bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Personalized Recommendation Using Aspect-Aware Knowledge Graph Learning
Authors:   , Zhou Jinfeng
Published: January 2025

This study aims to apply user reviews and numerical ratings toward items to create an aspect-aware high-order representation for a recommendation system. We propose a novel aspect-aware knowledge graph recommendation model (AKGR) with the deep learning method to predict users' ratings on non-interacted items, from which more personalized recommendations can be made. First, we create a sequence-to-sequence encoder and decoder model by exploiting contextual and syntactic information in user reviews to extract aspects critical to items. Then we utilize the principal component analysis (PCA) and the K-means clustering to analyze the extracted aspects for category classification. Based on the aspects, we construct a graph structure to connect users and items which share the same aspect-based opinions for mining user preferences and item attributes. Finally, we combine the user and item latent features from the reviews and the user-item rating matrix to complete the rating prediction task by applying the factorization machine model. We conducted experiments on three aspect extraction datasets and five rating prediction datasets. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed aspect extraction model and rating prediction model, comparison experiments were made with some state-of-the-art baseline models, such as double embeddings convolutional neural network (DE-CNN) and dual graph convolutional network (DualGCN). The experiment results revealed that our proposed aspect extraction model had the best performance for the three datasets with an F1 score of 82.41%, 88.57%, and 73.39%. In the experiments of rating prediction, the proposed AKGR model achieved the best MAE and MSE scores on the five datasets, and there was an average improvement of 4.48% against the best baseline.
Process Planning for Hybrid Manufacturing with Directed Energy Deposition and Machining Processing
Authors:   , Hughes Zane Weldon
Published: January 2025

This thesis details the creation and application of a generalized process plan for the hybrid manufacturing of AISI 316L stainless steel, using direct energy deposition (DED) and ball-nose end-mill machining, that includes the inspection and measurement of objects created by that hybrid manufacturing process plan. The proposed process plan progresses through the selection of substrate thickness, single-track, multi-track, and multi-layer depositions, then on to machining processing. A manufacturers' recommended set and range of DED parameters were used to create a designed experiment that aided in the analysis of objects created in each of the DED process planning steps; those objects were then machined in the same enclosure using a set of machining parameters screened from industry recommendations for ball-nose milling of stainless steel, after which measurements were taken for surface roughness, some material characteristics, and for tool deterioration. The results, analyses, and discussions collected herein show that the proposed process plan can provide models for geometrical outputs for each step in the plan, some improvements in substrate stability, surface roughness, tool deterioration, and material porosity due to voids. Current research in hybrid manufacturing does not show generalized process planning influences. The process plan as demonstrated by the work in this thesis will help operators, designers, and researchers in the future by defining a generalized workflow that can be applied to other materials used in hybrid manufacturing.
Analysis of Compressive Sensing and Hardware Implementation of Orthogonal Matching Pursuit
Authors:   , Kadiyala Mani Divya
Published: January 2025

My thesis is to understand the concept of compressive sensing algorithms. Compressive sensing will be a future alternate technique for the Nyquist rate, specific to some applications where sparsity property plays a major role. Software implementation of compressive sensing (CS) takes more time to reconstruct a signal from CS measurements, so we use the orthogonal matching pursuit and basis pursuit algorithms. We have used an image size of 256x256 is used for reconstruction and also implemented a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) of the orthogonal matching pursuit using an image.
Science and Politics in Forest Management
Authors:   , Smith Solomon C.
Published: January 2025

In this thesis, I explore strategies used by the local timber industry to influence forest policy on the Black Hills National Forest. These strategies include leveraging political pressure, proposing alternative interpretations of existing laws, and first requesting and then rejecting scientific data. Discursive strategies used by the timber industry to influence US Forest Service policy are compared and contrasted with those used by the environmental movement. The paper explores when and why stakeholders use different discursive strategies to influence forest policy.
Machine Learning Improvements for Data Partitioning and Classification Applied to Cardiac Arrhythmia Signals
Authors:   , Cayce Garrett Irwin
Published: January 2025

This thesis creates a new method for the ethical splitting of data as well as improvements to neural network architectures to increase performance. Ethical dataset splitting should be based on statistics from the data, this prevents artificial manipulation of the data that helps or hurts the performance of a network. This bias introduced to the dataset can also be present by using the popular method of randomly splitting data into datasets. To remove bias from dataset splitting, the splits of a dataset must be based on statistics from the data. Improving neural network architectures to increase performance is very important for a wide range of applications, especially for classification of heartbeats. Every improvement matters, especially when the application means that any errors could put the life of a person in danger. These advancements being applied to heartbeat classification have exciting implications for saving thousands of lives and billions of dollars. The presented methods can also be expanded to a wide variety of applications and adapted to different types of data as increasing performance and splitting up datasets is important in all fields of machine learning.
Space Use, Microhabitat and Macrohabitat Use of the Three-Toed Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina) in North Texas
Authors:   , Joseph Sara A.
Published: January 2025

Box turtle (Terrapene carolina) populations are steadily declining due their unique natural history, effects of climate change, and anthropogenic land use change. There is a need for updated information on box turtle space and micro and macro-habitat use to inform conservation efforts. This study used VHF radiotelemetry and GPS data loggers to examine box turtle space and habitat use in North Texas. Box turtle home range sizes averaged 6.6ha (range = 0.79 - 18.08, n = 23), and males (n = 9) had larger home ranges than females (n = 14; W = 31.5, P = 0.05). Home range size was best explained by a combination of variables including sex and body size, but overall, home ranges that consisted of higher percentages of suitable box turtle habitat were smaller. Box turtles used deciduous forest more than expected and wetlands less than expected by chance (Fisher's exact test, P < 0.0001). The most informative variable for box turtle macrohabitat selection was NDVI. Box turtles selected microhabitats with a higher percent litter (t = -2.16, P < 0.05) and understory cover (t = -5.03, P < 0.05). The results of CART analysis showed the nested importance of macro- and microhabitat and identified NDVI as the most important variable for predicting suitable box turtle habitat. Given these results, we postulate that NDVI can be used to identify suitable box turtle habitat at landscape scales to aid in management and conservation efforts. We found that three-toed box turtles are using habitat differently than what has been reported in eastern box turtles, providing support for the theory that three-toed box turtles should be classified as a separate species.
Partisan Media Coverage of Abortion Policy
Authors:   , Graciano Jennifer
Published: January 2025

Public opinion on salient issues and elite's knowledge of the public are both reliant on framed information, as they often depend on the media as a communication tool. Media tone also influences political behavior by affecting the perceptions that the public has on issues and events. In this study I examine the tone and framing of abortion media coverage by three different media outlets each with a different ideology leaning. I test assumptions made by cascade activation model and the economic theory of news making by answering the question how does partisan media report the issue of abortion? I answer this question by analyzing the tone and framing of 45 abortion articles from Politico, a Liberal leaning news outlet, 65 news articles from The Daily Caller, a Conservative news outlet, and 45 news articles from the NY Times, one that is considered independent. Results found that in accordance with what cascading and economic theory of news would predict, the news outlets are likely to prioritize their audience's ideology in their content by keeping it in line with the continually pushed abortion frames that each side identified with.
Ultrasonic Wave Propagation and Localization in a Nonreciprocal Phononic Crystal
Authors:   , Dhillon Jyotsna
Published: January 2025

Ultrasonic wave propagation through a two-dimensional nonreciprocal phononic crystal with asymmetric aluminum rods in viscous water is studied for its application in Anderson localization and trapping of acoustic energy. A one-dimensional disorder in the otherwise 2D periodic crystal is introduced by disorienting the asymmetric rods along the rows and by keeping them equally oriented along the columns. An exponential decay of sound waves travelling along the direction of disorder is observed demonstrating Anderson localization whereas sound propagates as extended wave along the ordered direction. Localization length for the case of strong disorder with high randomness in the orientation of rods and weak disorder with weak fluctuations in the orientation of rods is evaluated. The degree of randomness in the orientation of the rods controls the localization length of the wave. Thouless's theoretical prediction for the scaling of Lyapunov exponent with disorder is experimentally observed for weak disorder at frequency in the transmission band and anomalous scaling is observed for band edge frequency. Transmission spectra of acoustic waves is also measured for opposite direction of propagation and nonreciprocity is observed for the exponentially weak transmission in the disordered direction as well as for extended states in the ordered direction. Breaking of reciprocity in the current structure is due to the broken PT symmetry. The T symmetry or the time reversal symmetry is broken by the viscous dissipation at the boundaries of scatterers and the water, and the P symmetry is broken by the asymmetric shape of the rods. Acoustic energy trapping inside a nonreciprocal phononic crystal cavity is studied by creating three configurations of cavities. These configurations are based on the orientation of the asymmetric scatterers on each side of the cavity. Only one of these configuration utilizes the nonreciprocal property of the structure. Enhancement of energy trapping in the cavity is observed for the cavity orientation utilizing nonreciprocity. The proposed enhancement of energy trapping occurs at the transmission band frequency unlike the extensively used mechanism of energy trapping at the defect modes of the band gap of the phononic crystal. All the experimental results are verified numerically using finite element based modelling in COMSOL Multiphysics. The proposed devices can be utilized for applications in one way sound transmission, noise control, isolators, circulators and energy harvesting.
Graduate Enrollment Management: A Case Study on Enrollment Managers
Authors:   , Bernard Natalie
Published: January 2025

Graduate enrollment management (GEM) is an area of enrollment management that focuses on graduate and professional education. GEM's responsibilities can include various functions such as strategic planning, marketing, recruitment and admissions, academic advising, financial aid, student services, retention, and alumni relations. The comprehensive structure of GEM puts a significant amount of pressure on enrollment managers as its unique interdependence model creates an environment where professionals must be cross-trained in several areas, manage through grey areas, cultivate relationships with personnel across the campus, accomplish department goals, support their student population, and all while staying in alignment with the institutional mission. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore GEM from an enrollment managers perspective. The theoretical framework that guided this study was interdependence theory, and examined the following research questions: (1) How do graduate enrollment managers explain their roles in their respective departments and at their institution? (2) How do graduate enrollment managers explain the factors influencing their work? (3) What key stakeholders do graduate enrollment managers identify as influencing their roles and their work? (4) How do graduate enrollment managers balance demands from these stakeholders? Seventeen graduate enrollment managers working at a large research university were interviewed in-depth. The findings revealed how enrollment goals were established, described job duties, detected constraints, and presented the enjoyment GEM managers felt in their roles. The findings also highlighted the interactions encountered in their roles, and the importance of relationships when working with stakeholders.
Gender Differences, Age Differences, and the Relationship between Time Spent Playing Video Games and Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Engagement
Authors:   , Almazyad Reem Ali
Published: January 2025

This study quantitatively and qualitatively measured gender and age differences in cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagement while playing video games among the University of North Texas (UNT) undergraduate students. Also, it examined the relationship between time spent playing video games and the three engagement states. For the quantitative method, the data of this study was collected via an online survey, the Consumer Video Game Engagement Scale (CVGES), distributed at UNT (N = 140). The qualitative method involved asking open-ended questions at the end of the survey. The CVGES uses a 5-point Likert scale that encompasses three subscales: (a) Cognitive Engagement, (b) Affective Engagement, and (c) Behavioral Engagement. A series of analyses were conducted to analyze the quantitative data via SPSS. Also, the open-ended questions' responses were analyzed by using an inductive analysis approach. The main findings of this study were: (a) there were significant differences between males and females in cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagement, (b) there were no significant differences between age groups in the three engagement states, and (c) there is a positive relationship between the time spent playing a video game and the three engagement states. Also, the game elements, such as characters, storytelling, content, the objective of the video game, and the competition in the game were important aspects that enhanced students' affective engagement in the video game environment.
Integrating Multiple Deep Learning Models for Disaster Description in Low-Altitude Videos
Authors:   , Wang Haili
Published: January 2025

Computer vision technologies are rapidly improving and becoming more important in disaster response. The majority of disaster description techniques now focus either on identify objects or categorize disasters. In this study, we trained multiple deep neural networks on low-altitude imagery with highly imbalanced and noisy labels. We utilize labeled images from the LADI dataset to formulate a solution for general problem in disaster classification and object detection. Our research integrated and developed multiple deep learning models that does the object detection task as well as the disaster scene classification task. Our solution is competitive in the TRECVID Disaster Scene Description and Indexing (DSDI) task, demonstrating that it is comparable to other suggested approaches in retrieving disaster-related video clips.
Sulfur-Based Organic Compounds as Novel Corrosion Inhibitors for Brass and Aluminum Alloy Protection in Acid Cleaning Solutions
Authors:   , Karunarathne Darshan Jayasinghe
Published: January 2025

In this study, thiol and two disulfide compounds have been tested as new corrosion inhibitors for brass and aluminum alloys. Pyridine-2-thiol and 2,2'-dipyridyl disulfide were tested for brass alloys in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution and both inhibitors showed excellent corrosion protection against the aggressive corrosive ion attack. Both inhibitors adsorbed to brass surface forming a protective film via a chemisorption process. XPS studies showed formation of Cu-S bond which allows these molecules to chemisorb on to brass surfaces. Pyridine-2-thiol, 2,2'-dipyridyl disulfide and 4'4-diaminodiphenyl disulfide were tested as corrosion inhibitors for AA6061-T6 alloy in 1 M HCl solution and all inhibitors showed excellent corrosion protection over wide range of temperatures. To evaluate the corrosion inhibition efficiencies many different instruments and electrochemical techniques were used. Overall results from this study showed sulfur-based corrosion inhibitors can be used effectively to mitigate the corrosion process of brass and aluminum alloys in acidic solutions.
Selected Songs of Ian Venables as Influenced by Ivor Gurney: An Historical Musicology Analysis
Authors:   , Zhang Zuhao
Published: January 2025

The purpose of this study is to draw attention to the importance of Ian Venables' art songs that are based on Ivor Gurney's poems. In this study, I analyze and evaluate Gurney's poetry and how Venables' compositional style seems to have been influenced by Gurney's musical style in the setting of Gurney's poems. It is noteworthy that Ivor Gurney's poems were not just written as songs by little-known composers, but by others such as Gerald Finzi and Ian Venables, both of whom can be considered leaders in their field in their own time. Therefore, even though there is not a plethora of songs based on Gurney's poetry, the quality of those poems has attracted the attention of composers who know art songs deeply. First, my research contributes valuable contextual information to the study of the six featured songs, all based on poems by Ivor Gurney. Each poem can be traced back to a specific time in Gurney's life, reflecting his various societal positions and physical and mental conditions. By analyzing Gurney's experiences and apparent state of mind during the period he wrote each poem, I establish a historical context for these selected poems, which serve as an essential starting point for meaningful analysis and study of the related songs. Second, British composer Ian Venables' fame and performances of his art songs have primarily remained in England. Beyond contributing to scholarly research on Ivor Gurney's influence on Ian Venables, I intend to promote and facilitate further research into Venables' art songs. Finally, my research will expand the scope of how Ian Venables' songs are known, thus making his art songs more accessible and performable to a broader audience.
Porous Materials as Drug Delivery Systems
Authors:   , Ge Xueying
Published: January 2025

The porous materials discussed in this dissertation are metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and porous liquids. Due to their high surface areas, tunable structures, and controllable porosities, MOFs have been explored for a wide variety of drug delivery applications. In chapter 2, MOFs have been used as magnetothermal-triggered release carriers through spatially distributed iron oxide nanoparticles within MOF matrix as a magnetic heating mediator and surface-grafted thermal-responsive nanocap as an alternating magnetic field (AMF)-responsive gatekeepers, achieving monitoring of drug release via external AMF by a conformational change of nanocap. In chapter 3, MOF, as a non-toxic loading carrier, encapsulate naringin, a natural product to serve as a multifunctional bio-platform capable of treating Gram-positive bacteria and certain cancers by slowly and progressively releasing the encapsulated naringin as well as improving and modulating immune system functions through the synergies between naringin and MOF. In chapter 4, porous liquid with unique solvent-free fluidity properties as a drug delivery platform for the first time. The interaction between hollow silica nanoparticle and polymerized ionic liquid, followed by ionic grafting brush of poly (ethylene glycol) telomer, makes this designed porous liquid responsible for high drug-loading and pH-responsive drug-releasing abilities along with slow degradation behavior. In addition to their high loading and controlled release, In vitro cell viability and cell uptake are also studied, thus opening up new opportunities for long-term chemotherapy.
Differences in Academic Capital in Students at a Two-Year versus a Four-Year Institution
Authors:   , Bell Melody Delynn
Published: January 2025

Academic capital is composed of social processes that result in family knowledge of educational expectations, and strategies that result in a successful college experience. Often underrepresented and first-generation students lack a wealth of academic capital. This lack of knowledge may affect their college success. I used the Academic Capital Scale to research differences in academic capital in students attending a 2-year and a 4-year institution. To address differences in these two groups, I performed an independent samples t-test. The analysis was done with and without transformations (transformations were unsuccessful.) and both procedures yielded no statistical significance in mean academic capital scores. In addition, a Mann-Whitney U test was completed which also resulted in no statistically significant difference in mean rank of scores. I performed a logistic regression to determine whether academic capital could predict students' enrollment status (full time vs. part time). The model accounted for 2% of the variance in the enrollment status and the academic capital scores did not contribute significantly to the model, meaning they did not predict enrollment status. Finally, I ran a multiple regression to investigate if low socioeconomic status, gender identity, first-generation status, enrollment status, or race/ethnicity could predict students' academic capital score. The model was statistically significant in predicting academic capital scores F(14, 511) = 2.814, p < .0001. The coefficients non-binary and trans for the gender variable and low SES for the socioeconomic variable were also statistically significant. Students in these categories are predicted to have less academic capital than their respective counterparts.
Investigating Accretion Mechanisms and Host Galaxy Environments of z~4 Quasars
Authors:   , Thomas Marcus
Published: January 2025

Observations of quasars at the highest accessible redshifts have revealed supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with masses much too massive to be accounted for by the growth mechanisms observed in the local universe. Masses up to 10 10 M ⊙ up to z~7 seem to suggest some type of secular evolution or external inﬂuence to feed the earliest SMBHs at extremely high rates. Observations at such redshifts come at expensive technical cost and require signiﬁcant dedicated space-telescope observing time. However, in the z~4 regime, SMBHs are still relatively young, exhibit extreme growth rates, and are economically accessible for both frequent shallow snapshots as well as deep observations. In this dissertation, the accretion mechanisms of z~4 quasars and the structure of their host galaxies and nearby companions are investigated to search for evolution over cosmic time as well as outside inﬂuence on star formation rates (SFRs) and SMBH growth. Building the longest available X-ray light curves of four representative radio-quiet quasars, X-ray variability is evaluated at timescales from days to years in the rest frame, and robust simulations allow both qualitative and quantitate measurements of variability to compare with samples at lower redshifts. At all timescales, X-ray variability is consistent with or lower than lower-redshift samples and no evolution is observed. To investigate regions outside the central quasar, deep rest-frame UV observations of six similar quasars whose hosts exhibit highly varying SFRs are used to map the structure of star forming regions in the host galaxy and investigate the sky density of nearby sources. Despite the suggested hypothesis that major galactic mergers inﬂuence high SFRs, no evidence of merger scenarios is shown in the high-SFR sources, and the lower-SFR, which were thought to reside in sparse environments, also reside in dense environments.
A Quantitative Approach to the History of Music Binder's Volumes (1820–1900)
Authors:   , Anderson Brian K
Published: January 2025

Music binder's volumes, or collections of sheet music typically bound by women in the nineteenth century, constitute an informative and underutilized set of historical artifacts. Each binder's volume can be viewed as a Spotify playlist frozen in time. An individual volume contains more than just the volume's individual pieces; it also holds the marginalia, the choices women made on what to include in a binder, and information on where and how music was produced. This dissertation examines music binder's volumes quantitatively, processing information found in binder's volumes by using the MARC and other cataloguing data to construct a relational database. I engage with broad questions of music publishing and consumption and provide a method to contextualize qualitative results on a larger scale. In doing so, I make two distinct contributions to music research and the digital humanities. First, this project offers a clear path for engaging with music binder's volumes and material history of nineteenth-century America in ways that scholars have rarely engaged in prior to this point. I highlight how data analysis provides new framings for binder's volumes and for sheet music consumption both at the song-level and at larger levels of the data. Second, and more broadly, this project serves as a framework for engaging in digital projects on multifaceted items that can be difficult to catalog and process. I describe in detail the metadata schema, methodological concerns in establishing a database, and data cleaning process in a way that provides transparency for the project and can also serve as a starting point for others considering data projects in the digital humanities.
Bilitis as Interpreted in Charles Koechlin's "Cinq chansons de Bilitis"
Authors:   , Chen Chia-Wen
Published: January 2025

Charles Koechlin (1867–1950) has been a notable figure in French music since the late nineteenth century. However, Koechlin's mélodies are not performed as often as the art songs of many other French composers. Koechlin's Cinq chansons de Bilitis is a collection of five songs based on Pierre Louÿs's Les chansons de Bilitis. The cycle was completed in 1898–1908. The stories of Bilitis are beautifully set by Koechlin, who uses his wide compositional facility. This dissertation serves as a guide to be used by performers, vocal coaches, and instructors in their preparation and performance of Koechlin's Cinq chansons de Bilitis. The introductory Chapter 1 is followed by Chapter 2, which presents Koechlin's biography, an overview of his selected vocal works, and information related to Cinq chansons de Bilitis. Chapter 3 includes Pierre Louÿs's biography and information related to Les chansons de Bilitis. Chapter 4 concentrates on the stories of the invented figure Bilitis from Les chansons de Bilitis. Chapter 5 examines the five songs by discussing the background of each song; giving an analysis of the music and performance suggestions; providing an International Phonetic Alphabet transcription and a word-for-word translation; and evaluating the difficulty level. Chapter 6 summarizes the significance of Koechlin's Cinq chansons de Bilitis for performers, vocal coaches, and instructors. Appendices include an evaluation table of Cinq chansons de Bilitis, a list of Bilitis settings, and a list of Koechlin's vocal works.
Playing with Expectations: Marianna Martines (1744-1812), Brilliance, and the Harpsichord Sonata in G
Authors:   , Soree Nadia Bohachewsky
Published: January 2025

Marianna Martines (1744-1812) was a highly celebrated composer, singer, and keyboardist during her lifetime in Vienna, praised by such dignitaries as Dr. Charles Burney, and achieving the honor of being the first woman composer to be admitted to the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna in 1773. She composed both large-scale and smaller works, including masses, oratorios, keyboard sonatas and concerti, cantatas, and arias. Yet today, despite a revival of interest in this important composer, she remains largely unknown and her nearly 70 surviving works remain all too underperformed. The purpose of this dissertation is to add to the existing scholarship by exploring the first movement of her Harpsichord Sonata in G Major, the last of her three extant sonatas, which is marked Allegro brillante, and is indeed a work of technical brilliance and difficulty, through various theoretical frameworks. This study demonstrates the extraordinary nature of this work by invoking classical formal theory, topic theory, with particular emphasis on the "brilliant" and "singing" styles, and the more recent feminist studies illuminating gender-coding in music. This theoretical analysis is considered against the backdrop of sociological studies examining the gender politics of Vienna and other parts of Europe during this time period. This study argues that in her personal life, Martines broke many boundaries as a woman, although much of her success as a composer may have been facilitated by her adherence to other social norms and boundaries. Similarly, the first movement of the Sonata in G exhibits this same balance, and in that work, one can see a composer who defies expectations, yet does so while playing within (and with) established norms.
The Impact of the Introduction of Value-Added Tax on Saudi Arabia's Economy, Budget, and Governance
Authors:   , Bamanie Mohamad Mahmoud
Published: January 2025

Saudi Arabia introduced the VAT in 2018 in response to the nation's structural budget deficit caused, in large measure, by its dependence on revenue from oil and natural gas production. Initially the tax rate was 5 percent, but in July 2020 the rate was tripled to 15 percent. This dissertation examine the effect of the introduction of a value-added tax (VAT) on governance in Saudi Arabia. Specifically, we explore how the VAT's introduction has altered the Saudi bureaucracy, both its responsiveness and representativeness, and what is VAT effect on growth in GDP, public unemployment, and changes in national budget. The data used to analyze these research questions are collected from several sources including the Saudi General Authority for Statistics, Saudi Ministry of Finance, and World Bank. Different methods of analysis were used such as ordinary least squares, difference in differences, and least squares dummy variables to answer the research questions. The study found that VAT is associated with an increase in GDP per capita, and VAT was negatively associated with total debt per capita, deficit per capita, and non-Saudi unemployment. In addition, government spending did change after the introduction of VAT to internal development more than external focus. Finally, VAT is not associated with an increase in e-participation or voice and accountability. However, VAT is associated with increase in government effectiveness and control of corruption. In other words, VAT impact on the quality of public administration is more pronounced than citizen engagement.
"The Opposite of Addiction is Connection": Next-of-Kin Narratives in Overdose Fatality Reviews
Authors:   , Fournier Lindsay Olivia-Rose
Published: January 2025

This study used ethnographic and qualitative research methods to provide data-driven support for the use of next-of-kin interviews to enhance overdose fatality review (OFR) datasets. This study's community of practice is a group of substance-use professionals that use OFRs to share confidential data and monitor Lucas County, Ohio substance use trends. To analyze OFR data collection, un-silo information, and understand how to include next-of-kin (NOK) interviews in the dataset, this study used rapid analysis, semi-structured interviews, and virtual participant observation methods. Rapid analysis showed current methods sufficiently collected demographic, vital statistics, and postmortem data from coroner reports; however, NOK interviews supplied narrative-derived information often missing or inconsistent in the dataset. Interviews with the community of practice and decedents' NOK showed dissonance between the two's perceptions of overdoses in Lucas County. Participants discussed themes, e.g., stigma, burnout, strained resources, and increasing fentanyl contamination-related overdoses. NOK needed accessible web-based resource options, linkages to current programs or services, stigma-free harm reduction education, and opportunities to form connections. Professionals explained the impact of widespread mental health problems, extreme social isolation, and economic pressures on overdose prevention during COVID-19. Potentially contaminated illicit substance use increased during the pandemic, overburdening the community of practice and straining already limited overdose prevention resources. Accessible, up-to-date information and web-based community engagement will encourage professionals to form connections with community members, increase fair access to information currently siloed, and provide a consolidated location to find resources and opportunities for connections within the community.
Posthuman Art Conservation Curriculum
Authors:   , Peck Scott Joseph
Published: January 2025

At least half of the art objects in the public trust are currently in need of conservation today. In consideration of this crisis, a posthuman version of art conservation curriculum is proposed to transgress current limitations of the field. Through applying Michel Foucault's genealogy and archaeology to art conservation and its education, Anthropocentric motivations undergirding conservation are revealed. Foucault's death meditation inspires my narrativization of a fire event that incites a re-visioning of my over 25 years of conservation and teaching experience. By re-contextualizing theorist Ted Aoki's works, art conservation curriculum becomes a reflective and affective site for reciprocal healing of self and other, incorporating the lives of conservation students and art objects. Reconsidering art conservation curriculum in light of Aokian notions of curriculum as plan and curriculum as lived, provokes the curricular potentialities of new materialism, along with quantum physics' entanglement, intra-agency and intra-activity for the field. Art conservation and its curriculum are radically reimagined as indwelling between humanist priorities of the Anthropocene and posthumanist possibilities towards more caring, ethical and sustainable futures for both human and nonhumans' coexistence on this planet.
Housing Recovery, Reinvestment Decisions, and Neighborhood Institutions
Authors:   , Jeon Younghwan
Published: January 2025

This research investigates the association between neighborhood institutions and the reinvestment decision of households after a disaster. The research employs GIS techniques and data containing appraised housing values, the neighborhood coalition boundaries, the HOA boundaries, building damage data, and building permit data from August 2017 to August 2018. This dissertation performed various methods of analysis. For the first, a literature review was conducted. Possible predictors of institutional, physical/geographical, demographic, and economic factors were discussed. A broad literature review of housing recovery, local government, and emergency recovery studies were investigated. Second, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was performed to determine the interaction effect of neighborhood institution type on the relationship between appraised housing value, disaster damage, and building permit. Given the data's nested structure, the submissions of building permit by households were affected by neighborhood characteristics (i.e., the type of neighborhood institution and degree of statutory control) at the jurisdictional level. For this study, Level 1 represented the household level, and Level 2 represented the jurisdictional level. Third, a chi-square analysis was performed to examine households' perceptions of neighborhood institutions and local government incentive programs. The findings suggest that neighborhood institutions play an important role in local disaster resiliency. It is also important to nurture neighborhood institutions to build a resilient community-based recovery system.
Just Reproduction: Explorations of Struggle, Resistance, and Empowerment Imbued in Labor and Birth in Black Bodies
Authors:   , Langlitz Margaret
Published: January 2025

By analyzing the lived experiences of Black birthing people through a plurality of medical and emotional ethos, I illuminate themes of experience that allow or disallow the subjectivity of the birthing person to thrive or falter. I specifically focus on a spectrum of dynamics of reproductive trauma versus empowerment, resistance versus trust, and feelings of fear versus safety expressed by the birthing person. In the face of birth trauma, the Black birthing community is creating care alternatives that offer support in ways the traditional US medical system is failing. The modes in which communities participate in the birth justice movement and collectively practice modes of resistance that offer safer, more respectful care models are valuable in eliminating racial health disparities in the United States. For this research endeavor I deployed a feminist methodological approach consisting of in-depth, semi-structured, ethnographic interviews, to explore the dynamics of power hierarchies within the realm of labor and delivery. Care paradigms chosen by Black birthing people can be divided into four specific situations which yielded profoundly discernable positive or negative results: (1) Birth experienced as a Black pregnant person delivering in the hospital under the care of a non-black OBGYN and birth team, (2) Birth experienced by a Black pregnant person delivering in the hospital under the care of a Black OBGYN and birth team, (3) Birth experienced as a Black pregnant person delivering in the hospital under the care of a Black midwife, and (4) Birth experienced as a Black pregnant person in the hospital utilizing the services of a birth doula (regardless of birth team). The methods employed by those Black women who reported their birth experiences as "positive," reflect the importance of specific care models that align with and support the pregnant and birthing person as a whole person. Intra-racial care provided by a Black male or female obstetrician, a Black midwife, or the support of a Black doula allowed for feelings of joy, while care provided by a traditional and primarily white care team yielded "negative" and often heartbreaking experiences.
Strategies Effective Turnaround Principals Use to Improve School Performance Ratings Under the Texas A-F Accountability System
Authors:   , Knox Jessica Lynn
Published: January 2025

School accountability has been a focus for state and federal legislators for over 50 years. In 2017, Texas passed House Bill 22 to align their accountability system with the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015. This piece of legislation gives every Texas public school a letter grade based on state assessment scores, attendance, and other factors. Schools that received a D or F, or schools that need to improve the scores of certain subpopulations, were identified as in need of targeted support. Further, these schools needed to make immediate changes to improve their state assessment scores and improve their letter grade. This exploratory phenomenological qualitative study explored how six school principals leading schools in need of targeted support made changes to their school's culture and expectations to improve student achievement scores. Data were drawn from six individual school principal interviews and were analyzed using a combination of inductive and deductive coding. Thirteen themes emerged from the data analysis: principal self-efficacy, shared mission and vision, hiring practices, collegial relationships, parents and community support, teacher capacity and efficacy, professional learning communities, expectations of teachers, mentoring and onboarding, campus-level support, parent support, student behavior, and teacher motivation and support. The findings from this study can inform district and campus leaders of the behaviors and practices utilized by campus principals to make rapid and dramatic changes in their schools to improve educational conditions for their students.
Curation Subscription Box Services: Implications for the Pet Industry
Authors:   , Jeong Misun
Published: January 2025

This study aims to understand customers' preferred attributes and features of curated subscription box services (CSBS) for pet products and to segment customer groups by favored attributes and features to optimize the CSBS. First, a pretest with 46 students at a southwestern public university in the U.S. was implemented to explore customers' preferences on attributes and features in the subscription service. Choice-based conjoint (CBC) analysis was employed in the challenging tradeoff situations after MaxDiff (best-worst scaling) evaluation. Next, the main study was conducted using the survey method with 350 American pet owners recruited by the commercial data platform called Prolific. The preference of five CSBS attributes (i.e., product, personalization, e-service quality, communication and interaction, and price) and 18 related features were examined. Cluster analysis for the 350 respondents identified customer segment groups based on their CSBS preferences derived from the conjoint analysis. The results of this study support that customers prioritized price, product, and personalization attributes in their CSBS choice. The three groups are product-oriented, personalization-oriented, and price-favored segments. This study provides practical implications for understanding customers' preferences and traits and how to tailor subscription box services for the pet business and even for eCommerce subscription retailers in other product sectors.
Bilingual Educators' Practices for Supporting Hispanic Bilingual Students' Success in School
Authors:   , Marcum Lerwick Ana Patricia
Published: January 2025

This narrative inquiry study sought the voices of bilingual teachers through their lived experiences in relation to the success of Hispanic emergent bilinguals in schools. Two research questions guided the study: (1) What practices do bilingual educators consider important in helping Hispanic emergent bilingual students succeed in schools? and (2) How do bilingual teachers negotiate the curriculum and school structures to support Hispanic bilingual students' success in their classrooms? Two theoretical frameworks were used. Constructivism provided the structure for honoring the lived experiences of these teachers and culturally relevant pedagogy provided the lenses of culture, funds of knowledge, and deep sociolinguistic awareness. The use of narrative inquiry as a methodology affirmed the bilingual teachers' voices as important and authoritative sources of knowledge. Semi-structured interviews and classroom observations allowed the participants to engage as storytellers about their history and experiences that contributed to answering the questions. Three resonant reverberations emerged from the analysis: (a) the emerging rhythms of the classroom; (b) the realms of instructional and learning design; and (c) the orientation towards a culturally relevant pedagogy. These major findings revealed that teachers were student-oriented while also being content-oriented. They designed a positive learning environment by tapping into their students' funds of knowledge and being culturally responsive, which supported their students in becoming self-directed learners. The teachers had a deep sociolinguistic knowledge that determined the instructional strategies used in their classrooms and propelled them to collaborate with others and advocate for strong bilingual programs.
The Audacity of Authenticity: Personal and Professional Identity Negotiation in Queer Preservice Teachers
Authors:   , Moore Kevin Michael
Published: January 2025

The purpose of this study was to examine the intersection of preservice teachers' personal identities as queer individuals with their emerging professional identities as educators. Political and social environments contribute to a separation of these identities, which can further the marginalization of these individuals to the detriment of both their identities as people as well as their professional practice. Guided by a theoretical framework of figured worlds, interviews with students in teacher education programs that identify as queer explore the ways in which unique confluences of contextualizing factors play a role in the lived experiences of these individuals. The study additionally examined the nature of teacher education programs as experienced by these participants in order to discuss the ways in which these programs serve to challenge or reinforce the heteronormativity pervasive in educational spaces.
Narrative Solutions to Climate Change
Authors:   , Pezzulli Katherine Keller
Published: January 2025

Climate change is one of the preeminent problems facing humanity today. It has the potential to cause incalculable damages, loss of life and property, and can create an almost unlivable habitat for humans on this planet. Governments need to act in order to stop future climate harms, but the electorate must be literate in the subject in order to do so. One of the jobs of the media is to inform the public, and so it is imperative that the media find a way to accurately inform the U.S. electorate about the changing climate in order to stimulate pro-environmental behavior and voting. It was hypothesized in this thesis that journalists should utilize narrative instead of simply relaying statistics and fact-based information to better engage the electorate and that it would prove a better way to educate them about science topics such as the climate. However, the politicization of such topics could not be ignored and so needed to be accounted for. A 2x2 factorial analysis was done using narrative versus fact-based stories with either conservative or liberal news outlet headers. These were then tested against three covariates: political ideology, narrative transportation, and locus of control. This research found that political ideology was far and away the best predictor of a person's stance on climate change cognitively, affectively, and cognitively, and it was not moderated by locus of control, frame, or source. While narrative showed significance when it came to emotional engagement, it did not show significance on other level.