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Navigating Survival: Trans Adults’ Information Practice in South Carolina
No full textThis community-based action research dissertation has two parts. First, through interviews with 25 trans adults in South Carolina, I asked how trans people use information to survive. The findings indicate that while trans people face significant financial, medical, legal, and social barriers, they are generally well-equipped to navigate them. I identified the following themes from the interviews: Identity practices shaped information outcomes. Participants\u27 understanding of themselves as trans impacted how they evaluated and used information. 2) Participants preferred to find information from within trans communities. The internet was a popular place to seek information because it was a way for participants to extend their networks and build trans communities, improving their information access. 3) Participants’ information and identity practices were grounded in information literacy. Trans people proved to be the most reliable information source, contrary to common understandings about expertise and the unreliability of the internet and social media in particular. Participants were resourceful in evaluating and using information to overcome challenges and meet their needs. I argue that these information practices are resistant tactics, used creatively to respond to oppression. Intersecting identities such as race and disability impact information practice and trans people’s relationship with information and their genders. One of the primary ways participants resisted was by finding joy with other trans people. I argue that joy increases feelings of social safety and reduces health risk. Based on this reasoning, trans joy is a matter of health that health information research should attend to.
In the second part of the research, I collaborated with an advisory board of five trans adults in South Carolina. They assisted with the interview research by vetting the interview protocol and member checking the interview data, thereby reducing bias and increasing the study’s validity. There was also an action component to the research. The board argued that a lack of educational resources is the primary challenge facing trans people in South Carolina and designed a resource to address that challenge. Together, we created a guide to name change in South Carolina to reduce barriers to legal transition. This work has theoretical and methodological significance but also makes a tangible improvement to trans communities in South Carolina
“Freedom Looks Different for Everyone”: Transforming Pre-Packaged Literacy Programs Through Critical Literacy
No full textThe Hartford Area Education Network (a pseudonym) adopted EL Education (formerly Expeditionary Learning) in response to the passage of the Right to Read Act by the Connecticut General Assembly. Multinational Magnet School, (a pseudonym) which is operated by the Hartford Area Education Network, uses EL Education for its literacy instruction in all kindergarten through fifth-grade classrooms. Module 3 of the fourth-grade sequence discusses perspectives of the American Revolution, though it minimally discusses people of color. Guided by a theoretical framework that incorporates critical pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, and decolonizing pedagogy, my qualitative action research study looked at how critical literacy as a pedagogy can diversify the prescribed content. My study was guided by two questions: (a) How do I, as a fourth-grade teacher, use critical literacy to increase representations of culturally and linguistically diverse learners? and (b) What trends emerge in student learning when fourth graders utilize critical literacy to challenge master narratives presented in pre-packaged literacy programs? My methodology incorporated narrative inquiry and Indigenous methodologies into the qualitative action research design and aligns with a constructivist paradigm. Data were collected through (a) critical document analysis of curricular documents, researcher generated artifacts, and student created artifacts; (b) classroom observations using video recording and field notes; and (c) semi-structured interviews. A priori coding supported deductive coding, which yielded three themes: (a) reclaiming instructional planning, (b) empowering students’ critical voice, and (c) comparisons between curricular narratives and counter narratives. Two conclusions were drawn from these themes: (a) critical literacy transforms pre-packaged programs and (b) critical literacy advances freedom for all
Association Between the Energy-Adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index (E-DII) and Risk of Falls and Related Injuries in Older Adults in the United States
No full textResearch has increasingly evaluated the role of dietary patterns in age-related health outcomes, yet few studies have comprehensively investigated the association between the inflammatory potential of diet, measured by Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and Energy-Adjusted DII (E-DII), and fall risk among U.S. older adults, compared E-DII fall-predictive value with the Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2015), or explored the mediating role of frailty. This dissertation aimed to 1) investigate the longitudinal association between E-DII and risk of falls and related injuries among older U.S. adults, 2) compare the fall-predictive performance of E-DII and HEI, and 3) examine frailty as a mediator of the E-DII-fall association.
Data were obtained from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative survey of U.S. older adults. E-DII and HEI scores were calculated using the 2013 Health Care and Nutrition Study (n = 8,035), an HRS subset. Analyses were conducted on a baseline sample of older adults aged ≥ 65 (baseline year = 2012, n = 4,272), with fall outcomes tracked from 2016 to 2020. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) were used to estimate associations, predictive performance was compared using the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves (AUC, sensitivity, specificity), and causal mediation models assessed the proportion mediated.
Overall, we observed that older adults in the highest E-DII quartile had significantly greater odds of falling compared to those in the lowest. While both indices showed high specificity for identifying non-fallers, E-DII demonstrated higher sensitivity in identifying fallers, and frailty significantly mediated approximately one-fifth of the E-DII-falls association. These findings support prior studies linking pro-inflammatory dietary patterns to adverse health outcomes and are the first to demonstrate this association with falls among U.S. older adults.
Collectively, this dissertation highlights the importance of integrating nutritional interventions and routine frailty screening into fall prevention strategies. Emphasizing high-quality, anti-inflammatory diets, especially among frail individuals, may reduce fall risk, slow the progression of frailty, and promote healthier aging. Further research using inflammatory biomarkers and musculoskeletal measures is recommended
The Mediating Role of Gratifications In Gamified AI Chatbot Engagement: Astimulus-Organism-Response Approach
No full textRecent technological advancements and evolving consumer preferences have prompted a substantial shift from live sport attendance to mediated sport consumption, particularly among younger audiences. In response, enhancing the quality of mediated sport experiences has become a strategic priority for sport marketers seeking to maintain consumer engagement and market relevance. Although second-screen usage has been introduced to support this transition, its effectiveness remains uncertain due to limited interactivity, lack of personalization, and the potential for user distraction.
To address these limitations, AI chatbots have emerged as a compelling alternative, offering adaptive, user-centered interactions that promote deeper engagement and enrich the mediated sport consumption experience. Among the various strategies to optimize chatbot effectiveness, gamification is increasingly recognized as a promising approach to sustain long-term user engagement in sport contexts. Nevertheless, despite its potential, no prior research has systematically examined how the integration of gamification and AI chatbots influences sport consumers’ behavioral responses or the underlying psychological and cognitive mechanisms.
To address this gap, the present study adopts the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) model as its overarching theoretical framework. The S-O-R model explains how external stimuli influences individuals’ internal states, which in turn shape their behavioral responses. In this study, diverse gamification features are categorized into three higher-order constructs, and interaction with these features in an AI chatbot is conceptualized as the external stimulus (S), while behavioral engagement represents the behavioral response (R). To capture the organism (O) component—reflecting users’ internal states—the study incorporates Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT), a well-established framework for understanding how media use fulfills users’ needs. Specifically, the organismic process is examined comprehensively by considering both users’ psychological gratifications and the gratification opportunities afforded by the chatbot’s technological features.
Within this framework, the study aimed to: (1) conceptualize and validate a multidimensional gamification model comprising achievement, immersion, and socialization as higher-order constructs embedded in AI chatbots for spectator sport consumption; (2) examine how these features influence users’ internal states, including psychological gratifications and gratification opportunities; (3) assess the effects of these internal states on behavioral engagement; and (4) test their mediating roles in the relationship between gamification and engagement.
This study used a cross-sectional survey method. To improve the replicability of the results and explore possible differences between what users expect from the chatbot (gratifications sought) and what they actually experience (gratifications obtained), two separate studies were conducted, one with potential users and one with actual users. Study 1 and Study 2 analyzed 371 and 590 survey responses, respectively, using PLS-SEM. The results showed distinct impacts of each gamification feature (e.g., achievement, immersion, socialization) on behavioral engagement (e.g., intention to use, feedback, WoM), through user gratifications (e.g., utilitarian, hedonic, social) and gratification opportunities (e.g., chatbot social presence, customization, complementarity).
The findings of this study comprehensively capture sport consumers’ psychological responses to distinct gamification features and their perceptual evaluations of unique technological affordances embedded in AI chatbots. These responses, in turn, help explain how such mechanisms translate into behavioral engagement. By elucidating these underlying processes, the study offers a theoretical foundation for understanding gamified AI chatbots as a promising second-screen tool to enhance mediated sport consumption experiences. Additionally, the results offer actionable insights for sport practitioners and technology designers to develop tailored strategies for emerging consumer segments
Students’ Experiences Using Peer Review to Affect Writing Self-Efficacy and Writing Performance in an Undergraduate Mass Communications Writing Course
No full textThe purpose of this action research was to examine the impact of peer review on writing self-efficacy and writing performance in an undergraduate online writing for mass communications course. The study focused on two research questions: (1) How and to what extent does structured peer review affect undergraduate students’ writing self-efficacy in an online writing for mass communications course in a large public Southeastern university? and (2) How and to what extent does structured peer review affect undergraduate students’ writing performance in an online writing for mass communications course in a large public Southeastern university? This research used peer review as the intervention. Twelve students in a Spring Semester 2024 section of the course completed three cycles of peer review on a journalistic writing assessment. During the research, data collected included scores on a writing self-efficacy survey, scores by rubric on an inverted pyramid style writing assessment, student responses from interviews and student peer feedback collected from writing artifacts. A convergent parallel mixed methods design was used to answer the research questions. To analyze the quantitative data, a paired samples t-test was conducted for the pre- and post-assessment scores on the writing self-efficacy survey and the inverted pyramid assessment. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the quantitative findings. Inductive analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data and to develop themes from student responses from interviews and the student peer feedback collected from writing artifacts. Findings showed that performing peer review showed an impact on participants’ writing self-efficacy, with an increase in participants’ scores on the post-intervention survey over the pre-intervention survey. In their post intervention interviews, participants said they perceived they were improved writers with enhanced skills to carry forward. Findings showed that performing peer review had an impact on writing performance, with an increase in participants’ scores on the post-assessment over the pre-assessment. In their interviews, participants reported that performing peer review had an impact on their writing performance. Participants’ comments on their peers’ work showed command of the writing techniques from the course, featuring the vocabulary and methods of the discipline of mass communications writing. Implications are discussed, as well as limitations of the study and recommendations for future researchers and faculty
Positive Self-Talk, Politics, and Poetry: The Impact of a Culturally Responsive Workshop in a High School Support Lab
No full textThis action research dissertation describes my effort to expand access to the arts for my high school students with IEPs through a culturally responsive poetry workshop. For this qualitative study, I used ongoing content analysis to explore how the experience impacted my students and me, drawing insights from artifacts, field notes, and interview data. Predetermined categories of student identity, writing, and poetry yielded themes like positive self-talk, family, voice, and reimagining to illuminate the students’ experiences. As I analyzed my own experience, two categories of pressure and political impact emerged, characterized by freedom, growth, struggle, burnout, and hope. In addition to describing the workshop and elaborating on these outcomes, I discuss the implications of the study. Specific recommendations include incorporating poetry in everyday instruction across content areas, artist-teacher retreats in the summer to promote collaboration, and designating a role for a special education arts facilitator at the district level to provide enriching arts experiences across schools
Catastrophic Injury and Sudden Death in Sport: The Intersection of Injury, Policy, and Law
No full textBackground: Sport participation among youth and collegiates remains high, elevating concerns regarding player safety. Particularly in emerging women’s and non-football sports, where catastrophic injuries, though rare, can have devastating/fatal consequences. A critical need exists to enhance understanding of the role of sport-related safety policies, injury trends, and litigation in informing effective prevention strategies. Purpose: This dissertation aimed to (1) assess the impact of safety rules and policy changes on injury outcomes in women’s lacrosse, (2) describe the epidemiology of catastrophic head and neck injuries (CHNI) in non-football sports, and (3) characterize the frequency of litigation evidence following sport-related athlete fatalities. Methods: Three retrospective investigations were conducted. A scoping review adhering to Joanna Briggs Institute and PRISMA-Scoping Review guidelines summarized 11 sources on safety policies in women’s lacrosse. A secondary analysis of 470 CHNI cases reported to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research (NCCSIR) between 1982-2022 examined epidemiologic characteristics and rates. A review of 1,222 sport-related fatalities from NCCSIR (1982–2021) assessed athlete demographics, cause of death, and evidence of litigation. Results: (1) Protective eyewear mandates in women’s lacrosse led to significant reductions in eye/face injuries across three studies, while headgear interventions yielded mixed results, with reductions in concussion rates in some and increased head-impact frequencies in others. (2) The eligible CHNI events captured 17 unique sports. Most injuries transpired in those who were male (69.4%, n= 326), an average age of 17 ± 2, and competed at the high school level (76.1%, n=358). Permanent-disability (38.7%, n=182), and fatality (12.6%, n=59) represented over 50% of outcomes. Of CHNI, Traumatic brain (33.5%, n=107/326) and spine fractures (34.1%, n=111/326) were most frequent in males, and traumatic brain (34.0%, n=49/144) and other traumatic injuries (i.e., nerve injury, facial fractures, etc. [33.3%, n=23/144]) were most frequently in females. (3) Evidence of litigation was discovered in 9% (n=112) of sport-related fatalities, predominantly involving sudden cardiac arrest (32%) and heat related injury (31%), with football accounting for 64.3% of litigated cases. Conclusions: These results highlight the impact of protective equipment mandates and underscore the importance of ongoing injury surveillance, emergency action planning, and the development/implementation of policies and procedures to enhance athlete safety and mitigate catastrophic injuries and litigation risks
Microstructure and Defects of AA6061 in the Laser Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing
No full textAA6061 is a widely used aluminum alloy known for its excellent thermal conductivity, strength, and corrosion resistance. However, its application in Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing is restricted by solidification cracking and porosity. This study examines defect formation, microstructural evolution, and precipitate behavior in AA6061 processed under various LPBF conditions, including room temperature and heated substrates (500°C), as well as pulsed wave laser configurations. Microstructural characterization was conducted using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
A maximum relative density of 99.17% was achieved in fabricated cubes with room temperature substrate, which is the highest reported in literature. This study confirmed that solidification cracks propagated along grain boundaries and were mostly influenced by laser speed. A new type of pore was revealed under high energy density ( \u3e150 J/mm3) conditions, owing to vaporization and denudation effects. Detailed TEM analysis revealed that nano-sized β (AlFeSi) precipitates form in all as-build process conditions. T6 heat treatment promotes uniform precipitate distribution with the presence of coherent Mg₂Si, and phase transformation of β to α (Al(Fe,Mn,Cr)Si), leading to a significant (\u3e102%) increase in yield strength. With 500°C of substrate, crack formation is significantly suppressed with area fractions to below 0.7% from all the process conditions explored. Coarser Mg₂Si precipitates formed at both low and high power, with α-phase precipitates suggesting in situ heat treatment. T6 treatment dissolved incoherent Mg₂Si, forming coherent β precipitates and increasing yield strength by 400%. Furthermore, to facilitate the quantification of process parameters, bead-on-plate experiments, guided by numerical simulations, were performed to correlate the printability of cubic samples. Increased hatch spacing reduced porosity but intensified cracking under high energy densities (\u3e105 J/mm3), whereas low energy density conditions exhibited the opposite trend. A novel exploration of a pulsed wave laser revealed new mechanisms for engineering microstructures, including both grain size and subgrain microstructure, in LPBF. The presence of multiple melt pool boundaries under a low-duty cycle correlates directly with the degree of grain refinement achieved, which further facilitates uniform subgrain cellular cell size and segregation across the melt pool. By implementing a high frequency and duty cycle, the pulsed laser can exhibit behavior akin to the continuous laser with even higher energy input, yielding grain coarsening.
This study provides detailed characterization and comprehensive understanding of the microstructure and defect formation in AA6061 in LPBF. It explores viable strategies, including heated substrate and pulsed laser, to tailor microstructure and mitigate solidification cracking without altering alloy chemistry, advancing additive manufacturing processes to achieve desired material properties
The Effects of Nonlinear Pedagogy on Student Learning and Performance in Middle School Physical Education
No full textThe purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the effectiveness of an instructional framework that integrated nonlinear pedagogy (NP) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) on the motor performance of students in middle school physical education. Three studies were conducted to examine (1) the broader empirical evidence supporting NP, (2) the feasibility and effects of an NP-UDL intervention in middle school physical education, and (3) how implementation fidelity influenced student outcomes.
The purpose of study 1 was to systematically review and meta-analyze experimental research comparing NP to linear pedagogy on the motor competence (MC) outcomes in youth physical education and sport. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. A random-effects meta-analysis revealed a statistically significant moderate pooled effect size in favor of NP (Hedges’ g = 0.45, 95% CI[0.28, 0.63], p \u3c .001). Heterogeneity was moderate (I² = 48.6%), and there was no evidence of publication bias. Therefore, NP is more effective than linear approaches in promoting MC among youth, supporting further investigation of NP in school physical education in the United States.
The purpose of study 2 was to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of an NP-UDL intervention using a modified Solomon four-group design. Participants included 424 middle school students (ages 10–12 years), 18.6% of whom had a documented disability. Students were assigned to one of four conditions: expert-led NP-UDL, ecological NP-UDL, a traditional soccer curriculum, or a no-treatment control group. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant time × group interaction for the Loughborough Soccer Passing Test (LSPT), F(2, 282) = 18.13, p \u3c .001, η²p = .114. Post hoc tests indicated that both NP-UDL groups outperformed the traditional and control groups at posttest. Similarly, a significant time × group interaction was found for the Kick and Receive test, F(2, 280) = 9.41, p \u3c .001, η²p = .063. Again, both NP-UDL groups improved significantly more than the traditional and control groups. These findings provide support for the feasibility and effectiveness of the NP-UDL intervention in general middle school physical education settings.
The purpose of study 3 was to examine whether teacher implementation fidelity predicted student motor performance outcomes within the NP-UDL intervention. Fidelity was assessed and calculated weekly for each group using 14 criteria important to delivering the NP-UDL intervention. A two-level hierarchical linear model revealed that higher fidelity significantly predicted improvement in LSPT penalty time, F(1, 89) = 4.56, p = .036. Thus, for every 0.10 (10%) increase in fidelity, students demonstrated an estimated 12.06-second reduction in penalty time, B = 120.60, SE = 70.98.
Together, these studies provide emerging empirical support for NP-UDL as a viable pedagogical approach that enhances motor performance outcomes for students with and without disabilities in middle school physical education. These data have the potential to reform pedagogical practices in general physical education and develop future practitioners in physical education teacher education programs
Multi-Task Deep Learning Approach for Segmenting and Classifying Competitive Swimming Activities Using a Single IMU
No full textCompetitive swimming performance analysis has traditionally relied on manual video review and multi-sensor systems, both of which are resource-intensive and impractical for everyday training use. This study investigates whether a single wrist-worn inertial measurement unit (IMU) can be used to automatically segment and classify swimming activities with high accuracy. We propose a multi-task deep learning pipeline based on the MTHARS (Multi-Task Human Activity Recognition and Segmentation) architecture introduced by Duan et al. to perform stroke classification, lap segmentation, stroke count estimation, and underwater kick count estimation. Data were collected from eleven collegiate-level swimmers wearing left-wrist-mounted IMUs, each performing five 100-yard sets per stroke (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley) in a 25-yard pool. This pipeline delivers a reliable multi-metric evaluation while significantly reducing the complexity and cost of sensor setups. In leave-one-subject-out validation, the accelerometer-only model achieved a micro-F₁ of 0.7405 (macro-F₁ 0.5894), which improved to 0.7709 (macro-F₁ 0.6565) when gyroscope data were added. This work contributes to the growing field of wearable-based athlete monitoring and has the potential to empower coaches and athletes with real-time, fine-grained performance feedback in competitive swimming using minimal hardware