Digital Commons Network^™

10 Years Of The Hive: Successes, Challenges, And Lessons For Designing Creative Learning Hubs In Higher Education, Celine Bernhardt-Lanier

CMC Senior Theses

College students are often told to be “innovative” and to prepare themselves for a rapidly changing job market. Yet, most institutional learning environments are built for everything but that, focusing on efficiency, mastery, and content delivery. The Hive, formerly known as the Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity, pushes against this reality in higher ed. Founded ten years ago and nestled in a corner of East 7th Street in Claremont, California, the Hive brings together students, faculty, and staff through workshops, classes, skillshares, and events that are centered around making, reflecting, and collaborating. Drawing on eight semi-structured …

Politics Of A Silent Pandemic: Antimicrobial Resistance And State Capacity In India And Nigeria, Mia Kelly

CMC Senior Theses

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) has emerged as one of the most pressing yet widely underestimated health threats of the 21st century; this thesis explores the potentially devastating global impact of this “silent pandemic”, exposing how deeply health outcomes depend on political choices, regulatory capacity, and economic constraints. Although the danger of spreading drug-resistant pathogens is now widely acknowledged in both the scientific and political communities, states differ in their abilities to contain the issue, with low- and middle-income countries facing the greatest obstacles to national action plan implementation. This thesis investigates these disparities through a comparison of India and Nigeria, two …

Keeping America Ahead: The Global Chip Conundrum, Ethan Chen

CMC Senior Theses

Semiconductors underpin nearly every aspect of modern economic, military, and technological power. Yet while the United States pioneered chip innovation and design, it now heavily depends on foreign manufacturing, particularly Taiwan and the Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company who produce more than 90% of the world’s leading edge chips. This thesis investigates how the U.S. lost its fabrication leadership, what risks its current dependence creates, and what strategies can most effectively restore domestic capacity and resilience in both the short term and long term. By going through historical analysis of industrial development, recent policy evaluation such as export controls and the …

An Examination Of Sycophantic Llms: The Case For Withholding Judgement, Josephine C. Albrecht

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis investigates sycophancy in large language models (LLMs) and argues that although agreement can be socially appealing, it introduces serious epistemic and moral risks. Through Mrinank Sharma’s experiments, I show that sycophancy emerges reliably across major AI assistants, which adjust their responses to match users’ beliefs; even when those beliefs are incorrect. I explain how deep learning and reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) shape these behaviors, and why models learn to prioritize user satisfaction over truth. While agreement can build trust, mimic expert testimony, and satisfy human preferences, it also produces epistemic bubbles and misplaced confidence. These risks …

The Tcja And Shareholder Payouts, Carson T. Bloom

CMC Senior Theses

Abstract

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) provided corporations an estimated $233 billion in tax savings, yet relatively little is known about how firms allocated this cash windfall. This study examines whether growth and mature firms differed in whether they used these tax savings to distribute dividends and repurchase shares. Using panel data on publicly traded North American firms from 2016–2019, I classify firms as either growth or mature based on their cash-flow patterns and estimate the effects of the TCJA on their behavior using a difference-in-differences design.

The results indicate that mature firms increased shareholder payouts significantly more …

Esg And Misvaluation In U.S. Equity Markets, Rohaan Bhojwani

CMC Senior Theses

Existing research has produced conflicting conclusions on whether environmental, social, and governance (ESG) characteristics are efficiently priced in equity markets. While some studies argue that ESG performance improves firm value through lower risk and stronger fundamentals, others suggest that investor demand has inflated valuations in the past beyond intrinsic worth. This thesis examines whether ESG-driven valuation gaps represent justified pricing through firm fundamentals or systematic mispricing using Bartram and Grinblatt’s Agnostic Fundamental Analysis Framework (2018).

For this paper, I analyze the top 1000 U.S public firms by market value. I regress the market value on 19 accounting fundamentals for these …

Loan-Heavy Aid: Consequences On Academic And Early-Career Outcomes, April Zhang

CMC Senior Theses

This study examines how the composition of financial aid, specifically the balance between loans and grants, shapes students’ academic performance, major selection, and early career outcomes. Using administrative data from the University of California system (2007-2019) and post-graduation records from UC Irvine, I analyze how loan reliance influences both educational trajectories and labor-market results. The key measure, loanshare, captures the fraction of total aid financed through loans rather than grants. This allows for comparisons among students with similar financial need, expected family contribution, and total aid levels. Results show that students with more loan-heavy aid packages earn significantly lower …

Roles Of Cytokines In Modulating Trypanosoma Brucei Rhodesiense Infection Outcomes In Vervet Monkeys, Clarah Jebet, John Kibuthu Thuita, Daniel Masiga, Benedict Owino Orindi, John Oidho, Mark C. Field, Enock Matovu, Vincent Owino Adung’A

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Introduction:

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), caused by Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, is categorized as acute due to rapid disease progression but presents varying clinical outcomes. Although the mechanisms underpinning differential clinical progression are poorly understood, both host and parasite factors are implicated. Therefore, we sought to elucidate roles of primate host factors in mediating varying T. b. rhodesiense infection outcomes.

Methods:

Here, we assessed the roles of selected host cytokines in disease progression using a tsetse-mediated infection in a non-human primate (NHP) vervet monkey model that closely mimics HAT and natural infection. We quantified eight cytokines, including TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-6, …

Impact Of Environmental Microparticles On Insect Olfaction, Steve B.S. Baleba, Danube K.N. Wandji, Yves H. Tchiechoua, Komi Mensah Agboka, Iman B. Hassaballa, Victor O. Omondi, Beatrice T. Nganso, Saliou Niassy, Souleymane Diallo, Merid N. Getahun

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Terrestrial insects underpin key ecosystem services, including pollination, herbivory regulation, decomposition, nutrient cycling, and disease control. These functions depend on chemical communication that guides insects to food, mates, hosts, shelters, and oviposition sites while helping them avoid threats. Environmental microparticles, such as micro- and nanoplastics, tyre wear particles, soot, mineral dust, and agricultural residues, are now widespread across air, soil, vegetation, and indoor environments, exposing insects through contact, deposition, and ingestion. Growing evidence shows that these particles disrupt insect olfaction by adsorbing volatile compounds, blocking antennal sensilla, and interfering with receptor and neuronal processes. These disruptions impair foraging, mating, oviposition, …

Pathways, Outputs And Impact Of Nih-Supported Bioinformatics And Genomics Graduate Trainees In Africa, Daudi Jjingo, Andrew Walakira, Suhaila Hashim, Cisse Cheickna, Ronald Galiwango, Caleb Kibet, Florence N. Kivunike, Gerald Mboowa, Fredrick Elishama Kakembo, Babajide Ayodele, Jean Baka Domelevo Entfellner, Santie De Villiers, Karen Wambui, Segun Fatumo, Tinashe Chikowore, John Mukisa, Alfred Ssekagiri, Nicholas Bbosa, Julius Mulindwa, Samuel Kyobe, Mike Nsubuga, Grace Kebirungi, Eric Katagirya, Savannah Mwesigwa, Ibra Lujumba, Rogers Kamulegeya, Samuel Kirimunda, Stephen Kanyerezi, Shahiid Kiyaga, Ivan Sserwadda, Davis Kiberu, Daniel Masiga

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Global biomedical and health research is increasingly relying on genomic and computational approaches, largely driven by the increasing volumes of nucleic acid sequencing. Concurrently, epidemiological studies and clinical records are generating enormous amounts of data amenable to disease modeling, machine learning, and artificial intelligence techniques. Bioinformatics and data science expertise is therefore essential for improved population health. Accordingly, in 2012, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in partnership with the Wellcome Trust, and with support from the African Society for Human Genetics, initiated the H3Africa (Human Heredity and Health in Africa) consortium. One of its key goals was to …

The Impact Of Teachers’ Roles As Boundary Crossers And Boundary Objects In Post- Covid Composition Instruction, Tammie Marie Pierce

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teachers’ perceptions of rapid technology integration and its influence on composition instruction and cognitive load in physical, digital, and hybrid spaces. Grounded in theories of boundary crossing and the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, the study conceptualized teachers as both boundary crossers, navigating instructional spaces, and boundary objects, serving as the support tools for their students’ transitions into digital composition. Data were collected from five ELA teachers in a rural school district through surveys, individual interviews, and questionnaires, and analyzed using a two-phase coding process. Findings indicate that teachers perceived …

Improving Retention Rates Of Teachers Through Analysis Of Second-Career Educators, Colton Perry Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Teacher retention rates have been an issue in education for decades. New teachers continue to leave the field at an alarming rate, despite research and attempts to improve their retention. This study focuses on the population of second-career educators and their reasons for remaining in the field at a higher rate than traditional teachers (those who enter the field directly out of college). The researcher’s focus is to determine which experiences and skills gained by second—career teachers in their previous careers result in them experiencing lower rates of attrition once entering education. A qualitative study will be conducted using semi-structured …

Determining Knowledge Gaps In Natural Disaster Preparedness: An Exploratory Analysis Of Socioeconomic Variables And Response Quality, Michelle S. Repass

Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory study examines potential knowledge gaps in natural disaster preparedness across socioeconomic groups in Lee County, Alabama and identifies communication barriers affecting response behavior through the lens of the knowledge gap hypothesis. Survey data from 20 residents were analyzed using an objective socioeconomic status (OSES) score based on household income and highest level of education. Results indicate that while most respondents reported access to weather alerts and favorable behavioral responses that align with current guidelines from the National Weather Service, gaps are present in comprehension, response timing, and engagement in risky behavior that could delay protective action. Findings suggest …

Machine Learning For Predicting Prosthetic Limb Movements, Jessica Alexandra Cegarra Arraiz

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis develops and evaluates a deep learning-based prediction model capable of identifying intended limb movement from surfaced electromyography (sEMG) signals using sequence learning techniques. sEMG signals change over time due to multiple factors such as muscle fatigue or user variability. Traditional prosthetics control methods rely on static feature extraction, ignoring how signals change over time, thereby limiting their ability to capture the temporal changes of muscle activity. As a result, these approaches often lead to poor accuracy, robustness, and generalization. Limited experimental validation has been conducted on sequence-based machine learning approaches using temporal sEMG data from publicly available datasets …

Exploring Secondary Stem Teachers’ Experiences In Online Learning Environments: A Directed Content Analysis Using The Community Of Inquiry Framework, Tiffany Janese Lester

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a directed qualitative content analysis of 21 peer-reviewed studies published between 2020 and May 2025 on secondary STEM teaching in online environments. Using the Community of Inquiry framework, I examined how teaching, social, and cognitive presence shaped instructional strategies, teacher experiences, and reported challenges. Coding with deductive and inductive methods identified recurring themes: teachers adapted to digital platforms, navigated uneven levels of digital fluency, and implemented intentional strategies to maintain social interaction. The studies also revealed persistent equity gaps in access and participation alongside innovative approaches to course and pedagogical design. These themes demonstrate how secondary STEM …

Writing Against The War Machine: Wiflred Owen's Poetic Challenge To World War I Pro-War Rhetoric, Elizabeth Woods

Theses and Dissertations

Wilfred Owen, a soldier-poet who fought in World War I, is often labeled an anti-war poet, with some claiming that he was against the war in its entirety. This thesis explores the opinion that Owen is not an anti-war poet but rather that he wrote against anti-pro-war rhetoric. This includes all types of pro-war rhetoric influential in England for recruitment purposes but mainly focuses on poetry that would be published in newspapers for everyday readers to see. Owen seems to specifically resist two types of pro-war rhetoric, the myth of the German barbarian and what he called the old lie. …

Evaluating Hybrid Quantum-Classical Models For Image Classification In The Nisq Era, Utku Binkanat

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a systematic empirical evaluation of quantum machine learning performance under noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era constraints. Through 670 controlled experiments, it evaluated quantum kernel support vector machines and variational quantum classifiers against classical baselines on MNIST binary and multiclass classification tasks with systematic variation of problem difficulty, feature dimensionality (4, 8 qubits), and training set size (n ∈{100, 250, 400, 500, 2000, 4000}). Statistical rigor was ensured through five random seeds per condition and comprehensive significance testing. During the testing with binary datasets, classical methods (SVM, logistic regression, k-NN, neural networks) achieved 85.9% to 99.6% accuracy with …

Ai And Its Impacts On Modern Theatre, Micaiah J. Byrd

Theses and Dissertations

What do you think of when you type a question into a search engine, and the “AI Overview” pops up without your having to request it? What may happen if theatre students and theatre industry professionals have that same ability to type in a prompt into an AI generator, and it has the ability to produce an output of a theatrical design concept with that same level of ease. Is this even possible with the programs that we have now, or could it be anticipated that this could be possible in the future. Would this be a benefit or would …

Affects Of Ai In The Arts, Carolina D. Maldonado Faria

Theses and Dissertations

Art is an essential part of society, shaping culture, communication, and the digital world through forms such as music, writing, film, and animation. However, the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has created conflict in the creative industry. Many AI systems are trained using artists’ works without consent, raising concerns about copyright infringement, intellectual property theft, and the loss of artistic value. While AI was originally intended as a tool for innovation, it now threatens artists’ careers and profits by imitating human creativity. This issue highlights the need for ethical regulations, stronger copyright protections, and fair compensation systems so AI and …

Reframing Sexual Assault And Intimate Partner Violence Through A Maternal And Child Health Lens: Implications For Integrated Prevention, Policy, And Practice, Daija C. Gibson

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual assault and intimate partner violence remain persistent public health concerns in the United States, with significant consequences for individual health, family stability, and population well-being. Although these forms of violence are frequently addressed through criminal justice and behavioral health frameworks, less attention has been given to their implications within maternal and child health, where relational dynamics, life course development, and intergenerational outcomes are central. This study reframed SA and IPV as core MCH issues to examine how integrated, systems-based approaches can strengthen prevention efforts. A structured literature review and systematic synthesis of peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2026 …

Unmasked And Unprotected: An Autistic Poet's Journey Of Imperfect Confession, Cynthia Short

Theses and Dissertations

Cynthia Short’s thesis analyzes the consumption and contortion of neurodivergent experience across the clinical, personal, and artistic stages. Combining intersectional memoir with clinical research, traditional poetics, and spoken word experience, she weaves a first-person narrative of consumption and redefinition by systems that did not understand her. Yet, she argues that imperfect confession -done without self-knowledge, resources, or proper self-worth to resist consumption – still has its place. Her collection of twenty-nine self-authored poems serves as a testament to the growth her imperfect confession allowed, outlining her struggles with identity, clinical experimentation and economic survival in a world not meant for …

Evaluation Of Valley Healthcare System Inc. School-Based Health Clinic/Center At Dorothy I. Heights Elementary School In Columbus, Georgia, Nakia Ford

Theses and Dissertations

School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs) are an important strategy for addressing health disparities and improving educational outcomes among underserved students. In Columbus, Georgia, barriers such as limited insurance, transportation challenges, and provider shortages contribute to unmet health needs, which are linked to increased absenteeism. To address these issues, Valley Healthcare System, Inc. (VHCS) implemented a School-Based Health Clinic (SBHC) at Dorothy I. Heights Elementary School. This study evaluates the effectiveness of the SBHC in improving student attendance outcomes. A quasi-experimental, difference-in-differences design compared Dorothy I. Heights Elementary School (treatment group) before and after SBHC implementation (2021–2022 and 2022–2023) with a similar …

The Importance Of Multi-Component Strategies And Healthcare Worker Compliance In Preventing Healthcare-Associated Infections: A Systematic Review, Michelle Northcut

Theses and Dissertations

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) remain a preventable threat to patient safety and are linked to morbidity, mortality, antimicrobial resistance, and increased healthcare costs (CDC, 2024; AHRQ, 2024). Evidence suggests that 30–70% of HAIs may be prevented through consistent application of infection prevention practices; however, implementation and adherence gaps persist (CDC, 2024). This systematic review examined the relationship between healthcare worker compliance with infection prevention practices and infection outcomes and explored how institutional and organizational factors influenced both compliance and infection outcomes.

Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, searches were conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, ProQuest, and Google Scholar for studies published between 2015 and …

Understanding Maternal Morbidity And Mortality Rates In Georgia, Ebony Hall

Theses and Dissertations

The United States continues to have a significant concern for public health regarding the maternal morbidity and mortality rates. In contrast, women of African American descent and other marginalized populations maintain a disproportionately higher rate of pregnancy-related disparities. More specifically, in Georgia, a persistent number of disparities can correlate to a lack of access to adequate prenatal care, insurance status, and many other social determinants of health that are linked to the contribution of adverse maternal health care outcomes. The purpose of this research study is to evaluate various maternal health experiences during pregnancy, while focusing on the occurrence of …

Confidence In Action: A Qualitative Inquiry Into Teachers' Perceived Abilities In Implementing Instructional Technology, Latorri West

Theses and Dissertations

Education is evolving through the integration of academic content and technology to support student success. Despite significant investments in educational technology, challenges persist in effective implementation, particularly in rural contexts where resources and support may be limited. Using the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, the researcher investigated teachers’ perceptions of implementing the i-Ready adaptive learning platform in a rural Georgia school district. i-Ready, an adaptive diagnostic and instructional tool for reading and mathematics used by more than 25% of U.S. schools, represents a widely adopted educational technology that requires specific technical, pedagogical, and content knowledge for successful implementation.

The …

Servant Leadership: A Directing Approach, Charles Hearn

Theses and Dissertations

When involved with traditional stage directing, the process may feel very hierarchical, and only a few voices are heard when decisions are made; such is the method of the directing approach. Servant leadership, ideals argue that it is more beneficial to rely on others and dismantle unnecessary hierarchies when available, to not just enhance the product but the people and the process itself. Stage directing from a leadership perspective can not only perform the task at hand, directing, but also enhance the people involved with the production using a process like that found in servant leadership. This thesis focuses on …

Child Maltreatment Risk Identification In Complex Caregiving Environments: A Public Health Review Of Split-Custody And Multi-Household Family Contexts, Makenzie Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Child maltreatment remains a significant public health concern with lifelong consequences for children's health, development, and well-being. As children's caregiving environments become increasingly diverse through split-custody arrangements, blended families, kinship care, and other multi-household contexts, recognizing and assessing child safety concerns may become more complex. Although these family structures are not inherently associated with maltreatment, the distribution of caregiving responsibilities and information across multiple households may complicate child maltreatment risk identification.

This capstone presents a scoping review of peer-reviewed literature examining child maltreatment risk identification within complex caregiving environments. The review synthesized evidence related to caregiving environments, caregiver relationships, child …

Determinants Of Routine Childhood And Adolescent Vaccine Hesitancy And Uptake Among Parents In The United States: A Scoping Review, Precious Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Routine childhood and adolescent vaccination is an essential public health strategy for preventing disease and protecting communities. However, parental vaccine hesitancy and barriers to vaccine uptake continue to affect vaccination decisions in the United States. This scoping review examined factors associated with routine childhood and adolescent vaccine hesitancy and uptake among U.S. parents. A comprehensive literature search of PubMed and EBSCO identified peer-reviewed studies published in English between 2016 and 2026. Studies focusing on parents, guardians, or caregivers of children and adolescents in the United States were screened according to predefined eligibility criteria. Of 69 records identified, 52 remained after …

Edge Guided Channel Attention In Fsrcnn: A Novel Approach For Depth Super Resolution, Yagneshkumar Jayantilal Parmar, Paresh M. Dholakia

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Depth images from low-cost sensors often suffer from blurred edges and structural distortions when processed with standard super-resolution models. While FSRCNN is efficient for RGB images, it struggles to handle the unique geometric requirements of depth maps. To solve this, we propose the Edge Guided Channel Attention FSRCNN (EGCA FSRCNN). This method incorporates an edge-guided modulation mechanism to preserve object boundaries and a Squeeze and Excitation (SE) block to focus on critical structural features. A major benefit of this framework is the use of frozen, pretrained FSRCNN weights, which bypasses the requirement for retraining. Our evaluation on the UTKinect, Middlebury, …

On Saying Goodbye: Interactional Role Liminality & Post-Death Symbolic Interaction, Deborah Cobb

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Grief is often understood as a process that culminates in detachment, with "saying goodbye" positioned as both an emotional and social necessity. Yet many bereaved individuals describe a different experience, one in which supernatural post-death contact allows them to receive messages from their deceased loved one. Drawing on 22 in-depth interviews and 47 anonymous open-ended surveys, this study explores how individuals who experience unsolicited post-death communication interpret these encounters and integrate them into everyday life. Analysis revealed three interconnected themes: resistance to saying goodbye, interpretation of encounters as specific messages from the deceased, and emotional stabilization following continued contact. These …