Digital Commons Network^™

Castrip Process Technology: Non-Grain Oriented (Ngo) Si Steels Extension And Carbide-Free Bainitic (Cfb) For Flat Products, Naram Naidu Meesala

Masters Theses

"This research explores the development of advanced steel grades manufactured through Castrip® twin-roll thin strip casting technology, with particular attention to non-grain-oriented electrical Si-Steels (NGOES) and carbide-free bainitic (CFB) steels. The Castrip® process offers a near-net-shape route for producing thin steel strips, which greatly decreases the number of processing stages, lowers energy demand, and reduces carbon dioxide emissions when compared with traditional steel production methods.

In the NGOES part of the study, several industrial Fe–Si steel compositions were cold rolled to final thicknesses ranging from 0.35 mm to 0.15 mm. These materials were then exposed to short-duration continuous annealing at …

Structured Decomposition And Efficient Adaptation For Scientific Data Movement: From Transfer Concurrency To Genomic Data Acquisition, Rasman Mubtasim Swargo

Masters Theses

"The end-to-end performance of scientific data movement is increasingly limited not by raw network capacity but by whichever resource along the path is momentarily slowest, a bottleneck that no single static configuration can track. This thesis argues that the right response is to decompose each problem along the resource or workflow axis where bottlenecks vary, adapt only the genuinely dynamic control variables at runtime, and make that adaptation efficient through utility-guided or offline-learned control rather than expensive online search. The thesis develops this principle through four systems of widening scope. AutoMDT decomposes a transfer by operation, assigning separate concurrency levels …

Moth Assemblages Of Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Kimberly Anne Steese

Masters Theses

"Moths (Lepidoptera) are ecologically important insects that function as herbivores, pollinators, prey resources, and indicators of ecosystem integrity. Despite their ecological significance, moth communities in the Missouri Ozarks remain poorly documented, particularly within military-managed landscapes. This thesis examined patterns of moth diversity, assemblage structure, and environmental drivers at Fort Leonard Wood (FLW), Missouri, while also assessing the distribution and genetic diversity of species within the genus Papaipema.

Field surveys were conducted from 2019 through 2021 across prairie, savanna, forest, and restoration habitats at FLW using UV bucket traps, sheet trapping, and targeted larval surveys. Across all sampling efforts, 29,116 individual …

General Approach To Determining The Embodied Energy Of Refractory Products, Jacob A. Kerr

Masters Theses

"Refractories are an important group of engineered materials that are critical for sustaining life in the modern age. These products are key components in many industrial processes, such as the production of steel, cement, glass, aluminum, copper, lead, and many others. It is estimated that 50 million tons of refractory products are produced and used around the world every year. Of this, an estimated 28 million tons of spent refractory is generated after use, much of which ends up in landfills all over the globe. By utilizing embodied energy methodologies, a complete sum of energy inputs can be mapped throughout …

Tracing The "Growth Of The Poet's Mind" In The 1850 Version Of The Prelude, Karen F. King

Masters Theses

This work compares the 1805 and 1850 versions of William Wordsworth's autobiographical epic The Prelude to reveal that the revisions he made evidence his poetic growth. Critical scholarship has long discussed the poet's revisional habits, offering various rationales for his motivation and often dogmatically choosing a preferred version based on those assumptions. This paper first addresses these perspectives, then examines the structural details of Wordsworth's revisions through analysis of significant events in the poet's life that he relates in the epic, his "spots of time". Finally, I discuss the role of imagination as an influencer on the poet's growth. Although …

Examination Of Sportscasters To Understand The Key Overlapping Traits And Skills Exhibited, Jason Prill

Masters Theses

The world of sportscasting is a growing and crowded field. Due to its appeal, the field itself has become competitive with a few select broadcasters holding the most coveted positions. These broadcasters have set themselves apart in their skills, leading to their placement at the pinnacle of the industry. However, a lack of research has presented a gap in the field on what skills are most dominant for successful sportscasters. As an understudied avenue, sportscasting often goes overlooked in traditional research due to its misnomer as a “fun” profession. The following presents an in-depth look at high-level sportscasters to find …

Aeolian Tones: A Book Of Minor Poetry About Isolation And The Space Between Disconnection And Connection, Thaddeus Tague

Masters Theses

This is the artistic statement for Aeolian Tones, the poetry chapbook that will serve as my thesis. In this accompanying paper, I explore the vision, process, and inspiration behind the various themes in the chapbook, as well as the overall goal. I hope to provide personal context for the writing's purpose, as well as offer reflections and interpretive guidelines for how the poetry can and should be understood. In this work, I aim to provide a space for readers seeking reflections on loneliness, healing, profound pain, and disconnection.

Next, the literature review will examine ten modern works of minor non-epic …

Archetypes: Angels Of Literary Art; Demons Of Science, Ronald A. Davidson

Masters Theses

This Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing thesis focuses on archetypal literary theory and criticism and their application to Bushido of the Cur, a novella by Ronald A. Davidson. The critical analysis will evaluate the characters in the novella and identify how their roles in the story align with everyday human experiences, suggesting the existence of a literary collective unconscious. The creative manuscript, Bushido of the Cur, exploits the craft of character development to present a storyline that feels authentic, even though it is a work of historical fiction in the western noir genre. The goal of the manuscript is …

How A Loving God Can Send People To Hell: Exploring C.S. Lewis's Arguments On Divine Justice, Free Will, And Eternal Punishment., Christina Everette Little

Masters Theses

The realization that God is all-loving when faced with the reality of hell has been a longstanding conflict in debates surrounding the doctrine of hell. This thesis will explore how Christian and skeptics both struggle with the conflict that arises between the belief in all-loving God and the existence of hell by focusing on arguments developed by C. S. Lewis. Using a collection of his literary works, such as The Problem of Pain, The Great Divorce, and Mere Christianity, the thesis will investigate Lewis’s attempts to reconcile God’s love with His justice, human free will and the reality of eternal …

Gospel-Centric Liturgy For Contemporary Worship: A Biblical Basis For Locally Crafted Worship Songs, Adriane M. Blanco

Masters Theses

Despite a cultural shift toward creating original worship music in churches today, there remains a need for new songs that reinforce biblical theology and foster spiritual formation through an intentional gospel-centric liturgy contextualized for the local congregation. Such a gospel liturgy consists of a cycle of songs that, with each weekly gathering of the church body, reiterates the revelation of God's presence, humanity’s sinful nature, Christ’s work of salvation, and the believer’s response in worship. At the same time, it is essential to emphasize spiritual songs that express the heartfelt emotions of the worshiper, maintaining a balance in properly worshiping …

The Fruit Of The Spirit Beyond Sunday: A Practical Implementation Of The Fruit Of The Spirit Through Visual And Experiential Learning, Amy English

Masters Theses

In today’s world, modern Christian women recognize the importance of the Fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, meekness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and temperance—but many Christian women find it difficult to consistently put these virtues into practice. A key reason for this struggle is the lack of practical methods and visual reminders that help women recall and apply these qualities in their daily lives. Without clear, accessible ways to nurture these spiritual fruits, believers may find that their growth in these areas is limited or inconsistent.

This thesis explores how combining intentional spiritual habits with creative visual tools can make …

What Once Was Lost, Olivia Black

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the popular found family trope in literature, to analyze why this craft element has gained popularity within the genre of young adult adventure fiction, and to explore how this literary device is utilized in the first part of the novel 'What Once Was Lost.' This thesis begins with an artist statement, in which the writer explores her background and how she developed an interest in the found family trope. This statement also specifically references the connection between found family and the writer’s creative manuscript. The thesis then shifts to a critical paper …

Looking At Labels, Examining Values: Knowledge, Narrative, And Multilingualism In American Art Museums, Mary Mitchell

Masters Theses

Object labels are key components of the knowledge production networks in American museums. But despite their sustained use in the Western museum field since the late nineteenth century, museum labels are not frequently regarded as valuable sources in scholarship on museum history and practices. In this thesis, I reposition labels in art museums as objects of value that should be studied for their important role in producing and disseminating knowledge. What can we learn about art museums by looking closely at their labels—specifically about those institutions’ values? How do labels reveal the hierarchies of value that art museums construct between …

An Axe To The Funny Bone: Curated Instability And Horror-Comedy Intersections In American Storytelling, Samantha Box

Masters Theses

Funny. Terrifying. Subversive.

Horror-Comedy twists and bites at the intersection of two incredibly reactive genres— with both Horror and Comedy being well known for the political and social discourses they embody and reinvent through story. While prevalent in American popular culture, scholarly analysis of this hybrid space barely exists beyond a small number of Film Studies investigations. Despite this lack, Horror-Comedy works continue to be successfully produced. This thesis unpacks the vibrant relationship between fear and laughter in contemporary American storytelling through Horror-Comedy, maintaining a focus on structural dynamics and the audience-disarming results of simultaneously applying horror and humor to …

Learning To Play Drums: Rote Learning Versus Note Approach, Jacob R. Brumback

Masters Theses

The purpose of this qualitative historical study is to determine whether rote-learned drummers perform better than formally trained drummers. The issue is that some drummers may excel by watching and developing aural skills exclusively, while others perform well by only reading sheet music. The goal is to decide if drummers with strong aural skills or those who rely on note-reading performed better. The rationale explained how the applicability of rudiments, complex timing, creative fills, and improvisational soloing skills influences the performances of both rote-learned and note-approach drummers. Data collection methods for this research included oral history traditions and analyzing secondary …

Ezer Kenegdo: Reviving The Stories Of Our Christian Matriarchs In The American Evangelical Church, Kayleigh Funk

Masters Theses

The silencing of women’s experiences throughout history has caused a general lack of familiarity with the contributions of Christian matriarchs in most modern church congregations. This absence of historical precedent has led to ongoing issues of identity and belonging in the body of Christ among the Christian women of today. The primary goal of this thesis is to bring attention to the erasure of women in the faith throughout history and shed new light on their individual narratives.

This study will assess how Scripture originally set up leadership dynamics, encouraged women into those roles, and allowed them to teach in …

The Divided Self: Gothic Duality In Literature, Sarah Anna Meeks

Masters Theses

Gothic literature of the nineteenth century is haunting due to its frequent use of ghosts and monsters. However, the true terror lies in a deeper horror, one that is more intimate and destabilizing– a fright that leaps out of the text, looking into the heart of the reader: the fractured mind of the self torn between reality and repression, haunted by its own, newly manifested internal disunity rather than external monsters. The characters of Gothic fiction are typically caught in a psychological turmoil. They battle with split morals between duty and desire, morality and madness, and science and spirituality. Specifically, …

Home Visitors Perceived Barriers To Practicing Self-Care In Personal And Professional Settings, Lexie Yancey

Masters Theses

Home visiting has the potential to support families in increasing their parenting skills, reducing incidents of child maltreatment, increasing school readiness, and improving financial sustainability (HRSA, 2023; Peacock et al., 2013). Retention of home visitors in programming is crucial to retaining families in home visiting (Damashek et al., 2020; Fifolt et al., 2017; Holm-Hansen et al., 2017; Ramakrishnan et al., 2022). While many home visitors struggle with burnout, research has found that self-care strategies are effective for social work students and are even used widely by home visitors (Begic et al., 2019; Siebert, 2008). This nested mixed-methods study examines answers …

The Effect Of Shared Decisions On Intertemporal Choice, Rosemarie M. Davidson

Masters Theses

Substance use disorders are a significant public health concern, and improving treatment outcomes requires a better understanding of the behavioral processes that influence drug consumption. Delay discounting, or the tendency to overvalue immediate reinforcers, is reliably more severe among individuals with substance use disorders. Recent work suggests that shared decision-making may increase tolerance for delayed rewards; however, prior studies used procedures that confounded delay to token delivery with delay to token exchange, limiting conclusions. The present study evaluates delay discounting across individual and social decision-making contexts using a traditional delay discounting paradigm.

Ten undergraduate participants completed sessions involving choices between …

"Gross Normality" And "Marked Deviation": A Qualitative Study Of Disability Theory In Three Periods Of Sociological Literature, Kelsey Sullivan

Masters Theses

In the 20th century, three theoretical perspectives concurrently dominated sociological discussions of disability. Functionalism and Talcott Parsons argued for a pathologized framework in the form of a “sick role” occupied by disabled people. Interactionism and Erving Goffman emphasized the stigmas faced by individual disabled people, and the ripple-effects of those stigmas. Finally, disabled activists, inspired by social constructionism, championed the social model of disability. This model purported that disability is a social condition, resulting from systemic barriers imposed upon people who do not fit the mental or physiological norm. This project, through a content analysis of 30 historical journal articles, …

Pauline Style And A Biblical Theology, Andrew Whitney Perkins

Masters Theses

Advances in biblical linguistics, especially in the Greek of the New Testament, have provided a means for a better understanding of the text of Scripture. Advances in Greek lexicography, syntax, verbal aspect, discourse analysis, exegetical and hermeneutical methods, and the historical background behind the gospels and letters of the New Testament have greatly increased interpreters’ ability to determine what the text meant from both the writers and to the recipients of those documents. However, Christian theology, especially Systematic Theology, has remained mostly static, unaffected by these advances, and by a more accurate understanding of the biblical text. This thesis affirms …

Desegregated Goals: Integrating Literacy And Behavioral Health In A Community Mental Health Setting To Improve Outcomes For Middle School Students, Donna M. Reed

Masters Theses

Despite an understanding that many at-risk students lack the reading and writing skills to navigate high school and post-secondary education successfully, current interventions are often inadequate. Schools are forced to focus on academic requirements, while other needs of the student are overlooked, and it is those overlooked needs that contribute to the educational failures of the student. This thesis presents an argument for holistic support of the at-risk student when remediating academics, specifically reading and writing skills, focusing on the middle school students of a rural middle school in central Kansas. It develops a curriculum that integrates physical and mental …

Celestium And It's Place In The Literary World, Lindsay Schuster

Masters Theses

This hybrid thesis represents my exploration of what it means to write about the divine from a human perspective. The creative component, titled Celestium, includes the first seven chapters of a novel following Cassiel, an angel appointed as Cain’s guardian after the fall of mankind. Through Cassiel’s reluctant watch over humanity’s first murderer, I explore questions of faith, duty, and empathy, what it means to care for a being one does not understand, and how curiosity can become a form of grace. The critical essay reflects on the process of world-building within a heavenly setting: a place deeply known through …

Robin Hoods Of The Revolution: A Great American Outlaw Myth, Erin K. Levy

Masters Theses

Historians have depicted the Doan Gang of Bucks County as either heroes or villains and, thus, distorting the more truthful history of the notorious outlaws. To a great extent, aspects of oral tradition, contemporary accounts, and even descendants of the Doan Gang themselves have greatly contributed to the outlaw mythology. Interestingly, Robin Hood motifs have attributed to the mythical elements of the Doan Gang legend, especially the classic theme of philanthropic justice. In reality, historical evidence refutes such claims. Instead, the Doan Gang’s membership was comprised of everyday men and women who were driven to a life of outlawry for …

Why Christians Should Read And Write Science Fiction An Examination Of The Benefits Of Using Science Fiction To Spread The Gospel, Matthew Ryan Tompkins

Masters Theses

Science fiction is a form of literature that faces many objections from the church that many people may not be aware. Many Christians assume that science fiction is about worlds and technologies that challenge the nature of God’s creation. This assumption is largely because these opposing Christians have neither read or written science fiction. What this Christian opposition doesn’t realize is that whether it be movies, books or television, science fiction continues to grow in popularity as a genre in mainstream media. This growth has created a unique evangelical opportunity to use science fiction to preach to unbelievers. If Christians …

Cold Forged: A Theological Reckoning In Narrative Silence, Craig Steven Wright

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the construction of testimonial fiction as an act of moral resistance and theological witness, developed through a creative manuscript (Cold Forged) that embodies a cruciform narrative structure modelled on Isaiah 53 and the Book of Job. The project interrogates institutional betrayal, memory as liturgy, and the intersection of silence and suffering, situating itself within a literary genealogy that includes Flannery O’Connor, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Cormac McCarthy, and C.S. Lewis. The critical paper will explore the aesthetics of theological realism in trauma narrative, and the artist statement will defend the cruciform architecture of narrative silence as an ethical form.

With Love From The Front: Exploring Authenticity In Historical Fiction, Sarah E. Ray

Masters Theses

This MFA thesis is comprised of an artist statement, a scholarly essay on authenticity in WWII historical fiction, and a novel set during World War II. The artist statement outlines personal experiences, faith perspective, and writing aesthetics that shape the approach to historical storytelling, examining how a history-oriented upbringing and Christ-centered worldview inform a writing philosophy centered on crafting emotion through authentic character development and vivid sensory details. The scholarly component argues that authentic WWII fiction requires both meticulous historical accuracy and genuine emotional truth. Drawing on primary sources including interviews with former WWII Army members, wartime diaries, and period …

Autism Spectrum Disorder In The Music Classroom: An Undergraduate Curriculum, Hannah Warren

Masters Theses

The purpose of this applied research curriculum project is to prepare preservice music teachers to teach music to students with autism. It is vital to provide preservice music teachers with experience and knowledge about teaching music to students on the autism spectrum to better serve this population in schools. The setting of this study was college undergraduate music programs. The sample included 30 in-service K-12 music teachers. Qualitative questionnaires and quantitative surveys were collected via Google Forms. Quantitative data was analyzed for means of central tendency including mean, median, and mode. Quantitative data was displayed using Pearson product-moment correlation graph …

The Dinosaur Trials, Ashley Brooke Allen

Masters Theses

This thesis presents dinosaurs as a thematic craft element in fiction. The research portion of the thesis project describes dinosaur fiction as a genre and surveys key works of dinosaur fiction. It focuses on how the genre’s literary tradition established thematic precedent for fictional dinosaurs. The thesis highlights dinosaurs as characters and symbols while tracing the development of tropes and expectations within dinosaur fiction. It also acknowledges a potential limitation in the genre where science fiction elements constrain the creative and thematic potential of fictional dinosaurs. In response to this limitation, the thesis argues for new fantasy genre installments of …

Cyberbullying Defensive Strategy In Social Media Sessions Via Machine Learning And Cyber Deception, Mohammad Shafiqul Islam

Masters Theses

Cyberbullying poses a significant challenge on social media, where traditional detection systems struggle with the nuanced and dynamic nature of online abuse. This thesis proposes an integrated framework that combines large language model (LLM)-based detection with generative decoy responses to enable real-time protection for victims on platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp. Using models such as Mistral 7B, GPT-3.5 Turbo, and Phi-3 Mini, prompt-based one-shot learning achieved 87% detection accuracy and a 5% F1-score improvement over zero-shot approaches, demonstrating robust identification of text-based bullying. A novel synthetic dataset of 98 multi-turn conversations, designed with diverse subtypes and evaluated for realism, addressed …