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A Ministry Manual For Supporting Pastoral Transitions: Addressing The Emotional And Spiritual Needs Of Clergy And Their Families, John Tucker

Dissertations

Pastoral transitions represent spiritually significant yet often under-supported moments in the life of clergy, congregations, and ministry networks. While leadership change is frequently framed in theological language emphasizing divine calling and institutional continuity, insufficient attention is given to the emotional, relational, and familial dimensions of these transitions. This Doctor of Ministry project examines the spiritual and emotional impact of pastoral transitions within African American church contexts, with particular attention to clergy wellbeing and systems of care.

This study employed a mixed-methods research design integrating quantitative survey data with qualitative semi-structured interviews. Survey instruments were distributed to pastors affiliated with The …

Generative Ai Professional Development Program For Higher Education Instructors, Sheena Bahra

Dissertations

As technology progresses and brings enhanced forms of artificial intelligence (AI), such as generative AI (Gen AI), it continues to affect education by introducing opportunities and challenges in its application to higher education teaching. Advances in technology can make instructors reluctant to use applications, leading to missed learning and skill-development opportunities for higher-order thinking skills. This study investigates how AI professional development (PD) training can influence higher education instructors’ willingness to use Gen AI in the classroom. This study employed a qualitative instrumental case study design informed by an exploratory lens. The study investigated instructors’ use of Gen AI in …

Recruitment Of Black Minority Community Into Irish Police: Evaluating The Dynamics Of Culture In Decision-Making., Adeyemi Adekanle

Dissertations

Ethnic and racial diversity in police services has been a focus for criminologists and policing scholars for some considerable time. But despite intense efforts, most multicultural societies still struggle to get Black minority communities recruited into their police services. Two widely held interconnected assumptions appear to be at issue. The first is that police occupational culture, which has been shown in some studies to be prejudicial, is, in many cases, blatantly racist. This may well be a catalyst or “push factor” in discouraging members of Black communities in particular from taking up police careers. The second is that members of …

A Computational Investigation Of The Deposition Of Firebrands Subject To A Turbulent Jet Flow, Patrick Wayne Damiani

Dissertations

To improve the understanding of the role of firebrands in fire spread, the dispersion and deposition of firebrands carried by turbulent jet flows were simulated by Lagrangian particle tracking and large--eddy simulation. The simulations were configured to replicate previous experiments involving cubiform and cylindrical particles carried by pipe flow and the resulting jet flow before deposition on the ground. First, validations were performed for the jet flow simulations by comparing quantities such as the jet spread rate and velocity decay constant with previous experimental and theoretical values for free jet flows. Then, two series of simulations were performed to evaluate …

Investigation Of A Flux Compression Magnetic Nozzle For Pulsed Plasma Propulsion, Zachary K. White

Dissertations

A key part of any propulsion system is how the energy of the propellants is used for thrust. Because of the high temperatures of nuclear fusion plasma, traditional methods like guiding the propellant with walls are not feasible, so instead, electromagnetic forces must be used to avoid physical contact between the propellant and the vehicle. Usually, to do so the physical nozzle is replaced by a magnetic nozzle where the physical walls are replaced by magnetic fields. This thesis focuses on the direct imaging and probe measurements of a laser produced plasma expanding into a magnetic field as analogous event …

A Hierarchical, Data-Driven Analytical Paradigm For Strategic Planning, Operational Decision-Making, And Resilience Enhancement In United States Electric Power Systems Under Extreme Demand Conditions, Anyama Hanson Tettey

Dissertations

Historical evidence indicates that the United States electric power grid continues to face persistent criticism for reliability challenges during peak demand conditions. Extreme ambient temperatures are a primary driver of such peaks, rendering the grid most vulnerable precisely when electricity demand is highest. These demand surges are largely driven by coincident operation of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems across customer classes, a trend expected to intensify as sectors such as transportation increasingly rely on electrification. Efforts to mitigate demand related unreliability have traditionally focused on system-level demand forecasting and planning, typically at the scale of cities or entire utilities. However, …

Role Of Mkp-2 In Pancreatic Beta Cell Function & Development Of Diabetes, Nabin Ghimire

Dissertations

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by persistent hyperglycemia. Type 1 diabetes results from autoimmune destruction of β-cells, whereas Type 2 diabetes is associated with obesity and insulin resistance. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) are closely linked, as individuals with T2D are twice as likely to develop MAFLD. Previous work from our lab demonstrated that overexpression of MKP-2 in obesity promotes hepatic steatosis, diet-induced obesity, reduced insulin sensitivity, and increased body weight. However, the role of MKP-2 in the onset and progression of diabetes remains unclear. The objectives of this study were to …

Mechanisms Of Interface Formation In Bi-Metallic Components Fabricated Using Additive Manufacturing Processes, Michael P. Santangelo

Dissertations

As the expansion of metal additive manufacturing (MAM) brings forward new techniques and processes, compatibility between combinations of materials in multi-material components needs to be considered. Currently, the process by which compatibility between various metal alloys are evaluated is through laborious characterization of representative samples, which are products of both the additive manufacturing (AM) process used as well as the material chemistry. If a methodology for understanding the driving mechanisms behind formation of a compatible metallic interface can be created with the use of a predictive model, then wider implementation of multi-material MAM can be achieved. The objective of this …

Diffusion Behavior Of Uranium Fission Products In A Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket, Mitchell Schroll

Dissertations

Centrifugal nuclear thermal rockets (CNTR) are an advanced concept engine first proposed in the 1950’s that would allow for specific impulses of up to 1800 seconds. A major difference in this engine is that the liquid fuel allows for fission products to move through the fuel layer and even exit out of the reactor completely. This dissertation seeks to answer the question, how does the migration of fission products within a centrifugal nuclear thermal rocket affect its operation and performance?” To accomplish this a reduced order model was developed to simulate and track the fission products generated during the firing …

An Incremental Approach For Recovering Decompiled Variable Data Types Using Graph Neural Networks With Learned Confidence Estimates, Caleb Stewart

Dissertations

When software is compiled into machine code, the high-level data types defined in the original source code are lost. Binary type inference is the process of attempting to recover these high-level data types from compiled binary code. This dissertation investigates binary type inference using graph neural networks (GNNs) to predict data types for decompiled variables. The study is organized into three phases. Phase one presents DRAGON, a GNN model that predicts simple data types for decompiled variables using input graphs derived from decompiled abstract syntax trees (ASTs). DRAGON also produces confidence estimates indicating the degree of faith the model places …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Poly(Γ-Benzyl-L-Glutamate) By Infrared Absorption And Diffusion-Ordered Nmr Spectroscopy, Leah C. Johnson

Dissertations

Acquiring the molecular weight of a polymer is not a trivial task due to the differing degrees of chain growth within a sample during synthesis, leading to a molecular weight range instead of a single value. Popular methods that estimate a polymer’s molecular weight include proton nuclear magnetic resonance, gel permeation chromatography and mass spectrometry; however, these methods have drawbacks like molecular weight limitations, dispersity limitations and column dependencies. Since poly(amino acid)s are used in biomedical research, developing a harmonizing set of molecular weight characterization methods is crucial. Two novel methods for estimating the molecular weight by infrared absorbance and …

Utility Of Model-Based And Probabilistic Approaches For Rocket Engine Affordability : Exemplified On The Rs-25 Engine, Shreyas Lakshmipuram Raghu

Dissertations

Rocket engine development has historically relied on test–fail–fix (TFF) methodologies to uncover structural and fatigue deficiencies under representative operating conditions. While effective, TFF is inherently costly and schedule-intensive, often revealing life-limiting behavior late in the development lifecycle. The increasing use of additive manufacturing (AM) amplifies this challenge by introducing material property scatter and process-induced variability. Without explicit early treatment of uncertainty, these effects can increase reliance on physical testing and drive additional TFF cycles. This work presents a reliability-driven life-consistent design-bounding framework intended as an early lifecycle decision-support tool to assess and mitigate TFF risk. Although material variability is inherently …

Quantitative Metabolomics And ¹³C-Enrichment Analysis Of The Effects Of Fat10 Overexpression On Serum And Hepatocytes, Emily C. Hunt

Dissertations

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), formerly known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, is associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes, and as the prevalence of these conditions increases, the incidence of MASLD is expected to rise. However, the mechanisms that underlie the development of MASLD are complex and incompletely understood. Previous work from our group has indicated that the human leukocyte antigen-F adjacent transcript (Fat10) is overexpressed in the LEW.1WR1 rat model, which develops features of MASLD. The objective of this work was to quantify metabolites associated with MASLD in response to Fat10 overexpression. To achieve this end, we …

Landfalling Hurricanes : Impacts Of Urban Growth On Rainfall And Flooding And Advances In Ai-Based Forecasting, Ankur Kumar

Dissertations

Hurricanes remain among the most destructive natural hazards, producing widespread impacts through extreme rainfall, flooding, and damaging winds. Rapid urbanization in coastal regions further amplifies these risks by modifying land surface characteristics and increasing population, while accurately forecasting hurricane evolution remains a major challenge. This dissertation addresses these challenges through three interconnected research objectives focusing on urbanization-induced hurricane modification, hydrological response, and AI-based hurricane forecasting. The first objective investigates how incremental multi-decadal urban growth modifies hurricane rainfall distribution and rainband evolution during Hurricane Harvey (2017). Convection-permitting WRF simulations demonstrate that realistic urban growth alters boundary-layer structure, storm-relative inflow, convective organization, …

Thermodynamics Of Bubble-Through Liquid-Core Nuclear Thermal Rockets, Dakota John Santana

Dissertations

Liquid-Core Nuclear Thermal Rockets (LNTR) were originally investigated in the 1960s. Exploratory efforts have thus far been relegated to preliminary models that illustrate proof-of- concept or identify theoretical limits. Collectively they would report ranges for 𝐼𝑠𝑝 between 1000 −2000 𝑠 and thrust-to-weights between 0.5 −6. This work expands a model for the Bubbler class of LNTRs into an engineering model suitable for design exploration and system model integration. Bubblers use centrifugal force to trap molten fissile fuel while bubbling propellant radially inward to cool structural members and achieve temperatures >4500 𝐾. The Bubbler model detailed herein, dubbed Fornax, expands the …

Diffusion Of Excitons In Thin Films Of Quantum Dots, Dustin Roberts

Dissertations

Quantum dots are heavily used in modern devices, such as consumer television screens, lasers, medical sensors, solar cells, and quantum computing. Their tunability and photo-stability make them candidates for a variety of applications which formerly required either dyes or significant amounts of band structure engineering. Despite all of the current and active applications, there is a gap in the current literature with regards to how energy is transported through thin films of quantum dots, and what methods may be used to control transport direction and range. The goal of this dissertation is to help fill those gaps, towards the end …

Sharing Patient-Generated Health Data With Electronic Health Record: A Standardised Provenance And Context-Rich Information Model And Clinician Evaluation, Abdullahi Abubakar Kawu

Dissertations

With the advent of Patient-Generated Health Data (PGHD) through wearable, mobile, and home monitoring systems, there is immense potential for ongoing monitoring and patient engagement. But integrating PGHD with Electronic Health Record (EHR) is challenged by sub-optimal support for contextual metadata and its relevant elements, lack of semantic interoperability among disparate systems, poor knowledge regarding the factors that impact clinician acceptance, and absence of globally agreed standards for data exchange. This thesis explores how contextually relevant patient-generated health data can be shared with EHRs through a FAIR standardized information model that ensures semantic and syntactic interoperability.

The study addresses six …

A Proposed Conceptual Framework For Assessing Quality Of Life In The United Arab Emirates: Application To Ras Al Khaimah Emirate, Aaesha Saif Al Shehhi

Dissertations

Quality of Life (QoL) has become a central concern in urban planning and sustainable development, particularly in rapidly transforming contexts such as the United Arab Emirates. This dissertation proposes and empirically validates a comprehensive framework for assessing urban QoL, with a focused application to the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. A mixed-methods approach integrates objective indicators and residents' subjective perceptions, aligned with national strategies including UAE Vision 2030, the National Strategy for Wellbeing 2031, and UAE Centennial 2071.

The methodology combines Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and statistical analyses to evaluate seven key sectors: environment, infrastructure …

A Phenomenological Qualitative Study Of The Experiences Of Board Chairs Toward Governance In Seventh-Day Adventist Schools Across Canada, Shad Lehmann

Dissertations

Problem

There is limited understanding of how school board chairs within the Canadian Seventh-day Adventist education system perceive and carry out their leadership and governance roles. The role of the board chair is complex, involving oversight of the organization, adherence to denominational policies, and alignment with the school’s academic and spiritual missions. Although effective governance is vital for school success, there remains a lack of clarity about how board chairs interpret their roles, fulfill their responsibilities, and navigate the unique demands of faith-based school leadership. This gap in understanding restricts the system’s ability to provide appropriate training, support, and clear …

A Case Study Of California Postsecondary Faculty Collaboration On Rubric Development To Foster Student Learning, Emmanuel Kwadwo Frimpong

Dissertations

Although perceived as the ‘gold standard’ strategy for conquering complex problems, collaboration can be ignored by intellectuals who prefer to work independently. This oversight may occur even in the face of challenging problems such as assessment of scholarships, institutional effectiveness, strategizing, and even the crafting of effective rubrics for assessing student learning. The scholarly literature clearly reveals that real difficulties often refuse to respond to routine assignments or common bureaucratic patterns. Additionally, 21st century conflicts may require creative solutions involving interdependence, joining of forces and brains, or vision sharing. Effective assessment of student learning within higher education may reflect just …

Computational Design Of Nanoporous Materials For The Adsorption Of Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, Daniel D. Mottern

Dissertations

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large family of chemicals that have seen wide usage due to their fluorinated carbon backbone. The presence of strong C-F bonds in the backbone lends PFAS molecules high thermal and chemical stability, as well as strong hydrophobicity and lipophobicity. This combination of properties has led to heavy use of PFAS as surfactants, non-stick coatings, and aqueous foam forming films and flame retardants. However, these properties bring their own consequences. The high chemical and thermal stability of PFAS renders them persistent, with the C-F bonds resisting naturally occurring forms of degradation. Existing forms of …

Entropic Forces Near Fluctuating Surfaces, Rubayet Hassan

Dissertations

Nanoscale structures are inherently dynamic due to persistent thermal fluctuations. Even in solid materials, these random deformations, driven by ambient thermal energy, can become significant when their characteristic scale approaches that of the structure itself and strongly influence their overall mechanical behavior. Examples of such structures include crystalline membranes, appearing in diverse forms such as nanotubes, nanoribbons, and kirigami/origami structures. Similarly, biological nanostructures, including lipid membranes, microtubules, actin filaments, and DNA, exhibit extreme flexibility and responsiveness due to their low bending rigidity. Numerous physiological processes are intrinsically linked to these thermal fluctuations, including exocytosis and endocytosis, membrane fusion, pore formation, …

Computational Methods For Single-Cell And Multi-Omic Data Integration And Regulatory Network Inference, Jianlan Ren

Dissertations

Single-cell and multi-omic technologies have transformed the dissection of cellular heterogeneity and regulatory dynamics in health and disease. However, the high dimensionality, technical variability, and biological complexity of these datasets present significant challenges for integration, annotation, and interpretation. In this dissertation, a suite of computational approaches is introduced to address key problems in single-cell and multi-omic data analysis through model-based innovations and applied statistical frameworks.

First, a constrained deep learning framework for single-cell data integration, label transfer, and clustering is proposed. By incorporating biologically motivated constraints into the training process, robust performance is achieved across simulated and benchmark datasets spanning …

Material Degradation And Analysis Of N-Doped Graphene/Mof Nanocatalysts For Orr In Electrochemical Energy Systems, Niladri Talukder

Dissertations

The development of advanced electrochemical energy conversion and storage systems is crucial for achieving sustainable energy security. As alternatives to precious metal-based catalysts in electrochemical systems, especially for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), Nitrogen-doped Graphene with Metal-organic Frameworks (N-G/MOF) nanocatalysts have shown exceptional promise in recent years. This research advances the understanding of N-G/MOF nanocatalysts by systematically examining their structural features, degradation traits, correlated performance losses, and other aspects related to catalytic activities.

First, nitrogen-doped graphene (N-G) nanocatalysts were thoroughly investigated, resolving their physical properties, the influence of synthesis parameters, molecular-level material structures, and chemical and electronic structural details of …

Data-Driven Analysis And Atomistic Simulations Of Next-Generation Materials For Energy Conversion And Storage, Yuliang Shi

Dissertations

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), with their modular architectures and tunable properties, represent an especially rich domain for accelerated material design and discovery for a range of diverse applications. Within this class of multifunctional materials, two-dimensional (2D) electrically conductive MOFs (EC MOFs) are of particular interest, as their 7r-stacked layered structures combine permanent porosity with electronic conductivity, enabling potential breakthroughs in energy storage, energy conversion, and quantum sensing. But the discovery and design of new EC MOFs based on expensive experimental screening is increasingly impractical due to the infinite chemical space. Furthermore, the practical implementation of EC MOFs for specific tasks depends …

Using Light To Dissect Mechanisms Of Septin Recruitment, Shreya Chandrasekar

Dissertations

Cells interpret biochemical and mechanical signals through dynamic regulation of the cytoskeleton and adhesion complexes, enabling key processes such as shape adaptation, force generation and migration. As these signals vary in both time and space, they can be challenging to resolve using traditional bulk assays. To overcome this limitation, we employ light-based optogenetic tools to reversibly modulate biochemical signals and mechanical equilibrium within cells. Specifically, we use the iLID optogenetic approach to locally activate signaling and manipulate contractility within the cytoskeleton for the purpose of investigating the role of RhoA and contractility on septin organization and adhesion protein localization. We …

Additive Manufacturing Of Carbons From Commodity Polyolefins, Paul Smith

Dissertations

Though tremendous progress has been made engineering carbon materials across length-scales from the molecular to the macroscopic, on-demand macro-structural control of carbons is still developing. Many carbon materials like graphene, carbon nanotubes, activated carbons, and carbon fibers have powder or fiber form factors. Recent research has pioneered on-demand carbon production through additive manufacturing (AM) via 1) extrusion and post-processing of highly filled carbon slurries, or 2) printing and pyrolysis of polymeric carbon precursors such as polyimides, acrylated polyethylene glycol, and phenolics. While groundbreaking, most methods face challenges with adoption due to costly/complex materials and manufacturing processes, and large dimensional changes …

Elucidating Differences In Constitutionally Isomeric Diamine- And Bisphenol-Based Polybenzoxazine Networks, Benjamin L. G. Morasch

Dissertations

This dissertation aims to expand the fundamental understanding of diamine-based benzoxazine chemistry by examining how synthesis influences the network properties of 4,4’-ddm and phenol-based (P-ddm) benzoxazine, compared to the constitutionally isomeric bisphenol-F and aniline-based (BF-a) benzoxazine. While bisphenol-based benzoxazines such as BF-a have been studied more extensively, diamine-based benzoxazines are still relatively unexplored due to the competition with the formation of 1,3,5-hexahydrotriazine intermediates and the inconsistent thermal and mechanical properties reported in the literature. These inconsistencies stem from factors including synthetic methods, curing conditions, and degradation during polymerization that have been overlooked.

To address these issues, this dissertation is organized …

General Education Teachers' Perspectives And Practices For Supporting English Language Learners In Memphis Charter Schools, Ijiah Hargrove

Dissertations

The growing enrollment of English Language Learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools, particularly within urban charter settings, presents unique challenges for general education teachers who are often underprepared to meet both linguistic and academic needs. The purpose of this study was to explore the instructional strategies, perspectives of their ability of self-efficacy, and institutional factors that shape how K–8 charter school teachers in Memphis support ELLs. This work is significant because teachers’ beliefs, preparation, and available resources directly impact ELL achievement and equity in education.

A qualitative single-case study design was employed, with twelve general education teachers recruited through purposeful sampling. …

Upcycling Commodity Polymers To Advanced Materials For Energy And Environmental Sustainability, Anthony Griffin-Espinoza

Dissertations

Synthetic polymers play an essential role in nearly every aspect of our lives. Extending beyond single-use packaging, polymeric material design has progressed to attain tailorable architectures granting exceptional performance across advanced applications, including carbon-fiber reinforced polymer composites for aerospace, conductive materials for soft electronics, and drug carriers for biomedicine. While highly promising, intricately designed polymers needed to achieve excellent performance often have limited processability, complex synthetic methods, and expensive precursors. Furthermore, due to a lack of recyclability, commodity polymer waste streams result in both environmental impacts and a substantial loss of economic value. This dissertation focuses on developing robust strategies …