Interoperability For Human-Ai Teaming And Decision-Making In Extreme Contexts, Amber King

Psychology Student Publications

• Emergency response agencies are consistently challenged with communication breakdowns that limit coordination, where these interoperability failures contributed to the tragic loss of lives [11, 13].
• Human-AI teaming encompasses complexities, including shared knowledge, trust, interdependence, and effective communication that are essential for improvement of performance & decision-making, while poor integration of AI can create overreliance that hinders coordination [4, 7, 9, 10, 14]. 
• The current study aims to investigate how AI reliability & explainability affect decision accuracy and perceived team interoperability, while questioning how trust in AI can impact an individual’s decision.

Electronic Recording Of Custodial Interrogations: A Jurisdictional Analysis Of U.S. State Requirements, Alyssa Fox

Psychology Student Publications

• Custodial interrogations serve as the primary mechanism through which information is gained for evidence.
• Human memory is reconstructive rather than reproductive, leaving it vulnerable to contamination and suggestibility, especially with employment of psychological interrogation tactics and the inherently coercive nature of custodial interrogations. This causes false confessions, which lead directly into wrongful convictions.
• Juveniles and people with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to this, with heightened compliance and diminished decision-making capacity.
• Electronic recording of custodial interrogations has emerged as a safeguard against false confessions through documentation, accountability, and preservation; however, practical implementation remains limited.

Effects Of Mindfulness Induction Before And After Encoding On False Recognition, Jacob Phillips

Psychology Student Publications

• Mindfulness is a mental state which refers to complete mental awareness of one’s surrounding emotions and events, which if practiced may hold greater implications for improvements in memory and attention (Namias & Huff, 2024).
• Recent studies examined mindfulness on false memory for DRM word list materials (e.g., Alberts et al., 2017; Calvillo et al., 2018; Wilson et al., 2015), reporting mixed findings.
• Practically, if a mindfulness technique were to be administered to eyewitnesses by police, this would occur prior to memory retrieval and concern negative emotional information.
• This study builds on a prior student study (Frederickson, 2022) to examine the …

Doomed To Scroll: Examining The Role Of Motives In Problematic Social Media Use And Associated Psychopathologies, Charlotte Eley

Psychology Student Publications

Problematic Social Media (PSMU) is a serious concern in society—as illustrated by recent lawsuits filed against big tech companies.

PSMU is related to anxiety and depression, but the directionality of that relationship remains unclear (Andreassen et al., 2016; Coyne et al., 2020).

Time spent on social media, by itself, is not a strong indicator of negative physical or mental health outcomes (Burénet al., 2023; Coyne et al., 2020), suggesting that certain motivational or dispositional factors may underlie and further explain PSMU.

This study aims to examine how one’s motives behind using social media relate to the experience of fear of …

We’Re Playing Basketball, Lana Ammash

Psychology Student Publications

African American (AA) youth face a host of sociological challenges that impact their marginalized status, especially during their formative years of racial/ethnic identity development that compromise self-esteem (Cross et al., 1991). As a result, racial socialization strategies are employed within Black communities to offset these negative consequences by bolstering ego strength and Black pride.

Therefore, a local afterschool program in an AA community, provides enrichment programs for success, academic achievement, and positive self-esteem using Afrocentric models. This includes programs focused on building ego strength and self-esteem through sports’ programs, such as basketball, as sports can promote social and emotional growth, …

Rapid Evidence Assessment: Eyewitness Testimony Of Anomalous Events, Tanna-Leigh Wesson

Psychology Student Publications

1. Memory is best when events and information either fit existing schema, or clearly violate known schema, while memory is weaker for events that are unrelated to any schema (Greveetal.,2019).

2. Anomalous events are not reproducible and cannot be examined through traditional experimental scientific methods, meaning that it is studied through sighting reports. Therefore, eyewitnesses have an important role in reporting information (Mavrakis,2023).

3. Collecting accurate information is important for perceiving and understanding national security threats, such as drone warfare (CPNI,2022).

4. Currently, the method of collecting information and data from witnesses has been insufficient and prone to error (daSilva,2022). …

Evil Done In The Age Of “New Terrorism”: A Red-Team Study Of U.S. Lone Actor Target Selection Across Weapon Conditions, Torrin Jacobson

Psychology Student Publications

Background of the Present Study 1. Starting in the early 2000s, the internet has played a larger role in all aspects of terrorist activities, creating the age of “New Terrorism”. 2. This has led to a more unstructured model of violence, allowing homegrown domestic lone actors to become the largest terrorist threat in America. The Present Study 3. However, little research has been conducted on how this affects target selection decisions. Building on prior lone actor–red team research (Romyn & Kebbell, 2014; 2018), the present study uses a red team simulation to examine how lone actor target selection is influenced …

Aces And Trust In Courts, Michael A. Wesley Jr.

Psychology Student Publications

Trust in the American court system is a foundational pillar of the legal system, based on the public's belief that authorities will make fair and just decisions.1 Therefore, understanding what factors degrade the public’s faith in the system is crucial. Most research on this topic examines the amount of trust placed in the police or the government.2, 3, 4However, there are no articles that investigate the relationship between trauma and trust in American courts. This is an issue because, as previously mentioned, individuals who have any number of ACEs are more likely to encounter the criminal justice system, including courts.5Understanding …

Attitudes Toward Menstruation In Transgender/Nonbinary Menstruators, Destiny J. Pacchelli

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the unique experiences and attitudes that transgender and/or nonbinary (TNB) menstruators have related to menstruation. Participants (n = 103) were 19 to 60-year-old Americans who identified as TNB and have menstruated, and whose primary language is English. They were recruited through Prolific and asked to describe their first period and how their gender identity influenced their feelings toward menstruation. Additionally, participants responded to quantitative questions related to menstrual symptoms, attitudes, beliefs, and emotions, body image, well-being, and demographic questions to determine family culture at childhood and now. TNB menstruators reported …

Program And Proceedings, The Nebraska Academy Of Sciences 1880–2026: 146th Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Program and abstracts of the proceedings for the Nebraska Academy of Sciences 136th annual meeting, 2025

Sessions

Aeronautics and Space Science

Anthropology

Biological and Medical Sciences

Earth Sciences

Ecology, Sustainability, and Environmental Science

Physics and Engineering

General Poster Session

2026 Maiben Lecture: Shifting Extremes: Understanding Nebraska’s Changing Climate and Preparing for What Lies Ahead, Deborah Bathke

2026 Friends of Science Awards: Julie Shaffer and Irina Filina

2026 C. Bertrand and Marian Othmer Schultz Colleaguate Schoalrship Award: Piper Ryschon and Bryce Reeson

In Memoriam: Paul Royster

Structural Consequences Of Economic Crisis And Us Militarization In The Caribbean: Drug Scarcity, Crime Escalation, And Narco-Entrepreneurship In Puerto Rico, Victor M. Vazquez, Howard Campbell

Departmental Papers (S&A)

No abstract provided.

A Practical Approach To Ir Policy Creation And Revision, Nicole R. Webber

University Libraries Publications

The process of policy development and revision often suffers reduced prioritization, particularly when staffing levels limit dedicated expertise and the time necessary for thorough evaluation. International surveys reveal common tendencies for institutional repository policies to lack desired degrees of comprehensiveness, refinement, or consistency, creating operational uncertainty and inhibiting long-term sustainability. This presentation addresses this pervasive gap, not by offering a case study or example documentation, but by introducing a structured, adaptable framework to guide policy development and maintenance, regardless of institutional size, platform, or maturity.

Drawing on a review of case studies and policy literature, a consolidated, openly licensed set …

The Impact Of The Accelerated Model Pathways For Information Technology (Amp-It) Initiative, Meagan Mitchell Phd

Reports, Analyses, and other Publications

This report from Education Systems Center details the impact and strategic outcomes of the Accelerated Model Pathways for Information Technology (AMP-IT) initiative. Launched to strengthen Illinois' IT talent pipeline, the initiative focuses on expanding dual credit coursework, work-based learning, and strategic partnerships between school districts, higher education, and industry.

From Novice To On-Air: Developing A Student Radio Personality At 89.1 Widr Fm, Travis Melson

Honors Theses

This honors thesis explores the full development of my role as a student radio personality at 89.1 WIDR FM, documenting each stage of the process, from the earliest introductory meetings and technical training to the experience of shadowing established shows and launching my own on-air program. The project serves not only as a record of my personal progression through WIDR's broadcasting environment but also as an analysis of the learning curve required to transform from a complete novice into a confident, consistent radio host.

A significant component of this work is my perspective as someone entering the radio space with …

How Social Media Provides Access For Human Traffickers To Victimize Children: A Literature Review With Combative Measures., Ashton Lamb

Honors Theses

This literature review focuses on how human sex traffickers utilize social media to groom children. Social media is utilized by a great number of people around the world, including many children. While social media is intended to be fun and interactive, it does provide new access for dangerous people to reach victims. There is a very real, growing issue online that is not widely known to the public. This hidden danger is known as human trafficking. Human trafficking is defined as the involvement of any force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some labor or commercial sex act (Department of Homeland …

Exploring Skill-Based Art Therapy Through Textile Arts For Adolescents, Phoebe Medeiros

Expressive Therapies Theses

This qualitative study explored how building textile art skills and learning techniques can help adolescents explore identity, improve self-esteem, and build resilience through art therapy. Two students engaged in individual sessions to explore an art therapy directive that asked them to upcycle an item of clothing using appliqué, patchwork, embroidery, embellishment, or modification to express an experience, strength, goal, or aspect of identity. Through this process, the students created a vest and an appliqué patch for an existing vest. The goal of this intervention was to explore identity, improve self-esteem, and build resilience. After analyzing the observations of the individual …

Cultivating Curiosity Across Academic Audiences: Biology And Evidence-Based Science Communication, Nathan D. Forbes

Whittier Scholars Program

Effective Science Communicators must speak to a variety of audiences, with varying quantities of prior interest and qualities of background knowledge. The purpose of this paper was to engage differing audiences in scientific learning. This was done through a hypothetical newsletter made up for four different segments exploring a variety of topics in biology. Each segment intends to speak to a different audience with a different level of interest and/or educational level. Simplifying or analogizing without sacrificing the statistical basis of this project was of paramount importance. In the two segments targeted towards younger audiences, the primary focus was on …

Exploring Marital Resilience Through The Lived Experiences And Perception Of Spousal Support During Events Of Shared Stressors, Prince-James Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Marital resilience during shared stressors remains insufficiently understood, particularly when both spouses are simultaneously affected by the same external stressor and must adapt together over time. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore marital resilience through the lived experiences and perceptions of spousal support during shared stressors among individuals who had been legally married for 10 years or more, with specific attention to how participants described the shift from solo coping to dyadic coping over time. Bowlby’s attachment theory provided the theoretical foundation, and Senge’s learning organization theory served as the conceptual framework. Participants included 18 legally …

Politics, Profit, And Programming: Examining The Distinct Effects Of Artificial Intelligence In The Corporate And Political World, Grant Lotts

Honors Projects

How has AI diffusion impacted the power and success of existing countries and corporations? This paper analyzes how these entities have invested their resources into expanding their AI presence, and how it has affected their role in their established spheres. For countries, it is examined how the amount of AI publications they create affects their means of using power, along with how efficient their governments have become. For corporations, it is examined how their capital expenditures (of which AI is becoming increasingly tied to) affects their stock price and annual revenue. Conflicting results are found. Countries tend to exhibit behavior …

Age, Income, And The Discounting Of Delayed And Probabilistic Rewards: The Roles Of Financial Resources And Attribute Salience, Haoran Wan

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Many everyday decisions involve outcomes that are both delayed and probabilistic. Although previous research has reported inconsistent age-related effects on discounting, few studies have taken into account the multi-attribute nature of real-world choices or the moderating role of financial resources. Accordingly, the present research examined the interactive effects of age, income, and multi-attribute contexts to test how resource constraints and task dimensionality moderate attribute salience. Across two studies (total N = 600), stratified samples of younger (35-45) and older (62-72) adults with lower (<$60,000) and higher (>$100,000) annual household incomes completed standard and multi-attribute adjusting-amount discounting tasks. In Study 1 (Delay Discounting), …

A Pentadic Rhetorical Analysis Of Malala Yousafzai’S Address To The United Nations’ Youth Assembly, Alexis Rehm

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

This paper is a rhetorical criticism of Malala Yousafzai’s 2013 address to the United Nations Youth Assembly using Kenneth Burke’s pentad. Malala Yousafzai’s address was delivered less than one year after surviving an assassination attempt by the Taliban. The address reframes access to education as a shared moral responsibility rather than a personal or political issue. By analyzing the scene, act, agent, agency, and purpose, this analysis shows how Malala constructs rhetorical authority through personal narrative, forgiveness, and moral appeal. Her speech positions education as a universal human right and challenges global audiences to move from sympathy to accountability.

Between The Middle Kingdom And The Middle Way: An Analysis Of State Power And Sacred Authority In The Sino-Tibet Conflict, Madison M. Berry, Aimee N. Ebeling, Jayden A. Hanson

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

This research paper addresses the growing concerns of the Sino-Tibetan conflict by analyzing the relationship between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) through an intercultural communication and negotiation lens. By analyzing historical relationships between the two parties and comparing them to similar contemporary situations, this paper examines the sinicization of the Tibetan people. By exploring the “Old Tibet” and “New Tibet” narratives, while acknowledging the centrality of the Dalai Lama to both parties, it also addresses territorial disagreements and the contrasting understandings of sovereignty and modernization, which fuel the conflict. Finally, a policy framework …

Partnership For Observation, Leadership, And Arctic Resilience (Polar): Strengthening Eu–Us Cooperation Through Technology, Trade, And Arctic Governance, Nikki Quartuccio, Emily White

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

This speech was presented at the EU Delegation to the United States’ 2026 Schuman Challenge. The Schuman Challenge is an academic competition for U.S. undergraduate students to debate transatlantic issues, judged by a panel of stakeholders. The prompt for this speech was to create a policy that analyzes a current issue area in the E.U.-U.S. transatlantic relationship and suggests ways to strengthen it in the years ahead. Our policy, POLAR, the Partnership for Observation, Leadership, and Arctic Resilience, establishes a neutral, AI-enabled early-warning and consultation mechanism hosted within the International Maritime Organization (IMO). By institutionalizing shared situational awareness, structured clarification …

Are You Lost? Developing A Map (Metadata Application Profile) For Your Institutional Repository, David Advent, Connor Murphy

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

Developing a MAP (Metadata Application Profile) for your Institutional Repository.

Words That Work: Healthcare Providers’ Acceptability Of Aba Terminology, Marisa A. Hurlock

Thesis Projects

Effective collaboration between behavior analysts and healthcare providers depends on a shared understanding. This study explored how healthcare professionals perceive technical versus plain-language ABA terminology. Healthcare providers (n = 44) rated 10 common ABA terms and their plain-language counterparts across clarity, acceptability, comfort, and likelihood of use. In addition, participants completed a paired-choice procedure in which they selected their preferred terminology for each term pair. Plain-language terminology was generally rated more favorably across all four dimensions and was preferred by approximately 70.6% of respondents. However, this pattern was not consistent across all terms, as several technical terms (e.g., negative …

Youth Basketball Development Camp: Planning, Implementation, And Reflection, Jaden Ty Mathis

Whittier Scholars Program

Basketball has always been a huge part of my life, shaping who I am both on and off the court. As a senior at Whittier College and captain of the basketball team, I have experienced firsthand how powerful the game can be in teaching discipline, teamwork, and leadership. From a young age, I spent countless hours practicing, learning from my coaches, and growing as a teammate. Through these experiences, I learned that success does not happen overnight. It requires patience, consistency, and a willingness to work through challenges.

I was fortunate to have mentors who believed in me and pushed …

Caregiving For Older Adults: How The Child And Dependent Care Credit Could Help, Gabrielle Pepin, Yulya Truskinovsky

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Performance-Based Budgeting Implementation Strategies For Improving Financial Performance, Waleed Ibrahim Alsyaegh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The lack of effective strategies for allocating organizational financial resources can lead to adverse business outcomes. Business managers are concerned about the ineffective allocation of financial resources, as it can impede financial performance and sustainability.Grounded in stakeholder theory, the purpose of this qualitative single-case study was to explore the performance-based budgeting strategies that business managers use to sustain financial profitability. The participants were 10 business managers who oversee subsidiaries that successfully implemented performance-based budgeting.Data were collected through semistructured interviews and the review of organization documents. Through thematic analysis, four themes were identified: (a) traditional versus contemporary budgeting; (b) importance of …

Assessing Visual Analysis Skills With Board Certified Behavior Analysts: A Replication And Extension, Daniella Fronte

Thesis Projects

Visual analysis of single-subject data is a necessary decision-making method in the field of behavior analysis. This analysis helps practitioners evaluate the efficacy of their interventions and informs subsequent decisions to complete, continue, modify, or discontinue an intervention. The purpose of this study was to assess behavior analysts’ visual analysis skills and to evaluate whether using a decision-making flowchart increases correct clinical decisions. Talk-aloud data were used to analyze errors in behavior analysts’ decision-making. Additionally, the extent to which participants rated the flowchart’s significance and effectiveness was assessed. Four of 16 participants reached mastery in the baseline phase without access …

Disparities In Policing Through The Lens Of Indigenous Communities In Michigan: A Research Proposal, Abigail Ruddle

Honors Theses

This study examines the historical and contemporary factors shaping relationships between Indigenous communities and law enforcement in the United States, with a specific focus on tribal nations in Michigan. Using a historical framework that includes treaty-making, forced removal, and evolving legal decisions, this research examines the use of treaties and diplomacy to initiate new socio-political structures in Native American communities. Similarly, the emergence of policing in the United States impacted the relationship between law enforcement and Indigenous communities by creating hostility and distrust. The existing literature highlights themes of police violence and the paradoxical nature of over-policing and under-policing in …