Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1986, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

The objective of this dissertation was to examine the burden and influence of food insecurity (FI) on disease condition among patients presenting with gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms suggestive of Disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGB) and GI motility disorders. This project aimed to reduce the critical gap in understanding the relationship between FI and GI disease, as well as gain insight on unmet health-related social needs (HRSN) in the GI patient population. This work aligns with growing national policy efforts towards establishing robust Social Care systems as an approach to advancing health equity and the reducing national burden of disease. Chapter 1 reviews FI as a multifaceted and persistent social problem that is highly sensitive to the experience of other HRSN. It also explains the mechanisms through which FI influences health outcomes. The specific aims for this work were to (1) Describe the burden of FI and its relation to often co-occurring HRSN and GI symptom burden among patients presenting at a GI dysmotility clinic (Chapter 2). and (2) Examine the relationship between FI risk, GI symptom profile, and presence/risk of co-morbid conditions known to be exacerbated by FI and closely linked with development and worsening of GI symptoms including: T1/2 DM and risk of eating disorders (ED) and mental health (MH) conditions (Chapters 3 and 4). Key findings and implications for future research and clinical practice and social care programming are summarized in Chapter 5.

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2024, Agricultural Communication, Education and Leadership

The COVID-19 pandemic thoroughly disrupted the U.S. food supply chain, ushered in a new set of social norms, and reoriented how individuals interacted with each other. A need to find how severely these phenomena changed during and since the pandemic continues to exist. Existing literature suggests significant shifts in social norms and social exchange occurred because of the pandemic. But a gap in research exists in understanding the nuances of these shifts and their continued alterations. This study sought to understand food purchasing behavior changes during the pandemic and how social exchange and adherence to pandemic-time social norms were valued. This study also created a comprehensive chart creating a timeline through the pandemic of how social exchange and social norms shifted through the pandemic. Through this study, an investigation of food purchasing trends and experiences from before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted. To examine social exchange and social norms, a non-experimental quantitative study was conducted using Social Exchange Theory and Social Norms as guides. A convenience sample of 419 primary U.S. household food purchasers was taken via online survey offered on Amazon's Mechanical Turk service. The results of this study indicate a significant relationship between time during the pandemic and adherence to social norms and willingness and desire of social exchange. Findings of this study suggest the pandemic caused temporary higher adherence to social norms and an eventual drop in social exchange. This study supported SN and SET through its findings of social norms adherence and social exchange changes in relation to social norms. Further research of the relationship between SET and SN during the pandemic and other crises should be conducted.

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2017, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

This thesis explores the relationship between architecture and social interaction. In today's society, the need for the built environment to encourage social interaction is more pertinent than ever. Social interactions are increasingly taking place through social media. Unfortunately, these interactions are less honest and meaningful than those that occur in person. Although technology has allowed social interactions to reach further, it has also decreased the quality and quantity of face-to-face social interactions. People have developed the tendency to retreat while in public, to rely on personal technology for entertainment, therefore denying the possibility of face-to-face social encounters. Space has the ability to either encourage or inhibit social interaction. Thus, architects have the responsibility to create social space. The relationship between architecture and social interaction is a topic that has been studied for years. This thesis introduces five influential thinkers and their opinions on the topic and demonstrates the importance of social space. In order to more effectively analyze the relationship between architecture and social interaction, this thesis focuses specifically on the mover: one who is in the process of moving to a new city. Unfamiliar with the geography, culture, and inhabitants of the city, the mover has a strong need for social interaction. After careful analysis of existing theories, typologies, precedents, and neighborhoods, this thesis defines design guidelines for creating social space. These guidelines are then implemented in the design of a transitional housing facility in Chicago, Illinois that addresses the needs of the mover and provides for the local community. The set of design strategies defined in this thesis are exemplified in the design of a transitional housing facility, but can be implemented in any architectural typology.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1986, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1975, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1973, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1962, Graduate School

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2015, Arts and Sciences: Psychology

Social interaction is not random. There is not a single prototypical social interaction; they are guided and functional. This begs the question, why do we interact with particular individuals initially and how to we maintain these interactions over time? How do we explain initiating social interactions and how do we explain interaction extended in time? Social-cognitive approaches to person perception argue that social cognition is the detecting particular types of person characteristics about others (i.e. sex and race) for use during interaction. Yet, this approach does not account for perceptual-motor processes like biological motion or coordination, which are known to impact social interaction broadly. The ecological perspective has been successful in explaining behavior in terms of perception and action. Here, social cognition is conceptualized as an emergent outcome of a nested system of agent-environment and agent-agent-environment perception action systems that realize behavioral opportunities for interaction—or said differently, social affordances. As both the social-cognitive and ecological approach have contributed to our understanding of initial interaction, this project combined these approaches to understand how movement and movement coordination relate to social cognition and a particular social affordance, interact-ability. It was expected that biological motion would specify invariant person characteristics (i.e. sex and race) and movement coordination would be associated with greater prosociality and interact-ability. To test these hypotheses I employed a mixed design in which participants coordinated with kinematic information or kinematic information embedded in body structure and subsequently made target characteristic judgments. Results indicated that movement kinematics were necessary but not sufficient for sex detection, and that kinematics embedded in body structure afforded more accurate detection. Race was not detectable from biological (open full item for complete abstract)

MDES, University of Cincinnati, 2015, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Design

This thesis begins by studying how people acquire news information. Acquiring news information has different definitions from users with different genders, age groups and backgrounds. The channels range from in-person communication, news reading to social networking. With the availability of emerging digital technologies, it has provided users with multiple usages with all the devices and software application options. The existing news reading patterns suggest that the experience varies based on personal, social and technological influences. Based on the insights from user interviews and overview of existing news applications, new design concepts were explored through co-design sessions. A new design application is proposed with a focus on social connections among readers as a filter to populate news content.

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2015, Engineering and Applied Science: Electrical Engineering

The understanding of human behaviors in the scope of computer vision is beneficial to many different areas. Although great achievement has been made, human behavior research investigations are still targeted on isolated, low-level, and individual activities without considering other important factors, such as human-human interactions, human-object interactions, social roles, and surrounding environments. Numerous publications focus on recognizing a small number of individual activities from body motion features with pattern recognition models, and are satisfied with small improvements of recognition rate. Furthermore, methods employed in these investigations are far from being suitable to be used in real cases considering the complexity of human society. In order to address the issue, more attention should be paid on cognition level rather than feature level. In fact, for a deeper understanding of social behavior, there is a need to study its semantic meanings against the social contexts, known as social interaction understanding. A framework for detecting social interaction needs to be established to initiate the study. In addition to individual body motions, more factors, including body motions, social roles, voice, related objects, environment, and other individuals' behaviors were added to the framework. To meet the needs, this dissertation study proposed a 4-layered hierarchical framework to mathematically model social interactions, and then explored several challenging applications based on the framework to demonstrate the great value of the study. There are no existing multimodality social interaction datasets available for this research. Thus, in Research Topic I, two typical scenes were created with a total of 24 takes (a take means a shot for a scene) as social interaction dataset. Topic II introduced a 4-layered hierarchical framework of social interactions, which contained 1) feature layer, 2) simple behavior layer, 3) behavior sequence layer, and 4) (open full item for complete abstract)

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2009, Education : Educational Studies

The purpose of this study was to examine how social interactions influenced the effects of Learning Communities (LCs) on college students' academic success. Previous research has shown that LC students are more socially integrated and perform better academically than non-LC students (Stassen, 2003). An ANCOVA and logistic regression on 946 first-year students found no group differences in GPA and that LC enrollment was not predictive of retention. The analyses controlled for demographic and entering academic characteristics. Results of analyzing interview transcripts revealed that students from both groups report the influence of social interactions on academic success in remarkably similar ways. Most interestingly, non-LC students often create social and study groups similar to LCs. Implications of the results and direction for future research are discussed.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2011, Industrial, Interior Visual Communication Design

Children with ASDs (Autism Spectrum Disorders) have different cognitive disorders. Social interaction is the most discussed area that they fail to establish and develop. Social skills help the child to establish his/her social interaction. This research proposes a set of patterns. In these patterns situation (problems and context) and design opportunities (solutions) of social skills for the children with ASD at the early ages will be discussed. These social skills and related issues are discussed in the proposed patterns: communication of needs and ideas, joint attention, entry/approach skills, eye contact, maintenance skills, play, social interaction, and emotional expression. Pattern language – uniform structure and format – was developed based on the literature review, informal observations and industrial design perspective on the issue; these patterns helped to present the problems and solutions of the social skills. First drafts of the patterns were discussed in sessions with parents and instructors of children with ASDs. Eight revised patterns are the final outcome of this research project to be used by the parents of children with ASDs, as well as by designers and experts or therapists who are involved in area of working with the children ASDs.

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2009, Sociology (Arts and Sciences)

This study involves a sociological analysis of complex group behavior within an emergent computer-mediated community. This examination focuses on interpersonal relations and interactions within the context of a message board forum devoted to the television program Lost. Implementing qualitative methods including an extended case approach, netnography, as well as a grounded-based coding scheme, the findings of this study indicate that interpersonal relationships in online communities are structured by several characteristics. More specifically, behavior within this community is shaped by the norms, barriers, and conflicts that are distinct to this environment. Outcomes of this study include the identification of a clear link between the process of knowledge construction and the development of social ties in relation to a popular culturally-shared text.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2006, American Culture Studies/Communication

"IRL (In Real Life): Breaking Down The Binary Of Online Versus Offline Social Interaction" examines the framework of "real versus virtual" that is often applied to studies of online social activity. This framework is often employed as a default in new media research, influencing a number of areas including the ongoing debate among scholars about whether or not the word "community" can be justly applied to a virtual group. The difficulty lies in the fact that few researchers have examined the framework in a critical context, in particular in the context of our larger narrative of the history of mass media technologies. This research begins with a detailed discussion of the real/virtual binary as a theoretical construct, in order to see if the idea of a sharp separation between online and offline activity is supportable. Having broken down the binary construct, this work turns to a case study of an online community known as "the Bronze," which existed from 1997 to 2001. By utilizing interviews and archival information, the case study examines the ways in which Internet users combine online and offline social activity seamlessly, the ways Internet forums can become integrated into daily activity rather than exist as exotic oases away from normal routines, and concludes with examples of the community organizing to deal with unwanted behavior, and also with a discussion of what the risk of deception in an online space means for the legitimacy of online social interaction.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2025, American Culture Studies

This dissertation explores the emotional dynamics of human-robot relationships through a case study of EMO, a commercially available social robot. Using Teresa Brennan's theory of affective transference and Kathy Charmaz's constructed grounded theory methodology, this study examines public forum discussions and a nearly year-long self-study to investigate how EMO owners describe their emotional attachments to their robots. The findings reveal surprising bonds that challenge traditional definitions of companionship, intimacy, and relational boundaries. A central contribution of this project is the development of the Personified Affective Transference Model (PATM), a new framework that positions social robots as co-participants in human emotional ecosystems. Rather than functioning as passive tools, robots like EMO actively shape users' emotional experiences through perceived reciprocity, social presence, and behavioral responsiveness. Thematic analysis of 59 user-generated posts shows that owners often experience EMO as a companion, more akin to a pet or friend than a device. This research contributes to American Cultural Studies by examining how social robots disrupt prevailing notions of authenticity, care, and emotional labor. By centering affect as a cultural and relational force, the dissertation expands scholarly conversations on presence, simulation, and human-machine intimacy in the digital age. It also connects human-robot interaction (HRI) to broader cultural and ethical questions. As social robots, like EMO, increasingly serve as sources of comfort and connection, they reconfigure expectations of care, complicate notions of consent and privacy, and challenge longstanding assumptions about who, or what, can perform affective labor. These shifts raise urgent questions about emotional dependency, the commodification of care, and the future of relationality in a technologized world.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1961, Graduate School

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2007, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2006, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2024, Biology

This dissertation investigates the sexually dimorphic expression of the nos gene, which encodes for the enzyme Nitric oxide synthase (NOS). NOS activation produces the gaseous signaling molecule nitric oxide (NO), which can impact immune function and behavior. Despite the crucial role of NO in insect physiology, the mechanisms underlying nos expression in both sexes and in different social environments remain poorly understood. Our primary aim was to elucidate the impact that a lack of social interaction can have on nos expression and immune function, providing new insights into insect physiology and behavior. We cloned and characterized the Ad-nos gene, revealing a close phylogenetic relationship with other orthopteran insects. Quantitative PCR analysis showed that early adult females exhibited significantly higher Ad-nos expression in nervous and thoracic fat body tissues than males, while males had higher expression in hemolymph. Following lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection, males showed increased Ad-nos expression in brain and hemolymph, whereas females showed elevated expression in fat bodies and hemolymph. These findings suggest sex-specific immune strategies, with males prioritizing cellular immunity and females employing both humoral and cellular responses. We also examined the effects of social interaction during different developmental stages on NO levels and immune function. Comparing adult-isolated and nymph-isolated crickets, we found significant sex-dependent differences in Ad-nos expression. Nymph-isolated females had higher Ad-nos expression in brain and hemolymph, while nymph-isolated males showed higher expression in brain fat body and thoracic fat body tissues. NO activity assays indicated lower activity in nymph-isolated crickets compared to adult-isolated crickets. In addition, nymph-isolated females had fewer circulating hemocyte than males, while males had higher hemolymph protein content. Survival analysis post-LPS injection showed that adult (open full item for complete abstract)