Digital Commons Network^™

I Belong Here And Am Thriving: Understanding Full-Time Graduate Student Well-Being And Belonging In An Msw Program, Lana Hart Elkins

Theses and Dissertations

Graduate-level social work students face high levels of stress that can impact their academic success and well-being. According to a national college health assessment, fulltime Master of Social Work (MSW) students at a southeastern university report significantly more academic, career-related, and financial stress than peers in other graduate programs. This study addressed the need to better understand full-time MSW student experiences and identify ways the program can mitigate stress, promote wellbeing, and foster a sense of belonging. Using a two-phase qualitative action research design, the study first analyzed responses to 12 open-ended questions from four student feedback surveys. These findings …

Database Development For Reliable Small Object Detection In Maritime Environments, Jacob Matthew Whisenant

Theses and Dissertations

Achieving high reliability in small object detection is critical for advancing maritime and littoral intelligent navigation operations. Computer vision provides an undetectable form of perception that can be easily integrated into existing camera systems, offering a low-profile yet powerful solution for navigation and situational awareness in water-based environments. While deep learning techniques have significantly advanced the field of computer vision, the detection of small objects remains a persistent challenge. Limited pixel representation, the scarcity of large-scale small object datasets, and the reduced detail and indistinct features of small objects complicate detection efforts, especially in complex environments. These factors collectively hinder …

Improving Professional Learning Communities (Plcs) For Singletons, Stephanie Harbulak-Barron

Theses and Dissertations

Participation in professional learning is generally recognized as a required component of the teaching profession. One type of professional learning is professional learning communities (PLCs). However, there are challenges to implementing successful PLCs that result in relevant professional learning. One challenge is non-standard PLC groupings that contain singletons, especially when those PLC groups are primarily all singletons. This action research study examined educators’ and administrators’ expectations of and experiences with PLCs in a special education cooperative in the Midwest. The goal of the mixed methods research design was to gather enough information from participants to facilitate the creation of an …

An Economic Evaluation Of Cook At All Costs, Abigail Green

Theses and Dissertations

Cooking shows have been popular for decades with many variations, prizes, and a collection of talented chefs. The Netflix series Cook at All Costs provides a newer playing field incorporating auctions into the challenging landscape. Home chefs are challenged with creating unique dishes from mystery ingredients boxes acquired through various auction types in hopes of winning a monetary prize. The chefs must balance the trade-off between spending money on higher-quality ingredients to improve their chances of winning and saving money across rounds. This thesis will explore the economic concepts presented in the show by providing an understanding of how the …

Awareness And Practice Methods For Musicians With Invisible Disabilities: Insights Gained From Playing The Flute With Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Jessica Pelltier

Theses and Dissertations

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a connective tissue disorder that presents significant physical and mental challenges for musicians, particularly in instrumental performance. These challenges may include chronic pain, joint instability, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. While such symptoms are associated with EDS, they are not exclusive to it and are also common among individuals with other invisible disabilities, such as fibromyalgia, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), celiac disease, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). This study explores the experiences of flutists with EDS and other invisible disabilities, focusing on the coping strategies and adaptations they use …

Aggressive, Adaptive, And Underestimated: From Allergy To Arboviruses, The Rise Of The Lone Star Tick, Emily Ellen Owens Pickle

Theses and Dissertations

Once considered a nuisance with little medical importance, the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum, Acari:Ixodidae) has emerged as a formidable vector driving a new era of public health threats across the United States of America. This dissertation traces the rise of the lone star tick from obscurity to infamy, exploring its expanding geographic range, unique immunologic impacts on humans, and role in the transmission of emerging tickborne viruses. Through a series of integrated studies, this work characterizes the epidemiology, immunology, and ecological context of tick-borne diseases in the southeastern U.S., with a particular focus on α-Gal syndrome (AGS), …

Self-Efficacy And Mathematical Identities In A Rural Georgia Middle School Classroom, Gavin Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Even into adulthood, some people have a strong resentment of math. Their beliefs toward their mathematical abilities have created a fear of the subject, resulting in an avoidance of anything math-related. These thoughts and beliefs regarding math and mathematical abilities begin somewhere along an individual’s academic journey in a math classroom. This action research study, using a mixed-methods approach, attempted to uncover the origins and development of self-efficacy and mathematical identities in rural eighth-grade students. Furthermore, this study explored ways that a teacher can influence these sets of beliefs and examined the impact on academic performance. The framework used to …

Multi-Task Deep Learning Approach For Segmenting And Classifying Competitive Swimming Activities Using A Single Imu, Mark Shperkin

Theses and Dissertations

Competitive swimming performance analysis has traditionally relied on manual video review and multi-sensor systems, both of which are resource-intensive and impractical for everyday training use. This study investigates whether a single wrist-worn inertial measurement unit (IMU) can be used to automatically segment and classify swimming activities with high accuracy. We propose a multi-task deep learning pipeline based on the MTHARS (Multi-Task Human Activity Recognition and Segmentation) architecture introduced by Duan et al. to perform stroke classification, lap segmentation, stroke count estimation, and underwater kick count estimation. Data were collected from eleven collegiate-level swimmers wearing left-wrist-mounted IMUs, each performing five 100-yard …

Academic Wellness In Health Professional Students: The Intersection Between Dietary Attitudes And Behaviors, Sleep Quality, And Mental Health, Kenya Shereece Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Academic success is strongly influenced by student well-being, with nutrition, sleep, and mental health emerging as critical and interconnected components. Health profession students often face significant mental and physical demands, as they navigate their educational training, which can challenge their ability to maintain healthy behaviors and access necessary support. Although these students are often trained to recognize, treat, and promote wellness in others, they may struggle to prioritize or seek care for themselves. This work aims to explore the health behaviors and care-seeking patterns of health profession students, with a focus on dietary habits, sleep, and barriers to mental health …

Process-Grounded Knowledge-Infused Learning And Decision Making, Kaushik Roy

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation introduces process-grounded knowledge-infused learning and reasoning, a novel framework for integrating domain-expertise-based process knowledge into the learning and reasoning mechanisms of artificial intelligence systems. This approach is designed to produce controlled, transparent, and reliable predictions in critical tasks such as medical diagnosis and recommendation. By focusing on the case study of mental illness diagnosis and recommendation—where decision-making must be grounded in processes such as disorder-specific diagnostic criteria—this work demonstrates methods to embed structured decision-making directly into the system architecture during both training and inference. This integration facilitates end-to-end training and reasoning while ensuring that outputs strictly adhere to …

The Impact Of Adverse Childhood Experiences And Living With Hiv On Cardiovascular Health And Cardiometabolic Disorders In An African Population: An Analysis Of The Indepth Community In Rural South Africa, Samuel Gavi

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been shown to be associated with cardiometabolic disorders (CMDs) and poor CVH; however, in Africa, this has not been well studied. Cardiovascular health (CVH) is an important measure of risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) developed by the American Heart Association (AHA). With the increasing prevalence of CVD in Africa, CVH is a potential upstream prevention approach. Africa also has the highest prevalence of HIV, and an increasing prevalence of comorbidities associated with it. Various mechanisms have been investigated to explain the relationship between CVD and chronic HIV infection. This study explores the potential relationship …

Examining Coping, Individual Resilience, And Family Resilience As Strengths-Based Factors For Lgbtq+ Individuals, Elizabeth Moriarty Combs

Theses and Dissertations

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, and More (LGBTQ+) individuals are part of a diverse and complex community that has unique considerations regarding physical and mental health. While there is ongoing health equity research regarding LGBTQ+ individuals, the focus is often on health disparities. A strengths-based approach to helping LGBTQ+ individuals through research and other avenues may be beneficial. This multi-manuscript dissertation includes two studies that explored the current literature on strengths-based factors such as coping, individual resilience, and family resilience within LGBTQ+ individuals, as well as determined the feasibility of utilizing these factors to assist LGBTQ+ individuals with health and …

An Investigation Of Preservice And Novice Elementary Education Graduate Students’ Self-Efficacy Toward Teaching Engineering Design, Victoria Harkins Cameron

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods action research study examined how an experiential learning–based pedagogical approach influenced the development of teaching engineering self-efficacy in preservice and novice elementary education graduate students. Grounded in Bandura’s self-efficacy theory and Kolb’s experiential learning cycle, the study examined the impact of mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and affective states on shaping participants’ instructional self-efficacy. Data were collected using the Teaching Engineering Self-Efficacy Scale (TESS), written reflections, and a focus group. Engineering pedagogical content knowledge was the only TESS construct to show statistically significant gains, while qualitative findings indicated broader growth in self-efficacy and emotional readiness. The study’s …

Investigating The Role Of Metallothioneins In Fungal Iron Homeostasis, David Eap

Theses and Dissertations

The pathogenic fungi Aspergillus fumigatus requires metals to survive and infect humans, but metal overload can be detrimental. Metallothioneins (MTs) are small, cysteine-rich proteins that alleviate metal toxicity by binding excess metals (typically Zn or Cu) for storage or delivery. A recent report indicates that the Fe-S cluster binding glutaredoxin GrxD and the putative Cu-MT CmtA were interacting under high iron conditions in A. fumigatus. We hypothesize that this MT may have a role in binding iron or Fe-S clusters under iron overload conditions to prevent iron toxicity. We also aim to characterize this new MT by determining its …

Circannual And Kinship Cues Shape Reproduction And Epigenetic Aging In Peromyscus, Kim Tuyen Huynh Dam

Theses and Dissertations

Evolutionary success is defined by the ability of a species to adapt and survive across many generations. This success is not determined by any single attribute but rather includes the entrenched, complex system that could be associated with biological rhythms, reproductive strategies, and regulations of epigenetic and genetic components. By using closed Peromyscus colonies as a model and by coupling mathematical modeling, analyses of breeding records, epigenetic studies, and in vitro and in vivo experiments, this dissertation aims to discover how Peromyscus adjusts to the internal and external pressures to ensure their survival and preserve evolutionary fitness in controlled environments. …

Satellite Radar Imagery Analysis For Ground Hazard Risk Monitoring In Railway Tracks And Slopes, Sumanth Varma Byrraju

Theses and Dissertations

Railway transportation is essential to national economies globally, and disruptions from geohazards can result in significant operational delays and considerable economic consequences. Satellite radar technologies, including Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), offer an effective means to monitor geohazard risks across extensive railway networks. This thesis employs Multi-Temporal InSAR (MTInSAR) techniques, including Persistent Scatterer InSAR (PSInSAR) and Small Baseline Subset (SBAS), to identify high-risk areas along railway rights of way (ROW) prior to geohazard occurrences. However, the efficiency of these MT-InSAR and, consequently, the caliber of the data generated may be restricted by elements like topographical profile, vegetation, and surface soil …

How Do People Discern Authenticity From Emotional Expressions, Sewon Oh

Theses and Dissertations

Emotional authenticity is a crucial element in the development and progression of social relationships. However, limited research has comprehensively examined how emotional authenticity perception is shaped by different communication channels, visual attention, and individual differences. This thesis aimed to investigate the emotional authenticity perception from multiple perspectives, including the feasibility of authenticity manipulation, the influence of multimodal cues, and visual attention allocation in assessing authenticity from facial expressions. Findings demonstrated that authenticity could be successfully manipulated by both professional and non-professional actors. Participants differentiated both authenticity and emotion most accurately in audiovisual expressions. The audio channel played an important role …

Action Research To Explore The Use Of Augmented Reality To Support High School Students In Understanding And Creating Art Work In A Drawing Course, Alicia Joanne Cobler

Theses and Dissertations

High school students in Drawing 1 at a high school in South Carolina struggle to understand meaning or make personal connections to their own artwork. The purpose of this action research was to evaluate the implementation of immersive reality technology, specifically augmented reality (AR), in art for high school Drawing 1 students to help them understand meaning in art and create their own meaningful artwork. Creating personally meaningful symbolic works of art is one of the first Visual Art National Core Standards (National Core Visual Art Standards, 2014). Creating meaning in artwork allows students to understand society, provide an opportunity …

Contemporary Anaylsis Of Black Male Experience Through Photovoice: A Second-Year Exploration, Ashley Dillahunt Dantzler

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the second-year experiences of successful Black males at predominantly White institutions (PWIs), focusing on the University of South Carolina. While the second-year experience has gained attention in higher education research, specific insights into the challenges and successes faced by African American male students remain limited. This study highlights the critical issues surrounding sophomore retention, emphasizing that while universities often concentrate on first and final-year experiences, the second year is pivotal for academic success and continuation. Through qualitative methods, the research captures the narratives of ten participants, revealing common themes related to belonging, cultural understanding, and the impact …

The Mystery Of Narrative Structure: How Scooby-Doo Challenges Episodic Conventions, Evrie Joy Pruitt

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how the Scooby-Doo franchise employs narrative complexity within an episodic formula, balancing accessibility with layered storytelling. Analyzing two pivotal iterations, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969) and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010), the research challenges the perception that episodic animation is inherently simplistic.

While the original series established a consistent mystery-of-the-week format, characterized by predictable structures and comedic relief, it also demonstrated narrative ingenuity through character dynamics and tonal balance. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! navigated the industrial constraints of Saturday morning cartoons, designed for syndication and commercial viability, by embedding recurring character dynamics, atmospheric tension, and iterative mystery tropes …

Unveiling Injustices In Theodore Dreiser's “An American Tragedy” And Susan Glaspell's “A Jury Of Her Peers”, Athena Maria Dotsikas

Theses and Dissertations

Crime and its representation in new age media is seeping into every avenue of discussion nowadays. The influence of crime is most notably evident in literature, where real cases inspired fictional novels and short stories that explore social issues and injustices. Since the 16th century, true crime has captivated human curiosity while also shedding light on the United States legal and justice system. Ultimately, true crime narratives provide a deeper understanding of human psychology and the reasons behind a number of gruesome and horrific incidents. This thesis investigates how Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy and Susan Glaspell’s A Jury of …

Reduced Order Model-Based Framework For Microsecond Model Updating Of Two-Dimensional Structural Systems Using The Local Eigenvalue Modification Procedure, Emmanuel Abiodun Ogunniyi

Theses and Dissertations

Real-time model updating is crucial for active structures and electronic assemblies subjected to high-rate dynamic events. High-rate dynamic events refer to events that occur at high speeds and with rapid changes in the forces and energy involved. These events can include explosions, impacts, and crashes. These systems are characterized by a high dynamic response with a high rate (< 100 ms), high amplitude (> 100 gn), highly nonlinear, meaning that the response is not proportional to the applied force, and involve complex interactions between multiple objects or materials. A system exposed to high-rate dynamic environments is frequently prone to rapid plastic deformation, involving violent and …

Sensing Others, Alissa Reed

Theses and Dissertations

In this project, I notice how we listen and respond to animals, both through marine bioacoustics studies and rhetorical theory, and consider how we might develop new ways of noticing and interacting with animals. I hold together rhetorical theory, marine bioacoustics studies, and my observations nest sitting sea turtles to see what kind of multispecies ethic emerges from messy encounters with nonhuman others – specifically, with sea turtles nesting on the beaches of the Outer Banks in the Summer of 2020. By confronting the unavoidable moments of indecision, and even possible violence, inherent to encounters with nonhumans others, even and …

Development Of Teacher Leader Identities In Stem Teacher Leader Programs: Key Experiences From The Perspectives Of Program Developers And Program Completers, Paula Adams

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to add to the understanding of attributes of a STEM teacher leader project that contribute to the growth of STEM teacher leader identity. Single case study design was employed to explore key experiences in a collaborative Science Technology Engineering and Math teacher leader project and to explore how those experiences enhanced the teacher leader identity of participants. This research includes seven programs from six universities across the United States. The perceptions of two subunits, program developers and program completers, were considered. Data collection began with a document review which included initial university …

The Integration Of Traditon And Innovation: An Analytical Study Of Hindemith’S Piano Sonata No. 2, Yi-Ting Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Twentieth-century German composer Paul Hindemith was influenced by music of the classical period. While music in the twentieth century is often associated with atonality and irregular structures, various compositional trends emerged during this period. Hindemith was recognized as part of the neoclassical movement. His three piano sonatas, composed in 1936, not only incorporate classical elements but also integrate 20^th-century techniques. This document examines how Hindemith blends classical and post-tonal techniques in his Piano Sonata No. 2.

This study provides an analytical exploration of Hindemith’s Piano Sonata No. 2 and is structured into five chapters. Chapter One introduces the …

Comparing Prokofiev’S Piano Transcriptions: “Romeo And Juliet” And “Cinderella”, Yu Hua Wu

Theses and Dissertations

Sergei Prokofiev transcribed and arranged many of his own works, including excerpts from many of his ballets and one of his symphonies. Among his most famous transcriptions are the piano versions of Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella, both derived from his ballet scores.

This document explores Prokofiev’s approach to transcription through a comparative analysis of the orchestral and piano versions as well as an analysis of the transcriptions considered as independent compositions. Chapter One outlines the value and necessity of a comparative analysis. Chapter Two provides brief historical overviews of Russian ballet and piano transcription, highlighting how Prokofiev expanded on …

Regression With Atypical Data: Measurement Error, Periodicity, And Non-Normality, Nicholas W. Woolsey

Theses and Dissertations

Regression is a ubiquitous and fundamental method that can be found in any ele- mentary statistics course. The simplicity and self evidently useful nature of linear regression beguiles a non-negligible portion of researchers into disrespecting assump- tions required by these models, namely in terms of accuracy of covariates and the underlying nature of the data. This disregard can at best lead to meaningless results and at worse cause significant misunderstandings in scientific pursuit.

In this dissertation we strive propose remedies to violations of specific assump- tions. Namely the assumptions that covariates are either observed without measure- ment error or they …

Naqbu: Cosmological Undercurrents In Sumer And Akkad, Fiona Eirene Andrews

Theses and Dissertations

The concepts of primordial incomprehensibility, ordered creation, and the liminal chaos between them, form a foundational framework in Mesopotamian intellectual culture. The distinctive ways in which these concepts manifest in Sumero-Akkadian cultures suggest a systematic cosmological substructure — characterized by the paradoxical, cyclical, and co-creative relationships between forces such as Infinity and measure, generation and destruction, and definition and obscurity — that remains insufficiently examined in current scholarship. Drawing from diverse corpus of Mesopotamian creative works, Kabbalistic exegesis, and post-modern scholarship, this thesis seeks to elucidate the essential dynamics within that substructure. By proposing a semiotic hermeneutical strategy attuned to …

Exploring The Ancestry And Mutational Signatures Of Free-Breeding Dogs From Chernobyl And The Galápagos Islands, Gabriella Jean Spatola

Theses and Dissertations

Two free-breeding dog populations, one in Chernobyl, Ukraine, and the other on the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, exist on opposite sides of the globe, yet both hold unique scientific potential to further our understanding of free-breeding dog population dynamics and evolutionary processes related to their environments. In the following studies, blood samples from more than 400 individual Chernobyl dogs were collected and their genomes were analyzed alongside over 1500 purebred and 200 global free-breeding dogs, describing genetic relationships and the extent of admixture with purebred migrants. Importantly, the sampled Chernobyl dogs had long-term exposures to ionizing radiation because of the 1986 …

Rapid Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries: Structure, Morphology, And Methodology, Sean Cade Wechsler

Theses and Dissertations

The initial commercialization and subsequent development of the lithium-ion battery (LIB) in 1991 has revolutionized the way that humans power devices, cars, and homes and led to the advent of many technologies that seemed impossible just half a century ago. As LIBs are integrated into more of daily life through handheld devices, wearable medical devices, transportation, and grid-level energy storage, the demand for fast charging and high energy density increases rapidly. To design a battery with these favorable qualities, an understanding of the effect of electrode crystal structure and electrode morphology on the ionic/electronic transport and failure modes must be …