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Motivation System Evoked By High Performance Work System In Chinese Universities And Colleges - An Examination Of The Relationship Between Human Resource Practices, Basic Psychological Needs, And Job Performance, Juan Chen

Doctoral

High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) are strategic, integrated Human Resource Practices (HRPS) designed to enhance employee abilities, motivation, and opportunities for participation, driving sustained organisational performance. While early research emphasized commitment HRPS, recent studies recognise that control and commitment HRPS are complementary rather than mutually exclusive, with neither holding an absolute advantage. Their success depends on contextual factors such as country, industry,organisation, economic environment, and workforce. In Chinese higher education institutions, transitioning from a high-commitment “iron rice bowl” system to a more control-oriented HR model has created tensions between efficiency and academic freedom. Based on the resource-based view, social exchange …

Using Drawings To Understand Undergraduates’ Perceptions Of Politics—The Us And Ireland, John Hogan, Sharon Feeney, Paul Kosempel

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Purpose: This article seeks to gain insights from the interpretations of freehand drawings produced by American and Irish students, young voters, in response to the question: “What is American/Irish politics?” Our goal in using freehand drawing is to foster a collaborative and critical learning environment where participants enhance their ability to interpret and engage in self-reflection. Design/methodology/approach: Freehand drawing is a visual representation method that can bypass cognitive verbal processing pathways as part of a critical pedagogy. This approach enables participants to create clear, more critical, and inclusive depictions of their understanding of a topic, regardless of their vocabulary. Over …

Leveraging Natural Language Processing Methods For Next Generation Customer Service In Telecommunications Industry, Hesham Abdelmotaleb

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This research explores application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods to better understand and improve customer service feedback in telecom industry. We collect novel reallife datasets of customer reviews and social media comments within British telecommunication industry over one year. Then, we apply three main modelling approaches. First, we study topic modelling for short text: we propose a new evaluation metric for GSDMM model and demonstrate that our metric helps to choose meaningful topics when texts are very brief. Second, we perform an extensive comparative study of word embedding models for text classification: we test nine word embedding and feature …

A General Tool To Assist With On Orbit Manufacturing, Richard Arundal

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

On-Orbit Manufacturing (OOM) presents a transformative paradigm in space mission design, enabling the in-situ production of components, tools, and large-scale structures beyond terrestrial constraints. This dissertation investigates the feasibility of OOM missions by developing a modular, iterative algorithm to support early-stage mission design and scenario analysis. The central hypothesis is that such an algorithm can be parameterised to evaluate a wide spectrum of manufacturing cases in space, ranging from small utility items to large structural systems.The research pursues four core objectives: assessing the terrestrial manufacturing lifecycle and its applicability in the space environment; identifying candidate manufacturing techniques suitable for orbital …

Coupled Thermo-Structural Analysis Of Steel Reinforced Geopolymer Concrete Structural Members, Bin Zhang

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This thesis investigates the coupled thermal, flexural and steel–concrete bond response of steel-reinforced geopolymer concrete (GPC) and ordinary Portland cement concrete (OPCC) beam cross-sections subjected to one-sided standard fire exposure. A sequential analytical framework is developed to link transient heat-transfer analysis, temperature-dependent sectional flexural analysis, and temperature-dependent bond and flexural–bond coupling assessment.The thermal analysis is performed using a one-dimensional transient heat-conduction model implemented in MATLAB PDEPE. Separate temperature-dependent density, specific-heat and thermal-conductivity relationships are adopted for OPCC and GPC. A dedicated OPCC model of the B1 validation specimen is assessed against 13 matched experimental reinforcement-temperature measurements, giving R^2=0.9542 and an …

Life Cycle Assessment Of Marine Composite Recreational Craft Manufacturing And Operations, Badr Moutik

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Marine composite recreational craft are growing in number. Sectoral roadmaps for sustainable development are increasing pressure to demonstrate life cycle environmental performance. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been identified as a key strategic decision support tool. However, current practice is undermined by sparse, non-representative data and methodological inconsistencies. These weaknesses increase the risk of biased or misleading interpretation, constrain wider uptake of LCA, and limit the sector’s ability to respond credibly to tightening environmental sustainability expectations. This thesis assesses the cradle-to-grave environmental impacts of a market-representative glass-fibre reinforced plastic (GRP) motor yacht across 16 impact categories. The research builds on …

The Effects Of Altered Partial Pressures Of Gas On Cognitive And Neural Function, Daniel Graham

School of Psychology Theses

Oxygen is central to neural function, yet the precise mechanisms and effects by which varying oxygen levels, whether through Hypoxia, Hyperoxia, or Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), shape cognition and brain activity remain incomplete. This thesis adopts a novel, multi-modal framework that integrates normobaric gas manipulations, cognitive testing, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Electroencephalography (EEG), Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), and HBOT to examine how gas and pressure variability influences cognitive, motor, and neural processes. Chapter 3 presents the findings of a preliminary experiment investigating normobaric oxygen manipulations on cognition. Standardised cognitive assessments revealed domain-general impairments (i.e. memory and executive function) under …

A Psychosocial And Psychometric Exploration Of Hikikomori In The Uk, Gregory Gorman

School of Psychology Theses

Hikikomori - originally identified in Japan as a severe form of social withdrawal - has evolved into a global phenomenon mirroring broader transformations in labour, technology, and identity. Once deemed a culture-bound syndrome, it is increasingly understood as a “society-bound” expression of psychosocial strain, existential unease, and retreat from normative life scripts. This thesis advances understanding of hikikomori by developing and validating psychometric tools, identifying subtypes of withdrawal, and situating the phenomenon within wider socio-cultural, digital, and philosophical frameworks.Empirical chapters detail the development of two novel tools: the Hikikomori Risk Inventory-13 (HRI-13) and the expanded Hikikomori Syndrome Behaviour Scale (HSBS). …

Am I Top Of The Pops? Does Feedback Of Live Gps Between Sets Of Hurling-Specific Small-Sided Games Improve Subsequent Running And Physiological Performance?, Shane Malone, John Keane, Tom Hargroves, Conor P. Clancy, John David Duggan, Damien Young, Kieran D. Collins

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

The investigation aimed to determine if live feedback of team- and player-specific global positioning system (GPS) running performance data between bouts of hurling small-sided games (SSGs) altered the physical and physiological responses during subsequent bouts of SSGs during a 6-week hurling pre-season period. Twenty-four (n = 24) hurling players (age 25.5 ± 3.2 years; height 177.9 ± 3.2 cm; body mass 83.5 ± 4.5 kg) received either feedback or no feedback during hurling-specific SSGs across a 6-week pre-season period. Teams were assigned to two specific groups, a) GPS live feedback or b) no GPS live feedback (control) for each session, …

From Platelets To Particles: Optimizing Extracellular Vesicle Isolation In A National Blood Centre, Y. Chintala, A. Waters, F. Mcgrath, A. Lorusso, C. Wynne, S. Meaney

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Background and Objectives: Platelet-derived extracellular vesicles (PEVs) are submicron, membrane-bound particles released upon platelet activation, with a recognized role in haemostasis, inflammation and immunoregulation. PEVs remain insufficiently characterized in blood products. This study compared four isolation methods to evaluate their impact on PEV yield, purity and characteristics, aiming to identify a practical approach for transfusion service workflows. Materials and Methods: PEVs were isolated from expired single-donor aphaeresis platelet concentrates (n = 12) using methods based on different isolation principles: ultracentrifugation (UC), size exclusion chromatography (SEC), mixed size/charge separation (hybrid) and an affinity-based spin column method (affinity). Size, number and biochemical …

‘Male Victims Of ‘Honour Crimes’: A Critical Examination Of The Concepts Of ‘Honour’ And The Wider Debates Surrounding ‘So-Called Honour-Based Violence’ And ‘Hate Crime’, Narissa Maclennan-Matthews

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences Theses

This thesis critically interrogates the experiences of male victims of ‘so-called honour-based violence and abuse’ (SCHBVA) through an intersectional criminological framework. It draws primarily on Barbara Perry’s theories of ‘Doing Difference’ (2001; 2003) and the ‘in terrorem effects’ of hate crime (Perry & Alvi, 2012), alongside insights from Structural Criminology (Hartjen, 1978; Kramer, 1985) and Humanistic Criminology (Hagan, 1986). Drawing on semi-structured interviews with male survivors and criminal justice professionals, and employing thematic and case study analysis, the study examines how violence is produced and legitimised across intersecting axes of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and religion.Building on Perry’s conceptualisation of ‘Doing …

Plymouth Naval Command: A Study Of Interservice Co-Operation During The Second World War, James Bartle

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences Theses

This thesis examines the role of ideas of interservice co-operation in the operations of Plymouth Naval Command during the Second World War. The importance of naval shore commands has been a significant omission from studies of the war at sea. Located at strategic points around Britain, they were vital in controlling the flow of convoy shipping, while also co-ordinating attacks against enemy surface forces and submarines. This was achieved using a marriage of air and sea power between the Royal Navy and Coastal Command, a relationship that was developed during the 1920s and 1930s. Using Plymouth Command as an entry …

Sadqn-Based Residual Energy-Aware Beamforming For Lora-Enabled Rf Energy Harvesting For Disaster-Tolerant Underground Mining Networks, Hilary Kelechi Anabi, Samuel Frimpong, Sanjay Madria

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The end-to-end efficiency of radio-frequency (RF)-powered wireless communication networks (WPCNs) in post-disaster underground mine environments can be enhanced through adaptive beamforming. The primary challenges in such scenarios include (i) identifying the most energy-constrained nodes, i.e., nodes with the lowest residual energy to prevent the loss of tracking and localization functionality; (ii) avoiding reliance on the computationally intensive channel state information (CSI) acquisition process; and (iii) ensuring long-range RF wireless power transfer (LoRa-RFWPT). To address these issues, this paper introduces an adaptive and safety-aware deep reinforcement learning (DRL) framework for energy beamforming in LoRa-enabled underground disaster networks. Specifically, we develop a …

Code-Switching, Identity-Shifting, And Identity Distress Among Black Undergraduate Women Attending Predominantly White Institutions, Erin Smith

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Code-switching (altering language or speech) and identity-shifting (modifying appearance or behavior) are adaptive strategies often used by individuals from marginalized groups to navigate environments shaped by dominant cultural norms. Although these behaviors are commonly discussed in qualitative literature, relatively few quantitative studies have examined their psychological correlates among Black undergraduate women attending predominantly White institutions (PWIs). These behaviors may function as coping strategies in response to racialized and gendered expectations, yet the psychological implications of these strategies remain understudied. The present study examined the relationships among identity distress, code-switching, identity-shifting, and gendered racial identity centrality within a diverse sample of …

For Whom The Tale’S Told: Multilevel Perspective On Narrative And Identity In Information Ecosystems, Jihye Song

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

In contemporary online information environments, narratives do not merely convey facts. They organize meaning, signal identity, and guide collective sensemaking. During periods of crisis and uncertainty, these processes become especially salient, as individuals and communities turn to social media to interpret unfolding events. At the same time, these environments are shaped by complex sociotechnical dynamics, including platform affordances, algorithmic amplification, elite influence, and grassroots participation. These dynamics form ecosystems in which narratives and identities are constructed, contested, and stabilized. Drawing on theory and empirical analyses of COVID-19 discourse on Twitter, this work develops and applies a multilevel framework to explain …

Examining Relationships Between Pre-Arrival Information, Perceived Preparedness, And Distressing Call Outcomes Among Firefighters, Victoria L. Steigerwald

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Responding to distressing emergency calls increases firefighters’ risk for negative mental health outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder, warranting investigation into factors that can be targeted to reduce their risk for call-related distress. The present study examined whether the completeness of pre-arrival information about a distressing call reduced firefighters’ peri- and post-call distress via their perceived preparedness for the call and whether general self-efficacy moderated the relationship between pre-arrival information completeness and perceived preparedness. Data were analyzed from 173 active firefighters in the United States (89.0% male, mean age=37.98 years) who completed an online survey asking them to report on levels …

Building Eden Where We Can, Ireland Thomas

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Building Eden Where We Can is a nonfiction memoir told in vignettes that come together to build a wider story. Through these vignettes, we are shown a narrator who is simultaneously surviving an abusive family, navigating a rare diagnosis, and coming to terms with their queerness. By braiding narratives and maintaining these various threads, this collection examines the intersections of sickness and religion, tradition and freedom, as well as fear and love. The lattermost dichotomy is represented in the narrator’s ultimate choice to leave behind a life of fear in the mother figure’s safe cage. In exchange, they receive a …

Thermomechanical Modeling Of Transpiration Surfaces For Hypersonic Propulsion, Spencer D. Smith

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Hypersonic flight vehicles are a promising form of high speed passenger transport and efficient space access architectures. However, they are fundamentally a thermally limited technology. High heat fluxes exceeding 10 MW/m2 and gas temperatures between 3000-4000K can be found both within the engine, and on the outer surface. Current conventional engineering materials are non-viable at these conditions. In order to make these materials viable, active cooling strategies could be utilized. One particularly promising type is transpiration cooling, where a coolant is diffused through a porous surface. Although researched heavily in the 1960s, adoption is still minimal. Part of the reason …

Chirpi - Implementing And Analyzing The Chirp Communication Algorithm On Esp32 Hardware, Calvin Vanwormer

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This work presents the implementation and experimental evaluation of the CHIRP communication algorithm on resource-constrained ESP32-S3 microcontrollers, bridging the gap between simulation-based validation and real-world deployment. CHIRP is a lightweight, fully decentralized peer-to-peer protocol designed for IoT networks with dynamic node membership, enabling runtime node join and leave operations without centralized coordination or global reconfiguration. The implementation comprises two main components: C-based node firmware running on FreeRTOS [1, 2], which implements the full CHIRP protocol including peer discovery, round-robin pairing, and firefly-inspired phase synchronization, and a Python-based experiment controller that orchestrates network experiments and collects per-node metrics without influencing protocol …

A Sensor Fusion And Optimization Framework For High-Resolution Power Outage Detection And Energy Asset Allocation, Elizabeth Trader

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Existing power outage datasets lack the spatial and temporal resolution required for neighborhood- level risk assessment, and conventional energy system design optimizes for cost without accounting for community-level demand - resulting in inefficient and inequitable asset de- ployment. This dissertation presents IONCORTEX, a framework integrating three technical contributions: a heterogeneous sensor fusion pipeline combining social media signals with municipal infrastructure records for intersection-level outage detection at six-hour tempo- ral resolution, maintaining detection capability during telecommunications disruptions; a techno-economic analysis pipeline evaluating photovoltaic, battery storage, hydrogen, and diesel portfolios using NREL’s System Advisor Model with Monte Carlo uncertainty quan- tification; and …

Abig4l: A Semantic Reasoning Engine For Verilog Via Abstract Interpretation, Alicia Thoney

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Modern Electronic Design Automation (EDA) flows treat structural and semantic reasoning as separate concerns. Synthesis structurally optimizes RTL, while dedicated verification teams validate functional behavior through testbenches and formal methods. This organizational divide means designers have no automatic, sound way to understand what their RTL does at the moment they are writing it. This thesis introduces AbIG4L (Abstract Interpretation of Generic 4-valued Logic), a static analysis framework that bridges this gap by delivering sound semantic reasoning automatically, directly within the hardware design loop.

The framework operates on a language-agnostic intermediate representation to compute sound over-approximations of hardware behavior across 0, …

Invisible Stress, Visible Patterns: How The Superwoman Schema Shapes Diet And Feeding Practices In Black Mothers And Their Youth During The Summer Versus School Months, Jillian Weathington

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Background: Black mothers are frequently socialized into the Superwoman Schema (SWS), a coping pattern characterized by self-sacrifice and suppression of personal needs. Alongside significant caregiving demands, SWS may limit healthy eating opportunities, yet its relationship with diet quality (DQ) remains understudied. SWS may also intensify during unstructured summer periods. This study examined associations between SWS, perceived stress, and DQ among Black mothers and their youth during summer (T1) and school months (T2).

Methods: This observational within-subjects study included Black mothers (T1: n=51; T2: n=32; mean age 39.6±6.1) and their youth (mean age 10.6±0.3). Assessments occurred at two timepoints six weeks …

Dynamic Interactions Of The Compressible Reacting Flow With A Morphing Wall In A Supersonic Combustor, Mason R. Thornton

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The influence of compressibility on supersonic reacting flows is explored by varying the area expansion ratio in a supersonic cavity combustor using a moving wall. In principle, this design allows on-the-fly adjustment of the combustor aft wall expansion ratio to accommodate variable inlet conditions and fueling rates. The variable back pressure broadens the operability envelope and ensures greater pressure rise recovery compared with a constant geometry combustor. The results demonstrate that modulating area expansion alters the combustor pressure distribution and can influence cavity flame dynamics. At sufficiently high equivalence ratios and compression levels, the back pressure induced by the moving …

Threads Of The Past: Exploration Of Banal Medievalisms In Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine, Evan Garrett Wallace

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This dissertation examines how medieval historical narratives circulate within contemporary Western digital discourse surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian political rhetoric has frequently invoked the medieval polity of Kyivan Rus’ to assert civilizational continuity between the medieval past and the modern Russian state. While these claims have been widely discussed in political and media contexts, less attention has been given to how such narratives appear within everyday online discourse. This study investigates how medieval references are mobilized, circulated, and interpreted within social media environments during the early conflict.

The research draws on a dataset of approximately 160,000 tweets collected from …

Sonic Costumes For Immersive Theme Park Storytelling: Developing Interactive Wearables To Enhance Performer, Audience, And Environment Interaction, Rachel Yee

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Costumes enhance the themed experience through visual storytelling while also allowing performers to interact fluidly with a physical space. These garments are typically passive storytellers in theme parks, even if the performers interact directly with guests. Some garments coordinate with and react to elements of the themed environment, predominantly when worn by performers within live shows, parades, or streetmosphere settings. However, this interactivity is often available only at a distance from guests, causing a separation between audience and performer. For instance, lights on parade costumes, such as those throughout Disney’s Magic Kingdom Park, often synchronize only with parade floats and …

Infrared Systems And Their Application On Target Detection And Geolocation, Li Zhang

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

The infrared spectrum contains various sub-bands (from near infrared (NIR) to long-wave infrared (LWIR), which are specialized at different detection tasks. Objects that are well camouflaged to human vision can be highly noticeable in NIR imagery. For vision navigation, the varying illumination condition and the cluttered urban background poses challenges in the visible band but can easily be resolved by using a thermal imager operating in LWIR. Despite this potential, practical deployment remains limited by the lack of suitable platforms, task-specific datasets, and long-duration field validation. This dissertation addresses these gaps through the design and evaluation of two infrared sensing …

Ecological And Evolutionary Responses To Environmental Change In Two Large North American Mammals, George Zaragoza

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Climate change and urbanization are resulting in rapid shifts in ecosystems. The effects of these changes are complex, and understanding how species respond is critical for predicting their impacts on genetic diversity and evolution, as well as changes in habitat suitability. Species can respond to these changes in two major ways: through behavioral or genetic adaptation, or by moving to more suitable habitat as conditions change. Adaptive genetic change, in particular, can support behavioral and physiological responses that enable species to persist in novel or changing environments, and understanding these changes can help predict how species will respond to anthropogenic …

Bowtie Antenna-Coupled Bi₂Te₃–Sb₂Te₃ Thermoelectric Detector For Millimeter-Wave Radiation, Rumana Zahir

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

We explore the development of antenna-coupled thermoelectric detectors for long-wavelength radiation using sputtered bismuth telluride (Bi₂Te₃) and antimony telluride (Sb₂Te₃) thin films. Detection in the infrared, millimeter-wave, and terahertz regimes is critical for sensing, imaging, and energy applications; however, many existing detectors rely on cryogenic operation, exhibit narrow spectral response, or require complex material systems. In this work, we investigate the feasibility of reliable, room-temperature long-wavelength detection using microfabricated thermoelectric thin films integrated with antenna structures. A systematic full-factorial experimental approach was employed to determine how sputtering parameters and post-deposition annealing influence …

Charge Transport Modeling Of Multifunctional Molecular Transistors, Romena Akter

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Distinguishing between the current–voltage characteristic curves associated with different transport mechanisms in a molecular electronic device and an artifact arising from device-level disorder is a central challenge in the study of molecular electronics. Characterizing these mechanisms and connecting them qualitatively to molecular-level orbital alignment, electrode coupling, voltage division, energetic disorder, and reorganization energy requires not only experimental data but also a rigorous theoretical framework for extracting physically meaningful parameters from measured transfer characteristics. This dissertation addresses this challenge in Chapters 2, 3, and 4 by developing and applying four complementary transport models —Simmons tunneling, single-level Landauer, Marcus hopping, and McConnell …

From Motherhood To Sisterhood: Women Strike For Peace And The Transmission Of Feminist Consciousness, Olivia R. Aldrich

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Women Strike for Peace (WSP) has traditionally been understood as a maternalist peace movement that emerged in response to atmospheric nuclear testing during the early Cold War era. This thesis argues that WSP’s history reveals a more nuanced relationship between motherhood, feminism, and political activism than existing scholarship has suggested. Rather than operating in distinct stages, maternalism and feminism operated simultaneously, working alongside one another throughout the organization’s history. Furthermore, this thesis builds upon Ednie Kaeh Garrison’s concept of feminist “radio waves,” arguing that WSP functioned as a transmitter of feminist consciousness, where ideas, organizational practices, and different political identities …