Weisheng Lu, Yanlin He, Yukiko Fu, Kentaro Kaneko, Peimeng Huang, Ana B De La Puente-Gomez, Chunmei Wang, Yongjie Yang, Feng Li, Yong Xu, Makoto Fukuda

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Metformin is the most commonly prescribed antidiabetes drug, yet its precise mechanism of action remains controversial. Previous studies have suggested that metformin acts peripherally by reducing hepatic glucose output and altering gut functions. Here, we report a neural mechanism via the small guanosine triphosphatase Ras-related protein 1 (Rap1). Mice with forebrain-specific Rap1 knockout exhibited resistance to the antidiabetic effects of low-dose metformin while remaining sensitive to other antidiabetic agents. Centrally administered metformin inhibited brain Rap1 and reduced hyperglycemia. Conversely, forced activation of brain Rap1 increased glycemia and abolished the glycemic effect of metformin. Metformin activated a specific subset of neurons …

Effects Of Emotional Intelligence In Enhancing Team Collaboration And Conflict Resolution In Agile Project Management, Shaikh Muhammad Sinan

Harrisburg University Dissertations and Theses

In this study, I explored the use of emotional intelligence (EI) in enhancing team collaboration and conflict resolution within agile project management environments. Though agile methodologies have gained more popularity, most projects still suffer from interpersonal conflicts and communication failures that detract from project performance. Though the literature is particular to the dynamics of agile project management, little is known about the emotional and interpersonal dynamics that influence team effectiveness. I examined how EI skills such as self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills influence team dynamics and project success. Guided by Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence Framework, in this qualitative study, …