Digital Commons Network^™

Object Classification, Detection And Tracking In Challenging Underwater Environment, Md Modasshir

Theses and Dissertations

The main contributions of this thesis is the applicability and architectural designs of deep learning algorithms in underwater imagery. In recent times, deep learning techniques for object classification and detection have achieved exceptional levels of accuracy that surpass human capabilities. However, the effectiveness of these techniques in underwater environments has not been thoroughly researched. This thesis delves into various research areas related to underwater environments, such as object classification, detection, semantic segmentation, pose regression, and semi-supervised retraining of detection models.

The first part of the thesis studies image classification and detection. Image classification is a fundamental process that involves assigning …

(Re)Imagining Decolonial Cookbooks After Deforestation, Kamran Shams

Theses and Dissertations

Food, like most else, is fundamentally changed by colonization. It is not just the aftermath of colonization, the settlement, that changes food—it is the act of colonial infiltrating itself. Such is the case made by Fernando Ismael Quiñones Valdivia in “Colonial Imaginations: Solitude in the Cartas y Relaciones of Hernán Cortés”—though not for food but for colonized societies broadly. More specifically, he contends that a new epistemological possibility arises when colonizer regards land as an object to be conquered, which precedes the epistemological articulation of subject/object divide. His article supplies a framework for thinking about coloniality so that a close …

Melding Of Traditions: African American Cultural And Learned Style Topics In The Music Of Roger Dickerson, Kenneth Green Ii

Theses and Dissertations

Roger Dickerson, born in 1934, is an African American composer, educator, and pianist from New Orleans. His compositions include multiple works for band, orchestra, voice, choir, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments. Dickerson, a two-time Pulitzer Prize nominated composer, published only one work for wind band, Essay for Band in 1958. Unfortunately, this work was rarely performed in its first sixty years, and it is not known by many band directors. In recent years, there has been a movement to program music by composers from historically marginalized and underrepresented communities. Essay for Band has benefited from this movement which also seeks …

Tax Client Goals, Regulatory Pressure, And Professional Decision-Making, Spenser G. Seifert

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on goal theory, I illuminate how client preferences become internalized goals for tax professionals and how these client goals influence the motivated reasoning and ultimate decision-making of tax professionals. Using this theoretical framework, I then utilize an experiment to explore how the presence of salient situational factors – goal specificity, goal progress, and regulatory pressure – influence tax professionals’ decision-making. The results suggest that, as a result of their roles as both client advocates and CPAs, tax professionals default to non-specific “do your best” goals regardless of client preference specificity. Additionally, I find that increased regulatory pressure may curb …

Reflections Of Chinese Opera In Contemporary Chinese Piano Repertoire: A Cutural, Analytical, And Pedagogical Guide, Mengyu Song

Theses and Dissertations

Over 5,000 years, Chinese opera has been inspired by many imperial dynasties, regions, and ethnic cultures, making it a unique reflection of Chinese culture. Chinese composers have incorporated traditional Chinese opera in piano compositions to express cultural identity and artistic significance. This music has a broad and profound cultural significance, fostering cultural interchange and understanding and presenting a diverse and inclusive musical experience for non-Chinese students and musicians.

This research study provides a comprehensive overview of Chinese traditional operas, vocal technique and instrumentation, the development of piano music in China, and corresponding piano literature in progressive difficulty for early-intermediate to …

Thermodynamic Modeling Of Uranium Nitride With Select Actinides And Fission Products, Eric Reece Mcmanus

Theses and Dissertations

Uranium mononitride fuel is being investigated as a potential nuclear fuel for a Westinghouse lead-cooled fast reactor due to factors such as its high uranium density, high melting point, and favorable thermal conductivity. To obtain an understanding of the thermochemical behavior of UN fission products and minor actinides, thermodynamic data was obtained from various resources to create a database to represent the behavior of the fuel. This database was used to generate an Ellingham diagram to represent the relative thermodynamic stability of the phases over the reactor temperature range. A simulation was run computing the equilibrium state of the fuel, …

Bass-Triadic Cadence Formulae In Melchior Neusidler’S Original Compositions From Il Primo (-Secondo) Intabolatura Di Liuto, Christopher Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations

There was a paradigmatic shift in the discourse surrounding lute music between the early sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The lute treatises written by early sixteenth-century German lutenists, such as Hans Judenkünig, Hanse Gerle, and Hans Newsidler, focused on technical directives that support a linear conception of music. However, lutenists active in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, such as Matthaeus Waissel and Jean-Baptiste Besard, describe technical accommodations for vertically conceived structures. Contemporaneously, at the turn of the seventeenth century, the discourse on bass primacy and triadic structures developed from an undercurrent, cast in the shadow of counterpoint treatises, to …

A Formative Process Evaluation Of Social Care Programming In A Health Care System Serving A Predominantly Rural State, Samuel Bethel

Theses and Dissertations

Health and social care continue to integrate, but relatively little is known about how social care is designed, implemented, and maintained across the health care continuum. This is especially true for health systems serving rural and under-resourced communities. To fill these gaps, this dissertation project applied formative process evaluation methods to a single case study of the largest health care system serving a predominantly rural state and its integrated social care programming. Data were collected from in-depth, semi-structured interviews following a purposeful and snowball sampling method among key informants for the design, implementation, and maintenance of social care programming as …

Evaluating A Web-Based System For Tracking Public Health Practice Experiences: User Perceptions, Challenges, And Recommendations For Technology Improvement, Matthew Mcgrievy

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive research study was to evaluate the web-based practice experience tracking system at a school of public health (SPH) at a large southeastern university. Applied practice experiences (APEs) are a key component of public health education, and schools and programs of public health in the United States must provide documentation of APEs and practice-related activities to meet accreditation standards. A descriptive research evaluation examined how users perceive and use the existing web-based system designed to document APEs in the SPH. Research questions investigated what factors influence the use of the existing system, identified challenges users face …

Developing A Hierarchical Digital Twin Framework For Dc Microgrid Implementation, Khari Sado

Theses and Dissertations

This research introduces a hierarchical digital twin framework for DC microgrids implementation, particularly those utilized in naval power systems. Unlike traditional digital twins, this hierarchical digital twin structure offers a layered perspective. Hierarchical digital twin design promotes computational efficiency by distributing computational burden across a layered configuration that integrates lower-level digital twin blocks with a system digital twin. The layered approach breaks down complex systems into smaller manageable units that can be examined individually and collectively. Central to this strategy is the adoption of a multi-domain and multi-functional technique through the integration of the digital image framework. This allows the …

Examining The Overall Impact Of Computer-Based Mathematics Instruction On Math Achievement In An Alternative High School, Jacqueline Levon Gilyard

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, the United States has witnessed a remarkable surge in computer-based instruction, revolutionizing the way students learn and educators teach. This action research study aimed to investigate the overall impact of computer-based instruction on mathematics achievement in the alternative high school setting. The research design incorporated both quantitative and qualitative methods to gather comprehensive data for twenty high school students enrolled in an alternative high school setting. The quantitative data analysis involved examining pre-and post-test scores, graduation data, and final course grades to assess the effect of computer-based instruction on mathematics achievement. All of the students showed …

The Crucial Role Of The Ahr-Ilc3-Il22 Pathway In I3c-Mediated Protection Against Colitis And Associated Microbial Dysbiosis, Chandani Mitchell

Theses and Dissertations

Colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease characterized by dysregulation of the immune system that results in chronic inflammation and dysbiosis. Previously we showed that a naturally sourced aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) ligand, indole-3-carbinol (I3C), was effective in the reduction of colitis-associated disease severity through innate lymphoid type 3 cells (ILC3s) in an interleukin-22 (IL-22) dependent manner. In one of our studies, we used single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) analysis of colonic lamina propria cells from colitis models treated with I3C. Our results indicated that there were changes in the expressions of genes integral to IL-22 signaling when I3C was used …

Uav-Based Tracking And Following Of Railroad Lines, Keith Michael Lewandowski

Theses and Dissertations

Given the pivotal role of the railroad industry in modern transportation and the potential risks associated with track malfunctions, the inspection and maintenance of railroad tracks emerges as a critical concern. While existing solutions excel in performing accurate measurements and detection, they often rely on large, expensive, and time-consuming platforms for inspections. This project, however, seeks to solve the same problem with the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), significantly reducing time and cost while maintaining detection capabilities. In particular, this solution is ideal for large-scale, high-level inspections following major events such as floods [6], hurricanes [7] or earthquakes …

An Assessment Of Drinking Water Equity In South Carolina: Access, Affordability, Quality, And Private Well Resources, Catherine Lippert Min

Theses and Dissertations

Universal access to good quality, affordable drinking water is a goal that has not yet been reached in the United States. Recently, national studies have investigated drinking water burdens including lack of access to complete plumbing, unaffordability, and poor quality individually. However, no study has examined all of these drinking water burdens together to identify communities facing multiple burdens. This study addresses this gap by analyzing disparities in access to complete plumbing, affordability of public water sources, and drinking water quality of community water systems in South Carolina and identifying communities that face multiple burdens. This study also provides the …

Exploring Heat Variations In Columbia, South Carolina, Michael Graeme Hohlfeld

Theses and Dissertations

As the leading cause of weather-related fatalities in the United States, the concept of heat as a hazard has been studied for decades, especially in the urban environment. Urban heat island research is limited by the fact that most investigate land surface temperature rather than air temperature and other variables that affect human comfort including humidity. This thesis utilizes a public network of weather stations in Richland County, South Carolina to investigate differences in heat between the city of Columbia, and more rural parts of the county. The study period was June, July, and August of 2022. Results indicate that …

Examining The Impact Of A Professional Learning Community On Teachers' Awareness Of Neurodiversity In The Classroom, Taylor Diane Williams

Theses and Dissertations

In this action research study, the researcher sought to explore the influence of Professional Learning Community (PLC) participation on the recognition and awareness of general education teachers on neurodiversity in their classrooms. Additionally, the study aimed to investigate the effects of the teachers’ awareness on their instructional approaches. The participants of this study hail from a variety of cultures and languages from around the world. Conducted over a six-week period in an international school in southern Germany, the participants demonstrated an enhanced understandings of neurodiversity through their engagement in the PLC sessions. The data collection tools used in the study …

Environmental Implication Of Environmental Disclosure, Jie Lian

Theses and Dissertations

Recent environmental incidents and disasters have intensified awareness and concerns about environmental issues, making the reduction of the private sector’s environmental impact a pressing necessity. The path to better environmental performance depends on enhancing environmental disclosure. While an increasing number of firms are embracing environmental disclosure, and legislative efforts are steering towards mandating such disclosures, the comprehensive understanding of the environmental implications of these disclosures remains surprisingly limited. A significant gap exists in understanding the challenges of environmental disclosure in promoting sustainability and complex consequences in various contexts.

The dissertation aims to fill this literature gap by focusing on the …

Multilevel Factors Affecting Covid-19 Vaccination Among African American Communities In South Carolina, Ran Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Persistent health disparities has led to significant public health challenges, especially for African American (AAs) communities, and have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Achieving high population vaccination rates are crucial to controlling the virus’ spread. However, AAs have higher rates of COVID-19 infection and mortality than Whites, yet their vaccination rates remain relatively low. The dissertation aimed to investigate the multilevel factors and mechanisms that affect AAs’ vaccination behavior. The first objective is to assess the impact of the intrapersonal level factor (i.e., perceived barriers to vaccination) on vaccination behavior. The second objective is to investigate the impact …

Using Latent Class Analysis To Conceptualize Heterogeneity Among Non-Resident Parents With Current Child Support Orders And Arrears: Identifying Windows Of Opportunity, Victoria Adkins Charles

Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 40% of children living in poverty are in a single parent household headed by their mother (Grall, 2017). The public child support services program exists to provide the service of establishing and enforcing child support orders for parents with primary legal custody of their child. Even with the child support services system in place, child support goes uncollected (Grall, 2020). Many of the non-resident parents (NRP) who are not paying live at poverty level as well. Child support research has focused primarily on NRPs’ ability to pay, but, generally, has drawn on the information contained in the constellation of …

Illuminating The Twilight Zone: In-Situ Imaging Facilitates Discovery Of Mesopelagic Plankton Dynamics And Community Structure, Alexander Barth

Theses and Dissertations

Ocean ecosystems provide both food and regulation of climate. Much of ocean ecosystem functioning occurs through processes in the pelagic, where plankton are the dominant organisms. While plankton have been researched for several centuries, recent advances in technology are greatly improving the ability to better understand plankton and how their communities are structured. Specifically, in-situ imaging allows oceanographers and plankton ecologists to better sample fragile taxa and record organisms’ true traits at high frequencies. These tools can facilitate investigation into new topics in plankton ecology and better understand critically understudied habitats, like the mesopelagic of open-ocean systems. However, in-situ imaging …

Long-Range White Matter Fibres And Post-Stroke Verbal And Non-Verbal Cognition, Rebecca W. Roth, Deena Schwen Blackett, Ezequiel Gleichgerrcht, Janina Wilmskoetter, Chris Rorden, Roger Newman-Norlund, Souvik Sen, Julius Fridriksson Ph.D., Natalie Busby, Leonardo Bonilha

Faculty Publications

Among stroke survivors, linguistic and non-linguistic impairments exhibit substantial inter-individual variability. Stroke lesion volume and location do not sufficiently explain outcomes, and the neural mechanisms underlying the severity of aphasia or non-verbal cognitive deficits remain inadequately understood. Converging evidence supports the idea that white matter is particularly susceptible to ischaemic injury, and long-range fibres are commonly associated with verbal and non-verbal function. Here, we investigated the relationship among post-stroke aphasia severity, cognition, and white matter integrity. Eighty-seven individuals in the chronic stage of stroke underwent diffusion MRI and behavioural testing, including language and cognitive measures. We used whole-brain structural connectomes …

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 …

Wellness Interventions For College Students With Intellectual Or Developmental Disability: A Multi-Manuscript Dissertation, Madeline Bree Saunders

Theses and Dissertations

This multi-manuscript dissertation comprises two interconnected articles that collectively explore the experiences of college students with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) engaging in wellness interventions within inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) settings in the southeastern region of the United States. Wellness interventions within both manuscripts adhere to procedures outlined by the Wellness Counseling Intervention (WCI; Barrio Minton et al., n.d.) and group adaptation (WCI-G; Ohrt & Castle, n.d.). Manuscript 1 (Chapter 3) involves a mixed-method approach to understand the experiences six student participants, group members, engaging in the WCI-G across a total of 10-weeks. Manuscript 2 (Chapter 4) adheres to consensual …

How Latinx Students Experience A High School English Class In A Monolingual School District, Elisa Malinovitz

Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to address the needs of the fastest growing population at my school, I asked Latinx students to share their experiences of being in a monolingual English 2 classroom. Students also shared opinions about friendships, Latinx culture in school, and alternative methods of educating non-English speakers.

Through action research we can assess the exigencies of Latinx learners. Further study is needed to determine evolving needs and best practices for increasing the academic achievement for this population. Some possible solutions to Latinx students falling behind their hegemonic peers include incorporating Latinx culture in curriculum and school culture, as well …

Mental Trauma, Colonial Mimicry, And Internalized Racism In Tsitsi Dangarembga's The Book Of Not, Lily Kay Lynn Cook

Theses and Dissertations

Tsitsi Dangarembga’s second novel in her Nervous Conditions trilogy, The Book of Not (2006) emphasizes the disabling nature of colonial domination and terror through pain and violence inflicted on the body and the mind. Through the use of Frantz Fanon’s colonial and post-colonial theory and Homi Bhabha’s concept of colonial mimicry the critical nature of Tambudzai—the main protagonist—position in the novel becomes apparent. Just as the title suggests, the novel becomes a book of negation and unbecoming as Tambudzai tries to find her place as a woman in Southern Rhodesia while attending a European colonial institution while war rages just …

Student Experiences With Self-Determination And Agency: Centering Disabled Voices Through Photovoice, Rebecca Boineau Smith Hill

Theses and Dissertations

Young adults with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) are less likely than young adults without disability to be employed, enrolled in postsecondary education, or live independently after high school (Lauer & Houtenville, 2017; Newman, et al., 2011). Self-determination, or the freedom to act as the primary causal agent in one’s life (Palmer & Wehmeyer, 1998), is a well-documented component of enhanced quality of life (Shogren et al., 2017) and a predictor of postschool success (Mazzotti et al., 2021; Test et al. 2009) for students with disabilities. People with IDD are less self-determined than their nondisabled peers, and often less self-determined …

Unpacking The Relationship Between Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, Identity, And Desistance, Qassim Bolaji

Theses and Dissertations

Knowing why people stop offending over time and the criminal justice agencies' role in this process is essential for designing effective crime control interventions. Legal authorities have the core function of ensuring that social norms and laws are obeyed. However, the coercive and punitive tactics that police, judicial, and penal authorities typically resort to have been shown to have only limited impact on controlling and preventing crime while having the unintended consequence of worsening the public's perception of their institutional legitimacy. Specific to policing, the use of coercive policing tactics and their perceived ineffectiveness has, in recent decades, led to …

Simultaneous Crack & Wave Propagation And Acoustic Emission Signal Modelling Using Peri-Elastodynamic, Md Mushfiqur Rahman Fahim

Theses and Dissertations

This work presents the use of Peri-Elastodynamic, a guided wave simulation method based on meshfree non-local Peridynamics theory. To model simultaneous crack and wave propagation simulation and its application on Acoustic Emission (AE) signal modelling, a new formulation is presented. The field of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and structural health monitoring (SHM) is slowly embracing the advancement in Machine Learning (ML) / Artificial Intelligence (AI) for better and cost-effective assessment of structures and damage prediction. AI/ML can revolutionize the NDE/SHM field by automating the data collection and analyzing processes. However, the big challenge is that the model needs a sheer amount …

From North To South: North Carolina's Black Union Veterans In The South Carolina Lowcountry, Elizabeth L. Laney

Theses and Dissertations

For the almost two thousand black Union veterans living in South Carolina following the end of the Civil War, the formation of robust social networks, particularly those composed of fellow veterans, would be the key to sustaining themselves and public memory of their service. This was especially true for the veterans of the 35^th US Colored Troops (USCT), formerly the 1^st North Carolina Colored Volunteers, who settled in smaller rural communities throughout the South Carolina Lowcountry. Establishing social networks through marriage, forming local veteran support systems and initiating local celebrations were just some of the ways that out-of-state …

Patients’ Experience Of Care Following Perinatal Case Conference, Mary Elise Nolen

Theses and Dissertations

The Perinatal Case Conference (PCC) at Prisma Health-Midlands Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) is a biweekly multidisciplinary meeting to discuss pregnancies with prenatally identified congenital anomalies. Patients are primarily cared for by MFM and may have appointments with various subspecialists during their pregnancy. The goals of the PCC are multidisciplinary collaboration in planning for the management of each pregnancy and familiarizing each practitioner with the pending cases, so if or when intervention is needed, the clinicians are familiar with the case.

Researchers performed a chart review and surveyed patients whose pregnancies were discussed in the PCC to learn the patient’s perspective of …