Digital Commons Network^™

Developing A Curriculum For An Online Group Piano In The Philippines: An Ideological, Historical, And Practical Approach, Lady Abigail Imperio

Theses and Dissertations

Online distance learning, a modern educational practice, has permeated music pedagogy in the past several decades. It involves synthesizing interdisciplinary studies in philosophy, music, technology, and sociology. In this study, the integrated approach aims to develop a unique curriculum for an online group piano in the Philippine setting. This goal involves coalescing ideological, historical, and practical perspectives to develop a coherent, learner-centered approach.

The ideological approach surveys educational philosophies, music learning theories, cooperative learning theories, online learning theories, and socio-cultural perspectives relevant to forming a unique framework. The nature of online distance music learning itself presents complex challenges of international …

Mathematical Modeling And Reconstruction Of Porous Media To Understand Transport Phenomena For Electrochemical System Applications, Mitchell Sepe

Theses and Dissertations

Alternative power generation has grown significantly in the space of energy production over the last ten years. Development of new technologies to produce energy is vital to the growing need for electricity. Batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, and countless other renewable energy options have been deemed necessary to create an overall greener future. Fuels cells when combined with electrolyzer show a promising system for stationary power generation. Both technologies are comprised of multiple parts in contact that must work together simultaneously to create an ideal environment for catalytic reactions to take place. A crucial component to a properly functioning cell …

The Impact Of Mathematical Justifications On Conceptual Understanding, Jessica Raley

Theses and Dissertations

Mathematical justifications offer an approach to which students deepen and extend their mathematical thinking. This process has the potential to enhance students’ conceptual understanding. Mathematical practices and process standards ask students to use critical thinking skills to justify their reasoning, but this is usually seen as proofs in high school geometry. This convergent mixed method research study aimed to increase students' use of writing mathematical justifications and investigate the influence of this practice on mathematical and conceptual understanding. Eleven eighth-grade students participated in the study conducted in the Midwest United States. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, students’ artifacts of …

Enslaved Women: Reproductive Choices And Medicine, Adedoyin Adekunle

Theses and Dissertations

Enslavement in the American South persisted as a form of subjugation that endured into the nineteenth century. The origins of slavery stemmed from enslavers’ aspirations for dominance. This compelled displacement involved the removal of Africans from their native lands and their subsequent transport as chattels to America. Slavery gave rise to paternalism, an attempt to justify exploitation to resolve the fundamental contradiction inherent in slavery. Paternalism gave rise to the false idea of ultimate submission, which historians have agreed that most enslavers never attained because of slave resistance. However, the study of slave resistance had been primarily focused on enslaved …

Erlang-Distributed Seir Epidemic Models With Cross-Diffusion, Victoria Chebotaeva

Theses and Dissertations

We examine the effects of cross-diffusion dynamics in epidemiological models. Using reaction-diffusion dynamics to model the spread of infectious diseases, we focus on situations in which the movement of individuals is affected by the concentration of individuals of other categories. In particular, we present a model where susceptible individuals move away from large concentrations of infected and infectious individuals.

Our results show that accounting for this cross-diffusion dynamics leads to a noticeable effect on epidemic dynamics. It is noteworthy that this leads to a delay in the onset of epidemics and an increase in the total number of people infected. …

The Northern View Of The Southern Shore: Experience, Reconciliation, And Commemoration In Postbellum Charleston, South Carolina, Michael Edward Scott Emett

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the experiences and commemorative practices of nearly 200 northern passengers in Charleston, South Carolina, as they attended the flag reraising ceremony at Fort Sumter on April 14, 1865, and then organized the Sumter Club to celebrate that event annually. While some has been written about postwar Charleston during the first half of 1865, and a little more has been published covering this flag ceremony, the Northern view and their experiences with each have not been investigated, nor has anyone written an account of this club. This dissertation utilizes the theory and methodology of the history of experience, …

Exploring The Intersections Between Gospel Music And European Choral Traditions, Through Selected Works Of Isaac Cates, Diane L. White-Clayton, And Raymond Wise, Bryon Keith Black Ii

Theses and Dissertations

This study will explore a variety of musical intersections between the gospel and European choral music traditions. The study will focus on three Gospel composers and their selected works to demonstrate accessible elements of Gospel music for collegiate choral ensembles. These musical elements will explore some comparison of styles, examples of where seventeenth through nineteenth century European choral traditions influenced the works of some Gospel composers, and appropriate pedagogical techniques for the Gospel style. The intersections will be demonstrated with examples from the composer’s scores with some comparisons to European choral works. This will include information on each composer’s background, …

Demystifying The Choral Music Of Herbert Howells: A Pedagogical Approach Via Selected Works, Michael Ballard

Theses and Dissertations

The music of Herbert Howells is a mystery for many choral musicians. Howells’s popularity in England is unquestioned, but knowledge of his music has grown slowly in the United States. While the BBC Singers’ performance of Requiem in 1980 brought new enthusiasm for his music and the Requiem, he is still seldom performed in the United States outside of small circles which are generally in Anglican or Episcopalian communities. This is likely due to lack of exposure to his music and the perception that the music is inaccessible and mysterious. Some of Howells’s more complex music is inaccessible for …

Application Of Machine Learning Techniques And The Unscented Kalman Filter To Real-Time Gas Turbine Clearance Prediction, Donald Earl Floyd

Theses and Dissertations

The growth in renewable energy sources and retirement of large baseload coal-fired power stations has led to an accompanying decrease in reliability and security of the electrical grid. Since renewable energy sources are typically non-dispatchable, this can lead to blackouts and/or brownouts for customers. Heavy duty gas turbine power plants (HDGT) offer a solution to this problem. HDGTs are dispatchable, clean, and offer flexibility in the fuel they consume, but operational limitations must be well understood to fully exploit their benefits.

One of the main operational limitations is the tip clearances in the gas turbine. In many cases, the gas …

Sonic Data: Sonification In James Stephenson’S There Are No Words And David Kirkland Garner’S Red Hot Sun Turning Over, Nathan Lee Tucker

Theses and Dissertations

Sonification, or the transformation of data relations into sound, has inspired composers of orchestral and wind ensemble music over the past several years. Two of the resulting works included there are no words by James Stephenson and red hot sun turning over by David Kirkland Garner. Both works were analyzed, and their histories detailed in this study. Issues in American society and the American South such as gun violence, civil rights, and American Civil War monuments are revealed as inspiration for composers to map empirical processes onto sound. These musical protests against misinformation were shown to illuminate histories and correlations …

South Carolina School District Takeover: A Critical Policy Analysis, David Osworth

Theses and Dissertations

School takeover is a reform strategy where a school or district is placed into the control of a state or municipal government agency. Takeover has become increasingly popular in many states as an attempt to improve schools and district that are struggling either academically or financially. Takeover, however, is more likely to be implemented in districts serving a higher proportion of Black students. Due to the racialized nature of this policy this study uses a Critical Race Theory (CRT) methodology to engage in a critical policy analysis of school takeover in one rural school district in South Carolina. This study …

Associations Between The Use Of Ssri Medication In Older Adults And Cognitive Decline And Impairment, Paige Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has indicated that depression is a risk factor for dementia. Since SSRI medication is the most common treatment for depression, it is important to determine if SSRIs are associated with reduced dementia and better cognitive outcomes. Using longitudinal data from the 2004-2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study merged with the 2005 Prescription Drug Study, we examined potential associations between SSRI and TCA medication and cognitive impairment and cognitive decline. The study population consisted of 1,775 older adults who participated in the PDS in 2005. We found that SSRIs were associated with significantly higher odds of cognitive …

A Discussion Of The Tubman Arias From The Opera Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line To Freedom, Mahari Allene Marie Freeman

Theses and Dissertations

Nkeiru Okoye (1972-) is an American composer of operas and orchestral works whose concert and theatrical compositions have gained extensive recognition in recent years. Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed that Line to Freedom is Okoye’s most well- known opera for which she composed the music and penned the libretto. Through her compositions, Okoye bravely addresses political and racial issues and tells the stories of well-known Black figures, such as Harriet Tubman.

Harriet Tubman (1822-1913) was a prolific American hero that led runaway slaves toward freedom. For approximately a decade, she risked her life traveling to and from the South to …

The Study And Development Of Autonomous Scarf Repair For Composite Structures: A Focus On Advanced Air Mobility Vehicles, Stephen Hilton

Theses and Dissertations

“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to truly give you a solution to thermoplastic repair” – Arnt. Director GKN Global Tech Center, 2023

The aerospace industry has a prevalence of composite materials due to their outstanding benefits to the mechanical properties of structures while serving to reduce the overall structure weight. With the development of the Advanced Air Mobility market, there is an anticipated growth in the number of composite structures. Also, with the manufacturing environment of the 21st century, these composite structures are more and more being made using thermoplastic composites that can be recycled at the end of …

Simulation Study On Count Data Based On Double Poisson Distribution, Chao Ma

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis delves into the double Poisson distribution. Regression based on the double Poisson distribution, as proposed by Efron in 1986, offers an alternative approach that allows for more accurate regression models when dealing with discrete data that exhibit either over- or under-dispersion compared to the Poisson distribution. In this thesis, two methods of calculating the exact double Poisson density are compared: one utilizes the exact probability with the normalizing constant c(mu, theta) by definition or the “finite sum” method, while the other employs an approximation of the normalizing constant c(mu, theta). Furthermore, a simulation was …

Three Essays On Financial Institutions And Financial Intermediation, Xinxin Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

In the first essay, I examine the trading relationship between the manager of a collateralized loan obligation (CLO) deal and the borrowers and/or lenders of the underlying portfolio of the CLO deal. I investigate how these relationships affect the structure and pricing of CLO deals. I find that a stronger relationship between a CLO manager and either borrowers or lenders of loans in the underlying portfolio leads to a smaller equity tranche in the CLO deal and a lower yield spread of the AAA tranche, on average. These results suggest that the CLO manager uses private information from trading relationships …

Layers Of Support: Cognitive, Psychological, And Social Factors That Contribute To Success In The High School-To-College Transition, Paige Cristine Mckeown

Theses and Dissertations

The future of individual and societal progress is largely dependent on students’ success following completion of K-12 education. For most traditionally aged students, this entails a journey into higher education at colleges and universities. This transition is rife with pitfalls that may lead students to stop out, fail out, or make inadequate progress towards completion – which further compounds social, psychological, financial, and personal challenges they may be facing. However, the challenges that contribute to these outcomes can be addressed and interventions can be designed to best support students in transition. This dissertation addresses these factors through a thematic literature …

Teacher-Researcher As Indicator: Developing A Third Space For Newcomer Youth In A Secondary Classroom, Gabriel Andres Chen Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

This paper was written to reveal answers to the Problem of Practice identified at the site school as it has experienced a steady growth in newcomer multilingual learners. This minority-majority group of students at the school have underperformed academically despite the use of varied teaching strategies. In an effort to help newcomer students through intentional sheltered instruction, I held the believe that as a former multilingual learner now serving as their classroom teacher, I could be an indicator for the classroom allowing me to realize there may be hopes, needs, and attitudes that were hidden from current pedagogical practices.

In …

Fourth-Grade Music Students' Perceptions Of Music Improvisation: An Ethnographic Case Study, Ashley Elizabeth Cobb

Theses and Dissertations

I facilitated this ethnographic case study to better understand potential successes and difficulties music improvisation presents in music facilitating and learning from the student perspective. The purpose of this research was to examine my fourth-grade students’ perceptions of music improvisation via improvisatory music circles using the following guiding research questions. Regarding 30-minute improvisatory music circles: 1) How do fourth-grade students (a) define music improvisation, (b) respond to facilitator-selected improvisatory music activities during improvisatory music circles, and (c) make decisions while participating in improvisatory music circles? 2) How did those students’ perceptions change throughout data collection?

I collected data from five …

The Burden Of Belonging: A Case Study Of Black Students' Experiences With Linguistically Code-Switching Between Discourse Communities, Tanner Charles Slagle

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative action research case study is focused on better understanding the complex and intricate nature of code-switching among Black students. In today’s educational climate, many Black students find themselves speaking one way with their closest friends and family members in front of the swing set and television and another way with their classmates and teachers in front of the blackboard. Due to systemic racism, schools today tend to place the burden of belonging on the youngest children of color rather than on the seasoned, and often privileged, adults who work with them. This dissertation is largely rooted in Gee’s …

Impacts Of Covid-19 And Taliban Takeover On U.S. Afghan Refugee Women’S Mental Health: A Socio-Ecological Approach To Resilience Resources, Atefeh Aghaei

Theses and Dissertations

In response to the escalating global refugee crisis, intensified by ongoing conflicts and environmental changes, this dissertation research focuses on the mental health of Afghan refugee women in the United States (U.S.), particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 Taliban takeover. With over 114 million people displaced globally, Afghan refugees, notably women, encounter heightened mental health risks due to violence, deprivation, systemic persecution, and the challenges of migration. This vulnerability is exacerbated by recent mass traumatic events, including the pandemic and political upheaval in Afghanistan. Our study, conducted through semi-structured interviews with Afghan refugee women and …

The Impact Of An Integrative Stem Educational Approach On Wonder Within A Catholic School, Carrie Kavanaugh Brun

Theses and Dissertations

This action research study explored the challenge of evoking wonder among fourth graders within one Catholic School, using an integrative STEM educational approach. Cognitive constructivism, social constructivism, and situated learning theory guided this qualitative case study. Twenty-one students learned about the Fibonacci sequence and Golden Ratio while engaging in nature walks, group work, and journaling. Students were tasked with creating a 3D design, utilizing the Engineering Design Process. Qualitative data were generated through student journals, practitioner reflective notes, and classroom observations and videos. Analysis and interpretation of the data indicated that (a) nature evokes wonder, (b) students create learning through …

Examining Systems To Improve Third Grade Literacy: Focus On Schools With High Poverty Index, Brenda Kelley

Theses and Dissertations

This improvement project was designed to ensure students enrolled in elementary schools with a high poverty index received literacy instructional strategies that promoted literacy achievement. When analyzing Graham County School data, I noticed third-grade students attending high poverty elementary schools were not achieving literacy success at the same rate as third-grade students attending low poverty elementary schools. An improvement team, consisting of myself, administration, and teachers at a high poverty elementary school implemented the improvement science framework to further study the root causes of this problem. Utilizing the six principles of the improvement science framework, problem focused and user centered, …

Unraveling The Impact Of The School-To-Prison Pipeline: Investigating Racial Disparities In Disciplinary Practices, Zelexis Croffie

Theses and Dissertations

This action research study sought to examine ways to narrow the racial discipline gap in South Carolina’s elementary schools. Employing both the Critical Race Theory and BlackCrit in schools as the theoretical frameworks, the research delved into the narratives of teachers in grades 3^rd through 5^th, exploring their encounters with school-based disciplinary practices. The study integrated Social-Emotional Learning and Culturally Responsive Teaching to ultimately uncover implicit biases held by teachers that positioned Black students as less innocent compared to their White counterparts. The primary focus was to investigate the relationship between teachers’ inequitable disciplinary practices and the …

Eco-Domestic Femininity: The Collapse Of Domestic And Wild In Southern Women’S Writing, Christina Xan

Theses and Dissertations

When the Agrarians set out to assert their definition of southern in I’ll Take My Stand (1930), they planted roots deep in the ground of the south that slowly wrapped its tendrils around its descendants. In the years that have followed, southern women have had to push back against these limiting boundaries. Their individual stories are linked by the communal lineage of the south, specifically the binary of domestic and wild. Traditionally, southern women have had to stay in the boundaries of the home, cultivating domesticity, ordering the space, and warming the hearth. The land itself, posed as opposite from …

The Intersection Of Teachers’ Professional Learning Needs And Instructional Leadership: An Investigation Of Administrator-Facilitated Coaching Cycles, Richelle Battles

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this action research study was to examine the impact of a school administrator–teacher coaching relationship on the professional practice of both the administrator and the teacher. Through a qualitative approach, the study followed the experiences of three coaching pairs (i.e., administrator/coach and teacher/coachee) as they engaged in a 6-week coaching cycle. Data were collected through interviews, weekly reflections, observations, and coaching logs. Results revealed teachers value professional learning opportunities that prioritize their individual needs as practitioners and give them access to educators who demonstrate expertise related to that need. The data also revealed, when serving in …

Connecting Family Funds Of Knowledge With Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum: A Strengths-Based Approach, Molly Kathleen Hamel

Theses and Dissertations

This action research study investigated the application of funds of knowledge research to supplement a Pre-Kindergarten curriculum in order to connect the previous knowledge and lived experiences of students and their families with the concepts and objectives of the classroom. The research combined funds of knowledge theory with social constructivism to form its theoretical framework. The research study used semi-structured interviews with parents to collect information about student and family funds of knowledge which the researcher used to supplement the existing curriculum with materials, activities, and experiences with which students were familiar. The findings revealed how enhancing existing curriculum with …

Unraveling The Structure And Star Formation History Of Polar Ring Galaxies, Kyle Lackey

Theses and Dissertations

Polar ring galaxies (PRGs) are a fascinating subgroup of early-type galaxies (ETGs) consisting of a central host galaxy - typically E/S0 - surrounded by a ring of gas, dust and stars orbitting perpedicular to the major axis of that host. In order to estimate physical properties and origins of five such objects taken from Whitmore's 1990 PRC catalog, we conduct a photometric study in optical and infrared wavebands. Data are taken from SDSS, GMOS-S, HST-WFPC2, and SST-IRAC. Each object was decomposed into a host galaxy bulge, host galaxy disk, and polar ring, and each component was fit with a Sersic …

Transcending The Family-Teacher Partnership: Utilizing Teaching Methods And Digital Platforms Proven Effective During The Pandemic, Amanda Katherine Mcclain

Theses and Dissertations

The unprecedented challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic led teachers to innovatively shift their teaching methods. These pioneering practices inspired this study’s Elevated Family-Teacher Partnership intervention to provide equitable guidance and communication for all families. This dissertation, in practice, measured the effects the intervention created in a first-grade classroom setting in Hanahan, South Carolina. A mixed-methods research design analyzed the intervention's effects on the family-teacher relationship and each child’s academic achievement. The data indicated increased parental efficacy, engagement, and academic growth during the 12-week intervention for all families participating.

Nutrition And Mental Health Related Factors Across Historically Black College And University Students, Nancy Anai Uriegas

Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of food insecurity across college campus in the United States has been widely explored, with the primary focus placed on large, 4-year, primarily White institutions. Less is known about the prevalence of food insecurity and the impact it may have on health behaviors among minority serving institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Young adults attending college, and more specifically student-athletes (SAs), are typically in a new place, facing new stressors and high rates of food insecurity, which in turn may play a critical role in their current health status as it pertains to meeting their energy …