Digital Commons Network^™

Genuine And Meaningful Black Character Narratives In Video Games, Derek L. Manns

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The lack of Black representation in video games reflects stereotypes and hollow narratives. Authentic and meaningful design of Black characters allows Black players a reflection of emotional attachments everyone wants when playing a game. Examining racial identities through avatars, critiquing the notion that customization equates to racial inclusivity, limited options and predominant, white-coded protagonists reinforce systemic biases in games (Dietrich, 2013). My Afrofuturistic content analysis framework explores Black culture with a future of speculative fiction. Reimagining the past, present, and future through Black narratives for alternate futures (Womack). Integrating these ideas enhance culture and aesthetics in this dissertation to highlight …

Performance Analysis Of Labyrinth And Hybrid Seals For Supercritical Co₂ Turbomachinery Applications, Ghanshyam Sarobar Mandal

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Leaks account for large losses in turbomachinery systems, which has led to research on sealing technologies. The work presented studies the effect of a hybrid seal combining conventional labyrinth geometry and honeycomb structure by simulating supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) flow through this geometry. The CFD solver compares effects such as changes in mass flow rate, formation of vortices, pressure profile, and seal performance as geometry angles of labyrinth teeth and honeycomb walls change at conditions normally found at higher pressures in these seals. Honeycomb walls were placed on the stator, ranging from 125°< θc< 55°. Labyrinth teeth were placed on the rotor at the same degrees. Honeycomb cell diameters were also varied, creating more resistance and turbulence within the flow. It was discovered that the honeycomb angle created stronger effects on vortices and boundary layer formation, while the labyrinth angle mainly affected the throttling of flow and loss generation. Combining all three angles created a relationship dictating the seal leakage. Dimensions of seals were based on gas turbine seals with changes to meet sCO₂ conditions. ANSYS was used to simulate static and rotating conditions until convergence on a specific geometry

“I Am A Refugee Direct From Mississippi:” Drafting And Substitution As Muster Methods In Shaping Black Participation In The Union Army, 1863–1865, Carson R. Maschmeier

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Historians have frequently emphasized voluntary enlistment as the primary means through which Black men entered military service, portraying military participation as an expression of autonomy and a pathway toward freedom and citizenship. Within this scholarship, few historians have examined how Black participation in the Union army as draftees and substitutes impacted Black men and their families. This thesis examines the role of drafting and substitution in shaping Black military participation in the Union Army during the American Civil War. By focusing on Pennsylvania's 8th United States Colored Troops (USCT), this study argues that drafting and substitution complicate the commonly accepted …

Development Of The Simultaneous Alcohol And Cannabis Use Expectancy Questionnaire (Sac-Eq), Shane D. Marohnic

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Background: Simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use (SAC/SAM), defined as using alcohol and cannabis at the same time so that their effects overlap, has been identified as a hazardous form of polysubstance use. Expectancies are a causal mechanism and can be changed with predictable reductions in substance use and associated consequences, yet only one measure has been developed to assess expectancies related to SAC. Due to limitations of the existing measure, this study sought to create a more comprehensive SAC expectancy scale. Method: Three phases of participants (Phase 1, N = 493; Phase 2, n = 4; Phase 3, n …

Towards An Understanding Of Learning In Immersive Virtual Reality: Investigating Learning Affordances To Bridge Theory And Practice, Gregory Mcgowin

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation examines how modality-specific scaffolding shapes performance, presence, and transfer in immersive virtual reality (I-VR). Framed through theories of extended cognition, real-time guidance is conceptualized as cognitive scaffolding that structures perception and action by embedding task-relevant information within the environment. Situated within the learning sciences and informed by 4E cognition (embodied, embedded, enactive, extended), this work develops a framework for understanding how I-VR affordances relate to learning and performance.

The empirical study investigates how scaffolding modality (audio vs. visual) influences presence and performance in a VR racing simulation. Using a 3 × 2 × 2 mixed factorial design, 111 …

Experimental Demonstration Of A Laboratory Scale Packed Bed Reactor For Thermochemical Energy Storage Using Embedded Heating Elements, Zachary Monem

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Thermochemical energy storage (TCES) is an emerging technology that is being studied as a carbon-neutral renewable alternative to conventional methods of large-scale power generation, such as the utilization of fossil fuels. TCES makes use of thermochemical materials to store and discharge energy in two-step reversible chemical reactions. Among the most promising TCES materials are metal oxides, which possess significantly higher energy storage densities compared to other TCES materials; consequently, thermochemical reactors are used to store and discharge large amounts of energy during reduction-oxidation cycles using metal oxide materials. The current work focuses on the design and experimental demonstration of a …

Comics In The Classroom: Social Science Teachers' Lived Experiences With Comic Art In Instruction, Robert W. Mcintosh

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This qualitative descriptive phenomenological study explored secondary social science teachers’ lived experiences with comic art in classroom instruction. Existing research suggests that comic art, including comic books and graphic novels, can support student engagement, content understanding, visual literacy, and critical thinking; however, less is known about how teachers experience and make decisions about using comic art in social science education. Framed by Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Social Cognitive Theory, the study treated comic art as a representational instructional technology and examined how teacher confidence and the context of their experience shaped its use. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews …

Show Me The Money: Candidate Attributes, Fundraising, And The Impact On Congressional Representation., Dhanya Nair

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

What explains women’s candidate emergence in congressional primaries? Does candidate education, experience, and background influence how voters donate to male and female candidates? Using an original dataset, I examine the circumstances under which women are more likely to enter a congressional primary.  This thesis accounts for the variation in candidate emergence across Congressional districts related to district partisanship, candidate quality and fundraising capacity.   The theory suggests that the persistent gap in representation is partly due to women self-selecting to run in districts that favor their candidacy.  Strategic entry serves as a buffer against perceived bias in fundraising and electability. Additionally, …

Experimental And Computational Characterization Of A Rotorcraft-Tiltrotor Model Using Morphing Wings For Whirl Flutter Instability, Darrell Nieves Lugo

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Tiltrotor rotorcraft configurations combine the capabilities of vertical and forward flight, offering a crucial and advantageous design for maximizing the operational flight envelope. This versatility enables broad adaptability across numerous designs and platforms, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), micro-air vehicles (MAVs), and vertical take-off and landing (VTOLs) aircraft. However, propeller-based aircraft are susceptible to an aeroelastic instability at high flight speeds known as whirl flutter. This instability phenomena is a crucial research task and problem to investigate, as with advances in manufacturing and vehicle designs, these can yield new rotorcraft formats capable of advancing the flight envelopes at higher cruise …

Hidden Gem, Fraught Liability, Or Visible Asset? The Museum Of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Keidra D. Navaroli

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation utilizes a combination of archival research, qualitative interviews, and data-driven analyses to examine how the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville came under the governance of the University of North Florida (UNF). Founded in 1924, MOCA became a cultural institute of UNF in 2009 during the Great Recession. Tracing MOCA’s reinventions and geospatial movements across Jacksonville, this study considers the ideologies that informed the museum’s development, the locations that defined its service to Northeast Florida, and the financial conditions that necessitated its eventual rescue by a public university. The museum’s challenges are reflective of larger tensions in the …

“How Far Do These Roots Go Down”: An Exploration Of Latinx And Latina Fans On Representation In Disney's Encanto, Noemi Nunez

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

In this dissertation, I examine how Latinx and Latina audiences engaged with and interpreted Disney’s 2021 Encanto, an animated film celebrated for its representation of Colombian and broader Latinx culture. While scholarship on Latinx representation in media has expanded, less attention has been given to how Latinx audiences themselves respond to narratives that are meant to represent them, particularly within fan studies. Focusing on both a broader Latinx fan community and first-generation Latinas in the United States, this project explores how audiences negotiate representation and recognition using Encanto as a media text that centered a Latinx story. Drawing from …

Well, If You Put It That Way Three Studies On Contract Framing In Incomplete Contract Environments, Garrison L. Nuttall

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation contains three studies examining contract framing, with implications for how organizations structure and frame performance-based compensation systems. Across all studies, I compare penalty contracts to bonus contracts with gain framing and bonus contracts with loss framing. My first study examines how managers prefer to frame performance-based compensation systems on average and identifies how the traits trust propensity, empathy, personal norm of reciprocity, loss aversion, Machiavellianism, and critical thinking disposition are associated with certain preferences. I find that mangers prefer bonus contracts to penalty contracts on average and that empathy is positively associated with this preference. My second study …

The Role Of Alcohol Expectancies In The Relationship Between Social Anxiety And Protective Behavioral Strategies Among College Students, Jordan Ortman

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

College students with elevated social anxiety are at heightened risk for alcohol-related consequences despite not consistently reporting greater alcohol use. One potential explanation for this pattern is lower engagement in protective behavioral strategies (PBS). Social alcohol expectancies are relevant to PBS use because students with elevated social anxiety often expect alcohol to reduce social discomfort or facilitate social interaction, and these beliefs may correspond with lower use of strategies that constrain the pace or amount of drinking. The present study examined whether positive and negative social alcohol expectancies were intermediate variables in associations between social anxiety and three PBS domains: …

The Biosynthesis Of The Natural Product N-Nitroglycine, Gabriel Padilla

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

N-Nitroglycine (NNG) is a nitramine [R(R′)N–NO2; R′=H or alkyl] natural product (NP) produced by certain actinomycetes, such as Streptomyces noursei. At the beginning of this project, the biosynthesis of this NP was unknown. The goal was to determine how NNG and its nitramine moiety are enzymatically formed. This could lead to the discovery of novel nitramine NPs with diverse applications as well as alternative/green synthesis of nitramine explosives. This work begins by examining diverse biochemical N–N bond formation strategies. Nitrogen cycle enzymes, nitration of NPs, kutzneride biosynthesis, the aspartate/nitrosuccinate superfamily, hydrazinoacetic acid (HAA) biosynthesis, and streptozocin biosynthesis are among the …

Multi-Scale Drivers Of Beetle Biodiversity In A Rapidly Urbanizing Region, Alessandra Pandolfi

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

As cities continue to expand, designing urban landscapes that balance ecological resilience with biodiversity conservation has emerged as a pressing challenge. This dissertation examines urban ecosystems as complex and dynamic environments shaping plant and animal communities, with a particular focus on ground-dwelling beetles as ecologically significant indicators of environmental change. Conducted across the Orlando metropolitan area, one of the fastest-growing regions in the United States, this dissertation integrates experimental and observational approaches. Specifically, it aims to (1) test sustainable landscaping practices, (2) compare the ecological outcomes of conventional and alternative residential landscape designs, and (3) assess how gradients of urbanization …

Cracking The Code Of Ai Autonomy: Examining The Role Of Challenge And Hindrance Appraisals And Ai Literacy In Task Satisfaction, Rujuta Parekar

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

AI is constantly evolving and being rapidly integrated into the workplace. Limited research has examined how this integration is affecting employee outcomes, and particularly the impacts of whether employees are expected or mandated to use AI for their work. The present study utilized the challenge-hindrance framework to examine the effect of autonomy in using AI on task satisfaction through challenge and hindrance appraisal among working adults. Since the ability to understand and use AI can influence how individuals perceive it, the moderating effect of AI literacy on the hypothesized research model is also examined. A multi-wave research design was used …

Perspectives Of Poetry: Peering Into Poetry And Aphasia, Kristian M. Perez

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

People with aphasia often experience significant barriers to communication, emotional expression, and participation in meaningful life activities following stroke or neurological injury. Although poetry and creative expression have been explored in broader therapeutic contexts, limited research has examined how people with aphasia perceive poetry. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perspectives of people with aphasia regarding definitions of poetry, level of interest in poetry and the factors influencing said interest. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with adults with aphasia recruited through convenience sampling. Participants responded to questions before and after exposure to the poem Trust by Mark …

Discrete Element Modeling Of Granular Soils: Critical State Behavior Applied To Impact Pile Driving, Esteban Patino Marin

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This thesis investigates the use of the Discrete Element Method (DEM) to study two complementary aspects of granular soil mechanics: critical state behavior of granular materials and dynamic response of driven piles in sand, both of which are governed by the same particle-scale mechanisms of dilation, contraction, and fabric evolution.

The first examines the critical state behavior and fabric anisotropy of granular soils through DEM simulations of direct shear, direct simple shear, and true triaxial tests. Sphere-cluster particles representative of a uniform sand are used in two assemblages of approximately twenty-five thousand and one hundred twenty-five thousand spheres to evaluate …

Performing The Digital Identity: A Media Discourse Analysis Of Online Identity Construction, Dalya Qasem

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation investigates how news media construct narratives about TikTok and its role in shaping digital identity. While existing scholarship has examined issues such as privacy, marketing, and entertainment, less attention has been given to how identity is represented, negotiated, and understood within public discourse. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) combined with computational text analysis through Voyant Tools, this study analyzes a corpus of 111 news articles published between 2020 and 2025 that explicitly reference TikTok and identity. The analysis identifies prominent keywords, topics, and rhetorical patterns across media texts. Furthermore, the research demonstrates a critical analysis of popular understandings …

Securing The Energy Transition: Cyber-Physical Security And Resilience In Next-Generation Power Systems, Airin Rahman

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Modern power systems are rapidly evolving into renewable-dominated and digitally interconnected cyber-physical infrastructures due to the increasing deployment of distributed energy resources (DERs), inverter-based technologies, and advanced control platforms. Maintaining reliability under high renewable penetration requires flexible resources capable of shifting energy across extended time horizons. Long-duration energy storage (LDES), particularly hydrogen-based energy systems, has therefore emerged as an important enabler of renewable integration, grid flexibility, and resilience. However, the growing dependence on communication, sensing, and distributed control also expands the cyber-physical attack surface of modern power systems, creating security and resilience challenges that conventional operational paradigms were not designed …

Advancing Cyber-Physical Security And Resilience Of Modern Power Systems: Intelligent Monitoring, Secure Operation, And Resilient Recovery, Md Moshiur Rahman

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Modern power distribution systems are rapidly evolving into cyber-physical, DER-rich, and data-driven networks that rely on extensive sensing, communication, automation, grid-edge intelligence, and operator decision support. While this transformation improves flexibility, observability and controllability, it also expands the cyber-attack surface and increases the risk that cyber intrusions can propagate into physical disturbances, compromised DER operation, degraded situational awareness, and interrupted service continuity. This dissertation advances the cyber-physical security and resilience of modern distribution systems by developing a high-fidelity real-time cyber-physical hardware-in-the-loop testbed using OPAL-RT, EXata CPS, industrial relays, SCADA/RTAC, HMI, and grid-edge devices to emulate realistic DER-integrated distribution grid operation. …

Toward Evidence-Based Disposition Assessment In Counselor Education: Advocating For Established Measures And Evaluating The Psychometric Properties Of The Pdca-Ra, Laura Rendon Finnell

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Professional dispositions are recognized as an essential component of counselor competence and are now explicitly included within accreditation standards. However, questions remain regarding how these characteristics should assessed in ways that are fair, systematic, and supported by empirical evidence. This two-manuscript dissertation focused on professional disposition assessment in counselor education. The first manuscript provides a conceptual examination of professional dispositions, counselor competence, and gatekeeping responsibilities while reviewing established disposition assessment instruments in counselor education. The manuscript advocates for the use of established disposition measures rather than relying solely on locally developed assessment procedures. The second manuscript presents an empirical evaluation …

Mathematical Modeling And Characterization Of A Variable Stiffness Ankle-Foot-Orthosis, David E.L. Richards

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Conventional ankle–foot orthoses (AFOs) typically employ static stiffness profiles that do not replicate the dynamic quasi-stiffness of the human ankle during gait. Variable stiffness mechanisms (VSMs) offer a promising alternative solution for gait pathologies, such as foot drop and post-stroke hemiparesis; however, their implementation is limited by the lack of accurate mathematical models capable of predicting force and stiffness characteristics. The objective of this thesis is to develop and validate comprehensive mathematical models describing the kinematics and kinetics of a novel variable stiffness ankle–foot orthosis (VS-AFO). This study derives governing equations to characterize how mechanical adjustments influence the force transmission …

On Performance And Applications Of A Liquid Fueled Pulsed Flame Jet Igniter, Gerardo A. Rodriguez

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

As global demands for supersonic and hypersonic flight heighten, high-speed air breathing propulsion technologies stand out as a worthwhile direction to overcome many of the limitations that turbomachinery-based engines face at supersonic speeds. Air breathing propulsion concepts are attractive for their geometrical simplicity, using supersonic incoming air to provide compression. Scramjet flight vehicles operate within the hypersonic flight regime and have been a global research topic, especially in the 21st century, for defense and combined cycle engine architectures. As scramjet technology continues maturing towards widespread use, efforts have converged on liquid hydrocarbon fuels for storage, range, and operational benefits. Flight …

Examining Principals' Perceptions Of Their Preparedness To Lead In Title I Schools, Tiffany Roebuck

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Principals serving in Title I schools face complex instructional, organizational, cultural, and community related demands that require specialized leadership preparation and support.  The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of principals serving in urban Title I schools regarding their preparedness, supports, challenges, and successes as instructional leaders. The study also examined principals' perceptions of culturally proficient leadership and principal preparation program attributes considered essential for leadership readiness in high-needs school settings. Guided by the Culturally Responsive School Leadership (CRSL) framework, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 principals serving in urban Title I …

A Modular Virtual Reality Training Framework For Multi-Target Drone Defense, Susann Schleupner

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS), commonly referred to as drones, have become a rapidly growing challenge in modern military operations. In particular, the increasing use of small, agile, and low-cost systems—such as first-person-view (FPV) drones and coordinated multi-drone deployments—places high cognitive demands on operators, requiring rapid target detection, prioritization, and decision-making under time pressure.

Existing training approaches either rely on costly and logistically constrained live exercises or focus primarily on isolated piloting and shooting tasks, without sufficiently addressing these cognitive demands. At the same time, advances in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) virtual reality (VR) hardware enable scalable, flexible, and repeatable training environments. …

Visual Cues Of Human-Likeness, Not Salience, Impact Trust-Related Human-Computer Interaction, Jordan Schotz

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

As interactions with digital agents become increasingly integrated into daily life, understanding how visual representations influence social decision-making is critical. Previous research in human-computer interaction has frequently confounded the psychological effects of an agent's perceived human-likeness with the underlying visual salience of the stimuli. To address these persistent gaps, the present study systematically isolated the effects of human-likeness and visual cue trustworthiness on trust behavior while controlling for objective image properties. The present study expanded on and normed the Virtual Avatar Facial Stimuli Set (VAFSS), a comprehensive database comprising hundreds of identity-matched photographs and computer-generated avatars varying across a spectrum …

Communication-Aware Energy Optimization For Electric Vehicles With Adaptive Cruise Control, Shahriar Shahram

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation develops information-driven methods to reduce traction energy in battery electric vehicles during adaptive and cooperative cruise control. Physics-grounded energetics are embedded in a predictive controller that accounts for intermittent V2V preview, sensing noise, packet loss, and powertrain limits. To ensure deployability, the nonconvex traction–power map is replaced by locally convex surrogates so each step solves a small, strictly convex QP in real time (average ≈ 70 ms/step on a desktop CPU: 8 cores/16 threads, 4.2–5.0 GHz), leaving margin at typical sampling rates (Ts =0.05–0.10 s; N=15–25).

Across standardized drive cycles from NREL DriveCAT—including FTP–75 (light duty), NREL Class …

Concept Drift Detection For Streaming Data Using One-Class Classification, Poorna Sandamini Senaratne

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Modern machine learning systems are increasingly deployed in streaming environments where data arrive sequentially and the underlying data-generating process may evolve over time. This phenomenon, known as concept drift, can significantly degrade model performance if not detected and addressed in a timely manner. This dissertation proposes a principled framework for concept drift detection based on one-class classification, integrating neural network embeddings with Support Vector methodologies.

The proposed approach leverages neural networks to learn compact and informative embeddings of input data, capturing complex nonlinear structures in a lower-dimensional latent space. These embeddings are then used to construct a statistical description of …

Overcoming The Glass Wall: Self-Employment As A Career Strategy For Immigrant Professionals, Barbara Silva

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Skilled immigrant professionals frequently experience barriers that limit their ability to secure employment opportunities aligned with their qualifications in host-country labor markets. Although prior research has documented some of the challenges these professionals face, such as credential devaluation and discrimination, less is known about why recruiters perceive immigrant candidates with similar qualifications differently and why some immigrants navigate the labor market more successfully than others. Drawing on Status Characteristics Theory, this dissertation examines how the location and type of immigrant professionals’ prior work experience shape hiring-related outcomes by influencing recruiters’ perceptions of competence and acculturation. First, I review the literature …