Digital Commons Network^™

Sustainability Of Peatland Area Management With Peat Drainability Assessment At Various Depths, Aulia Bahadhori Mukti, Heru Bagus Pulunggono, Yuli Suharnoto

Jurnal Penelitian Kehutanan Wallacea

This study aims to analyze the distribution of drainability assessment components, including Peat Basal Contact (PBC) and Natural Drainage Limit (NDL) elevations, Drainage Limit Time (DLT), and volume loss, as well as their relationship with peat thickness, subsidence, and groundwater level (GWL) in peatlands. The assessment is conducted to estimate the potential productive lifespan of oil palm plantations by determining the natural drainage limit (NDL) and predicting the time required to reach the drainage threshold, considering subsidence rates across different peat thickness classes. The analysis and calculations were performed using the drainage assessment formulas and procedures outlined by the Roundtable …

A Case Study Of Doctoral Students' Perspectives Of The Drastic Move From An In-Person To Virtual Environment During Covid-19, Martha Patricia Cias

Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative case research study investigated the students’ perspectives during the drastic transition from an in-person to a virtual environment during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021) at the doctoral level. The findings were grouped into six themes and revealed (a) the loss of structure and increased isolation, (b) development of online literacy and increased flexibility, (c) social movements stress and peer/professor support, (d) emotional resilience and resource use, (e) recognition of hybrid and mentorship models, and (f) the need for institutional preparedness considering students as stakeholders/customers. Concluding with the acknowledgement of the capacity of doctoral students to adapt in an unforeseen …

Tennessee County Commissioners' Perception Of The Relevancy Of The University Of Tennessee Extension Agriculture Program, Walter Battle

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The University of Tennessee Extension (UTE) receives 15% of its funding from county governments (University of Tennessee Extension, 2021a). According to Blevins, Jayaratne, Bruce, Bradley, and Stumpf-Downing (2020), the relationship between Extension and county commissioners is vital to the success of county-based programming. Extension agents and specialists program the education services required for agriculture producers to qualify for State Department of Agriculture grants. This study assessed 60 county commissioners’ perception of UTE agriculture education programming efforts. Participants completed a modified version of the instrument utilized by Koon (2006) to assess state legislators’ perception of UTE. Findings suggested there were no …

Anxious Impairment: Exploring Executive Functions And Anxiety In College Students, Dawson C. Mathis

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

College students are tasked with juggling a variety of responsibilities. To manage these responsibilities college students must rely on their executive functioning (EF). Executive function refers to cognitive processes that are used to set goals, make plans to achieve those goals, and shift between tasks when necessary. A large portion of college students report experiencing anxiety and anxiety has been theorized to negatively impact cognitive performance, generally. This study sought to explore the impact of anxiety on inhibition and vigilance performance. Participants’ anxiety scores significantly correlated with the number of omission errors made on the inhibition task. Participants also made …

Transform-Based Quantum Potential Reconstruction From Sparse Spectral Data: Generalized Bertlmann-Martin Moment Inequalities, Matthew Plott

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Inverse quantum problems ask whether a central potential V(r) can be reconstructed from limited spectral information under explicit modeling assumptions. This dissertation develops and validates a reproducible, transform-based framework for reconstructing ground-state radial densities rho(r) = |R(r)|^2 and central potentials V(r) from discrete bound-state energy levels using generalized Bertlmann-Martin (GBM) moment inequalities as physics-informed constraints. In the Laplace route, L(q) is assembled from moment data and inverted numerically to recover rho(r). In the Fourier/form-factor route, even moments determine F(q) and inverse transformation yields rho(r). To support sparse spectral inputs, analytic continuation is performed with Pade approximants, and the framework is …

Unsupervised Discovery And Validation Of Affective Engagement States Using Synchronized Eeg And Eye-Tracking During Digital Learning, Menekse Adar

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores affective engagement states in digital learning environments using synchronized EEG and eye-tracking data. EEG signals were collected from frontal channels and processed using sliding windows to extract band-power features. Frontal Alpha Asymmetry (FAA; log alpha power difference, F4–F3) and the Beta–Alpha ratio (BA; log beta/alpha power ratio) were used as affective proxies. Instead of predefined emotion labels, unsupervised clustering methods were applied to identify latent engagement patterns directly from EEG features. To ensure robustness, non-overlapping parity analysis and hold-out validation were performed. Statistical tests were conducted to compare FAA and BA values across the identified clusters. Results …

Moral Injury Among Healthcare Chaplains: Responding To Systemic Racism Through Ethical Advocacy And Spiritual Care, Stephanie Drew

Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses

Systemic racism against minorities has woven its way into every facet of everyday existence, especially for Black Americans, and Healthcare is no exception. There are numerous proven instances of unfair and inequitable treatment of marginalized patients throughout the Healthcare system, and some have even caused Black patients to lose their lives. The mistreatment of Black and Brown people during perhaps one of the most vulnerable times of their lives is well documented dating back centuries. There are massive cuts to Medicaid, and insurance premiums are steadily going up making it very cumbersome for the poor and disenfranchised to navigate the …

A New Generation Of Inhaled Vaccines, Clark Chapman

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Vaccines have stood the test of time as being one of the greatest developments in health history. Delivery of these life-saving vaccines has primarily remained reliant on intramuscular administration, which has its own collection of shortcomings. When considering what vaccine formulation is best suited to be a widely accessible and effective tool in the fight against respiratory pathogens, current data and science points to a number of improvements available to us. These improvements include:

• An inhaled formulation, uniquely stimulating mucosal immunity

• A dry powder formulation to improve long-term stability

• A live attenuated vaccine to increase immunogenic response …

Curriculum Evaluation For Imagiedu, Madison Leigh Marchand

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This research examines whether or not ImagiEdu's curriculum aligns with the Indiana Academic Standards for K-8 Computer Science, and to determine if it meets the requirements to be approved as "High-Quality Curricular Materials" by the Indiana Department of Education (DOE). ImagiEdu is an award-winning technology education startup from Sweden, and provides inclusive coding education tools designed to help students imagine their future in the tech world. In this project, the DOE's 2024-2025 High-Quality Curricular Materials Rubric was used to evaluate ImagiEdu's curriculum, including its Scope and Sequence, Teacher Handbook, and over 25 Lesson Plans. The evaluation focused on four main …

Partners In Crime: Unraveling Accomplice Involvement In Jury Verdicts, Daphne A. Murray

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The present study is only the second investigation to examine the effects of accomplice witness testimony on jury decision making. For this study, participants read a trial transcript of an assault case in which the defendant was accused of starting a physical altercation. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions where we varied the level of involvement of the accomplice. The three conditions included Accomplice-Altercation where the accomplice was directly involved in the altercation and threw a few punches, Accomplice-Lookout where the accomplice served as a lookout for police arrival, and a No Accomplice condition. The results of …

Illuminating Success: Student And Teacher Perception On Media Center Brainlit Lighting, Jase M. H. Ide

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Lighting plays a critical role in shaping learning environments, yet its influence on students’ cognitive, emotional, and physiological functioning is often overlooked in educational research. This study examined the perceived impact of BrainLit’s biocentric lighting, a daylight-simulating system designed to support circadian rhythms, within an educational setting. The research focused on Sycamore School, the first early childhood through eighth-grade school in the United States to implement BrainLit biocentric lighting. Using a qualitative research design, data were collected through interviews with third- and eighth-grade students and faculty members in the school’s Media Center. Transcribed interviews were analyzed thematically to identify patterns …

Dis/Remembrance: Expressions Of Intergenerational Memory And Where Legacy Lingers: American Warfare, 50 Years From Saigon, Eli(Se) Davidson

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Over fifty years from the Fall of Saigon, the United States continues to question its participation in unjust warfare, both as a nation and as a people. This study examines the transmission of war stories amongst families: specifically, what becomes negotiated in the thresholds of memory and narrative, and what might become of those spaces across past, present, and future. While prior discourse has centered on the authority and authenticity of war memory through political discourse, historical narrative, and public memorialization, the role of storytelling within families remains underexplored. This research addresses that gap through interdisciplinary inquiry and qualitative ethnography …

Religious Discrimination In The Hiring Process Through Examination Of Subtle Resume Cues, Sadie Nelson

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The information included on a resume is a key indicator of a person’s qualifications and experience that will help them succeed at a job. Defining characteristics like a person’s race, ethnicity, gender, or religion are often conveyed through subtle cues on a resume. These subtle cues have the ability to induce unconscious biases that can result in discrimination throughout the hiring process. In contrast to prior research, which has primarily used names and photographs as cues for conveying membership in a protected group, this study examined cues conveyed through the affiliations and activities presented on a resume. A survey containing …

Bioshock: An Objectivist Counter Discourse On Ayn Rand’S Atlas Shrugged, Tucker M. Hurst

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The aim for this thesis is to discuss the themes and story structure of Bioshock with respect to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged by deconstructing the relationship between both pieces of media as Bioshock representing a counter discourse to Rand’s objectivism. This will be done by examining both stories under a philosophical and economic lens to determine the main pillars of objectivism presented in Atlas Shrugged, then moving on to Bioshock’s dissection of these ideals when enforced on a secluded society. In doing so, not only is a better understanding of Rand’s philosophy obtained by presenting a form of case study …

The Role Of Reflection In Shifting Motivations To Confront Racial Prejudice, Keira Nicole Salt

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Confrontation is shown to reduce expressions of racial prejudice. However, a person’s motivations to confront can change how effective the confrontation is in shifting attitudes. Confronting prejudice can be driven by internal motivations, such as personal values, or external motivations, like social approval. Through two studies, I investigated whether reflecting on the drawbacks of performative activism (motivation condition) affected individuals' motivation to confront prejudice. I hypothesized that individuals (especially those with the strongest external motivations) would shift to be more internal when reflecting on the issues of performative activism compared to a control condition. In online Study 1A, I found …

International Spillover: How External, Global Events Such As Brexit And Covid-19 Have Impacted Housing Prices Within The Republic Of Ireland, Allie Riggs

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The housing market in Ireland has experienced such a great crisis in recent history that over a third of residents have considered moving to a more affordable country (Hogg, 2024). While a number of both causes and potential solutions have been analyzed in regard to this national crisis, I hypothesize that there has been a greater shock from external, global events in the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit. In performing a regression on secondary data while controlling for macroeconomic factors that impact the housing market, I have identified a positive, significant association between these two exogenous shocks and their impact on …

Analyzing Media Conversations Around Sports Gambling Within The Context Of Vulnerable Audiencestrevor Fox, Trevor Fox

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This study examines how newspaper coverage of sports betting (2023–2024) shapes public discourse around gambling. Through mixed-methods content analysis of 105 randomly sampled articles, guided by agenda-setting, framing, and cultivation theories, findings reveal that coverage prioritizes regulation and scandals over vulnerable populations, frames betting positively at the macro level but negatively at the individual level, and largely omits the academic evidence base on gambling harms.

Playful Music Learning In Piano Lessons: Implications For Intrinsic Motivation And Sustained Engagement, Cora Lynne Hart

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Within the field of piano pedagogy, there is a great need to adapt teaching strategies to a new generation of learners. Traditional pedagogical methods are not always conducive to student-directed, process-based, and most importantly, joyful learning. The beginning elementary level is the most critical time to start a student’s musical journey with positivity and encouragement, and is a time when these teaching strategies make a profound impact. This thesis explores how play activities can facilitate engaging musical experiences that are more aligned with children’s natural way of learning. Through a literature review, the thesis synthesizes existing research on child learning …

Are Documentaries Entertaining Or Informative? Perceptions Of Expert Interview Testimonials On False Evidence Ploys, Audrey R. Ecelbarger

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Media depicting wrongful convictions is growing in popularity, especially for false confession cases. Documentaries often interview individuals connected to the suspect or evidentiary experts, but rarely provide testimonials from confessions experts. Does the content and expertise of these documentary interviewees impact the viewer’s understanding of the risks that certain interrogation tactics pose to innocent suspects? In this experiment, participants learned about a false confession elicited by the “false evidence ploy,” where an interrogator falsely claims that there is evidence against the suspect that proves their guilt. They then watched an interview testimonial from either a confessions expert, the suspect’s lawyer, …

Heaven In My Head: Finding Beauty, Interest, And Humor In Grief Through Essays On Death. Installment 1: Two Ceremonies And A Short Lesson In Physics, Katherine B. Thuma

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Death, loss, and grief are inherently difficult components of the human experience, but grappling with such emotions as an undergraduate student has been an especially unique journey. After my father passed from cancer at the end of my junior year, I chose to follow in the footsteps of many great authors by using writing as a tool for grieving. In writing a memoir collection of interconnected essays, I have created an outlet to process my emotions and think critically about my relationship with death. These essays focus on my recollection of the dying process and its aftermath while weaving in …

Performing (For The) Guru: A Performance Studies Approach To The Study Of Cults, Todd M. Brown

Dissertations

This project approaches a long-term experience of living in a cult through a performance studies lens. Utilizing autoethnographic methods, it explores personal insights and observations from years within the inner-circle of a coercive religious environment under tyrannical leadership. A variety of systems and relationships are narrated and analyzed according to three categories: ritualization, deployability, and occupation. Ritualization explains how a body becomes imbued with the rhythms and mantras of a cultic milieu. Deployability describes how this body is put into action at the service of the leadership. Occupation, as a metaphor, illuminates how a cultic subject becomes filled with the …

Workplace Monitoring Platforms Are Sharing Your Data: An Investigation & Roadmap To Address Data Abuses, Stephanie T. Nguyen, Levi Kaplan, David Choffnes, Alan Mislove, Seth Frotman, Erie Meyer

Center for Law and the Economy

This report investigates the data collection practices of nine widely used workplace monitoring platforms to determine the extent to which they track and analyze employee activity, behavior, or performance during work, including how these platforms transmit worker information and to which third-parties. This report finds that (1) nine out of nine workplace monitoring platforms studied directly shared identifying worker data to third parties, (2) nine out of nine workplace monitoring platforms studied shared information about workers’ online activities with third parties, and (3) three out of nine workplace monitoring platforms studied utilize features to track workers’ precise location. This report …

Tiktok Usage And Cyberbullying: A Systematic Review Of Existing Studies To Identify Correlations., Emma Willett

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

TikTok has rapidly become a pivotal part of adolescents' lives, and arguably one of the most influential social media platforms by creating unique patterns of communication and interaction. This short-video format platform has a uniquely designed, algorithm-driven “For You Page”, as well as a distinct environment for interaction and comment culture.

With the rise of popularity around TikTok, cyberbullying has also emerged as a significant concern (Guimetti, 2022). This thesis aims to conduct a systematic literature review of existing studies on TikTok usage and cyberbullying to determine whether or not there is a significant positive correlation between the two.

This …

Depicting Cultural Nuance Through Level Design, Sydney A V Fleming

All Theses

As the audience for gaming grows and expands, gamers consistently crave new stories that are interesting and that immerse them. The ability of gamers to relate to the characters is solely dependent on conscious choices made by developers. For the story to be enjoyable and immersive, It helps to understand the character’s motivation. Why would they act this way? Would they make this choice? Understanding a character culturally is a step in the right direction to gaining this needed understanding. Conveying culture respectfully in games is always a challenge. The goal of this project is to use the Unreal Engine …

The Everlasting Bite Of The Colonizer In Contemporary Vampire Narratives, Emily Hatchett

All Theses

In the 1897 novel Dracula, Bram Stoker opens the vampire's coffin, unleashing the monstrous figure meant to terrify and control the inhabitants of late Victorian England. Following the vampire's journey from Transylvania to England, Stoker traces its desire to gain entrance into society through the British country house. Nevertheless, the vampire transforms as it makes its next journey to America. Leaving behind its haunting presence and adopting a loving, romantic personality that has rooted itself in our contemporary literature. It's also through this journey that the vampire is drawn to the lingering effects of colonization and is led to …

From Leaders To Lifesavers: The Impact Of Leader Development On Healthcare Teams, Madison B. Washam

All Theses

With annual expenditures on leadership development in healthcare exceeding $166 billion, the effectiveness of leader development interventions in improving healthcare outcomes is crucial. This study examined the impact of leader development on team-level outcomes through the implementation of a program aimed at enhancing leaders’ relationship-oriented leadership skills. Specifically, it explored the effect of leader development opportunities on declarative knowledge of relationship-oriented skills, leader-member exchange (LMX), team psychological safety, and team members’ perceptions of patient safety. The study proposed that leaders equipped with relationship-oriented skills can foster healthier, more collaborative environments. Mediation analyses tested whether increases in declarative knowledge served as …

Mere Machines: Why Originalism Requires Robotic Judging, Michael Showalter

SMU Law Review Forum

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson argued that judges are “mere machines.” This statement captures founding generation’s conception of the judicial task. From Edward Coke to Montesquieu to William Blackstone to Alexander Hamilton to John Marshall, the founding era’s governing legal tradition taught that judges do no more than mechanically apply the law to reach a case’s correct answer. Judges find the law, the Founders consistently emphasized, they do not choose it.

Under originalism, that original understanding of the Article III judicial power controls how federal judges must adjudicate today. Theorists leveled sustained criticism against the Framers’ beliefs in the twentieth century, …

Boron Nitride Nanotubes Assist The Self-Assembly Of Spherical Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Shells Of Cellulose Nanocrystals In Water, Tanner L. Larson, Brandon J. Heppe, Benjamin S. Flavel, Ralph Krupke, Geyou Ao

Chemical & Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Spherical confinement of cholesteric liquid crystal (ChLC) droplets is emerging as an intriguing approach for achieving complex ordered structures for photonic applications and beyond. Previously, this has been achieved primarily through microfluidic assembly utilizing immiscible solvents or immiscible mesogen-solvent systems, such as oil-water or thermotropic liquid crystal-water systems, respectively. Here, we show the spontaneous assembly of spherical ChLC droplets with isotropic cores from lyotropic liquid crystals of mixed nanorods containing boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) in all-aqueous environments. We show that the mixing of as low as 0.094 vol % of pectin-coated BNNTs with isotropic dispersions of …

Harness: Hybrid Architecture For Resilience In Networked Engineering System Simulations, Daniel Scott

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the development of HARNESS, a unified, domain-agnostic framework for the modeling, optimization, and evaluation of complex systems under conditions of degradation and uncertainty. The research addresses a persistent challenge in systems engineering: the lack of a generalizable, behaviorally grounded approach for quantifying resilience and robustness across diverse domains. HARNESS integrates graph-theoretic dependency modeling, GPU-accelerated evolutionary optimization, and agent-based simulation into a modular architecture that enables both system design and diagnostic analysis. The framework models system interdependencies through user-defined components, parameters, and constraints, allowing architectures to evolve dynamically while maintaining structural validity. A mutation-only genetic algorithm with a …

Inherent Frames Of Mind, Karlena Fletcher

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Inherent Frames of Mind is a mixed-media painting series that serves to investigate and celebrate the intersections between the artist and the family, friends, and places that have shaped her. These people and environments are embodied abstractly in the artwork by inanimate objects, flora and fauna, patterns, colors, and materials that are shared between them. It investigates the phenomenon when otherwise peripheral items are transformed into cornerstones of the artist’s history. These items are juxtaposed within hybrid compositions of floating imagery, ready to be scrutinized and cherished. This thesis also outlines the artist’s return to her most inherent ways of …