Using queer and Afrofuturist frameworks, this Black feminist qualitative study explored queer Black pre-and in-service teachers' cultural and intersectional practices as they navigated traditional heteronormative educational spaces. This research study relied on counternarratives and storytelling and drew from Afrofuturism to understand the use of their lived experiences to counter monolithic queer narratives. The queer Black teachers in this study examined and negotiated how their Blackness and queerness showed up in teacher preparation programs (TPP) and K-12 classrooms. Moreover, they eventually refused to hide or censure their authentic selves. An analysis of the narratives and counternarratives showed that queer Black teachers drew from ancestral traditions to create queer Afrofuturist spaces in TPPs and educational places. Furthermore, due to their queer Black intersectional approaches, their classrooms, assignments, curriculum, and pedagogy disrupted normative teaching practices. Implications, recommendations, and future research are discussed.

In this study, high-fidelity conjugate heat transfer simulations are used to model a micro-channel heat exchanger (MCHE) in a crossflow to study its thermal-hydraulic performance. This study considers three different microchannels (internal flow) geometries (circular, triangular, and square) with louver-shaped fins. The local flow field showed a strong coupling between the microchannel flow, solid domain, and crossflow. The flow separation and wake regions formed near MCHE resulted in a large variation in the velocity field and temperature in the crossflow. The wake region had a significant spanwise variation due to its interaction with fins, which also causes variations in the thermal boundary layer. The heat conduction in the solid structure provided a non-uniform temperature field with a higher temperature near the microchannel and a slightly lower temperature near the surface exposed to the crossflow. The microchannel flow analysis showed that the internal geometry affects the pressure drop, which is highest for the triangular MCHE and lowest for the circular MCHE. However, the microchannel flow temperature change was relatively similar for all microchannels. Results showed that for the same volume of the microchannel, the circular shape microchannel has a higher performance index value than the triangular and square shapes. This study …

This study aims to find out the impact of the credibility and content quality of social media influencers on the various stages of the customer's journey and the intention to choose a destination for the Saudi tourist. The target segment was Saudis in general, who are 18 years or above. To conduct this study, 618 usable questionnaires were collected. This study tested twenty-two hypotheses. The result of this study showed that the relationship between content quality, expertise, and similarity was significantly positive with the tourist's desire and information searching. As well, the relationship between the tourist's desire and information searching was significantly positive with the intention of choosing a destination. Conservatism, engagement, and gender were tested as moderators. Conservatism was not significant while the engagement was significant. Gender was only significant in the relationship between content quality and the tourist's desire. This study contributes to information and knowledge in the fields of tourism, hospitality, travel, marketing, tourist behavior, information science, and social media. Researchers and those interested in tourist and customer behavior can benefit from the results of this study. In the industrial field, this study will be very useful to the Saudi government, which has recently begun to rely …

This research investigates existing and new HR practices that have impacted public health employee retention in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic. It builds on social support theory and social exchange theory to better understand the relationships between HR practices and retention, and uses quantitative methods to examine the hypotheses based on a conceptual framework. While OLS regression is employed to analyze the relationships between HR practices and retention, path analysis (bootstrapping) is used to examine the mediator variable. Based on 417 valid questionnaires distributed to public health employees in Saudi Arabia's central, western, and eastern regions, the analysis illustrates that while training and emphasis on work-life-balance as existing HR practices had a positive effect on retention, social support (supervisory support) and promotion of mental well-being as new HR practices also had a positive effect on retention during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the hypothesis that compensation and occupational health and safety would improve retention was not supported. These results indicate that financial benefits and providing safety materials did not lead to employee retention. Meanwhile, safety training programs, psychosocial support, and promotion of well-being have been essential HR practices during the pandemic. Regarding the mediation hypotheses, interestingly, the results show that …

The original FlexiChain and its descendants are a revolutionary distributed ledger technology (DLT) for cyber-physical systems (CPS) and their embedded systems (ES). FlexiChain, a DLT implementation, uses cryptography, distributed ledgers, peer-to-peer communications, scalable networks, and consensus. FlexiChain facilitates data structure agreements. This thesis offers a Block Directed Acyclic Graph (BDAG) architecture to link blocks to their forerunners to speed up validation. These data blocks are securely linked. This dissertation introduces Proof of Rapid Authentication, a novel consensus algorithm. This innovative method uses a distributed file to safely store a unique identifier (UID) based on node attributes to verify two blocks faster. This study also addresses CPS hardware security. A system of interconnected, user-unique identifiers allows each block's history to be monitored. This maintains each transaction and the validators who checked the block to ensure trustworthiness and honesty. We constructed a digital version that stays in sync with the distributed ledger as all nodes are linked by a NodeChain. The ledger is distributed without compromising node autonomy. Moreover, FlexiChain Layer 0 distributed ledger is also introduced and can connect and validate Layer 1 blockchains. This project produced a DAG-based blockchain integration platform with hardware security. The results illustrate a practical technique …

This dissertation consists of three studies that investigate the information privacy & security associated with healthcare technology use. Essay 1 PRISMA-style systematically reviews the existing literature on privacy information disclosure in IoT technology and serves as the theoretical foundation of the current research. It is crucial to comprehend why, how, and under what consequences individuals choose to disclose their personal and health information since doing so is beneficial to the company. This SLR method allows us to find those factors that significantly impact individuals' behavioral intention to disclose personal information while using IoT technologies. Essay 2 posits, develops, and tests a comprehensive theoretical framework built upon the theory of planned behavior and the health belief model to examine factors affecting willingness to disclose PHI in order to use WFDs. A research survey is designed and distributed to a crowdsourcing platform, Mechanical Turk (M-Turk). Research hypotheses are tested using partial least square – structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). To achieve this purpose, Essay 3 extends the findings from the previous essay and further investigates the caregiver context. Therefore, we developed a novel theoretical model utilizing privacy calculus theory and the technology acceptance model to investigate the willingness of the elderly to disclose …

Many previous studies have demonstrated that gold compounds possess successful results in catalysis and in medicinal chemistry. The central aim of this dissertation is the design and synthesis of novel gold (I) acyclic diamino carbene complexes as a chemotherapeutic agent for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and for catalysis. In this study, a series of chiral neutral and cationic gold (I) acyclic diamino carbene (ADC) complexes and neutral gold (I) bis- ADC complexes have been synthesized. As the chiral neutral gold (I) ADCs, four diastereomers of S binaphthyl L proline tertiary butyl ester gold (I) chloride, S binaphthyl D proline tertiary butyl ester gold (I) chloride, R binaphthyl L proline tertiary butyl ester gold (I) chloride, and R binaphthyl D proline tertiary butyl ester gold (I) chloride have been synthesized and characterized. Different chiral gold (I) ADC complexes with bulky chiral binaphthyl group and with different amine groups of morpholine, chiral proline methyl ester, and benzyl ester have been synthesized and characterized. After that four diastereomers of the nitrile adduct of cationic binaphthyl proline tertiary butyl ester nitrile and four diastereomers of the isonitrile versions of it have been synthesized and characterized. A series of gold (I) cationic bis ADC complexes …

In this dissertation, I investigate the existing smart contract problems that limit cognitive abilities. I use Taylor's serious expansion, polynomial equation, and fraction-based computations to overcome the limitations of calculations in smart contracts. To prove the hypothesis, I use these mathematical models to compute complex operations of naive Bayes, linear regression, decision trees, and neural network algorithms on Ethereum public test networks. The smart contracts achieve 95\% prediction accuracy compared to traditional programming language models, proving the soundness of the numerical derivations. Many non-real-time applications can use our solution for trusted and secure prediction services.

This research used quantitative and qualitative methodologies to investigate how working professionals are impacted and account for workplace cultural differences. This paper also sought to make a case for additional quantitative and qualitative research into what shapes and maintains culture by looking at leadership's knowledge of their organization's way of doing things and the impact these multiple knowledge areas have on performance. The literature review section analyzed performance improvement models, the effect of leadership, the behavior engineering model (BEM) and related models, organization culture, and performance. This work also outlined the methodology utilized in studying and reviewing culture and performance. This research aimed to determine a better understanding and increase the use of performance improvement and cultural models to aid organizations in achieving their missions.

Coaches' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about mental health – the construct of mental health literacy (MHL) – affects teams' mental health (MH) climates and the early detection, referral, and treatment of athletes' MH concerns. Thus, assessing collegiate coaches' MHL, and the factors related to its presence, is critical. Using the Mental Health Literacy Scale, I surveyed 1,571 NCAA coaches (Mage = 37.5 years, SD = 11.8; 51.4% cisgender female; 85.9% White) regarding their MHL and related demographic and MH-experience factors, including their belief regarding MH and sport performance. Overall, 99.9% of the coaches believed that athletes' MH affected their sport performances. Through hierarchical regression analyses, I found that coaches' exposure to MH treatment, their perceived helpfulness of MH treatment, their gender (i.e., woman), number of years coaching (i.e., fewer years), and NCAA Division in which they currently coach (i.e., DIII) were related significantly to their MHL, explaining 15.5% of variance. Coaches' race/ethnicity was not related to MHL. These findings provide insight on hiring and educating coaches, and hiring appropriately trained and licensed MH and sport psychology professionals. Specifically, coach education should be focused and practical: signs and symptoms of common MH concerns disorders; the ubiquity of MH concerns among athletes; …

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is the primary public agency responsible for providing housing subsidies to low-income households. The Home Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) is currently the most significant housing subsidy. The voucher can be transferred to any location where the landlord is registered with the local housing agency to participate in the program. The mobility of the voucher is designed to decrease concentrations of low-income households in areas that lack economic, educational, and social opportunities. The results of the study found that race and income have a strong negative impact on the percentage of subsidized households and rental units. The findings also show that median area rents have a negative impact on subsidized households, while home values have a negative impact on subsidized rental units. There are more subsidized households and rental units in highly populated with many households living in areas with more transit stops. finally, the data showed that jobs paying under $3,333 per month had a negative impact on the percentage of subsidized housing units. These outcomes can provide insight for HUD and public housing agencies to assist in the utilization of subsidies and encourage more landlord participation to add units to the current …

Shakespeare references humoral medical theory and social definitions of gender throughout much of his work. His references to medical practices like purging, the siphoning of excessive emotional fluids to bring the body into balance, are more than allusions to medical theories. Shakespeare's works unveil and challenge early modern approaches to emotional experience, most particularly when it comes to traumatic experiences that overwhelm comprehension. In Titus Andronicus (1592), The Rape of Lucrece (1593), Hamlet (1603), King Lear (1608), and Macbeth (1606), Shakespeare invokes humoral theory to articulate the early modern traumatic experience and to criticize the efficacy of purging in representations of trauma. For Shakespeare, the siphoning of destabilized emotions, through metaphorical and rhetorical practices, has dangerous consequences for bodies coded as feminine.

In this dissertation I am using M. truncatula as a model legume that forms indeterminate nodules with rhizobia under limited nitrogen conditions. I take advantage of an M. truncatula Tnt1 mutant population that provides a useful resource to uncover and characterize novel genes. Here, I focused on several objectives. First, I carried out forward and reverse genetic screening of M. truncatula Tnt1 mutant populations to uncover novel genes involved in symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Second, I focused on reverse genetic screening of two genes, identified as encoding blue copper proteins, and characterization of their mutants' potential phenotypes. Third, I further characterized a nodule essential gene, M. truncatula vacuolar iron transporter like 8 (MtVTL8), which encodes a nodule specific iron transporter. I characterized the expression pattern, expression localization and function of MtVTL8. Additionally, I characterized several residues predicted to be essential to function using a model based on the known crystal structure of Eucalyptus grandis vacuolar iron transporter 1 (EgVIT1), a homologous protein to MtVTL8. I identified several potential essential residues of the MtVTL8 protein, mutagenized them, and through complementation experiments in planta and in yeast assessed functionality of the resulting protein. This helped us to better understand the potential mechanism by …

The goal of this study was to determine if performance-based tests should be routinely administered to students in computer application courses. The purpose was to determine the most appropriate mode of testing for individuals taking a computer applications course. The study is divided into areas of assessment, personality traits, and computer attitudes.

Graduate students in mental health service training programs are at risk of experiencing burnout. Using adult attachment theory as the guiding framework, this study examined a conceptual model which depicted the direct and indirect effect of attachment insecurity on burnout and the subsequent psychological distress via low self-compassion and emotion regulation difficulty with two cultural samples recruited from the U.S. and Taiwan, respectively. The final sample included 216 U.S. mental health graduate trainees and 201 Taiwanese trainees. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Findings from the final models best supported by the data revealed that in both cultural groups, attachment anxiety contributed to lower self-compassion which subsequently resulted in greater burnout and that emotion regulation did not play a mediational role in the models. Results also demonstrated cultural differences in several paths of the research model. For the U.S. sample, only higher attachment anxiety indirectly contributed to more psychological distress through low self-compassion and burnout was best positioned as an outcome variable similar to psychological distress, instead of being a mediator. For the Taiwanese sample, on the other hand, both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance demonstrated significant indirect effects on higher psychological distress through lower self-compassion and …

Spatiotemporal properties of classical coupled nonlinear oscillators are investigated in this thesis. Chapter 1 gives an introduction to nonlinear lattices and to the concept of breathers, that are spatially localized and temporally periodic excitation in nonlinear lattices. The concept of anti-continuous limit that provides the basic methodology in probing spatiotemporal breather properties is discussed. In Chapter 2, the general approach for finding exact breather solutions from the anti-continuous limit is examined, and the rotating wave approximation(RWA) is applied to probe the spatial structure of static breathers. Numerical evidence reveals that the RWA relates the spatial structure of stable multi-breathers to a single breather of the same frequency. Chapter 3 presents linear stability analysis of static breathers and gives a systematic way to construct mobile breathers. Formation and collision properties of this moving breathers are also studied. Chapter 4 discusses dynamics of kinks and anti-kinks in hydrogen-bonded chains in the context of two-component soliton model. From molecular dynamics simulations with finite temperature, it is observed that, in a real system (eg. ice), a pair of kink and anti-kink can evolve into a moving-breather-like excitation. Chapter 5 is devoted to the understand of the effects of disorder in the Holstein model. The …

One of the famous Russian composers and a pianist himself, Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) composed a vast quantity of piano music. His nine piano sonatas represent well how he projected his musical individuality and the principles that he addressed in his autobiography: classical line, modern trend, toccata line, lyrical line, and grotesque line. However, even though Prokofiev's piano sonatas are considered one of the important collections in the piano repertoire, not all of them have gained popularity and only a few tend to be frequently performed by pianists today. For this reason, this dissertation focuses on one of his less-performed piano sonatas, No. 4 in C minor, Op. 29. The pianists György Sándor and Boris Berman were chosen as specialists in Prokofiev's piano works, and their performance editions and recordings are analyzed and compared as main references. This study provides analysis and a performance guide to this piano sonata. This guide discusses pedaling, fingering, phrasing, touch, voicing, tempo suggestion, articulation, hand distribution, and expression.

The current study is the first repeated-measures design exploring the impact of child-centered play therapy (CCPT), an evidence-based child psychotherapy intervention, on autistic children's social-emotional assets, and emotional and behavioral problems across four times during intervention based on teacher reports. Participants consisted of 19 autistic children recruited from two Title-1 elementary schools in the southwest United States who were aged between 5 years and 8.25 years (M = 6.22, SD = .91), presented with varied levels of cognitive functioning and speech and language abilities. Over 60% of participants were identified by their parents as children of color. Results indicated participants' increased time in CCPT predicted statistically significant improvement in social-emotional assets measured by Social-Emotional Assets and Resilience Scales-Teacher (SEARS-T) total score with a large effect size. Results also indicated participants' increased time in CCPT predicted a statistically significant reduction in emotional and behavioral problems of irritability, social withdrawal, and hyperactivity/ noncompliance, measured by Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Second Edition (ABC- 2), with large effect sizes. Findings of this study revealed substantive changes in social-emotional assets as early as 8 CCPT sessions, and reduction of emotional and behavioral concerns as early as 12 CCPT sessions. Clinical significance, implications for practice, and limitations of …

Seventeen new dithiophenyl- and napthodithiophenyl- fused porphyrins were synthesized; from these an additional 7 porphyrin oligomers were also synthesized. Additionally freebase 2,7-dimethoxytriphenylene fused porphyrin was also synthesized from a freebase precursor. Aromatic indices NICS and AICD were used to evaluate these new molecules.

Principal workloads and demands are steadily increasing while principal health and well-being are declining, resulting in increased rates of principal turnover. Currently, principals are experiencing numerous work-related stressors that are increasing burnout. In many cases, school leaders are sacrificing their families and health to lead their schools. As school success is linked with principal leadership, principal burnout and wellness demands further discussion and investigation. Yet, there is a limited body of research that examines the lived experiences of principals who experience burnout. Consequently, this researcher conducted a phenomenological qualitative study of 12 Texas K-12 elementary and secondary public school principals in central Texas. Findings pointed out that principals experience burnout in waves. While the COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted the burnout principal experienced, political divisiveness and social media attacks intensified their burnout. Additional findings revealed that burnout can cause principals to question staying in their role and negatively affect the quality of their family relationships as well as their health. Principals coped with their burnout by being aware of their emotions, spending time doing things that brought happiness, exercising, and reverting back to their faith in God. Additionally, principals believed that having knowledgeable district leaders who are visible, trust their leadership, …

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, and queer (LGBTQIQ) adults are more likely to report experiences of complex trauma, and have detrimental mental health effects as a result, when compared to cisgender, heterosexual adults. However, LGBTQIQ adults have excellent capacity for resilience. In this phenomenological investigation, I explored the lived experiences of resilient LGBTQIQ emerging adults (N = 11) who have histories of complex trauma. Five themes emerged as a result of this study, including (a) abuse and neglect, (b) emotional experiences during and after trauma, (c) connections are essential, (d) getting through hard times, and (e) struggles in the counseling process. The results indicated implications for counselors and counselor educators to better address the experiences of complex trauma and identify resilience in LGBTQIQ emerging adults. Recommendations are provided to counselors and counselor educators for integrating knowledge and actions into their counseling, teaching, and supervision practices, as well as for parents and caregivers, teachers and school personnel, and policymakers.

Research identifies male athletes as a subpopulation at risk for developing eating disorders and disordered eating (ED/DE). Petrie and Greenleaf's sociocultural model proposes that various correlates contribute to the etiology of ED/DE in athletes. Among the correlates, body satisfaction has been identified as a direct precursor to ED/DE symptomatology in male and female athletes. Recent research has noted self-compassion's utility in alleviating the outcomes of poor body image and ED/DE through several pathways. However, researchers have yet to examine self-compassion in relation to body satisfaction and ED/DE in male athletes or the temporal relationship between these variables. This study longitudinally examined the direct and indirect effects of self-compassion on body satisfaction and ED/DE symptomatology in a mixed-sport sample of 452 male collegiate athletes by testing the cross-lagged, temporal relationships among self-compassion, body satisfaction, and ED/DE symptomatology across a four-month time frame. Time 1 self-compassion was neither directly related to Time 2 body satisfaction (β = 0.02, p = .755), nor indirectly to Time 2 ED/DE (β = -0.002, 95% BCaCI [-0.028, 0.014]) when controlling for Time 1 scores. Recent research supports my finding and suggests that the effects of self-compassion on body satisfaction and ED/DE symptomatology may be dependent on …

This research study examined the implementation of an extended reality (XR) lab on a community college campus to facilitate student and faculty access to immersive learning resources. The study, conducted during one skills day, involved 46 students and was designed to understand if integrating immersive VR into emergency medical technician (EMT) education could enhance learner confidence and motivation, develop problem-solving and analytical thinking skills, and thus connecting the classroom learning with real-world application. The majority of participants reported increased motivation and engagement, alongside improvements in learning outcomes like knowledge retention and skill development. Applying the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model revealed performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions as key determinants of VR adoption in EMT education. While no significant overall performance enhancement was observed, VR training showed potential to boost motivation, confidence, and specific performance aspects. Furthermore, student perceptions towards VR in EMT education were largely positive, thereby suggesting its utility in immersive scenario training, skill acquisition in a risk-free environment, enhancing learner engagement, and real-world situational preparedness. VR demonstrated promise as a transformative tool in EMT education, necessitating further research to fully exploit its potential in diverse learning environments.

The work is a collection of poems entitled The Sometime Joy, comprising a mix of poems completed before and during my studies at UNT. The manuscript is my second completed full-length work after my first manuscript, the unpublished Night, Translated. The Sometime Joy shares many of the same themes with its predecessor, although stylistically the more recent work hews much more strongly toward the infusion of speculative and fantastical elements (just one example being the apocalyptic poem "Petal Storm"). The speculative components of the collection allow me to express and utilize the full range of my imagination, to use poetry to explore alternate existences and to create allegories, such as the "Market" series of poems, where capitalism is embodied as a chimerical beast that would fit in a horror film. The collection functions as my exploration of the intersections between folklore and pop culture, a series of meditations on the strangeness of human perspectives and how the relation between perceiver and the perceived alloys and transforms both. The collection also delves into horrific subjects varying from serried monsters (wendigos, the capitalist system, J. Edgar Hoover), the apocalypse, and the capacity of mundane humans to be cruel to each other, but …