Confronting The Darkness: Nightmare Distress, Fear, And Avoidance Through The Lens Of Courage, Casidee Gonzales

All Theses

Nightmares are an infamous phenomenon where subjective meaning and objective implications meet. This thesis examined nightmare distress’ impact on fear of sleep and nightmare processing avoidance, a novel construct measured with a pilot survey; it also investigated the moderating roles of courage and neuroticism, with PTSD included as a covariate. The research was rooted in the dual-process model of courage and a phenomenology to assess approach and avoidance through goals and risks.

Participants were primarily recruited through Clemson’s SONA system, were mainly White, women, and young adults (N = 351); measures were administered via Qualtrics. Four hypotheses were tested, …

The Geography Of Race: A Spatial Analysis Of Free People Of Color In The City Of Charleston (1790-1861), Alexandra Ullman

All Theses

In Charleston, South Carolina, for all but one year from 1790 to 1860, the enslaved and free Black population outnumbered that of the white. Through manumission, the process of an enslaved person gaining their freedom, the free Black population grew substantially and reached a peak in South Carolina during the nineteenth century. This large community of free people of color (FPOC), shifted the social climate by upsetting the balance of white power, thus increasing racial conflict, tension, and legislation that aimed to control the movement of FPOC.

Despite FPOC comprising a significant portion of the total population of Charleston, there …

Quantifying Macrophyte Ecosystem Services And Improving Environmental Nonprofit Messaging, Peyton R. Hughey

All Theses

Environmental nonprofits are essential to the management and restoration of our natural spaces. They are also tasked with engaging the public via outreach, education, and advocacy. As natural spaces are degraded, the ability of environmental nonprofits to deliver on their missions will become increasingly important. This study aimed to improve two approaches to environmental nonprofits’ missions: ecological restoration and social media communication.

Environmental nonprofits operate with limited resources, and ecological restoration can be an exhaustive task; therefore, we explore functional restoration as a tool. In this study, we focus on the use of functional, trait-based restoration to restore ecological function …

The Impact Of The Video Assistant Referee On Aggregate Match Outcomes And Measured Home-Field Advantage In European Soccer, Christopher P. Vetter

All Theses

The introduction of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in European soccer aimed to improve referee decision accuracy in high-impact situations. This study examines the association between VAR implementation and match outcomes across Europe’s five major leagues. Exploiting the staggered adoption of VAR in Europe’s leagues between 2017 and 2019, the analysis utilizes both OLS and event study frameworks to evaluate average and dynamic patterns in match outcomes.

The results do not provide clear or consistent evidence of systematic changes in aggregate match outcomes following VAR implementation. While some event-time estimates suggest possible delayed movements in outcomes such as goals and yellow …

“Tyranny” As Concept: Semantic Change And The Formation Of Colonial Political Consciousness In The New Hampshire Gazette, 1756–1783, Antonio Worley

All Theses

Historians of the American Revolution have frequently viewed terms such as tyranny as a stable ideological category, associated with corruption and resistance to arbitrary power. This thesis instead reconceptualizes ‘tyranny’ as an evolving and historically contingent Koselleckian concept. Drawing on a comprehensive analysis of the New Hampshire Gazette from 1756 to 1783, this study combines close reading with computational methods, including word frequency analysis and word embeddings, to chart the evolution of the semantic field surrounding “tyranny” over time.

Prior to the Stamp Act of 1765, ‘tyranny’ was used primarily in a religious and moral framework which was shaped by …

The Cost Of Her Journalism: Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence Against Women Journalists In The Former Soviet Union Countries, Kamila Eshalieva

All Theses

Although offline gender-based violence has been studied for decades, technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) remains a prevalent yet underrecognized phenomenon. Journalism is a field in which this form of violence is especially persistent, and women journalists face disproportionate targeting. From cyberbullying and harassment to doxxing and disinformation, TFGBV comes in a myriad of forms, each leaving lasting scars on reporters who already face elevated professional risks. The post-Soviet region is particularly concerning, given its history of repressive regimes and hostile environments for journalism. While technology has expanded the ways for new forms of violence to emerge, these incidents are often not …

The British Are Coming; Effects Of The American Revolution On Charlestonian’S Importation Of Furnishings, 1765-1800, Summer B. Henry

All Theses

On the eve of the American Revolution Charleston’s ties to Great Britain, particularly London, were far greater than any other colonial city in America. Charlestonians of means traveled to the ‘mother country’ with frequency, sent their sons to be educated there, and were highly influenced by what was fashionable in London, for both home and person.

This study looks at what effects the American Revolution had on Charlestonians importation of furnishings and material goods beginning in 1765 as anti-British sentiment began to take hold in America, through 1800, a time when Charleston was rebuilding going into the Federal era. The …

Portrayals Of Miscarriage In Film And Television: A Qualitative Analysis, Geovana Leonetti Saraiva

All Theses

Entertainment media may serve as a primary source through which individuals learn about miscarriage; however, little research has examined how miscarriage is portrayed in film and television. This study addresses this gap by conducting a textual analysis of five films and five television shows using a constructivist grounded theory approach. Guided by the model of stigma communication (MSC), communication privacy management theory (CPM), and social support frameworks, the analysis explores how miscarriage is represented in entertainment media.

Findings indicate that the analyzed content frequently includes stigma-related cues—such as marks, labels, responsibility, and peril—that may contribute to the formation and reinforcement …

Anxiety And Intuitive Eating: Examining Dispositional Mindfulness As A Protective Factor, Jordan Signorelli

All Theses

Intuitive eating (IE) is an anti-diet approach focused on listening to internal hunger and fullness cues and is associated with reduced disordered eating patterns and improved dietary intake. However, anxiety negatively impacts IE. Dispositional mindfulness (DM) – one’s innate, present-centered, nonjudgmental awareness of thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations – is associated with lower anxiety and greater IE. Yet, whether DM mitigates the negative impact of anxiety on IE remains underexplored. Grounded in the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Framework, this study aimed to: 1) examine the relationship between anxiety and IE, 2) examine the relationship between DM and IE, 3) examine whether …

I Am The Perfect Wife: The Bildungsroman And The Disruption Of The System In Jane Eyre And The Hunger Games, Carolyn Carpenter

All Theses

None.

“Better Late Than Never” – Exploring The Challenges And Triumphs From Late-Diagnosed Autistic Women, Angela C. Altomare

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The diagnostic process for adult autistic women is a transformative experience that reshapes identity, their histories, and self-understandings. This study examines the impact of a late-in-life autism diagnoses on women through the examination of narratives from the Reddit community r/AutismInWomen, and autoethnography.

Drawing on personal experience as a late-diagnosed autistic researcher, and the shared stories within r/AutismInWomen, the research demonstrates the challenges experienced, such as navigating stigma, negotiating identity, and seeking support.

The research reveals that online platforms serve as critical spaces for stigma negotiation, identity validation, self-advocacy, and community building among autistic women. Furthermore, these narratives underscore …

Attendance Matters: Incentive Programs And Chronic Absenteeism In Elementary Schools, Aubryn Street

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chronic absenteeism is a common challenge in elementary education. Schools often use attendance incentive programs, such as rewards or recognition, to encourage students to attend regularly. However, it is not always clear whether these programs actually improve attendance. This study examined whether attendance incentive programs are effective and how school staff view and use these programs.

This mixed-methods study used both school attendance data and interviews with school personnel. Attendance data from two school years showed that schools with incentive programs did not have lower absenteeism rates than schools without them. However, attendance improved overall from one year to the …

Bergsonian Blend: Subjective Temporality Within Modernist Aesthetics Of Mental Illness, Lydia Victoria Gervais

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Henri Bergson was a modernist French philosopher who wrote extensively on the topic of the lived experience of time, which he called durée, or duration. His contemporary, Sigmund Freud, was developing psychoanalytic theory in a growing field of psychological study, which serves as a prominent ancestor to modern psychiatry and current psychoanalytical literary studies. Fiction writers of the 1900s absorbed the zeitgeist of melded chronology and consciousness, interweaving themes of time and trauma in their works. Utilizing Henri Bergson’s durée as a philosophical framework, I examine the moralization of time-consciousness in connection with mental illness and investigate representations of …

Addressing Substance Use Disorder In Rural Appalachia: Improving Access And Treatment Outcomes For Justice-Involved Individuals, Jessica Muldowney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Opioid use disorder (OUD) represents a critical public health crisis disproportionately affecting justice-involved (JI) populations, with approximately 65% of incarcerated individuals having substance use disorders (James & Beatty, 2006). Rural Appalachian communities face compounded challenges due to limited healthcare access, provider shortages, and cultural stigma surrounding addiction treatment. Despite evidence demonstrating that medication-assisted treatment (MAT) reduces recidivism and overdose deaths, only 20% of correctional facilities offer these services (Klein & Seppala, 2019).

Objective: This mixed-methods study evaluated organizational readiness and infrastructure capacity for implementing evidence-based OUD interventions, specifically MAT programs across three rural counties in northwestern North Carolina.

Methods: …

Ethical Engagement In Global Missions: A Qualitative Inquiry Into Planner Motivations And Host Experiences, Harrison J. Ihrig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Short-term mission (STM) trips are limited duration service experiences, commonly organized by faith-based organizations (FBO), in which volunteers travel domestically or international to provide ministry, community outreach, and/or health-related services. In recent decades, the number of these trips organized by organizations in the United States has increased exponentially, but the phenomenon is difficult to accurately measure due to its decentralized nature and the lack of standardized terminology. Despite their prominence, limited research has been conducted to examine planning, implementation, and evaluation processes of international STMs organized by FBO, particularly through a public health lens. The purpose of this study was …

The Influence Of Intervention Strategies On Students With Disabilities Who Exhibit Challenging Behaviors In Rural Public Schools: Teacher Perceptions, Ben B. Robertson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological qualitative study addressed rural teachers' perceptions of the influence of intervention strategies on students with disabilities who exhibit challenging behaviors. The purpose of this study was to examine teachers’ perceptions of the effect of intervention strategies on academic achievement, student behavior outcomes, and teacher self-efficacy through the lens of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory. This theory is a complex, dynamic interaction among people, their behaviors, and their environments. Data collection included 14 individual interviews, conducted on Zoom with educators from one school district in Southern Virginia, including seven general education teachers and seven special education teachers. Data analysis strategies …

Perceptions Of Rural School Resource Officers On Training, Roles, And Interactions With Students In Special Populations, Mary Jane M. Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative inductive study was conducted with rural school districts located in the Middle Grand Division of Tennessee. School Resource Officers' (SROs) and K–12 school administrators’ perceptions of their roles were assessed. Perceptions of school policing from both samples were assessed regarding SRO training, roles, and expectations for working with school law enforcement officials. This also included respondents' views on how students with disabilities are treated. The research conducted in rural Middle Tennessee counties examined SROs’ and K–12 administrators’ perceptions through data collected from in-depth open-ended interviews and a pre-written analysis. The proliferation of police officers assigned to schools beginning …

Bitcoin Options Risk-Reversal Predictability, Meng Hwee Neo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation examines whether Bitcoin options risk-reversal (RR) spreads predict future Bitcoin returns, using daily Deribit data from April 2021 to December 2025 (1,723 observations).

In the primary 25-delta, 90-day specification, the RR coefficient is significant at the 1% level in a thirteen-variable baseline regression with Newey–West standard errors. Robustness tests across all available delta–tenor specifications show statistically significant RR coefficients in the majority of configurations, concentrating in the 30–180-day maturity band.

The butterfly spread (BF) also predicts returns. Both remain significant after controls are added: the RR t-statistic increases from 1.91 (univariate) to 3.73 (full baseline), and the BF …

Research On The Spatial Diffusion Process And Influencing Factors Of Traditional Chinese Medicine Brands: Evidence From Beijing Tong Ren Tang, Yuehua Shen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Against the backdrop of the dual drivers of the revitalization and development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the rising demand for health-related consumption, the nationwide expansion of TCM chain brands has become a prominent issue of shared concern for both industry and policy circles. However, existing research largely treats cities as mutually independent units and overlooks the spatial externalities arising from geographic proximity. It also implicitly assumes that the driving factors remain stable over a brand's expansion life cycle. This makes it difficult to capture the dynamic evolution of the logic governing store expansion across different stages. Accordingly, this …

Essays On High-Frequency Dynamics Of Asset Prices, Yuhong Zhu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation studies econometric inference for high-frequency financial data, with a focus on detecting nonstandard drift and volatility dynamics in continuous-time models.

The first chapter proposes a new framework for uniform inference on explosive drift in high-frequency data, where conventional Gaussian approximations can fail due to the non-Gaussian behavior of short-window spot statistics. Under fixed-window asymptotics, these statistics are coupled with dependent t variables, and their maximum converges to a Fréchet distribution. We establish an anti-clustering condition for dependent t-statistics under overlapping windows and develop a feasible coupling-based test. Simulation results demonstrate better size control, and the empirical findings suggest …

Technological Strategy Paths, Dynamic Capability And Innovation Performance In Complex Product Industries: A Mechanism Study Based On China’S New Energy Vehicle Industry, Fan Zhang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In recent years, the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry has developed rapidly, moving from electrification toward an intelligent phase characterized by software-defined vehicles. NEV firms pursue product and technological innovation through diverse strategic paths, including internal research and development, collaborative development, and platform-based development, yet their innovation performance varies. Most extant research focuses on the industry level, offering limited insight into how, at the firm level, different technological paths shape the innovation outcomes through firms’ dynamic capabilities. It still remains unclear whether and how these relationships among paths, capabilities, and innovation outcomes differ across technological domains.

This study adopts a …

The Seller Valuation Of Family Firm Exits: Socioemotional Wealth And Ceo Equity Ownership, Masahiro Nishii

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This study examines seller valuation in family-firm exit using the initial asking price from private M&A sales. In the sale of a family firm, it is known that seller valuation may go beyond financial value alone because owners often hold strong emotional attachments to the firm. However, it remains unclear whose judgment brings that non financial value into seller valuation and why this varies across types of family CEOs.

Drawing on socioemotional wealth theory, the study develops the mechanism at the CEO level. I argue that the anticipated SEW loss translates into seller valuation through the CEO’s judgment. When the …

From Catching Up To Surpassing—A Multi-Case Study Of Chinese Latecomer Technology Firms, Baohua Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In recent years, a number of Chinese latecomer technology firms have grown rapidly and, in some cases, have even moved into leading positions in global competition. As global competition is being reshaped, technologies are evolving more rapidly, and traditional catch-up paths are becoming less viable, how these Chinese latecomer technology firms catch up with leading incumbents has become an important issue in strategic management research. Drawing on the theoretical lens of asymmetrical competition, resource orchestration, and dynamic capabilities, this study adopts an Eisenhardt-style multiple-case design to conduct a longitudinal comparative analysis of six firms—Insta360, Dreame, DJI, Unitree, Transsion, and Royole—and …

Essays On Money Search Models, Fangfang Gong

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation comprises three papers that use money search models to revisit the distributional welfare costs of inflation, study the optimal design of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), and investigate the role of liquidity and monetary policy in initial investment and capital reallocation in secondary markets.

The second chapter develops a micro-founded general equilibrium model of payments to revisit the distributional welfare costs of inflation. We consider different cost structures incurred by merchants when accepting cash and deposits. In equilibrium, there exists a cutoff for buyers’ money holdings, above which card payments are accepted by merchants. We calibrate the …

Uncertainty, Information, And Major Choice: Evidence From Chinese Gaokao, Sikun Dou

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

An unresolved background risk makes people more averse to other, independent  risks—most of all when a high-stakes, irreversible choice must be made under that risk. College major choice is such a setting. In China, students are admitted directly into a major they cannot easily change, and in the early 2000s they had to commit before learning their exam scores, bearing a field’s academic risk on top of an unresolved admission risk. Because STEM fields carry more academic risk and women are on average more risk-averse, this burden falls hardest on women’s entry into STEM. Exploiting a reform that moved application …

River House, Jane Duffy '26

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Jane Duffy is an English Writing and Studio Art double major at DePauw University. She is a painter, a creative writer, and the Editor-in-chief of A Midwestern Review for her fourth year of involvement. She enjoys hiking, drinking coffee, travelling, and creating things inspired by observation of the world around her.

Mondays At Moore's, Jane Duffy '26

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Jane Duffy is an English Writing and Studio Art double major at DePauw University. She is a painter, a creative writer, and the Editor-in-chief of A Midwestern Review for her fourth year of involvement. She enjoys hiking, drinking coffee, travelling, and creating things inspired by observation of the world around her.

Mondays At Moore's, Jane Duffy '26

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Jane Duffy is an English Writing and Studio Art double major at Depauw University. She is a painter, a creative writer, and the Editor-in-chief of A Midwestern Review for her fourth year of involvement. She enjoys hiking, drinking coffee, travelling, and creating things inspired by observation of the world around her.

On Mild Weather, Morgan Tharp '26

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Morgan Tharp is a Senior English-Writing and Political Science double major. In her free time, she enjoys running for DePauw's cross country and track teams and reading.

Consensus Guidelines On Inferior Petrosal Sinus Sampling: A Guideline From The Society Of Vascular And Interventional Neurology Guidelines And Practice Standards Committee, Farhan Siddiq, Hunter Brooks, Esra Demirtas, Ibrahim Ahmad Bhatti, Sami Al Kasab, Adam De Havenon, Robin Novakovic, Ossama Y. Mansour, Cynthia L. Kenmuir, Ameer E. Hassan

School of Medicine Publications

Background: Bilateral inferior petrosal sinus sampling (BIPSS) is the gold-standard test to distinguish Cushing disease (CD) from ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) secretion when biochemistry confirms ACTH-dependent Cushing syndrome and pituitary magnetic resonance imaging is equivocal. However, practice varies widely between centers, leading to false negatives, misinterpretation, sampling errors, and avoidable risk. Neurointerventionalists performing BIPSS have lacked dedicated, procedure-focused guidance.

Methods: Using the Society of Vascular and Interventional Neurology Guidelines and Practice Standards framework, a multidisciplinary panel (endocrinology, interventional neuroradiology, and endovascular neurosurgery) performed a systematic review through August 2025 and developed recommendations graded by class of recommendation and level of …