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Psychosocial Mediators Of A Physical Activity And Dietary Intervention In Pregnant Women With Overweight Or Obesity, Meghan Baruth, Sarah Wilcox, Jihong Liu, Rebecca Schlaff

Faculty Publications

Background

Mediation analyses provide insight into both ‘pieces’ of the mediation chain; they allow us to look into the ‘black box’ that is behavior change. They allow researchers to better understand the ‘how’ of an intervention’s effects and/or the ‘why’ behind why an intervention worked or did not work. The lack of publications in pregnant populations highlights the need for additional studies to be conducted and published. The purpose of this study is to examine the psychosocial mediators of physical activity and dietary outcomes in a sample of pregnant women with overweight or obesity participating in the Health in Pregnancy …

Shu World Review- April 6th 2026, Diplolab, Seton Hall University

SHU World Review

No abstract provided.

Am I Enough? Understanding International Graduate Students' Internship Search And Their Emotional Responses At The University Of Memphis., Rosina Owusu Panin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Internships serve as a key pathway for international students in the United States to prepare them for the job market. However, the process of searching for internships is full of uncertainty, and emotionally demanding. This qualitative study, guided by the Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping, examines international graduate students at the University of Memphis, focusing on their emotional responses during their internship search and their coping strategies. The study conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 international graduate students at the University of Memphis. The findings reveal that students started their search hopeful, but repeated rejections, lack of feedback, and …

Citizenship Education In Social Studies: A Forty-Five-Year Content Analysis (1980–2025), Renita Parks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study examined how citizenship education has been defined, discussed, and framed in major social studies journals between 1980 and 2025. While citizenship education has long been identified as a central purpose of social studies, its meaning has shifted in response to changing political, social, and educational contexts. The purpose of this study was to identify patterns and trends in how citizenship has been conceptualized in professional literature over a 45-year period. A qualitative content analysis was conducted using articles published in three prominent social studies journals. Articles were selected using predetermined criteria and analyzed for definitions of citizenship, contextual …

Advancing Multimodal Distracted Driving Detection: From Systematic Synthesis To Representation Alignment In A Unified Embedding Space, Anthony Dontoh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Distracted driving remains a critical road safety challenge, as existing detection methods often rely on single-modality inputs that lack the contextual nuance to distinguish hazardous behavior from normal driving. This research program addresses these limitations through a progressive three-study framework that advances context-aware detection from systematic evidence synthesis to multimodal foundation model adaptation, reframing detection as a representational alignment problem. Study One systematically reviewed 77 peer-reviewed papers (2019–2025) across visual, sensor-based, and emerging modalities. The results confirmed a dominance of visual-only approaches and identified critical gaps in environmental robustness, cognitive distraction detection, and contextual grounding, establishing the empirical necessity for …

Baritenor: A Pedagogical Approach And Vocal Aesthetic Guide To Training The Middle-Voiced Broadway Leading Man, Joshua David Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation explores the role of the baritenor in musical theatre. “Baritenor” is a tenor subcategorization which melds vocal characteristics and qualities of both the tenor and baritone voice and offers additional clarification for the singer in regards to casting. Through a survey of musical theatre history, one can gain a deeper understanding of the progression of compositional style for the voice. Today’s musical theatre performer must be a hybrid singer, trained in an array of Broadway vocal aesthetics to remain versatile as a performer and competitive and castable in the industry. By analyzing the Broadway vocal aesthetics required of …

The Heart Of Leadership: How Urban High School Principals Enact Integrated, Equity-Centered Leadership, Alisha N. Coleman-Kiner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Urban high schools serving historically under-resourced communities continue to experience persistent inequities in academic outcomes, student belonging, and school culture despite decades of reform. Leadership scholarship has identified several domains relevant to addressing these inequities, including instructional leadership, relational trust, care ethics, cultural responsiveness, trauma-responsive practice, and equity-centered decision-making. However, these domains are most often studied in isolation. As a result, the field lacks a coherent explanation of how these leadership practices interact in everyday school leadership and why schools operating under similar conditions often produce markedly different outcomes. The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to examine how …

Musical Meaning In Koshkin, Kyle Edward Pieczynski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate how to analyze musical topoi (topics) and use them to inform interpretive decision making. This study focuses on the solo guitar compositions of Nikita Koshkin, including complete analyses of Usher Waltz, Fall of Birds, and Merlin’s Dream. The method for research uses foundational work by Charles S. Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure for its approach to semiotics. It references Leonard Ratner, Janice Dickensheets, and Jessica Narum for examples and definitions of topics in the classical, romantic, and modern stylistic periods. The essay succeeds in its goal by identifying topics commonly used by …

For Us, By Us: A Sensory Ethnographic Study Of Creating Queer Safe Spaces, Chelsea Dawn Liddell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This sensory ethnographic study conducted in the summer of 2025 looks at the impact of for us, by us queer spaces on queer young adults working as counselors at a queer youth camp located in a rural Midwestern United States area. Interviews and a researcher journal were used to co-create data with the queer young adult participants and provide sensory information beyond spoken language. Queer theory as presented by Judith Butler (1990, 1993, 2004, 2015) and Sara Ahmed (2006, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2021) is considered throughout, as well as ideas of space and place as conceived by Doreen Massey (1993, …

Targeting Mitochondrial Fitness To Restore Immune Balance In Aging: The Role Of Urolithin A, Rafael Moura Maurmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Aging drives systemic functional decline and represents the primary risk factor for comorbidities and mortality. Immune dysregulation is central to chronic age-related inflammation, with macrophages acting as key mediators of unresolved tissue damage. This functional compromise coincides with metabolic maladaptations including elevated mitochondrial stress and impaired mitophagy, which exacerbate oxidative stress and inflammatory overstimulation. However, the exact mechanistic links driving these phenotypes remain incompletely understood. Urolithin A (UA) has emerged as a promising strategy to enhance mitochondrial health via mitophagy stimulation, yet its immunoregulatory effects in the context of aging remain unexplored. Objectives: This study aimed to characterize mitochondrial dysfunction …

Roots: A Recording Project Of Cello Repertoire Based On Global Folk Traditions, Christine Sears

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Roots is an audio recording project that represents cello repertoire based on global folk traditions. It acknowledges the value of varied musical styles and influences in an effort to increase awareness and inspire more performances of music from these traditions. Some of the works in this project lack accessible recordings for other performers to reference, and this project is meant to help bridge that gap. I chose five pieces for the recording portion, each by a composer representing a different geographical location and cultural background. The selected works are Folk Suite for Solo Cello by Daniel Delaney, Variations on a …

History Of Rock And Roll, Michael Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL is an orchestral work in three movements. My primary aim with this piece of music was to explore the points of divergence and intersection between concert and popular music traditions. This exploration takes place through both the blending and juxtaposition of elements from both traditions. Each tradition is represented in different instruments within the ensemble. The rock element is primarily present in the drum set, while the orchestra functions as a representation of the concert music element. Each element begins with reference to a particular point in the history of the respective traditions. The initial …

From Chalkboards To Clicks: Bridging The Digital Divide Through Dental Healthcare Educators’ Development Of Instructional And Communication Technology Competencies As Adult Learners Within Communities Of Practice, Simran Kapur Flagg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Information and communication technology (ICT) has rapidly reshaped health care education, revolutionizing instructional delivery and clinical training and transforming faculty roles. Although research has largely examined student outcomes, digital tools, and institutional readiness, little is known about how dental health care educators themselves acquire, integrate, and sustain ICT. By framing educators as adult learners, this qualitative case study investigated their development of ICT skills through communities of practice (CoPs) in a health sciences academic setting. Guided by social constructivism and situated learning theory, this study drew on Wenger’s CoPs framework and the concept of legitimate peripheral participation to examine learning …

Explaining The Experiences Of Black Male Graduates With Pell Grants At A Public, Four-Year Historically White Institution In Tennessee, Travis Tyshawn Strattion

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This qualitative narrative inquiry explains the factors that contributed to the success of Black male graduates who received Pell Grants at a public, four-year historically White institution in Tennessee. Situated within persistent racial and economic inequities in higher education, the study examines how Black men from low-income backgrounds navigated institutional systems not originally designed to support their success. Guided by African American Male Theory (AAMT; Bush & Bush, 2013b) and Padilla’s Expertise Model of Student Success (EMSS; Padilla, 1994; Padilla et al., 1997), the study centers participants as active agents who developed strategies, knowledge, and meaning-making practices to persist to …

Balancing Act: The Impact Of Feminine Expression, Name, Image And Likeness (Nil) On The Mental Health Of Female College Athletes, Sedaria Lanora Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Female college athletes navigate multi-faceted pressures at the intersection of gender, race, finances, and athletic identity. However, their lived experiences remain understudied. This qualitative study examined how feminine expression and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) financial pressures intersected to impact the mental health of Division I female college athletes. Guided by a hermeneutic phenomenological framework and grounded in Brewer et al.’s (1993) Athletic Identity Theory and Crenshaw’s (1989) Intersectionality Theory, data was collected through semi-structured virtual interviews with eight participants representing a range of sports and racial backgrounds. The thematic analysis followed Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-phase model which yielded …

Characterization Of Jet Formation And Scalability Of Fan Array Wind Generator Using Experimentation And Large Eddy Simulation, Md Rafi Ur Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Small unmanned and autonomous aerial vehicles are often required to operate within the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer and other degraded environments, where local turbulent behavior can strongly influence stability, control, and navigational performance. Despite the operational importance of these degraded environments, systematic studies of the associated aerodynamic challenges remain limited. One reason is the lack of suitable laboratory settings for repeatable and robust testing of atmospheric-like wind conditions. To address this gap, this experimental and computational work characterizes baseline conditions of a modular multi-source wind generation system that can be used to simulate flight relevant atmospheric conditions. Through complimentary Large …

Mark Stevens, Mark Stevens

St. Mary's University School of Law

Mark Stevens discusses his time as a law student at St. Mary’s University School of Law as well as his early legal career as a criminal defense attorney. He explains how he helped create the Criminal Justice Clinic and details memorable cases from his time as a supervising attorney there. Mark also discusses his teaching philosophy and how the clinic works with the community.

Hybrid Thermosetting Polymer Nanocomposite Thin Films With Optimized Thermal Conductivity And Mechanical Reinforcement, Vinicius Alvarenga, Camila M. Maroneze, Matheus S. Dias, Bruno Milton Oliveira Silva, Jaime Taha-Tijerina, Christiano J. S. De Matos, Hélio Ribeiro

Informatics and Engineering Systems Faculty Publications

Epoxy-based thin films reinforced with graphene oxide (GO), hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and their hybrid combination (GO/h-BN) at low filler contents (<  1 wt%) were developed to advance thermosetting nanocomposites for high-performance thermal interface materials (TIMs). The incorporation of these 2D nanostructures led to marked and simultaneous increases in both the storage modulus (E′) and the glass transition temperature (Tg) for the individual and hybrid systems. These enhancements indicated strong interfacial interactions between the nanofillers and the epoxy matrix, promoting a more efficient crosslinking density and reinforcing the overall rigidity of the polymer network. Uniform thin films, processed under controlled conditions, exhibited efficient phonon transport without compromising their dielectric integrity, as demonstrated by steady-state and 3-ω thermal analyses. The incorporation of 0.5 wt% GO/h-BN resulted in up to …

Spring 2026 Recital The Slide Collection: April 6, 2026, Illinois State University School Of Music

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and forty-third program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

April 6, 2026

Monday Evening

7:30 p.m.

Playing Hard To Get: Limerence And The Psychology Of The Amator In Latin Love Elegy, Carson Carpenter '26

Honor Scholar Theses

This thesis seeks to further bridge the gap in the literature between the fields of psychology and Latin literature. Specifically, it examines Latin love elegy through modern psychological frameworks of limerence. Limerence is a descriptive psychological condition in which an individual experiences an involuntary, often uncontrollable obsessive attachment to another person known as the limerent object. Drawing from the works of Ovid, Propertius, Tibullus, and Catullus, the thesis argues that the elegiac amator consistently parallels the cognitive andemotional patterns associated with limerence, including idealization, uncontrollable ruminative thinking, emotional volatility, and fixation on reciprocated attention. Using Verhulst’s five stage model and …

Unequal Recovery: Climate Gentrification And The Marginalization Of Southern Urban Communities In Disaster Relief, Ryan Simone Anderson '26

Honor Scholar Theses

Increases in the severity and frequency of natural disasters in the United States have highlighted the vast inequalities that low-income communities must be prepared to face and rapidly recover from. In the Southern US, this dilemma is prevalent, with a higher risk of flooding, hurricanes, and tornadoes due to increased exposure to natural disasters and climate-related events. These climate-induced issues have revealed a connection between environmental risks and socio-economic vulnerability. Climate gentrification occurs when lower-income communities are displaced to hazardous or vulnerable areas, while wealthier communities relocate to safer, more protected areas. Well-documented, large-scale disasters such as Hurricane Katrina (2005) …

American Heresiology: Exclusionary Rhetoric In The Development Of Early Christian And Rabbinic Jewish Identity, And The Polarizing Narratives That Inform Contemporary Religio-Political Discourse In The United States, Taylor Cripe '26

Honor Scholar Theses

Emerging from the highly diverse religious landscape of second-century Judea, Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism did not arise organically as separate religious categories but were deliberately formed into theologically distinct groups. Writers of a genre of religious literature called heresiology engaged in the exercise of defining their traditions by the process of identifying theological alternatives, establishing orthodoxy by determining and repudiating possible heresies. Their effort in the second century to establish these religious categories by the explicit identification of the theological boundaries around them evidences the intentional creativity involved in the initial development of these familiar religious categories. The self-definitions created …

Wired Youth: How Technology Shapes Adolescent Minds And Behavior, Kimario Davis '26

Honor Scholar Theses

Social media and digital technology are a huge part of adolescent life, and people worry a lot about how they affect mental health, behavior, and brain development. It’s easy to think technology is either “good” or “bad,” but the reality is more complicated. This thesis looks at social media’s evolution from early platforms controlled by users to today’s algorithm driven, highly visual environments and how these spaces interact with the developing adolescent brain, which is especially sensitive to social feedback and reward. These features make online interactions feel more intense and harder to step away from. At the same time, …

Regulating Dogs Or Protecting Industry? A Critical Analysis On The Animal Welfare Act And The Federal Oversight Of Commercial Dog Breeding In The United States, Ava Knight '26

Honor Scholar Theses

To evaluate whether existing federal laws adequately protect the welfare of dogs, this research relies on publicly available inspection records and enforcement data from the United States Department of Agriculture and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA, APHIS), federal oversight reports from the United States Department of Agriculture and Office of Inspector General (USDA, OIG), and data collected by animal welfare organizations including Humane World for Animals and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). These sources expose how current regulations function in practice and reveal gaps in oversight that allow harmful breeding conditions to …

Plastics, Microplastics, And The Gut Microbiome: Restoring Scientific Communication To Fight For Public Health, Benjamin Sanders '26

Honor Scholar Theses

Over the course of eight years from 2016 to 2024, a study by Nature Medicine found that the concentration of plastics in the brain increased by 50%. Even samples from patients with a documented dementia diagnosis showed a greater accumulation of microplastics (Nihart, 2025). In one of the most protected regions of our body, microplastics have made themselves known. In one of the most exposed regions of the human body, the story is no different. With the emergence of gut microbiome science and understanding, researchers are just beginning to discover the unique interplay between the microbiota of our gastrointestinal tract …

Puppy Love: Intimacy In Omegaverse Fanfiction, Emma Shober '26

Honor Scholar Theses

This thesis tackles intimacy in omegaverse fanfiction. In an effort to describe the omegaverse, I published a survey, held interviews, and read five select works of omegaverse fanfiction. The themes that emerged from those qualitative survey responses and interviews were wolf packs, freedom to procreate, animal instincts, societal rigidity, and exploration of gender and power dynamics. Survey respondents were quick to note that the omegaverse is more than just erotica or smut; it is worldbuilding at its core that draws many of them to this genre. The five works of fanfiction I read support this idea, many using sex as …

The Life And Legacy Of Sherwood Fiske Brown: A Case Study In The Evolution Of American Higher Education, Alden Small '26

Honor Scholar Theses

This thesis pursues various avenues of inquiry. I analyzed a multitude of primary sources related to Sherwood Fiske Brown, including his undergraduate thesis, master’s thesis, and doctoral dissertation. I visited Colby College over the summer of 2025 and uncovered many biographical documents and papers related to his time at Colby, as well as his sabbatical at MIT in 1957. Of particular interest is a biographical information packet completed by Brown upon his date of hire, which provides his occupational and familial history. I also obtained information from St. Lawrence University, MIT, UMass Lowell, and the Framingham Historical Society. These sources …

Roll Me A History Check: Role-Playing Games In Education, Andrew Thede '26

Honor Scholar Theses

Roll Me a History Check explores the use of Role-Playing Games (RPGs)—a style of narrative game where players create and pilot distinct characters and play through a storyline run by a Game Master (GM)—in education. The primary goals of the project align with its three principal parts. First, a brief review of the existing literature on the benefits of both purely educational and purely entertaining RPGs, with Reacting to the Past and Pathfinder first edition serving as respective examples, will demonstrate the merits of a hybrid system. Next, the rules for the new system, Ludus, will be presented to bridge …

Total Resistance: The Conditions For Non-State Actors In Colonial States, Devin Walker '26

Honor Scholar Theses

If one can pardon the hyperbole, the argument that colonialism was one of the defining eras of human history is one that comes with a notable amount of merit. From the 1600s to the late 1990s and beyond, colonial empires that spanned the globe were engaged in a seemingly endless competition driven by a mixture of desire for resources and an intense battle for prestige on a truly global stage. Countless people were subjugated, exploited, oppressed and exposed to all manner of injustices that have had long lasting effects on their native populations, even into the modern day. However, to …

University Of New Hampshire 2025-2026 Faculty Senate Xxx - April 6, 2026 Minutes Summary, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Agendas & Minutes

No abstract provided.