Digital Commons Network^™

Thank You For Being A Friend: Exploring Positive Peer Influence In Black Friendships Toward Academic And Social Success, Trini Victoria Woods

Theses and Dissertations

In this focus group study the researcher interviewed seven Black, Title I high school students to understand their experiences with positive peer influence within their friendships. In an effort to present a counternarrative to the majoritarian narrative that Black students are operating at a deficit and need policing, this research provides insight to the academic and social experiences of participants positive peer influence. This research responds to three questions: what do Black students believe is meaningful in friendship and how do they describe the impact of positive peer influence; how do Black students feel their friends’ behaviors and attitudes influence …

You Want A Fight? You Found It: Amplifying High School Students’ Voices To Combat Book Banning’S Silencing Effect, Alicia Sue Weaver

Theses and Dissertations

As a high school English teacher in South Carolina, I was concerned about the silencing of teachers and students through book banning, which limited students’ agency and threatened their perceptions of themselves and others. This mixed-method, embedded-design, action research dissertation tells the story of my effort to resolve this problem of practice and provides recommendations to practitioners facing similar challenges. To better understand the root of the problem, I examined research related to policy, self-censorship, loss of teacher autonomy, and harmful rhetoric. The theoretical framework grounding this study came from two primary lenses: treating literature as windows, mirrors, and sliding …

Leading Improvement In Physical Therapist Assistant Education: A Practice-Based Improvement Science Study, Carl Joseph Swearingen

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the persistent problem of poor first-semester success rates among Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) students at the Technical College of the Lowcountry (TCL). In the past five years, 25% of students entering the PTA program have been unsuccessful, either due to academic failures or non-academic withdrawals. Even more concerning, over 80% of these students did not persist past the first semester. A root cause analysis using the five whys, fishbone diagramming, empathy interviews, local data, and scanning outside the organization was used to help broaden our understanding of the problem and guide further research.

Based on the results …

The Implementation Of A Manufacturing Curriculum In Secondary Education, John Chieyung Kim Ii

Theses and Dissertations

American manufacturing cannot find workers. By 2030, 2.1 million positions will go unfilled, at a projected cost of one trillion dollars. Secondary schools are not solving this problem. At Ypsilanti Community High School, only 23.7% of graduates pursue postsecondary education. The rest enter the workforce without credentials or technical skills. No manufacturing curriculum existed at YCHS. This Dissertation in Practice built one.

The study used improvement science methodology. Two Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles designed, tested, and refined a precision measurement curriculum aligned to NC3 industry certification standards. Thirty-three students participated across both cycles. Cycle 1 used a traditional theory-first sequence over ten …

Exploring The Efficiency Of Logistic Models With Opt-Out Designs In Discrete Choice Experiment And Their Applications, Dai Fang

Theses and Dissertations

A discrete choice experiment is usually conducted in economics background to measure how consumers would like to trade off attributes of a product, service, or policy. In this experiment, respondents are provided different hypothetical combinations of varied components by using an experimental design such as the full factorial design, which fully represents the all combinations of attributes and levels. The mathematical background of a discrete choice experiments is based random utility theory, in which either positive or negative values are given each characteristic and the weighted sum values of each choice given in the experiment will be compared. This experiment …

Examining Role-Play Simulation Effectiveness In Reducing Student Skill Gaps In An Interpreter Education Program, Nicole Nadine Morris

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods action research study was to identify students’ skill development in an interpreter education program using authentic role-play simulations. Three research questions guided this study. Two questions guiding the quantitative data collection centered on skill development during foundational interpreting courses and through the practicum semesters. The third research question guided the qualitative data collection, which focused on the participants’ perceptions of the usefulness of the role-play simulations in preparing them for their practicum placements. Together, the data indicate that the simulations provide significant benefits for students in interpreter education programs in terms of their professional readiness. …

Majority Vote Consensus Via Over-The-Air Computation, Davis Jianmin Mo

Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, we explore the reliability consensus algorithms using non-coherent Over-the-Air Computation (OAC) Majority Vote (MV) for multi-agent stochastic bias systems under ideal conditions with only sensor variance, and with both sensor noise and frequency selective fading channels. In this investigation, we will analyze the reliability data for the combination of these two concepts, such as observing computation error rate, and convergence.

Between What’S Promised And What’S Lived: Lgbtq Former College Athletes’ Experiences At Inclusive Institutions, Alyssa Morgan Edlin

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) inclusion in college sports, it remains unclear whether athletes find these environments truly safe, supportive, and able to live authentically. Institutional evaluations and rankings often focus on policies and public commitments, offering limited insight into how inclusion is experienced in everyday athletic settings. Consequently, little is known about whether institutions labeled as inclusive actually foster environments where LGBTQ athletes feel a sense of belonging, authenticity, and meaningful support.

Rooted in an interpretivist-constructivist paradigm and guided by narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000), this study examines the …

Evidence Of Metal-Microcystin Complexation And Its Potential Role In Environmental Fate, Ashley Marie Womer

Theses and Dissertations

Microcystins that enter freshwater systems pose a threat to human health therefore their fate and transport throughout the water column have been intensively studied. While sediment has been regarded as an environmental fate for microcystin (MC), less is known about the molecular mechanisms by which microcystin interacts with the sediment and/or the thermodynamic stability of these interactions. While microcystin has a half-life in lake water on the order of weeks, microcystin adsorbed to sediment can be detected hundreds of years later1-2. Microcystin has been desorbed from these sediments with various EDTA solutions, therefore, work is presented to support the hypothesis …

Surface Salinity Variability And Loop Current Frontal Eddy Activity In The Gulf Of Mexico, Pamela Jo Lee

Theses and Dissertations

The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is a dynamic semi-enclosed basin where mesoscale and submesoscale circulation regulate the distribution of freshwater, nutrients, and biological productivity. The Loop Current System (LCS), which includes the Loop Current (LC), Loop Current Eddies (LCEs), and Loop Current Frontal Eddies (LCFEs), exerts the dominant control on basin-wide circulation. These features interact with freshwater input from the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River System (MARS) and with saline inflow from the Caribbean, resulting in variability in sea surface salinity (SSS) and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) across a range of spatial and temporal scales. A primary focus of this work is understanding how the …

A Combined Observational And Reanalysis Approach To Beaufort Gyre Freshening, Christina Mccarty Gregory

Theses and Dissertations

The freshwater (FW) content in the Arctic plays a critical role in the global climate by influencing the regional physical and biological processes, large-scale ocean circulation in the North Atlantic, sea-ice albedo, and other crucial climate parameters. Located in the Canadian Basin, the Beaufort Gyre (BG) is the largest retainer of FW in the Arctic. Here we examine the dynamics of the BG between 2016-2018 using satellite-derived products and ocean reanalysis parameters. Our results demonstrate that the characteristics of BG during the years of this study are a complex combination of various processes. The Ekman-induced FW fluxes were separated into …

Characterizing Spatiotemporal Dynamics In Beach-Dune Systems Under Anthropogenic And High Energy Forcings, Youngjae Kim

Theses and Dissertations

Coastal regions have historically been integral to geographic research given the complex interactions among physical processes, ecological systems, human activities, and socio-economic dynamics. As global populations in low-elevation coastal zones increase, understanding the coupled human-natural dynamics becomes essential for effective hazard mitigation. This dissertation presents an analytical framework that combines high-resolution remote sensing, image classification, landscape metrics, and geomorphometry to characterize the composition, configuration, and morphodynamic trajectories of coastal systems. The research investigates multi-scale dynamics in managed and unmanaged coastal environments by integrating diverse data sources to analyze spatial and temporal variability. The framework is implemented through three distinct research …

How And Why The Novel Personate Morphology Evolved In Penstemon Wildflowers, Trinity Hope Depatie

Theses and Dissertations

Adaptive radiations are characterized by the rapid evolution of novel traits making them excellent study systems to identify the genetic basis of adaptation. Floral adaptations often evolve rapidly as they are shaped by the strong selective pressures imposed by pollinators. The wildflower genus Penstemon is a recent radiation displaying a large amount of floral diversity including the repeated evolution of several floral traits. One novel floral trait displayed in Penstemon flowers is the personate morphology. Personate flowers are characterized by an upward bulge in the lower lobe of the corolla tube which seals off the floral passageway. This peculiar floral …

Continuous Imaging Of The Shallow Subsurface Of Horry County Using Gpr And Auger Data, Chase William Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Welded barrier systems are common along passive margins globally and make up approximately 15% of the coastlines around the world. The subsurface facies assemblages of welded barrier systems record depositional histories and past sea-level dynamics, but their complicated depositional architecture can be problematic for understanding aspects like groundwater flow and freshwater-saltwater exchange. Most studies of modern welded barrier sedimentary systems using ground penetrating radar (GPR) rely on a few 100 meters of subsurface data supplemented with a few drill cores. In this study, we used over 75 km of 100MHz and 25MHz GPR data and 195 auger drill logs collected …

A Study Of Type Ia Supernova Spectra, David Edwins

Theses and Dissertations

Type Ia Supernova already represent a valuable tool for astronomical exploration by providing a bright standardizable candle, however, they also represent an opportunity to observe the matter in the universe along the line of sight. A study of the spectra of Type Ia supernovae reveals a variety of contamination of these spectra at a variety of locations, including the Milky Way galaxy, a source likely local to the original supernova and an as yet unidentified source of contamination. Further, Type Ia Supernova appear to change with the redshift of the supernova.

Breast Cancer Communication For Young Women: Exploring Narrative Games As Vehicles Of Transportation, Adetutu Oluwaseyi Wande-Kayode

Theses and Dissertations

Despite extensive intervention efforts, breast cancer remains the most common cancer among women in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women. Prior research in breast cancer communication has largely focused on older women, yet early-onset breast cancer among younger women (ages 18-39) has increased in recent years. This trend highlights an urgent need for tailored communication strategies to improve young women’s understanding of breast cancer risk factors, prevention, detection, treatment, and survivorship. The present study developed and tested a digital narrative game based on the Health Belief Model, as a potential tool to enhance …

Vocabulary Learning In High School Chemistry To Enhance Conceptual Understanding: An Action Research Case Study, David Thibodeau

Theses and Dissertations

Accurate application of the domain-specific language of chemistry is often a challenge for students. To address this problem of practice, an action research intervention was implemented in a suburban high school chemistry classroom. Integrated with the predict-observe-explain instructional sequence, students participated in a targeted vocabulary intervention designed to ground abstract chemistry terms in concrete laboratory-based learning experiences. In concretizing abstract terms, students had more access to challenging chemistry vocabulary, consistent with the principles of the dual coding theory of cognition. The study’s findings suggest growth in students’ conceptual understanding of chemistry topics and ability to accurately articulate explanations of chemistry …

Beyond The Mansion: Black Women In Tenant Farming And The Material Culture At Rose Hill Plantation, Caroline Elizabeth Hall

Theses and Dissertations

This research is focused on archaeological materials recovered from three late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth-century tenant house sites at Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site. Excavations took place during the Spring of 2023 by the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA), under the direction of Stacey Young with the South Carolina State Parks, Recreation, and Tourism (SCPRT). Through an analysis of these artifacts, primary historic documentation, and previously recorded oral histories from descendants of Rose Hill Plantation I will discuss how the material culture and landscape associated with these tenant houses can be viewed through a lens of intersectionality to …

Advancing Edge Ai Through Integrated Neuromorphic Algorithms And Hardware, Peyton Chandarana

Theses and Dissertations

As machine learning continues to expand across diverse sectors, including healthcare, transportation, environmental monitoring, and consumer electronics, many applications operate under strict constraints on latency, bandwidth, privacy, and power availability. Meeting these demands increasingly requires deploying machine learning at the edge to process data locally rather than relying on remote cloud infrastructure. These limitations highlight the importance of computational efficiency and motivate the exploration of alternative hardware and algorithmic paradigms capable of delivering real-time, accurate inference under tight resource constraints.

Two major paradigms have emerged for edge intelligence: conventional artificial neural networks (ANNs) deployed on highly parallel edge accelerators such …

From Boca Chica To Mars: Spacex, Desubjectification And The Making Of Expendable Futures, Iwalewa Oluwajuwonlo Olorunyomi

Theses and Dissertations

This project examines how SpaceX’s development of Starbase Boca Chica Beach in Brownsville, Texas, produces what I call desubjectified futures: the systematic transformation of residents from subjects who imagine and create futures into objects upon which futures are imposed. Drawing on five weeks of ethnographic fieldwork, including interviews with residents, environmental justice organizers, and members of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe, I argue that SpaceX achieves hegemony not simply by manufacturing consent but through an ontological operation that strips communities of the capacity for collective self-determination before consent becomes meaningful.

I trace this process through three interrelated modes. First, discursively, how SpaceX …

Return Or Retain: A Case Study Of The Repatriation Of The Infamous “Elgin Marbles”, Camille Marguerite Ferguson

Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, I will evaluate the infamous acquisition of Lord Elgin of Grecian Marbles, which are housed in the British Museum, with the goal of supporting the case for repatriation. I will first explore the historical background of the Acropolis, its monuments, and the destruction that has taken place over centuries. Then I will discuss the actions of Lord Elgin, Parliament, and the British Museum Board of Trustees. Additionally, in examining the liability of the international and governmental institutions, such as the United Nations and European Union, who are complicit in the case, we can find a path to …

Dynamics Of Estuarine Optical Properties And Phytoplankton Communities In Winyah Bay, Sc, Camille Jolicoeur Michaud

Theses and Dissertations

Estuarine systems present complex light environments due to large amounts of colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and turbidity that absorb and scatter light, respectively. Optical properties influence phytoplankton communities because their photosynthetic efficiency depends greatly on light availability. This study examined the optical properties of the Winyah Bay estuary in South Carolina using mixing diagrams and related these factors to phytoplankton biomass and community composition across the salinity gradient. Results showed that the behavior of optical properties and their relationship to chlorophyll-a (chl-a) changed under various environmental conditions, particularly river discharge and flushing time. While chl-a was correlated with salinity …

The Use Of Machine-Learning Interatomic Potentials To Study Bulk Properties Of Aqueous Zn Ion Batteries, Ria Vasdev

Theses and Dissertations

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries (AZIBs) have emerged as a promising energy storage tech- nology owing to their high Coulombic efciency and low environmental impact. However, their practical development is impeded by limited cycling stability, pri- marily caused by parasitic side reactions occurring at the anode surface. These side reactions are strongly infuenced by the bulk solvation structure of Zn-based elec- trolytes, which remains challenging to characterize using conventional experimental techniques. Machine-learning interatomic potentials (MLIPs) provide a powerful computational approach to investigate these systems and can be employed to eluci- date the bulk structural properties of Zn electrolytes.

Lithics, Lasers & Legacies: New Methods On The Curated Materials From Nipper Creek (38rd18), Joseph Alan Lindler Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The Nipper Creek site (38RD18) is an Archaic Fall-Line site in South Carolina that was excavated in 1985 to determine the Indigenous occupational history of the site following its discovery. Using Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) technology on select debitage from 1985, and on samples from known tool-stone quarries in the Southeastern United States, this study explores the differences of these samples and the attempt to determine a source location of the lithic materials excavated from the Early Archaic contexts to better understand the settlement of Nipper Creek (38RD18) as it relates to known lithic quarries.

This study compares …

The African Sky And The Human Spirit: Ethics, Exile, And Women In Saint-Exupéry And Camus, Snezana Popova

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation offers a comparative study of Albert Camus and Antoine de Saint- Exupéry, focusing on their representations of women and the ethical visions that emerge through them. While Camus is often associated with the philosophy of the absurd and Saint-Exupéry with transcendence and spiritual hierarchy, this study argues that both writers articulate a shared moral humanism grounded in responsibility, solidarity, and fidelity to human presence. The figure of the woman—whether as mother, beloved, or silent moral witness—becomes a crucial site through which these ethical commitments are revealed.

Through close textual analysis of major works—including La Mort heureuse, L’Étranger, La …

Centralized Heat Messaging: Investigating The Forecasting And Communication Of Heat Risks, Madison Sydney Nordberg

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding of heat and its impacts has become essential to everyday life as heat continues to cause illness and fatalities across the United States, and around the globe. Defining extreme heat presents massive challenges, meaning different organizations, institutions, and researchers approach heat events differently, which is unlike any other hazard. Finding ways to get on the same page about heat’s impact on our communities is complex but necessary. Following insights and experiences gained from a 2024 health survey, a Daily Heat Risk Forecast was developed to reflect the forecasts of the three current products for every day in the Columbia …

Raman Spectroscopy Of Biological Molecules And Inorganic Compounds, Jasmine Ervin Gardner

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes the use of multiple Raman spectroscopic techniques for the detection and characterization of non-hazardous organic and inorganic compounds. The first two applications involve the use of Raman and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy to thoroughly analyze autoinducers (AI) produced by gram negative bacteria. The second set of applications involves the use of anti-stokes Raman and resonance Raman spectroscopy to remotely detect inorganic compounds at distances of up to 12 meters away.

This work describes the use of Raman spectroscopy for the characterization and discrimination of signaling molecules used in bacterial communication. Our initial work shows the potential of …

The Framing Of Sherlock Holmes, William Charles Wren

Theses and Dissertations

In the Preface to The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James offers a metaphor for how we should look at novels: a view that pictures a million windows in which we can see a million different stories. Through James’ thinking with a million windows comes a million frames, a narrative device that became popularized in the late Victorian novel. This narrative framework is used by Arthur Conan Doyle, William Morris, H.G. Wells, among others, which brough forth new self-reflexive developments in plot and character development. Arthur Conan Doyle uses narrative framing devices to great effect throughout The Adventures of Sherlock …

The Mountains Call: Escaping To Zones Of Seclusion, Alec Lee Parry

Theses and Dissertations

The biographical and thematical overlap between the literature of Austrian authors Ingeborg Bachmann and Thomas Bernhard, and Swiss writers Max Frisch and Fleur Jaeggy, is established in literary scholarship. However, similarities in the role Alpine spaces play in their works remain unaccounted for. The Alps represent a cultural and geographical boundary between linguistic identities and international borders. Protagonists across this dissertation’s three chapters face internal crises, prompting them to move to “zones of seclusion.” Within these “zones of seclusion,” characters spark discussions of collective memory even if they are isolated themselves. These peripheral locations force recollection, often on collective memory, …

Stimuli-Responsive Hybrid Materials: From Fundamental Photophysics To Tunable Properties, Grace C. Thaggard

Theses and Dissertations

Photochromic materials exhibit properties that can be dynamically tailored as a function of light exposure and represent a rapidly expanding field driven by applications ranging from molecular computing, nanotechnology, or photopharmacology to programable heterogeneous catalysis. For example, the possibility to tune a material’s catalytic activity “on demand” through exposure to a noninvasive stimulus is a transformative concept that could shift the paradigm in chemical industry by allowing for in-situ suppression of byproduct formation, isolation of reactive intermediates, and even control over product yield and selectivity. Development of the mentioned photochromic materials is based on stimuli-responsive molecular building blocks which undergo …