Digital Commons Network^™

The Relationship Between Religiosity, Meaning-Making, And Well-Being Among Involuntary Childless Women, Laura Beth Harter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The proportion of involuntary childless women in the United States continues to rise, with research indicating elevated risks of depression, anxiety, and diminished well-being in this population compared to their childbearing counterparts. Simultaneously, many faith communities emphasize pronatalist ideals, which may compound these psychological effects. Despite a growing body of qualitative work, quantitative research examining faith, meaning-making, and well-being among women whose childlessness extends beyond recent infertility is limited. This quantitative, correlational study examined the relationships among religiosity, meaning-making, and well-being among involuntary childless women. Participants (N = 94; M age = 44.6) completed online surveys including the Duke University …

Cattle Drives To Coal Cars: Norfolk & Western And The New South Industrialization Of Tazewell County, Virginia, 1880-1930, Hannah Beth Hensley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Addressing the impact of the New South gospel of industrialization on Tazewell County, Virginia, this research seeks to examine the county’s shift from a primarily agricultural, barter economy prior to 1880 to one of both industry and agriculture by 1930. It traces Virginia’s early railroads and coal mines, following the creation and collapse of the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad and subsequent birth of the Norfolk & Western Railroad, and details early geographic studies indicating the presence of coal in Southwest Virginia’s mountains. Tazewell County became the gateway to the rich Pocahontas coal fields of West Virginia with the boom …

Racial Bias, Mindfulness, And Motivation Among Mental Health Clinicians, Deirdre Y. Burton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Racial bias is linked to poor mental health outcomes and obstructs clinician-client relationships. Mental health clinicians (MHCs) may express implicit bias, expanding disparities for people of color. Mindfulness and motivation to respond without prejudice (MRP) are associated with reduced racial bias, yet few studies have examined these constructs among MHCs. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to evaluate relationships between mindfulness, MRP, and implicit racial bias. Licensed MHCs (n = 47, 85.1% female, 59.6% African American, mean age 50 years) participated in a convergent parallel mixed-methods study involving an online survey [Race Implicit Association Test (Race IAT), the Five …

The Effect Of Parent-Child Relationship, Teacher-Student Relationship, And Parent/Teacher Religiosity On Prosocial Behavior In Early Childhood, Monifa Andrea Cross

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There are several factors that can influence prosocial development in early childhood, including secure attachments, perspective-taking skills, empathy, parent-child relationships, teacher-student relationships, and parent/teacher religiosity. The purpose of this qualitative collective case study was to explore how parent–child relationships, teacher–student relationships, and the religiosity of both parents and teachers are perceived to influence prosocial behavior in 5- to 6-year-old children in early childhood settings. Through an in-depth examination of multiple cases, this study aimed to understand the lived experiences and perspectives of parents and teachers regarding the relational and spiritual factors that may support or shape prosocial development during this …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Mental Health Needs Of High School Youth In A Rural Community Post Covid-19 Pandemic, Maritza Gonzalez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe former high school students’ experiences with mental health struggles while in high school during the COVID-19 pandemic in a rural Texas Public Independent School District. Mental illness increased among youth during the prolonged pandemic period of time and many of the pervasive mental health concerns have not been addressed effectively in the aftermath. As a result, a growing number of concerns pertaining to the mental health wellbeing of K-12 children continues to be on the rise. Thus, it is of utmost importance to learn more about the experiences of our youth …

Espoused Eschatology, An Extension Of Inaugurated Eschatology, Steven Earnest Splechter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Jewish weddings are as important to Jewish culture today as they were in the time of Christ. There is a process to the event that begins with a betrothal period, followed by a wedding procession and a lavish feast. In ancient Judah, the groom brought his bride to a place he prepared for her at his father's house. The Gospel of John reveals a distinct methodical interaction with the cultural and institutional norms of Judaism, as is argued to reveal the motif of a divine betrothal process. While the Synoptics have been argued to be more concerned about historical matters, …

Examining Perceived Problem-Solving Skills, Parenting Styles, And Biblical Principles: Insights From Parents Or Guardians Of African American Teen Males, Dorothy Farrow

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative study examined the relationship among parenting styles, the use of biblical principles in parenting, and the problem-solving skills of African American male teenagers aged 14 to 17 years in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, as perceived by their parents or guardians. The study addressed a significant gap in existing literature by integrating biblical teachings with established psychological theories on parenting. The primary theoretical frameworks included Baumrind's parenting styles theory and Bandura's social cognitive theory. Using the Kruskal–Wallis H and chi-square tests, the study assessed the potential relationships among parenting styles, biblical use in parenting, and parent-perceived problem-solving skills of their …

Unseen But Felt: Exploring The Emotional And Developmental Impacts Of Father Absence On The Lives Of African American Daughters, Michelle Laniece Mayberry

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of African American daughters who grew up with absent fathers, examining how this experience influenced development, relationships, identity formation, and resilience. Through in-depth interviews and thematic analysis, six central themes emerged: (1) father-daughter relationship, (2) emotional and psychological impact, (3) identity and development, (4) social and relational outcomes, (5) decision-making and achievement, and (6) resilience and adaptation. Each theme was interpreted through the lens of attachment and social learning theories with a biblical worldview. The findings revealed that father absence often left emotional and developmental wounds in the lives of the participants. The …

The Impact Of Digital Reverse Mentoring On Older Adults' Digital Literacy: Mediating Roles Of Self-Perceptions Of Aging And Self-Efficacy, Jierong Hu, Minzhi Ye, Haotian Wan, Wengian Leong

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Background and Objectives: Digital literacy is critical for older adults to maintain social connections, access information, and support overall mental well-being. However, many older adults struggle with using digital devices. Guided by the self-fulfilling prophecy theory, this study investigates how digital reverse mentoring (DRM), referring to younger individuals assisting older adults in learning and using digital technology, is associated with digital literacy, with self-perceptions of aging and self-efficacy as mediators.

Research Design and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 402 community-dwelling older adults aged 60+ in Macao, China. Control variables include gender, age, education, income, self-rated health, and home …

Social Support In The College Classroom And The Impact Supportive Communication Has On Student Academic Success And Quality Of Life, Rachael Tiede

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

College students often encounter academic and personal challenges that lead to stress, anxiety, and feelings of isolation. These challenges can feel burdensome, making it difficult for them to determine the best course of action for the issues they face. They frequently experience difficulties in managing the demands of college. Given these challenges, a potential solution for their anxiety and stress is social support through supportive communication from friends, instructors, and others at the college or university. Guided by social support theory and social penetration theory and employing a quantitative methodology, the research examined the impact of supportive communication on college …

Resiliency Among Service Industry Workers: A Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Assessment, Winston King

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to quantify service industry workers’ resiliency’s relationships with their emotional intelligence, understanding of differing personality types, spiritual resiliency, and substance abuse, as these are all applicable to the biopsychosocial-spiritual model, which served as the theoretical framework. The study included administering the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SEIT), a self-reporting of employees’ understanding of differing personality types, a self-reporting of employees’ spiritual resiliency, and the Substance Use Brief Screen (SUBS) to social science graduate students working in the service industry. Resiliency was identified as the predictor variable and the other …

Prevalence Of Intimacy Satisfaction In Relation To Burnout And Trauma Saturation Of First Responders, Krystoffer L. Bowman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A shared understanding of this issue enables us to recognize the uniqueness of each individual’s experience, supported by the consistent commitment of trauma-saturated professionals. But what happens when these individuals become so accustomed to trauma that they can no longer recognize it as such? When their professional identity is inherently tied to continuous exposure to trauma, they may unconsciously adopt emotional distancing as a coping mechanism, which can appear to others as a fixed personality trait or lifestyle, even outside the workplace. This professional emotional distancing, often a consequence of growing burnout and trauma saturation, may negatively impact intimacy satisfaction. …

Breaking The Silence: Hispanic Male Child Abuse Survivors And Their Post Traumatic Growth, Maria Angelica Hernandez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe Hispanic male survivors’ experiences of child abuse in Southern California. The theory guiding this study was social constructivism (Pfadenhauer, 2019), as it explains how a worldview is developed. The additional theories are Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory, Bowlby’s (1973) attachment theory, and Widom’s (1989) cycle of violence and how they influence the development of an individual’s perception and worldview. Tedeschi and Calhoun’s (1996) post-traumatic theory also influenced this study as it focused on growth after the trauma experience. The study includes 12 male participants of Hispanic descent between the ages of …

Supporting Young Carers In Early Childhood: Mapping Power, Threat, Meaning, And Strengths: A Ptmf-Informed Qualitative Study, Carly Ellicott, Ali Bidaran, Felicity Dewsbery, Alyson Norman, Helen Lloyd

School of Psychology

Background/Objectives: This qualitative study examines strengths and strains faced by professionals working with young carers throughout the United Kingdom (UK) in the context of society’s youngest carers; young carers in early childhood (YCEC) (0–8 years). Methods: The Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF) was utilised to map key findings of three focus groups. This conceptual lens offers a narrative-based understanding of ways in which power operates in society. Increasingly applied to explore experiences of individuals, communities, and groups, the PTMF proposes that concepts of distress are founded in broader contexts of injustice and social inequalities. Twenty-four participants were recruited from throughout …

Distributed Model Predictive Control-Based Power Management Scheme For Grid-Integrated Microgrids, Sergio Escareno, Sijo Augustine, Liang Sun, Sathishkumar J. Ranade, Olga Lavrava, Enrico Pontelli, John Hedengren

Faculty Publications

Transitioning from traditional electrical grids to smart grids is currently an ongoing process that many nations are striving for due to their access to renewable resources. Energy management is one of the key parameters that decides the performance of such complex systems. Distributed Model Predictive Control (DMPC) is a promising technique that can be used to improve the energy management of grid-connected systems. This paper analyzes a grid-connected inverter system with DMPC that exchanges key operating parameters with the grid to optimize coordinated power sharing between its respective loads. The state-space model for the inverter is derived and verified to …

High Thermoelectric Power Conversion Efficiency Of An Earth-Abundant Janus Silicon Oxy-Sulfide Monolayer: A First-Principles Study, Zakariae Darhi, Mounaim Bencheikh, Ravindra Pandey, Larbi El Farh

Michigan Tech Publications

The tunable properties of Janus monolayers, along with advances in their synthesis, make these low-symmetry materials excellent candidates for thermoelectric power generation. In this study, we systematically investigate the electronic and thermal properties of the Janus silicon oxy-sulfide monolayer. The results based on density functional theory reveal that the monolayer is stable. It exhibits a tunable direct band gap and strong covalent bonding. Its ultralow lattice thermal conductivity (< 0.38 W mK⁻¹ at 300 K) is attributed to the broken phonon selection rule for phonon–phonon scattering and a high level of anharmonicity, as reflected in the large Grüneisen parameter. Furthermore, the inclusion …

Livestreaming A Doitocracy: Platform-Jumping Participatory Practices In Modular Synthesis Gear Cultures, Eliot Bates

Publications and Research

Earth Modular Society (EMS) is a cross-platform community dedicated to live hardware modular synthesis, with their primary efforts going into a 24/7 modular “radio station” that livestreams on Twitch and YouTube, and a supporting Discord chat server. Although part of the broader modular synthesis gear culture (a large-scale social formation that coalesces around specific classes of fetishized technical objects), EMS represents a new development in gear cultures as it foregrounds live performance and minimizes the accrual of status via conspicuous consumption. The normative governance structures of platform-specific gear culture communities preclude all but one or a handful of users from …

Clear Cell Hidradenoma: A Review Of Reported Cases, George Ladas, Christopher Stewart, Peter A. Khoury, Adam Kramer, Charles Harper, Pear Sukarom, Niritta Patel, Patricia Palanca, Gursuraj Grewal, Suporn Sukpraprut-Braaten

Student Publications

Clear cell hidradenoma (CCH) is an extremely rare benign adnexal skin tumor originating from eccrine sweat glands. The purpose of this systematic review is to analyze and demonstrate trends in the location, occurrence, and presentation of CCH as well as its ability to present in advanced disease states. This study identified 460 case reports published from 1979 through 2022 through PubMed searches. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were tightly adhered to. The search keywords were “acrospiroma” and “clear cell hidradenoma.” Investigators reviewed the articles and extracted the following information: demographics; medical history and medications; anatomic …

Volumetric Wear Analysis Of Polyethylene Orthopedic Liners Using Point Clouds, Gabriel Landi

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

In vivo wear of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) orthopedic bearings represents a major problem in shoulder and knee arthroplasty, with significant amounts of devices failing due to the complication itself, and even more due to associated reasons for retrieval, including aseptic loosening. However, quantification of UHMWPE wear has largely been limited to linear and in vitro volumetric analyses, obscuring the understanding of the amount of clinically relevant material loss. This study proposes new methods to measure articular, rim, and backside surfaces of retrieved shoulder and knee UHMWPE liners, centered around the coordinate measuring machine (CMM)-based collection of high density …

Feeding The Youngest In Crises: Infant And Young Child Feeding Preparedness In High-Income Setting, Aileen Kennedy, Elizabeth J. O’Sullivan

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Infant and young child feeding (IYCF) is a critical public health priority during emergencies, yet remains poorly integrated into emergency preparedness planning in many high-income countries (HICs). Despite the availability of international guidance, such as the Operational Guidance on IYCF in Emergencies the implementation of these tools in national systems has been inconsistent within HICs. This review examines recent emergencies in HICs to identify policy and operational gaps affecting breastfeeding support, the management of commercial milk formula (CMF), and the distribution of commercially available complementary foods (CACFs). The present review focuses on the practical translation of Infant and young child …

Vigilante Violence, The Rise Of The New Right, And The Persistence Of The Texas Farmworkers, 1975–1980, Brent M. S. Campney, Tim Bowman

History Faculty Publications

This study charts the ineffective vigilante violence perpetrated by growers in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to suppress farmworker activism from the mid-to-late 1970s and their abrupt shift in tactics with a 1980 strike in Hereford, Texas, toward the adoption of strictly nonviolent and tediously legalistic new methods associated with the neoconservative backlash. It does so in two major sections. In the first, grower violence is chronicled in detail that underscores both its rage and ineffectiveness. The second section shows how the New Right usurped the longstanding usage of physical violence against ethnic Mexicans in Texas, prompting conservatives to …

A Case Comment On Cryogas Equipment V. Inox India, Eashan Ghosh

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

Composite claims for copyright and design have long posed conceptual difficulties under Indian law. A pointed attempt by the Supreme Court in Cryogas Equipment v Inox India (‘Cryogas’) to resolve these difficulties, therefore, is of considerable interest.

In this Comment, I examine Cryogas in detail. I find that, despite adopting a schematic approach that is promising on the surface, Cryogas offers little assistance in untangling the constituent portions of copyright-design claims. For one, its test for telling apart artistic works from designs is entirely self-referential and requires a pre-existing understanding of what outputs statutorily constitute ‘artistic works’ and …

The Evidence Machine: Rethinking Admissibility And Privacy In India's Ai Surveillance State, Samyukta Ramaswamy

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

The proliferation of artificial intelligence (‘AI’) surveillance technologies that utilise machine learning (‘ML’) capabilities to gather and process information to derive insights about individuals has transformed the surveillance landscape by enabling governments and private entities to engage in increasingly pervasive monitoring and data-driven profiling. In India, this transformation is compounded by the presence of executive-controlled surveillance mechanisms under the legal framework of the Telecommunications Act 2023, the Telecommunications (Procedures and Safeguards for Lawful Interception of Messages) Rules 2024, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, amongst others, which authorises wide-ranging data interception and dragnet surveillance while exempting government agencies …

A Human Enablement Theory Of Copyright, Akshat Agrawal

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

Copyright policy, designed to protect creators and disseminators from market imperatives, has ironically deepened their market dependency. This transformation stems from two critical theoretical errors: first, the “incentives”/“reward for labour” story that mistakes protection from market pressures for market encouragement; second, market fundamentalism that treats exclusionary rights as natural and as the source of “liberty”. These misconceptions, reinforced by fallacies about pre-social creativity and physicalism, have transformed copyright from an enabler in a market society into one that commodifies creative expression itself, intensifying rather than ameliorating the economic vulnerability of cultural producers.

This theoretical misunderstanding has produced three interlocking harmful …

Decision In Art. 78 Proceeding - Svanberg, Matthew (2023-03-04)

Decisions in Art. 78 Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Development Of Web-Based E-Learning For Computer Science At Smk Negeri 1 Samarinda, Baiq Nur Rahmawati, Dewi Rosita

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

The focus of this study is the development of web-based learning media for teaching Informatics to Grade X students at SMK Negeri 1 Samarinda. This research applies a Research and Development (R&D) approach using the 4D development model, which includes the stages of Define, Design, Develop, and Disseminate. The research process involves needs analysis, content design, product development, functional testing using Black Box Testing, expert validation, and user response evaluation. Three expert lecturers participated as validators, and the product was tested by 208 users. The validation results show an average score of 3.54 with a combined validity level of 88.5%, …

Development Of A Structured Inquiry-Based Heat Transfer E-Module To Encourage Elementary School Students' Critical Thinking Skills, Chintia M. P Ati, Alvin J. Hano

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

The study is undermanned by the students' lack of critical thinking skills and the lack of digital learning media. The purpose of the study is to produce credible, pragmatic, and effective e-modules to improve critical v-grade thinking skills. The study USES model development methods Lee and Owens, 2004. The 36 student classes vs. SDN oesapa small 2 mussels are traveling in kalor transfer content during the full term of year 2021-2022. Analysis shows that an e-module effectively enhances the student's critical thinking skills. Critical n-gain thinking skills by 0.7201. The conclusion that structured e-modules effectively promote critical thinking skills. This …

Valuable Objects And Their Differentiation In Social Space And Time, Emmanuel Smikun

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Politics And Self In The Age Of Digital Re(Producibility), Robert W. Williams

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Ever Onward: The Frontier Myth And The Information Age, Jack Shuler

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.