Digital Commons Network^™

Llms-Based Text-To-Sql For Geospatial Information Retrieval, Temitayo Olamilekan Ogunsusi

All Theses

Text-to-SQL aims to translate natural language questions into SQL queries that can be executed on databases, enabling non-expert users to retrieve information without learning formal query languages. Early Text-to-SQL systems relied on rule-based methods and semantic parsers, while recent advances in deep learning have achieved strong performance by jointly encoding user questions and database schemas. However, these approaches typically require large, annotated datasets and specific model architectures. With the emergence of large language models (LLMs), such as GPT-4, Llama, and Gemma, Text-to-SQL systems can leverage powerful natural language understanding capabilities to generate SQL queries using zero-shot or few-shot prompting. Despite …

Multi-Task Growing Interpretable Neural Network For Multi-Target Symbolic Regression, Hussein Rajabu

All Theses

Over the past decade, deep learning has achieved remarkable success across domains such as computer vision and natural language processing. Despite their strong predictive capabilities, these models often function as black boxes, limiting transparency and making them difficult to trust in high-stakes applications such as healthcare and business decision-making. While explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) methods improve interpretability, most approaches remain post-hoc, focusing on statistical associations rather than uncovering the underlying functional mechanisms governing predictions.

Symbolic regression (SR) has emerged as a promising direction within XAI by directly discovering explicit mathematical expressions that describe relationships between inputs and outputs. Unlike traditional …

The Impact Of Palm Cooling On The Physiological And Cognitive Function Of Aerobically Trained Individuals, Katherine L. Tibbs

Honors Theses

Background: Cooling strategies have been shown to combat the harmful effects that an increase in body temperature can potentially cause, and palm cooling in particular has been adopted due to its effectiveness in mitigating muscle fatigue during exercise. While there is clear support that this improves muscular strength and endurance, there is a lack of research on the impact palm cooling has on the mental aspect of physical activity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cognitive and physiological effects of palm cooling on aerobic exercise performance. Methods: Ten aerobically trained participants between the ages of 18-35 were …

Neither Academy Nor Convent: Reconciling Religious And Feminist Readings Of Mary Astell, Hannah E. Brown

Honors Theses

Mary Astell is frequently interpreting through competing frameworks: as either a feminist advocate of women’s rational autonomy or a religious conservative committed to Anglican orthodoxy. This division reflects a broader tendency in Astell scholarship to separate her intellectual, moral, and theological commitments into distinct and often conflicting domains. This paper argues that such fragmentation is not grounded in Astell’s own philosophy but is instead the result of interpretive assumptions—particularly the view that intellectual autonomy and religious obedience are incompatible. By examining Astell’s account of reason, education for women, and spiritual development, this paper demonstrates that these elements form an integrated …

American Coverage Of The Killing Of Awdah Hathaleen: A Case Study, Charlie F. Nichols

Journalism

This project analyzes coverage from major American news outlets regarding the killing of Awdah Hathaleen by Yinnon Levi, using firsthand accounts of the event as a point of reference. These accounts are organized into a timeline of the event that coverage is compared with. The propaganda model outlined in Manufacturing Consent by Herman & Chomsky (1988) is used as a theoretical framework, namely the concept of unworthy victims. This framework posits that victims of violence perpetrated by American client states are framed as deserving of said violence. This addresses a gap in the literature of comparing coverage with a verifiable …

Stretch Web Teleoperation Keyboard Final Report, Aaron Chou, Francisco Irazaba

Computer Engineering

This project added keyboard controls to the Hello Robot Stretch Web Teleop interface. The goal was to make the robot easier to control from a web browser without needing a gamepad or separate terminal-based keyboard program. The new interface allows users to control different parts of the robot with customizable key bindings.

Pennsylvania Licensed Clinical Social Workers’ Experiences With Medicare Insurance Plans Within Private Practice, Stevie N. Kioske

Social Work Doctoral Dissertations

Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs) in private practice in Pennsylvania make critical decisions regarding the populations they serve and the type of insurance to be credentialed with. Current research shows there is minimal participation among Medicare insurance plans, both traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans, with mental health practitioners and minimal research centers from the perspectives of LCSWs. The findings from a mixed-methods dissertation study that examines Pennsylvania LCSWs' experiences working with Medicare beneficiaries and the factors that influence the decision to accept or opt out of Medicare.

A self-administered questionnaire has been completed to obtain quantitative data and 92 …

Spectacle And Survival: Tourism, Colonialism, And Indigenous Agency In Taiwan, A Case Study Of Alishan And The Tsou Indigenous Group, Ganga Corsaro

Standard Theses

This thesis examines tourism in Taiwan as a contemporary continuation of colonial processes through a case study of the Tsou people and the Alishan region. It traces how Tsou ancestral land was transformed into a national tourist landscape and analyzes how state tourism narratives frame Indigenous land and culture while obscuring histories of dispossession and political exclusion. At the same time, the thesis considers Indigenous tourism as a potential space for cultural continuity and self-representation when shaped by Indigenous authority and community priorities. By bringing together historical context, analysis of tourism materials, and scholarship on Indigenous tourism, this project argues …

Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling Of Counter-Current Flow In Channels Separated By A Membrane, Akram Mashhour Riziq Abdullah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Counter current flow in channels separated by membrane were studied in several published studies. The present study aims to numerically and analytically simulate and physically describe the distribution of pressure, volume flow rate and velocity in counter current flow module. Numerical simulation Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was performed by solving Navier-Stokes (N–S) equations in the channels and membrane pores (vertical channels) to determine pressure and velocity fields. An analytical solution one-dimensional (1-D) model was developed to simulate the flow in the channels and membrane pores by solving the continuity and Darcy’s Law to obtain pressure and volume flow rate. Accordingly, …

Keeping Track Of Time: Does Formal Education Of Temporal Symbols Refine People's Ability To Perceive Time?, Alyssa Gabrielle Smith

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

While many studies find a relation between symbolic and nonsymbolic numerical abilities (e.g., Chen & Li, 2014), whether this relation is causal has been questioned. For example, does learning symbols refine nonsymbolic abilities (i.e., Refinement Hypothesis)? One study found that as children gained proficiency in their verbal counting abilities, their nonsymbolic numerical acuity increased (Shusterman et al., 2016), thus supporting the Refinement Hypothesis. As studies have found similar processing for numerical and temporal abilities (e.g., Walsh, 2003) and a similar relation between symbolic and nonsymbolic timing abilities has been found (e.g., Hamamouche & Cordes, 2020), it begs the question of …

Piloting A Pediatric Screener For Assessing Emergent Literacy With Preschool Children, Nafia Sarhadi

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Shopper Marketing Thesis For Upkept, Chesney Cox

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

This shopper marketing brand thesis focuses on Upkept, an online tailoring and alterations company based in Rogers, Arkansas. Using research gathered through in-depth interviews, empathy maps and user personas are created to better understand customer motivations, behaviors, and perceptions surrounding clothing repair. Based on these insights, three strategic deliverables, partnerships, in-person touchpoints, and expanded services, are designed to increase brand awareness and encourage a shift in target market attitudes toward clothing repair as a valuable, accessible, and sustainable solution.

The Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference: Breaking Down Constructed Borderlands, Melissa Rios

Music ETDs

Despite its significant contribution to the educational mariachi movement in the United States, the history of the Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference (LCIMC), established in 1994, remains largely absent from existing scholarship. This study offers a historical account of mariachi music in Las Cruces and the development of the LCIMC, establishing a foundation for future research on mariachi music in the Mesilla Valley. Distinct from other mariachi conferences that emerged at the turn of the 21st century, the LCIMC was shaped by its location in a border city in New Mexico. Conceptualizing both physical borders and metaphorical border spaces as …

Artificial Intelligence In Video Production, Jonathan Ringor

Theses

This project examines the role of artificial intelligence in video advertisement production and explores whether AI can help bridge the gap between everyday users and professional advertising. The project combined both creative production and audience research. To do this, three original AI-generated advertisements were created in distinct commercial formats: a pharmaceutical advertisement, a petcentered narrative commercial, and a lifestyle montage advertisement. After the advertisements were completed, audience response was measured through a survey of U.S.-based participants. Participants evaluated each advertisement on realism, emotional engagement, trustworthiness, polish, and authenticity. The results showed that the advertisements were not perceived equally. The pet …

The Dynamics Of Trust: Exploring The Unique Antecedents Of Firm Versus Executive Level Trust, Hameeda Sharifi

Executive DBA Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Investigating Calcium Oxychloride Deterioration In Concrete: Analyzing Variation In Laboratory Testing Procedures, Standardized Testing Protocols, And Industry Implementation., Joey Roy Parker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract Access to sustainable infrastructure is critical for society. In the U.S., over $350 billion is spent annually to maintain roadways providing access to education, medical care, and citizen consumer needs. Maintaining service of these systems during severe winter weather events is a significant challenge for maintenance personnel across the country. The use of deicing/anti-icing materials to lower the freezing temperature is a popular mitigation technique used to provide reasonable driving conditions during these times. The combination of these materials, freeze/thaw cycles, and precipitation produce perpetual deterioration and corrosion within reinforced concrete pavements and bridges. In the U.S., over 60% …

Stakeholder Perspective-Taking In Engineering Design: A Neurocognitive Approach, Megan C. Taylor

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Stakeholder engagement is a critically important yet overlooked phase of engineering design. While addressing stakeholders is known to lead to more thoughtful design outcomes, little work has been done regarding how stakeholder personas influence brain activity while designing. This study asks if the introduction of stakeholder personas- short overviews of people affected by a design problem- affects brain activation in undergraduate students during three design tasks: stakeholder identification, stakeholder needs generation, and stakeholder needs prioritization. To test this, 18 undergraduate mechanical engineering students were given a stormwater management design vignette; one group was given four stakeholder personas, while the control …

Brightly Slacked Tight, It Sways, Molly Brooke Martin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Brightly Slacked Tight, It Sways is a body of work that investigates unpredictability and process-based making through collage and materially hybrid forms that combine natural and synthetic elements, operating between drawing, painting, and sculpture. Using familiar, readily available materials gathered from the studio, hardware store, and my surrounding environment, the work embraces improvisation as a generative force. Unpredictability keeps me in relation to the work, interrupting certainty, requiring responsiveness, and mirroring the shifting conditions of the natural world. I break, cut, and recombine sticks gathered from my yard and athletic tape from gymnastics, along with scrap drawings and paintings. Shaped …

Idling, Greta Sky Kresse

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In Idling, I examine the car as a poetic ground where the intimacy of private space and the expansiveness of landscape collapse. The work holds escape and entrapment, movement and stalling, in unresolved tension. Ultimately more interested in the suspended moment than any destination. The work, rooted in my experience growing up Arkansas and engaging in the broader experience of working class Southern life, examines how this space is a site of adolescent life, a memorial site of loss and risk, and a symbol of class mobility and its limitations. Formal motifs developed through my plein air practice unify the …

A Review Of Ufgs And Ufc Specifications For The Mixture Design Process Of Military Airfield Concrete Pavements, Emaduddin Ahmad

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Military airfield concrete pavements require exceptional durability and performance, guided by the stringent criteria of the Department of Defense (DoD) Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) 3-25-04 and Unified Facilities Guide Specifications (UFGS) 32 13 14.13. Currently, the mixture design approval contains severe pre-construction bottlenecks, primarily due to comprehensive requirements of testing all aggregate sources within six months of project commencement. This rigid approach forces redundant and time-consuming laboratory tests, such as the ASTM C666 freeze-thaw durability test, to be conducted even when utilizing consistent aggregate sources. This thesis reviews the current UFGS mixture design process to identify critical bottlenecks in the …

The Noise Of Time...., Shannon P. Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

"the noise of time…" is a meditation on home, memory, and the fluidity of time, told through image and sculpture (materiality). Rooted in the complexity of Black identity and ignited by the passing of my father, this work began as a challenge: to create something interior and vulnerable, specific to my experience yet open enough for others to hold. Influenced by Gaston Bachelard’s "The Poetics of Space," I consider home—our personal intimate space—not only as a container for objects, but as a sanctuary for dreams, remembrance, and complicated emotions. I observe the home as a structure that holds what cannot …

Engineering Silicone Magnetic Fluids For Localized Radiation Attenuation During Ocular Melanoma Brachytherapy, Zachary L. Caprow

All Dissertations

Ocular melanoma is commonly treated using plaque brachytherapy; however, radiation-induced damage to healthy ocular tissues frequently results in partial or complete vision loss. This work investigates the development of an injectable, magnetically responsive silicone magnetic fluid designed to localize adjacent to the tumor and attenuate low-energy gamma radiation during treatment.

The material system consists of iron oxide nanoparticles surface-functionalized with a siloxane polymer, in which the nanoparticles provide magnetic responsiveness and radiation attenuation, while the polymer coating ensures colloidal stability, injectability, and biocompatibility. A one-pot synthetic approach was developed wherein a functionalized siloxane polymer containing iron-affinitive groups was reacted with …

An Exploratory Study On Perceptions Of Climate Change And Mental Health Among Alaskans, Emily Miranda Cohen

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is a pressing global issue with diverse mental health impacts. However, the relationship between climate change perceptions and mental health remains poorly explored. Rapid climate change in Alaska makes it an ideal setting to explore these relationships. Thus, 204 Alaskan adults were surveyed to assess their perceptions of climate change and explore the relationships between climate change perceptions, exposure to adverse climate impacts, and psychological distress (i.e., symptoms of depression, anxiety, and climate-related post-traumatic stress). Results suggest that participants agree that climate change is real, human-caused, negative, and impacts areas both close to and far from where they …

Stability Of Paraffin-Insulated Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Fiber Ultramicroelectrodes, Maxwell H. Kwakwah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nitrogen-doped carbon materials can facilitate the reduction oxygen-oxygen bonds, a key step in electroreduction of both O₂ (an important reaction in energy applications) and H₂O₂ (an important reaction in sensing and biosensing). Our lab previously demonstrated that thermal decomposition of urea in the presence of carbon fiber (CF) results in an N-doped carbon material that exhibits good electrocatalytic properties for H₂O₂ reduction. However, previous methods of insulating single N-doped CF via laser heating of borosilicate capillaries and epoxy to prepare ultramicroelectrodes (UMEs) seemed to adversely affect surface nitrogen contents and electrocatalytic properties. More recent work that utilized paraffin to …

Social Reading And #Booktok: Exploring Emotion, Community, And Book Promotion On Tiktok, Courtney B. Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how BookTok, a subcommunity centered on reading, functions as a social and emotional domain that shapes contemporary reading culture. Discourse analysis of the most popular videos within the BookTok subspace revealed commonalities in how creators expressed their emotions through text, language, and audio. Patterns of emotional devastation were also present in the discourse, pointing to affective-discursive practices circulating the community. Moreover, a content analysis of the books being promoted across highly engaged BookTok videos uncovered significant themes of romance and an appreciation for modern fiction novels.

Findings suggest that reading functions as a social experience that is …

The Creek And The Cave, Zoe Geltman

Student Theses

A play.

Tropical Hardware, Shane Chase

Student Theses

A collection of poetry.

Preface: In the spring of 2022 I lived in Bethnal Green, a once working-class neighborhood in East London. I grew attached to the area as it gave me a life I couldn’t have back in Florida. Everything needed to subsist was contained within walking distance. My connection to the place grew strong each time I walked through Middleton Green or passed Keeling House rising up out of the fog as I made my way to work. Gradually, I developed a sense of isolation, smelling the salt from the gulf, an ocean that wasn’t there. The threat …

Stone Pace Dog Hill, Haley Lee

Student Theses

A collection of poetry and prose.

Another Inconsistency: A Collection, Christy Luong

Student Theses

A collection of stories.

Selfown, Richard Hollman

Student Theses

A play.