Digital Commons Network^™

Unnoticed Witnesses Of History: First-Hand Accounts Of Ukrainian Women In South Carolina During Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine, Madeline R. Fyock

Senior Theses

Language and other cultural symbols have become widely contested in post-Soviet Ukraine, especially after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The conflict prompted many in Ukraine and its diaspora to re-negotiate and affirm Ukrainian national identity through language, traditions, and culture. The ways in which national identity is signaled in Ukraine has been widely studied in the wake of 2022, but less research has investigated how similar trends are occurring in migratory contexts, where conflict and displacement play crucial roles in identity construction. This study examines the ways that Ukrainian immigrant women in South Carolina signal their …

A Guide To Environmentally Sustainable Filmmaking In South Carolina, Christina Vera Dobrowolski

Senior Theses

The entertainment industry has a massive environmental impact. This information is not new in the filmmaking world, as multiple mainstream efforts exist to curb the material-intensive production of live action films and TV. One of these efforts is the use of voluntary sustainable guidelines, which serve as tools that outline sustainable best practices and resources that can help achieve them. However, current guidelines often lack practicality— focusing more on altruism rather than core economic factors that ultimately drive filmmaking. This project aims to address that gap for filmmakers in South Carolina by offering a website featuring attainable, state-specific resources for …

We're All Ramblers, Here: American National Identity As Articulated Through The Sounds And Stories Of Bluegrass Music, Greyson M. Sherman

Senior Theses

This creative thesis argues that bluegrass music, through its multicultural origins and its central "Rambler" archetype, articulates a distinctly American negotiation between freedom and rootedness — one that extends far beyond the genre's narrow popular image. Drawing on musicological scholarship and cultural history, the paper first recovers bluegrass's suppressed origins in the convergence of West African, Anglo- Celtic, and broader European traditions, complicating narratives that position the genre as exclusively white and Appalachian. It then introduces the Rambler — the restless, longing figure who haunts bluegrass lyrically and structurally — as both a product of that history and a metaphorical …

Heterogeneity Of Treatment Effects In Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation For Knee Osteoarthritis Pain And Symptoms, Chiyoung Lee, Xiaoxiao Sun, Juyoung Park, Chen X. Chen, Christine Pellegrini Ph.D., Nan-Kuei Chen, David O. Garcia, Heewon Kim, C. Kent Kwoh, Hyochol Ahn

Faculty Publications

Introduction: Although heterogeneity of treatment effects (HTEs) is commonly observed in clinical trials, it has received little attention in studies on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

Objectives: This study identified the presence of HTE in tDCS treatment among participants with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and explored participant characteristics associated with this heterogeneity.

Methods: This secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial included 120 participants with symptomatic KOA who received 15 daily sessions of home-based 2-mA active or sham tDCS over 3 weeks. We used a multitrajectory analysis to identify distinct subgroups based on the longitudinal trajectories of KOA pain and …

Heterogeneity Of Treatment Effects In Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation For Knee Osteoarthritis Pain And Symptoms, Chiyoung Lee, Xiaoxiao Sun, Juyoung Park, Chen X. Chen, Christine Pellegrini, Nan-Kuei Chen, David O. Garcia, Haewon Kim, C. Kent Kwoh, Hyochoi Ahn

Faculty Publications

Introduction: Although heterogeneity of treatment effects (HTEs) is commonly observed in clinical trials, it has received little attention in studies on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

Objectives: This study identified the presence of HTE in tDCS treatment among participants with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and explored participant characteristics associated with this heterogeneity.

Methods: This secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial included 120 participants with symptomatic KOA who received 15 daily sessions of home-based 2-mA active or sham tDCS over 3 weeks. We used a multitrajectory analysis to identify distinct subgroups based on the longitudinal trajectories of KOA pain and …

The Age Of Hr Delivering Stakeholder Value Through Strategic Organizational Capability: Talent, Leadership, And Culture, Anthony Nyberg, Rebecca R. Kehoe, Dave Ulrich, Patrick M. Wright

Research Briefs

A landmark collection of 62 chapters from the world’s foremost thinkers in HR strategy, talent management, and organizational leadership—written at the inflection point where AI, geopolitical uncertainty, and evolving stakeholder expectations are reshaping the future of work and the humans at its center.

Roadmap On Artificial Intelligence-Augmented Additive Manufacturing, Ali Zolfagharian, Liuchao Jin, Qi Ge, Wei-Hsin Liao, Andrés Díaz Lantada, Francisco Franco Martínez, Tianyu Zhang, Tao Liu, Charlie C.L. Wang, Mohammad Hossein Mosallanejad, Reza Ghanavati, Abdollah Saboori, Alejandro De Blas De Miguel, William Solórzano-Requejo, Yi Cai, Xiangyang Dong, Huangyi Qu, Najmeh Samadiani, Guangyan Huang, Austin Downey, Yanzhou Fu, Lang Yuan

Faculty Publications

Artificial intelligence-augmented additive manufacturing (AI2AM) represents a transformative frontier in digital fabrication, where artificial intelligence (AI) is embedded not as a peripheral tool, but as a central framework driving intelligent, adaptive, and autonomous additive manufacturing (AM) systems. The objective of this Roadmap is to present a comprehensive vision of the state-of-the-art developments in AI2AM while charting the future trajectory of this rapidly emerging field. As AM applications continue to expand across diverse sectors, conventional design and control strategies face growing limitations in scalability, quality assurance, and material complexity. AI uses tools like computer vision, generative design, and large language models …

Exploring Adolescents’ Social, Cultural, And Health Experiences To Inform Culturally Responsive Interventions, Bria D. Singleton

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined adolescents’ perceptions of their social, cultural, and health-related experiences, assessing constructs related to identity formation, digital exposure, belonging, and safety among Generation Alpha. Using a mixed-methods design, data were collected from students aged 11 to 14 enrolled at a public middle school in South Carolina using a structured survey and qualitative group discussions. Survey findings indicated primarily positive perceptions of school safety and a sense of self-efficacy in caring for their mental health and well-being. However, qualitative findings disclosed the adolescents’ acute awareness of environmental threats, such as gun violence and school shootings, resulting in emotional dysregulation …

"Ever Changing, Simply Amazing:" A Storymap Of Adaptive Reuse At Brookgreen Gardens, Lola G. Bellah

Senior Theses

In 1930, Archer Huntington, a scholar of Hispanic studies, used a portion of the fortune he inherited from the Central Pacific Railroad to purchase The Oaks, Brookgreen, Springfield, and Laurel Hill plantations in coastal South Carolina and build Atalaya Castle, a winter home on the Atlantic. His wife Anna Hyatt Huntington, a sculptor, led the effort to turn the 19,000 acres into America’s first public sculpture garden, known since as Brookgreen Gardens. In the construction process, some structures from Brookgreen Plantation were repurposed while others were removed from the landscape.

Though Brookgreen Gardens has since interpreted its plantation history through …

Curating Attendee-Centered Corporate Event Experiences Through The Strategic Implementation Of Psychological Principles, Alexis G. Mullendore

Senior Theses

This thesis explores how psychological principles can inform event professionals’

decisions in the planning and execution of attendee-centered corporate events. In the modern

experience economy, corporations increasingly prioritize engaging, high-production events for

employees and stakeholders, while attendee expectations for immersive, spectacle experiences

continue to rise. Therefore, the importance of designing corporate events that balance clients’

fiscal and objective needs with attendees’ experience-driven expectations has become

increasingly recognized. This shift toward a human-focused approach prompted the researcher to

examine how psychological principles can inform the design and execution of events. The

project was conducted through a three-phase research process consisting of …

The Implications Of Semiconductor Export Controls On The Innovation Activity Of Domestic Manufacturers, Mary C. Compton

Senior Theses

This thesis examines the domestic innovation effects of the October 2022 U.S. semiconductor export controls, focusing on the tradeoff between national security objectives and firm-level competitiveness. By restricting exports of advanced chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China, these controls may limit cross-border revenue opportunities and natural channels of knowledge transfer. However, the innovation response of affected firms is theoretically ambiguous: reduced access to foreign markets may depress revenues and lead firms to scale back R&D expenditures as a percentage of gross revenue, thus dampening innovation intensity, or, alternatively, firms may sustain or even increase R&D allocations to overcome trade …

Crafting Sustainability: Fiber Artists And The Limits Of Sustainable Production, Hallie R. Cole

Senior Theses

This research examines the role of individual fiber artists in advancing sustainability within the slow fashion movement, with particular attention to the operational decisions that shape sustainable craft practices. Scholars and practitioners acknowledge that individual fiber artists are not only key agents in sustainable production but are foundational to the existence and persistence of the slow fashion movement; however, the existing literature mainly focuses on firms or consumer behavior. Motivated by the need to fill this important research gap, this research aims to understand the decision-making of fiber artists with the goal of enhancing the progress of the Slow Fashion …

Knowledgable Births: Advancing Informed Consent In Maternal Healthcare, Ella A. Forrester

Senior Theses

Background:

Informed consent is both a legal requirement and an ethical cornerstone of healthcare, ensuring that patients understand and voluntarily agree to medical treatments. However, evidence suggests that the informed consent process is often inadequately implemented in maternal healthcare settings, particularly during childbirth. While giving birth, women retain full decision-making capacity but are not consistently provided with sufficient information or support to exercise this right. Contributing factors include ineffective patient–provider communication, limited health literacy, and insufficient access to culturally responsive educational resources.

Methods:

This study aimed to address gaps in accessible prenatal education by developing an online resource platform, Know …

Main Concept Analysis As A Predictor Of Aphasia Severity: Semantic, Phonological, And Executive Influences On Main Concept Performance, Chathurvedi Ganguru

Senior Theses

Main Concept Analysis is a discourse-based measure that captures the essential information conveyed during narrative speech and may serve as a functional indicator of communication ability in aphasia. This study will examine whether Main Concept composite scores derived from the Cinderella narrative task are associated with aphasia severity and identify the linguistic and cognitive factors that influence Main Concept performance. Participants will be drawn from the baseline cohort of the POLAR study and will include approximately 100 individuals with chronic post-stroke aphasia. Baseline measures include Western Aphasia Battery Aphasia Quotient, Pyramids and Palm Trees Test, Philadelphia Repetition Test, and Wechsler …

Data Tracking And Analytics Within Inventory Management: Coffee Shop And Retail Store Optimization, Mateo J. Moyon

Senior Theses

This thesis examines the application of inventory management theory in the small and medium-sized business context, with a specific focus on the food and beverage industry. Drawing on the foundational academic literature spanning from Harris’s EOQ formula in 1913 through stochastic inventory theory, ABC analysis, and just-in-time strategy, this paper establishes the mathematical and operational bases for modern inventory management practice. Although there are proven value to these frameworks, research demonstrates that small to medium sized businesses adopt inventory management systems at lower rates citing cost and implementation as barriers. This thesis argues that the emergence of low-cost inventory and …

Informed Consent In Childbirth: A Global Scoping Review Of Episiotomy Practices And The Gaps In U.S. Perinatal Care, Rachel Gulczinski

Senior Theses

Informed consent is a fundamental ethical and legal component of preoperative and perinatal care and forms the foundation of trust between patients and healthcare providers. Despite this, current evidence suggests that many childbirth interventions, including episiotomies, are often performed without explicit patient consent. Episiotomy remains one of the most commonly cited interventions associated with non-consented care and obstetric violence. Therefore, this global scoping review aimed to evaluate whether informed consent is obtained for episiotomy procedures during childbirth, understand documented experiences of disrespect and unnecessary procedures, and identify differences between international and U.S. practices. This thesis followed the PRISMA Scoping Review …

Can Argentina Overcome The Lithium Natural Resource Curse? A Case Study Into Argentina's Institutional Framework For Lithium Supply Chain Development And Innovation, Colby Greene

Senior Theses

Through the analysis of the natural resource curse, the development of institutional frameworks in societal contexts, the nature of natural resource-based industry value chains, and value creation through institutions and value chains, all in the context of Argentina’s lithium industry, this paper finds that Argentina has failed to implement the necessary institutions and promote proper policy to promote value addition and real economic growth through the conduit of the development of the lithium industry, yet it is not actively a victim of the natural resource curse. In the hierarchical nature of mining value chains, Argentina has permitted their vast lithium …

The Impact Of Targeted Marketing On The Health Of Teenagers In America: Regulatory Safeguards And Implications, Katelyn Overbay

Senior Theses

The rise of digital marketing has transformed how companies engage with consumers, particularly those that fall within the adolescent age group. Teenagers represent a uniquely vulnerable demographic due to the developmental stage they are in, making them especially susceptible to targeted advertising strategies that leverage data analytics, social media algorithms, and behavioral tracking. The aim of this study is to examine the direct and indirect impacts of targeted marketing on the physical, mental, and social health of teenagers in the United States. Drawing on existing literature, case studies, recent lawsuits, and regulatory analysis, the research gathered explores how industries such …

(Un)Celebrated Women: Three Women Authors And Their Imprint On The Gullah Geechee Literary Tradition, Raven Mariah Gadsden

Theses and Dissertations

Three women authors, Laura Middleton, Julia Peterkin, and Zora Neale Hurston, are responsible for the creation of some of the most important Gullah Geechee literary images in the 1920s and 1930s. By examining the historical moments and movements which were active while these women were writing, it is obvious why these women are at the center of this conversation. Each of these women’s writing plants the seed for a Renaissance of Gullah Geechee representation. While Middleton's work never gets published, her documentation of black life in South Carolina for the Federal Writers' Project worked as a counter narrative to texts …

Destruction, Possession, And Power: The Treaty Of Hartford As A Prototype For United States Indian Policy, Madyson Anne Buchalski

Theses and Dissertations

Amidst a growing interest in the field of Native American legal history, this article aims to bridge a gap in the scholarship between the colonial period and the United States’ nineteenth- and twentieth-century federal Indian Policy. By examining the terms presented in the lesser-known Treaty of Hartford, signed in 1638 following the Pequot War, it is demonstrated that many foundational legal precedents which reappeared in later centuries emerged much earlier than typically assumed. By highlighting this overlooked agreement and comparing it against later proceedings, this article takes a fresh approach to Native American legal history by drawing a throughline from …

Weaponized Nostalgia And The Modern Woman: Patriarchal Insecurity In A Lost Lady And The Sound And The Fury, Grace Nicole Becker

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the patriarchal nostalgia that resulted from men’s perceived feminization in modernity and how it manifests in the narrative framing of modern women in modernist literature. Niel Herbert from Willa Cather’s A Lost Lady and Jason Compson from William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury each embody contrasting masculine responses to the feminization of white manhood. Niel exemplifies the mourning of white masculinity that does not hinge on being antithetical to femininity, a sentiment which Greg Forter similarly identifies in Cather. Jason personifies an aggressive masculinity and repudiates women, blaming them, and other minority groups, for his own …

Understanding Contemporary Declines In Psychological Well-Being Among Youth: A Self-Determination Theory Approach, Shawn Stewart Mcnally

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines contemporary declines in psychological well-being among older adolescents and emerging adults through the lens of Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Across three interrelated papers, it explores how changing social conditions may shape experiences of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, SDT’s basic psychological needs, and how these processes may be especially consequential during adjustment to and navigation of college. The first paper is conceptual in nature and argues that contemporary societal pressures, parenting practices, and technology-related contexts may operate together to undermine basic psychological needs. The second paper is qualitative in nature and uses interviews with undergraduate students to examine how …

Quantum Spin-Like Behavior Of Elastic Guided Waves: Quantized Geometric Phase For Nde And Shm, Md Ebrahim Khalil Bhuiyan

Theses and Dissertations

Ultrasonic guided waves are widely used in nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and structural health monitoring (SHM) for detecting defects and damage in engineering materials and structures. Conventional diagnostic features, such as attenuation of wave amplitude, shifts in time-of-flight, and frequency variations are widely used for damage identification. However, these metrics are inherently sensitive to environmental and operational variations, including temperature, pressure, humidity, sensor coupling conditions, boundary constraints, and external loading. Such sensitivities introduce significant uncertainty in signal interpretation, often obscuring damage-related signatures. Recent advances in wave physics have revealed that elastic guided waves exhibit intrinsic spin angular momentum (SAM), arising from …

Targeting Endothelial Dysfunction In Capillary Malformations: Mechanistic Insights And Adjunct Therapeutic Strategies, Mackenzie Azuero

Theses and Dissertations

Port-wine stains (PWS), clinically classified as capillary malformations (CM), are congenital vascular anomalies characterized by abnormally dilated dermal capillaries that persist throughout life and may progressively darken and thicken with age. Pulsed dye laser (PDL) therapy remains the clinical standard of care for PWS; however, complete lesion clearance is uncommon and many patients experience incomplete or temporary responses. Increasing evidence suggests that endothelial survival and vascular remodeling following laser exposure may contribute to lesion persistence and recurrence, highlighting the need for adjunct therapeutic strategies that target the underlying cellular mechanisms of vascular recovery. This thesis investigates endothelial dysfunction and therapeutic …

Recollection Of The Archaic Psyche: A Comparative Study Of Viacheslav Ivanov’S Realistic Symbolism And Carl Gustav Jung’S Analytical Psychology, Jack Wilson Dedmondt

Theses and Dissertations

While nominally appearing disparate in their construction, the theoretical systems pioneered by Russian Symbolist poet Viacheslav Ivanov and Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung operate under parallel hermeneutics of inference concerning the symbolic comprehension of reality. This dichotomy is drawn between an immediate (conscious) stratum of sensible reality of Apollonian, concrete, individual, and intelligible forms, and a transcendent (unconscious) stratum of Dionysian, associative, collective, and nominally unintelligible forms. In the present investigation, we aim to identify the proximity between Jungian analytical psychology and Ivanov’s “Realistic Symbolism” in order to provide the groundwork for future application of Jungian methodologies as an interpretive …

Beyond The Binary: Examining The Impact Of A Restorative Justice Intervention On Administrator Perceptions And Disciplinary Disparities For Black Male Students, Arianne A. Booker

Theses and Dissertations

For decades, black students have experienced educational inequalities, particularly when it comes to academic achievement and school discipline. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate the factors leading to the racial discipline gap among Black male students in middle schools. Black males face more punitive consequences that often result in exclusionary practices than their peers. This problem is due to cultural differences between teachers and students, where teachers’ subjective interpretations of behavior—such as disrespect or defiance—lead to removal from the general education classroom. The theoretical framework that guided this study was Critical Race Theory and Culturally Responsive Teaching. …

Caribbean Movements In Alejo Carpentier’S Écue-Yamba-Ó And Maryse Condé’S Traversée De La Mangrove, Gisselle Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

One of the broad questions this essay examines is how literature represents Caribbean cultural identity. This essay continues the conversation of how Caribbean cultures are formed, depicted, and defined in twentieth-century literature, specifically, in Alejo Carpentier’s Écue-Yamba-Ó and Maryse Condé’s Traversée de la mangrove. Although the novels are published within about fifty years from one another, both writers consider the question of what Caribbean cultural identity may look like. Carpentier’s Écue-Yamba-Ó follows the life of Menegildo, an Afro-Cuban man who works in the sugar plantations, who ends up killing a Haitian man. In his first novel, Carpentier writes from a …

Intimate Networks: Sapphic Women’S Activism In Revolutionary Dublin 1916, Justine Nicole Rennekamp

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the often-overlooked role of sapphic women in the Easter Rising of 1916, arguing that queer intimacy and political activism were deeply intertwined within Irish revolutionary networks. While traditional historiography has privileged male, Catholic nationalist narratives of the Rising, this study foregrounds the lives of Dr. Kathleen Lynn, Madeleine ffrench-Mullen, Margarett Skinnider, Elizabeth O’Farrell, and Julia Grenan to demonstrate how women’s same-sex relationships influenced their political participation, modes of survival, and visions of national belonging. Drawing on diaries, letters, witness statements, photographs, and archival silences, this thesis employs queer theory to read practices of visibility, gender performance, and …

Inclusive Postsecondary Education Practices & Staff Beliefs Related To Parent Engagement, Abigail Mojica

Theses and Dissertations

Inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) programs for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are expanding across the United States, yet research on parent engagement in these settings remains limited. This study examined current practices related to parent engagement within U.S. IPSE programs and investigated whether specific staff and program characteristics were associated with variations in engagement. A national sample of IPSE program leaders (N = 106) completed an online survey assessing staff demographics, program features, and parent engagement activities. The survey was developed for this study, informed by literature on secondary transition, IPSE programs, and parent engagement in both K–12 …

Soil Macroinvertebrate Biodiversity Patterns In Congaree National Park And The Role Of Dna Barcoding, Sharon Ann Kendrick

Theses and Dissertations

Soil and leaf-litter invertebrates are important components of terrestrial biodiversity and contribute to key ecosystem processes such as decomposition, nutrient cycling, and soil formation. Despite their ecological importance, these communities remain difficult to document because many taxa are small, cryptic, or challenging to identify using morphology alone. This study examined patterns of soil macroinvertebrate biodiversity across habitats within Congaree National Park while also evaluating the usefulness of DNA barcoding for documenting taxonomic diversity. Sampling was conducted at 39 sites between September 2022 and October 2024 across upland, bottomland, and bluff habitats. Macroinvertebrates were collected separately from leaf litter and soil …