Digital Commons Network^™

A Qualitative Investigation Of Middle School And High School Students' Perspectives On Their Cultural Identities, Jasmine Blake

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Adolescence is a critical period for identity development. Previous research highlights the challenges related to having an unclear conception of one’s identity. Importantly, qualitative research on using student voice and student perspectives of their cultural identities to improve overall school climate and teacher-student relationships has been overlooked. To improve culturally responsive practices, researchers should account for the voices of primary stakeholders that may be missed in quantitative research methods. Thus, the current study aims to use qualitative interviews of middle and high school students to use student voice to improve culturally responsive practices and further our understanding of cultural humility. …

A Daily Diary Study To Investigate Self-Compassion And Loneliness: Implications For Students And Connection, Elizabeth S. Wells

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Understanding self-compassion is essential for psychologists seeking to address mental health concerns, particularly among students and young adults. Loneliness, which refers to the perceived quality rather than the quantity of relationships, has a significant impact on the well-being and social connections of adolescents and young adults (Bluth et al., 2017; Holt-Lunstad, 2017; Office of the Surgeon General, 2023, May; Taylor et al., 2023). Daily self-compassion practices may help alleviate loneliness, foster a sense of belonging, reduce feelings of exclusion, and improve individual well-being and overall school climate (Baker & McNulty, 2011; Bluth et al., 2022; Liu et al., 2020; Neff, …

The Impact Of Antidepressant Uses On Community-Dwelling Older Adults In The Us, Easter Protiva Gain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Mental health is a vital component of the overall well-being across the lifespan and is the third leading cause of disability globally. One in seven US adults aged 65 or older reported some anxiety and/or depression symptoms, but one in four older adults use some antidepressants and the prescriptions were steadily increasing. This study investigated the impact of antidepressant uses focusing on discontinuation of antidepressants and the risk of medication resumption, inconsistency of antidepressant prescription, and increased healthcare uses by self-reported anxiety and depression symptoms among community-dwelling older adults in the US. Our study conducted a longitudinal study using Medicare …

Exploring Potential Barriers To The Fragile X Syndrome Cascade Screening Process, Austin Corsmeier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Cascade screening, the systematic process of performing genetic screening in at-risk blood relatives of individuals who have been identified with specific genetic mutations, is vital to ensure that Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is identified and diagnosed accurately and that early intervention services are provided to support the clinical symptoms associated with FXS. Cascade screening leads to identification of both male and female premutation carriers and those with full mutation FXS leading to early diagnosis, prompt treatment and awareness of potential medical, psychosocial, and/or neurodevelopmental issues, and improvement in the affected individual’s quality of life. Despite the clear clinical benefits of …

Examining The Impact Of Student Engagement On Academic Persistence And Academic Performance Among First-Generation College Freshman Students At Four-Year Public Institutions, Destin Barcroft Tucker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study examines the impact of student engagement on academic persistence and academic performance among first-generation college freshman students at four-year public institutions. With approximately 50 percent of college students identifying as first-generation, this demographic faces unique challenges that contribute to lower retention rates and academic outcomes compared to their continuing-generation peers. Utilizing secondary data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) collected in 2016, 2019, and 2021, and institutional student records from a large, public, urban R2 Doctoral University in the Southeast, this quantitative study employs multiple regression and binary logistic regression analyses to assess the relationships between …

(Un)Becoming-Scientist-With: Mapping Material-Discursive Forces That Shape Undergraduate Student's Science Identity Development Across The Stemm Learning Ecosystem, Katherine Ayers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation examines the material and discursive agents that shape undergraduate students’ science identity development within a science, technology, engineering, math and medicine (STEMM) ecosystem in the Southern United States. Using Karen Barad’s agential realism as a theoretical framework, the study conceptualizes science identity as a dynamic process of (un)becoming-scientist-with, emphasizing the intra-actions of material and discursive agents across formal and informal STEMM learning spaces. Drawing on narrative inquiry methods and graphic elicitation (ecomaps) interviews, this postqualitative study maps the entanglements of racism, discrimination, and systemic barriers that affect science identity construction. Four undergraduate participants engaged in STEMM programs affiliated …

The Influence Of Network Based Technologies On Modern Applied Trumpet Pedagogy, Dennis Anthony Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, focus has been drawn to the efficacy of synchronous applied music instruction in the networked environment. In March of 2020, all university faculty in higher education across all disciplines were suddenly forced to adapt pedagogy to a co-present networked environment, many with little knowledge or training in the current technologies. Poor audio and video quality, cold unwelcoming video teaching atmosphere, and frustrating user experience created a difficult networked environment for traditional applied studios. The pandemic accelerated the need for both quality online instructional experiences and formalized training for faculty within the areas of …

Transnational Childcare Labor And The Politics Of Affect In Contemporary Black Women’S Fiction, Gul Deniz Hos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Neoliberal globalization has stimulated a continuous rise in migrant women’s domestic work in industrialized Western countries. In the global North, a growing number of female immigrants have supplemented precarious, low-waged, unprotected, unstable, or even unwaged care labor undertaken by mostly female residents as cleaners, caregivers, nurses, babysitters, or domestic service workers. Thus, ironically, non-migrant women’s participation in the public workforce is enabled by migrant women’s mostly devalued, underpaid domestic work in private households. It also upholds the perception that childcare is a private rather than public responsibility. The exploitation of women’s reproductive labor and the feminization of childcare has a …

Family Perspective On The Opioid Crisis: A Qualitative Exploration Of Responsibility, Prevention, And Treatment Access, Stella Ukaoma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

ABSTRACT The opioid epidemic has inflicted a terrible toll on communities and families across the United States for decades. Family members with loved ones who misuse opioids have an especially intimate view of the initiation and progression of addiction, as well as the factors that lead to recovery. Perspectives from this population are underrepresented in the literature and may provide unique and valuable insight. The present research draws from in-depth interviews with twenty-seven individuals whose loved ones (i.e., children, spouses, siblings, etc.) either currently or historically had misused opioids. This study explored family members’ experiences and perspectives on key topics …

Act Bad But Keep It Respectable: How Respectability Influenced My Professional Identity, Tracy Nicole Pappin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This autoethnographic study explored how culture and upbringing influenced my approach to respectability politics professionally, the coping strategies I used to deal with microaggressions regarding respectability politics in the workplace, and how the demands of respectability expectations affected my personal life. This autoethnographic study also explored how the normalizing influence of the dominant culture played a role in my professional identity development. It used personal narratives and reflections to examine how these expectations shaped professional identity, coping strategies, and the emotional and physical toll of workplace respectability politics. This study contributes to current research on respectability expectations in professional spaces. …

A Dual Perspective On Fault Mechanics: Insights From Laboratory Acoustic Emissions And Induced Seismicity, Roshan Koirala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Earthquakes occur across multiple spatial scales depending on fault zone characteristics and mechanics. Fault failure, the mechanism responsible for earthquakes, is driven by the complex interaction of stress, material properties, fault structure, and fluids. Understanding how these factors impact fault stability is key to seismic hazard assessment. Seismological observations provide crucial information about fault mechanics. However, directly measuring the influence of fault properties on earthquake nucleation and fault rupture remains a significant challenge. This dissertation investigates the multi-scale processes of earthquake nucleation and fault failure. This involves integrating high-precision locations of acoustic emission events (AEs) in laboratory fault gouge experiments …

The Impact Of Belonging On Tennessee's Infant And Early Childhood Mental Health Workforce And Their Intent To Stay, Keena Denise Friday

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Many infant and early childhood mental health organizations are facing difficulties retaining professionals to provide high-quality services to infants, young children, and families in Tennessee. When professionals do not experience consistent and responsive connections and healthy interpersonal relationships, they are often prepared to seek alternative employment, which can disrupt the relationships and services they provide to families. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact that a sense of belonging has on an infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) professional’s intent to stay in their role and its associations with the perception of organizational belonging, psychological safety, …

Household Composition And Its Influence On Youth Mental Health And Violence Outcomes: A Systematic Review, Comparative Analysis, And National Survey Findings, Clarion Jamil Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Youth mental health and violence have emerged as critical public health concerns, with increasing rates of anxiety, depression, behavioral problems, and youth violence in recent years. Household composition plays a crucial role in shaping child mental health outcomes, yet research has largely focused on single-parent and stepparent households, with limited attention to grandparent-headed households. This dissertation explores the relationship between household composition and child mental health, with a particular focus on anxiety, depression, behavioral problems, and experiences with violence. Using data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) 2018-2019 and 2021-2022 (n=53,267), this research employs logistic regression models to …

On The Determinant Of Up On Mk(P,Χ), Xingyu Huang, Timothy J. Huber, Dongxi Ye

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this work, for p a prime, we compute the absolute value of the determinant of the UpUp-operator on the vector space Mk(p,χ)Mk(p,χ) of holomorphic modular forms of weight k and level Γ0(p)Γ0(p) with character χχ. As an implication, we confirm a number of conjectures of the second author.

New Era Of Entrepreneurship Begins At Iwu With The Petrick Idea Center Groundbreaking, Julia Perez

Press Releases 2020-2029

No abstract provided.

Imaging Peripheral Nerves In Vivo With Ct Neurogram Using Novel 2,4,6-Tri-Iodinated Lidocaine Contrast Agent, Rui Tang, Ron Perez, David M Brogan, Mikhail Y Berezin, James E Mccarthy

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Peripheral nerve injuries are a significant concern in surgical procedures, often leading to chronic pain and functional impairment. Despite advancements in imaging, preoperative and intraoperative visualization of peripheral nerves remains a challenge. This study introduces and evaluates a novel tri-iodinated lidocaine-based contrast agent for computed tomography neurography, aiming to enhance the intraoperative visibility of peripheral nerves in vivo. A tri-iodinated lidocaine analogue was synthesized and characterized for its radiodensity, sodium channel binding and nerve affinity. Sodium channel affinity was performed using molecular docking. In vitro contrast enhancement was assessed by comparing the agent's Hounsfield unit (HU) values with those of …

Elevated Mitochondrial Membrane Potential Is A Therapeutic Vulnerability In Dnmt3a-Mutant Clonal Hematopoiesis, Kira A Young, Grant A Challen, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The competitive advantage of mutant hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) underlies clonal hematopoiesis (CH). Drivers of CH include aging and inflammation; however, how CH-mutant cells gain a selective advantage in these contexts is an unresolved question. Using a murine model of CH (Dnmt3a

The Kemp Foundation’S Teaching Excellence Award Ceremony (2025 Program And Video), Illinois Wesleyan University

The Kemp Foundation's Teaching Excellence Award Ceremony Programs

No abstract provided.

All Roads That Lead To The Myocardium: Assessment Of Anomalies Of Coronary Artery Course, Ibrahim Khayyat, Silvana Molossi, Ada C Stefanescu Schmidt

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

2025-04-16 Mariners Baseball Is Back!, Diego Dumlao

The Spectator Online

No abstract provided.

2025-04-16 Redhawks Fall To Crosstown Rivals After Late Game Comeback, Diego Dumlao

The Spectator Online

No abstract provided.

2025-04-16 Write Your Opinion Now!, Matthew Mai

The Spectator Online

No abstract provided.

Short- And Long-Term Effects Of Early Versus Delayed Treatment With Ocrelizumab On Cerebellar Volume Loss In Patients With Rms And Ppms, Douglas L Arnold, Shannon Kolind, Haz-Edine Assemlal, Amit Bar-Or, Matilde Inglese, Ludwig Kappos, Katrin Parmar, Till Sprenger, Anthony Traboulsee, Irene M Vavasour, Jerry S Wolinsky, Corrado Bernasconi, Ulrike Bonati, Stefano Magon, Björn Tackenberg, Laura Gaetano

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: The cerebellum is a functionally and anatomically complex structure, which, in multiple sclerosis (MS), is affected by focal white/gray matter lesions and by secondary neurodegeneration of afferent/efferent connections to the supratentorial brain and the spinal cord.

Objectives: To assess the efficacy of ocrelizumab compared with interferon β-1a (IFN β-1a)/placebo on cerebellar volume loss and the effect of switching to ocrelizumab on volume change in the Phase III trials in relapsing MS (RMS, OPERA I/II) and in primary progressive MS (PPMS, ORATORIO).

Methods: Cerebellar volume change was computed using paired Jacobian integration and analyzed using a mixed-effect repeated measurement model. …

West African Drumming And Dance Ensemble: April 16, 2025, School Of Music

School of Music Programs

Kemp Recital Hall

April 16, 2025

Wednesday Evening

7:30 p.m.

Method, System And Computer Program For Enhancing Travel Recommendation Using Large Language Models, Zhimeng Jiang, Mangesh Shrikant Bendre, Huiyuan Chen, Xiran Fan, Yan Zheng, Mahashweta Das

Defensive Publications Series

Methods, system, and computer program products are provided for enhancing travel recommendation systems using large language models. The solution enhances the current travel recommendation system by leveraging large language models and the Doc2Vec algorithm to better capture and utilize the rich semantic information associated with each merchant. By augmenting merchant information with additional features like emoji representations and using Doc2Vec to generate merchant embeddings, the solution effectively improves the quality and precision of travel recommendations. This leads to a personalized and improved user experience in travel planning and booking.

A Concrete Naming Convention For Small Intervals, Laurence S. Willis

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

In tuning theory, names proliferate for the bewildering array of intervals available to theorists and scholars. Of particular difficulty is the naming of small intervals: as a group these are generally referred to as commas, following the Greek practice. The various names used for small intervals derive from many different sources, some etymologically related to the ancient practice and some to the origin of the interval in more recent music theory. The problem with this situation is that while they remain fascinating from a scholarly perspective, these names are unwieldy for technical usage, sometimes barely understandable for an informed audience, …

Atmosense/Airwaves Final Conference Agenda, Atmosense

AtmoSense/AIRWaveS

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Social Studies Instruction Through Professional Development: Strengthening Skills In Source Evaluation, Erin Golaboff

Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Maximizing Chances For Profit When Marketing Cattle In Livestock Auctions, Holli Heim

Undergraduate Research Conference

The objective of this study is to supply producers with data that will help to ensure that they are marketing their calf crop at proper times to ensure higher levels of profit. The information produced in this study is intended to be used with other management tools.

Ammonia Production From Cattle At The Walter C. Todd Agricultural Research Center, Sydney Cunningham, Elizabeth Smith, Rachel Nelson, Brayden Wagner

Undergraduate Research Conference

The Walter C. Todd Agricultural Research Center cattle pen was tested to measure the ammonia emission rates produced by cattle. Samples were collected from six testing locations. Eighteen samples were taken across three days of testing, in 8-hour increments. We found that small-scale cattle in open-air pens produce minimal amounts of ammonia that are not a concern for air quality. Ammonia was detectable in small quantities in the testing sites adjacent to the cattle and not in locations more than 0.1 miles away.