Digital Commons Network^™

Among The Remnants, Jade-Lynn B. Lewis Vance

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This written thesis serves as supporting documentation and research for my Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition, Among the Remnants, at West Virginia University. This dissertation will explain how my artistic vision, influences, research, and thesis exhibition fits into larger art and cultural contexts. Drawing from art history and theory, my work explores memory, touch, and fragmentation. My fascination with artifacts and the stories they hold inspires my research and drives me to create personal connections within my own art. The figurative sculptures serve as a vessel for recalling impactful experiences and embodying personal perception and these interactions. The …

Development Of Hydrogen Emissions Quantification Systems To Expand Understanding Of Leaks And Losses Associated With The Burgeoning Hydrogen Transportation Sector, Christopher Loomis

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

To combat global warming, alternative fuels are being investigated. Hydrogen is at the forefront of this movement, advertised as having zero emissions due to the products of the energy reaction being only water. However, studies over recent decades indicate that hydrogen in the atmosphere acts as a form of greenhouse gas (GHG) by increasing the lifespan of methane in the atmosphere. Models are attempting to estimate the possible effects of a transition to a hydrogen-fueled economy but lack empirical data to provide confidence to these estimated values. There is little data that quantifies hydrogen from anthropogenic sources.

To address this …

Reducing Inorganic Phosphorus In Poultry Diets: Nutritional Constraints And Strategies For Successful Implementation, Elizabeth Ann Lynch

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Applied poultry nutrition and feed manufacture science can be described as a “three-legged stool” supported by pellet quality, feed hygienics, and nutrient availability, where imbalance in any one component can compromise overall bird performance. The research presented herein primarily addresses feed hygienics and nutrient availability, with pellet quality serving as an underlying theme, to better understand how processing conditions and dietary formulation influence performance and nutrient utilization.

In Chapter 2, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of hygienizer retention time on bacterial reduction during feed manufacture using Enterococcus faecium as a Salmonella surrogate. Pellet mill motor …

White Lies Of Time: Temporal Racialization In 19th-20th Century American Literature, Yu Uchida

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

By examining mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century American literary texts, this dissertation project aims to theorize the ways in which whiteness relies on conceptualizations of time to hegemonize non-white subjects and prescribe their historical representations. Because whiteness is dynamic in its emergence and effects and ubiquitous in sociopolitical and cultural realms, this dissertation holistically turns to white, Black, and Indigenous writers to delineate how whiteness functions throughout the period and how racialized subjects negotiate it. Portraying the nation’s history as lived experience rather than objectified knowledge, the racialized authors I examine undermine the concept of linear progressive time that subtends structural …

Three Essays On Option Markets, Fangzheng Ou

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation includes three essays examining index option and stock option markets. The first essay investigates the pricing kernel puzzle by examining S&P 500 index option returns and empirical pricing kernels across expiration dates ranging from one month to one year. We document that at short maturities, out-of-the-money call option returns are negative and decrease with the strike price, while at long maturities, at least some are positive and increase with the strike price. Empirical pricing kernels predominantly exhibit a W-shape at short maturities, with this pattern becoming less pronounced and evolving toward a monotonically decreasing curve at longer maturities. …

High-Resolution Laser Diagnostics For Ion Measurements In Magnetized Plasmas, Katey Stevenson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In this work, we investigate ion heating in two plasma systems (helicon plasmas and flux rope plasmas) using the PHAse Space MApping (PHASMA) experiment. Our studies rely on high-resolution laser diagnostics, specifically laser-induced fluorescence (LIF), to measure ion velocity distribution functions (IVDFs). The temperature and bulk flow of each species are inferred from their respective VDFs. This dissertation is organized into three main parts: the study of ion heating in helicon plasmas, pulsed LIF modeling and diagnostic development, and the study of ion heating in flux rope plasmas. Helicon plasma sources efficiently generate high-density plasmas and are widely used to …

Robust Fault Detection And Classification In Power Systems Via Physics-Informed And Data-Driven Learning, Biswash Basnet, Varsha Sen

Graduate Student Scholarship

Electrical faults in power transmission systems can severely affect grid stability, equipment safety, and operational reliability. Traditional protection schemes, particularly distance relays, depend on apparent impedance computation that changes with error, creating a risk of misclassification. The results from relay overreach, underreach, or complete maloperation due to CT/PT saturation lead to developing problems in high impedance situations. These limitations highlight the need for adaptive, data-driven alternatives. This paper proposes an intelligent fault detection and classification model based on supervised machine learning techniques that overcome these challenges. The system’s robustness was validated under different training sizes and Gaussian noise levels, demonstrating …

Drafting A Solution: Overcoming The Existential Crisis Of The Selective Service System, John L. Markel

West Virginia Law Review

With the growing fears of a large-scale combat operation against a near-peer adversary, the United States may confront a need to fully mobilize its military for the first time since World War II. A full-scale mobilization would likely necessitate the return of conscription (a.k.a. the draft). The Selective Service System (“SSS”) is currently the federal agency that oversees and conducts the draft in accordance with the provisions of the Military Selective Service Act (“Act”). Yet, this Act has remained untouched for more than two decades, meaning the current conscription system is functionally identical to that used during the Vietnam War, …

303 Creative For Everyone?, Mark Satta

West Virginia Law Review

Does the holding in 303 Creative v. Elenis give businesses open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to provide expressive services for interracial couples’ weddings, interfaith couples’ weddings, or for couples’ weddings in which one or both partners are disabled? As indicated by questions raised during oral arguments, this is one of the troubling new legal questions created by the Supreme Court’s 303 Creative decision where the Court held that a Colorado web design business had a First Amendment free speech right to refuse to provide wedding website services for same-sex couples’ weddings. Understandably, both the Court’s conservative …

Litigating Loper Bright: Interpretive Challenges And Solutions For The Post-Chevron Era, Eric R. Bolinder

West Virginia Law Review

This Article arrives at a critical juncture in Administrative Law and comprehensively answers two burning questions about Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the case that overturned Chevron deference. First, what did Loper Bright change about review of agency action? Second, how should lower courts implement the decision? This Article engages in a first-of-its-kind, exhaustive review of the major circuit court decisions citing Loper Bright and analyzes how influential judges, scholars, and justices have characterized the impact of the decision. The Article defines what role Skidmore “deference” and the major questions doctrine should play in judicial review—while seriously questioning the long-term …

Asylum Eligibility: A Circuit Split Between The Second And Fourth Circuits Based Upon Death Threats Rising To The Level Of Persecution Per Se, Taylor Cochran

West Virginia Law Review

Asylum eligibility requires applicants to satisfy a three-pronged set of requirements in order to be granted admission into the United States. In a July 2024 decision, the Second Circuit court issued a decision that challenged a line of precedent established by the Fourth Circuit—specifically examining whether death threats rise to the persecution threshold set by the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”). The Second Circuit now holds that the receipt of death threats alone is insufficient to establish persecution, thereby making alien petitioners who have received such threats ineligible for asylum or related forms of relief from removal. In contrast, the …

Reconciling Tenure And Faculty Accountability, Stuart Chinn

West Virginia Law Review

Part of the very identity of the American university is its insulation from society—a crucial contributor, at least in some instances, toward facilitating the search for knowledge and the disruption of established orthodoxies. Yet American higher education does not exist and cannot function separately from societal pressures. This is most obviously true in the context of public institutions that directly rely on state governmental entities for financial support and that may be subject to some mechanisms of control by governmental actors or their appointees. But it is also obviously true in the context of private institutions that may rely on …

Determining The Attitudes And Knowledge Related To Sexual Health And Activity Related To Practitioner Action, Kelsey Alt, Callie Honaker, Abby Nichols, Jacob Greenfield, Diana Davis

Graduate Student Scholarship

Background: Research has found that many Occupational Therapy practitioners lack confidence, competence, and fear discussing sexual health and activity with their patients, despite many patients wanting to discuss the topic (Rose & Hughes, 2018). This previous knowledge leads to the purpose of this study, to determine if continuing education on topics related to sexual health and activity increases OTPs’ confidence, competence, and sense of importance in addressing this with patients (Rabathaly & Chattu, 2019). Methods: This study assessed pre- and post-data for each participant'scompleted course survey in the sequence of the continuing education class. All participants were de-identified …

Ai Questions; "The Ai Tea", Sally Brown

Artificial Intelligence Exhibit

This section includes a series of questions related to AI and the exhibit content, as well as button designs by WVU students and Art in the Libraries committee members, a list of the exhibition sponsors, and information on the exhibition launch panel.

Artificial Intelligence In Education, Sally Brown, Jill Woods, Mohamed Hefeida, Jennifer Sano-Franchini, Megan Vendemia, Erin Brock Carlson, Megan Leight, Gangqing Hu, Nicole Fuller

Artificial Intelligence Exhibit

This section explores the intersection of AI and education, including an overview of WVU's AI statement and submissions from WVU faculty, classes, students, and staff on AI related projects.

Hiring Decisions Under Productivity Uncertainty: Risk Preferences And Inaccurate Statistical Discrimination In Nhl Entry Drafts, Chengyuan Hua, Brad Humphreys

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

This paper analyzes firm hiring decisions under uncertainty about worker productivity. We exploit an exogenous September 15 cutoff date in the National Hockey League entry draft to estimate a sharp RDD and find evidence of risk aversion by teams when drafting players. Specifically, teams appear risk averse in early draft rounds, but risk neutral in later rounds, supporting model predictions by a prior study. Triple-differences results show inaccurate relative-age-based statistical discrimination in the draft, providing implications for team drafting strategies. We find suggestive evidence that experience drives this discrimination, and positive correlation be- tween accuracy of statistical discrimination and team …

Project Foresight Annual Report, 2023-2024, Paul J. Speaker

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Project FORESIGHT is a business-guided self-evaluation of forensic science laboratories across the globe. The participating laboratories represent local, regional, state, and national agencies. Economics, accounting, finance, and forensic faculty provide assistance, guidance, and analysis. Laboratories participating in Project FORESIGHT have developed standardized definitions for metrics to evaluate work processes, linking financial information to work tasks and functions. Laboratory managers can then assess resource allocations, efficiencies, and value of services—the mission of Project FORESIGHT is to measure, preserve what works, and change what does not.

The benchmark data for the 2023-2024 performance period includes laboratory submissions for a variety of fiscal …

Take Me Home? Understanding Refugee Resettlement Knowledge On The Wvu Campus, Kaitlin Stewart, Dylan Gay, David Olchowoj

CRC Research Symposium

Studies find that knowledge about refugee resettlement plays a significant role in the willingness of communities to accept refugees. Knowledge about refugees and refugee resettlement plays a significant role in other factors that shape refugee acceptance such as perceived ethnic threat. Perceived ethnic threat, or the belief that an ethnic group poses a threat economically, socially, or culturally to another, contributes significantly to a host community’s willingness to accept and care for refugees. This perceived threat escalates as federal governments use refugees and migrants as scapegoats for acts of violence and terror and blur the lines between refugees, asylum seekers, …

The Chemical City Of The World: Mapping Petrochemical Communities In West Virginia, Isabelle Judy, Daniel Renfrew, Grace Dever

CRC Research Symposium

This project was conducted out of the Center for Resilient Communities in partnerships with the West Virginia Environment and Society Lab. This research focuses on the impact of industrialization and water contamination on community health and well-being in South Charleston, West Virginia. West Virginia and the Ohio River valley have been at the heart of petrochemical development since the 1900s. Scholars refer to the area as a “sacrifice zone” that has fed the economic development of the nation while forcing local residents to suffer its toxic fallout. Many residents are aware of chemicals in their community however, there are gaps …

From Bones To Bias: Exploring Demographic Gaps In The West Virginia University Osteological Collection, Ren Kully

Munn Scholars Awards

Osteological collections are essential to forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology but often refl ect historical biases. Analysis of 26 individuals from West Virginia University’s osteological collection revealed disproportionate representation: 46.2% Asian/Native American, 34.6% African American, and 19.2% European American, with a skew toward middle-aged adults. Sex estimations varied, with 26.9% indeterminate. These imbalances stem from unethical collection practices, such as grave robbing and using unclaimed bodies. Addressing these issues requires transparency, provenance research, and ethical sourcing. This study underscores the need for equitable representation, ethical stewardship, and revised methods to mitigate bias in osteological teaching and research.

Theorizing The Point-Of-Order Interpretive Canons, Chun Hin Jeffrey Tsoi

West Virginia Law Review

In Law Within Congress, Jonathan Gould suggested that rulings of the House or Senate chair under the advice of their respective parliamentarians might inform statutory interpretation. This Article fleshes out the theoretical foundations of that approach. While such approach is much narrower than the broad reliance on Congress’s rules by other theorists of the “process-based” school, it also comes with strong theoretical justifications and advantages that set it apart. Part I illustrates the broad appeal of “process-based” theories by showing that even textualists have strong theoretical reasons to endorse them. Part II then surveys the theoretical advantages specific to the …

Generative Artificial Intelligence In Hollywood: The Turbulent Future That Lies Ahead, Zachary T. Young

West Virginia Law Review

Since the dawn of time, the human race has used some form of technology to assist their unwavering dedication to push society forward. From the first stone tool to the first computer, some sort of regulation controlled their usage, ranging from government regulations to industry standards. When artificial intelligence (“AI”) entered the arena of technology, regulatory bodies froze at the daunting task of controlling such a powerful tool. Across almost every industry, artificial intelligence has found its home in various work functions. Generative artificial intelligence has furthered the complexity that stems from regulating a new, and never before seen technology. …

Privatized Medicaid: An Incentivized System Of Constant Denials, Hannah R. Courtney

West Virginia Law Review

The Medicaid Program was created to fill the gap of what private insurance would not do—provide vulnerable populations with meaningful access to quality health care—but now it has been thrown into the pitfalls of private insurance. Over the last two decades, there has been a significant rise in states contracting with private Managed Care Organizations (“MCOs”) to provide services to a percentage of their Medicaid enrollees. MCOs now make decisions each year to approve or deny millions of requests for Medicaid coverage of health care services using prior authorization. Until now, the criticisms and fears surrounding privatized Medicaid have largely …

Stars, Stripes, And Pills: The Stock Narratives That Blind, Michelle Wilde Anderson

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Drowning In The Patent Pool: Is Statutory Invention Registration A Lifeguard?, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

Patents for inventions, available since the first Congress enacted the Patent Law of 1790, have been controversial. Defenders justify patents on the grounds that they are necessary to protect inventors from free riding—copying that would deprive the inventors of an opportunity to recover the costs of development. Detractors attack patents as unnecessary monopolies, thwarting innovation. The debate continues, even as the law itself has remained remarkably constant. Technology and industry structure have not remained constant, however. Patents have proliferated, resulting in patent thickets that make it impossible to create and market any innovative product without infringing hundreds of patents. Patent …

“Everybody Else Seems To Be Able To Get Help”: Rural Regulation, Access Loss, And Antigovernment Sentiment, Jennifer Sherman

West Virginia Law Review

This Essay draws upon two decades of the author’s research on rural United States communities to explicate ways in which the regulatory state has intervened in rural areas and economies, often with the claim of protecting land, natural resources, and/or wildlife. The outcomes are frequently disastrous for the human populations of those communities and generally are not planned for or mitigated by policy. The Essay argues that rural distrust of and aversion to government oversight is not caused primarily by ideological or cultural stances, but rather is an outcome of experiences of abandonment by the agencies that are meant to …

Traumatic Brain Injury And Substance Use Disorder: A Clinic Based Exploratory Study, Steven Daniel Wheeler, Amanda Acord-Vira, Cecelia Simons, Kaleigh Papez, Jeremy Dixon, Cortland Nesley

Graduate Student Scholarship

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and substance use disorders (SUD) are common co-occurring conditions that have been investigated in isolation over the past several decades. Research regarding the conditions in unison have yielded conflicting results; however, there is a clear correlation linking negative implications of one condition on the other.

Objectives: To explore factors contributing to SUD among persons screening positive for a history of TBI and to validate the importance of screening for TBI as part of the SUD treatment program intake process.

Setting: Outpatient SUD treatment programs across West Virginia.

Design: Exploratory Study.

Methods: Those who screened positive …

Ex Libris, Spring 2025, West Virginia University Libraries

Ex Libris: The WVU Libraries Magazine

The West Virginia University Libraries magazine, Ex Libris, is produced and printed through the support of library donors.

AOTUS SPENDS DAY WITH WVRHC The Archivist of the United States visited WVU Morgantown for a series of visits and tours, and chatted with WVU Libraries in an exclusive Q & A interview.

RISING TO MEET RESEARCH NEEDS WVU Libraries and the WVU Research Office are empowering University researchers, paving the way to advances in research and science.

CENTERING STUDENT SUCCESS AMIDST CHANGE The hybrid introduction to Library Research course isn't your average college course. WVU librarians are innovating to make information …

The Law Of Unintended Consequences: Examining West Virginia's Data Privacy Legislation And What Could Have Been, Jena Martin, Erin Kelley

West Virginia Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Implementing Noninvasive Capnography Monitoring To Enhance Early Recognition Of Postoperative Respiratory Decline In High-Risk Patients: A Quality Improvement Project, Trevor A. Messenger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Abstract

Implementing Noninvasive Capnography Monitoring to Enhance Early Recognition of Postoperative Respiratory Decline in High-Risk Patients: A Quality Improvement Initiative

Trevor Messenger

Background: Those suffering from chronic respiratory disease, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), obesity, and other serious comorbidities are at an increased risk of respiratory decline after receiving general anesthesia. Respiratory decline leads to adverse outcomes, including increased hospital length of stay, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, morbidity, and mortality.

Purpose: To improve the safety of postoperative patients at risk for OSA, and to reduce adverse events and airway interventions by enhancing the monitoring capabilities of bedside clinicians with waveform …