Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Sexting In The Development Of Romantic Relationships, Max Bretscher

Theses and Dissertations

Using Knapp's stage theory of relationship communication, this pilot study examines "sexting" in the broader framework of relationship development, from initiation to termination. Likert-scale questions (1 = highly unlikely; 2 = highly likely) and open-ended questions were administered through Qualtrics to a small population (N = 45) of undergraduate mass communication students to determine on what communication technology, and in which stage(s) of relationships, is sexting most likely to occur. Quantitative results showed that Snapchat was considered the most appropriate medium for sexts (M = 4.60), followed by texting (4.27). Research that these mediums are used when relationships reach a …

Brand New: How Visual Context Shapes Initial Response To Logos And Corporate Visual Identity Systems, Robert A. Wertz

Theses and Dissertations

When a new logo is released, it does not have an established meaning in the mind of the viewer. As logos have become more highly scrutinized by consumers and critics, it has become more important to understand consumers’ initial response to logos. While other studies have researched the impact of aesthetic choices on viewer reaction to logos, few researchers have attempted to understand the effect of the surrounding visual identity system when a new logo is introduced. This study combines a content analysis of the logo review website Brand New with the voting data from their polls to understand how …

Digging Into Digital Citizenship: Describing The Co-Creation Of An Implementation Plan With Fifth- And Sixth-Grade Intermediate School Teachers, Cheryl Tice

Theses and Dissertations

The study’s purpose was to describe the processes, experiences, and beliefs of individuals involved in a collaborative action research project to develop a digital citizenship curriculum in Upstate Intermediate School. Teachers there did not systematically teach digital citizenship skills at the fifth- and sixth-grade levels. Facilitating the development of responsible online behaviors is vital. The study examined three research questions: (a) fifth- and sixth-grade teachers’ perceptions of barriers to integrating digital citizenship skills in their instruction; (b) their perceptions of the essential components of a digital citizenship curriculum in the context; and (c) their perceptions of being involved in co-creating …

Technology Experience: Measurement Development And Validation, Hyejo Hailey Shin

Theses and Dissertations

Think about yourself traveling to somewhere in the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s repeatedly. What would be the most significant difference among those four periods? There would be many differences, including clearer sky and clean air. Imagine how you would plan your three-day vacation. You might need several travel guidebooks and travel agents to plan your trip if you were in the 1990s. In the 2020s, you just need to download some mobile apps to plan and even create organized travel itineraries. After arriving at the destination, how would you find the way to a tourism attraction? You just need …

Sacrificial Bodies And Hegemonic Femininity: The Creation Of The Heroine In The Twilight, The Hunger Games, & Divergent Series, Tiffany R. Boyles

Senior Theses

Within this thesis, I analyze The Twilight Saga, The Hunger Games Trilogy, and The Divergent Trilogy and how the portrayal and treatment of the protagonists’ bodies within these texts uphold tenets of white, hegemonic femininity. I discuss first how their bodies are feminized, in part by their whiteness and smallness, but also through the comparison to the bodies of male characters. While the men are strong and physically capable, the protagonists are weak and physically incapable. As a result, the protagonists cannot act in the way a traditional hero might, using offensive action for self-preservation. Instead, the protagonists …

Memorialization Of J. Marion Sims In Columbia, South Carolina, Nicole Chandonnet

Senior Theses

The Heritage Act in South Carolina prevents the General Assembly from changing historic names of buildings and removing war memorials from the statehouse grounds without a supermajority. This highly controversial bill prohibits altering the landscape of the state and ensures a permanent place for white supremacy. The Repeal the Heritage Act coalition formed in 2020 to challenge this legislation, and this thesis examines one of its most recent targets: the memorialization of J. Marion Sims in Columbia. To this end, this thesis studies the South Carolina Medical Association’s Journal from 1910-1940 to study the legacy of Sims and why he …

Failure To Launch: Evaluating The Costs And Benefits Of America’S Strategy For Building Afghanistan’S Air Force, Alexander Smith

Senior Theses

The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for twenty years. For eighteen of these years, it has spent precious time, money, and resources to modernize the Afghan Air Force (AAF). In my thesis, I conduct a cost-benefit analysis of this strategy to determine whether the net benefits and the overall outcome of the program justify the level of U.S. investment. I compare U.S. efforts with the AAF to those with the Iraqi Air Force while exploring the idea of path dependency. My analysis reveals that U.S. efforts to modernize the AAF have been a failure. The United States …

Quasi-Dogwhistles: A Case Study Of Creating Meaning, Clyde Lemoine

Senior Theses

In 2017, a group of users on the website 4chan attempted to establish a new meaning of the common “OK” hand gesture. Claiming the sign meant “white power” the intention of this act was to trick left-leaning internet users and the media that an innocuous sign was racist, hence turning everyone unaware against them. A common narrative surrounding the situation was that the new meaning for the gesture as established by this group was a “hoax”. This situation serves as an interesting case study into understanding how we mean things by the use of signs. I will argue that the …

Discursive Power And Resistance In The Information Worlds Maps Of Lgbtqia+ Community Leaders, Vanessa Kitzie, Travis L. Wagner, Alexander N. Vera

Faculty Publications

Purpose: This qualitative study explores how discursive power shapes South Carolina LGBTQIA+ communities' health information practices and how participants resist this power. Design/methodology/approach: Twenty-eight LGBTQIA+ community leaders from South Carolina engaged in semi-structured interviews and information worlds mapping – a participatory arts-based elicitation technique – to capture the context underlying how they and their communities create, seek, use, and share health information. We focus on the information worlds maps for this paper, employing situational analysis – a discourse analytic method for visual data – to analyze them. Findings: Six themes emerged describing how discursive power operates both within and outside …

American Absurdity: Reconciling Conceptions Of The Absurd In European And American Literature, Benjamin Spencer

Senior Theses

This thesis aims to examine the development of the concept of the absurd in literature across different time periods and cultural contexts. The absurd, as defined by Camus, is the gap between humanity’s desire to understand the world and the impossibility of doing so.

However, the ways in which the absurd is recognized as an aspect of existence depends heavily on the sociological contexts in which an individual lives. By analyzing the works of absurdist authors, filmmakers, and artists across time, we can track the development of these absurdist conceptions in both Europe and American literary movements.

Looking at these …

The Effect Of Covid-19 On The Mental Health Of College Athletes, Molly Mcardle

Senior Theses

This research aimed to explore how the mental status of student athletes at the University of South Carolina has been affected by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 61 student athletes between the ages of 17 and 24 participated in the study and completed a series of questions including the Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21) and the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ). Independent samples t-tests and descriptive analyses were used for comparisons between gender and age. The results showed that female athletes reported statistically significantly higher levels of anxiety and stress than male athletes (p = 0.049 and p = …

Space Exploration: Nasa Investment Into The Private Space Sector And Public Opinion, Brooke Ziegenhagen

Senior Theses

The space exploration industry has entered a new era with companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin leading the way to the privatization of space. This paper examines public opinion regarding the source of space exploration funding and proposes possible motivations for these sentiments. This is followed by an assessment on NASA’s investment trends into the commercial space industry. Both probes review the past decade, to reveal the public-private relationship in this new era and finally, conclude whether or not public opinion plays a role in the degree of NASA investment and what that role may be.

Lions, Tigers, And Hemes - Oh My! A Dynamic Look At The Electronic Effects Of Porphyrin Substitution On Cytochrome P450 Olet, Alexis J. Holwerda

Senior Theses

OleT, a member of the CYP152 family of cytochrome P450s (CYPs), decarboxylates fatty acids using hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant. The resultant products are a terminal alkene and carbon dioxide. This C–C cleavage reaction is highly atypical for CYPs, which prototypically oxygenate substrates, and provides a potential means to enzymatically produce drop-in fuels. OleT contains a heme-iron cofactor that facilitates decarboxylation through the activation of hydrogen peroxide. The catalytic cycle, as determined by transient kinetics, includes two ferryl intermediates known as Compound I (Ole-I) and Compound II (Ole-II). Ole-I performs substrate hydrogen abstraction and subsequent single electron transfer to Ole-II …

Aural Skills In Developing Musicians: Uncovering Disparities In Secondary Music Learning, Karly Fitch

Senior Theses

This study was conducted to evaluate the scope of aural skills development occurring in secondary music classrooms. The researcher hypothesized that several disparities would exist, namely regarding melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic dictation. Participants took a survey in which they were asked to recall from a prescribed list, aural skills learned while in high school. They were also asked to provide demographic information including high school attended, current college major, and the number of collegiate aural skills courses completed to date. A number of subjective questions were asked as well, such as desired skills prior to collegiate study, and how aural …

Toxic Masculinity: An Exploration Of Traditional Masculine Norms In Relation To Mental Health Outcomes And Help-Seeking Behaviors In College-Aged Males, Benjamin Harris

Senior Theses

This study examines the relationships between traits of toxic masculinity, mental health outcomes, and help-seeking behaviors in college-aged males. To perform this analysis, a thorough literature review was conducted, and survey data was collected and analyzed to draw conclusions and implications for future research

A Case Study Of Private School Choice And Education Litigation In South Carolina: Safe Grants And Adams V. Mcmaster (S.C. 2020), Lyndsey Katherine Ebener

Senior Theses

The ideology behind private school choice endures in South Carolina. Arguments for parental choice have resurfaced periodically throughout the state’s history, particularly in moments of “crisis.” The current “crisis” moment is the COVID-19 pandemic, which created a perfect storm for the private school choice movement to gain momentum. When Governor McMaster received South Carolina’s emergency education relief funds, he capitalized on this movement with his proposed SAFE Grants program. His intention was for the SAFE Grants program to provide support through one-time tuition grants to low-income families who have children in private schools. Governor McMaster’s announcement incited an overwhelming media …

Emergent Trends In The Chinese Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Supply Chain And Opportunities For Public-Private Reform, Mary Monk

Senior Theses

This research seeks to identify and analyze emerging trends in the Chinese counterfeit pharmaceutical trade, extending from the supply chain’s point of origin to domestic and overseas retail dispensary. To aid readability, Chapter 1 of this thesis opens with key conclusions and policy recommendations for various Chinese and U.S. stakeholders based on the shortcomings identified in Chapter 5. Chapter 2 begins with a review of international roadblocks to diagnosing the issue, such as lack of consensus on working definitions and cross-border discrepancies in pharmaceutical oversight regulation. This section also provides a general overview of existing factors driving demand for counterfeit …

How Providing Care For Individuals With Dementia Affects How A Caregiver Changes Their Lifestyle: A Focus On The Positives, Veronica Joy Vodola

Senior Theses

Background/significance Caregivers of individuals with dementia (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease) may change their day-to-day life, especially self-care, to meet the needs of the person with dementia, which can be detrimental to their health. Caregivers for individuals with dementia experience both primarily negative and primarily positive effects on physical and mental health through exposure to the effects of dementia. Caregivers often report substandard self-care practices and unpleasant impacts on mental health. Others report notable beneficial influences within different aspects of their life. The positive effects have not been widely researched in literature.

Purpose The objective of this research study is to understand …

Health Communication Blindspot: A Case Study Of Harmful Algal Blooms In The South (Habits), Jaron Hoani King

Theses and Dissertations

A Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) is a complex natural event that occurs when algae is in its growth stage and creates a harmful toxin as waste. HABs create both ecologic and public health challenges. The hypothesis of this thesis is that state and federal governments have different readability scores when compared side-by-side as measured by Simple Measures of Gobbledygook (SMOG). Because governments are the entity that most often claims responsibility for shared resources, this case study represents a snapshot of current governmental messaging about HABs in the South Atlantic states. These states have a long history of HAB events in …

The Facebook Frontier: Harnessing The Power Of Facebook Live, Christine A. Anderson

South Carolina Libraries

Facebook Live offers librarians the opportunity for ongoing engagement with their community, even during a pandemic. During the COVID-19 quarantine, community organizations of all types used the site to continue to connect with their community. Kimbel Library used the social media platform to hold virtual versions of annual face-to-face events and create reference education for students and faculty. While there is no replacing the dynamics of face-to-face interaction with patrons, Facebook Live offers opportunity for continued safe social contact. It also is a “safe” place for less outgoing patrons to attend or even participate in library events they would not …

South Carolina Library Association’S Advocacy Committee: Campaign Efforts And Best Practices., Virginia Cononie

South Carolina Libraries

Annually, the South Carolina Library Association Advocacy Committee presents an advocacy update discussing the past year’s legislative practices and campaign efforts. This paper details the committee’s work from 2017 until 2020 and discusses succession planning.

From The Ground Up: Building A Digital Scholarship Program At The University Of South Carolina, Stacy L. Winchester, Amie D. Freeman, Kate F. Boyd

South Carolina Libraries

In 2019, the University of South Carolina Libraries launched a new department called Digital Research Services to support new and evolving forms of scholarship in the digital age. Departmental librarians will discuss the experience of planning and implementing a digital scholarship program and will provide suggestions for other libraries planning a digital research initiative.

“When They Say Weed Causes Depression, But It’S Your Fav Antidepressant”: Knowledge-Aware Attention Framework For Relationship Extraction, Shweta Yadav, Usha Lokala, Raminta Daniulaityte, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Francois Lamy, Amit P. Sheth

Faculty Publications

With the increasing legalization of medical and recreational use of cannabis, more research is needed to understand the association between depression and consumer behavior related to cannabis consumption. Big social media data has potential to provide deeper insights about these associations to public health analysts. In this interdisciplinary study, we demonstrate the value of incorporating domain-specific knowledge in the learning process to identify the relationships between cannabis use and depression. We develop an end-to-end knowledge infused deep learning framework (Gated-K-BERT) that leverages the pre-trained BERT language representation model and domain-specific declarative knowledge source (Drug Abuse Ontology) to jointly extract entities …

"When They Say Weed Causes Depression, But It's Your Fav Antidepressant": Knowledge-Aware Attention Framework For Relationship Extraction, Shweta Yadav, Usha Lokala, Raminta Daniulaityte, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Francois Lamy, Amit Sheth

Publications

With the increasing legalization of medical and recreational use of cannabis, more research is needed to understand the association between depression and consumer behavior related to cannabis consumption. Big social media data has potential to provide deeper insights about these associations to public health analysts. In this interdisciplinary study, we demonstrate the value of incorporating domain-specific knowledge in the learning process to identify the relationships between cannabis use and depression. We develop an end-to-end knowledge infused deep learning framework (Gated-K-BERT) that leverages the pre-trained BERT language representation model and domain-specific declarative knowledge source (Drug Abuse Ontology (DAO)) to jointly extract …

Characterization, Bio-Uptake And Toxicity Of Polymer-Coated Silver Nanoparticles And Their Interaction With Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells, Sahar Pourhoseini, Reilly T. Enos, Angela E. Murphy, Bo Cai Ph.D., Jamie Lead

Faculty Publications

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are widely used in medical applications due to their antibacterial and antiviral properties. Despite the extensive study of AgNPs, their toxicity and their effect on human health is poorly understood, as a result of issues such as poor control of NP properties and lack of proper characterization. The aim of this study was to investigate the combined characterization, bio-uptake, and toxicity of well-characterized polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-coated AgNPs in exposure media during exposure time using primary human cells (peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)). AgNPs were synthesized in-house and characterized using a multimethod approach. Results indicated the transformation of NPs …

Public Opinion Regarding Government Response To Covid-19: Case Study Of A Large Commercial City In Nigeria, Ismaeel Yunusa Ph.D., Sorochi Iloanusi, Osaro Mgbere, Nchebe-Jah Raymond Iloanusi, Anthony Idowu Ajayi, Ekere James Essien

Faculty Publications

Introduction: government measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be effective without widespread compliance by the public. A greater understanding of citizens' perceptions of these measures can help government agencies adapt their strategies to boost compliance. We examined citizens' perceptions of government's measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications on compliance using data from Onitsha city, Anambra State Nigeria.

Methods: data was obtained through in-person interviews of 140 consenting adults in March 2020. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to summarize the data.

Results: most participants (84.7%) doubted government's ability to manage the COVID-19 outbreak, raising concerns about …

Coastlines, Coastal Cities, And Climate Change: A Perspective On Urgent Research Needs In The United States, Paul A. Sandifer, Geoffrey I. Scott Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This paper builds upon Friedman et al. (2020) and other reviews and statements but provides an explicit focus on research needed to improve the resilience and survivability of coastal communities as they face existential threats from climate change. It does not attempt a prescriptive analysis of potential research emphases, but instead recommends some key research areas that we believe will help provide a solid foundation for community adaptation. Our perspective is based on our experiences over a combined nearly 95 years of work in research, management, and policy, much of it related to coastal environments and their communities, rather than …

Hearing Loss Prevalence And Years Lived With Disability, 1990–2019: Findings From The Global Burden Of Disease Study 2019, Ismaeel Yunusa, Lydia M. Haile, Kaloyan Kamenov, Paul Svitil Briant, Aislyn U. Orji, Jaimie D. Steinmetz, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

Background

Hearing loss affects access to spoken language, which can affect cognition and development, and can negatively affect social wellbeing. We present updated estimates from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study on the prevalence of hearing loss in 2019, as well as the condition's associated disability.

Methods

We did systematic reviews of population-representative surveys on hearing loss prevalence from 1990 to 2019. We fitted nested meta-regression models for severity-specific prevalence, accounting for hearing aid coverage, cause, and the presence of tinnitus. We also forecasted the prevalence of hearing loss until 2050.

Findings

An estimated 1.57 billion (95% uncertainty interval …

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same: The Queensland Police Service As A Model For Sustainable Policing Reform, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Kyle Mclean

Faculty Publications

Police departments are consistently challenged to serve their communities by reducing misconduct and being held accountable. In the United States, policing reform is best described as déjà vu or Groundhog Day, with high-profile groups organising every few years to list the same recommendations for improving the police. Additionally, reform suggestions are too often countered by the comment, “we have always done it this way.” By stark contrast, through the Fitzgerald Inquiry and the work of scholars such as David Bayley, the Queensland Police Service stands as a model for creating sustainable change in policing. In this paper, we compare the …

Examination Of Eating Disorder Risk Among University Marching Band Artists, Nancy A. Uriegas, Dawn M. Emerson, Allison B. Smith, Melani R. Kelly, Toni M. Torres-Mcgehee

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Marching band artists are a physically active population, composed of approximately 27,000 people in the United States. University marching band artists face many of the same physically active demands and mental stressors as student athletes, potentially predisposing them to injury, illness, and risk for eating disorders (EDs). The purpose of this study was to examine ED risk across sex in university marching band artists, and to determine the type of risk based on the Eating Disorder Inventory-3 (EDI-3) and Eating Disorder Inventory-3 Symptom Check List (EDI-3 SC). A secondary aim examined marching band artists and pathogenic weight control behavior …