Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding The Role Of Adverse Childhood Experiences On Resilience In Police Officers, Wayne F. Handley

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Police officers are subject to a variety of stressors not only from job-related events resulting from direct or vicarious trauma exposure (Andersen & Papazoglou, 2014; Brown et al., 1999; Iversen et al., 2008) but also from family and personal concerns (Burke, 1998; Page & Jacobs, 2011), and administrative pressures originating from within their own agencies (Violanti et al., 2018; White et al., 2016). Prior to their careers as police officers, individuals may also be exposed to traumatic events early in life. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are described as negative events related to emotional, physical, or sexual abuse or neglect, exposure …

Co-Constructing Physical Education Resources And Recommendations With Blind Adults, M. Ally Keene

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Blind youth have reported unfavorable PE experiences, however, are optimistic that positive changes could be made. Despite recommendations to involve students in learning decisions, those made for teaching blind youth in PE have largely been constructed from nondisabled adults. This dissertation used a participatory research method and positioned blind people as research partners, amplifying their voices as knowers, collaborators, and researchers, to help construct resources and recommendations to disseminate to PE teachers. With that, the overall aim of this dissertation was to construct a product that provides PE teachers with useful and relevant resources and recommendations, in an attempt to …

Dynamic Soil-Structure Response And Failure Of Wood Utility Poles Under Hurricane-Force Wind And Non-Linear Cable Loads, Ramani Ayakannu

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation presents the outcome of a study of the dynamic soil-structure interaction response of tapered wood utility poles embedded in various foundation soils subject to quasi-static and dynamic wind loads. The study includes the effects of nonlinear soil behavior with varying quantities of moisture and nonlinear cable tension loads on a class H1 wood pole. The natural frequency response of the pole is determined using a finite element formulation. The dynamic response in the presence of wind-induced forcing function is studied using a SAP2000 finite element scheme with wind speeds up to 220 mph. The natural frequency of the …

Online Learning As A Tool For Accessibility For Autistic Higher Education Students, Keirnan E. Brown

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Online learning is becoming more prevalent (Aylmer, 2020) and institutions are seeing an increase in disabled students (HEFCE, 2017; Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of the University System and Research [ANVUR], & National Conference of University Delegates for Disability [CNUDD], 2021; Rao, Edelen-Smith, & Wailehua, 2015). Meanwhile, this group experiences an achievement gap concerning learning and outcomes (ECU, 2017; Eurostat, 2014; Eurostat, 2019; Pearson et al., 2019). Therefore, exploring potential uses of online learning may be beneficial. One related use for online learning is its potential as a tool for accessibility for autistic students. Moreover, a literature gap exists …

Supervision Needs Of Novice Behavioral Health Providers In Integrated Primary Care Settings: A Delphi Study, Nicholas D. Schmoyer

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

The integration of behavioral health providers (BHPs, i.e., clinical mental health counselors, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists) into primary care settings has developed as a healthcare practice associated with enhanced patient clinical outcomes, enhanced patient satisfaction, reduced healthcare expenditures, and enhanced provider wellness and satisfaction, known together as the Quadruple Aim. For BHPs practicing in integrated primary care (IPC) settings, researchers have highlighted a variety of challenges they experience when integrating in these settings, with a consistent challenge being a lack of satisfactory training and supervision. Clinical supervision has been hailed as the “signature pedagogy” for …

Quasi-Static And Impact Load Response Of Bfrp-Reinforced Concrete Beams And Post-Terrorist-Attack Sub-Assemblages, José Luis Carrasquillo

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation presents the outcome of a theoretical and experimental study of Basalt Fiber Reinforced Polymer (BFRP) reinforced concrete beams and post-terrorist-attack subassemblages subjected to either quasi-static or impact load. Both BFRP reinforcement as well as BFRP fabric are used in this investigation. The sub-assemblage consists of an otherwise two-span beam converted to a fixed-end single-span one owing to the loss of a middle column blasted off during the terrorist attack. The simply supported beams are subjected to a midspan quasistatic or an impact load. However, each sub-assemblage is subjected to a quasi-static load up to collapse to simulate the …

Identification Of Quality Indicators Of Visual Based Learning Material In Technology Education Programs For Grades 6th - 9th In Greek Schools In Cyclades Aegean Islands, Spyridoula Tsouganatou

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to identify quality indicators for visual based learning material for technology education classes for grades 6th to 9th. This is a three round Delphi study aimed in answering the following research question. RQ: What are the quality indicators that contribute to the successful selection of visual-based learning material that contribute effectively to transmitting pedagogical information in a technology education classroom for grades 6^th -9^th? The quality indicators were determined by the consensus reached by technology education expert panel/educators that have been identified for the contributions and expertise in the field of …

Pulsed Electric Fields Sensitize Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus To Antibacterial Therapies And Stimulate Host Immune Responses, Alexandra E. Chittams-Miles

Biomedical Sciences Theses & Dissertations

This research explores the impact of nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF) on two fronts: their immune stimulatory effects and their potential as a novel strategy to enhance the sensitivity of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to clinically relevant antibiotics. While pulsed electric fields have been reported to have an immune stimulatory effect, the mechanisms responsible for these effects have yet to be determined.

Our investigation addresses the rising concern of MRSA derived skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs). Consistent with other publications, we found that nsPEF alone cause modest inactivation of planktonic MRSA. We then investigated the effects of nsPEF in …

Application Of The Fokker-Planck Equation For Quantifying Initial Condition Uncertainty Of Reversible Dynamic Systems, Troy S. Newhart

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Characterizing the behavior of dynamic systems requires the inclusion of initial conditions to propagate behavior forward in time. More realistic representations of system behavior quantify uncertainty about the initial conditions to assess sensitivity, reliability, and other stochastic response parameters. In many engineering applications, the uncertain initial conditions may be unknown given a desired response. This research applies the Fokker-Planck equation to reversible dynamic systems of select multi-dimensional nonlinear differential equations as a means for predicting the uncertainty about initial conditions. An alternating directions implicit numerical scheme is used to numerically solve the Fokker-Planck equation for both forward and reversed equations …

Hozier, Tiktok, And Sapphic Rhetoric, Sophia Marie Kovalcik

English Theses & Dissertations

Through the process of social circulation and critical imagination, Sappho’s poetry, which maintains rhetoric that women, nature, and love are related to ritual and feminine divinity, intersects with queer digital rhetoric. Via discussion of feminist spirituality rhetoric, Marie Cartier’s lesbian theology, and rhetorical and literary analysis of Sappho’s lyrical fragments, I explore her Ancient Greek mythological, cultural aesthetics. I then connect sapphic rhetoric to two contemporary artifacts that represent or influence contemporary feminist, digital, and queer identities: the lyrics of the Irish musician Andrew Hozier-Byrne, known as Hozier and TikTok comment sections surrounding Hozier’s music and concert clips.

A Rural Return: The Triumphs And Trials Of A School District's Return To In-Person Learning, Jason Alex Wheeler

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

On March 13, 2020, Governor Ralph Northam ordered all public schools in Virginia to close for two weeks due to the on-going global health crisis; this closure was later extended to include the remainder of the academic year. This created a new political, academic, and social landscape for public schools across the commonwealth to navigate. In addition, to the external political landscape schools face, all public schools are saturated with micropolitical implications. Micropolitics, or the political interactions of values, power, organizational structures, and strategies among internal stakeholders, of which the COVID-19 Pandemic exacerbated, is concerned with the internal politics that …

Consensus On Best Practices In Neuroscience-Informed Treatment Of Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress In Military Veterans: A Delphi Study Of Experts In The Field Of Mental Health, Danielle Lauren Winters

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to capture consensus among mental health professionals who work with combat trauma-afflicted veterans and/or utilize a neuroscience-informed counseling approach, about a set of best practices for uniting neuroscience-informed treatment modalities with the treatment of veterans who present with Post Traumatic Stress (PTS). A multi-round Delphi study was used to elicit information from mental health professionals, which led to the proposition of ways in which mental health professionals may more efficiently work with combat veterans while utilizing neuroscience-informed treatments such as Prolonged Exposure Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) neuro-informed Cognitive Behavioral therapy (nCBT), …

The Lived Experiences Of Counselors-In-Training Completing Practicum And Internship During Covid-19, Shelby Lauren Dillingham

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

COVID-19’s classification as a pandemic in March 2020 changed numerous professions as they adjusted to social distancing expectations. Mental health providers particularly encountered transitions that included higher acuity caseloads, working different hours, and increased exposure to COVID-19. Counselors-in-training (CIT) faced the dilemma of earning their clinical hours in a safe manner, especially CITs working within integrated healthcare settings, such as hospitals or clinics. Despite some research with licensed professional counselors, limited research exists examining CITs' experiences working during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to understand the lived experiences of CITs who completed their clinical hours in an integrated behavioral …

Considerations For Walking Adaptive Devices Used By The Older Adult Population For Functional Mobility, Amanda Beth Firoved

Rehabilitation Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Statement of the problem: Walking adaptive devices (ADs) are commonly used by older adults to increase stability and prevent falls, yet the effectiveness and safety of these devices remain uncertain. This dissertation study investigates the impact of ADs on older adult falls through evidence-based practice concepts of best research evidence, patient values and circumstances, and clinician expertise. Methods: Three distinct studies were conducted, each addressing an essential aspect of EBP. The first study, representing the best research evidence, explored the effect of AD on gait spatiotemporal parameters and motions at the center of mass of twenty-five healthy participants. The second …

Development Of One And Two Current Transition Amplitudes With Two Body Final States, Keegan H. Sherman

Physics Theses & Dissertations

One of the biggest challenges facing modern day nuclear physics is understanding the structure of states within the hadronic spectrum of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). We have shown this spectrum to be quite rich with hundreds of allowed states; however, if we wish to better grasp the dynamics of QCD, then it is necessary that we start investigating the internal structure of these states. This may be done by probing these states with external currents, but this requires a description of the intersection of QCD with the electroweak sector. This work acts as a stepping stone in this direction. Working to …

Partners In Crisis: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Collaboration Between Crisis Intervention Team Officers And Mental Health Professionals, Jessica L. Huffman

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Law enforcement officers (LEOs) are often the first responders to crisis situations, which increasingly include mental health crises. Collaborating with mental health professionals and organizations increases the likelihood that individuals will receive a response that is contextually and culturally informed by an understanding of mental health needs and considerations. For this reason, Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) have been established to train LEOs and to unite efforts with mental health professionals, advocates, and community constituents. While there is existing and ongoing literature exploring the responses provided by CIT, there is limited research on the experiences of CITs related to their unique …

Preserving Location Authenticity: Multi-Sensor System To Thwart Gps Spoofing In Self-Driving Vehicles, Peng Jiang

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The ubiquity of the Global Positioning System (GPS) has cemented its role as the cornerstone for an array of location-based services and navigation systems, spanning applications from autonomous vehicles and drones to maritime vessels and wearable technology. Nonetheless, ensuring the integrity of reported geographical coordinates poses a formidable challenge, owing to the proliferation of diverse GPS spoofing tools. This predicament is compounded by the pervasive availability of tools like Fake GPS, Lockito, and software-defined radios, enabling even unsophisticated users to commandeer and disseminate counterfeit GPS coordinates. This dissertation undertakes the task of devising an encompassing and resilient framework, integrating a …

Time Series Models For Predicting Application Gpu Utilization And Power Draw Based On Trace Data, Dorothy Xiaoshuang Parry

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This work explores collecting performance metrics and leveraging various statistical and machine learning time series predictive models on a memory-intensive application, Inception v3. Trace data collected using nvidia-smi measured GPU utilization and power draw for two runs of Inception3. Experimental results from the statistical and machine learning-based time series predictive algorithms showed that the predictions from statistical-based models were unable to capture the complex changes in the trace data. The Probabilistic TNN model provided the best results for the power draw trace, according to the test evaluation metrics. For the GPU utilization trace, the RNN models produced the most accurate …

Palliative Care And Length Of Icu Admission, Grace Howard Rn, Briana Kramer Rn, Chloe Heslin Rn, Kyle Cleary Rn

Nurse Residency

Does incorporating palliative care influence the length of stay in intensive care patients?

The Impact Of Student Behavior And Motivation On Intercultural Competence, Marki Alexander

Dissertations

Intercultural competence has become an important trait for university graduates to possess, but an investigation into the influence of multiple factors on the achievement of intercultural competence has not been undertaken. This research examines the influence of academic and social behaviors, motivation, and student demographics on the attainment of intercultural competence through a mixed methods study. Undergraduate students taking a course focused on human diversity responded to intercultural situational judgement tests and the Expanded Cultural Intelligence Scale. The qualitative findings show a need to refine previous understandings of the development of intercultural competence. Some support for the influence of motivation …

Comparison Of Emissions Across Tobacco Products: A Slippery Slope In Tobacco Control, Ahmad El-Hellani, Ayomipo Adeniji, Hanno C. Erythropel, Thomas Lamb, Qixin Wang, Vladimir Mikheev, Robert Strongin, Multiple Additional Authors

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this narrative review, we highlight the challenges of comparing emissions from different tobacco products under controlled laboratory settings (using smoking/ vaping machines). We focus on tobacco products that generate inhalable smoke or aerosol, such as cigarettes, cigars, hookah, electronic cigarettes, and heated tobacco products. We discuss challenges associated with sample generation including variability of smoking/vaping machines, lack of standardized adaptors that connect smoking/vaping machines to different tobacco products, puffing protocols that are not representative of actual use, and sample generation session length (minutes or number of puffs) that depends on product characteristics. We also discuss the challenges of physically …

Perceptions Of College Campus Climate Among Queer Female Sexual Assault Survivors, Elyxcus J. Anaya

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

One-fifth of women in the United States report at least one lifetime experience of rape (Black et al., 2011; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014; Smith et al., 2018). Sexual assault (SA)is a common experience among cisgender women college students, with 20% reporting experiencing a rape during their time in college (Cullen et al., 2000). Universities generally have resources designed to help survivors of SA, though research suggests many of these resources are underutilized by survivors. The current study was guided by social constructivism and used a transcendental phenomenology approach to explore six queer, female participants’ decision-making processes about …

How College Graduates Decide To Remain In A Rural Community Post-Graduation, Benjamin J. Lamb

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

Rural Brain Drain is a critical issue facing hundreds of non-metropolitan communities across the country. Existing research that addresses the outmigration of college graduates from rural areas primarily focuses on the reasons the graduates leave, and not on what influences the decision making of those who stay. This study adds to existing retention research by; establishing an initial understanding of the influential experiences rural college students have that contribute to their decision to stay in the rural community post-graduation, and providing an emergent theory for practice to help coalitions better assess and strategize efforts to create improved pathways to rural …

Measuring Jury Perception Of Explainable Machine Learning And Demonstrative Evidence, Rachel Edie Sparks Rogers

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

Subjective pattern comparison has been subject to increased scrutiny by the courts and by the general public, resulting in an increased interest in pattern comparison algorithms that provide quantitative assessments of similarity for use by forensic scientists. While these algorithms would mark an improvement over current subjective comparison methods, individuals without a statistical background may struggle with the statistical concepts and language necessary for describing algorithmic methods. If algorithms are to be used, examiners must be able to testify about their use in a way that is accessible to the jury. In a series of studies, we conduct an assessment …

Tuning Out: Intersections Of Music And Literature In The Contemporary French-Language Novel, Alexander Claussen

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

The past thirty years have seen a shift in French-language novels as authors move from the self-reflexive formal experimentation of the nouveau roman and its successors toward a literature that is again concerned with plot, character, and above all, the problems of the contemporary world. This “retour au récit” is accompanied by a resurgence of interest in writing the self (through experiments in autofiction), the past (through explorations of collective memory and collective guilt), and the present (through novels that challenge existing social structures and seek to define and develop new collective or national identities). This dissertation examines the (re)turn …

Do Bisexuals Thrive In The Corridor? Liminal Identity, Communication, And Well-Being, Katie Kassler

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

In this dissertation I aim to test direct and moderating associations between bisexual liminal identity, social identity complexity, micro-aggressions and micro-affirmations, and well-being. In Chapter One, I offer my theoretical definition of and position bisexuality as a liminal identity. Next in this chapter, I (a) hypothesize a direct association between bisexual liminal identity and well-being, (b) posit competing hypotheses related to social identity complexity as a positive cognitive appraisal moderator (i.e., social cure perspective) and negative cognitive appraisal moderator (i.e., uncertainty identity perspective) of the main effect, and finally (c) posit hypotheses related to individual- and group-aimed micro-aggressions and micro-affirmations …

Ten Poems, Bianca Swift

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

TEN POEMS is a thesis consisting of a critical introduction meditating on what it means to create joyful poetry and how community shapes a body of work, as well as a collection of poems. The essay discusses my background in poetry and the many voices responsible for the final body of work.

Advisor: Hope Wabuke

Permutations, Casey Beck

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

I make pottery not only out of a passion for my material, clay, and for the complex processes of wheel throwing and atmospheric firing, but also out of a passion for living with, using, and sharing handmade objects. For me, using pottery daily is an act of celebration. My philosophy of making pots comes in part from the particular history of utilitarian pottery that has developed over the last sixty years in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin, where I went to school and began my career as a potter. More recently, the form language that I employ in my work has …

Or To Be Eaten Alive, Christopher Williams

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

“or to be eaten alive'' is a multimedia exhibition in which I merge my own coming of age story with a mythological ecology. In this work I reclaim my queer identity by communing with my past selves in a fantasy world created through the lens of Queer Ecology and Queer Eco-Futurism. The visuals in this exhibition obscure reality. They are abstractions of the landscapes I occupy—particularly the Tallgrass prairie and Ozark ecoregions. Through a speculative, fantasy world the exhibition introduces moments of adoration, death, fracturing, growth, joy, and failure. I form, draw, color and arrange the work embracing mistakes and …

Exploration Of The Mental Health Impacts Of Drought On Rural Nebraskans Via Remembered Perceptions, Grace Schleining

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Drought is a sociological phenomenon. It is a well-known occurrence across the midwestern United States; the drying out of the soil, the failing of crops, and the constant dryness and heat… this is all drought. Inspired by my earliest memory of this climate phenomenon I sought to determine whether we can identify evidence of negative mental health impacts and/or well-being in rural Nebraskans due to drought, thus my research question: Can we identify negative effects of drought on rural Nebraskan mental health and/or wellbeing? In this study, rural Nebraska community members, who are involved with the agricultural sector, were interviewed. …