Digital Commons Network^™

At-Risk Children: Adult Perception And Recognition Of Mental Health Concerns, Abby D. Lucas

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Approximately 20% of children ages nine to 17 in the United States struggle with mental health concerns each year (Gamm et al., 2010). Early identification of child and adolescent mental health concerns is crucial for initiating treatment to prevent recurrence or persistence of pathology into adulthood (Logan & King, 2001). Children are primarily dependent upon adults in their lives (e.g., parents/caregivers, education professionals, healthcare providers) to recognize mental health concerns and seek services (Sayal et al., 2010). Providing these adults with guidance on how to appropriately identify and recognize these mental health needs in children is critical (Crouch et al., …

Development Of A Novel Measure To Assess For Alcohol Misuse In Older Adults: The Alcohol Misuse Scale For Older Adults (Amsoa), Nathan Jensen

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Alcohol is the most regularly used intoxicating substance in most geographic locations. Alcohol use in the United States specifically is well over global averages. While alcohol misuse is generally considered to be understood as a problem for younger adults, it is often unrecognized and understudied older adult populations. Currently, there is an absence of a comprehensive tool measuring for developmentally salient behaviors, symptoms, and features of alcohol misuse in older adulthood, which blocks researchers’ ability to measure alcohol misuse well. The purpose of this study is to develop a psychometrically valid and reliable assessment of alcohol misuse for older adult …

Reflector Magazine, Georgia Southern University

Reflector Magazine

• Message from the Editors
• What does Inclusivity mean to You
• Virginia Curvy Boutique
• Definition of Inclusivity
• Hear and See
• Gender Minority Closet
• Future of Inclusivity

Ethics In Literature: A Case Study Of Hades And Persephone, Mckenzie A. Howard

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The increased ethical scrutiny on art in the modern era places an emphasis on how those art forms are being taught in the classroom. This thesis seeks to answer the question: how do we teach ethics, if we should at all, when we teach literature to a modern audience? This thesis explores this question by looking at how modern adaptations of an ancient text, the “Hymn to Demeter,” change the ethical issues in the original text, to show the relevance of these issues in the source text and the modern adaptations. Through an argument that the ethical concerns are often …

"Shut Down And Closed Off": A Routine Activity Approach To Investigating The Relationship Between Covid-19 School Closures And Child Sexual Abuse Report Characteristics In Georgia, Spencer E. Riner

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 created a public health crisis that led to an unprecedented number of school closures. A major concern raised by child advocates, law enforcement, and social service providers was the possible increase in undetected child abuse and maltreatment. Undergirding this concern was the belief that this mitigation effort might place child abuse victims and offenders within proximity for extended periods of time. While this was a significant concern, it has rarely been analyzed empirically. To address this gap in the literature, this thesis investigates how school closures impacted the characteristics of child sexual abuse (CSA) reports …

Encapsulating Scars, Ashley Smith

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

My work explores scars through encapsulation, a desire to enclose and express the emotional scars of memories or physical scars of the body. Life’s experiences impact the living, leaving behind scars that we feel the need to understand. Through the mediums of metal and mixed-media photography, I utilize found and created imagery, as well as a triality of text in order to preserve and remember these scars.

The Relation Between Disordered Eating And Perceived Stress, Tori E. Byars

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Disordered eating behavior encompasses a spectrum of maladaptive eating patterns, including emotional eating, binging, restricting, and other similar behaviors. Perceived stress is the extent that an individual perceives their demands exceed their ability to cope. Existing research has demonstrated a positive relation between high ratings of perceived stress and disordered eating behaviors (King et al., 2009; Skead et al., 2018). The current study aimed to expand this research by examining the relation between disordered eating and stress in students, workers, and those who partake in both commitments. Utilizing a single survey, participants completed assessments including the Perceived Stress Scale, the …

Examining The Relationship Between Puberty And Trauma Symptomatology, Justina M. Harsche

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study sought to examine the relation between puberty and trauma symptomatology in young adults. More specifically, does it matter what developmental period one is in when trauma occurs? Additionally, geographical region was examined as it relates to receiving and reporting mental health services and later trauma symptoms. Using data from 362 students at Georgia Southern University, multiple analyses were conducted. A Moderation Analysis where adverse events served as the predictor, trauma symptomatology as the outcome variable, and the developmental period in which the trauma occurred as the moderator was conducted. The interactions for this hypothesis were not significant. However, …

Chronic Training Load And Dorsiflexion Range Of Motion Throughout A Season In Professional American Soccer, Tristan L. Young

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Soccer has an incredibly complex movement profile. Players experience various types of strains on their body from the requirement to land in awkward positions while maintaining the ability to quickly accelerate and decelerate. Dorsiflexion range of motion (DFROM) is of concern due to the movement profile and ball control that requires constant eccentric and concentric actions at the talocrural joint. With an American soccer season spanning across nine months these demands can contribute to overuse, which has been linked to restricted range of motion. Restricted DFROM and asymmetries have been identified as injury predictors, but their relationship to performance has …

Performing Holt-Winters Time Series Forecasting Using Neural Network Based Models, Kazeem Olanrewaju Bankole

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

We show how to create Artificial Neural Network based models for performing the well- known Holt-Winters time series analysis. Our work fares well compared to the well-known Holt-Winter time series prediction method while avoiding the burden of searching for the parameters of the model. We present the theoretical justification of the connection between the two models and experimental results showing the similarities of these models

A Novel Magnetorheological Pump Concept For Insulin Delivery, Mohammad Towhidul Islam Rimon

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Over the past 25 years, awareness of type 1 diabetes has significantly increased, leading to a comprehensive understanding of various aspects, including its genetics, epidemiology, and disease burden. According to the Type 1 Diabetic Index, about 8.7 million people around the world live with this long-term autoimmune disease characterized by insulin deficiency and resultant hyperglycemia. However, the increased availability and utilization of artificial pancreas systems could potentially save 673,000 lives by 2040. Although, the advancement of diabetes technology offers Type 1 diabetic patients more tools to enhance glycemic management and achieve effective outcomes, many patients are still hesitant to adopt …

Assessing Performance Optimization Strategies In Cloud-Native Environments Through Containerization And Orchestration Analysis, Daniel E. Ukene

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis comprises three distinct, yet interconnected studies addressing critical aspects of web infrastructure management. We begin by studying containerization via Docker and its impact on web server performance, focusing on Apache and Nginx hosted on virtualized environments. Through meticulous load testing and analysis, we provide insights into the comparative performance of these servers, adding users of this technology know which webservers to leverage when hosting their webservice along alongside the infrastructure to host it on. Next, we expand our focus to examine the performance of caching systems, namely Redis and Memcached, across traditional VMs and Docker containers. By comparing …

There And Back Again: Nick Adams' Masculine Journey From 'Indian Camp' To 'Fathers And Sons.', Michael F. Basista

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In the following paper, I discuss how Ernest Hemingway’s hyper-masculine persona influences how his male characters are interpreted by some readers. More specifically, I take the character of Nick Adams and look at him as being a representation of one of Hemingway’s male characters that diverges from the hyper-masculine persona that Hemingway had created for himself. To do so, I focus on eight of Hemingway’s short stories, with those being “Indian Camp,” “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife,” “Ten Indians,” “The End of Something,” “The Three-Day Blow,” “The Battler,” “Cross-Country Snow,” and “Fathers and Sons.” The development of Nick Adams …

Neo Retro: Rapid Prototyping And The Evolving Role Of Artistic Practice, Robert D. Miller

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

My art is always executed with a timeline in mind. I am influenced by a world as it exists in the distance past, the recent past, the present (with all its multifaceted complexities), and the near future (as it applies to my legacy after I'm gone), as well as the distance future. Time and space – to me - are all part of a grand narrative. The art that I create is an indexical gesture of my creative processes and these creative processes are reflected in the imagery that I create as well as the materials I use for my …

Characterization Of Carbon Nanotube/Polystyrene Composites Prepared Via Microwave-Induced Polymerization, Hubert Agamasu

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), with their excellent mechanical properties, are well suited to the production of composites with good strength-to-weight ratio. However, the use of nanotubes as reinforcement is hampered by the lack of interaction between their inert surfaces and matrices. This, coupled with the van der Waal’s interactions between individual nanotubes, leads to agglomeration of CNTs in media. Functionalization is an efficient means to disperse nanotubes as well as increase their reactivity. The irradiation of CNTs with microwaves generates instantaneous, localized heating, being used in this work to trigger the rapid, thermal, free radical polymerization of styrene. Under microwaves, olefin-functionalized …

Georgia Southern Libraries Annual Report 2023 - 2024, Georgia Southern University Libraries

Library Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

2024 Georgia Southern University Women's Soccer Media Guide, Georgia Southern University

Women's Soccer Records

No abstract provided.

2024 Georgia Southern University Softball Statistics, Georgia Southern University

Women's Softball Records

No abstract provided.

2023-2024 Georgia Southern University Women's Rifle Roster, Georgia Southern University

Women's Rifle Records

No abstract provided.

2023-2024 Georgia Southern University Women's Rifle Statistics, Georgia Southern University

Women's Rifle Records

No abstract provided.

Unlocking The Power Of Ketogenic Diets: Evidence-Based Insights Into Weight Loss, Diabetes, And Beyond, Doreen Ugwu, Ana M. Palacios

Eagles Talking About the Public’s Health

No abstract provided.

Damsels In Distress: How Misogynistic Views Affect Chronic Pain Diagnosis In Women, Jessica Guerrette, Olivia A. Sheppard, Logan Cowan

Eagles Talking About the Public’s Health

No abstract provided.

Material And Making: An Exploration Of Georgia Wild Clays, Nina Samuels

Honors College Theses

Wild clay is an abundant and diverse material that has a long history with both utilitarian and decorative uses. Since the industrial revolution, processed and manufactured clay bodies have become commonplace. However, there has been a recent resurgence in the use of wild clays in contemporary ceramic practices for the purposes of material connection, accessibility, and sustainability.

This thesis explores the abundant wild clays of Georgia including the sourcing, processing, testing, of these materials. It also shows examples of the portfolio of work that was created with this research.

The Portrayals Of Trans Athlete Accomplishments In Newspapers, Sierra L. Davidson

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between events related to trans athletes and their portrayal in the media. This research project focuses on the accomplishment of one trans athlete, Lia Thomas, winning a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 swimming championship in 2022. Articles from three newspapers of differing biases: The Washington Post, USA Today, and Washington Examiner, and one local newspaper of Thomas’ competing state, Philadelphia Daily News, were used in this analysis. Emerging themes were identified and codes were developed. These recurring themes and codes revealed differences in how newspapers reported on this …

The Effect Of Lighting In Higher Education Classrooms On College Students, Caitlin M. Nelms

Honors College Theses

Classroom lighting design is important for student learning outcomes, and can have a negative effect on the physiological states of students. Interior lighting design needs to include appropriate layers of artificial and daylighting. Previous models have shown that artificial lighting can be altered to give off the same effect of natural daylight. Studies have also shown that natural lighting has a positive effect on the productivity of students in a classroom environment. Data was collected by surveying students in a classroom with no natural lighting to see how they felt in the room and if they have any lighting recommendations …

Increase Foster Student Success Through Resource Pedagogy, Madison Nudo

Honors College Theses

The perception of students in foster care is often negative, potentially leading to significant effects on their educational journey. The purpose of the study is to provide accurate and practical solutions to combat the obstacles that may face students in foster care. By conducting interviews with school personnel and related stakeholders, we propose steps to enhance the education of students who have experienced displacement from their birth homes. This includes shifting the perception of these students to a positive and realistic standpoint, using resource pedagogy to bridge the gap between existing perspectives and emerging ones.

Run Boys Run: Historical Markers Of Sherman's March To The Sea, Whitley A. Gatch

Honors College Theses

Georgia's historical markers highlight significant events in Georgia's history in the location where they happened– they are meant to be understood and consumed by the general public. Due to the widespread development of the Lost Cause narrative in the post-Confederate South, particularly during the 1950s and 1960s, historical markers concerning Sherman's March to the Sea contain many false notions about General Sherman and his Union soldiers. Focusing on historical markers in Georgia's Coastal Plain and Low Country, this study analyzes the memorialization of the march and the impact of an invented mythico-history on the narrative portrayed as such falsehoods perpetuate …

Intercultural Competence And Personality In Study Abroad Students, Wilkes W. Jones

Honors College Theses

This study aimed to replicate and extend on previous research demonstrating that international study-abroad experiences can alter a plethora of culturally related views and attitudes associated with intercultural competence. Moreover, studying abroad has been shown to make students more knowledgeable of, compassionate toward. and skilled when working with people from other cultures. Additionally, previous research has provided evidence that some Big Five personality traits can predict scores on intercultural competence measures, suggesting that some individuals may be more open to the potential benefits of studying abroad more than others. For this study, I hypothesized that from before to after studying …

Generation Z'S Use Of User-Generated Content For Travel Advice, Emmie Kay Hudson

Honors College Theses

This research project examines Generation Z’s use of TikTok’s and YouTube’s user-generated content (UGC) for travel advice related to accommodation, activities, cuisine, and other tourist practices. As this generation ages and enters the consumer market, continued research is needed to implement marketing strategies with the most significant influence. This study will examine the younger generations' behaviors and help the tourism industry understand its rising target market in comparison to Generations X and Y. This study is conducted through a non-experimental systematic literature review of the subject. This research provides information from various sources on topics such as Generation Z, TikTok, …

Correlates Of Celebrity Worship And Materialism, Caitlin T. Davis

Honors College Theses

The proposed study will further examine the relationship between celebrity admiration and narcissism. The proposed study will also examine the relationship of the variables to materialism. Finally, this study will examine how the extent to which one perceives themselves to be similar in some respect to their favorite celebrity correlates with the aforementioned variables. We expect that there will be positive relationships among the variables such that greater celebrity worship is associated with higher narcissism, materialism, and perceived similarity with one’s favorite celebrity.