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Structure, Thermodynamics, And Dynamics Of Acetonitrile In Titan-Like Conditions, Sagar Chandra Roy Aug 2025

Structure, Thermodynamics, And Dynamics Of Acetonitrile In Titan-Like Conditions, Sagar Chandra Roy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Titan is one of the most interesting satellites in the solar system. It is the only other place in the solar system containing stable deposits of liquid and a hydrological cycle other than earth. The abundant existence of N2 and CH4 in Titan’s atmosphere makes nitrile formation highly likely both in the atmosphere and surface. Infrared spectrometer data from Voyager 1 expedition revealed the presence of acetonitrile (CH3CN) in the atmosphere along with several other nitriles such as hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and cyanoacetylene (HC3N). According to theoretical models nitrile formation is caused by photodisscociation of nitrogen in the tholin haze …

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Polymer-Enhanced Nanopore Sensing, Eugene Gyasi Agyemang Aug 2025

Polymer-Enhanced Nanopore Sensing, Eugene Gyasi Agyemang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The resistive pulse technique characterizes single analytes by detecting fluctuations in the ion current as they pass through a narrow orifice connecting two electrolyte-filled chambers, each containing a single electrode. The amplitude, shape, frequency, and duration of these fluctuations primarily provide information about the analyte’s size, shape, concentration, and net surface charge, respectively. One configuration for resistive pulse measurements is of an electrolyte-filled nanopipette immersed in a bath, where the nanopipette tip acts as the nanoscale orifice. It was previously shown that incorporating the large quantities polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG 8K, 50% w/v) into the external electrolyte bath dramatically enhanced …

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Contrastive Loss In Recommendation Systems, Maryam Aghamohammadghasem Aug 2025

Contrastive Loss In Recommendation Systems, Maryam Aghamohammadghasem

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A recommendation system is a bridge between users and products, which is widely used in e-commerce such as Amazon and Netflix. This study investigates the use of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), Light Graph Convolution Network(LightGCN) and Graph Sample and Aggregate (GraphSAGE), in the recommendation system on two categories of Amazon review datasets ( "All Beauty" and "Tools and Home Improvement"). The novelty of this work includes combining supervised and self-supervised learning through Weighted Approximate Rank Pairwise (WARP) and Information Noise-Contrastive Estimation (InfoNCE) losses, to optimize the embeddings of users and recommended items in the shape of a ranking list. The …

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Predicting Case Clearance For Victims Of Anti-Transgender Homicide In The United States, Brittaney Alyssa Mann Aug 2025

Predicting Case Clearance For Victims Of Anti-Transgender Homicide In The United States, Brittaney Alyssa Mann

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a shortage of research exploring case clearance of anti-transgender bias homicides. This study will comparatively examine the similarities and differences in anti-transgender bias homicide cases with and without arrests at the victim, situational and incident levels occurring in the United States between 2013 and 2023. Data are extracted from the Bias Homicide Database (BHDB), the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). This project will address the gap in understanding case clearance of anti-transgender bias homicides, provide policy implications, and ideas to further the discipline’s understanding of the topic. Keywords: LGBTQIA+ victims, bias …

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Measuring The Impact Of Ged Preparation On Ged Testing Outcomes, Matthew Utz Aug 2025

Measuring The Impact Of Ged Preparation On Ged Testing Outcomes, Matthew Utz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study investigates the relationship between participation in GED preparation programs and GED test outcomes among adult learners at a single Adult Basic Education (ABE) center located in an urban area of a south-central U.S. state. Recognizing the significance of the GED as an alternative credential to a traditional high school diploma, the research examines how instructional hours and structured preparation correlate with students’ final scores in mathematics, English language arts, social studies, and science. The study also describes the demographic characteristics of the learners, including gender, race, and age groups, and analyzes their performance on the Test of …

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Examining The Use Of Two-Dimensional Video Capture And A Pressure Sensing Walkway For Collection Of Obstacle Crossing Measures, Ashlyn M. Jendro Aug 2025

Examining The Use Of Two-Dimensional Video Capture And A Pressure Sensing Walkway For Collection Of Obstacle Crossing Measures, Ashlyn M. Jendro

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Obstacle crossing research is crucial for providing insights into how and why people trip and fall. However, a growing body of literature has proposed that laboratory-based studies may not directly translate into real-world settings due to the complex nature beyond the sterile lab. Unfortunately, the absence of real-world obstacle crossing literature is likely due to a lack of available validated methods for collection of data outside the laboratory. This dissertation explored two potential methodologies (i.e., 2D motion capture and a pressure sensing walkway) that are more portable and cost-effective for collecting real-world obstacle crossing measures. It is hypothesized that 2D …

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Using Interpersonal Motives To Identify Latent Profiles Of Borderline Personality Pathology: Implications For An Overcontrolled Style Of Bpd, Regina Schreiber Aug 2025

Using Interpersonal Motives To Identify Latent Profiles Of Borderline Personality Pathology: Implications For An Overcontrolled Style Of Bpd, Regina Schreiber

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is conceptualized as a disorder of undercontrol (i.e., behaviorally impulsive, emotionally expressive), with affective, interpersonal, and identity instability. BPD related impairment is high, yet diagnostic accuracy remains a problem for individuals who present with greater overcontrol (i.e., behavioral inhibition, expressive suppression), which occurs in some BPD subtypes. The current study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to expand on prior research by identifying latent profiles based on interpersonal motives for agency and relatedness, desire for predictability, perceived dependency, and self-efficacy in a sample of people with elevated BPD features (n = 136). Individual differences in overcontrol, undercontrol, …

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Utilizing The Horseshoe Prior In Exploratory Factor Analysis And Gaussian Graphical Networks, James Thomas Roddy Aug 2025

Utilizing The Horseshoe Prior In Exploratory Factor Analysis And Gaussian Graphical Networks, James Thomas Roddy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

High-dimensional data analysis frequently involves extracting meaningful structure from noisy, sparse signals. In recent years, Bayesian shrinkage priors—particularly global-local shrinkage priors—have emerged as powerful tools for inducing sparsity while preserving signal fidelity. Among these, the Horseshoe prior has gained notable attention for its capacity to simultaneously shrink irrelevant parameters and retain substantial signals. This dissertation explores the Horseshoe prior as a unified framework for sparse Bayesian inference across theory, simulation, and real-world application. The first component develops new theoretical results establishing the asymptotic Bayes optimality of the Horseshoe prior in Gaussian graphical models (GGMs). We consider sparse precision matrix estimation …

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Assessment Of Mental Health Needs For Chronically Unhoused Individuals Living In A Bridge Housing Community, Isabel Furse Augur Aug 2025

Assessment Of Mental Health Needs For Chronically Unhoused Individuals Living In A Bridge Housing Community, Isabel Furse Augur

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Higher rates of psychopathology and substance use are reported in individuals experiencing homelessness compared to the general population, especially in those who are chronically unhoused. Chronically homeless individuals are also less likely to access treatment for these problems because of barriers to care. Addressing housing needs is an important first step in engaging people who are homeless with the care they need. This project focused on assessing the mental health needs of a Housing First community in Northwest Arkansas, which has few barriers for entry but does not provide direct support for mental health. This project adopted a community-based participatory …

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From Stem Cells To Smooth Muscle Cells: Characterizing Secretome Profiles And Evaluating Regenerative Potentials, Christofer Baldwin Aug 2025

From Stem Cells To Smooth Muscle Cells: Characterizing Secretome Profiles And Evaluating Regenerative Potentials, Christofer Baldwin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the role of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in vascular disease and the potential of stem cell-derived VSMCs (SC-SMCs) for regenerative medicine. VSMCs are crucial for maintaining function; however, their dysregulation contributes to the progression of diseases like atherosclerosis, vascular calcification, and aneurysms. Disease progression is influenced by various environmental factors, prompting VSMCs to switch phenotypes, leading to adverse vascular remodeling. This research focuses on adult bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) and adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) as sources for generating reparative VSMCs. Through comparative analysis, it investigates the effects of SC-SMCs on VSMC biomarker expression and …

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End Times: American Mortality, Death Materiality, And Social Death In The 1990s, Jordan A. Savage Aug 2025

End Times: American Mortality, Death Materiality, And Social Death In The 1990s, Jordan A. Savage

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The United States in the 1990s was marked by pervasive representations of death in popular culture. As death imagery became increasingly visible in entertainment, there was a growing detachment from the embodied, biological realities of death, a tension intensified by the ongoing AIDS crisis. This project explores how death is politicized and how decisions about who lives and dies are shaped by power. I draw on a constellation of theoretical frameworks that collectively illuminate the operations of state-sanctioned death and social abandonment. These include Michel Foucault’s concept of biopolitics, which examines the management of life by state power; Giorgio Agamben’s …

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Freezing And Shipping Optimization To Increase Quality And Profitability Of Meat E-Commerce, Paul Olaoluwaniyi Dahunsi Aug 2025

Freezing And Shipping Optimization To Increase Quality And Profitability Of Meat E-Commerce, Paul Olaoluwaniyi Dahunsi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Freezing remains one of the most reliable methods for preserving meat quality and extending shelf life. However, quality deterioration can still occur due to structural and biochemical changes activated during freezing, thawing, and distribution. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers’ preference for bulk purchasing and online meat shopping has increased, raising questions about the best strategies to balance both quality maintenance and profitability. This thesis aimed to evaluate two key stages where frozen beef is most vulnerable to quality degradation: consumer-level freezing and post-purchase shipping. The objectives were (1) to determine the effects of product size and subsequent consumer freezing practices …

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Firm Disclosures And Retail Investor Behavior: The Role Of Information Type, Disagreement, And Social Networks, Hansol Yoon Aug 2025

Firm Disclosures And Retail Investor Behavior: The Role Of Information Type, Disagreement, And Social Networks, Hansol Yoon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines whether disclosure characteristics–specifically hard versus soft information–influence disagreement among retail investors, whether due to differences in information sets or interpretation, and how such disagreement subsequently affects trading volume. Using a sample of 85,050 earnings conference calls and StockTwits disagreement data from 2010 to 2021, I find that hard information (i.e., earnings figures) is negatively associated with investor disagreement, while soft information (i.e., forward-looking statements) is positively associated with it. Further analysis reveals that the disclosure characteristics impact trading activity only indirectly, through their influence on investor disagreement. Additionally, I examine the moderating role of social network centrality, …

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Classifying Advanced Persistent Threat Stages And Techniques Via Graph-Enhanced Network Flow Representations, Md Taef Uddin Nadim Aug 2025

Classifying Advanced Persistent Threat Stages And Techniques Via Graph-Enhanced Network Flow Representations, Md Taef Uddin Nadim

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) are complex, stealthy attacks that involve multiple stages and many attack techniques used in each stage, making them difficult to defend against. Although many solutions can detect APTs, most of them only detect the existence of attack, but cannot produce fine-grained classification over the stage of the APT and the specific attack technique used. Some existing solutions can classify the stages of APT, but few of them provide attack technique classification, and existing work do not provide interpretability for the classification or countermeasures for the attack. In this thesis work, we propose a solution named CAPTure, …

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Small Angle X-Ray Scattering Studies Of Collagenase H Mutant, Colh-E416q, Madelyn Millsap Aug 2025

Small Angle X-Ray Scattering Studies Of Collagenase H Mutant, Colh-E416q, Madelyn Millsap

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Collagenase H (ColH) from Hathewaya histolytica plays a central role in collagen degradation through endopeptidase and carboxytripeptidase reactions. To better understand how its domain architecture supports these functions, we examined the solution structure of a catalytically inactive mutant, ColH-E416Q, using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The E416Q mutant is catalytically inactive because the glutamate residue at position 416, which normally functions as a general acid/base during catalysis, is replaced by glutamine—an amide that cannot donate or accept protons effectively, thus disabling the proton transfer steps essential for peptide bond hydrolysis. SAXS results indicate that the E416Q substitution leaves overall domain architecture …

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Effects Of Multi-Sensory Training In Physical Activity On Reaction Time And Fitness In Elementary Students., Sarah Anne Trout Aug 2025

Effects Of Multi-Sensory Training In Physical Activity On Reaction Time And Fitness In Elementary Students., Sarah Anne Trout

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract This study examined the effects of multi-sensory Neuroplasticity training (MSNP™) using the ROXPro system on the psychomotor abilities of third-grade students in a Midwestern elementary school. The research aimed to determine whether the integration of interactive sensory-reactive technology in physical education could improve reaction time, agility, and explosive power compared to standard PE instruction. A total of 49 participants were assigned to either a control group or an intervention group, with the latter engaging in six weeks of ROX-based drills. A pretest-posttest design was employed, and data were analyzed using ANCOVA, repeated measures ANOVA, and independent t-tests to assess …

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Advancing Point-Of-Care Diagnosis Of Joint Infection Using A Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (Drs) System, Erin Elizabeth Drewke Aug 2025

Advancing Point-Of-Care Diagnosis Of Joint Infection Using A Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (Drs) System, Erin Elizabeth Drewke

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Septic arthritis is a severe joint infection that can rapidly destroy cartilage and cause lifelong disability if not diagnosed and treated promptly. Faster, bedside diagnostic tools are needed to reduce delays and support timely treatment decisions while preserving standard laboratory workflows. A syringe-mounted diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) system was developed for rapid, sterile, point-of-care measurement of synovial fluid optical properties. Broadband light (400–650 nm) was delivered and collected through the syringe barrel without contaminating the sample. An empirical lookup table (LUT) and a boundary-aware Monte Carlo (MC) model were implemented to extract absorption (μₐ) and reduced scattering (μs′) coefficients from …

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Effect Of Dietary Tryptophan Supplementation And Heat Stress On Pasture Broiler Welfare And Performance, Jaelen Matthew Cherry Aug 2025

Effect Of Dietary Tryptophan Supplementation And Heat Stress On Pasture Broiler Welfare And Performance, Jaelen Matthew Cherry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pasture-raised broiler chickens face temperature extremes that can threaten welfare. In the study, we evaluated whether a 0.26 % tryptophan-supplemented diet (T) improved heat stress (HS) resilience in Ross-708 broilers raised on pasture. At D14, birds began the T or remained on the control diet (C) and were moved outdoors. On D20 and 41, half of each group underwent six-hour HS; the remainder stayed under thermoneutral (TN) conditions. Weekly body weight, feed intake on D20 and D41 were recorded, and fear was measured using the Tonic Immobility (TI) test. Neither diet nor HS affected body weight. However, tryptophan supplementation resulted …

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Multivariate Optical Imaging Of The Oxygen-Metabolism Axis, Jesse D. Ivers Aug 2025

Multivariate Optical Imaging Of The Oxygen-Metabolism Axis, Jesse D. Ivers

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Metabolic reprogramming is a characteristic hallmark of multiple pathologies and promotes disease progression, survival, and severity. Current methods to investigate metabolic reprogramming, however, require reductions of dimensionality both because of instrumentation limitations and analysis tools. This work aims to define a blueprint for high dimensional study of the oxygen metabolism axis to enable more sensitive study metabolic reprogramming. We hypothesized (1) multivariate imaging of metabolic and oxygenation metrics in ex vivo tissue sections would elucidate differences in resistant and sensitive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) xenografts that traditional uni-variate methods miss and (2) an engineered hyperspectral darkfield microscopy …

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Strain Induced Quantum Emitters In Monolayer Wse₂: Fabrication And Characterization Of Dimple Dot Devices, Garrett Maxwell Kitterman Aug 2025

Strain Induced Quantum Emitters In Monolayer Wse₂: Fabrication And Characterization Of Dimple Dot Devices, Garrett Maxwell Kitterman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Strain induced defects in monolayer tungsten diselenide (WSe₂) give rise to localized exciton funnels, offering a promising approach for the development of tunable quantum emitters. The quantum devices fabricated for this thesis used a modified dimple dot geometry, in which nano indentation creates a strain profile on the monolayer WSe₂. This allows for the funneling of excitons to a confined region. These strain induced funnels enable localized emission from single excitons in WSe₂. Device fabrication was carried out through mechanical exfoliation, dry transfer, and electron beam lithography of Cr/Au gates on a SiO₂ substrate. These devices were then characterized using …

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Lifetime Stressor Exposure, Race And Ethnicity, And Habitual Stress Processes: An Evaluation Of Repetitive Negative Thinking And Hair Cortisol Concentration, Harrison Dickens Aug 2025

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 ), …

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Cooling Climate Across Last Interglacial High Stands On San Salvador And Great Inagua, The Bahamas, Ian Winkelstern, Sierra Petersen, H. Allen Curran, Cecilie Phillips, Alex Quizon, Bosiljka Glumac, David Griffing Aug 2025

Cooling Climate Across Last Interglacial High Stands On San Salvador And Great Inagua, The Bahamas, Ian Winkelstern, Sierra Petersen, H. Allen Curran, Cecilie Phillips, Alex Quizon, Bosiljka Glumac, David Griffing

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

The last interglacial (LIG) is the last time global climate was about as warm as today, with global sea-levels several metres higher. The LIG probably had a re- duced latitudinal temperature gradient, with warmer poles and cooler tropics than today. Well-constrained records from low latitudes can test this overall model. We used bivalve shells sampled from six localities thought to expose the LIG age Cockburn Town Member of the Grotto Beach Formation on both San Salvador and Great Inagua Islands, The Bahamas. Previous work described two LIG depositional intervals: older ‘Reef I’ and younger ‘Reef II’, separated by a disconformity. …

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Kinematic Representations Of Viscoelastic Postseismic Deformation, John Loveless, Brendan J. Meade Aug 2025

Kinematic Representations Of Viscoelastic Postseismic Deformation, John Loveless, Brendan J. Meade

Geosciences: Faculty Publications

Abstract Following large earthquakes, viscoelastic stress relaxation may contribute to postseismic deformation observed at Earth's surface. Mechanical representations of viscoelastic deformation require a constitutive relationship for the lower crust/upper mantle material where stresses are diffused and, for non‐linear rheologies, knowledge of absolute stress level. Here, we describe a kinematic approach to representing
geodetically observed postseismic motions that does not require an assumed viscoelastic rheology. The core idea is to use observed surface motions to constrain time‐dependent displacement boundary conditions applied at the base of the elastic upper crust by viscoelastic motions in the lower crust/upper mantle, approximating
these displacements as …

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Monitoring And Understanding Momentary Affect Intensity From Smartphone Sensors: Investigating The Role Of Time Resolutions And Semantic Locations, Yiqin Zhu Aug 2025

Monitoring And Understanding Momentary Affect Intensity From Smartphone Sensors: Investigating The Role Of Time Resolutions And Semantic Locations, Yiqin Zhu

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Momentary affect intensity refers to the momentary strength or intensity of emotional experience and shows wide associations with critical psychological and behavioral phenomena. Traditional self-report approaches to assess affect intensity require people’s attention and are prone to missingness and recall bias. Wide and cheap smartphone access offers opportunities to monitor and understand real-time affect intensity. This study had three specific aims: (a) To evaluate the potential for a state-of-the-art explainable artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to predict momentary affect intensities without active inputs, we tested how well Temporal Fusion Transformers (TFTs) can predict momentary affect intensity in an unseen test sample; …

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08-19-25 Bor Hsc Committee Meeting Minutes, Patricia Serna Aug 2025

08-19-25 Bor Hsc Committee Meeting Minutes, Patricia Serna

HSC Committee (A subcommittee of the UNM Board of Regents)

08-19-25 BOR HSC Committee Meeting Minutes

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Examining Associations Between Internalized Racism, Psychological Flexibility, And Well-Being Among Bipoc, Cerella Chandra Aug 2025

Examining Associations Between Internalized Racism, Psychological Flexibility, And Well-Being Among Bipoc, Cerella Chandra

Dissertations

Internalized racism has been defined as the adoption of negative stereotypes related to one’s racial/ethnic group and associated with psychological distress. There is little research on the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on diverse populations, but recent intervention studies have indicated that psychological flexibility may counter the negative psychological effects of self-stigma. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between internalized racism, psychological flexibility, and psychological distress and life satisfaction among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). Self-report data was collected using Qualtrics with prospective participants recruited from a large public university in the …

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Predictors Of Cyberbullying And Help-Seeking Behaviors In Rural Midwestern Schools: A Multilevel Modeling Analysis, Ashley M. Harrison-Pavlik Aug 2025

Predictors Of Cyberbullying And Help-Seeking Behaviors In Rural Midwestern Schools: A Multilevel Modeling Analysis, Ashley M. Harrison-Pavlik

Dissertations

Cyberbullying is a significant problem throughout the United States. Many risk factors have been identified for cyberbullying victimization, including experiencing traditional bullying victimization, social media usage, gender, and underrepresented racial/ethnic status, although the results are inconclusive. In response to cyberbullying, youth may choose to engage in or avoid help-seeking behaviors. Individual characteristics such as age, gender, frequency of victimization, race and ethnicity, and student perceptions of school staff can influence whether a youth seeks help. School level variables, including anti-bullying policies and teacher awareness and perceptions of cyberbullying may also impact help-seeking behaviors. However, few studies have empirically assessed their …

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Understanding The Experiences And Perceptions Of Faculty Supporting Undergraduate Students With Mental Health Challenges, Jenna Ranee Parbati Jamieson Aug 2025

Understanding The Experiences And Perceptions Of Faculty Supporting Undergraduate Students With Mental Health Challenges, Jenna Ranee Parbati Jamieson

Dissertations

College is a big adjustment for students, and it doesn't come without its challenges, including being in a new place with new responsibilities. This is a stressful time that presents new obstacles and frustrations that can lead to increased stress, anxiety, depression, and mental health challenges that may cause faculty to engage and support undergraduate students with mental health challenges. As students adjust and transition to college, it is vital for university faculty to feel confident and comfortable supporting students from diverse backgrounds with varying levels of distress. By interviewing faculty, a better understanding of their lived experiences and perceptions …

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Too Big To Fail? Using Microsatellites To Examine The Population Genetics Of Flathead Catfish (Pylodictis Olivaris) In Missouri Impoundments, Aaron Krolow Aug 2025

Too Big To Fail? Using Microsatellites To Examine The Population Genetics Of Flathead Catfish (Pylodictis Olivaris) In Missouri Impoundments, Aaron Krolow

Dissertations

Flathead Catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) is a popular sportfish managed for recreational and commercial uses. Currently, managers in Missouri have implemented various reservoir-specific bag and length limits for P. olivaris to create sustainable populations of quality-sized individuals available for anglers to capture. In conjunction with field studies to estimate growth rates and size/age distributions, I developed and scored 15 microsatellite markers to estimate the effective population (Ne) and population structure within 10 Missouri reservoirs. I assessed the power of the markers to get acceptably precise estimates of Ne using NEoGen assuming life-history parameters (e.g., age at maturity, longevity and fecundity) estimated …

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Spatial Distributions And Occupancy Dynamics Of Carnivores In A Central Hardwood Forest, Maximillian Larreur Aug 2025

Spatial Distributions And Occupancy Dynamics Of Carnivores In A Central Hardwood Forest, Maximillian Larreur

Dissertations

Extirpation of apex predators, caused primarily by anthropogenic alterations to natural environments and persecution, has led to mesocarnivore release in these areas. Mesocarnivore release is an ecological phenomenon in which mesocarnivores thrive in the absence of apex predator dominance within the carnivore hierarchy. Mesopredators fill this dominant role on the landscape as de facto apex predators, however, this can lead to changes in inter-guild species space use, predator-prey dynamics, activity patterns, and interspecific competition. Understanding patterns in wildlife spatial distributions, which indicate variability in habitat space use across spatiotemporal scales, is critical for developing effective management and conservation plans and …

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