Digital Commons Network^™

Cloaked Trannies On The Silver Screen: "Evolutionary Derangement" And Cronenberg's Approach To Shaping A Critical Mindset Towards Trans Bodies, John David Hunter

All Theses

This thesis engages David Cronenberg’s 2022 film, Crimes of the Future, analyzing the text through the lens of Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensten) as a transgender allegory. Through this, the project investigates the way in which Cronenberg’s text visually creates a Deleuzian language of the body, which is the body of becoming. This queer analysis of the film does so by utilizing the perspective of the trans body, through the character of Tenser, which more clearly illustrates the human body as one which is in a continual process of evolution. Following in the footsteps of scholars such as Susan …

Under The Genovese Sun: Interior Finish Analysis On The Clemson Architectural Foundation Charles E. Daniel Center For Building Research And Urban Studies Villa, Anna Gehring

All Theses

This research examines the early interior finishes of the Clemson Architectural Foundation (CAF) Charles E. Daniel Center for Building Research and Urban Studies villa in Genoa, Italy. The research develops a process to suggest the period one interior paint scheme. Purchased by Clemson in 1973, the villa possesses much of its architectural integrity, but lacks information of its original interior fabric. Secondary sources establish a circa 1899 construction date for the building. Thus, the research question is: what best practice investigation, testing, and research methods should a preservationist use to discover the first period interior finishes for the late 19 …

By The Devil’S Grace: Zofloya’S Victoria And The Recontextualizing Of A Protagonist, Katherine Woods

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Focusing on Victoria, the protagonist of Charlotte Dacre’s Zofloya, or The Moor, this paper seeks to reclaim and recontextualize her. I embrace the troubling nature of Victoria by focusing on how “evil”, as well as other negative labels, function in the text in reference to her. Resisting a morality centered reading, this paper then explores Victoria's evil expressed through her body in conversation with conventions of monstrousness. I then explore Victoria’s relationship with her mother as a complication to both her arc and the novel’s treatment of female characters overall. Victoria offers not only new ways of approaching similar Gothic …

The Grove, Sabrina Blanchard

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Something Old, Something Blue: An Analysis Of Identification Methods For Determining The Presence Of Indigo Within Historic Textiles For The Charleston Museum, Chris Cone

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Identification methods for the analysis of indigo dye within textiles have been compiled in multiple studies. Though few examples demonstrate chemical analysis and phase separation as a technique that can assist in the identity of the dyestuff. The inclusion of nontechnical methods, techniques that require little knowledge of chemistry and can be completed without the assistance of high-tech machinery, can contribute toward these efforts. The goal of this thesis was to provide a simple testing procedure where eight historic textile samples dating from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries were subjected to chemical analysis and phase separation to determine the …

Low-Resource Icd Coding Of Discharge Summaries, Ashton Williamson

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Medical coding is the process by which standardized medical codes are assigned to patient health records. This is a complex and challenging task that typically requires an expert human coder to review health records and assign codes from a classification system based on a standard set of rules. Considering the downstream use of these codes in statistical analysis, billing, and patient care, improving the accuracy and efficiency of the medical coding process through automation could have a far-reaching impact on the healthcare domain. Since health records typically consist of a large proportion of free-text documents, this problem has traditionally been …

Playing Myself: The Gothic's Challenge To Audience Identity, Elena Durant

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This thesis presents close readings of the 2015 video game Bloodborne and Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey in order to illuminate how the Gothic genre challenges identity. Both Bloodborne and Northanger Abbey respond to their genres and are preoccupied with the ways that their audiences might interact with them. Bloodborne’s gameplay directly incentivizes players to reflect on the way that they play the game. Northanger Abbey is a parody of the Gothic novel that reflects just as much on the idea of the reader as it does on the conventions of the genre it parodies. Both of these works are …

The Machine In The Rice Field: A Spatial Analysis Of Mechanized Rice Processing Infrastructure Along The Cooper River, 1780 - 1830, Jacob Hockenberry

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This thesis examines the spatial and physical characteristics of mechanized rice processing infrastructure along the Cooper River in South Carolina’s Lowcountry between 1780 and 1830. Historic rice plantation plats and modern geospatial data provided new information regarding the location of rice processing machines in relation to other plantation landscape features. This research analyzed seven rice plantations that contained these machines. Each plantation plat was georeferenced using ArcGIS Pro to support a detailed spatial analysis of these processing sites. While literature has extensively detailed the social, economic, environmental and enslaved aspects of rice culture in the Lowcountry, little research has specifically …

Fragile: Handle With Care A Conversation On Trauma, Flashbacks, And Seeing A Therapist When You Need One, Gloria Aragon

All Theses

The primary content of this creative thesis is a complete manuscript titled Fragile. This is a work of realistic fiction with a central theme of childhood trauma. Additionally, this thesis contains a critical essay entitled, “Moving On: A Discussion on Flashbacks and Childhood Trauma in Fiction”.

Tracking The "Soiled Doves": A Cultural Landscape Of Sex Work In Charleston, South Carolina From 1880-1939, Rachel Fore

All Theses

Sex work in the United States has become a more widely studied subject in the last twenty years. Most of these studies focus on the historical or archaeological evidence left behind by sex workers. Many of these studies focus most heavily on sex work in the western United States. Studies have looked through a variety of different lenses including gender, race, and economic impact. Despite these varied lenses, little attention has been paid to sex work in Southern cities such as Charleston, South Carolina. The purpose of this thesis is to add to the basic understanding of the prevalence, placement, …

Depths Of Perception, Connor Matthews

All Theses

This thesis contains the first four chapters of a novel named Depths of Perception (working title), as well as a short critical essay detailing the process of creating the chapters as well as other literary influences that impacted the construction of the work. The focus of this thesis is on the use of shifting point of view to tell a story from a multitude of character’s perspectives. While this is not a new concept, I aim to derive a deeper understanding of the importance of being able to access the perspectives of a large cast of characters. Allowing the reader …

Children Of The Grave: The Rise, Fall, And Experience Of Heavy Metal Music During The Latter Cold War From 1969-1991, Shelby Sibert

All Theses

The Cold War era saw the emergence of many different pop culture phenomena. Some were political, such as the Punk Rock and Hippie movements. Others were fashionable trends like Disco. However, Heavy Metal music is unique due to its opaque origins, skyrocketing popularity, and final disappearance after the end of the Cold War. Heavy Metal had a direct relationship with reflecting the fears and anxieties of the late Cold War period. It was a direct response to the Hippie activist counterculture rock n' roll of the 1960s, and it charters a new path of rock n' roll in the process. …

“Caroline”: Deviance In Southern Women’S Poetry, Sage Aspyn Short

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Deviance in Southern women’s poetry can be characterized by uncertainty, religious images, and through the telling of stories often unheard of, forgotten, or erased, like racial and gendered violence. Glenis Redmond’s poetry in The Listening Skin and What My Hand Say both explore Southern womanhood alongside race, history, violence, illness, and legacy, among other themes and topics. In Caroline: Poems some deviances include religious metaphors alongside obsessive compulsive disorder, excessive cursing from a woman speaker, and historical graveyard musings. Critical texts about lyric theory and voice provide some background and historical significance to be used in this contemporary study and …

Identity War: World War I Through The Lens Of Carl Schmitt And Ideology, Charles Zambito

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This thesis will examine World War I from an ideological perspective through the lens of Carl Schmitt. The Central Powers and in particular how Germany represented Romanticism,Social Darwinism,militarism,and tradition more broadly; at the same time however Germany also paradoxically represented modernism and nationalism sometimes called Reactionary Modernism as all of these ideas were the key to German unification in 1871. The Entente powers and especially France and Britain represented liberalism,empiricism,rationalism, stoicism, and internationalism. The philosophical ideas of stoicism and classicism can especially be seen in Britain where the idea of a stiff upper lip and maintaining peace and order were …

“Home On The Phone”: How Black Students At A Pwi Use Digital Space To Form Community, Malaysia Barr

All Theses

College is a time when students are traditionally away from home in the hopes of not only securing a better future through higher education but have the ability to shape who they are as individuals. As Predominately White Institutions serve few minority students, this can prove to be challenging for them as they do not fit into the majority racial group. This thesis investigates how Black students at a PWI utilize the mobile app, GroupMe, as a method of connecting and networking within their racial community. Through focus groups and individual interviews, this study found that Black students use digital …

“Playing The Blame Game”: How Social Media Users Make Sense Of Coach-Athlete Sexual Violence And Institutional Betrayal, Claire Waddell

All Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how users of the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) responded to and assigned responsibility in two cases of coach-athlete sexual violence in elite North American sport. The cases of Kyle Beach, formerly of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League, and Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly, both formerly of the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League, were chosen for analysis because they represent the blending of (masculinized) sports culture and (feminized) sexual violence within the unique context of professional North American sports. A convenience sample of …

Meta-Analytic Investigations Of Team Development Interventions And Effectiveness, Sydney Begerowski

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Team development interventions (TDIs) are evidenced-based best practices that improve performance trajectories of teams. To date, various independent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of one type of TDI in improving effectiveness, but there has yet to be a cross-intervention assessment. Accordingly, the goal of this dissertation was to explore a subset of TDIs (team charters, team training, team debriefing) from a comparative lens. First, I conducted a series of pairwise meta-analyses across team charters, team training, and team debriefing to establish a TDI-effectiveness relationship. Findings were inconclusive regarding team charters, but suggested that team training and team debriefing significantly improve …

A Mixed Methods Study Of South Carolina Reading Policy On Teacher Knowledge, Matthew Ferguson

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This sequential explanatory mixed methods study examines the impact of the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) professional learning intervention on teacher knowledge within the context of South Carolina's reading policy.

Quantitative analyses of pre- and post-assessment data indicate significant improvements in teacher content knowledge of foundational literacy skills following LETRS training. Descriptive statistics and paired-samples t-tests demonstrate substantial gains in knowledge, particularly in Volume 1 of the LETRS curriculum. The study reveals notable increases in pre- and post-assessment scores, suggesting the effectiveness of LETRS in enhancing teacher expertise.

Qualitative findings from focus groups highlight the positive …

A Rhetorical-Sociological Understanding Of Emotion, Amy Boone

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This project presents a rhetorical-sociological understanding of emotion while foregrounding the place and role of language. Born from Sara Ahmed’s work in The Cultural Politics of Emotion, it presents a simplified equation (contact + orientation = emotion) as both a prescriptive and descriptive formula for making sense of human emotional experience. Starting with an exploration of the difficult-to-understand affect system, this dissertation identifies both rhetoric and affect as energies which cannot be understood apart from their traces, the things they move, produce, and become. As a way to get at these often-invisible forces, two trace studies are conducted which explore …

To The Torus And Beyond: An X-Ray Study Of Agn Tori Morphology, Andrealuna Pizzetti

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Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are among the Universe's most energetic and powerful objects, fueled by an accreting supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the host galaxy's center, surrounded by a toroidal structure of dusty gas. Ultraviolet photons arising from the accretion disk get up-scattered to X-rays via inverse Compton scattering by hot electrons close to the accretion disk. Being produced in the very center of the AGN, X-ray photons are powerful messengers that probe the physics of the accretion system and the matter in the surroundings. The torus, formerly considered homogeneous, appears to be a more complex structure of clouds with …

An Exploration Of The Efficacy Of Virtual Agents Within Smartphone Mental Health Applications, Stephanie Six

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The prevalence of depression in the U.S. has increased over the past decade, leading to an all-time-high during the COVID-19 pandemic (WHO, 2022). With this increase, the number of mental health applications (MHealth apps) on virtual e-stores increases in tandem. Despite this expanding number of MHealth apps, few demonstrate a foundation in empirical research. One design factor that may influence usability and effectiveness is the inclusion of virtual agents. Three studies were conducted to investigate users’ preferences for a variety of characteristics associated with virtual agents. In Experiment 1, users completed a single-session, three-stage CBT-based interaction with virtual characters and …

Experiences Of Vertical Transfer Students In The Department Of Biological Sciences With The Transfer Credit Process: A Phenomenological Study, Laura Love

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The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to highlight the experiences of undergraduate STEM vertical transfer students. Through the lens of Schlossberg’s Transition Theory, this study sought to better understand how students make sense of the transfer credit process and which support structures facilitated their understanding. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using qualitative methods with eight biological sciences and vertical transfer students currently enrolled at a large public four-year land-grant research institution in the Southeast United States. All participants had successfully transferred from one of 16 technical colleges within the state. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, three themes were identified. This …

Challenges Beyond Addiction: Maternal Experiences With Postpartum Substance Use Disorder Recovery And Perspectives Of Reproductive Healthcare Providers, Leah Holcomb

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Substance use disorders (SUD) impact millions of pregnant and postpartum people in the United States. With the increasing rates of perinatal substance use and the risk of overdose and death during the postpartum period, understanding overall functioning and the needs of postpartum persons is critical for informing interventions to reduce the impact of substance use within the perinatal period. The goal of this research is to explore the needs of postpartum people navigating SUD recovery.

This dissertation investigates postpartum maternal functioning within the context of early SUD recovery, as well as the comfort of reproductive healthcare providers (RHPs) to care …

Communication Of Oncology Genomics: Patients, Providers, And Artificial Intelligence, Lisa Stewart

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ABSTRACT This dissertation comprises five chapters concentrated on the communication of molecular profiling (MP) results between patients with cancer and oncology providers. Chapter I introduces MP and describes the significance of this testing. Chapter II is a state-of-the-art literature review focused on cancer patients’ expectations, knowledge, attitudes, satisfaction, and concerns regarding MP. Nineteen articles were reviewed, and findings revealed gaps in the communication process between patients and clinicians. Chapter III is a case study entitled “A Case for Caution: Patient Use of Artificial Intelligence.” In this case, pitfalls become apparent when a patient utilizes an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot as …

With Great Power: Using Comics To Facilitate Discussion Of Systemic Oppression In Higher Education Literature Classes, Keri Crist-Wagner

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Undergraduate student participation in general education classes constitutes a point of struggle for many educators, especially when it comes to lessons centered around systems of oppression like racism, sexism, or heterosexism. Using both constructivism and counter storytelling as theoretical frameworks, this multi-method phenomenological case study explored the experiences of undergraduate honors students in a semester long general education literature class. The purpose of this study was to 1) explore how comics can be used as a pedagogical tool in higher education classrooms to facilitate discussion of systems of oppression, 2) assess the ways in which students interacted with comics, and …

Examining Current Capacity Of Healthcare Systems: Identifying Potential Adaptations For Children And Youth With Special Healthcare Needs, Caitlin Koob

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Children and youth with special healthcare needs (CYSHCN) are a growing proportion of the pediatric population, accounting for 23% of children in South Carolina (SC). Children with medical complexity (CMC) are a subgroup of CYSHCN who experience the most complex conditions and comprise

This dissertation investigates equitable healthcare access, service quality, and health and well-being among CYSHCN and their families, within the context of SC’s healthcare system. Three studies make up this dissertation, focusing on various aspects of healthcare access and experiences of CYSHCN and their families.

Students Willing And Ready To Motivate To Graduate: An Alternative Pathway To Graduation, Laura Lusk

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With the continual decline of high school graduation rates in South Carolina, there is a need for high schools to look at alternative pathways to graduation. Many of the current alternatives offered to students remove them from the high school setting or interactions with the student body. This study focused on an alternative pathway to graduation, Students Willing and Ready to Motivate to Graduate (SWARM), offered at the high school during the regular school day to students in jeopardy of not graduating. This inclusive approach eliminated transportation barriers and access issues. Students attended school regularly, but one to four classes …

“How Are High School Counselors Prioritizing The Information Relevant To Stem Career Preparation In Their Communication With Stem-Interested African American Students?”, Wysheka Austin

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Although African Americans and other minoritized groups have gradually increased in the number of students graduating with a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degree over the years, these groups remain underrepresented in STEM. Among the many factors contributing to the lack of representation is “college readiness,” which includes academic preparation and awareness of the necessary steps needed for college admission and career preparation [5]. South Carolina policy only considers academic preparation in their assessment of college readiness. To measure academic preparation of any student, the state relies on standardized test scores and advanced course taking without regard to subject. …

Leaders In Science Education Communities, Jennifer Bateman

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This three paper dissertation investigates the role of the District Science Coordinator (DSC). Due to the lack of research, District Science Coordinators (DSCs) are frequently misidentified as Science Teacher Leaders (STLs). It is important to establish a clear distinction between the roles. This first paper explores the salient similarities and differences between STLs and DSCs, while also attending to their individual roles, responsibilities, and professional support.

This second paper examines how a synchronous, online professional learning (PL) experience resulted in the creation of a community of practice (CoP) among two different groups of participating district science coordinators (DSCs) and how …

Using Improvement Science And A Co-Teaching Model To Increase The Effects Of Evidence-Based Reading Intervention For High School Students Reading Below Grade Level Proficiency, Ashley Vaughn

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I conducted a single instrumental case study to address the problem of practice in which approximately one-third of students entering the ninth grade for the 2019-2020 school year in the study school district were reading below grade level proficiency. I chose an instrumental case study method because it allows for an in-depth examination of a situation within its real-life context. I opted for this approach because I sought to understand the problem of practice deeply and generate recommendations for practical application. By focusing on a single case, I could thoroughly explore the intricacies of the subject matter, providing valuable insights …