Digital Commons Network^™

Shattered Glass: Finding Anna In The Brokenness, Tracy A. Scoville

Masters Theses

This thesis began years ago when I started a novel about a woman that suffered with a mental illness. The story grew into part of a novel. Within the artist’s statement, I present a view of mental illness that I filter through my own experiences. I examine Anna’s struggles with how she thinks, acts and processes stress through a lens of bipolar II disorder. The critical paper examines the importance of dialogue and the need for it to fit the individual characters. The story of Anna, with the use of good dialogue, comes to life in the creative manuscript Shattered …

Constructing Authority: Narrative Craft And The Making Of Meaning In Creative Nonfiction, Lindsay Erin Hickman

Masters Theses

What is this world without stories? Without truth and the sharing of knowledge for those that come after us? As a Christian, I see the Bible as the most influential narrative in my life and imagination. The Bible is filled with facts, lists and information we can verify, but that does not make it any less creative. How can one read the Bible and not see God’s creativity not only in creation, but in every word? Psalms 139: 13-15 states, “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I …

Is Genuine Redemption Possible Through A Counterfeit Christ?, Tams M. Mullins

Masters Theses

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), commonly referred to as Mormons, consider themselves Christians without equivocation. Evangelical Christianity has, however, challenged this claim since the inception of the Latter-day Saints. The Latter-day Saints purport to be Christian in doctrine and practice and claim a Christian identity centered around their acceptance of the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. While the Latter-day Saints ascribe to a high Christology, confess Jesus as Lord, and regard Him as their Redeemer, the Jesus of the Latter-day Saints’ literature bears little resemblance to the Jesus of evangelical Christianity. …

Investigation Of Inlet Turbulence Effects On Mixing Characteristics Of A Jet In Crossflow, Erin Jagger

Masters Theses

Gas flaring is widely used in the oil and gas industry to dispose of excess waste gas, and improving flare efficiency is critical for reducing emissions. Flare performance depends strongly on turbulent mixing between the flare gas and surrounding crossflow. While previous studies have examined the effects of crossflow velocity and low turbulence levels, the combined effects of crossflow turbulence intensity and integral length scale on mixing remains insufficiently understood.

This study uses a non-reacting jet in crossflow (JICF) configuration to represent the mixing process between the flare and crossflow interaction. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations …

A Cross-Dataset Vision Transformer Study For Brain Tumor Mri Image Classification, Sharon Kawira Mungania

Masters Theses

Brain tumor MRI classification is an important medical-imaging task because MRI scans contain complex anatomical patterns that can be time consuming to interpret manually. This study evaluates whether a pre-trained Vision Transformer can classify brain tumor MRI images consistently across datasets with different class structures. Three publicly available Kaggle datasets were used: Nickparvar, Br35H, and Figshare. Nickparvar and Figshare were treated as multi-class classification tasks, while Br35H was treated as a binary tumor/no-tumor task. Images were converted to three-channel format, resized to 384 × 384 pixels, normalized using ImageNet statistics, and augmented during training. The selected model was ViT-Base Patch …

Fight With What You Have: The Influence Of Pre-War Cruiser Doctrine On The Guadalcanal Campaign, Dawson Baber

Masters Theses

The Guadalcanal campaign was one of the most important campaigns of the Second World War. It was the first American offensive action and began the rolling back of Japanese forces. Guadalcanal would also be a watershed moment in American naval doctrine. The experiences suffered during the six-month campaign led to significant changes in how the Navy employed its surface forces. Since the outcome of the campaign leads to significant changes in how the Navy fights, it is important to understand what led to the battles and why they went poorly. To be more specific, how did the Navy prepare itself …

The 1778 Fort Pitt Treaty: U.S. Relations With The Lenni-Lenape Nation And The Unraveling Of Early Promises, Veronica E. Riddle

Masters Theses

This study examines the Treaty of Fort Pitt (1778), signed in present-day Pittsburgh, as the first formal diplomatic agreement between the United States and the Lenape (Delaware) Nation during the American Revolutionary War. Formed amid the military and political instability of the Revolution, the treaty promised mutual military assistance, recognition of Lenape sovereignty west of the Alleghenies, protection from settler encroachment, and the unprecedented possibility of Native representation within the emerging American confederation. However, following the deaths of key Lenape leaders, escalating frontier violence, and the failure of the Continental Congress to ratify or uphold critical provisions, the treaty rapidly …

Ethically Implementing Ai To Maximize The Designer's Workflow, Victoria Lyons

Masters Theses

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly advancing technology that has impacted nearly every industry. Graphic design is certainly no exception. AI has provided designers with a multitude of exciting opportunities and new methods to improve their work. At the same time, AI has also created some complex ethical challenges for designers to navigate. AI has the potential to greatly increase workflow efficiency, bring in automation to repetitive tasks, and provide new creative potential, but it also introduces concerns about creative and artistic integrity, intellectual property laws, and transparency with the consumer.

The focus of this thesis research will explore how …

"An Unusual Experiment:" The Women Of The Oss, Adaline Mae Brenning

Masters Theses

As the United States entered World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established America's first centralized intelligence organization under the leadership of Major General William J. Donovan in June 1942. The Office of Strategic Services marked the beginning of an established American intelligence community, but it also served as an entryway for women to join the war effort through intelligence work. Through the study of the recruitment, assessment, and training processes and women serving both domestically and abroad, it is possible to establish a more comprehensive view of the true scope of OSS operations during the war. Additionally, the stories …

Just Hillbillies: State Power, Private Militarism, Coal, And Constitutional Crisis In The West Virginia Treason Trials, 1919-1937, Ryan Gregory Fix

Masters Theses

In August 1921, roughly ten thousand armed coal miners marched toward Logan County, West Virginia, in the largest armed labor uprising in American history. When the fighting at Blair Mountain ended, the state prosecuted union leaders for treason against the state of West Virginia. This thesis examines that legal campaign of 1921–1923 and its long aftermath, arguing that the treason trials functioned less as a search for individual guilt than as an instrument for fixing the meaning of Blair Mountain before the miners could define it themselves. Where decades of gubernatorial proclamations and martial law had exposed the limits of …

The Cold War And Abba, Samantha Foster

Masters Theses

ABBA was a 1970s Swedish pop group. Spending approximately ten years together as a group, their output included hits such as "Dancing Queen," "Waterloo," and "The Winner Takes it All," among others. During ABBA's time together, though, the Cold War was a known fact in everyday life for people worldwide. The Cold War impacted ABBA in a number of ways, thus making the group an example of the Cold War struggle over popular culture. The band was acceptable to the Soviet Union because they hailed from neutral Sweden and their music was unlike Western rock music of the 1960s and …

In Search Of Whitman's "Real War": Soldier Recreations During The American Civil War, Rebecca C. Felton

Masters Theses

When most people think of the American Civil War, they recall the agonies and ecstasies of combat, envisioning the bombardment of Fort Sumter, the glorious folly of Pickett’s Charge, or the ravages of Sherman’s March to the Sea. What gets left out of the history books is what the common soldier experienced more than anything else: camp life. This study sheds renewed light on what the soldiers of the Union and Confederacy did to pass the time between battles. It focuses specifically on what they did for fun, addressing three categories of recreational activities: sports, music, and literature. It finds …

Analysis Of Song Choice At An Anglican Church In The North West, Yvette Wong

Masters Theses

The rise of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) in the last hundred years has gradually led to the so-called worship wars in the late twentieth century. While scholars (Lester Ruth, Ted Peter, and Vernon Whaley) note that the tension has several fronts, Ruth points out that the most obvious front line of combat in the wars was music on instrumentation, song repertoires between hymns and choruses, and the role of song in corporate worship. To keep the peace, many churches have settled for either one style of service, combined the two in the same service, commonly known as a blended service, …

Seasons That Speak: The Power Of Storytelling In Memoir, Pamela Snead

Masters Theses

Memoir bridges literature and lived experience, transforming personal history into shared meaning through storytelling. This creative-critical thesis examines memoir as a reflective narrative practice through which identity, resilience, and faith are shaped over time. Grounded in narrative theory and selected memoir readings, the primary site of inquiry is the original braided memoir Seasons That Speak, which explores faith, endurance, generational healing, and provision. The project also draws on world literature traditions to show how storytelling across cultures uses voice, structure, imagery, testimony, and reflection to preserve memory, question authority, and shape meaning. Through alternating scenes and reflective passages, Seasons That …

Interviewing Civilians For A Local Perspective Of Violent Extremism In West Africa, Benjamin Ellis

Masters Theses

This study examines how civilians in West Africa experience violent extremism, with the goal of informing more effective policy solutions. Using a qualitative research design, the study draws on a focus group conducted with ten participants from various countries in West Africa. Data was transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis to identify recurring patterns in participants’ responses. Six major themes emerged: prolonged fear and restricted daily movement; economic and infrastructural disruption; psychological distress and uncertainty about the future; recruitment into extremist groups driven by complex factors; limited outsider understanding of local realities; and support for multidimensional responses rather than purely …

The Relationship Between Musical Aptitude And Multiple Intelligences In High School Music Students, Rachel Connor

Masters Theses

This quantitative correlational study examines the relationship between musical aptitude, measured by Edwin Gordon’s GIA assessments, and students’ predominant multiple intelligences (MIs), as defined by Howard Gardner. Although MI has been widely researched, little is known about how intelligence strengths relate specifically to musically adept students. High school music students at Fayetteville Christian School in Fayetteville, NC, were first assessed using the GIA to identify those demonstrating musical aptitude. Eligible students then completed the AMI R/ARCH Profile to determine their strongest MI. A correlational analysis examined whether specific intelligence strengths are commonly associated with musical aptitude. Grounded in Gardner’s MI …

Creating Trust: Strengthening Visual Communication Systems For Small Nonprofits, Jennifer R. Wenz

Masters Theses

This study explores how small nonprofits often fail shortly after they are created because of weak design practices and limited access to professional design tools and skills. Large organizations and nonprofits survive because they invest in strong branding, clear messaging, and long-term design strategy. Small nonprofits rely on volunteers with little to no design training which leaves them with inconsistent branding, unclear visual communication, and materials that fail to build the trust they need to survive. This project will examine the gap through research in the nonprofit areas of communication, visual psychology, accessible design systems, and case studies of successful …

What About R&B? The Undefined American Music Genre, Asha Brown

Masters Theses

The research presented in this thesis seeks to provide insight into the value and representation of R&B music in American culture, history, and scholarly works. To advocate for the accurate classification of Rhythm and Blues as a distinct musical genre? Data collected throughout the research process explores the sociological factors that influence tastes in particular music. While the American and music history of the thesis provide foundational evidence of the genre’s influence and relevance, input from research participants supports a hypothesis on the sociological aspects. The conclusion suggests that, though there are multiple factors to consider, many popular music genres …

Designing Clarity: A Framework For Nonprofit Branding, K. Caitlyn Crissler

Masters Theses

Nonprofit founders and leaders regularly face the challenge of communicating their mission clearly while working with limited budgets, limited design knowledge, and limited access to professional creative support. As a result, many organizations unintentionally waste time, money, and resources on inconsistent visual materials, unclear branding, and inefficient design processes. This thesis investigates how an accessible, streamlined design framework can empower non-designers in the nonprofit sector to make informed visual decisions, collaborate more effectively with designers, and produce communication materials that support their mission rather than hinder it. Utilizing a mixed-method approach , including a literature review of foundational design principles, …

The Hunt For Eden: Humanity’S Journey Home Through The Epics Of Milton And Homer, Hannah Pryor

Masters Theses

This thesis argues that the recurrent theme of loss and home in the Western Literature tradition reflects humanity’s innate and theological memory of losing Eden. An examination of Homer’s The Odyssey and John Milton’s Paradise Lost in comparison with the Biblical text serve both as literary companions and ethical dichotomies. Some of the greatest pieces of Western Literature highlight the greatest tragedy and triumph the world has ever and will ever know – the loss of Paradise and the hunt for Eden. Nothing is perhaps more heartbreaking and inspiring than reading and living the story of humanity’s journey home.

Post-Machine | You Vs. The Algorithm: A Creative Act Of Rebellion, Matthew Schultz

Masters Theses

Algorithms have become intertwined with everyday life, infiltrating both personal and social environments. They have transformed from influenceable tools useful for customizing information to machines of influence that are now dictating standards. These machines have begun morphing individuals idea of the self. This has become an epidemic of lost identity and fragmented self in order to conform to algorithmic acceptance. Emerging professionals in creative fields in the last decade have become particularly susceptible to this influence. If not addressed, young creatives will soon lose any autonomy of self and have a homogenized identity that matches the demands of the algorithm …

Satellite Of Mu'lysa, Ryan Christopher Miller

Masters Theses

My thesis proposal details the ways in which my early ideas for my novella, Satellite of Mu’lysa, came about amidst a time of personal despair. The early 2012 draft was darker, and emotionally draining, lacking a positive ending. In the course of over a decade of reworks and personal growth, both as a writer and as a person, the story is becoming a metaphorical diary of hope and forgiveness. Many movies, authors, as well as religious and philosophical texts have helped inspire and shape my story over the years, as I’ve revised my plotline and characterizations. Although I have always …

Creation As Calling: The Intersection Of Faith And Craft, Alexandra J. Slyman

Masters Theses

This thesis, titled "Creation as Calling: The Intersection of Faith and Craft," explores the relationship between creative writing—specifically within the epic fantasy genre—and Christian belief. The work is divided into three distinct sections: an Artist Statement, a Craft Element Paper, and a Creative Manuscript. The Artist Statement establishes a creative philosophy grounded in the biblical doctrine of imago Dei, or being made in the image of God. It argues that the human impulse to create is a divine mandate to reflect God’s glory and a means of bearing witness to the "great story of salvation". The author contends that fiction …

A Critique Of Richard Carrier’S Jesus-Myth Theory: Examining Select References To The Historical Jesus In Paul’S Epistles, John P. Nichols

Masters Theses

Richard Carrier is arguably the contemporary voice promoting Jesus-mythicism, the idea that Jesus of Nazareth never existed. Though in the scholarly minority, Carrier has assembled numerous arguments for rejecting the Gospels and Acts as historically reliable, as well as all historical references to Jesus in Paul’s letters. He has proposed his own rules for historical inquiry to replace the traditional criteria of authenticity used by historical-Jesus scholars. In conjunction with his own criteria, Carrier has demonstrated the use of Bayes’ Theorem to assess the probability of Jesus’ existence. This thesis has considered certain portions of Carrier’s thesis against the historical …

Celtic Catharsis: A Look Into The Emotional Appeal Of Irish Music In The United States, Coralyn M. Kutzner

Masters Theses

This research study investigates the emotional connection and interest in Irish music within the Irish musician community in America. The background for this study includes an in-depth look at the history of Irish and Irish music culture in America, as well as a brief overview of the connection between music and emotions. The study itself was conducted in various locations where there was live Irish music playing. Through the use of personal interviews and an emotional evaluation scale, participants were asked to recount their first encounters with Irish music and the emotional connection they feel because of and while playing …

Heirlooms, Jenna Ashby Macfarland

Masters Theses

The title of my creative manuscript is Heirlooms. It contains chapters of a fictional novel in the mystery genre. In the critical paper, I address Literary Tradition as it pertains to mystery writing. Specifically, I focus on the evolution of the mystery genre from the detached rationalism of Sherlock Holmes to the psychological realism of writers like Tana French and Liane Moriarty. Their styles reveal a shift from intellectual detection to moral introspection within the genre. Heirlooms continues this transformation by centering a female protagonist whose investigation becomes a search for spiritual and emotional truth. By integrating women’s voices and …

The Things That Keep Me Up At Night, Kaitlyn Grace Wilson

Masters Theses

This creative nonfiction manuscript is a collection of reflective personal essays centered on ordinary experiences, curiosities, anxieties, and observations that gradually expand into larger questions about identity, memory, adulthood, faith, and human behavior. Rather than relying on dramatic plot or chronological structure, the essays move associatively through thought, humor, research, and reflection. Subjects throughout the manuscript range from fireworks, sourdough starter, dreams, and Facebook Marketplace to art history, floating the Chattahoochee River, weddings, music performances, and irrational fears. Through these seemingly small topics, the manuscript explores the emotional weight and philosophical questions hidden within everyday life.

Much of the project …

Gertrude, A Woman Set Apart: Chosen Beyond Expectation In Polarized Womanhood, Jessica Lorriane Weatherford Mattison

Masters Theses

This thesis introduces the artistic vision and research that guide Forever Skies. The text examines the political and personal landscapes that shape Gertrude, the historical realities of the WASP program, and the feminist frameworks that illuminate how women navigated gender, war, and expectation. In weaving these elements together, the goal is not merely to resurrect one woman’s incredible story, but to honor the nearly forgotten history of a generation of pilots. Through creative interpretation and scholarly inquiry, this project seeks to reclaim a legacy still suspended in the wide, forever sky that once held her, the WASP, and her forever …

Violent Tides: A Novel, Teal Rose

Masters Theses

Violent Tides is a coming-of age fantasy novel that invites readers to navigate themes of identity, forgiveness, and compassion

Knowledge To Freedom: Implications Of Race, Gender, Socioeconomic Status, And Spiritual Health On Adolescent Well-Being Under Westernization, Doralis Maria Allen

Masters Theses

The aim of the current study was to extend the understanding of the well-being of adolescents and to further information on the psychological relationships between wellbeing, spiritual health, intersectionality, and Westernization. A total of 315 students from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette were recruited via SONA to participate in a study entailing of a five-part online survey through Qualtrics, and 301 respondents in total were measured. The survey measured five aspects of each participant’s health through the perspective of their adolescent selves; well-being, spiritual health, subjective socioeconomic status, and their perception of their race/ethnicity and gender. Well-being is a …