Digital Commons Network^™

Art And Interdisciplinary Opportunities For Literacy Instruction: A Qualitative Study To Examine Educator Perceptions In The Rural Setting, Courtney Collins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine educator perceptions of teaching art and implementing literacy and interdisciplinary strategies in rural northeast Tennessee school districts. This study explored interdisciplinary connections and opportunities to expand access to literacy acquisition in the art room. Participants included twelve educators who served as art instructors, literacy specialists, and district supervisors in rural public-school systems in Tennessee's First Congressional District. Data were collected through virtual interviews using a semi-structured format. To qualify for the study participants held positions as elementary or secondary art teachers, literacy specialists, or district supervisors in rural northeast Tennessee …

A Study Of Group Effectiveness In A Virtual Reality Environment., Dalton Clay Sparks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Virtual Reality (VR) technology has revolutionized the study of team effectiveness, yet many studies in this domain lack a comprehensive approach, focusing narrowly on performance metrics. This thesis investigates VR team effectiveness by integrating traditional Team Effectiveness frameworks with VR-specific dynamics. Utilizing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Group Style Inventory (GSI), this study assesses teams within a VR environment, specifically a multiplayer submarine simulation game, IronWolfVR. Fifteen groups, totaling 45 participants, were observed for their collaborative gameplay, incorporating physiological measures (Heart Rate and Electrodermal Activity), team coordination dynamics, and various survey-based assessments (demographics, System Usability Scale, Simulator Sickness Questionnaire, and …

Synthesis Of Bacterial Glycerophospholipids For Biomembrane Model Studies: A Means To Advanced Biofuels, Felix Adulley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To reduce reliance on fossil fuels, sustainable biofuels are being pursued, especially advanced biofuels like 1-butanol that have higher energy content and greater compatibility with existing infrastructure than ethanol. A persistent challenge is the yield-limiting toxicity of biofuels and process solvents, such as tetrahydrofuran, to the microbes that ferment biomass into biofuel. The cell membrane is a focal point of toxicity, and understanding how it interacts with fuels and solvents is key to improving yield. Phospholipid bilayers are the core of biomembranes, and model biomembranes of defined composition provide the ideal platform for biophysical studies. To this end, glycerophospholipids characteristic …

School Nurses And The Sexual Health And Education Of Public-School Students In Tennessee, Amy Wake

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tennesseans have been experiencing increasing rates of sexually transmitted diseases since the year 2000. Those rates are highest among those 15- to 24-year-olds. At the same time, Tennessee policy requires the teaching of abstinence as the primary form of sexual health education and emphasized the use of abstinence-only curriculum. The school nurse represents an available resource in the Tennessee public schools. The purpose of the qualitative study was to explore, describe, and interpret the perceptions and experiences of public-school nurses from rural, suburban, and urban areas of Tennessee related to the sexual health and sexual health education of students. School …

Convolution And Autoencoders Applied To Nonlinear Differential Equations, Noah Borquaye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Autoencoders, a type of artificial neural network, have gained recognition by researchers in various fields, especially machine learning due to their vast applications in data representations from inputs. Recently researchers have explored the possibility to extend the application of autoencoders to solve nonlinear differential equations. Algorithms and methods employed in an autoencoder framework include sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics (SINDy), dynamic mode decomposition (DMD), Koopman operator theory and singular value decomposition (SVD). These approaches use matrix multiplication to represent linear transformation. However, machine learning algorithms often use convolution to represent linear transformations. In our work, we modify these approaches to …

Flavonol Glucosylation: A Structural Investigation Of The Flavonol Specific 3-O Glucosyltransferase Cp3gt, Aaron S. Birchfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Flavonoid glycosyltransferases (GTs), enzymes integral to plant ecological responses and human pharmacology, necessitate rigorous structural elucidation to decipher their mechanistic function and substrate specificity, particularly given their role in the biotransformation of diverse pharmacological agents and natural products. This investigation delved into a comprehensive exploration of the flavonol 3-O GT from Citrus paradisi (Cp3GT), scrutinizing the impact of a c-terminal c-myc/6x histidine tag on its enzymatic activity and substrate specificity, and successfully achieving its purification to apparent homogeneity. This established a strong foundation for potential future crystallographic and other structure/function analyses. Through the strategic implementation of site-directed mutagenesis, a thrombin …

Elucidation Of The Role Of Avocado Wri1 And Wri2 And Their Ability To Affect Oil Content And Composition When Co-Expressed With Pdat1 And Dgat1, Jyoti Ranjan Behera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Plants synthesize and store oil, mostly as triacylglycerols (TAG), in seeds that is transcriptionally controlled by WRINKLED1 (WRI1), an APETALA2 (AP2) transcription factor. Among the four Arabidopsis WRI paralogs, WRI2 is nonfunctional, while the others are expressed in a tissue-specific manner. Additionally, two rate-limiting enzymes, diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) and phospholipid diacylglycerol acyltransferase (PDAT) catalyze the terminal step in TAG assembly and contribute to oil accumulation. Avocado (Persea americana) mesocarp, a non-seed tissue, accumulates significant amounts of TAG (~70% by dry weight) enriched with heart-healthy oleic acid. The oil accumulation stages in mesocarp coincide with the high expression of …

Women Leaders In The Oil And Gas Industry: How They Lead With Authenticity And Deal With Underrepresentation And Gender Bias In The Macro, Meso, And Micro Levels Of Society, Michelle Ann Ballard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted between March 2023 and April 2023 and measured if women leaders in the oil and gas industry could lead authentically while dealing with gender biases. Women executives encounter macro-level challenges such as recruitment, retention, maintaining a career in oil and gas, feeling a sense of belonging, and gender prejudices. Women have faced organizational obstacles and challenges such as modifying their personalities, being underrepresented in their organization, unequal compensation, discriminatory stereotypes, and scarcity of resources. However, women in the industry also confront nonorganizational deterrents such as work-life conflict, harassment, and being regarded as poor advocates for their …

Proteomics And Machine Learning For Pulmonary Embolism Risk With Protein Markers, Yaa Amankwah Awuah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates protein markers linked to pulmonary embolism risk using proteomics and statistical methods, employing unsupervised and supervised machine learning techniques. The research analyzes existing datasets, identifies significant features, and observes gender differences through MANOVA. Principal Component Analysis reduces variables from 378 to 59, and Random Forest achieves 70% accuracy. These findings contribute to our understanding of pulmonary embolism and may lead to diagnostic biomarkers. MANOVA reveals significant gender differences, and applying proteomics holds promise for clinical practice and research.

The Impact Of Aces On College Students And Their Major Choice, Britten Harrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research examining Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) has mostly focused on the long-term effects of these experiences on adult mental and physical health. Less attention has been focused on the impact of ACEs on college student satisfaction, dropout rates, and major choice. The overarching questions for the current study sought to further research by (1) assessing if there is a relationship between the ACE scores of college students and their mental and physical health, (2) if ACEs play a role in student satisfaction or desire to drop out, and (3) determining if there is a connection between students with high ACE …

Evaluation Of Cardiovascular Risk Compliance For Primary Prevention: A Quality Improvement Project, Rachelle S. Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association clinical practice guidelines recommend a cardiovascular risk assessment every 4–6 years in ages 40–75 to prevent cardiovascular disease. This DNP project aimed to improve awareness, compliance with cardiac risk assessments, and stratification of high and low-risk patients. This quality improvement project utilized the Johns Hopkins nursing evidence-based model to create the inquiry question and foundational plan for implementing the clinical practice guideline, calculating the cardiac risk score, and creating a clinical workflow process. A retrospective chart audit was guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) method to collect pre- and postintervention data on …

Educational Robotics And Computational Thinking In Elementary School Students, Sonia D. Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the role of educational robotics in fostering computational thinking in elementary settings, both in classrooms and extracurricular programs. Among growing concerns over K–12 students’ computational thinking deficits, the research evaluated the impact of Lego EV3 and VEX IQ platforms. Data was sourced from lesson plans, student work surveys, and teacher interviews and then subjected to thematic analysis using a qualitative approach. The participants were Texas educators engaged in robotics instruction, even though specific robotics statistics are absent in the Texas Education Agency. Instructional strategies varied from hands-on experiences to translating mathematical concepts into robotic actions. A key …

A Qualitative Descriptive Study Of Teacher And Administrator Perceptions Of Professional Learning Communities In A Texas School District With A Predominance Of Hispanic Staff And Students, Corina C. Saenz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of conducting this qualitative descriptive study on professional learning communities in a South Texas public school district was to see if they are meaningful and structured to support the improvement of student success in the classroom as well as providing the support and steps outlined in an effective professional learning community. The study focused on the skill level implemented by the teachers, administrators, and other members of the committee to communicate, access the personal skills to collaborate with peers, and utilize the data for student achievement. This study sought to gain and understand the perceptions of department heads, …

Quantifying Impacts Of Climate Change On Headwater Streamflow Regime In Robinson Forest: Insights From 35-Years Of Data Collection., Lauren Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change may shift patterns of streamflow permanence in headwater systems by altering the frequency, magnitude, duration, timing, and rate of change of surface streamflow, impacting both local ecosystems as well as regional water budgets and availability. While much uncertainty surrounds modeling-based methods to quantify the impacts of climate change on water budgets, long-term hydrologic data collected from headwaters in experimental research forests serve as critical evidence to reduce such uncertainty. The objective of this study is to quantify shifts in frequency, magnitude, duration, timing, and rate of change of streamflow in two headwater catchments with relatively little recent disturbance …

Genetically Engineering Gingipains For High Yield Large Scale Purification., Andrew E. Fuchs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Porphyromonas gingivalis is a keystone oral pathogen in the progression of periodontal disease and has been implicated in the etiology of many other systemic human diseases. P. gingivalis produces primary virulence factors termed the gingipains, a group of cysteine proteases. There is a high demand for high purity gingipains for downstream in vitro studies where P.g. is implicated, both oral and systemic. Gingipain production candidate mutant P.g. strains were generated to isolate each gingipain for large scale purification and the purified gingipains characterized. Two mutants were determined not to be viable for large scale purification of gingipains, each for different …

Investigating The Effects Of Subchronic Dietary Zinc Supplementation On Diet-Induced Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease., Oluwanifemi Esther Bolatimi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Zinc deficiency is associated with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Previous studies show zinc supplementation improves steatosis, but its therapeutic effects in established MASLD remain unclear. We developed a model to characterize the effects of zinc supplementation on high-fat diet (HFD) induced MASLD and hypothesized established MASLD would be attenuated. Mice were fed control diet or HFD for 12 weeks and then grouped into normal or zinc-supplemented diets for 8 additional weeks. At euthanasia, plasma and liver tissues were collected for phenotypic analysis. Twelve weeks of HFD altered glucose clearance and body composition. Eight weeks of subsequent zinc supplementation …

Automated Usability Evaluation Utilizing Log Files And Data Mining Techniques., Sima Shafaei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Usability evaluation is one of the essential aspects of software production. This evaluation should be done during the entire life cycle of a software application, from pre-production to production and post-production. However, the collection and evaluation of usability data can be a very challenging, time-consuming, and expensive task to be conducted manually, particularly for certain types of products and working conditions. These challenges may include the need to recruit participants fully engage and motivate them during evaluation, and factor in environmental conditions. Other challenges may include collecting data in real-world environments, especially when the users are geographically dispersed, minimizing evaluator …

A Modular Framework For Surface-Embedded Actuation And Optical Sensing In Soft Robots., Paul Bupe Jr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the development and integration of modular technologies in soft robotics, with a focus on the OptiGap sensor system. OptiGap serves as a simple, flexible, cost-effective solution for real-time sensing of bending and deformation, validated through simulation and experimentation. Working as part of an emerging category of soft robotics called Soft, Curved, Reconfigurable, Anisotropic Mechanisms, or SCRAMs, this research also introduces the Thermally-Activated SCRAM Limb (TASL) technology, which employs shape-memory alloy (SMA) wire embedded in curved sheets for surface actuation and served as the initial inspiration for OptiGap. In addition, the EneGate system is presented as a complementary …

Scalable Solution Processing Of Niox Nanoparticles., Peter James Armstrong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are a promising alternative to silicon-based photovoltaics. However, PSCs face several challenges due to shortcomings in their stability, module efficiency, and scaled production. Although PSCs is still a young field of research, significant attention has been given to demonstrating power conversion efficiencies that are on par with traditional silicon. With that target reached, converting the laboratory demonstration into practical materials to increase access and abundance of solar energy are among the next large targets for the field. This comes with material challenges for perovskite and their companion charge transport layers (CTLs). Among the charge transport materials …

Computational Quantum Chemistry Studies Of The Stabilities Of Radical Adducts Formed During The Oxidation Of Melatonin Derivatives, James Horne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Melatonin is a natural antioxidant that has been investigated for properties as a potential spin trap to identify short-lived free radicals. Computational quantum chemistry studies have been performed for the oxidation of melatonin to N¹-acetyl-N²-formyl-5-methoxykynuramine. This research focused on modification of melatonin into derivatives and analyzing the change in total molecular energy from melatonin to its oxidation product, as well as the corresponding derivatives. Each of the molecular geometries were optimized at the DFT/B3LYP/6-31G(d), DFT/B3LYP/cc-pVXZ (X = D, T), HF/6-31G(d), HF/cc-PVXZ (X = D, T), MP2/6-31G(d), and MP2/cc-PVXZ (X = D, T) levels of theory. …

Monitoring External Workloads And Countermovement Jump Performance Throughout A Preseason In Division 1 Collegiate Women’S Basketball Players, Michelle Van Dyke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Monitoring external workloads and countermovement jump performance may be useful for coaches. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of external load on player performance as measured by a CMJ and specific blood biomarkers throughout the preseason. METHODS:10 female division 1 basketball athletes had PlayerLoad^TM (PL) monitored for all mandatory basketball training during six weeks of the preseason and CMJs were performed weekly. Blood biomarkers were collected before preseason and at the end of preseason. Data were analyzed via the Catapult Sport software (Openfield, Catapult, Innovations, Melbourne, VIC, Australia) to quantify all participant …

A Case Study Of The Political Determinant Of Health On The Public Health Crisis Of Malaria In Nigeria, Bisola M. Olumegbon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Globally, there were about 229 million cases of malaria in 2022. The sub-Saharan African region accounted for 92% of the reported cases and 94% of deaths. Nigeria had the highest number of malaria cases and deaths, representing 27% of global cases. This scholarly project was a case study guided by the political determinants of health. Triangulation of data using thematic analysis was used to identify the political determinants of malaria in Nigeria and to understand how the concept of interaction contributes to the persistence of the disease. The analysis involved a deductive and inductive approach based on the literature …

The Relationship Between Job Challenge And Leadership Aspiration From The Perspective Of The Entry Level Nurse Leader, Rose M. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While the nurse leader plays an important and integral role in the success of healthcare organizations, the nurse leader pipeline has experienced a troubling and downward trajectory for several years. The lack of leadership aspiration among direct care nurses has been noted as one of several reasons for the downward trajectory. In addition, researchers identified the lack of understanding of perspectives of the various nurse leader roles and the lack of understanding of the effectiveness of experiential learning in the nurse leader role as potential contributions to the problem. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational research was to examine the …

Thermo-Mechanical Instabilities In Next-Generation Friction Materials In High-Speed Sliding Systems, Kingsford Koranteng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For centuries, the manufacturing industry has incorporated metals like copper into friction materials to enhance thermal properties and minimize thermo-mechanical instabilities (TMI) in high-speed sliding systems. Unfortunately, these metals have adverse environmental effects due to the emission of hazardous particulate matter. As a result, there is a growing movement towards adopting next-generation friction materials as an alternative solution.

The study begins by conducting experimental and numerical investigations to examine the instabilities found in metal-based friction materials. The primary objective is to utilize the insights gained from the investigations to computationally explore effective strategies for mitigating various instabilities that may arise …

Molecular Dynamics Study Of Characterization In Metal-Free Friction Materials, Yizhan Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Metallic friction materials currently used in industry may adversely impact the environment. Substitutions for metals in friction materials, on the other hand, can introduce operational safety issues and other unforeseeable issues such as thermal-mechanical instabilities and insufficient strength. In view of it, this dissertation focuses on developing different kinds of materials from simple structure to complex structure and evaluating the material properties with the assistance of molecular dynamics (MD) tools at the nano scale.

First, the concept of the contacted surfaces in friction at the atomic scale was introduced in order to get accurate understanding of the friction process compared …

Quantitative, Photocurrent Multidimensional Coherent Spectroscopy, Adam Halaoui

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Multidimensional coherent spectroscopy (MDCS) is a quickly growing field that has a lot of advantages over more conventional forms of spectroscopy. These advantages all come from the fact that MDCS allows us to get time resolved correlated emission and absorption spectra using very precisely chosen interactions between the density matrix and the excitation laser. MDCS spectra gives the researcher a lot of information that can be extracted purely through qualitative analysis. This is possible because state couplings are entirely separated on the spectra, and once we know how to read the data, we can see how carriers transport in the …

Frequency Stability Constrained Grid Operation With High Penetration Of Renewables, Ningchao Gao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Achieving carbon neutrality necessitates a significant integration of renewable energy into power systems. However, the swift implementation of fluctuating renewable energy (VRE) sources such as solar photovoltaics (PV) exacerbates real time power imbalances due to the randomness and uncertainty associated with VRE power generation. Further, the declining reliance on conventional synchronous generators (SGs) for system inertia presents considerable challenges in maintaining frequency stability, especially following disturbances.

Two possible solutions are proposed to address the first issue. Firstly, a speedy real time generation dispatch can be scheduled to allocate generation resources within short time intervals to effectively respond to changes in …

Enhancing Search Engine Results: A Comparative Study Of Graph And Timeline Visualizations For Semantic And Temporal Relationship Discovery, Muhammad Shahiq Qureshi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today’s digital age, search engines have become indispensable tools for finding information among the corpus of billions of webpages. The standard that most search engines follow is to display search results in a list-based format arranged according to a ranking algorithm. Although this format is good for presenting the most relevant results to users, it fails to represent the underlying relations between different results. These relations, among others, can generally be of either a temporal or semantic nature. A user who wants to explore the results that are connected by those relations would have to make a manual effort …

Changes In Balance With Brain Inflammation: Sensitivity In Dual Motor Mechanisms, Hannah Mcdade

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Concussion assessment in athletes has gained prominence due to potential long-term consequences of traumatic brain injuries. Evaluating balance alterations is crucial for understanding post-injury motor control strategies. This study introduces a novel approach to understanding center of pressure (COP) dynamics during quiet stance tasks for assessing balance impairments in athletes recovering from concussion. Concussed athletes often experience impaired motor function and cognitive deficits, increasing the risk of orthopedic injury. Traditional balance assessments focus on total COP (COPt), overlooking nuanced hip and ankle mechanisms. This research investigates COP variations between constant loading (COPc) and variable loading (COPv) signals in concussed athletes …

Designing Secure Mental Healthcare Chatbots For Older Adults, Aishwarya Surani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The landscape of mental health support has evolved as a result of the rising demand for digital mental healthcare services. Users now have an opportunity to seek mental health support online due to the growth of digital platforms. For those looking for mental health treatments, chatbots have evolved as user-friendly, accessible platforms that provide remote access and convenience. However, for chatbots to be effective, users must divulge personal and sensitive information, such as demographics, insurance information, and a history of mental illness. While chatbots offer services to a variety of demographic users, older adults face unique challenges related to usability, …