Digital Commons Network^™

Modeling The Interaction Between Pain And Movement: Insights From Brain Activation Patterns And Context-Dependent Emotion In Chronic Low Back Pain, Pradeep Kumar Sahu

Theses and Dissertations

In persons with chronic pain, fear or anxiety related to movement is a well-established model under the biopsychosocial framework that explains in part, the chronicity of symptoms commonly reported by individuals with chronic low back pain (cLBP). This dissertation aimed to further understand the link between the context-dependent emotion network in the brain and movement in two separate studies using brain functional MRI and autonomic nervous system indices. Aim 1sought to investigate the brain functional connectivity linking brain regions involved in context-dependent emotion and movement while cLBP participants moved their back inside the scanner by performing a modified trunk bridging …

Multi-Task Deep Learning Approach For Segmenting And Classifying Competitive Swimming Activities Using A Single Imu, Mark Shperkin

Theses and Dissertations

Competitive swimming performance analysis has traditionally relied on manual video review and multi-sensor systems, both of which are resource-intensive and impractical for everyday training use. This study investigates whether a single wrist-worn inertial measurement unit (IMU) can be used to automatically segment and classify swimming activities with high accuracy. We propose a multi-task deep learning pipeline based on the MTHARS (Multi-Task Human Activity Recognition and Segmentation) architecture introduced by Duan et al. to perform stroke classification, lap segmentation, stroke count estimation, and underwater kick count estimation. Data were collected from eleven collegiate-level swimmers wearing left-wrist-mounted IMUs, each performing five 100-yard …

Effect Of Growth Conditions On The Performance Of Vertically Conducting Beta-Ga2o3 Diodes On 4h-Sic Substrate By Mocvd, Nifat Jahan Nipa

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis highlights the critical influence of doping strategies, specifically co-delta doping with silicon (Si) and indium (In), on improving the structural quality and device performance of β-Ga₂O₃-based Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs). To achieve better thermal management, β-Ga₂O₃ thin film was grown on bulk 4H-SiC substrates using the Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) technique, renowned for its precise control over composition, thickness and doping profile. The ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG), high critical breakdown field and low turn-on resistance of β-Ga₂O₃ make it a strong candidate for next-generation power electronics and short-wavelength detection in extreme environments. However, the presence of structural defects …

Artificial Intelligence In Sport Management: A Systematic Review, Scale Development And Validation, And Implications, Kemardo Tyrell

Theses and Dissertations

The democratization of intelligent systems and their ubiquitous presence across the sport industry have created an urgent need to understand the current environment and how stakeholders perceive artificial intelligence (AI) as it reshapes decision-making, engagement, and organizational design. This three-manuscript dissertation conceptualizes artificial intelligence as a contested domain shaped by stakeholder meaning-making, consumer perception, and shifts in organizational practice. The first manuscript provides a systematic review of AI in sport management using the PRISMA framework, mapping how AI has been conceptualized as a methodological tool or contextual innovation across the sport industry segmentation (performance, production, and promotion). The second manuscript …

Academic Wellness In Health Professional Students: The Intersection Between Dietary Attitudes And Behaviors, Sleep Quality, And Mental Health, Kenya Shereece Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Academic success is strongly influenced by student well-being, with nutrition, sleep, and mental health emerging as critical and interconnected components. Health profession students often face significant mental and physical demands, as they navigate their educational training, which can challenge their ability to maintain healthy behaviors and access necessary support. Although these students are often trained to recognize, treat, and promote wellness in others, they may struggle to prioritize or seek care for themselves. This work aims to explore the health behaviors and care-seeking patterns of health profession students, with a focus on dietary habits, sleep, and barriers to mental health …

​​I See Him In Me: Implementing Culturally Responsive Small Group Reading For Multilingual Learners, Briana Gomez

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed methods study explores the implementation and impact of differentiated guided reading instruction for MLs in a second-grade classroom. Specifically, it examines how differentiation strategies are applied during guided reading sessions and investigates the role of culturally relevant texts in engaging and supporting ML students’ literacy development. Through a mixed-methods approach combining classroom observation, student artifacts, and interviews, the research highlights best practices for meeting the diverse needs of MLs and underscores the importance of using culturally responsive texts. Additionally, the study analyzes the effect of these instructional approaches on students’ academic progress by comparing Edmentum Winter and Spring …

The Impact Of Adverse Childhood Experiences And Living With Hiv On Cardiovascular Health And Cardiometabolic Disorders In An African Population: An Analysis Of The Indepth Community In Rural South Africa, Samuel Gavi

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been shown to be associated with cardiometabolic disorders (CMDs) and poor CVH; however, in Africa, this has not been well studied. Cardiovascular health (CVH) is an important measure of risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) developed by the American Heart Association (AHA). With the increasing prevalence of CVD in Africa, CVH is a potential upstream prevention approach. Africa also has the highest prevalence of HIV, and an increasing prevalence of comorbidities associated with it. Various mechanisms have been investigated to explain the relationship between CVD and chronic HIV infection. This study explores the potential relationship …

Effects Of Verbal Tasks On Driving Simulator Performance, Jonathan Cheshire Rann

Theses and Dissertations

We report the results from a driving simulator paradigm we developed to test the effects of simple verbal tasks on simultaneous driving performance. A total of 74 undergraduate students participated in two experiments in which they controlled a car using the steering wheel to track a moving target. The dependent measure, overall deviation from target, was continuously recorded. Experiment 1 (E1) tested tracking performance during slow and fast target speeds under conditions involving either no verbal input or output (Absent), passive listening to spoken prompts via headphones (Listen), or responding to the spoken prompts (Respond). Experiment 2 (E2) was similar …

Stimulation Of The Rostromedial Tegmental Nucleus Induces Long-Lasting Avoidance Behavior, Jacob Ryan Watson

Theses and Dissertations

The role of midbrain dopamine (DA) activity in reward seeking and reinforcement learning is well-documented, contrasting the lesser-understood impact of inhibitory signaling on DAergic activity, especially in the context of aversive learning and avoidance. The rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg) is a GABAergic midbrain structure activated by aversive stimuli and exerts inhibitory influence over ventral tegmental area (VTA) DAergic activity in response to aversive consequences. Stimulation of the RMTg decreases the firing rate of VTA DA neurons and direct inhibition of the RMTg – VTA circuit enhances persistent reward seeking despite aversive consequences, a major criterion of substance use disorder (SUD). …

The Impact Of The Flipped Learning Approach On Student Engagement In A High School Chemistry Classroom, Alana Lyn Hicks

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods action research study investigated the impact of the flipped classroom approach on student engagement and attitudes within a science classroom. Data was collected using student-reported responses on the Classroom Engagement Inventory, Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, student journal entries, teacher reflective journals, and an observation tracking chart kept by the classroom teacher. Findings revealed that the flipped classroom model significantly increased affective and cognitive engagement among students in a larger class size, as well as for medium-achieving students and girls. These results suggest that while the flipped classroom has the potential to enhance engagement, its effectiveness is influenced …

Clinical Correlates: Using Case-Based Learning In The Physician Assistant Classroom, Pamela Schindler Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Physician Assistant (PA) education is rigorous and comprehensive. In only 27 months, the students must learn medical knowledge and skills for effective patient care. Instruction must be efficient and effective to teach these students how to be safe and functional PAs. Of primary concern is teaching students how to perform like clinicians, which requires critical thinking, self-directed learning, and teamwork.

This convergent, mixed-methods action research explored the impacts of case-based learning (CBL) in the PA classroom. The findings support using CBL to develop clinical reasoning skills, improve comprehension of the material, and develop self-directed learning skills. CBL requires the students …

Lessons In Game Use: Examining Engagement And Content Knowledge With The Use Of Digital Game-Based Learning Lessons In Biology, Rebecca Anne Valencia

Theses and Dissertations

According to both national and local data, students in high school biology classes are disengaged in content learning and do not demonstrate sufficient understanding of the content taught during units focused on the mechanisms of heredity and gene expression. Traditional teaching methods do not hold their interest which leads to disengagement and missed learning opportunities. The purpose of this action research was to evaluate the effect of digital game-based learning lessons on biology 1 students’ engagement and content knowledge application regarding the mechanisms of heredity and gene expression, as well as on the students’ perceptions of their digital game-based learning …

Regression With Atypical Data: Measurement Error, Periodicity, And Non-Normality, Nicholas W. Woolsey

Theses and Dissertations

Regression is a ubiquitous and fundamental method that can be found in any ele- mentary statistics course. The simplicity and self evidently useful nature of linear regression beguiles a non-negligible portion of researchers into disrespecting assump- tions required by these models, namely in terms of accuracy of covariates and the underlying nature of the data. This disregard can at best lead to meaningless results and at worse cause significant misunderstandings in scientific pursuit.

In this dissertation we strive propose remedies to violations of specific assump- tions. Namely the assumptions that covariates are either observed without measure- ment error or they …

Explainable Process Recommendation Through Multi-Contextual Grounding Of Dynamic Multimodal Process Knowledge Graphs, Revathy Venkataramanan

Theses and Dissertations

Can I eat this food or not? Is this food suitable for diabetes and why? Which AI pipeline is best suited for a given task and dataset? How should an end-to-end pipeline be constructed? These questions differ from factual question-answering tasks. Recipes and AI pipelines are processes consisting of several entities interacting with each other. A recipe consists of ingredients, cooking methods, and their interactions, while an AI pipeline includes datasets, preprocessing techniques, models, hyperparameters, tasks, and results. Each entity must be analyzed individually, and collective inferencing is performed to derive the final decision. This decision-making process, known as compositional …

William Hogarth's Portraiture: A Vehicle For Social Commentary, Kaitlyn Elizabeth Hoff

Theses and Dissertations

William Hogarth is often celebrated for the critiques of eighteenth-century England seen throughout his widely reproduced satirical print series and paintings, however his contributions to portraiture offer a compelling extension of his artistic vision and techniques. This research aims to explore Hogarth’s use of portraiture as a vehicle for social commentary and moral messaging, revealing broader themes of morality, nationalism, and identity among all of his works, comparing this approach to that of both his contemporaries and his own prints.

In examining Hogarth’s portraits alongside other formal portraiture, the socio-political landscape of the time, and existing scholarship, methods such as …

Margery's Visions: Sight, Emulation, And Medieval Wall Paintings In The Book Of Margery Kempe, Kristin L. Harrell

Theses and Dissertations

This project puts the history, context, and reception of medieval murals in dialog with The Book of Margery Kempe to identify neglected parallels between Margery’s sense of sight and the visual culture around her. Guided by a method of recovery that draws on interdisciplinary approaches to text and image, this dissertation combines digital tools, close reading, and archival accounts to compare how Margery responded to visions of holiness—both in spiritual revelations and in physical imagery—in murals which would have been on display during and in proximity to her travels. While mapping, close reading, and analysis have been applied to Margery …

Analyzing Factors Affecting Retention And Attrition Rates Of Teachers In The Pee Dee Region Of South Carolina, Jessica Allen

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative action research study was to determine the factors and variables that affected the retention and attrition rates of novice and seasoned teachers in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina. Utilizing three frameworks, the Self-efficacy theory, the Social Identity theory, and the Multidimensional Theory of Burnout, the researcher conducted a virtual survey of 33 respondents and interviewed seven participants to collect data. Data was thematically coded to discover commonalities amongst the participant responses.

The data revealed administrative influence, teacher working conditions such as autonomy, time, and control, and workload were the most frequent elements of …

Conjuring Realities: Southern Supernaturalism And Race From The Antebellum Era To The Early Twentieth Century, Dylan T. Kobus

Theses and Dissertations

Conjure practices in the nineteenth-century American South, such as “Hoodoo” or “Voodoo,” are commonly portrayed as primarily “black” beliefs or entrenched in “Africanistic” cultures. For the enslaved, their black spiritual systems, including conjure, were a powerful tool of resistance against the white enslaver. Black conjure practitioners established themselves as an affordable and pervasive medical alternative to often ineffective or harmful professional medicines for black and white Southerners, regardless of class. In this way, conjure challenged the authority of racial capitalism and destabilized the perceived moral and intellectual superiority of whiteness. Moreover, by examining legal documents, newspapers, fictional literature, and oral …

“Cruelty, Bloodshed, And Degradation From The Inauspicious Conjunction Of Stars”: “Magic” In The 1857-58 Rebellion In India, Summer Bordon

Theses and Dissertations

During the 1857-58 rebellion in India, British soldiers and civilians saw ample evidence of Indian belief in “magic”. Prophecies about the end of British rule were implicated in inciting rebellion. When a solar eclipse occurred during the British army’s campaign to regain control of Delhi, victory was attributed partially to Indian superstition. Much of the historiography of the 1857-58 rebellion has uncritically accepted British sources’ conceptions of Indian “magic”, dismissing it as superstitious, politically hindering, and divorced from material reality. Yet, British understandings of magic cannot be taken at face value. Instead, they must be located within broader colonial narratives …

Reassessing Readiness: Physical Performance Trajectories And Future Physical Military Readiness, Giovanna Leone

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three studies integrating frequentist and machine learning techniques to examine physical fitness trajectories and future physical military readiness. Study 1 consists of a cross-sectional examination of Physical Fitness Test (PFT) scores from four cohorts of first-year Cadets at a Senior Military College from 2019 to 2022. Study 2 consists of a longitudinal examination of PFT performance from one cohort of Cadets across a baseline test and three years of training at a Senior Military College. Study 3 examines predictive machine learning and growth curve modeling methods to project future physical military readiness based on motor competence …

The Penn Center’S Impact On Rural Health Through Midwife Programming In 20Th Century South Carolina, Kathryn Addison Greenberg

Theses and Dissertations

The Penn School of the Sea Islands provided an education to thousands of rural, Black South Carolinians over the twentieth century. Northern missionaries including the founders of the Penn School, Laura M. Towne and Ellen Murray, taught and provided healthcare to the residents of the Port Royal Experiment through the Civil War and into Reconstruction. With the arrival of Rossa Cooley and Grace House, the Penn School put emphasis on auxiliary programing including midwifery training institutes held in conjunction with Dr. Hilla Sheriff and the South Carolina Department of Public Health’s Division for Maternal and Child Health. With the goal …

Conceptions Of Epic Heroism In Thomas May’S Continutation, Michael Blake Hoehn

Theses and Dissertations

Thomas May’s A Continuation of the Subiect of Lucan's Historicall Poem till the Death of Iulius Cæser, continues Lucan’s creative vision of critiquing heroism. Despite his attempt at maintaining an indifferent world, May’s Continuation implicitly favors the heroism of the Pompeians.

Both Caesar and the Pompeians base their heroic conceptions on ideals found in Greek and Roman marital and national heroism. Caesar and his enemies believe that his victories in battle result from Fortune’s protection and approval, allowing Caesar to justify the ideals of traditional heroism. However, Fortune in the Continuation acts as an independent force, making these misinterpretations …

The Tur Nout Effect: Challenging The Median Voter Theorem, George Thomas Rogers

Theses and Dissertations

The classical Median Voter Theorem (MVT) predicts that, in a two-party system with majority rule, candidates will converge toward the ideological center to capture the median voter. This logic, grounded in spatial models of political competition, assumes full voter participation and fails to account for the growing ideological polarization in modern democracies. This thesis reevaluates the MVT by incorporating probabilistic turnout into a utility-based model of voter behavior. It theorizes that turnout is shaped not only by ideological proximity but also by expressive motivations, including both strong affinity and strong aversion to candidates. A novel measure of turnout utility is …

Between Florida And The World: Young People And The Politics Of Citizenship, Jessica Flach

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis critically examines how American high school students experience and make sense of global citizenship within the context of a commercial educational tour. Drawing on a case study of students from a Title I public high school in Florida, the research interrogates the narratives of civic transformation promoted by educational travel companies and explores how these narratives intersect with students’ lived realities. Combining ethnographic methods, interviews, and critical discourse analysis, the study reveals that global citizenship is not meaningfully realized through such travel experiences; rather, it is fragmented, depoliticized, and often disconnected from the civic education students receive in …

Characterizing The Relationships Between Cranial Geometry, Brain Morphometry, And Brain Mechanical Properties Using Mr Imaging And Elastography, Jessica Restivo

Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a global health concern, with over 69 million cases annually. TBI risk depends on subject-specific neuroanatomical variation, yet research often only considers generic finite element (FE) models, based on the geometry and material composition of a 50th percentile male head. Although highly accurate, subject-specific models require expensive magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, elastography, and time-consuming computational resources. There is a need to create subject-specific TBI models that account for subject-specific variations, without neuroimaging. This study aims to create mathematical models to predict brain morphometry (dimensions, volume) [Objective 1] and mechanical properties (shear stiffness, damping ratio, octahedral …

Addressing Key Challenges In Mhz Power Converters, Aqarib Hussain

Theses and Dissertations

Power electronics are essential in applications such as aerospace, electric vehicles, and electric ships where compact, efficient, and high power-density converters are increasingly demanded. This push toward miniaturization has led to converter designs operating at switching frequencies in the megahertz (MHz) range. Higher-frequency operation enables significant reductions in passive component sizes—particularly transformers and inductors—thereby facilitating dense packaging. However, these benefits come with new challenges, including increased thermal stress, complex semiconductor behavior, higher-frequency magnetic design constraints, and elevated electromagnetic interference (EMI).

This research addresses several key challenges in MHz converter design. The first part involves the development of a 1-MHz, 1-kW …

A Spatial Scan Statistic For Group Testing Data, Vincent Onyame

Theses and Dissertations

Group testing involves pooling specimens from multiple individuals and offers an efficient means to surveil low-prevalence pathogens, but poses challenges for spatial cluster detection when only pooled results are observed. In this thesis, we develop a spatial scan statistic tailored to group-testing data with variable pool sizes. The statistic compares a null hypothesis of a homogeneous infection rate across all clusters to an alternative hypothesis that infection probabilities differ inside and outside a candidate cluster, with both models fitted by maximum likelihood estimation. We approximate the null distribution of the maximum likelihood ratio test via Monte Carlo simulation.

Through a …

An Economic Evaluation Of Cook At All Costs, Abigail Green

Theses and Dissertations

Cooking shows have been popular for decades with many variations, prizes, and a collection of talented chefs. The Netflix series Cook at All Costs provides a newer playing field incorporating auctions into the challenging landscape. Home chefs are challenged with creating unique dishes from mystery ingredients boxes acquired through various auction types in hopes of winning a monetary prize. The chefs must balance the trade-off between spending money on higher-quality ingredients to improve their chances of winning and saving money across rounds. This thesis will explore the economic concepts presented in the show by providing an understanding of how the …

Understanding Verbal Irony: A Contrastive Analysis Of Personal And Informational Common Ground, Ruhan Çoban

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates how representations of personal common ground (PCG; viz., close relationships vs. strangers) and informational common ground (ICG; viz., shared world knowledge) interact in shaping a reader’s comprehension of verbal irony in fictional narratives. While previous research has shown that greater familiarity among story characters enhances readers’ comprehension of ironic statements made by the characters (Gibbs, 2000; Kreuz et al., 1999; Kreuz & Link, 2001; Pexman & Zvaigzne, 2004), the interplay between representations of PCG and ICG remains understudied. In this study, we assumed that ICG takes precedence over PCG. Accordingly, we predicted that irony comprehension would be …

Assessing Health And Academic Disparities In The Deep South: The Enduring Impact Of Segregation And Redlining In Georgia, Bridget Hamilton

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Within the American South, marginalized Black populations continue to suffer from health disparities. A key resource that could aid in the prevention of health disparities such as teen pregnancy is the school nurse. School nurses are well positioned to assist in the development of independent health maintenance among student populations. However, school nurses remain understaffed and underfunded throughout most of the United States, which limits their effectiveness. It is possible that within southern states there are inequities in how school resources are allocated that have ties to segregation and redlining practices that systemically marginalized Black populations throughout the 1900s. …