Digital Commons Network^™

Visiting Jane: Jane Austen, Fan Culture, And Literary Tourism, Brianna Surratt

Senior Theses

People have been visiting sites associated with Jane Austen for two centuries now, and there have been fans of her work for even longer. Austen inspires unique devotion among her fans for an author about whose life we know very little. Furthermore, these fans have been fighting among themselves for as long as fans have existed over who loves her the right way – the academics or the amateurs? This work explores that unique fan culture in detail through the lens of literary tourism, going into detail about two sites in particular – Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, England, and …

Warhorses Amongst War Machines: The German Army's Use Of Horses And Cavalry During World War Ii, Katherine V. Mcfarland

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the role of the horse as used by the German Army throughout the Second World War. Contrary to the propagandic image of a mechanized Germany and of the blitzkrieg, the reality of warfare at the time remained primarily dependent on the horse, as man and beast continued to engage in conflict side by side. Horses served a variety of uses within the German forces, from mounted cavalry to hauling artillery, with disasters and successes throughout the war. Employing vast numbers of horses, the Germans allocated extensive resources, and often found themselves relying on the animal when vehicles …

Female Athlete Triad: Evaluation Of The Cumulative Risk Assessment Tool For Female Collegiate Athletes, Jessica Pia

Senior Theses

Content: As the pressure on collegiate and elite female athletes to perform at their highest possible capabilities has grown, so to have the consequences associated with their high energy expending lifestyles. The Female Athlete Triad (Triad) is a syndrome defined as having one or more of the following conditions: LEA with or without disordered eating, menstrual dysfunction, and/or low BMD. Due to potential long-term, irreversible health consequences of the Triad, the Female Athlete Triad Coalition developed a risk assessment tool known as the Triad CRA to identify at-risk athletes and subsequent return-to-play status. Objective: To determine the risk …

Purification And Functional Characterization Of The Iron-Responsive Transcription Factor Aft1 From C. Glabrata, Jade Ikahihifo-Bender

Senior Theses

Due to its unique ability to serve as both an electron donor and acceptor, iron is utilized as a co-factor for many biological processes, including electron transfer, oxygen binding, and vitamin synthesis. Iron is also a key factor during fungal infections as the human host and invading pathogens battle over limited iron pools. The primary iron-responsive transcription factor Aft1 in the opportunistic pathogenic yeast Candida glabrata responds to iron deficiency by activating expression of iron acquisition genes. However, the mechanisms for sensing intracellular iron levels and regulating Aft1 activity in response to iron are unknown. The C. glabrata iron regulation …

The Female Sports Fan Experience: How Women Consume Sports And How Sports Are Marketed To Women, Natalie Elser

Senior Theses

This study analyzes the growing subsection of female sports fans. Through a review of scholarly research articles, this study examines female sports fan motivations and behaviors and how they differ from the classic male sports fan. Additionally, this study aims to investigate how sports marketing executives try to appeal to women as sports consumers and how these practices have begun to change in recent years. This study will provide a summary of existing research on female sports fans along with a review of marketing initiatives used to engage female sports fans.

The (Un)Holy Bible: Slavery, Female Objectification, And Harm, Natalia A. D. Martins

Senior Theses

This project further elucidates the ability that the Biblical text has of being used as a justification for immoral actions. By using a textualist approach, we find that analyzing the effects that the literal text could have if used to justify action, allows us to see what Scriptural-based morality is subject to at all times. We approach this matter by classifying Scriptural interpretations under a spectrum that varies by degree. This is useful to see that the lowest bar for an action to be theologically justifiable, is whether it is in accordance with a literal reading of the Biblical text. …

A Comparative Analysis Of Political Climates In Lithuania, Poland, And Ireland In The Early 1900s Related To Us Immigration And Media Culture, Annelise Silkaitis

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the process and experience of Lithuanian, Irish, and Polish immigrants during the late 1800s and early 1900s, as well as the role of media, specifically newspapers and books, in creating the representation and portrayal of these immigrant groups. These different ethnic groups left Europe for a variety of reasons, mainly economic and political, and sought a better life in the United States. Upon arrival, each group struggled with the Americanization process, learning English, building connections, and forming a new society. Although some immigrant groups formed stronger networks and communities upon arrival, each group faced poverty and discrimination. …

Killing The Planet But Saving The People: How The American Healthcare Industry Impacts The Environment, Malorie Webb

Senior Theses

The American population is rapidly growing and aging. In order to accommodate such a large population and its associated challenges, the healthcare industry has had to continually expand and adapt. The United States healthcare industry is now one of the largest, most expensive components of the economy. As such, it produces vast amounts of waste. Healthcare waste can damage the environment and contribute to climate change, which in turn can contribute to worsening health outcomes in the population. This thesis aims to explore both the immediate and prolonged impacts of the American healthcare industry on the environment, as well as …

The Corridor Of Shame: An Immersed Analysis Of South Carolina Schools, Darren R. Burton

Senior Theses

This research project discusses school funding instruments of rural and urban schools in South Carolina and uncovers its effect on student academic achievement. Educational achievement is assessed based on report card datasets between 2018 and 2019, containing South Carolina Assessment of State Standards (SCPASS) score data and South Carolina College and Career Ready Assessment (SCREADY) score data. This research project uses a comparative analysis to evaluate each group’s performance in the subjects of English Language Arts and science. The statistical analysis tools that this research project uses include analysis of variance (ANOVA), linear regression analysis, and Microsoft Power BI. The …

Learning How To Search: Generating Effective Test Cases Through Adaptive Fitness Function Selection, Hussein Khalid Almulla

Theses and Dissertations

Search-based test generation is guided by feedback from one or more fitness functions— scoring functions that judge solution optimality. Choosing informative fitness functions is crucial to meeting the goals of a tester. Unfortunately, many goals—such as forcing the class-under-test to throw exceptions, increasing test suite diversity, and attaining Strong Mutation Coverage—do not have effective fitness function formulations. We propose that meeting such goals requires treating fitness function identification as a secondary optimization step. An adaptive algorithm that can vary the selection of fitness functions could adjust its selection throughout the generation process to maximize goal attainment, based on the current …

Step By Step, Iuliia Khamidullina

Theses and Dissertations

STEP BY STEP is a new work of theatre written and performed by me, Iuliia Khamidullina. This script is the one in which I appeared in four performances at the Center of Performance Experiment, within the Department of Theatre and Dance at USC. It tells the story of how a beloved daughter learns to become an artist, even as life’s difficulties are thrown in her way. And it examines her teachers, and most particularly her father. It asks the question: who are Siberian men? What makes them unique? And it examines how this daughter learns from her father’s courage and …

Information Literacy Skills And College Students: A Mixed-Methods, Action Research Study Of Students’ Knowledge And Self-Efficacy For Applying Information Literacy Skills To Their Academic And Social Lives, Jade Geary

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research was to examine information literacy skills in undergraduate students. In particular, this research investigated students’ knowledge and self-efficacy of information literacy skills. Furthermore, this study explored students’ application of information literacy and how students apply information literacy skills to their academic and social lives. By developing a greater understanding of students’ knowledge, self-efficacy and the use of information literacy skills, it allows librarians to tailor information literacy instruction to fit students’ needs. The three research questions that guided this study were (1) What are undergraduate students’ knowledge of information literacy at the University of …

Building Community Among International Students Through Purposeful Selection Of Fictional Literature, Michael Robert

Theses and Dissertations

Purposefully selecting text is a longstanding challenge for teachers of multinational, adult learners enrolled at language schools. International students come from diverse cultural backgrounds, have been educated in different academic systems, are of different ages, and have separate interests; therefore, it is difficult for teachers to effectively select text to meet this disparate student group’s needs. The purpose of this action research investigation was to identify an effective strategy to select reading material that fosters student engagement through a shared reading interest.

This action research investigation used exploratory qualitative methods in a constructivist grounded theory approach. I conducted semi-structured interviews …

Statistical Analysis Of A Joint Stochastic Model For Recurrent Competing Risks, Longitudinal Marker, And Health Status, Lili Tong

Theses and Dissertations

Joint modeling approach has been applied in many applications in biomedical, reliability, and social-economic research. For example, in clinical trials and medical research, different kinds of patient information are gathered over time, such as recurrent competing risk events (e.g., relapses of different types of tumor), longitudinal marker (e.g., tumor size), and health status (e.g., if a patient is dead or not). These data are usually correlated, joint models enable the analysis of these correlated data. This dissertation proposes a class of joint dynamic models for simultaneously modeling the three types of processes: a recurrent competing risk (RCR) process, a health …

Relationship Of General Athletic Performance Markers To Intra-Team Ranking Of Sport Performance, Steven Keith Scruggs Ii

Theses and Dissertations

A foundational principle in sport science involves applying an evidence-based approach to training and development of athletes. The primary objective is to provide an effective training program, while monitoring general athletic performance (GAP) development (i.e., athlete-monitoring), ensuring intended adaptations are occurring. Much of the literature has focused on GAP markers (e.g., physical qualities related to strength, speed, power, agility, and endurance) which are only suggested to influence competitive sport performance (SP) outcomes (e.g., yards per carry, batting average, hitting percentage, rank or placement, etc.; B. Alejo, personal communication, July 13, 2019). This gap in the literature should be filled via …

Preferential Vaporization Potential Of Crude Oils And Its Impact On Flame Flashback Behaviors, Ayuob Al Wahaibi

Theses and Dissertations

As combined cycle gas turbines for power generation operating on light distillate fuels provide a sufficient energy, there is a global trend in using heavy liquids (e.g. HFO, crude oils) for direct-firing in gas turbine. However, using these heavy fuels imposes many challenges due to their wide range of physical/chemical properties, which control near-limit combustion behaviors, such lean blow-out and flashback. In addition, the ignition propensity of these heavy fuels is not reported in crude assays, and utilizing a simple, with small sample, and quick methodology to characterize the ignition propensity is important in determining the fuel quality.

In this …

Teacher Perceptions Of Practices That Enculturate Data-Driven Decision-Making, Nevermind Everlasting Chigoba

Theses and Dissertations

Classroom teachers in PK-12 grades in the U.S.A. are under immense pressure to use data from internal and external sources in order to make decisions expected to transform their instructional practice to hopefully meet the adequate yearly progress demanded by accountability policies. This exploratory case study was conducted on a midsized school district in the Midlands region of South Carolina. The study sought to explore what student data forms the district teachers had access to, and how they used those data in making instructional and other student-level decisions. The study also explored the teachers’ perceptions on their attitudes towards data, …

Radium At The Lost City And Mid-Cayman Rise Hydrothermal Fields, Jessica D. Frankle

Theses and Dissertations

Fluid residence times of deep-sea hydrothermal circulation influence chemical cycling in the ocean. While fluid residence time estimates exist for many basalt-hosted systems, no estimates exist for serpentinite hosted systems that emit fluids with inherently different chemistry. We measured short- and long-lived radium (Ra) nuclides in fluids from two hydrothermal systems on the Mid-Cayman Rise to constrain their residence times: the Von Damm Vent Field, a mixed ultramafic-mafic system, and the Piccard Vent Field, a mafic, neovolcanic system. Von Damm fluids contain remarkably elevated 223Ra activities (half-life = 11.4 days), surpassing those from basalt-hosted hydrothermal systems by one to two …

Carbonatite Metasomatism And Water Systematics Of Peridotite Xenoliths From Lanzarote, Canaries, Sierra N. Patterson

Theses and Dissertations

Water in Earth’s mantle, present as structurally bound hydrogen in minerals, influences large scale processes like mantle deformation, plate tectonics, and melting. To better understand the processes controlling water concentrations in the Earth’s upper mantle, we analyzed hydrogen (calculated as ppm wt. H₂O), major, and trace element concentrations in minerals from peridotite mantle xenoliths of Lanzarote, Canaries. The Canaries Islands are thought to be the surface expression of a deep-seated mantle plume erupting through the Atlantic Ocean lithosphere. Carbonatite magmas have erupted in the Canaries and previous studies have shown evidence for carbonatite metasomatism in Lanzarote peridotites. Thus, …

Efficacy Of Telegenetics: A Diagnostic Yield Comparison Between In-Person And Telemedicine Pediatric Genetic Evaluations, Allie Merrihew

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of telegenetic services for pediatric genetic evaluations conducted by telemedicine by comparing it to in-person pediatric genetic evaluations. Research into the utility of telegenetics would greatly serve to identify if this is a preferred alternative service delivery model to bridge the gap in accessibility and reach a greater catchment area of the population, especially to those living in underserved and rural locations. This study was a retrospective review of electronic medical records of pediatric patients seen at Greenwood Genetic Center (GGC) for initial in-person genetic visits prior to the COVID-19 …

Grafting Based Thermoplastic-Thermoset Bonding For Aerospace Structures, Saurabh Vaidya

Theses and Dissertations

The use of carbon fiber composites is rapidly increasing in the aerospace industry. Fiber reinforced plastic composites can primarily be classified as thermoplastic and thermoset, both offer unique advantages over one another. Thermosets cure at relatively low temperature and in general, are lower priced than thermoplastic composites. However, the cost of autoclave for the curing of thermosets is a major drawback. On the other hand, thermoplastics are showing higher damage tolerance. They can be re-melted and re-consolidated and have the potential to be re-used / recycled. The repair of TP composites is not developed yet. Therefore, both the types attract …

Transgressive Migrations: Gender Roles, Space, And Place In American Novels, 1900-1999, Selena Gail Larkin

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I examine how gender roles combine with changes in space and place to affect women protagonists in twentieth-century American literature. I argue that as these characters migrate, the (self-)perception of their identities shift. Particularly, their outward performances as well as their internal awareness change. My analysis concentrates on the novel genre because of specific characteristics—plot, characterization, and narration. The chosen literary works on which I focus are The Grapes of Wrath (1939), Quicksand (1928), Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), The Dollmaker (1954), and Under the Feet of Jesus (1996).

Concepts that I …

Assessing The Anticipated Needs Of Transgender Patients In Cancer Genetic Counseling, Jacqueline Baquet

Theses and Dissertations

Most cancers are sporadic, but 5-10% of all cancer is hereditary, or caused by a heritable genetic mutation. A patient’s medical history, family history, genetic test results, intact organs (e.g., ovaries) at an increased risk for developing cancer, and the availability and accessibility of interventions are used to make recommendations for cancer-risk management. In addition to basic medical care, transgender patients have healthcare needs that differ from those of cisgender patients such as expert care related to using hormones or having gender-affirming surgery, as well as unique mental health concerns. Transgender individuals may also experience a greater number of barriers …

Sanctuary Poetics And Contemporary Us Culture, Alex Howerton

Theses and Dissertations

Sanctuary Poetics and Contemporary US Culture argues that contemporary poets of color create spaces of safety, relation, and justice through the act of writing as resistance itself. Sanctuary Poetics discusses poetry responding to the myriad crises of our contemporary moment, and considers how poets, through formal techniques such as ekphrasis or synecdoche, envision moments of shelter and connection that provide necessary relief to imperiled populations. I introduce the idea of a sanctuary poetics through Amanda Gorman’s recent poem “The Hill We Climb,” performed at Joseph Biden’s inauguration. The first chapter covers citizenship and the work of the Undocupoets, a multiracial …

A Conceptual Analysis Of The Mand And Its Relevance To Acquisition, Meka N. Mccammon

Theses and Dissertations

With the rapid increase in the diagnostic rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there has been a growing need for evaluating the trends in training natural change agents to implement behavioral interventions and coming to a consensus on training procedures that are efficacious, efficient, and accessible. The purpose of this multiple manuscript dissertation is to describe three studies in a line of research designed to contribute to the video modeling literature as well as illuminate gaps in the literature concerning the assessment of generalization and maintenance of student mand outcomes and the components essentials to mand training. Specifically, video models …

Exploring Effects Of Sample Storage, Preparation, And Tissue Type On Fourier Transform-Near Infrared Spectroscopy (Ft-Nirs) Ageing Across Fish Taxa, Keith Fuller

Theses and Dissertations

The accurate determination of age for fish is a vital part of both populationmanagement and ichthyological research. However, the methods which are primarily employed to age fish can be difficult, time consuming, inaccurate, or some combination thereof. Most ageing is currently done via hard parts (such as otoliths, vertebrae, or scales) which are read in a manner similar to tree rings with markings corresponding to known or presumed periods of time. Recently, Fourier transform-near infrared spectroscopy (FT-NIRS) has been investigated as a novel tool to age fish more quickly and objectively. This method works by recording the vibrational frequencies of …

Expanding The Frontiers Of Supernova Cosmology In Preparation For Next Generation Telescopes, Justin Roberts-Pierel

Theses and Dissertations

Supernova (SN) research has been the source of many astronomical discoveries over the past several decades, most prominently the accelerated expansion of the universe by so-called “dark energy” in 1998. Next generation surveys like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the Nancy G. Roman Space Telescope, in large part through traditional luminosity distance measurements with Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), are set to reveal more about the nature of dark energy this decade than at any time in history. The enormous SN Ia samples from Roman and Rubin mean cosmological inferences will no longer be limited by statistical uncertainties, …

Language Interpreters’ Perspective Of The Interpreter-Genetic Counselor Working Alliance, Dacia Lipkea

Theses and Dissertations

Interpreters are an asset to the genetic counseling process as they help to bridge both cultural and linguistic gaps. For various reasons, their ability to accurately render the often-complex information discussed in genetic counseling sessions is likely dependent on their ability to establish a working alliance and collaborate with genetic counselors to overcome any challenges. Studies in other healthcare fields document the elements crucial to forming a working alliance between interpreter and healthcare provider, but little research has been done specifically investigating how to form a working alliance in the context of the specialized nature of genetic counseling. The goal …

Treatment Of Hiv-1 Associated Neurocognitive Disorders Through Mechanisms Of Neurogenesis With 11-Hour Voluntary Running Wheel Exposure, Alex Steiner

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with HIV-1 taking combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) live longer with less morbidity associated with the infection. The increase in lifespan has created a critical need for the deterrence of HIV-1 associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) reported in the aging population. Previous reports indicate that the HIV-1 infection may cause impairment in neurogenesis, leading to many of the cognitive deficits seen. The current paper proposes that exercise, as defined by voluntary wheel running, would be a potent inducer of neurogenesis that results in the neuro-restoration of CNS properties and cognitive functioning. Each animal had free access to 11-hour nocturnal wheel-running seven …

Essays In The Economics Of Tournaments, Eren Bilen

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays that focus on tournaments, incentives, and performance. The first essay presents evidence of cheating that took place in online examinations during COVID-19 lockdowns and proposes two solutions with and without a camera for the cheating problem based on the experience accumulated by online chess communities over the past two decades. The best implementable solution is a uniform online exam policy where a camera capturing each students computer screen and room is a requirement.

The second essay investigates the "superstar effect" using observations from chess tournaments. Superstars exist in many places. In competition, they might …