Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Theses and Dissertations

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
File Type

Articles 211 - 240 of 26701

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Real-Time Instruction Internalization For Large Language Models, Brenden Smith May 2026

Real-Time Instruction Internalization For Large Language Models, Brenden Smith

Theses and Dissertations

For the end user, Large Language Models (LLMs) are programs that process natural language inputs into natural language outputs. In popular usage, this tends to take the form of conversation: a user asks a question, provides information, or gives instructions, and the LLM (hopefully) replies in a manner we would expect of an informed and compliant person. While convenient and intuitive for users, this natural conversational format encourages the misconception that LLMs are learning from conversations, when they do not. This work presents the benefits and practicality of a language model paradigm that meets this user expectation -- that is, …


Reluctant Ratifiers: New Jersey’S Partisan Politics During Reconstruction, 1863-1873, Steven Michael Henderson May 2026

Reluctant Ratifiers: New Jersey’S Partisan Politics During Reconstruction, 1863-1873, Steven Michael Henderson

Theses and Dissertations

On March 31, 1870, Thomas Mundy Peterson cast a historic vote in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, becoming the first African American in the United States to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment. His vote occurred in a state that had resisted the very constitutional changes that made it possible. New Jersey and Reconstruction, 1863–1873 examines this contradiction, exploring how a loyal Union state became one of Reconstruction’s most reluctant participants before ultimately accepting its reforms. This thesis argues that New Jersey reflected broader Northern divisions during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Despite supporting the Union, the state resisted Abraham Lincoln’s leadership …


The Normative Evolution Of Political Crime In Egyptian Criminal Law 1881 – 1981, Anas Sayed Elkorashy May 2026

The Normative Evolution Of Political Crime In Egyptian Criminal Law 1881 – 1981, Anas Sayed Elkorashy

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the historical evolution of the Egyptian criminal justice system's approach to managing political opposition. It employs the concept of "political crime" as a heuristic for analyzing the prosecution of dissent, despite the absence of a statutory definition within the legal system. By situating these practices within the broader context of political conflict, the study traces how criminal law has been used to manage rivalry and neutralize perceived threats to the state. Drawing on Fraenkel’s theory of the "Dual State," the thesis argues that modern Egyptian criminal justice has developed through a distinctive dual structure. The research distinguishes …


Oxidized Lipids Are Inflammatory Danger Signals. The Hydrolytic Enzyme Carboxylesterase 1 Regulates Their Metabolic Fate, Thereby Shaping Macrophage Phenotype., Oluwabori Adekanye May 2026

Oxidized Lipids Are Inflammatory Danger Signals. The Hydrolytic Enzyme Carboxylesterase 1 Regulates Their Metabolic Fate, Thereby Shaping Macrophage Phenotype., Oluwabori Adekanye

Theses and Dissertations

Macrophages originate from hematopoietic progenitors they are immune cells, part of innate immunity. They patrol tissues to identify damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) from microorganisms. Macrophage pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) detect these signals, and respond by secreting lipid mediators, cytokines, and chemokines, thereby initiating the inflammatory response. Carboxylesterases (CES) belong to the α/β-hydrolase fold family of proteins and catalyze the hydrolysis of ester-containing substrates into alcohols and carboxylic acids. CES1 is one of the six CES identified in the human genome. They are localized in the endoplasmic reticulum lumen and cytosol of cells, primarily expressed in …


Tracing Hazing Across Adolescence: Examining How Prior Hazing Experiences Shape Hazing Motivation And Tolerance Among Newly Initiated Ifc Fraternity Members, John Michael Vanhorn May 2026

Tracing Hazing Across Adolescence: Examining How Prior Hazing Experiences Shape Hazing Motivation And Tolerance Among Newly Initiated Ifc Fraternity Members, John Michael Vanhorn

Theses and Dissertations

Hazing remains pervasive and underreported, disproportionately affecting adolescent and emerging adult men, particularly within athletic teams and fraternity contexts. Although hazing is most often studied within collegiate organizations, many students encounter hazing behaviors prior to college, yet little is known about how these early experiences shape later hazing perceptions, motivations, tolerance, and masculine norms. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) model, this dissertation conceptualizes hazing as a developmental process shaped by repeated social interactions, individual characteristics, contextual environments, and time across adolescence and emerging adulthood. Using a two-paper approach with a quantitative, longitudinal survey design, study 1 examined fraternity new members’ …


Integrating Augmented Reality Visualizations Into Data Science Notebooks Using Microsoft Hololens 2, Derek Willis May 2026

Integrating Augmented Reality Visualizations Into Data Science Notebooks Using Microsoft Hololens 2, Derek Willis

Theses and Dissertations

Data-science notebooks support iterative analysis but are limited to two-dimensional (2D) displays. This work presents an approach to extend such environments with rapid augmented reality (AR) visualization while preserving conventional 2D workflows. An opensource R package was developed to convert notebook objects into three-dimensional (3D) models, export them in the Graphics Language Transmission Format (glTF), and transfer directly to a Microsoft HoloLens 2 via a USB connection for viewing in the native 3D Viewer application. The proposed workflow eliminates manual conversion and transfer steps required by earlier methods. A user study employing a post-session questionnaire indicated that participants found the …


Feasibility-Aware Deep Reinforcement Learning For Sustainable Timber Procurement Under Hurricane Demand Uncertainty, Jarod Wright May 2026

Feasibility-Aware Deep Reinforcement Learning For Sustainable Timber Procurement Under Hurricane Demand Uncertainty, Jarod Wright

Theses and Dissertations

The timber supply chain connects landowners and mills to provide wood products but faces challenges from stochastic demand, seasonal variations, and disruptions such as hurricanes. Fur- thermore, sustainability concerns like transportation emissions create trade-offs in procurement. This study proposes a feasibility-aware Deep Reinforcement Learning framework for sustainable timber procurement and inventory control under joint demand–hurricane uncertainty. We develop a stochastic mathematical model capturing mill-landowner interactions, seasonal demand, hurricane- driven pricing, and carbon emissions. The problem is formulated as a constrained Markov decision process and solved using Proximal Policy Optimization with a feasibility-enforcing layer. A Mississippi-based case study with 2,100 landowners …


Design And Uncertainty Methodology In High Efficiency Filtration Media Testing, Jeremy Andrei Adriano May 2026

Design And Uncertainty Methodology In High Efficiency Filtration Media Testing, Jeremy Andrei Adriano

Theses and Dissertations

Electrospun nanofiber media are being developed as potential alternatives to conventional HEPA filtration materials due to their small fiber diameters and tunable microstructures. To support future testing of these materials, the Small-Scale Test Stand (SSTS) at the Institute for Clean Energy Technology (ICET) requires modifications to ensure accurate and repeatable aerosol filtration measurements. Electrospun filters introduce challenges including fragile media structures and uncertain filtration efficiencies that may allow particle penetration to downstream instrumentation. This work evaluates adaptations to the SSTS design to support testing of electrospun filtration media. In addition, an uncertainty framework for aerosol measurements obtained using a Scanning …


Machine Learning-Based Decision Support Models With Applications In Postsecondary Education, Marco Paolo Anglesio May 2026

Machine Learning-Based Decision Support Models With Applications In Postsecondary Education, Marco Paolo Anglesio

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the deployment of machine learning methodologies in an industrial engineering framework for the development of advanced decision support systems in the context of enrollment management. Drawing on techniques from educational data mining, the research addresses three key phases in the lifecycle of traditional and non-traditional students. First, it analyzes student retention using predictive classification models designed to identify individuals at elevated risk of attrition. Second, it employs temporal convolutional networks for time series forecasting, estimating aggregate enrollment levels over highly variable, finite planning horizons on the basis of partially observed data and using an asymmetric loss function. …


Community Development Professionals’ Perceptions Of Agritourism In Mississippi, Emma Jane Berry May 2026

Community Development Professionals’ Perceptions Of Agritourism In Mississippi, Emma Jane Berry

Theses and Dissertations

Agritourism has emerged as a strategy for supporting rural economies, strengthening community identity, and increasing agricultural literacy. Although prior research has examined agritourism operators and visitors, limited attention has been given to the perceptions of community development professionals who influence local planning and program support. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to examine community development professionals’ perceptions of agritourism’s role in community development, economic growth, and agricultural literacy in Mississippi. Guided by Social Exchange Theory, data were collected through two semi-structured virtual focus groups with 12 professionals representing Extension, tourism, economic development, and Main Street organizations. Data were …


Evaluating The Spray Patterns Of Boomless Spray Nozzles At Increasing Application Speeds, Thomas Hayden Duncan May 2026

Evaluating The Spray Patterns Of Boomless Spray Nozzles At Increasing Application Speeds, Thomas Hayden Duncan

Theses and Dissertations

Boomless nozzles have been largely ignored in spray studies, resulting in limited understanding of their spray patterns and how they are affected by operating parameters. A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of application speed on the performance of four boomless nozzles. Dyed water was applied to Kromekote® paper to assess spray distribution based on coverage data at three speeds, and MSMA was applied to a mixed turf stand to evaluate the effect of speed on performance. Overlap simulations were done to evaluate how uniformity could be improved, and nozzle performance was compared to manufacturer claims. Spray patterns of …


Rethinking Social Disorganization In Rural America: Persistent Poverty, Institutional Fragility, And Crime, Addison Finch May 2026

Rethinking Social Disorganization In Rural America: Persistent Poverty, Institutional Fragility, And Crime, Addison Finch

Theses and Dissertations

Social Disorganization Theory (SDT) links structural disadvantage to crime through mechanisms such as residential instability, weakened social networks, and reduced informal social control in urban neighborhoods. Less is known about whether these mechanisms operate similarly in persistently poor rural communities where disadvantage is enduring rather than destabilizing. This study examines whether variation in poverty intensity predicts county-level crime in nonmetropolitan, persistently poor counties in Kentucky and Tennessee from 2016 to 2023. A balanced county-year panel (N = 344) integrates incident-based crime data with measures of poverty intensity and institutional capacity. Pooled ordinary least squares models with year fixed effects and …


A Woman’S Wilderness: Fostering Mental Well-Being Through Sensory Stimulation In The Outdoors, Anah Gaynes May 2026

A Woman’S Wilderness: Fostering Mental Well-Being Through Sensory Stimulation In The Outdoors, Anah Gaynes

Theses and Dissertations

The female experience with nature is unique (Nurse, G. A., Benfield, J., Bell, P. A., 2010). This provokes the question explored in this study: “What sensory interactions impact women’s mental well-being in nature-based therapy programs?” This study invited participants of nature-based retreats held at 4 Winds Farm in Glenwood Springs, Colorado or Summit Sisters at Cal-Wood Education Center in Jamestown, Colorado. Findings indicate that women’s positive emotions are significantly impacted by their sensory experiences. It also revealed a fascination with trees and the importance of tactile experiences. For landscape architects this brings about a new challenge in designing for the …


Creative Media Production Curriculum Design, Development, And Implementation For Undergraduate Programs, Christopher P. Misun May 2026

Creative Media Production Curriculum Design, Development, And Implementation For Undergraduate Programs, Christopher P. Misun

Theses and Dissertations

This capstone explores the limited availability of structured, production-focused creative media education within the examined institutional context, despite increasing student interest and industry demand. The aim of this study is to design a research-based undergraduate Creative Media Production (CMP) curriculum that aligns with institutional needs, industry standards, and evidence-based teaching practices. The study utilizes a conceptual framework combining constructivist learning theory, Understanding by Design, Project-Based Learning, High-Quality Project-Based Learning, and the ADDIE instructional design model. The research questions investigate how curriculum design and teaching methods prepare students for professional creative media production education. Using a qualitative, design-based approach, data are …


Plasma Pharmacokinetics Of Topical 0.1% Diclofenac Sodium And 0.5% Ketorolac Tromethamine In Dogs, Jacqueline Peraza May 2026

Plasma Pharmacokinetics Of Topical 0.1% Diclofenac Sodium And 0.5% Ketorolac Tromethamine In Dogs, Jacqueline Peraza

Theses and Dissertations

To determine plasma concentrations of ophthalmic 0.1% (w/v) diclofenac sodium and 0.5% (w/v) ketorolac tromethamine following 4 times daily ophthalmic administration in healthy dogs. Eight dogs were randomly assigned to a diclofenac or ketorolac group. Plasma was collected before drug administration. Plasma samples were collected after the 4 pm treatments on days 1 and 5. Plasma concentrations (ng/mL) were quantified by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and analyzed with noncompartmental pharmacokinetic analysis. After ophthalmic administration of 0.1% diclofenac, mean t1/2, Tmax, and Cmax occurred at 3.08 0.9 hours, 121.4 2.8 hours, 0.12 0.05 ug/mL, respectively. The mean t1/2, Tmax, and Cmax after …


Characterizing The Microbial Structure And Function In Black Soldier Fly Digested Dairy Manure And Subsequent Larvae, Branden N. Pierce May 2026

Characterizing The Microbial Structure And Function In Black Soldier Fly Digested Dairy Manure And Subsequent Larvae, Branden N. Pierce

Theses and Dissertations

This work examined the microbial structure and gene expression found in Black Soldier Fly larval guts and their frass when reared on dairy cattle manure that had been amended with either R. rhodococcus 21198, P. polymyxa 8158, or both and compare the results to larvae reared on untreated manure. First an overview of literature surrounding projected global food supplies and the possible use of insects to either increase them or mitigate the environmental effect of producing said supply. A cellulose degradation assay was performed to assist in determining which bacterial species to use as amendments. Characterization of the microbial communities …


Remote Sensing Techniques For Soil Moisture Retrieval And Crop Yield Estimation: Employing Multi-Sensor Receiver Systems From Uas And Ml For Precision Agriculture, Mohammad Abdus Shahid Rafi May 2026

Remote Sensing Techniques For Soil Moisture Retrieval And Crop Yield Estimation: Employing Multi-Sensor Receiver Systems From Uas And Ml For Precision Agriculture, Mohammad Abdus Shahid Rafi

Theses and Dissertations

Accurate soil moisture (SM) measurement and crop yield estimation are critical components of modern precision agriculture (PA) management. Efficiently observing SM at high resolution on a sub-field scale can enhance irrigation planning and management, leading to improved yields and product quality while also conserving environmental resources. Yield predictions provide insights into expected production, facilitating optimized resource allocation, improved agricultural management strategies, and enhanced profitability. Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) based multi-sensor receiver systems offer promising solutions in obtaining high-resolution SM measurements across large fields where satellite remote sensing falls short, as well as collecting necessary data over corn and cotton for …


Evaluation Of Soybean (Glycine Max (L.) Merr.) Response Following Simulated Damage, Brittany Rhea May 2026

Evaluation Of Soybean (Glycine Max (L.) Merr.) Response Following Simulated Damage, Brittany Rhea

Theses and Dissertations

Deer damage to row crops has been an ongoing issue in the state of Mississippi, and hail damage can be catastrophic. The objective of this research was to evaluate soybean response following simulated deer and hail damage at specific growth stages and damage levels. Soybean yield response to deer damage indicates the singular feedings of 75 % results in a loss of up to 2688.32 kg ha-1 in most scenarios, and continual feeding at the 50 % level leads to a yield reduction of up to 2168.81 kg ha-1 in all scenarios. Hail damage at V3 and R1 growth stages …


Students’ College Choice: Factors Influencing The Decision To Attend A Particular College, Miss Thompson Gordon May 2026

Students’ College Choice: Factors Influencing The Decision To Attend A Particular College, Miss Thompson Gordon

Theses and Dissertations

Community colleges play a vital role in expanding access to higher education by offering affordable and flexible opportunities for diverse learners, including many who face academic and socioeconomic challenges. This qualitative phenomenological study examined the factors that influence high school seniors' decisions to attend a particular college. Guided by Hossler and Gallagher's (1987) three-stage college choice model of predisposition, search, and choice, the research explored how students gather information; the influence of family, peers, and school personnel; and the importance of college characteristics such as cost, location, and campus environment. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with ten high school …


Agentic Synthetic Data Generation For Automated Model Development, Frederick Eugene Diehl May 2026

Agentic Synthetic Data Generation For Automated Model Development, Frederick Eugene Diehl

Theses and Dissertations

Large Language Model research has made large strides in capabilities from sentiment analysis to writing code. These advancements have been realized thanks to research into specific capabilities such as prompting techniques. Language models today have demonstrated the ability to create content, transform, and classify. These capabilities are not limited to academic exploration but also found in commercial products that are positioning themselves from application augmentation to personal assistants. These commercial products tend to steer towards single actions such as “summarize this article” or “write a function that performs action...” In parallel research has continued to advance towards more advanced constructs …


Contested Surveillance: Gendered Citizenship And Political Participation In Egypt And Lebanon, Mohamad Zarif May 2026

Contested Surveillance: Gendered Citizenship And Political Participation In Egypt And Lebanon, Mohamad Zarif

Theses and Dissertations

While the 2011 Arab Uprisings were famously framed by the utopian narrative of a 'Facebook Revolution', this view has given way to a dystopian reality in which digital infrastructures can facilitate authoritarian retrenchment. This thesis interrogates how lowermiddle- and working-class precarious youth navigate and perceive this "Architecture of Control" in Cairo and Beirut. Using a comparative qualitative design with purposive and snowball sampling, this research integrates digital ethnography and fourteen interviews with eighteen participants (nine women, seven men) to capture lived experiences of surveillance rather than the internal logic of state security institutions. The study yields three primary findings. First, …


A Study & Comparison Of Lift Boosters For An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Trevor Sean Dady May 2026

A Study & Comparison Of Lift Boosters For An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Trevor Sean Dady

Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned aerial vehicles are becoming increasingly prevalent in modern society for tasks, such as package delivery, defense, and cinematography. Due to this surge in applications, many researchers have begun to search for improvements to unmanned aerial vehicles for their lift and thrust properties. Potential solutions to magnify an unmanned aerial vehicle’s thrust capability are the implementation of Coanda surfaces, nozzles, or bowl-shaped structures on each propeller. Coanda surfaces provide additional lift force by creating a vacuum in response to the adhesion of fluid to the smooth surface. Nozzles can constrict the flow of air, while also increasing its velocity. The …


A Governance-Aware Multi-Agent Framework For Enhancing Fairness & Temporal Accuracy In Disaster Response Systems, Md. Ashfaqur Rahman May 2026

A Governance-Aware Multi-Agent Framework For Enhancing Fairness & Temporal Accuracy In Disaster Response Systems, Md. Ashfaqur Rahman

Theses and Dissertations

Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated significant potential in disaster-response decision support, however, their deployment in high-stakes humanitarian settings raises critical concerns regarding factual reliability, fairness, temporal validity, and governance compliance. Hallucinated outputs, demographic bias, and outdated recommendations can directly impact vulnerable populations and undermine public trust. This dissertation proposes a governance-aware multi-agent framework designed to enhance fairness and temporal accuracy in disaster-response systems through structured Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), verification-driven orchestration, and adaptive correction mechanisms.The proposed architecture decomposes response generation into specialized agents responsible for real-time retrieval, fact-checking, bias auditing, temporal validation, threshold-based correction, and monitoring. By embedding governance constraints …


A Socio-Computational Framework For Understanding Information Campaigns Through A Collective Action Perspective, Sayantan Bhattacharya May 2026

A Socio-Computational Framework For Understanding Information Campaigns Through A Collective Action Perspective, Sayantan Bhattacharya

Theses and Dissertations

In a time when social media significantly influences public dialogue, grasping the elements that contribute to the success of information campaigns has become vital for understanding modern social movements and political engagement. This dissertation explores the essential factors that affect the efficacy of information campaigns across digital platforms, addressing a notable gap in existing research that frequently neglects the systematic connection between information spread and outcomes of collective action. Instead of viewing these as distinct phenomena, this study constructs an integrated framework that highlights three crucial dimensions of successful information campaigns: the human factor, which emphasizes the role of influential …


The Cost Of Compassion: Mixed Methods Insights Into Healthcare Chaplains’ Experiences Of Workplace Violence, Dana Fachner May 2026

The Cost Of Compassion: Mixed Methods Insights Into Healthcare Chaplains’ Experiences Of Workplace Violence, Dana Fachner

Theses and Dissertations

Healthcare workers’ exposure to workplace violence has been well documented, with research emphasizing both its frequency and severity among clinical staff like physicians and nurses. Still, one group remains markedly overlooked: healthcare chaplains. Despite their frequent presence in high-stress, unpredictable, and emotionally charged situations, chaplains have never before been included in research regarding healthcare workers’ exposure to workplace violence. Healthcare chaplains provide spiritual and emotional care to patients, families, and staff by offering support that is culturally sensitive and appropriate to patients’ religious traditions. Chaplains collaborate with medical teams to deliver holistic care and are involved in a wide range …


Engagement Modeling And Inference For Risk-Aware Path Planning Under Adversarial Uncertainty, Grant Stagg May 2026

Engagement Modeling And Inference For Risk-Aware Path Planning Under Adversarial Uncertainty, Grant Stagg

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation develops methods for planning safe and efficient trajectories for autonomous vehicles operating in environments containing adversarial and environmental threats with uncertain parameters. The central objective is to quantify and control the risk of adverse events--such as interception or detection--when threat characteristics are imperfectly known. To address this challenge, probabilistic weapon engagement zone (PEZ) models are introduced to estimate the likelihood of violating adversarial engagement constraints under uncertainty in pursuer state and capabilities. Multiple computational strategies are developed for PEZ evaluation, including first-order sensitivity-based approximations, Monte Carlo estimation, and neural-network surrogate models. These approaches enable rapid engagement-probability assessment and …


Fear Of Crime, Intolerance Of Uncertainty, And Trait Worry: A Mediation Model Of Perceived Risk And Victimization Concerns, Nicholai N. Chasseau May 2026

Fear Of Crime, Intolerance Of Uncertainty, And Trait Worry: A Mediation Model Of Perceived Risk And Victimization Concerns, Nicholai N. Chasseau

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined psychological vulnerability and fear of crime in 538 adults from Trinidad and Tobago. Perceived risk was the strongest predictor of fear, while prospective intolerance of uncertainty predicted fear directly. Mediation was supported among Afro-Trinidadians but not Indo-Trinidadians, suggesting sociocultural differences in cognitive pathways linking vulnerability to fear.


Hannah, Nora Brigid Monahan May 2026

Hannah, Nora Brigid Monahan

Theses and Dissertations

Hannah is a contemporary adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, which reimagines Ibsen's heroine as a "stealth" (or undetected) transsexual woman living among the American conservative elite in Washington D.C. Newly married to George Taylor, a charismatic but financially strained far-right media personality, Hannah struggles to maintain the façade she has constructed when Eliot Loving, a volatile political streamer and figure from past, reappears in her life. Their collision, orchestrated by the manipulative power-broker Judge Brock, upends Hannah's sense of self and forces her into a desperate struggle for her own autonomy and security. In a deliberate subversion of …


City, Janina Butz May 2026

City, Janina Butz

Theses and Dissertations

Janina Butz observes the improvised support structures holding New York City together at its edges. Looking at the found, cheap materials, spray painted, rusty, drilled, sawed, and haphazardly welded together on the sidewalk. The hard clashes of cheap material and expensive real estate lead Butz to draw a bigger picture of the fraud seams our society is tied together with.


Memory Organs, Coco Ma May 2026

Memory Organs, Coco Ma

Theses and Dissertations

Working across architectural sculpture, sonic works, and monoprints, this thesis explores the body as a site where memory, materiality, and cultural history converge. Drawing from muscle memory, Chinese architectural thresholds, and female narratives, it traces a body that is simultaneously physical and psychological, personal and collective, constant yet always shifting.