Digital Commons Network^™

Collectivist Culture Values And Self-Esteem In Asian Americans With Adhd, Skye Taemi Jieling Sakashita

Doctoral Dissertations

This study is a quantitative correlational analysis that evaluated the relationship between collectivism and self-esteem in Asian American adults diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). A total of 29 Asian American adults with ADHD participated in this study that included a survey of three scales assessing for collectivism, self-esteem, and ADHD symptoms. The results indicated that the correlation between self-esteem and collectivism in participants was not statistically significant. The correlation between self-esteem and ADHD symptoms was also found to be not statistically significant. However, certain correlational analyses regarding collectivism and ADHD symptoms were found to be statistically significant. Specifically, the results …

An Exploratory Analysis Of Neurocognitive Performance And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Ptsd) Among Latinx Asylum Seekers, Elsie A. Arias

Doctoral Dissertations

Asylum seekers are exposed to violence and traumatic events in their home countries at high rates, leading to mental health challenges such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD symptoms and comorbidities such as depression and alcohol misuse are associated with impacts to multiple domains of cognitive functioning among populations such as Veterans. However, the neurocognitive performance of Latinx asylum seekers who experience PTSD symptoms are under-documented in the current literature despite its meaningful impact on clinical care engagement and navigation of the legal process. This study utilized an exploratory, quantitative, cross-sectional design to examine whether higher levels of self-reported PTSD, …

Direct Ink Writing Of Functional Fiber/Granular Composites, Zhuoyuan Yang

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Direct ink writing provides a versatile manufacturing route for fabricating functional fiber and granular composites with controlled architecture, tunable interfaces, and customized material distributions. Fiber reinforced composites offer high stiffness, strength, fatigue resistance, and functional anisotropy, while granular composites provide scalable access to particle based structures with high material efficiency and broad resource compatibility. However, the additive manufacturing of these composite systems remains challenging. For fiber based composites, precise control of fiber placement, matrix impregnation, interfacial bonding, and freestanding deposition is difficult to achieve during printing. For granular composites, stable particle flow, controllable packing, binder infiltration, and shape retention are …

Cohesive Zone Modelling Of Fiber–Matrix Interface In Composite Materials, Arjun Myadam

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Carbon Fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are widely used in aerospace, automotive, and structural applications due to their high specific strength, stiffness, and design flexibility. Their mechanical performance is critically governed by the fiber–matrix interface which controls stress transfer and directly influences damage initiation, crack propagation, and fracture behaviour. The interface properties are quantified through the Interfacial Shear Strength (IFSS) and fracture energy, both serving as key indicators of composite integrity. Effective interfacial bonding is therefore essential to the composite’s strength. Nanoscale fiber surface modifications provide a promising approach to enhance interfacial bonding and can also impart multifunctionality. These multifunctionalities can …

Classification Of Aircraft Checklist Usability Problems Using Natural Language Processing, Borvorn Kasemtanakul

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The use of checklists has been identified as a recurring issue in aviation accident investigations, highlighting the need for continued improvement in aircraft checklist design. However, existing aviation safety taxonomies do not systematically address checklist usability problems. Therefore, a systematic classification of these problems is needed to support the extension of existing aviation safety taxonomies and to facilitate safety data analysis for checklist design improvements. Furthermore, applications of Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques in aircraft checklist research remain underexplored, despite their potential to identify meaningful patterns in textual safety data.

This exploratory research aimed to develop a data-driven classification of …

Compact Cislunar Orbital Representation For Efficient Tracking In Cislunar Space, Mauro Palomo

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Expanding lunar missions require efficient, interoperable orbital tracking where existing methods fail to scale. Two-Line Elements (TLEs) lack applicability beyond geocentric regimes, while high-accuracy Orbit Ephemeris Messages (OEMs) require excessive data volumes and bandwidth to communicate. To support increased lunar traffic, this paper proposes the Compact Cislunar Orbital Representation (CCOR), providing a novel framework that strikes a balance between TLE level efficiency and OEM-level fidelity, ensuring multi-actor communication for missions in the cislunar region. By evaluating the framework across six diverse cislunar trajectories, this study demonstrates the CCOR’s robustness and ability to compress thousands of OEM state vectors into a …

Experimental-Motion-Driven Cfd Investigation Of Slosh Dynamics In Propellant Tanks Of Spacecraft And Launch Vehicles, Priyanshu Savaliya

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Liquid sloshing in partially filled propellant tanks can generate transient forces and moments that affect spacecraft and launch vehicle stability, guidance, and control. This research develops a one-way experimental-to-Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) integration framework to investigate free-surface slosh behavior under realistic excitation conditions.

The overarching goal of this thesis is to develop and evaluate a one-way experimental-motion-driven computational framework for predicting liquid slosh response in a partially filled cylindrical tank. Rather than relying on idealized sinusoidal inputs, this work uses experimentally measured actuator-feedback motion as the prescribed excitation for high-fidelity CFD. The central objective is to establish the experimental and …

A Machine-Learning-Based Systematic Framework For Modeling Compression And Recompression Indices For Florida Soils, Michael Morales

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This thesis develops a machine-learning framework for estimating the compression index and the recompression index of Florida soils from routinely measured index properties, and reports two studies that build it. Consolidation settlement design requires both indices, and both are obtained from the incremental-loading oedometer test, which occupies a specimen for one to two weeks; the index tests that accompany it are complete within hours. Empirical correlations have filled that interval since the 1950s, but their coefficients are calibrated on specific soil populations and transfer poorly between regions. The first study analyzes 376 consolidation tests compiled for the Florida Department of …

Enhancing Virtual Reality Cockpit Procedure Training With Haptic Feedback, Christian K. Jaedicke

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Pilot training is time-consuming and costly, and not all phases require full-flight simulators or actual aircraft. Virtual reality (VR) offers a potential means to reduce cost and duration while supporting practical cockpit procedure training. While prior research in the VR domain suggests that providing haptic feedback can support training of muscular control and increase perceived immersion, it remains unclear whether haptic feedback improves spatial cognition in an unfamiliar VR environment. This study examined whether haptic feedback and cockpit complexity affected response time and position error under limited-visibility, time-constrained conditions in a VR cockpit environment (i.e., a quasi-blindfold cockpit check).

Grounded …

Evaluating The Safety Efficiency Of U.S. Air Traffic Control Tower Operations Using Data Envelopment Analysis, Kenneth James Gilbert Ii

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Air traffic control (ATC) tower safety efficiency remains inadequately measured despite critical workforce challenges, including staffing shortages, training pipeline constraints, and geographic retention difficulties. This mixed-methods study developed and validated a comprehensive framework for measuring tower safety efficiency by integrating subject-matter expert insights with multi-model data envelopment analysis (DEA) across 66 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) tower facilities from 2016 to 2024. Six focus group interviews with experienced professionals (100% with > 20 years of experience), averaging 96.4 minutes, identified critical efficiency factors through systematic coding, achieving substantial inter-rater reliability (Cohen's kappa 𝜅 = .68). Qualitative findings showed that staffing shortages don't …

Noise-Optimized Routes For Air Taxi, Waleed Raza

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Community noise is a primary barrier to the public acceptance and deployment of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) air taxi operations. This dissertation develops a coupled siting, routing, and noise optimization framework that links vertiport placement to its downstream acoustic consequences, demonstrated through a Daytona Beach case study. Candidate vertiports are screened and selected using accessibility, safety, demand, and feasibility criteria, and the selected sites form a directed network of 20 routes. Each trajectory is evaluated with a physics-based acoustic pipeline reporting Lmax, SEL, and EPNL at school, hospital, and residential receptors, showing that received exposure …

Optimal Integrated Cfd-Gnc Model For Drag-Based Reentry Dynamics, Sebastian Lopez

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This research focuses on optimizing the control of a drag-maneuvering, Starship-class re-entry vehicle by closely integrating high-fidelity aerodynamic data derived from Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, specifically using StarCCM+. The aerodynamic models, tailored to the unique geometry of a drag-maneuvering body, are seamlessly incorporated into a guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) framework. This integration enables closed-loop CFD simulations with real-time control feedback, allowing for direct analysis and optimization of vehicle stability, trajectory, and control demands throughout the re-entry process.

Building upon the work of Gaglio and Bevilacqua, this advanced CFD-GNC model introduces high-order aerodynamic effects, such as aerodynamic moments and …

Assessing Hpv And Hpv Vaccine Awareness And Perception Amongst Undergraduate Students, Maura Hawkins

Honors Theses

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in the United States. Vaccination rates remain low among college-aged students despite an effective vaccine being available. This study investigates HPV and HPV vaccination-related knowledge, beliefs, and perceptions among undergraduate students to inform targeted intervention strategies. Participants included undergraduate students (n = 19) who attended one of three focus groups conducted in April 2025 at the University of South Alabama. Structured interview guides explored HPV knowledge, perceived risk and severity, attitudes towards vaccination, autonomy in health decision-making, trust in health information sources, and preferred educational strategies. Discussions were …

Fractured Focus: Understanding Stress In Second-Year Radiologic Science Students Across Alabama, Kelsi Clotfelter

Honors Theses

Higher education is a period of rapid transition and growing responsibility, where stress often becomes a routine part of students’ lives. In health professional programs, the combined demands of intensive coursework and clinical training can intensify emotional strain and negatively affect overall well-being. Radiography students experience uniquely high levels of academic, clinical, and emotional stress due to the simultaneous demands of didactic coursework, competency-based clinical training, and high-stakes professional expectations. A cross-sectional mixed-methods study was employed to evaluate the prevalence, sources, and perceived impact of stress among second-year radiography students across multiple Alabama institutions with the goal of identifying strategies …

Influence Of Stormwater Flooding Events On The Mobile County School District Student Population, Kadence Kali Johnston

Honors Theses

Mobile County, Alabama, receives among the highest annual rainfall totals in the United States resulting in frequent stormwater flooding that intersects with existing socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Within the Mobile County Public School System (MCPSS), 77% of students are economically disadvantaged and over 10% experience homelessness, creating heightened risk for educational disruption during flood events. This study investigates how stormwater flooding influences school attendance, closures, and academic performance across MCPSS, providing insight into how climate-driven hazards exacerbate educational inequities. The research integrates flood frequency, school performance metrics, and GIS flood-zone mapping and teacher perceptions to understand how flooding affects student learning opportunities. …

Evaluating Fungicide Programs For Grapevine Disease Management And Fungicide Sensitivity Monitoring, Abraham Ahumada

Master's Theses

Grapevine diseases, such as powdery mildew and Botrytis bunch rot, require repeated fungicide applications to maintain fruit quality and reduce yield losses. However, fungicide performance can vary among products, application programs, disease pressure, and pathogen sensitivity. This thesis evaluated fungicide programs for control of powdery mildew in ‘Chardonnay’ grapes and assessed fungicide sensitivity of Botrytis cinerea isolates collected from California vineyards.

Powdery mildew, caused by the fungal pathogen Erysiphe necator, is a major threat to the production of Vitis vinifera grapes worldwide. Because powdery mildew management relies heavily on fungicide applications, field evaluations are needed to compare the efficacy …

Statistical Evaluation Of A New Orleans Historic Rainfall Dataset (1840–1893), Arielle C. Filostrat

LSU Master's Theses

This study evaluates the climatic credibility of a newly identified historical rainfall dataset for New Orleans, Louisiana, spanning 1840–1893. The New Orleans Historical Dataset (NOHD) is compared to a modern observational record from the Audubon rain gauge (1893–2024) to determine whether nineteenth-century rainfall observations are consistent with known precipitation behavior in the region. Establishing the reliability of early records is critical for extending climatological baselines and improving understanding of long-term rainfall variability.

Historical rainfall observations were first evaluated through archival review using the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal and other nineteenth-century meteorological records to verify notable rainfall events. Daily …

Reducing Missed Opportunities For Crc Screening Via Provider Reminder System In A Primary Care Setting, Komfort Cofield

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background: Although highly preventable with screening, colorectal cancer (CRC) continues to be a major source of illness and mortality in the United States. Healthcare providers at the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project site inconsistently ordered CRC screening for eligible patients due to deficiencies in the point-of-care reminder system. These system failures created missed opportunities for CRC prevention and reduced compliance with established practice guidelines.

Purpose: This DNP project aimed to implement and evaluate a CRC screening checklist given to patients at appointment check-in, serving as a reminder for providers to order appropriate screening tests.

Project Design: Using the National …

Addressing Hypertension Medication Non-Adherence Through The Use Of Reminders And Morisky Medication Adherence Scale In Adults Diagnosed Within The Past Year In A Rural Primary Care Clinic, Amanda M. Weaver

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background: Adherence to antihypertensive medications is essential for decreasing long-term consequences of uncontrolled hypertension, including stroke, kidney failure, and cardiovascular diseases. However, nonadherence is a widespread problem among patients diagnosed with hypertension. In patients who have been diagnosed with hypertension in the past year, more than half stop taking their medications. Mobile health interventions, such as text message or telephone reminders, are a low-cost way to improve medication adherence.

Purpose: The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice project is to examine how a weekly text message or telephone reminder impacts medication adherence among patients taking antihypertensives in a rural …

A Multifaceted Approach To Human Papillomavirus (Hpv) Vaccine Uptake Among Adolescents Ages 10-14 In A Public Health Clinic, Amy T. Norris

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States and a leading cause of several preventable cancers. Although the HPV vaccine is safe, highly effective, and routinely recommended for adolescents, vaccination rates remain below national targets, particularly in rural and public health settings. Multiple internal and external factors contribute to low HPV vaccination rates in public health settings.

Purpose: The Doctor of Nursing Practice quality improvement project aimed to increase HPV vaccine uptake through the implementation of a multifaceted, evidence-based intervention.

Project Design: Guided by Pender’s Health Promotion Model and the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, …

Reducing Asthma-Associated Absenteeism At A School-Based Health Center Using Asthma Control Test (Act) Scoring, Concetta Terry

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background: Asthma is a common chronic condition that can lead to increased school absences and lower academic performance. A needs assessment at a rural school-based health clinic identified gaps in care for students with asthma and high absenteeism rates.

Purpose: This Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) quality improvement project aimed to reduce asthma-related absences by personalizing care using Asthma Control Test (ACT) scoring.

Project Design: Using a pre- and post-intervention design, this DNP quality improvement project followed the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework to evaluate the impact of implementing the ACT on asthma-related absenteeism in a rural school-based health center. The project …

Reducing Missed Appointments In An Ambulatory Infusion Center, Jacqueline G. Jones

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background: Missed appointments at ambulatory infusion centers (AIC) continue to be a problem, even with improved scheduling systems and care coordination efforts. Nationally, missed appointment rates average 10%–12%, and in Central Alabama, the rate is 11.7%. However, one local AIC has a much higher missed-appointment rate of 17.8%. Missed appointments lead to wasted facility resources, increased healthcare costs, and interruptions in infusion therapies.

Purpose: This Doctor of Nursing Practice project used live reminder calls to help lower missed appointments in an AIC. The goal was to improve attendance, reduce missed appointments, and maintain consistent care.

Project Design: Over ten weeks, …

Improving The Accuracy Of Medication Reconciliations For Medicare Advantage Patients At A Primary Care Clinic Using An Interdisciplinary Team, Sallie Mann

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background: Medication-related problems (MRPs) are a significant and often preventable cause of patient harm, particularly among older adults with complex medication regimens. In primary care settings, inaccurate or incomplete medication reconciliations contribute to adverse drug events, avoidable hospitalizations, increased healthcare costs, and reduced patient satisfaction.

Purpose: The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project was to evaluate whether implementing an interdisciplinary medication reconciliation process using the Medications at Transitions and Clinical Handoffs (MATCH) Toolkit would improve reconciliation accuracy in Medicare Advantage patients aged 65 and older in a primary care clinic.

Project Design: This DNP project used the …

Optimizing Workflow In Advanced Gastroenterology: An Initiative To Improve Turnaround Times, Aundrea Prewitt

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background: Procedure room turnaround time in advanced gastroenterology is defined as the interval between one patient exiting the procedure room and the subsequent patient entering. Prolonged turnaround times contribute to decreased operational efficiency, delays in care delivery, and suboptimal resource utilization. Current facility turnaround time is 39 minutes, and there is no standardized policy to guide the turnaround process.

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to develop a standardized operating procedure that guides policy change in advanced gastroenterology through implementing a sustainable turnaround process that reduces procedure room turnaround time.

Project Design: The quality improvement initiative used …

Ethical Visual Truth: An Analysis On Vietnam War Photojournalism, Anna Lauryn Carmichael

Theses

This thesis examines the ethical dimensions of Vietnam War photojournalism through close analysis of four iconic photographs: Nick Ut's The Terror of War (Napalm Girl) , Eddie Adams's Saigon Execution , Catherine Leroy's Vietnam, February 1967 , and Gilles Caron's Untitled (Who's the Enemy Here?) . Rather than treating these images as transparent documentation, this thesis argues that Vietnam War photojournalism functioned as a contested medium of narrative construction, one whose most celebrated images achieved iconic status by conforming to Western visual conventions and institutional demands, rather than by capturing some unmediated truth. Drawing on the interconnected frameworks of visual …

What Is Media Authenticity?: A Guide To Detecting Authentic Media Literacy, Kawan Yarbrough

Theses

This project seeks to answer the question of what media authenticity is, as it relates to different forms of popular media such as social media and content creators, content consumers that also actively post on social media, Reality Television and also touching base on how Artificial Intelligence has infiltrated the lives of many. Aside from discussing academia that has been published on this topic prior, my project will additionally include a quick guideline for being able to detect inauthentic media, and give quick points and recommendations for people that have no active media literacy training of any kind that can …

Choice-Based Artmaking And Critical Pedagogy Through Art As Activism: A Classroom Case Study And Teaching Framework, Emma Klindworth

Theses

This practice-based graduate project examines how choice-based artmaking in a student-centered art classroom can foster critical thinking, reflection, and engagement with contemporary social, political, and cultural topics through art education. Built upon literature on critical pedagogy, student-centered art education, and creative problem-solving, this project combines a pilot lesson, “Art as Activism”, with a qualitative case study. By analyzing student reflections, this project examines how revisions, informed by those findings, demonstrate the ways student choice and student connection to subject matter influence engagement and critical thinking.

The findings of the case study following the “Art as Activism” pilot lesson, suggest choice-based …

Academic Achievement Of Students In The United States: The Lived Experience Of Being A Black, Hard-Of-Hearing College Learner, Tracy Laneis Ivy

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Black Deaf and Hard of Hearing college students’ current educational experiences are shaped by their lived experiences in high school classrooms. This qualitative study centers the voices and lived experiences of 15 Black Deaf and Hard of Hearing college students. The purpose was to explore how the participants, first-, second-, or third-year college students, made meaning of their high school classroom experiences and how those experiences continued to influence their college experiences. This study was informed by Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory in Education, and Counter-Narrative.

Data were collected using Seidman’s three-interview series, which required …

The Role Of Mindfulness In Building Sustainable Educational Leadership, Joe Mueller

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Educational leaders work in environments characterized by sustained responsibility, complex decision-making, emotional demands, and persistent stress. While these demands are well documented in the current literature, the question of how educational leadership might remain healthy, effective, and sustainable still remains. Mindfulness has emerged as a potential resource for managing and navigating stress across multiple professional fields. Despite a growing interest in mindfulness, little research has directly examined the connection between dispositional mindfulness and perceived stress among practicing educational leaders. The purpose of this study is the examination of that connection among educational leaders in the state of Minnesota. This research …

The Standardization Of Teaching: Minnesota Elementary Teacher Perceptions Of Academic Standards In 21st-Century Classrooms, Katie Rotvold

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This sequential explanatory mixed methods study examined how Minnesota elementary teachers’ perceptions of academic standards and assessment influence their instructional practices in the context of 21st-century classrooms. Guided by Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior, the study explored teachers’ attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control related to implementing academic standards. Quantitative data were collected through an online questionnaire completed by 221 Minnesota elementary teachers, followed by qualitative analysis of open-ended survey responses and semi-structured interviews with four teachers. Results indicated that teachers generally held positive attitudes toward academic standards, perceived strong expectations from administrators and state policymakers to implement …