Digital Commons Network^™

Computational And Ai Tools For Understanding Telomere-Associated Cancer Mechanisms, Eleni Adam

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Telomeres are the protective caps of the human chromosomes and are critical for genome stability. Dysfunctional telomeres caused by their erosion with age and cell proliferation as well as by defects in their maintenance is a major early event leading to genome changes and cancer. Subtelomeres possess the critical role of regulating adjacent telomeres. Due to their complex repeat structure and high variance from one person to another, these areas have not been analyzed in detail. We present a set of computational and machine learning tools to aid in the understanding of subtelomere structure and its rearrangements in cancer.

Initially, …

Variability In Nutrient And Enterococcus Concentrations In Tidal Floodwater Across Watersheds With Different Land Uses, Alyssa Bucci

OES Theses and Dissertations

Tidal flooding is an increasingly pressing hazard in coastal Virginia due to sea level rise and land subsidence. The Hampton Roads region of Virginia has the second-highest rate of relative sea level rise in the United States and experiences frequent tidal flooding, but the water quality impacts of this flooding on the Chesapeake Bay are not being accounted for. High concentrations of dissolved nutrients and Enterococcus bacteria (a fecal indicator) have been observed in tidal floodwater of the Lafayette River, a tributary of the James River and the lower Chesapeake Bay. This study investigates variability in dissolved nutrient and Enterococcus …

Retention During Turbulent Times Of Higher Education: Modeling Intent To Leave Academia For Research University Faculty, Jordan Monroe Ball

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

University faculty operate as the lifeblood of any institution given that their job requires a “double duty” to develop both scholarly research and student minds. Due in large part to these expectations, research shows a long history of poor mental health for faculty, which ultimately results in faculty turnover. One model of faculty work motivation (Padilla et al., 2023) details the way in which the faculty work environment influences their mental health, and subsequently informs their job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intent to leave academia, which serves as a proxy for turnover. Retention related issues have not been a pressing …

Residual Stress Informed Reconstruction And Failure Analysis Of Manufacturing Induced Composite Meso-Structure, Mohammad Nazmus Saquib

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A physics informed, AI-augmented framework is developed to enable digital twins of molded composite materials by linking manufacturing induced residual stresses to a local meso-structure. By reconstructing and explicitly modeling these architectures, the framework reveals how processing driven meso-structural variability governs stiffness, damage evolution, and failure. The work focuses on two technologically important systems: prepreg platelet molded composites (PPMC), characterized by inherently stochastic platelet architectures, and 2/2 twill glass fiber/PA6 organosheets, whose periodic but locally variable weave geometry influences mechanical response. For PPMC, the Residual Stress Informed Microstructure Reconstruction (ResIMiR) framework is introduced, combining thermoelastic strain fields with deep learning …

Faculty Conceptualizations Of Recreational Therapy And Disability: Influences On The Formal, Hidden, And Null Curricula In Undergraduate Recreational Therapy Education, Shelly Lynne Beaver

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Undergraduate education is a bedrock of professional preparation for entry-level recreational therapists, shaping their scope of practice, philosophical orientations, and approaches to service delivery. While significant attention has been given to the development of a formal recreational therapy curriculum – explicitly taught knowledge, skills, and competencies – little is known about the hidden and null curricula that may implicitly or unintentionally shape students’ professional identities, values, and beliefs. While these less explicit curricular dimensions may have profound effects on how preservice recreational therapists conceptualize both recreational therapy and disability, their impact remains largely unknown. Therefore, the aim of this research …

Effects Of Beverage Color During Mouth Rinsing On Measures Of Muscular Endurance, Muscular Strength, And Exercise Perceptions During Isometric Handgrip Testing, Sydney Andrews

Exercise Science Theses & Dissertations

Previous research has shown that color can influence psychological responses, physiological responses, and exercise performance. These effects have been previously attributed to learned associations or expectations which may influence exercise-related outcomes. This study aimed to investigate whether beverage color influences muscular performance during intermittent isometric handgrip exercise. This randomized, single-blind, deceptive crossover study consisted of 34 physically active adults (21.9±3.1 years) who completed a handgrip endurance test under three conditions: red beverage rinse, clear beverage rinse, and no-rinse. Participants were informed that the study would examine the effects of mouth rinsing two commercially available carbohydrate containing sport drinks on muscular …

Long-Term Spatiotemporal Change In Coral Reef Fish Populations And Communities In The Philippines, John Christopher Whalen

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The Visayas Region of the Philippines is a global epicenter of marine fish biodiversity. Hypotheses attribute this peak of species richness within the Coral Triangle to processes that occur at geological time scales. However, changes in biodiversity may occur on ecological time scales, allowing for the assessment of the potential impact of anthropogenic activities. Recent declines in genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity have been observed in the tropics, including the Philippines. Within the Philippines the Visayas Region is considered the epicenter of species adversity due to anthropogenic stressors such as habitat degradation, overfishing, and harvesting individuals for the aquarium trade. …

Nanostructured Negative Electron Affinity Gallium Arsenide Photocathodes With Enhanced Quantum Efficiency And Extended Charge Lifetime For Advanced Photoinjectors, Md Aziz Ar Rahman

Physics Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation presents a comprehensive experimental and computational investigation of nanostructured negative electron affinity (NEA) gallium arsenide (GaAs) photocathodes. This work was undertaken to achieve higher quantum efficiency (QE) and longer charge lifetime than conventional flat NEA GaAs electron sources commonly used in photoinjectors. Finite-Difference Time-Domain and charge-transport simulations of three types of nanostructure geometries reveal substantial QE enhancement over flat GaAs via Mie resonance mode excitation. Consequently, the truncated nanocone array (TNCA) photocathodes with heights of 400, 700, and 1000 nm were fabricated and NEA activated via Cs-NF₃ deposition. In a low-voltage ultra-high vacuum chamber with a base pressure …

Enhancing Stem Education With Modeling, Simulation, And Ai Technologies: From Virtual Laboratories To Intelligent Teaching Assistants, Yiyang Li

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Rapid advancements in modeling and simulation (M&S) and artificial intelligence (AI) present new opportunities to enhance various aspects of STEM education, from virtual laboratories that simulate physical lab environments in software to intelligent teaching assistants that provide on-demand, curriculum-aligned instructional support. Virtual laboratories offer a potential solution to the access and scalability challenges of laboratory courses by allowing students to conduct experiments without physical equipment or geographical constraints. AI-powered teaching assistants, particularly those grounded in course-specific materials, can help mitigate the instructional support gap that arises when students work independently in digital learning environments. This dissertation presents three-phase research into …

Experimental Investigation Of The Discharge Modes Of Nanosecond Pulsed Plasmas At Atmospheric Pressure, Md Ziaur Rahman

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The generation of repeatable and stable nanosecond pulsed atmospheric pressure plasmas is important to non-thermal plasma applications in various fields including medicine, material processing, food processing, and plasma ignition for combustion. This dissertation investigates the atmospheric pressure plasma initiation and formation under 10 – 200 ns pulsed power for electrode configurations applicable for transient plasma ignition (TPI) for combustion. The impacts of pulsed power parameters, gas condition, and electrode geometry on the discharge initiation and modes (i.e., streamer, transient spark and spark) are systematically evaluated for applying TPI for combustion. We evaluated the discharge modes driven by both longer and …

Counselors’ Training Needs In Effectively Engaging With Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, Elif Bor

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

As public and scientific interest in psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) continues to grow, counselors are increasingly encountering clients who are exploring or engaging in psychedelic use for therapeutic purposes. Such encounters introduce new ethical, clinical, and professional considerations. Counselors must develop an informed understanding of psychedelics and their effects, recognize the emotional and cognitive processes that may emerge during psychedelic experiences, and be prepared to respond to potential risks or adverse reactions (Aicher et al., 2025). They also need to competently answer client questions, assess risk and suitability, facilitate the integration of psychedelic experiences, and collaborate with medical and other professionals …

Naturalistic Classroom And Home Practices To Support Executive Function And Self-Regulation Of Typically Developing Preschool Children Between The Ages Of 3-5 Years Old: A Mixed Method Study, Michelle Ann Burek

Rehabilitation Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Executive function (EF) and self-regulation (SR) are foundational developmental processes supporting young children’s participation in play, learning, social relationships, and everyday occupations. Although important to school readiness, social competence, health, and well-being, these skills are often examined in structured settings rather than the natural environments in which children develop. Guided by ecological, developmental, and occupational therapy perspectives, this dissertation examined EF and SR within children’s everyday participation and explored caregiver and teacher roles in supporting these processes.

This dissertation consists of three interconnected studies. The first was a systematic review of peer-based interventions to improve social participation among children and …

Interpretable Sparse Modeling Of Longitudinal Signals Via Critical-Range Rectification And Anytime Rule Compression, Jason Orender

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

High-dimensional longitudinal data arise in clinical monitoring, industrial control systems, and other sensor-driven domains where outcomes are often governed by threshold-and-lag behavior. Traditional longitudinal workflows frequently depend on expert guessing to nominate candidate variables, lag windows, and threshold hypotheses, followed by repeated hypothesis testing over a limited set of manually specified relationships. While such approaches can be useful in narrow settings, they are often less robust in high-dimensional regimes because important interactions may be missed, multicollinearity can destabilize inference, and the resulting process can be labor-intensive and difficult to scale. This dissertation develops an end-to-end framework for interpretable sparse longitudinal …

Building Bridges: Connecting Biomechanics And Lived Experience In Bertolotti's Syndrome, Andrea Morgan Muffly

Rehabilitation Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Bertolotti’s Syndrome (BSy), characterized by the presence of a lumbosacral transitional vertebra (LSTV), represents a complex clinical entity that affects not only the physical health of the individual, but the quality of their daily life. Prior research on BSy focused on epidemiology, not lived experience, revealing inconsistencies in diagnostic inconsistencies of LSTV morphology. A three-tiered diagnostic system is proposed to streamline the reporting of LSTV subtypes. We examined how BSy is diagnosed, its symptoms, presentation, and how this impacts individuals’ ability to participate in activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). We conducted a multi …

Technical And Vocational High School Training And Graduates' Socioeconomic Insertion In Burkina Faso, Jacqueline Nikièma

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is widely promoted as a pathway to improving employment opportunities, supporting economic growth, and facilitating successful labor market transition. However, empirical evidence on its effectiveness remains limited in Burkina Faso. This study examined the relationship between TVET high schools and graduates’ socioeconomic insertion, with particular emphasis on employment in occupations related to the field of study (horizontal match) and examined the relationship between gender and this employment outcome. The study used descriptive statistics to summarize the characteristics of the sample, and logistic regressions to analyze the relationship between TVET training and employment in …

Exploring The Experiences Of Women In Mental Health Therapy After The Occurrence Of Perinatal Loss, Courtney Allison Nishnick

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Perinatal loss encompasses losses of pregnancies at any gestational age, as well as deaths occurring within one year post-birth. In the United States, around 40 thousand stillbirths and infant deaths occur every year (Ely & Driscoll, 2025; Gregory et al., 2025), with about 23 million miscarriages also occurring annually worldwide (Quenby et al., 2021). Perinatal loss experiences lead to distressing mental health symptoms not limited to anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, and grief (Crockett et al., 2019; Wamser & Ferro, 2025). While there is extensive research on perinatal loss as it pertains to medical context, there is minimal research relating to …

Switches And Witches: Exploring The Relationships Between Religious Struggles, Spiritual Beliefs, And Well-Being, Emma J. Trierweiler

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the mechanisms between interpersonal and doubt-related struggles and well-being outcomes in a formerly religious sample. The focus of this dissertation was to analyze the mediating roles of disengagement from God and perceived social support. Approach toward God was also examined as a control but not specified to be connected to the well-being outcomes given the emphasis on formerly religious individuals’ experiences. This was a retrospective study, where participants were asked to consider their responses as they relate to the time they were pulling away from religion. Three measures of well-being were explored using structural equation modeling. Positive …

Analyzing The Institutional Factors Associated With Sense Of Belonging Among Stem Adjuncts At Community Colleges, Karuna Taneja

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

In this study I examined the relationships among organizational support, workplace conditions, and sense of belonging among adjunct faculty teaching STEM courses in community colleges. Grounded in the need-to-belong theory (Baumeister & Leary, 1995) and Herzberg’s two-factor theory (1968), I distinguished between relational and structural dimensions of faculty experiences. Perceived organizational support was conceptualized as a relational construct reflecting faculty members’ perceptions of being valued and included within their institutions, whereas workplace conditions were examined as structural factors influencing job satisfaction.

Using a quantitative, cross-sectional correlational survey design, data were collected from adjunct STEM faculty (N = 64) teaching at …

Convergence Theory For Deep And Multi-Grade Neural Architectures, Lei Huang

Mathematics & Statistics Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation studies two complementary notions of convergence arising in modern neural network models: the convergence of recursively constructed neural network architectures and the convergence of optimization algorithms used for training neural-network-based image restoration models. The first part develops a convergence theory for deep neural networks (DNNs) viewed as recursively generated sequences of functions. Within an Lp framework motivated by statistical learning, sufficient conditions are established under which increasing-depth neural network sequences converge to well-defined limiting functions. The analysis covers both bounded-width and unbounded-width architectures, establishes explicit convergence rates, and motivates a network initialization strategy derived from the convergence conditions. …

Lgbtq People's Lives Post-Incarceration: A Multi-Method Study, Hayley Jackey

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

LGBTQ people are disproportionately targeted by the criminal legal system and overrepresented in the carceral system. Despite current research in queer criminology examining the impacts of the carceral system on the community, there is a dearth of literature examining LGBTQ people’s experiences or identity disclosure once released from the Prison Industrial Complex and into the Prisoner Reentry Industry. Using unique methodologies of photo-elicitation interviews and in-depth interviews, the current study examines how ten formerly incarcerated LGBTQ people navigate returning to society post-incarceration. The study found two distinct experiences. The first group was selective about who they shared their LGBTQ identity …

Physics-Guided Deep Learning For Predictive Modeling Of Spatiotemporal Dynamical Systems, Niharika Deshpande

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Many physical and networked systems evolve under continuously changing spatial and temporal conditions. Transportation networks respond to fluctuating demand, atmospheric fields reorganize as storms intensify, and coastal response depends on localized forcing pathways. Modeling such systems requires learning formulations that adapt to evolving structure, operate on irregular geometries, and provide interpretable measures of predictive uncertainty. This dissertation develops a physics-guided spatiotemporal learning framework designed for structured dynamical systems whose governing interactions are neither static nor Euclidean. The central premise is that spatial relationships in these systems are dynamic and geometry-dependent. To represent this behavior, system states are modeled on time-varying …

Tagged J/Ψ Photoproduction Near Threshold, Mariana Tenorio Pita

Physics Theses & Dissertations

J/ψ production (heavy quarkonium in general) is sensitive to the gluonic content of the nucleon. Recent theoretical studies have suggested that near-threshold J/ψ production is sensitive to the gravitational form factors (GFFs) of the nucleon, which parametrize the matrix elements of the QCD energy-momentum tensor (EMT). The energy-momentum tensor of the nucleon encodes its mechanical properties through the gravitational form factors, which give access to quantities such as the mass radius and pressure distribution of the proton. Previous J/ψ electroproduction measurements were either performed near-threshold at very low Q² (in the quasi-real photoproduction regime) or far above threshold at …

Dynamics, Characteristics, And Sinking Velocities Of Small, Gel-Like Ocean Particles (24–1000 Μm): Insights From Shadowgraph Imaging And Turbulence Modeling, Huanqing Huang

OES Theses and Dissertations

Particle concentration and sinking velocity control the export flux and transfer efficiency of the biological carbon pump, and are therefore key parameters in ocean biogeochemical models. Gel-like particles form an important part of the particulate organic carbon pool, but their contribution is difficult to quantify because they are fragile and nearly transparent to conventional optical instruments. Here, a focused shadowgraph imaging system (FoSI) was applied to marine gel research to examine the ecological significance, distribution, and transport of gel-like particles along a transect from the Azores to the upwelling region off northwest Africa.

A new image processing protocol was developed …

Modulation Of Electrophysiology And Plaque Aggregation In Huntington’S Disease Patient-Derived Cells By Picosecond Pulsed Electric Fields, Mackenzie A. Tardif-Kunk

Biomedical Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Huntington’s Disease (HD) is a fatal, autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive motor and cognitive decline. Unstable expansion of cytosine-adenine-guanine (CAG) trinucleotide repeats in the huntingtin gene, often exceeding 35–40 repeats, results in an extended polyglutamine (PolyQ) tract in the translated protein. Abnormal folding of the mutant huntingtin (mHTT) protein leads to accumulation and aggregation within the cell, dysregulating various cellular processes through molecular sequestration. While several therapeutic strategies have been proposed, this disease remains incurable with treatments limited to symptom management.

Pulsed electric fields (PEF), primarily in the microsecond and nanosecond ranges, have been studied extensively for the …

Examining The Relationships Between Apathy Subdomains, Heart Rate Variability And Cognitive Performance, Yasmin Bahai Nabulsi

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Apathy, defined as a reduction in motivation and goal-directed behavior, is a multidimensional neuropsychiatric syndrome encompassing behavioral, executive, and emotional components. Although heart rate variability (HRV) has been linked to depression and executive functioning, its relationship with apathy remains unexplored. The present study examined associations between apathy subtypes, resting HRV, HR and HRV reactivity, and cognitive performance. A sample of 116 healthy young adults completed self-reported measures of apathy, depression, fatigue, reward sensitivity, and attentional control. Electrocardiography (ECG) was used to assess resting HRV, followed by continuous recording during cognitive tasks, which included the Digit Span Test and a verbal …

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Parent-Educators In Pursuit Of Stability And Growth In The Early Education Workforce, Britney N. Patrick

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Early childhood educators who are also parents represent an important yet understudied population within workforce development research. This qualitative narrative inquiry explored the lived experiences of early childhood educators who are also parents as they navigated workforce development programs, parenting responsibilities, and organizational practices in pursuit of career advancement and economic stability. Guided by work-family border theory (Clark, 2000) and ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), the study examined how parenting responsibilities shaped engagement in workforce development opportunities and influenced professional trajectories over time.

Twenty-two early childhood educators who were also parents participated in virtual semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 60 to …

A Causal Inference Protocol For Root-Cause Diagnosis In Non-Stationary Industrial Time Series, Cansu Yalim

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Industrial fault diagnosis increasingly relies on data-driven methods, yet most approaches assume process stationarity and treat association-based rankings as sufficient evidence for root-cause identification. Neither assumption holds when operating phases and fault progression create distinct behavioral regimes with shifting relationships among variables, and neither answers which feasible corrective action would alter a fault trajectory. The absence of a procedure addressing non-stationarity, causal identifiability, and decision-relevant effect estimation constitutes the gap this dissertation targets. In this context, a regime is a time period in which the process operates under a relatively consistent setting, so the relationships among variables are approximately stable …

Commedia Dell’Arte - Serious Funny Business, Caleb Dransfield

Course Materials

[From Introduction]

Picture this. It’s the year 1570. You fi nd yourself in Venice for the fi rst time and you are delighted by the unique culture around you. It’s a city built on the water, streets are replaced by canals. St Mark’s Basilica, the Doge’s palace, and the piazza do not disappoint. The Rialto is a hive of markets and vendors. As you wander the city you encounter something you haven’t seen before. A wooden stage erected, backed by a simple cloth. Onstage, actors in masks are leaping about and speaking to each other animatedly. Even with your limited …

Advancing Imbalanced Classification Through Representation Learning, Morteza Mohammady Gharasuie

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Real-world datasets frequently exhibit severe class imbalance, where certain categories are significantly underrepresented relative to others, leading standard empirical risk minimization to bias learning toward majority classes and degrade performance on minority categories. This dissertation addresses imbalanced classification across both structured tabular data and long-tailed visual recognition by developing methods that improve representation learning and decision reliability under skewed distributions. For tabular data, it introduces Conditional Probability Representation (CPR), a target-based encoding framework that embeds feature–label relationships directly into the representation space, enhanced by a progressive feature upgrading mechanism for semi-supervised settings and a class-frequency–aware extension that improves robustness to …

Mechanisms Of Synergy Between Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Field (Nspef) And Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Discharge (Cap) In Pancreatic Cancer: The Role Of Ros-Mediated Oxidative Stress And Apoptosis, Zobia Minhas

Biomedical Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is a highly lethal malignancy characterized by poor prognosis and resistance to conventional therapies. Novel treatment strategies are needed to overcome this resistance. Non-thermal physical modalities, including nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) and cold atmospheric pressure plasma discharge (CAP), have emerged as potential anticancer approaches; however, the mechanisms underlying their combined effects remain unclear.

This study evaluated whether nsPEF enhances CAP-induced cytotoxicity and investigated the associated molecular mechanisms using the murine Pan02 pancreatic cancer cell line. Cell viability was assessed by WST-1 metabolic activity assays and electric cell–substrate impedance sensing (ECIS). Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were …