Digital Commons Network^™

A Problem-Based Learning Approach To Civics Education: Exploring Citizenship Through Authentic Scenarios In A Middle School Civics Classroom, Rebekah Meri Rowland

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on implementing problem-based learning as an instructional intervention in a middle school civics classroom. This action research study responds to the observations of the teacher-researcher who noticed that her students were not make meaningful connections to the practice of citizenship. The problem of practice was developed when the teacher-researcher realized that the students were not engaged in learning with the traditional lecture-style, rote memorization instruction; she needed an intervention that was active, collaborative, and meaningful. To increase the connection to middle school learners, the intervention should emphasize problem solving skills and build empathy for others through a …

Quantifying The Controls Of Shear-Coupled P-Waves, Jackson Saftner

Theses and Dissertations

Shear-coupled P-waves have been shown to possess great utility in resolving crustal and upper mantle models, however these phases remain largely untapped due to their ephemeral nature. Shear-coupled P-waves are a type of seismic phase that undergo S-to-P conversion either at the free-surface or at the base of the crust. Under the proper conditions, it is possible for the converted crustal P phases to achieve total internal reflection, allowing these phases to remain large in amplitude and sample long segments of the crust. In this study, we use a combination of real-world observations collected from literature, and synthetic seismograms, to …

Investigating The Role Of Stressful Life Events And Emotion Regulation As Potential Antecedents Of Gratitude In Early Adolescents, Olivia Schmitke

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACTThe construct of gratitude has gained interest over the last decade along with the rise of positive psychology. Gratitude’s significant relations with psychological and psychosocial factors have been shown in prior research, although support for such relations in children and adolescents exists, to date the literature is more robust around adults. Additionally, presumed antecedents of individual differences in gratitude have been acknowledged. The present study included a sample of 1872 middle school students and aimed to build on previous work to explore the influence of emotion regulation (i.e., cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) in the development of gratitude among youth …

Modification Of Active Sites In Catalytic Materials For Gas-Phase Heterogeneous Catalysis, Deependra Man Shakya

Theses and Dissertations

Heterogeneous catalysis remains at the core of chemical manufacturing industries with 80-90 % of chemical processes relying on the use of catalysts. Unlike homogeneous catalyst that has extremely well-defined active sites, active sites in heterogeneous catalysis are complex and show dynamic behavior under reaction conditions, and change their structures, composition, particle size. The complexity associated with these systems has made the rational design of the catalyst a difficult problem. Highly crystalline metalorganic frameworks (MOFs) as heterogeneous catalysts present the unique opportunity to systematically modify the geometries, ensemble sizes, and compositions of highly dispersed active sites due to their tailorable, and …

Sexual Health Education For Children With Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Genetic Counselor And Pediatrician Perspectives, Mary Catherine Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Many barriers prevent individuals with disabilities from receiving appropriate sexual health education (SHE), including deficits in socialcommunication skills and lack of resources and trained educators. There are few guidelines specifically addressing how to accommodate for providing SHE to individuals with disabilities. Healthcare professionals who are trained in working with adolescents with disabilities, such as pediatric genetic counselors, developmental-behavioral pediatricians (DBP), and neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD) subspecialty pediatricians, could fill this gap. The purpose of the current study was to assess what informational items pediatric genetic counselors, DBP, and NDD subspecialty pediatricians felt were most essential to include in SHE for children …

The Impact Of Framing On Natural Gas Pipeline Siting In Virginia, Ritvik Shukla

Theses and Dissertations

Natural gas has become a major share of energy consumption in the U.S. over the past two decades. This rise has resulted in considerable investment in the natural gas pipeline network so that the supply can be maximized. However, pipeline infrastructures, much like other fossil fuel energy infrastructures and activities, have an uneven distribution of benefits and costs across different regions. In regions where natural gas activities and infrastructure are being developed, local communities can become increasingly dependent on natural gas systems for stable revenue and employment. Such communities risk becoming “locked in” to carbon energy at a time when …

Examining Sixth-Grade Students’ Music Agency Through Rhythm Composition, Robert Zagaroli Spearman

Theses and Dissertations

Music agency refers to ones ability to have control over their musical actions and musical ideas. With the intent of examining music agency, the purpose of this action research study was to observe and investigate my sixth-grade students’ rhythm composition processes. The guiding research questions, regarding their music composition processes, were: (a) What did students think about making choices, and (b) How do students describe making choices?

I utilized purposive sampling that comprised the 2021-2022 St. Peter’s Catholic Elementary School sixth-grade students. I led my students through music composition activities in the role of their teacher during nine 45-minute classes. …

‘Conspiring Together’: Woolf’S Investigations On ‘Party Consciousness’ And Interwar Instability In Mrs. Dalloway And To The Lighthouse, Madeline Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Woolf has been generalized popularly as enthusiastic about parties, relishing their effervescence and conversation, and she had a particular bent for imagining a party’s vivacity while often remaining distanced from it. This imagination and duality would mark Woolf’s thoughts as is recorded in her diary entries, and they became especially apparent in her fiction. In an entry on April 27^th, 1925, less than one month from Mrs. Dalloway’s May 14^th publication, she declares that “people have any number of states of consciousness” and reports that she “should like to investigate the party consciousness” (A Writer’s …

The Effects Of Ionizing Radiation On Domestic Dogs: Ancestry And Genetic Structure Of Free-Roaming Dog Populations In Chernobyl, Ukraine, Gabriella Jean Spatola

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is concerned with the effects of ionizing radiation on domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) which were commonly used as laboratory subjects during the era of atomic bomb testing (1950s - 1980s). Early laboratory studies on radiation effects in dogs provided important foundations of knowledge for research that has more recently shifted to natural populations exposed to ionizing radiation from nuclear accidents. A unique group of free-roaming dogs reside in an environment polluted by radioactive contamination deposited during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986, providing one such opportunity to study the effects of ionizing radiation on dogs …

Infertility Education For Men With Cystic Fibrosis And Its Effects: Outlooks On Fertility And Birth Control, Allison Elizabeth Perez Szczepanski

Theses and Dissertations

Many men with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) are infertile; however, few studies have evaluated fertility outlook of men with CF since the advent of modulator therapy. As predicted survival and quality of life improve, family planning is an area of increased interest for the CF community. The current study surveyed men with CF to explore their outlook on fertility, family planning, and birth control use with the option to receive a home fertility test and follow-up interview with study staff.

Seventy-five men with CF completed the survey and 53 (71%) believed they were likely infertile. Most recalled learning about infertility between …

Advancement Of New Solid-Oxide Iron-Air Battery (Soiab) Operated On High-Temperature Oxide-Ion Chemistry, Qiming Tang

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions such as the burning of fossil fuels for power generation and industrial processing is affecting the global climate. To address this critical issue, a transition from fossil energy to renewable energy, especially wind and solar, is necessary. However, to successfully realize this transition, a cost-effective and large-scale stationary electricity storage system is indispensable. In this work, a new type of solid-oxide iron-air battery (SOIAB) operated on high-temperature oxide-ion chemistry is studied for this purpose due to its unique cycling characteristics suitable for large-scale Long Duration Electricity Storage (LDES) applications.

In the …

Gatekeeping Blackness: Roles, Relationships, And Pressures Of Black Television Journalists At A Time Of Racial Reckoning, Denetra Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Building on Du Bois’ (1903) concept of double-consciousness, Critical Race Theory, and communications theories including Gatekeeping, this dissertation aims to provide understanding of the experiences of Black broadcast journalists at a racially contentious time in American history. In 2020-2021, following the deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, and during a global pandemic, a “racial reckoning” ensued throughout the nation. The reckoning, which continued through the writing of this dissertation, was a salient issue for news media. Through my positionality as a Black female forever journalist, I interviewed 29 Black journalists who …

Out Of Office: Examining How Remote Auditing Can Affect Audit Quality, Kristen Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

Psychological factors bring rise to the potential for differences in audit quality between in- person and remote work. With remote auditing on the rise, I investigate whether an increase in distance between an auditor and their supervisor can increase auditors’ divergent thinking and, in high time pressure, lead to a greater likelihood for auditors to exhibit reduced audit quality (RAQ) behavior. Consistent with prior literature, I find auditors facing high (vs. low) time pressure are more likely to engage in RAQ behavior, consistent with their motivation to speed up testing. More importantly, I find auditors working remotely are more likely …

Resurrecting A Nation Through Silk And Diplomacy: American Material Culture And Foreign Relations During The Reconstruction Era, Paige Weaver

Theses and Dissertations

The Reconstruction Era, a time of immense change in American culture and society, is often conceptualized as a wholly domestic affair; however, a closer analysis of the work of American diplomats scattered throughout the world reveals the impact of foreign policies and relationships on the development of the nation state, as well as cultural values. With this broadened perspective, Reconstruction becomes a more complicated period of entangled international concerns and influences in a globally connected world.

This thesis argues that intricate international relations and complex foreign policies helped shape American identity and values at home. Diplomats abroad in countries such …

Adsorption Of Microcystins To Sediment Affects Their Bioavailability And Remediation, Ashley Womer

Theses and Dissertations

The freshwater harmful algae Microcystis spp produces a family of toxins called microcystins1. These species of algae are known to release microcystins from their cells directly into the surrounding water2. This creates an array of human health risks depending on the fate and transport of the toxins in the water column3,4. Risk modelling and previous literature has shown that sediment is a sink for free microcystin, microcystin can be stably adsorbed to sediment for hundreds of years, and its adsorption to sediment is determined by the sediment adsorption partitioning coefficient (Kd)5,6,7. In this work it is hypothesized that the sediment …

Associations Between Child Characteristics And Maternal Mental Health In Families Of Children With Autism, Fragile X Syndrome, And Autism Associated With Fragile X Syndrome, Tiffany Nicole Worley

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the association between various child characteristics and maternal mental health concerns in three high-risk groups of mothers ± those of children with non-syndromic autism spectrum disorder (NSASD), mothers of children with fragile X syndrome (FXS), and mothers of children with fragile X syndrome and autism (FXS+ASD). Research has shown that mothers of children with NSASD and FXS are thought to share a degree of genetic vulnerability to mental health concerns it is key to examine the various other factors that may contribute to difficulties within the family system and maternal stress, depression, and anxiety.

Participants for …

Roy Acuff, Democratic Candidate, Henry Luther Capps Iii

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to analyze the ways in which fame, cultural capital, and the political landscape of Tennessee placed the political amateur Roy Acuff in a strong position to win the 1944 Democratic primary, adding to our understanding of how fame can impact American politics, and also enriching our understanding of party politics in the single-party Solid South. The first part pays close attention to Acuff’s entertainment career prior to his political engagement with an eye to exploring why Tennessee voters thought Acuff would be a good candidate for governor. The second part details Roy Acuff’s political engagement from the …

“Zoom Degrees”: A Reflection On Education And Experience During The Covid-19 Pandemic Of The 2020s, Campbell Childers

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a self-reflection on time in the three-year Master of Fine Arts in Theater program at the University of South Carolina, during the 2020 rise of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the years after. It is a chronologically structured examination of two years of academic experiences, both prior to and during the pandemic, and one year of professionally application experience post-pandemic. The academics cover course experiences to production assignments and design opportunities, going into detail on the student’s process and thoughts at the time. The reflections on professional experience discuss the student’s future goals and how they have evolved …

Innovative Data-Driven Demand Estimation Strategies In Revenue Management, Sanghoon Cho

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding customers’ choice behavior and decision-making process is crucial in many industries, including hotels, airlines, and retail, as it allows firms to offer the right product to the right customer. This has resulted in a growing focus on accurately estimating customer demand for a product or service in the revenue management space, which can serve as a valuable input to optimal pricing, inventory, and assortment decisions. However, much of the existing work in the literature has not been able to comprehensively address some common challenges that are observed in practice: unobservable no-purchases, heterogeneous customer preferences, and the impact of factors …

Race, Racial Matching, And Cultural Understanding As Predictors Of Treatment Engagement In Youth Mental Health Services, Wendy Chu

Theses and Dissertations

Racially marginalized youth experience barriers that impact their ability to maximally benefit from mental health services; thus, efforts to identify strategies that support youth treatment engagement may address mental health and treatment disparities. This study examined the role of youth race, youth-therapist racial matching, and youthreported therapist cultural understanding on youth’s early treatment engagement in mental health services. The youth sample (n = 1159; M_age = 13.8 years, SD = 2.9; 52.1% female) comprised of 778 (67.1%) Latinx, 221 (19.1%) African American, 139 (12.0%) White, and 21 (1.8%) Asian American clients. The therapist sample (n = 126; Mage …

The Effect Of Emotional Intensity, Arousal, And Valence On Online Video Ad Sharing, Chang Won Choi

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the effect of emotional factors, such as pleasure, arousal, and intensity, on online video ad sharing. Previous studies found that the emotions evoked by online video ads could influence consumers’ ad sharing intentions. However, it remains uncertain which emotional factors trigger ad sharing behavior. Some researchers argue that positive or high-arousal emotions (e.g., excitement) exert greater influence on ad sharing than negative or low-arousal emotions (e.g., sadness). However, these studies do not explain why video ads that evoke low-arousal or unpleasant emotions are also widely shared on social media. Based on the theory of social sharing of …

Supervisory Allyship For University Custodial Staff, Daniel Colascione

Theses and Dissertations

This study will examine the lived experiences of campus custodians in search of creating an anti-racist workplace. Custodians will have the opportunity to share about their experiences involving racism and will be asked to explain their expectations of leadership in creating an anti-racist workplace. This study seeks to understand the expectations Black staff members have of their departmental and university level leadership to identify ways to narrow the gap between their expectations and the support they receive from those in positions capable of doing so.

Functional Facets Of Intergenic Hairpin Structures In Genus Caulobacter, Geetha Saarunya Clarke

Theses and Dissertations

DNA replication, recombination and repairs maintain bacterial genome stability. But these processes may also induce genome rearrangements leading to inter andintra chromosomal structural variations. Genus Caulobacter undergoes extensive genome rearrangements. Genomic studies in bacteria usually focus on the codingregions, but there is important information present in the intergenic DNA spaces inaddition to the regulatory elements involved in transcription. Recently, Ely published a new model for recombination in genus Caulobacter with simultaneousloss and gain of genes resulting from preferential recombination at non- homologous regions flanked by regions of homology. In my dissertation, I observedand catalogued hairpin structures at known sites of …

An Evaluation Of The Impact Of Academic Policies And Athletic Procedures For Student Athletes, Seanta Cleveland

Theses and Dissertations

The current study is an evaluation of the ways academic policies and athletic procedures can impact learning for student athletes as inconsistent practices regarding athletic travel and make-up work can have negative effects on learning for student athletes. A total of 11 participants (i.e., 8 student athletes, 3 faculty members) participated in this qualitative phenomenological study. Chickering’s student development theory and Kolb’s learning theory framed the current inquiry into (1) the needs of student athletes and the ways they process important information (e.g., policies and procedures) and (2) related faculty guidance, student affairs, and the governing body for athletics, practices, …

Juveniles, Transferred Juveniles, And The Impact Of A Criminal Record On Employment Prospects In Adulthood: An Experimental Study, Joanna Daou

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research shows that a criminal record reduces an individual’s employability. The impact of a juvenile record on employability as a young adult, however, has rarely been examined, and no previous studies have estimated the effect of a criminal record when a juvenile was waived to the adult court. The current study seeks to fill these gaps in the literature using an experimental correspondence approach. The results of this research indicate that the effects of a delinquency record on employability for juveniles and young adults are comparable to the effects of a criminal record for adults.

African Seminole Settlement Ecologies Of Early Nineteenth Century Florida, Jordan E. Davis

Theses and Dissertations

For over three centuries prior to the outbreak of the Second Seminole War [1835-1842], peoples of African and Native American descent independently and collectively formed multiple communities throughout what is now Florida. During the early 1990s, several ancestral African Seminole (otherwise known as “Black Seminole”) settlements were identified across Central Peninsular Florida, many of which were founded by self-emancipated Africans commonly referred to as maroons. Previous archaeological research at the African Seminole settlement of Pilaklikaha, or Abraham’s Old Town, has greatly stimulated both scholarly and public interest in tracing the historical trajectories of individual African-Native American communities while remaining attentive …

Covering Systems And The Minimum Modulus Problem, Maria Claire Cummings

Theses and Dissertations

A covering system or a covering is a set of linear congruences such that every integer satisfies at least one of these congruences. In 1950, Erdős posed a problem regarding the existence of a finite covering with distinct moduli and an arbitrarily large minimum modulus. This remained unanswered until 2015 when Robert Hough proved an explicit bound of 1016 for the minimum modulus of any such covering. In this thesis, we examine the use of covering systems in number theory results, expand upon the proof of the existence of an upper bound on the minimum modulus in the case of …

The Effect Of Concrete Material Properties On Rigid Pavement Design In South Carolina, Nicolet Anne Devine

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the effect of concrete material inputs on rigid pavement design in the state of South Carolina. The impact of concrete strength input parameters in the historical AASHTO pavement design method and MEPDG method is investigated using three newly constructed concrete sections, I-85 in Cherokee County, I-20 in Lexington County, and I-85 in Spartanburg County. Strength data obtained from the sections were the result of QA/QC testing provided by the SCDOT during construction, as well as from UofSC laboratory testing. The compressive strength data from these tests was correlated to the elastic modulus and modulus of rupture (which …

Racism-Related State Policies And The Psychological And Physiological Wellbeing Of Black And White Adults, Calley Elizabeth Fisk

Theses and Dissertations

Recent research on how state-policy affects population health outcomes suggests that state contexts are important sites for producing health disparities. In the United States different domains of state policy are historically linked to the livelihood of Black Americans and enacted within a racist system designed to maintain white supremacy. Despite this history and evidence of racial inequities in health outcomes linked to institutional discrimination for Black and white adults, scholars have yet to examine whether racism-related state policies affect the wellbeing of Black and white Americans. Combining a dataset of racism-related state policies with a nationally representative data of older …

History And Philosophy Of Feynman’S Electrodynamics: From The Absorber Theory Of Radiation To Feynman Diagrams, Marco Forgione

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I individuate and discuss Richard Feynman’s overall spacetime view. I argue that the absorber theory of radiation, the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics, all share the overall spacetime view as a common conceptual framework. Even though this framework changed with the different theories, its most general form can be characterized as the looking at physics phenomena in their spacetime entirety. I show how the absorber theory of radiation is based on the intertwining of past and future within a closed system of absorbers and emitters. I show how the path integral formulation of …