Digital Commons Network^™

Dynamic Aperture Maximization Methods, Kevin J. Hamilton

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Particle accelerators consist of some of the most prolific machines for achieving a long-standing history of successful experiments that have progressed fields such as particle physics, nuclear physics, solid state physics, and medical physics. In recent years, multiple studies have been conducted on how further progress in these fields can be made and the beams physics community has concluded that developing new accelerators to minimize the loss of particles, induce high intensity beams, and remain stable under perturbations is essential to the continued success of physics research. Each of these qualities correspond to finding methods to increase the so-called dynamic …

Creative Works By Ed Fehringer, M.D., Ed Fehringer

The Art of Medicine

• Ode to a Skeleton
• Progress

Creative Works By Zoe Keese, Zoe Keese

The Art of Medicine

• A Family History of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Creative Works By Elizabeth Kettler, Elizabeth Kettler

The Art of Medicine

• Towards the Sun

Just Okay Is Not Okay, Cam Torrens

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A career Air Force commander who's spent thirty years teaching decisive leadership avoids the one confrontation that would complicate his retirement.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

My Aircraft!, Cam Torrens

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A newly minted C-130 instructor pilot co-flies a combat airlift with a three-star fighter general in the left seat—until the touchdown threatens disaster.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Air Force Brotherly Love, Maxiejane Frazier

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A freshman cadet at the Air Force Academy struggles through illness, hazing, and the rigid culture of military training. When a line is crossed, her brother—a senior cadet—intervenes.

Jane, Jesse Huckins

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

An EMS worker writes a poem to a woman named Jane, reflecting on a single late-night emergency call that lingered long after the sirens faded.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience …

Letter To The Board, Anonymous Author

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

A Marine lieutenant colonel challenges the military’s definition of the “ideal” commander, defending a career shaped by family, service, and leadership over tradition.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

The Unexpected Day, Daniel Minninger

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

An ordinary morning at an Air Force detachment takes an unexpected turn when an Airman is called to recover the remains of a deadly aircraft crash. What he finds in the field will follow him for years.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing …

The Effects Of Gesture And Age On Jurors’ Perceptions Of Child Witnesses, Jihan Hani Rashed

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Jurors’ perceptions of child witnesses can have significant influence in judicial outcomes, particularly in cases where children’s testimony is central (Goodman et al., 1997; Goodman et al., 1998; Castelli et al., 2005). The role of gesture in shaping jurors’ perceptions is underexplored. Studies highlight that gesture enhances memory recall and reduces cognitive load, making it an important component of effective communication (Goldin-Meadow et al., 2001; Hudson & Sheffield, 1998; Cook & Fenn, 2017). The present research consisted of two studies examining whether child witnesses’ use of gesture during recall of an alleged crime affected jurors’ perceptions of witness credibility and …

The Effect Of Innovative Value Proposition On Buyer Reactions: The Moderating Roles Of Price Orientation And Perceived Risk, Chad Stuttz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Value propositions are essential to the success of personal selling in the Business-to-Business (B2B) context. While earlier studies have offered valuable insights into the roles of value propositions in driving B2B sales, they have often regarded value propositions as uniform. In this dissertation, I argue that value propositions vary in their levels of innovativeness. The dissertation introduces the concept of innovative value proposition (IVP) and proposes that IVP indicates greater future growth potential to buyers, leading to more favorable reactions such as responsiveness and willingness to engage than less innovative ones. Additionally, the dissertation explores the moderating effects of buyer …

Sedimentological And Geochemical Investigation Of The Origin Of Upper Pennsylvanian Black Shales, East-Central Appalachian Basin, Tyler Hickey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In the east-central Allegheny foreland basin, laminated black shales overlying Upper Pennsylvanian Glenshaw Fm. coal seams record paleoenvironmental conditions associated with the termination of peat swamp deposition before, during, and after the Carboniferous Coal Forest Collapse (CCFC), a major paleobotanical evolutionary event during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) that contributed to extinction of lepidodendrons near the Desmoinesian-Missourian boundary (~306 Ma). Previous investigations of the CCFC commonly implicate an episode of aridification during intensification of LPIA glaciation that stressed the lepidodendrons beyond their ecological tipping point; however, the cause of this aridification is unclear. An investigation of Glenshaw Fm. black …

Social Media Addiction And Its Influence On The Physical Social Interactions Among West Virginia University Students, Blessing Ochom Omaleko

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

ABSTRACT

Social Media Addiction and its Influence on the Physical Social Interactions Among West Virginia University Students

Blessing O. Omaleko

This qualitative study investigated social media addiction and its perceived influence on face-to-face interactions among 14 West Virginia University students using an open-ended qualitative survey. Grounded in Griffiths' (2013) behavioral addiction components, salience, mood modification, conflict, and relapse, the data were analyzed using Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Findings revealed that while students characterized their social media use as a habit rather than an addiction, their descriptions aligned with multiple addiction components. Students consistently valued in-person interactions over online …

Feasibility Study Of Concurrent Removal Of Organics And Ammonium Using An Iron Dosed Upflow Anaerobic Sludge-Blanket Bioreactor, Morgan Elizabeth Amos

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Aerobic microbial reactions have commonly been utilized in treatment processes to oxidize and remove organics and nitrogen through aeration, using processes such as nitrification that converts ammonium (NH₄⁺) into nitrite (NO₂^-) and nitrate (NO₃^-). Anoxic microbial reactions like denitrification often require organic compounds as an external source to chemically reduce the oxidized nitrogen (NO₃^- and NO₂^-) to nitrogen gas (N₂) for nitrogen removal from the liquid phase. These mainstream processes have a high chemical cost and energy footprint which results in an increased release …

Operationalizations Of Adverse Childhood Experiences And Health Prediction, Sarah Josephine Miller

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has been consistently linked to suboptimal health outcomes and behaviors across the lifespan. As such, there has been widespread adoption of measures like the 10-item cumulative ACEs count measure developed by Felitti and colleagues (1998) across research literature and clinical practice. However, this measure was not developed with consideration of optimal psychometric properties and thus consists of several limitations that inhibit understanding of the specific dimensions of adversity that influence health outcomes. This 3-study dissertation focused on different measurement and statistical techniques to better understand the associations between ACEs and health. In study 1, …

Taxpayers Willingness To Use Ai Conversational Tools, Nessrine Mesto-Assaad

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

With the rapid emergence of Artificial Intelligence Conversational Tools (AICTs), such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini, and their widespread use, the need to understand users’ acceptance of this emerging technology has increased. Prior research has investigated users’ acceptance of AICTs in hospitality, tourism, e-commerce, and retail industries. However, users’ acceptance of the use of AICTs for tax information remains relatively underexplored in the tax context. Therefore, this study investigates taxpayers’ willingness to accept and use AICTs for tax-related questions when e-filing their tax returns. Drawing on the Artificial Intelligence Device Use and Acceptance (AIDUA) model as a research framework, this …

International Students Experience Show: A Television Content To Prepare African Students For Study In The United States., Eric Atsu Senyo

Masters Theses

For many African students, studying in the United States begins with hope but often leads to confusion, isolation, and unmet expectations. This creative thesis presents International Students Experience Show, a 26-minute television shows designed to prepare African students for the realities of studying in the U.S. Grounded in Uses and Gratifications Theory, the project positions media as an active tool for empowerment through storytelling, practical guidance, and emotional engagement.

The series addresses key challenges, housing, transportation, mobile communication and daily life experiences through a hybrid format of personal testimonies, panel discussions, expert interviews, and field segments. Featuring nine African international …

The Final Boys' Club: Conceptualizing A Final Boy Of 1980s Horror, Ej Newton

Masters Theses

Carol J Clover’s (2015) Final Girl, the female slasher protagonist who survives to the end of the movie, has become a staple of horror scholarship, providing insight into the function of gender within the genre as well as our cultural beliefs surrounding femininity. Given the attention paid to horror’s leading ladies, however, another fascinating figure has gone unexplored: the Final Boy. This project analyzes nine horror films from the 1980s with young male protagonists in order to conceptualize and critique this previously unidentified trope. Utilizing McKerrow’s (1989) critical rhetoric as a guide, this research not only provides a thorough definition …

Exploring Phonics Intervention For Elementary Students, Hallee Thomas

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Feasibility Of Corn Stover For Biogas Production In Northwestern Illinois: A Case Study Of Jo Daviess And Carroll Counties, Anthony Amotoe-Bondzie

Masters Theses

The growing demand for renewable energy and sustainable waste management has intensified interest in agricultural residues such as bioenergy feedstocks. This study evaluated the feasibility of converting corn stover into biogas through anaerobic digestion (AD) in Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties, Illinois, with consideration of the Savanna Industrial Park as a potential centralized processing hub. Although corn stover represents one of the largest biomass resources in the United States, this research identifies a critical gap between theoretical availability and practically recoverable feedstock. Using a mixed-methods framework, the study integrates biomass quantification, methane yield modeling, economic analysis, and policy assessment. Results …

It Takes A Village: Residents’ Perceptions Of Mount Prospect’S Place Branding, Jenna Strauss

Masters Theses

The Village of Mount Prospect has heard a fair share of negative critiques about the village’s branding; however, officials have not yet taken the initiative to rebrand. As stated by a village official, the village needs to understand what residents think about the branding before considering a rebrand. This knowledge offers valuable insight into what branding elements are liked/valued by residents, but also whether a rebrand would cause resistance or a mini crisis. Place branding literature highlights that residents determine the authenticity of a place brand (Braun et al., 2013), so Mount Prospect officials seek to make future branding decisions …

“To Hell With Words, [Say] Something!”: An Expressivist Manifesto For The Revival Of Authentic Voice Amid Robocolonial Echoes Of Llms In Composition Studies, Dani Rose Fitch

Masters Theses

This article explores the intersection of composition pedagogy and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), arguing that large language models (LLMs) impose a robocolonial standardization of language. By mass-producing algorithmically predictable text based on Standard American English (SAE), LLMs threaten the tenets of Students’ Right to Their Own Language (SRTOL) and drown out diverse linguistic identities. The author distinguishes between the embodied, intentional discovery of meaning in human intelligence and the voiceless echo of formulaic LLM generation.

Applying Baudrillard’s theory of simulation, the author positions GenAI-produced texts as pure simulacra—copies that have lost all connection to a human referent. By synthesizing Baudrillard’s …

Replication Of The Construct Validity Of The Cas2: Rating Scale, Isabelle Joann Kurowski

Masters Theses

Naglieri et al. (2014) created the Cognitive Assessment System Second Edition: Rating Scale (CAS2: Rating Scale) to assess cognitive functioning of children based on teacher observations for use in Tier I screening purposes. The current study is a replication of Graham (2025) study that assessed the construct validity of the CAS2: Rating Scale by comparing it to the Learning Behaviors Scale (LBS). Based on prior findings from Canivez and Gaboury (2016), this study hypothesized that the Attention and Planning subscales of the CAS2: Rating Scale would be most closely related to the Attention/Persistence and Strategy/Flexibility subscales of the LBS, respectively. …

Epigenetic Modifications In Dedifferentiated Liver Cells To Restore Lost Liver Function, Shreya Sharma

Masters Theses

The goal of the study is to investigate whether the epigenetic modifications can enhance the restoration of liver gene expression in dedifferentiated hepatoma cells or not. For the study, we used dedifferentiated H11 hepatoma cell lines which overexpress one of a panel of introduced candidate liver-enriched transcription factors H11-HNF1a, H11-CREB3L3, H11-CREG1, H11- HHEX, H11-HNF6, and H11-IGFBP1. The cells were treated with the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5-azacytidine and the histone deacetylase inhibitor sodium butyrate, both individually and in combination. Gene expression analysis was determined by RT-qPCR, which revealed that while transcription factor overexpression alone produced limited activation, epigenetic modulation, particularly Histone …

Shadow Of The Rising Sun: How Japanese Culture Was Transferred To The United States Via Foreign Policy, Alex Pearson

Masters Theses

Post-World War II U.S. economic foreign policy towards Japan aimed to revitalize the war-torn country’s economy and spread democracy to the East. The economic foreign policy enacted by the United States to revitalize the Japanese economy resulted in an increase and “normalization” of Japanese culture in America. This thesis explores the connection of post-war American foreign policy to the increase of American exposure to Japanese culture that sparked normalization. By focusing on the efforts of U.S. policymakers and the positive media coverage of Japanese culture in the United States, a clear correlation between economic foreign policy and the normalization of …

Acceptability Of The Five In 20 Classroom Observation Tool: A School Administrator Sample, Ciara Krowas

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to expand the research on the social validity of a standardized classroom observation tool (the Five in 20 Classroom Observation Tool; FCOT), that assessed the use of five critical features in effective classroom management strategies. Forty-two school administrators (who had experience providing classroom observations and feedback) were recruited. Participants viewed a 20-minute video of a second-grade teacher’s classroom instruction while simultaneously completing the FCOT. Then, participants completed the modified Behavior Intervention Rating Scale (M-BIRS), which was adapted to measure participants’ acceptability of the FCOT. Most administrators (74%) found the FCOT to be an acceptable …

Hierarchical Analysis Of Predictors Of Public Speaking Anxiety, Ruimin Peng

Masters Theses

Public speaking anxiety (PSA) is a prevalent type of phobia that shares many similarities with social anxiety. This paper examines factors related to social anxiety and PSA. Previous literature has identified self-efficacy, perfectionism, and fear of negative evaluation (FNE) as factors related to both social anxiety and PSA. However, less attention has been given to fear of positive evaluation (FPE) and international status, although these two factors are likely related to PSA. This study employed hierarchical regression analysis to investigate the predictive power of FPE and international status on PSA, while controlling for self-efficacy, perfectionism, and FNE. FPE, academic status, …

Personality-Based Clinical Predictors Of Transdiagnostic Suicidality In Emotional Disorders, Harshini Arun

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Religiosity And Spirituality: The Mental Costs And Benefits Of Belief In A College Setting, Tyler Geis

Masters Theses

The relationship between religiosity and spirituality (R/S) with mental health has been widely discussed in more recent years. This thesis examines factors related to religiosity, spirituality, depression, anxiety, and stress, as well as how various stigmas toward mental health, mental health treatment, and mental health treatment seeking may relate to R/S and mental health. Previous literature has identified religious coping with hardship, positive and negative dimensions of sin and behavior, the structure of different religious groups, and overall spiritual wellbeing as factors related to R/S, mental health, and beliefs about mental health . However, most previous literature come to differing …