Digital Commons Network^™

Alzheimer’S Disease And Related Dementias Risk Profiles And Health Literacy Among South Asian Seniors, Sandra A. Kennedy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) pose significant health challenges globally, with South Asian seniors in the United States facing elevated risks due to high rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and limited health literacy. This study assessed dementia literacy and the prevalence of cardiovascular, psychosocial, and lifestyle risk factors among South Asian seniors in New York City, utilizing community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles in collaboration with India Home, a community-based organization. Fifty-six (N=56) South Asian seniors aged 55 and older (M = 69.05, SD = 6.36), primarily of Indian or Bangladeshi origin, participated in the study. Data collection involved a …

Distinguishing Between Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: The Role Of Childhood Maltreatment, Catherine Harris

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The current study examined whether court-substantiated childhood maltreatment may be associated with increased risk for Complex PTSD (CPTSD) and whether individuals with CPTSD and individuals with PTSD could be distinguished in terms of complex trauma exposure. Children with documented cases of abuse and neglect prior to age 11 were matched on age, race, sex, and approximate family socioeconomic status with children without documented histories of maltreatment (controls) and both groups were followed prospectively into adulthood. Participants (N = 1,196) were assessed using a DSM-III-R based structured interview of PTSD symptoms and other self-report measures of psychiatric symptoms at mean age …

The Cranial Nerves And Electrical Stimulation, Devin K. P. Adair

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cranial nerves provide afferent pathways that enable bottom-up modulation of central autonomic and cognitive neural pathways. Because these pathways project to brainstem nuclei such as the nucleus tractus solitarius and engage neuromodulatory systems, including the locus coeruleus, electrical stimulation offers a mechanistically grounded approach to influencing brain function. This thesis tested whether active transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) produces physiological responses indicative of parasympathetic engagement, defined as decreases in heart rate, increases in heart rate variability, and decreases in respiration relative to a dose-matched earlobe control condition. Using cardiac and respiratory measures as physiological markers, taVNS at the tragus …

Authoritarianism, Hostility And Threat: An Analysis Of American Political Podcasts Surrounding The 2024 Presidential Election, Noah D. Cohen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Political rhetoric surrounding key events has seen sharp increases in emotionally affective speech, intergroup sentiment, and rhetoric unbecoming of democratic societies in recent years. Similarly, semi-democratic and ideologically driven speech has become increasingly normalized within an era of political polarization and hardline beliefs in modern media. Within this economy of outrage, sensational and largely unmoderated media formats, particularly podcasts, have become a mainstay of political information and discourse. This raises an important question: how does rhetoric surrounding political events construct intergroup sentiment and authoritarian rhetoric within political media, particularly American political podcasts? Further, given political podcasts’ growing social influence in …

Social Media-Based Social Comparisons Among Socially Anxious Young Adults: The Role Of Cognitive Reappraisal, Jennifer L. De Rutte

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Social media is a central context for social interaction and self-evaluation among young adults. For those with elevated social anxiety, these environments may be especially salient because they provide frequent opportunities for social comparison. Although upward social comparison on social media has been linked to poorer emotional outcomes, less is known about its experimental effects among socially anxious young adults or whether upward and downward comparison have distinct effects that extend to later socially evaluative situations. The present study examined these questions in 84 socially anxious young adults randomly assigned to view simulated Instagram feeds eliciting upward comparison, downward comparison, …

The Effects Of Chronic Nicotine Exposure On Dopamine-Mediated Reinforcement Learning And Striatal Neurotransmission, Srishti Bose

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Tobacco is one of the most widely used substances across the United States; tobacco consumption is linked with several diseases and is one of the leading causes of preventable death in the country. Nicotine is the active substrate found in tobacco products, acting as a stimulant, which reinforces continued use. The introduction of tobacco-free options such as e-cigarettes and oral pouches has driven an increase in nicotine exposure across the population, especially in young adults. Acute nicotine use induces neuroadaptations in the mesolimbic dopaminergic system, which mediates reinforcement learning and addiction, that potentiates reward-related neurotransmission. Furthermore, there are clinical studies …

Individual Intellectual Humility As A Predictor Of Perceived Information Sharing And Perceived Shared Leadership, Mary Beth Schroeder

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cross-functional problem-solving teams are often assembled to address complex challenges by combining members’ distinct knowledge, ideas, and leadership capabilities. Yet teams do not always capitalize on these collective resources, because team members do not share the information they uniquely possess. This tendency to withhold information may be lessened by intellectually humility, a personality trait marked by a desire to close gaps in one’s knowledge and openness to what others contribute.

This study was originally designed to examine whether team intellectual humility relates to team creativity through information sharing and shared leadership. However, because of changes in the leadership development program …

Retrieval Information From Working Memory: The Output Gating Framework Perspective And Its Underlying Processes, Chen Tiferet-Dweck

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Working memory (WM) keeps information accessible and available for further processing. However, not all the information we maintain in WM is behaviorally relevant at any given moment. To act effectively, we must dynamically control which memory representations are accessed to support ongoing goal-directed behavior. While the mechanisms underlying the selection of single items from WM access are comparatively well-studied, less is known about the principles governing multi-item access. Existing models of WM access imply that selecting multiple items should take longer and be more error-prone than single-item access. Yet, paradoxically, prior studies have shown that retrieving all items in WM …

The Role Of Temperament In Criminal Trajectories: Development, Stability, And Predictive Power Across The Life Course, Joshua A. Lang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Temperament, an individual's largely innate tendency to experience and regulate responses to their environment, has long been studied but was only recently introduced as a primary predictor of criminal behavior (DeLisi & Vaughn, 2014). While prior criminological theories have incorporated temperament-related constructs, such as negative affect (Agnew, 1992; Moffitt, 1993) and self-control (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990), no other theory has explicitly positioned temperament as the central factor in offending. DeLisi and Vaughn’s temperament-based theory of antisocial behavior posits that individuals with low effortful control and high negative emotionality—features of a difficult temperament—are more likely to engage in criminal behavior. Despite …

Towards Identifying Fear And Safety Network States Across Sex, Rhonda Kolaric

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a trauma- and stressor-related disorder with a lifetime prevalence of 5-6% in men, and 10-12% in women (National Center for PTSD). Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a highly prevalent anxiety- and depression-related psychiatric disorder with a lifetime prevalence of 1-2% in men, and 3-4% in women (National Institutes of Health). Both of these disorders disproportionately affect women. A hallmark feature of both disorders is the maladaptive generalization of fear, in which defensive responses extend beyond the original traumatic or threatening stimulus to neutral or unrelated cues. This overgeneralization can become debilitating, disrupting cognitive, emotional, and …

Parenthood And Re-Appraisal Of Childhood Maltreatment, Gayathri Cheran

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Child maltreatment is associated with poorer physical and mental health outcomes across the lifespan.  Individuals’ appraisals of childhood maltreatment have important implications for these outcomes.  Appraisal is shaped by biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors, each of which undergoes change in parenthood.  Parenthood may prompt re-appraisal of childhood maltreatment in that being a parent evokes one’s experience of being parented.

Hypotheses: (1) Re-appraisal will be more likely in parents than non-parents.  In parents, re-appraisal will be more likely among: (2) primiparous parents, (3) parents with offspring of the same sex, and (4) parents who experienced maltreatment older in childhood (at …

Scrolling Through Stress: Physiological Stress Recovery Shapes Risk For Problematic Social Media Use In Young Adults With Depressive Symptoms, Abigail Findley

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Depression is among the most consistent correlates of problematic social media use (PSMU), yet how depressive symptoms confer this risk, and for whom, remains poorly understood. The present study examined whether stress regulation explains the link between depressive symptoms and PSMU in young adults, testing specifically whether stress recovery acts as a mechanism linking the two or as a vulnerability that determines for whom they are linked, and whether distress tolerance (DT) shapes these pathways. Participants (N = 77) were young adults (18–25) with elevated depressive symptoms. Following the Trier Social Stress Test, participants completed a 15-minute social media …

The Development And Piloting Of A Novel Client-Rated Trans And Gender Expansive Clinical Competence Scale For Mental Health Providers, Karen Abraham

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Transgender and gender expansive individuals (TGEI) are people who encompass a broad and comprehensive set of experiences of gender diverse individuals and identities that exist both within and beyond a binary framework. In the United States, the Williams Institute identified a proportion of 0.5% of American adults identifying as transgender (Herman et al., 2022). TGE samples report poorer physical and mental health than their cisgender counterparts across the lifespan (Rastogi et al., 2025; Reisner et al., 2015; Reisner, Poteat, et al., 2016). Health disparities of TGEI relative to their non-TGE counterparts can be seen in the prevalence of mood disorders …

Behind The Score: The Influence Of Neighborhood Policy Contexts On New York Regents Exam Performance Across New York City Public High Schools, Philip J. Kovacevic

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study used a two-level hierarchical linear model (HLM) to test whether New York City neighborhood zoning and land-use characteristics independently predict school-level performance on the New York State Regents Examinations, after controlling for school demographic and organizational characteristics, and Regents mean scores, both drawn from the NYC DOE's Regents Exam Results file (NYC Public Schools InfoHub, 2024). Using NYC Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output (PLUTO) 2025 data, a Neighborhood Educational Quality (NEQ) index was built for each of the city’s 42 community districts by combining the commercial floor area ratio (CommFAR) and the proportion of lots zoned residential …

Curated Spaces: Cognition By Design, Sydney Harvey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Curated Spaces: Cognition by Design” is a dissertation that considers the connection between designed spaces and cognition. This work combines philosophy of mind and aesthetics. The dissertation introduces the term “Curated Cognition”, which builds on the concept of situated cognition ( Brooks, 1991; Odling-Smee, Laland, and Feldman,  2003;  Sterelny, 2010; Krueger, 2015; Colombetti, 2020 ). The dissertation argues that the environment is essential to cognition, and all environments are curated; therefore, the way we think, feel, and act is curated as well. Some non-human animals may inhabit worlds that are not curated. For example, an octopus may find shelter in …

Modeling Large Language Model Cognition, Eleni Angelou

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project builds three core directions in a philosophy of cognitive science for large language models (LLMs): 1) interpreting LLM behavior, 2) analyzing the system in terms of Marr’s three levels, and 3) mapping the correspondence between behavioral outputs and the internals of the system. It consists of the following three chapters accordingly:

Dennettian Stances and Large Language Models

The aim of this chapter is to argue that there are convincing grounds for applying Dennett’s framework of stances to LLMs against worries that doing so produces “counterfeit people”. After introducing the intentional and design stances, I take sycophancy as a …

Bimodal-Bilingual Advantage: Neural Patterns Of Asl Interpreters During Narrative Encoding, Gina F. Piersanti Gioe

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Interpreters display superior executive functions when compared to non-interpreters in tasks of working memory and attentional control. Sign Language Interpreters work simultaneously between two language modalities, though little is known about how regular engagement in communication of high cognitive demand shapes their cognition. Oscillatory activity in the brain has been mapped to functions of cognition. Specifically, parietal alpha activity is linked to attention control and frontal theta activity to memory processes. This study uses both behavioral measures, narrative recall accuracy, and EEG recording of neural oscillations to compare 12 professional American Sign Language Interpreters to 12 Non-Interpreter controls. Participants were …

Selecting Force Plate Tests And Metrics To Complement Physical Preparation Strategies Prior To Commencing Strenuous Military Training Courses, Peter Ladlow, Nicholas J. Ripley, Damjana V. Cabarkapa, Dimitrije Cabarkapa, Dale W. Chapman, Mary Claire Geneau, G. Gregory Haff, Lachlan P. James, Paul Jones, Jason P. Lake, Christopher J. Sole, Anthony Turner, Marina De Vecchis, Natalie Masters, Charles Coussens, Robyn Holton, Russell J. Coppack, Colin Suffield, Paul Comfort

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: The aim of this study was to seek opinion (via an online survey) and gain consensus of which force plate tests and metrics may be considered by military operating/training staff to better screen physical performance characteristics prior to military personnel attending a physically arduous military training course.

Methods: Ten responders with known experience and/or expertise in using force plate technology for the measurement of force production characteristics completed the survey. Responders were asked to select the most important force plate test and metrics to complement a pre-course physical performance battery to assess physical readiness, musculoskeletal injury risk and likelihood …

Towards Equivalence Of Care: Integrating Custodial Settings Into Alcohol And Other Drug Strategies In Australia, Thileepan Naren, Jocelyn Chan, Sarah Pellicano, Michael Curtis, Shelley Walker, Jocelyn Jones, Jarrah Duckett, Alexander Campbell, Stuart A. Kinner

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

No abstract provided.

Synergies And Collisions: Character Strengths As A Language To Compose And Comprehend Wellbeing While Preparing To Become A Teacher, Narelle Lemon, Carli Sanbrook, Rikki James, Marnie Harris, Tammy Green, Rozita Dass, Beverly Adkin, Gail Berman

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study examines how pre-service teachers use character strengths language to understand and support their wellbeing during professional experience. The project responds to the persistent challenge of teacher stress and early burnout by reframing placement as a context for developing wellbeing capability rather than merely demonstrating competency. Guided by strengths-based pedagogy, the study investigates how strengths are combined, moderated, and occasionally brought into tension as pre-service teachers navigate the demands of learning to teach. A qualitative design was employed, drawing on reflective narratives from 1,066 pre-service teachers across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Thematic analysis explored how participants articulated strengths synergies, …

Curiosity In Tourism: A Review And Future Directions, Sten Langmann, Pieter Jan Bezemer, Eerang Park, Sangkyun Kim

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Curiosity increasingly attracts attention in tourism research. However, the field remains conceptually fragmented around what curiosity is and how it works, often pointing to related yet different understandings of the concept. Drawing on an in-depth analysis of 61 peer-reviewed articles, we aim to build a more coherent agenda for future research by answering two core questions: how has curiosity been conceptualised and studied in tourism research, and what gaps and directions emerge from the literature? The analysis reveals that curiosity has been studied in four primary ways in tourism research: an innate motivational driver, a situational mediating state, an outcome …

Underfunded And Undervalued: Community-Based Health Promotion Practitioners’ Experiences Of Western Australia’S Prevention Sector, Ruth M. Wallace, Leesa N. Costello, Elizabeth J. Cook

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Prevention is a central policy focus of contemporary health promotion, offering cost-effective strategies to reduce disease burden and improve population well-being. Despite this, Australia allocates a small proportion of its health budget to prevention, with funding models characterized by short-term cycles and competitive tendering. While the consequences for public health are well documented, the impact on the health promotion workforce remains underexplored. Workforce health and stability are critical for program delivery, ethical practice, continuity of relationships with communities, and the capacity to sustain long-term prevention efforts. This qualitative study examined the experience of 19 community-based health promotion practitioners in Western …

Culturally Safe Nursing: Transformative Learning Experiences Through Critical Reflection Assessment, Lesley Andrew, Michelle Pedlow, Bev Ewens

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Aim: To explore the transformative learning experiences of postgraduate nursing students engaging in an Aboriginal culture and history module, through an analysis of a critical reflection assessment, in particular the student development of cultural awareness and culturally safe practice.

Background: Despite mandated inclusion of Aboriginal cultural content in Australian nursing curricula, culturally unsafe practices and racism persist. Transformative learning, underpinned by critical reflection, can challenge fixed assumptions and promote cultural awareness and culturally safe care.

Design: A qualitative descriptive study using thematic analysis. Methods: Written critical reflections from 15 consenting postgraduate nursing students who completed the Ngany Kalyakal Katatjiny Boordawan …

Disrupted Trajectories: Covid-19, Transnational Youth Mobility And Unequal Transitions To Adulthood, Simon Chambers, Anita Harris, Loretta Baldassar

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

While the impact of COVID-19 on youth development has been widely studied, less is known about its effects on transnationally mobile young adults. This longitudinal study of Australian outbound and inbound mobility examines how the pandemic disrupted this population's experiences abroad as they navigated transitions to adulthood. It draws on two waves of survey data collected using a convenience sample between July 2020 and September 2022. Our findings reveal that COVID-19 presented significant challenges to young adults living away from home, with disruptions to their future plans, social connections, and well-being. However, these impacts were not uniform. The pandemic magnified …

Is The Crisis Over? Fostering Innovative Work Behavior In Response To The Constant Pressure Of Resource-Deficiency For Street Level Bureaucrats: The Impact Of Psychosocial Safety Climate, Teamwork, And Work Engagement, Yvonne Brunetto, Matthew Xerri, Geremy Farr-Wharton

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

There is conflicting evidence about the pathways Street Level Bureaucrats’ (SLBs’) use to engage Innovative Work Behavior (IWB). This study uses Street Level Bureaucrat (SLB) and Conservation of Resources (COR) to examine the extent to which SLBs’ work engagement and/or burnout mediates the relationship between Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC) and teamwork, and IWB. The methods comprised a sample of 259 healthcare SLBs (doctors, nurses, allied health) collected at two times, and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that the variance of PSC and teamwork explained a third of engagement, and engagement-burnout mediated the impact of PSC and teamwork …

Rank, Degrading Treatment, And The Italy-Albania Agreement, Jamal Barnes, Obed Adonteng-Kissi

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In November 2023, Italy signed a five-year agreement with Albania to transfer asylum seekers intercepted in international waters by Italian vessels to Italian-run detention centres in Albania for asylum processing and deportation. The agreement has been controversial and raises several human rights issues. This article examines these human rights concerns and argues that the agreement is degrading by design. Analysing policy documents, legal cases, speeches, international human rights and refugee law, and philosophical and legal scholarship on the concept of degrading treatment, this article argues that the cumulative effect of subjecting people to unnecessary suffering, discrimination, and dehumanisation creates a …

Artificial Intelligence (Ai) In Home-Care And Community Nursing: A Scoping Review, Haiying Wang, Grace Y. Wang, Tao Wang, Lori Delaney, Jonathan Bayuo, Mengyuan Li, Jing Yu Tan

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background/Objectives: Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being applied across healthcare, but empirical evidence on its use in home-care and community nursing remains fragmented across technologies, clinical contexts, nursing roles, and stages of implementation. This scoping review aimed to map current AI applications in home-care and community nursing and synthesize reported implementation experiences, benefits, challenges, and future considerations.

Methods: Guided by Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and reported according to PRISMA-ScR, eight databases and grey literature via ProQuest were searched for English-language empirical studies published from 1 January 2020 to 14 May 2026. Retrieved records were screened independently by two reviewers, with …

Comparing User Experiences Of Teleportation, Slide-Walk, And Walk-In-Place Locomotion Across Two Virtual Reality Games, Shane L. Rogers, Brett Ryder, Stephen Palmisano

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Virtual reality (VR) locomotion methods differ substantially in their implications for usability, presence, and comfort. Although previous research has compared a range of locomotion techniques, relatively little attention has been given to whether locomotion experiences generalise across different VR experiences. The present study compared user experiences of three locomotion methods (teleportation, slide-walk, and walk-in-place) across two VR applications (Nature Treks VR, an exploration-focused environment, and Ancient Dungeon VR, an action-oriented game). Sixty-three participants were recruited, with analyses based on the forty-five participants who completed all study conditions. During each 10-min condition (comprising a 2-min familiarisation period followed by an 8-min …

Development And Psychometric Validation Of The Multidimensional Measure Of Purpose In Life Ii (Mmop-Ii), Louis Fang, Alfred Allan, Joanne M. Dickson

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose in life is a central motivational construct that has a profound influence on wellbeing. However, existing measures lack the breadth and precision needed to accurately capture this complex construct. In the present study, we aimed to develop a new measure rooted in a holistic, systems-based theoretical framework of purpose in life: the 18-item Multidimensional Measure of Purpose in Life II (MMOP-II). In Study 1, our confirmatory factor analyses in a sample of 303 university students (female = 82.5.%, white = 78.5%) supported a strong five-factor higher-order model fit, outperforming the three-factor and unidimensional alternatives. The Study 2 results replicated …

Migrant Background Youth And Hazardous Drinking: Drinking To Fit Into Australian Society?, Caroline Ng Tseung-Wong, Justine Dandy, Amanda M. George

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: In this study, we proposed that migrant youth might have acculturation reasons to drink alcohol and explored the role of acculturative gap conflict and perceived drinking culture in predicting hazardous drinking. We examined proximal acculturation reasons for drinking in terms of drinking to fit into Australian culture and drinking to cope with parental/community expectations.

Methods: We conducted an online survey with 470 participants (age range 18–25 years). Data from those who reported having tried alcohol (n = 383; 65% female, 71% born in Australia) were analysed. We grouped participants under those who came from similar alcohol consumption environments to …