bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effects of the Use of Natural Language Processing and Task Complexity on Jurors' Assessments of Auditor Negligence
Authors:   , Cui Junnan
Published: January 2025

The purpose of my dissertation is to examine jurors' evaluation of auditor negligence in response to auditors' use of natural language processing (NLP). To test my research objective, I conducted a 2x2 between-subjects experiment with 175 jury-eligible individuals. In the online experiment, I manipulated whether the audit team analyzes contracts with NLP software or by having human auditors read the contracts. I also manipulated task complexity as complex or simple. The dependent variables include a binary verdict variable and a scaled assessment of negligence. This dissertation makes several contributions to the accounting literature and practice. First, it contributes to the recent juror literature on emerging technologies by providing evidence that jurors attribute higher negligence assessments to auditors when auditors use NLP to examine contracts than when human auditors examine contracts. I also find that auditors' use of NLP leads to jurors' higher perceived causation, which, in turn, increases jurors' assessments of auditor liability. Second, this study answers the call of other researchers to examine the relationship between task complexity and negligence in different settings. I also find a marginally significant interaction effect of the use of NLP compared to human auditors to perform audit testing that is greater for complex tasks than for simple tasks. Third, this dissertation provides new insights for practitioners and accounting firms when using emerging algorithm-based AI technologies such as NLP. As more AI technologies are used in audit practice, the findings will provide helpful insights for audit practitioners to consider when they utilize technologies to design and implement audit procedures.
Enterprise Risk Management and Firm Operations: Evidence from Inventory Management
Authors:   , Shadaei Mehdi
Published: January 2025

Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is a program that manages all firm risks in an integrated framework to control and coordinate offsetting risks. In this study, I provide the first archival evidence on how ERM affects firms' day-to-day, routine operations. Using hand-collected ERM adoption data and inventory information, I examine whether firms with an ERM program experience an improvement in their inventory management. My findings suggest that ERM adoption is associated with greater inventory turnover ratios and lower inventory impairments. These results are robust to a range of models in addressing endogeneity concerns. Additionally, I find that ERM's effect on inventory management is stronger among firms with greater financial distress, with less investments in innovation, or with higher information asymmetries, and when firms' ERM program grows more mature. My study documents ERM's real economic benefits to firms' operations and highlights how ERM contributes to operating performance.
Exploring the Connections Between Personality, Social Cognition, and Prejudice
Authors:   , Mark Daniel
Published: January 2025

Very few studies have attempted to directly explore the relationship between psychopathic traits and prejudice. Among the scant studies that do exist, interpretation is often clouded by measurement limitations. The current study surveyed a large sample of adults from the general U.S. population to further our understanding of the associations between psychopathic traits and prejudicial attitudes, as well as critical constructs linked to prejudice. By using modern and well-validated measures of the target constructs new relationships were documented for the first time. A path analytic framework was utilized to represent the network of construct inter-relations. Finally, the current study examined the relationships between psychopathic traits, in relation to the other members of the Dark Triad and positive human traits, referred to as the Light Triad, as well as how the latter may serve as ‘buffers' from prejudicial attitudes.
The Status of the Organization of Knowledge in Cultural Heritage Institutions in Arabian Gulf Countries
Authors:   , Aljalahmah Saleh H
Published: January 2025

No published studies to date examined the practices in creation or adoption of metadata in cultural heritage institutions or evaluated metadata in bibliographic databases in the Arabian Gulf counties and assessed its potential interoperability in the aggregation that would provide a central point of access to bibliographic databases of cultural heritage institutions. This exploratory study aimed to address this gap with the goal of: (1) developing understanding of the current state of information representation and knowledge organization in cultural heritage collections in Arabian Gulf countries, and (2) exploring perspectives for future developments such as creating regional large-scale portals similar to Digital Public Library of America, Europeana etc. that facilitate discovery by aggregating metadata and possible barriers to these developments.. The study is focused on a Kuwaiti, Qatari, and Omani libraries, museums, and archives. The mixed-methods research combined semi-structured interviews of the bibliographic database managers at 15 cultural heritage institutions and in-depth content analysis of a sample of 412 metadata records that represent items in these bibliographic databases for accuracy, completeness, consistency, use of knowledge organization systems, etc. This study findings make a research contribution important for evaluating the feasibility and planning of future aggregations of cultural heritage bibliographic databases. Results provided insights into possible ways to achieve interoperability in metadata for such digital portals in the Arabian Gulf region.
Socialization of the Strong Black Woman Schema
Authors:   , Gaskin-Cole Gabriella
Published: January 2025

Black mothers socialize their daughters to embody the strong Black woman (SBW) schema to help them navigate gendered racist oppression. While research indicates that ascribing to the SBW schema offers Black women psychosocial benefits (e.g., increased self-esteem), identifying with the SBW schema has been linked to several negative psychological outcomes (e.g., anxiety, depression, and stress). Considering the evidenced negative implications associated with identifying with the SBW schema on Black women's mental health, the current study had three aims: (1) investigate the socialization messages Black women received about strong Black womanhood, (2) explore the extent to which they identified with these messages, and (3) assess the implications of this socialization on Black women's functioning. To address these aims researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 Black college women (Mage = 20.09; SD = 1.04). For this manuscript, we extracted data pertaining to aim one and analyzed this data using a consensual qualitative research (CQR) data approach. Findings revealed messages Black women were given about strong Black womanhood (i.e., know your worth, depend on yourself, overcome societal barriers, little to no messages about strong Black womanhood, and additional responses) and illuminated behaviors mothers modeled that exemplified strength (i.e., self-sufficient, preserving, caretaking, and additional responses). Findings derived from this study have the potential to inform clinical intervention with Black women and, more specifically, provide insight as to how clinicians may work with Black women to mitigate the impact of the SBW schema on their mental health.
"Bad Paper"
Authors:   , Beard Daniel Lee
Published: January 2025

Bad Paper follows the lives of former military service members, who have received an other-than-honorable discharge, but also have service-connected post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Due to the "suck it up" culture of the military, many of these veterans would not report any psychological troubles in fear of being labeled "weak" and potentially affecting their promotions. With no outlet for their PTSD, drugs and alcohol became a way of "self-medicating," which led to their dismissal from the service. A dishonorable discharge, commonly called "bad paper," from the military disqualifies veterans from receiving help from the VA. The process to overturn this status is arduous and veterans must navigate the bureaucracy of the Veterans Affairs (VA) administration as well as the individual military branches with virtually no help from either.
Development of a Scale to Measure Victim Reliance on a Perpetrator
Authors:   , Griffith Elizabeth
Published: January 2025

Betrayal trauma theory (BTT) explains the relationship between a victim and perpetrator to be an especially critical factor for predicting adverse trauma outcomes; however, to date, there is no adequate measure to assess this relationship. We aimed to create a measure of reliance, here defined as dependence on another for food, clothing, finances, emotional support, and more. We utilized a new scale, the Reliance on Perpetrator Scale, to measure this construct. 397 participants completed a battery of questionnaires to measure reliance and 4 primary outcomes of interpersonal trauma exposure: PTSD symptoms, depression, event centrality, and dissociation. A series of exploratory principal components factor analyses provided evidence for a 3 factor solution for this scale, though visual examinations of scree plots and a parallel analysis indicated 2 factors. We ultimately chose to retain 2 factors: practical reliance and emotional dependence. We expected and achieved predictive validity such that practical reliance and emotional dependence were both highly positively correlated with all outcomes. We expected and achieved convergent validity such that positive affect and secure attachment were highly positively correlated with emotional dependence as measured by an existing scale. The current study replicated previous findings that high betrayal events—as opposed to low betrayal events—are often accompanied by worse outcomes. The results of a hierarchical regression model found that both subscales of the Reliance on Perpetrator scale predicted significant unique variance in all outcomes. In conclusion, the current study provides the first empirical evidence to support BTT's idea that the victim-perpetrator relationship plays an integral role in outcomes of interpersonal trauma and provides a more comprehensive way to measure this relationship.
A Multi-Site Case Study of Middle School Reading Teachers' Perceptions of the Impact of Response to Intervention
Authors:   , Norris Frankie
Published: January 2025

Early reading intervention has not eradicated reading deficiencies at the middle school level. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), adolescents continue to read below grade level in middle grades. Response to intervention (RTI) is one method of combating this educational concern. This study examined the impact of implementation of a RTI program within one district across multiple middle school campuses. Using individual structured online questionnaires, focus groups, and document analysis, the researcher employed a qualitative, multi-site case study design to evaluate the perceptions of impact of RTI through the lens of middle school reading teachers. Participants included a convenient purposive sample of middle school reading teachers in a suburban school district of about 24,000 students in North Central Texas. I present a review of relevant research at the middle school level to provide a framework for the current study. Additionally, an outline of methodology, research questions, and the proposed data analysis plan are provided. I discuss the intended use of constant comparative analysis to report findings in themes. Particularly, facilitators, hindrances, and impact are a priori themes for reporting.
The Use of Instructive Feedback to Promote Emergent Verbal Responses: A Replication
Authors:   , Laddaga Gavidia Valeria
Published: January 2025

Previous research has incorporated instructive feedback (IF) within mastered listener-by-name trials with two children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants in a previous study acquired the secondary targets and also demonstrated emergent responding (i.e., listener-by-feature, tact-by-feature, intraverbal, and reverse intraverbal). The current study replicated a previous study on IF with two children with ASD. Therapists conducted a series of three sessions of mastered listener-by-name trials (e.g., "Show me otter," and the participant selecting the picture of the otter) and provided IF statements for features of the target stimuli (e.g., "It lives in rivers."). We measured participants' echoic responding and required attending to the target stimulus during IF trials, and we evaluated acquisition of secondary targets and emergent responses using a concurrent multiple probe design across sets. We observed increased correct responding for secondary targets and emergent responses for the first set of stimuli with both participants. However, one participant did not engage in emergent responses for the two remaining sets. Results suggest that related verbal operant response relations of secondary targets may result after IF, but the extent of emergence may be idiosyncratic.
Three Essays on Information Privacy: Awareness, Sharing, and Resilience
Authors:   , Kim Kevin
Published: January 2025

This work embraces three essays on information privacy: 1) Measures of Personal Information Privacy in Social Networks: Information Control and Situation Awareness, 2) Care to Share your Personal Information? and 3) Privacy Breaches: How Resilient Are You? Every transaction made either online or offline, and every social interaction that is transferred or stored electronically in some way, are generally consumed as big data and ultimately drives the analytics from which consumers benefit. However, this raises some concerns about privacy and ethics. For example, should companies that consumers interact with be allowed to sell their personal information? Consumers derive certain benefits such as personalized content when they choose to offer their data to many websites. However, consumers providing personal data to websites subject themselves to possible privacy invasion when third parties purchase their data. In this case, since the consumer willfully gave away their personal information, is it genuinely personal, and should they retain some, if any, control over it? Theories such as privacy calculus and protection motivation theory (PMT) are a couple of prominent examples that focus on the privacy risks and benefits that drive consumer behavior. However, there is still a lack of research on the instantiation of privacy awareness, the stage at which individuals become cognitively aware of assessing any risks versus benefits. The purpose of this paper is to explore this specific research question; what factors drive individuals towards privacy awareness that allows them to assess privacy concerns cognitively?
Exploitation, Justification and Overcoming through Voice: Exploring American Slavery and the Slave Narrative in "The Handmaid's Tale"
Authors:   , Brown Kaitlyn
Published: January 2025

To what extent does Margaret Atwood draw from American slavery to write The Handmaid's Tale? How does Offred's narrative compare with traditional slave narratives, and to what effect? This thesis explores intersectionality (or lack thereof) in The Handmaid's Tale and compares Offred's narrative to traditional slave narratives to find answers to why Atwood chose to draw from American slavery to write her novel in the first place. Offred's narrative is compared to three traditional slave narratives written/orated by three women, Harriet Jacobs, Hannah Crafts, and Mary Prince, to demonstrate how enslavement dehumanizes Offred in similar or different ways to these three women, and to reveal how the enslavement of and violence committed against the female slave body ultimately deforms even the most intimate human relationships in both Gilead and in historical American slavery. I discuss other tactics used to maintain control of the slaves both in Gilead and in historical American slavery, with particular emphasis on the development of justifications for enslavement in both societies. Violence against the body is not enough in Gilead, so Gilead implements religious rhetoric and controls knowledge to maintain its control of the Handmaids. Despite being used to control, religion also becomes a source of comfort and resistance for the women in each of these societies. In addition, narrativity and voice are acts of resistance when slaves/ex-slaves orate/write their narratives and publish them during their own time to combat slavery; however, unlike many traditional slave narratives, Atwood chooses to have Offred's narrative discovered after the Gileadean regime falls. This thesis explores Atwood's choice and her possible message to her readers about the importance of sharing their stories during their time.
The Impact Coaches Behaviors have on Student-Athlete Sportsmanship Actions and the Translation of Athlete Character into the Classroom
Authors:   , Beldon Zachary David
Published: January 2025

Administrators and coaches in universities and colleges have focused on their students' moral development since the beginning of the higher education system. Students who participate in sports activities have acknowledged that they develop many life skills, including ethical behaviors, that can translate to non-sport environments, such as the classroom. Students who participate in organized sports programs in college often acknowledge their coach as a significant source of their development, due to the amount of time athletes and coaches spend with each other. Recently, instances of cheating have become widespread throughout American higher education. In this dissertation, I seek to evaluate the role that coaches, and overall sports participation has on the development of students' ethical behaviors both within sports and outside of the sport environment. I conducted three quantitative studies to evaluate the role that coaches play in the development of ethical behaviors in sports (as measured through sportsmanship), the similarities and differences in sportsmanship between participation in varsity or club sports, and the role that sports participation has on self-reported instances of cheating. I find that coaching behaviors that instill sportsmanship behaviors are similar to behaviors identified in youth sports and that the coaching behaviors are more predictive of coaches caring that their athletes act in a sportsmanlike way within varsity athletes than club athletes. Lastly, this study also indicates that participation in recreational sports programs is related to self-reported instances of cheating. The three studies identify that sports participation influences the development of ethical behaviors within college students.
An Exploration of Disordered Eating and Exercise Behaviors, Risk Factors, and Intersectional Minority Stress in Queer Men of Color
Authors:   , Pereira Andrew G.
Published: January 2025

Although the prevalence of disordered eating and exercise behaviors (DE/EBs) among queer men of color (Q-BIPOC) is higher than their heterosexual and white sexual minority peers, little is known about the mechanisms behind these differences. We evaluated a series of hypotheses to test DE/EB models on a sample of 78 Q-BIPOC men, who were recruited online during the COVID-19 pandemic and given a questionnaire measuring DE/EBs, body dissatisfaction, depression, mesomorphic ideal internalization, gender role conflict, and distress from intra-community racism and heterosexism. Results show that Q-BIPOC men reported high rates of emotional and binge eating, restrictive eating behaviors, supplement/diet pill use, and depression symptoms. Gender role conflict and intra-community racism/heterosexism are positively associated with emotional and binge eating, with gender role conflict holding unique predictive contribution as other variables of interest were held constant. Fat and muscle dissatisfaction were the strongest predictors of DE/EBs, mediating the effects of both mesomorphic ideal and depression. Results support the tripartite influence and dual pathway models for our sample, with mixed support for intersectional minority stress and affect regulation. Clinicians are cautioned to carefully assess Q-BIPOC men for eating disorders, given high rates of critical behaviors in the current sample. Researchers are also encouraged to incorporate intersectional resilience into DE/EB studies for Q-BIPOC men. Our findings point to the importance of intersectional measurement and investigation of clinical phenomenon; however, key constructs are also discussed in the context of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Speech-in-Noise Processing in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Authors:   , Anderson Chelsea D.
Published: January 2025

Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder often experience difficulty during speech-in-noise (SIN) processing tasks. However, it remains unclear how behavioral and cortical mechanisms of auditory processing explain variability in SIN performance in adults with ASD and their neurotypical counterparts. The proposed research explored variability in SIN as it relates to behavioral, perceptual, and objective measures of auditory processing. Results showed significant differences between groups in SIN thresholds. In addition, neurotypicals outperformed the ASD group on measures of sustained auditory attention characterized by reduced impulsivity, increased inhibition, and increased selective auditory attention. Individuals with ASD showed decreased acceptance of noise as compared to neurotypical peers. Overall, results highlighted auditory processing deficits in individuals with ASD that contribute to SIN performance.
Exploring Experiences of Emotionally Focused Therapists Serving Interabled Couples: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
Authors:   , Tapia-Fuselier Jose Luis
Published: January 2025

In the U.S., an estimated 61 million people identify as having a disability, making up 26% of all adults. The occurrence of a disability for one person within a couple impacts the physical, social, psychological, and emotional state of the person who acquired a disability, forcing changes to quality of life. Interabled couples, defined as one partner having a physical disability and the other partner identifying as nondisabled, navigate various systems of care as they respond to the needs of the partner with the disability. Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) has shown benefits in reducing relationship stress and increasing security within couples. In this study, the researcher explored the experiences of 10 EFT therapists who served at least one interabled couple in couple therapy. Participants completed a semi-structured interview designed to explore how EFT therapists make sense of their lived experiences serving interabled couples. The researcher utilized interpretative phenomenological analysis to understand how EFT therapists made meaning from their experiences serving interabled couples. Findings included four super-ordinate themes that emerged from the data including (a) ableism, (b) self-of-the-therapist, (c) relationship dynamics of interabled couples, and (d) the "fit" of EFT approach with interabled couples. The themes demonstrate a need to further explore disability-responsive practices within EFT in serving interabled couples.
Understanding the Diffusion of COVID-19-Related Information on Social Media
Authors:   , Alasmari Hanan Mohammed
Published: January 2025

Very few studies have examined information sentiment and explored other factors that contribute to health information dissemination and sharing. In particular, there is a lack of studies that performed these combined analyses in the modern social network environment during the disease outbreaks, such as with zika, ebola, SARS, or COVID-19. This study aimed to fill the gap in the literature by investigating what drives social media users to widely disseminate health-related information during a pandemic. Diffusion of innovation theory and theory of planned behavior were the basis of the theoretical approach utilized to answer the research questions. The two theories identified antecedents of sharing online health information. Data was collected through an online survey distributed to students in a higher education institution in the United States of America. The study revealed the extent of the relationships between the four major factors derived from the previous literature—attitudes toward sharing, beliefs toward source, peer influence, and information sentiment—and the behavioral intention to share information. The results would support the information science literature by offering and testing a new model that identifies the factors that affect users' intentions to share health information in the social network environment. This study will further the understanding and application of health information behavior research.
A Dual Moderated Mediation Model of Favoritism's Effects on Employee Attitudes, Intentions, and Behavior
Authors:   , Walker Laura
Published: January 2025

Although suspected to be a widespread phenomenon, workplace favoritism is an under-researched area of study. Scholars have queried the effects of perceived favoritism on employee outcomes through only a handful of studies, and the majority of those studies have been conducted at private firms in Middle Eastern countries where tribalism (i.e., loyalty to one's family or social group) is conventional. Further, differences in conceptual definitions of favoritism and subsequent subdimensions have muddied the understanding of what elements are considered essential to each phenomenon. Finally, favoritism research lacks examinations of conditional indirect effects of favoritism on employee outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this research is three-fold. The first aim is to develop a comprehensive, multidimensional measure of favoritism that will capture essential elements of the phenomenon that are specific to its subdimensions. Additionally, this study aims to increase our understanding of favoritism by examining the its indirect effects on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, counterproductive work behavior, and turnover intention through organizational justice, as well as explore differences in these effects among the supervisor's ingroup/outgroup members and among employees who vary in their perceptions of permeability to their supervisor's ingroup.
The Digital Tutor, an Educational Technology Marvel: A Futuristic Analysis of a Modern Intelligent Tutoring System Using Soft System Methodology
Authors:   , Khan Adil A
Published: January 2025

The COVID-19 pandemic wiped off decades of educational gains in the developing world and added 24 million more children to 775 million illiterates in the world. To counteract such a huge predicament, human learning agility comes into action. This human characteristic of knowing what to do when one does not know what to do, invokes the Soft System Methodology (SSM) approach to analyze illiteracy as the worst of all pandemics since it infiltrates into generations. After evaluating different effective teaching methods and utilizing the SSM approach, this paper proposes suitable pedagogies to educate deprived students. It examines Massive Online Open Courseware (MOOC) as a viable solution for K-12 students and compares it with a more robust educational technology model of Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS). Using artificial intelligence, the ITS tailors the instructional content framework and teaching strategies after evaluating students' pre-existing knowledge, learning habits, & styles. The ITS engages the student with the lesson with a two-way dialog while providing customized instruction and immediate feedback. An ITS requires no human intervention and could be a suitable replacement for an inadequately qualified teacher or no teacher. Hence it could be a practical tool in tackling the global literacy catastrophe. A comprehensive literature review followed by a meta-analysis reveals the effectiveness of ITS as a feasible intervention. The major purpose of this study is to define the application of educational pedagogy behind AI-based tutoring and cognitive science in this learner-centered approach.
An Investigation of College Graduates' and Employers' Perceptions of Graduates' Social Skills Performance in Vietnam
Authors:   , Bui Tu Quyen Thi
Published: January 2025

Vietnam currently faces a social skills deficit among college graduates. This lack of sufficient social skills significantly affects Vietnam's economy where it is one of the main factors that drives higher unemployment in Vietnam. Research has shown that although social skills have been increasingly perceived by employers as one of the most important factors for graduate employability and career success, the absence of social skills training in colleges and universities have caused graduates to be ill-prepared for the workplace, which lead to dissatisfactions among employers and complications when seeking for potential hires in Vietnam. Therefore, this study aims to examine and compare perceptions of Vietnamese college graduates and employers on graduates' social skill performance. Given the objectives of this study, an online survey was distributed to potential participants across Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Analysis of the responses not only demonstrated a disconnect of perceptions between employers and newly hired graduates (NHGs) on how these two groups rated graduates' performance of interpersonal skills but also revealed a mismatch in the perceptions of the comparing groups on how they perceive the importance of social skills in graduate employment. As a result, it is recommended that Vietnam need to promote and support educators to incorporate more social skills training into their curricular so that students can be able to engage and develop those essential social skills during their time in college.
Building a Vegan Community of Practice: An Outreach Analysis for Vegan Society of PEACE, Houston, Texas
Authors:   , McRae Susan Elizabeth
Published: January 2025

This research is focused on a group of vegan and vegan-curious individuals who are creating, building and maintaining a vegan community of practice in Houston, Texas. Through ethnographic methods, including participant observation, in-depth semi-structured interviews, surveys, quantitative analysis, and use of geographic information systems (GIS), this thesis considers motivations, group hierarchies, core and peripheral membership, practices, beliefs and construction of identity within the vegan community of practice. Further, concepts from the anthropology of religion are utilized in discourse analysis around conversion to ethical veganism, preaching, and religious-ethical beliefs around enlightenment and the principle of ahimsa. Utilizing subcultural studies and social movement theory, this thesis also shows how the vegan community of practice fits into vegan subcultures and the greater vegan lifestyle movement. Finally, as an applied project, deliverables to the client Vegan Society of PEACE includes both personal and structural barriers to veganism which are understood with respect to a race-conscious approach to veganism, and with special consideration given to the capitalist commodification of animals. Suggestions are given and strategies for growth of the community are highlighted at the end of this paper.
Thinking Through the Ecological Crisis with Hannah Arendt
Authors:   , Tsuji Rika
Published: January 2025

This dissertation offers a philosophical analysis of the ecological crisis through the lens of Hannah Arendt. It frames the ecological crisis as a struggle for situated cohabitation. By analyzing the work of Arendt, this dissertation shows the ways in which the ecological crisis is entwined with the political crisis of plurality. I suggest that these two issues are interconnected and that we need to address both for situated cohabitation. This dissertation is an interdisciplinary work, drawing from environmental philosophy, feminist philosophy, and educational practice. The work is intended to provide novel insight into the current ecological crisis in three ways. First, it grounds its theory in the work of Arendt, a thinker not usually situated in the prevue of environmental scholarship. Second, by synthesizing Arendt's account of plurality with the work of Judith Butler and Ricardo Rozzi, this dissertation explores a politics of plurality that can take account of social and ecological conditions of plurality. Third and finally, the dissertation merges theory with praxis by offering a practical program for doing environmental philosophy with children, a program derived from my sustained experiences working as a facilitator of a philosophy for children (P4C) program. This dissertation does not seek just a theoretical understanding of the ecological crisis, but also a practice of situated cohabitation in the crisis.
Impact of Child-Centered Play Therapy on the Mindful Expressions and Social-Emotional Competencies of Head Start Preschoolers
Authors:   , Robinson Hannah Beth
Published: January 2025

In this study, I examined the impact of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) on the social and emotional functioning and mindful expressions of preschoolers in Head Start preschool programs. Participants were 23 children from two Head Start preschool programs in the southwestern U.S. who qualified for free or reduced lunch and were referred by school personnel for behavioral or academic concerns (18 males, 5 females; ages 3-5, mean age = 3.74). The sample consisted of 1 (4.3%) African American, 5 (21.7%) Caucasian, 14 (60.9%) Latino, and 3 (13%) multiracial children. Participants were randomly assigned to eight weeks of twice-weekly CCPT experimental groups (n = 11) or a waitlist control group (n = 12). Results of the independent samples t-tests revealed statistically significant improvement in preschool children's empathy and responsibility for children who participated in CCPT on the Social Emotional Assets and Resiliency Scale for Preschool. Practically significant findings revealed that CCPT may influence specific mindful expressions including curiosity and openness as well as overall social-emotional competence, emotional knowledge and expression, and empathy and responsibility in Head Start preschool children. Results of this study support the effectiveness of CCPT with disadvantaged preschool children.
Georg Joseph Vogler (1749-1814) and His Jesuit-Influenced "System" of Harmony
Authors:   , Donley Douglas Michael
Published: January 2025

This dissertation reexamines the music-theoretical writing of Georg Jospeh Vogler (1749-1814) in light of his educational background. His system, which is often characterized as "awkward" or "self-contradictory," is actually indicative of the rationalist/humanist preferences of Vogler's main source of training: the Jesuit Order. I argue that Vogler's theories and compositional style have been marginalized, partially due to their incompatibility with the more prevalent systems of his era, which were predominantly based in empirical modes of thought.
A Collective Counterstory of Everyday Racism, Whiteness, and Meritocracy in High School Orchestra
Authors:   , Nussbaum Kelsey
Published: January 2025

School orchestra programs are overwhelmingly concentrated in suburban districts, which are becoming increasingly racially and economically diverse. Diversifying suburbs lie at the crossroads of race, racism, and whiteness and findings drawn from these settings can have implications for racial dynamics in all educational contexts. The purpose of this instrumental case study was to explore how racially underrepresented students perceive race within an urban characteristic high school orchestra program through the lens of critical race theory. I developed a composite counter-story to examine the racialized experience of school orchestra told from the perspective of students of color with a particular interest on competition. Participants were six students and two teachers affiliated with the same high school orchestra program in Texas. Emergent thematic findings examined students' sense of racial belonging, mechanisms upholding the racial status quo, and fulfilling aspects of students' orchestra participation. Though the lens of critical race theory, I discuss how everyday whiteness, property of whiteness, and meritocracy function to maintain white hegemony in school orchestra.
Counselors' Experiences of HIV Status Disclosure to Children Living with HIV in Uganda
Authors:   , Opondo Harriet
Published: January 2025

Reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate tremendous advancement in the fight against HIV/AIDS infection through prevention, provision of high-quality treatment options, and psychosocial services to infected and affected individuals and communities. However, there is still a considerable number of new infections occurring among children, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers highlight the benefits of HIV status disclosure to children. Yet, there is limited research concerning the ways counselors navigate the process of status disclosure to children with an HIV diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of counselors regarding status disclosure to children living with HIV in Uganda, and to determine their self-identified training needs. I utilized a phenomenological qualitative research method and conducted individual interviews using a semi-structured interview protocol with 10 counselors from three HIV care centers in the central region of Uganda. Findings indicated six overarching themes including: (1) counselors' roles and responsibilities, (2) impact of age in the disclosure process, (3) motivations for disclosure, (4) challenges and barriers, (5) counselor preparations and trainings for disclosure, (6) and post-disclosure interventions. Study results highlight the critical role played by counselors during the HIV status disclosure process and the need for additional training and support to enable counselors to effectively support children and their caregivers. There is a need to further examine the effectiveness of current HIV status disclosure procedures and post-disclosure support interventions utilized by counselors within HIV care centers in Uganda.
The Association between Sleep Patterns and Singing Voice Quality during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors:   , Simmons Erica Vernice
Published: January 2025

This study investigated the associations between sleep patterns and singing voice quality in 231 adult singers of various skill levels across the United States. The four-part survey using a general questionnaire on demographics, musical background, vocal health, and three established survey instruments: the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Singing Voice Handicap Index-10 (SVHI-10), and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) found that while scores were worse than normative values for the PSQI and the SVHI-10, a Pearson correlation between the two showed a moderate association. A linear regression also yielded that 8.9% of the variance in SVHI-10 scores could be predicted from PSQI scores. While further research is needed in this area, this study suggests that the amount of sleep needed for an optimal singing voice may be different from the amount needed to feel well-rested for some singers. Moreover, singers may overestimate the influence of sleep on their singing voices.
"Pieces of 9/11: Memories from Houston" by Jake Heggie: A Performance Guide
Authors:   , Liston Julie
Published: January 2025

Jack Heggie's 2011 song cycle Pieces of 9/11: Memories from Houston is a collection of six songs with texts by Gene Scheer. Commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera, it was premiered on September 11, 2011 at the Rothko Chapel in Houston, TX. Based on interviews with people from Houston by Gene Scheer, this cycle tells stories and experiences by those affected by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, The Pentagon in Washington DC, and those aboard United Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Scheer's acclaimed storytelling in each song is beautifully set to varying styles of music composed by Heggie, with the familiar theme from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007 woven throughout the cycle. This document is an in-depth look at the cycle to be used by vocal coaches and singers in their preparation and performance. The first introductory chapter is followed by a chapter detailing the song cycle from concept to fruition. The third chapter concentrates on the uses of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007. The fourth chapter discusses the six individual songs first by discussing the background of each text, then an analysis of the music, and concluding with the relevance to 9/11. Chapter 5 includes performance notes, gathered from interviews with Heggie, Scheer, and one of the girl sopranos, Ashley Traughber. Appendices include a timeline of events on 9/11, the three interviews, a chronology of Jake Heggie's vocal works to date, and the author's personal 9/11 story as I was just a few blocks away from the World Trade Center on 9/11.
New TEKS Health Standards: Awareness, Perceived Knowledge, and Perceived Competency among Choral Music Educators in Texas
Authors:   , Burrows Gideon C.
Published: January 2025

In this study, I examined the awareness, perceptions of required knowledge, and perceived competency of Texas secondary choral music educators concerning the new musician health objectives included in the revised Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards (TEKS). A secondary purpose of this study was to identify the activities and variables that promote the development of these characteristics and prepare educators to address the standards in their instruction. Using a researcher-designed web-based survey instrument, I gathered data from participants who were actively teaching choir in secondary public schools in the state of Texas (N = 183). As part of the survey, participants reported the highest degree they had attained and field of study, the completion of choral methods and vocal pedagogy courses during their training, participation in professional development, and years of teaching experience. Findings revealed that a majority of participants (53.01%) were not aware of the health-related standards prior to taking the survey. A majority also did not consider each objective as required curricular components (hydration: 69.95%, vocal health: 39.89%, body mechanics: 61.75%, hearing protection: 68.85%, hygienic practice: 69.96%). Participants did rate themselves highly for perceived competency, a measure including adherence to competent practices and views of personal ability. There were no statistically significant main effects observed for any variable on awareness and perceptions of knowledge. I did observe significant main effects of degree level and major, professional development participation, and completion of a choral methods course for measures of perceived competency.
A Study of Anomalous Conduction in n-Type Amorphous Silicon and Correlations in Conductivity and Noise in Gold Nanoparticle-Ligand Arrays
Authors:   , Western Brianna J
Published: January 2025

This work explores two very different structural systems: n-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) suspended in a matrix of organic ligands. For a-Si:H, examination of the gas-phase concentration of dopant (1-6% PH3/SiH4) and argon diluent effects includes the temperature dependent conductivity, low-frequency electronic noise, and Raman spectroscopy to examine structure. It is found that a-Si:H samples grown with high dopant concentration or with argon dilution exhibit an anomalous hopping conduction mechanism with an exponent of p=0.75. An experimental approach is used to determine correlations between conduction parameters, such as the pre-exponential factor and the characteristic temperature, rather than an analysis of existing models to explain the anomalous conduction. From these results, the anomalous conduction is a result of a change in the shape of the density of states and not a shift of the Fermi level with dopant. Additionally, it is found that argon dilution increases the carrier mobility, reduces the doping efficiency, and causes a degradation of the short-range order. With AuNPs, a comparison of temperature dependent conductivity and low-frequency noise shows that the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) is independent of the length of interparticle distance while the noise magnitude decreases.
Bio-Inspired Designs to Reduce Human-Exoskeleton Interaction to Prevent Falls in an Aging Population
Authors:   , Gates Edward Sean
Published: January 2025

As a large generation ages, the collective financial and ethical responsibility to prevent egregious bodily harm through fall prevention and gait assistant exoskeleton devices increases. Risk for falls increases with age and the severity of the fall does as well. To support this elderly population, motorized exoskeletons can both increase stability as well as respond faster to fall scenarios, but current models do not more around the existing biological framework. Giving participants a range of motion in key pelvic areas can closely approximate synchronous rotation around the femoral head, while limiting an increase in their sagittal profile. Utilizing 3D printed components while incorporating existing orthic methods provide short production times on modular designs. Although primarily mechanically based, these designs consider electronic requirements and are capable for supporting movement for a 200 lbs. user at a brisk walking pace for 1 hour.