Digital Commons Network^™

Conceptions Of Epic Heroism In Thomas May’S Continutation, Michael Blake Hoehn

Theses and Dissertations

Thomas May’s A Continuation of the Subiect of Lucan's Historicall Poem till the Death of Iulius Cæser, continues Lucan’s creative vision of critiquing heroism. Despite his attempt at maintaining an indifferent world, May’s Continuation implicitly favors the heroism of the Pompeians.

Both Caesar and the Pompeians base their heroic conceptions on ideals found in Greek and Roman marital and national heroism. Caesar and his enemies believe that his victories in battle result from Fortune’s protection and approval, allowing Caesar to justify the ideals of traditional heroism. However, Fortune in the Continuation acts as an independent force, making these misinterpretations …

Exploring The Holistic Wellness Of Black Women Counselors, Shanta A. Jerideau

Theses and Dissertations

Counselor wellness is crucial for clinician longevity and ethical practice. However, there is limited literature on the holistic wellness of Black women counselors. This manuscript probes into the lived experiences of Black women counselors, particularly in relation to the sociopolitical climate and racial injustices in the United States. Utilizing Consensual Qualitative Research, we examine the experiences of 15 Black women counselors working in counselor education, private practice, and community agencies within the Southeast Region of the United States. We anticipate this approach will enhance counselor education literature and foster increased peer support.

Exploring The Self-Assembly Of Functional Bis-Urea Macrocycles: M-Terphenyl Bis Urea Macrocycles And Triphenylamine Bis-Urea Macrocycles, Gamage Isuri Pramodya Wijesekera

Theses and Dissertations

Porous materials have gained significant attention due to their diverse applications in catalysis, separation, and molecular storage. Among them, self-assembled macrocycles represent a unique class of functional materials that leverage non-covalent interactions to form well-defined architectures with pores of controlled size. This thesis explores the design, synthesis, and self-assembly of bis-urea macrocycles in both solid-state and solution-phase environments, with a particular focus on supramolecular polymerization mechanisms and the emergence of kinetically trapped states.

The first chapter of this thesis presents a detailed overview of self-assembled porous materials, categorizing them based on pore dimensions and discussing their significance in catalysis, separation, …

Two Dimensional Van Der Waals Magnet, Cheongheon Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Conventional charge-based memory has reached its limits in improving energy efficiency while scaling down size. Consequently, memory utilizing 2D magnetic materials has emerged as an alternative. 2D Van der Waals (VdW) magnets are ultrathin magnets with unique properties that make them optimal for this purpose. Utilizing the weak interlayer coupling via VdW interaction has enhanced the possibility of integrating diverse materials to create heterostructures. The integration of spintronics requires not only stable magnetization but also an effective switching mechanism. Various external influences have been experimentally tested, such as the proximity effect, external magnetic field, gate voltage, and temperature dependence. This …

Relationships Between Modern Marching Percussion And Concert Percussion: An Investigation Of Selected Percussion Ensemble Repertoire, Ian Patrick Mahaffey

Theses and Dissertations

Percussion, as an expansive and diverse art form, encompasses a wide range of performance and cultural aesthetics, all unified by the foundational elements of rhythm, technique, and expression. Within this spectrum, the relationships between marching percussion and concert percussion presents a significant area of study. This document explores the relationships of marching percussion and concert percussion through the contextual analysis of specific percussion ensemble repertoire. By defining the distinct characteristics of concert and marching percussion, the study establishes a framework for comparison and analysis. It highlights how techniques, both musically and compositionally, and the roles of specific instrumentation has contributed …

Esports Audience Segmentation: Means-End Chain Approach, Deokkyung Ock

Theses and Dissertations

As live-streaming platforms have fueled esports’ rapid growth, they have also diversified content from competitive matches to casual gameplay, creating a complex audience landscape. To capture this diversity, the present study applied means-end chain (MEC) theory to: (1) examine how esports audiences cognitively associate different content attributes with their expected consequences and underlying personal values; (2) segment esports audiences based on these unique MEC structures; and (3) compare consumption frequency of both watching and playing esports across the identified segments.

The current study adopted exploratory sequential mixed methods to achieve the study’s objectives. In Study One, in-depth interviews with 22 …

Navigating Survival: Trans Adults’ Information Practice In South Carolina, Rhys R. Dreeszen Bowman

Theses and Dissertations

This community-based action research dissertation has two parts. First, through interviews with 25 trans adults in South Carolina, I asked how trans people use information to survive. The findings indicate that while trans people face significant financial, medical, legal, and social barriers, they are generally well-equipped to navigate them. I identified the following themes from the interviews: Identity practices shaped information outcomes. Participants' understanding of themselves as trans impacted how they evaluated and used information. 2) Participants preferred to find information from within trans communities. The internet was a popular place to seek information because it was a way for …

First Detrital Zircon Provenance Data From Oligocene-Pleistocene Sediment In The Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin, Arctic Ocean, Joseph Martina

Theses and Dissertations

Sediment, runoff, and nutrient input to the Arctic Ocean plays a critical role in both physical and biological processes that impact regional and global systems. The Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin, situated in the Arctic Ocean offshore northwestern Canada, contains more than 14 km of clastic strata and provides a record of erosion and sediment transport from the Cretaceous to present. Pliocene sedimentation rates within the basin jump nearly 2000% relative to underlying units, but the cause of this shift remains unknown. We used cuttings from the N. Issungnak L-86 well, focusing on the Oligocene-lower Miocene Kugmallit and Mackenzie Bay sequences and the …

The Use Of Threat Assessment Protocols In K-12 Schools On Disciplinary Outcomes For Students With Disabilities, Natasha Lynn Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations

School personnel utilize the BTAM process to investigate threats of violence made by students through identifying, assessing, and managing potentially dangerous situations. This process is not intended to be disciplinary in nature, and previous studies conducted have shown that when a BTAM model is implemented, students who make threats toward others receive fewer suspensions or other types of removal as a result of the threat; however data on threat assessment outcomes has not been conducted in South Carolina. The purpose of this study was to examine administrators' knowledge and perceptions of BTAM models and perceptions of discipline outcomes for students …

Novel Approaches To Combat Neuro-Degradation: Investigations Of Two Supplemental Strategies Aimed At Improving Warfighter Performance, Blaine Lints

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the efficacy of two distinct nutritional supplementation strategies for improving physical and/or cognitive performance under stress. The first study investigated the effects of 150 mg caffeine plus 150 mg theacrine ingestion in tactically trained individuals. Results indicated that the combination of caffeine and theacrine was associated with significant improvements in reaction time, accuracy, and measures of ocular control following high-intensity interval (HII) exercise. The HII exercise protocol consisted of ten repetitions of 60s high-intensity intervals (≥90% maximal oxygen uptake [VO_2max]) followed by 120s low-intensity intervals (~40% VO_2max) on a treadmill. These benefits were …

Characterizing The Relationships Between Cranial Geometry, Brain Morphometry, And Brain Mechanical Properties Using Mr Imaging And Elastography, Jessica Restivo

Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a global health concern, with over 69 million cases annually. TBI risk depends on subject-specific neuroanatomical variation, yet research often only considers generic finite element (FE) models, based on the geometry and material composition of a 50th percentile male head. Although highly accurate, subject-specific models require expensive magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, elastography, and time-consuming computational resources. There is a need to create subject-specific TBI models that account for subject-specific variations, without neuroimaging. This study aims to create mathematical models to predict brain morphometry (dimensions, volume) [Objective 1] and mechanical properties (shear stiffness, damping ratio, octahedral …

"We Have Such Fantastic People Working Here": Using Action Research To Address Community College Burnout, Christine Pipitone

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods action research dissertation explores faculty burnout at a New Jersey community college to propose actionable, faculty-led solutions through a collaborative approach. Grounded in a theoretical framework that integrates theories of action, critical theory, and job demands–resources theory, the study included three phases that followed an explanatory sequential design. In the first phase, quantitative and qualitative data obtained through an anonymous questionnaire provided baseline information about the dimensions of burnout participants experienced. The data informed the second phase, which consisted of semi-structured focus group interviews. In the third phase, an action research team worked together to make recommendations based …

Addressing Key Challenges In Mhz Power Converters, Aqarib Hussain

Theses and Dissertations

Power electronics are essential in applications such as aerospace, electric vehicles, and electric ships where compact, efficient, and high power-density converters are increasingly demanded. This push toward miniaturization has led to converter designs operating at switching frequencies in the megahertz (MHz) range. Higher-frequency operation enables significant reductions in passive component sizes—particularly transformers and inductors—thereby facilitating dense packaging. However, these benefits come with new challenges, including increased thermal stress, complex semiconductor behavior, higher-frequency magnetic design constraints, and elevated electromagnetic interference (EMI).

This research addresses several key challenges in MHz converter design. The first part involves the development of a 1-MHz, 1-kW …

Investigating Mechanisms And Day-Level Factors That Influence Children’S 24-Hour Movement Behaviors, Hannah Parker

Theses and Dissertations

Twenty-four hour movement behaviors (i.e., physical activity (PA), screen time (ST), and sleep) are associated with health outcomes, chronic disease (obesity, type 2 diabetes), and mortality. Most literature evaluating children’s 24-hour movement behaviors has focused on static person-level demographic information such as age or biological sex. Relatively less work has examined the variable factors that change day to day, such as environment or context. The Structured Days Hypothesis (SDH) suggests that when children are in structured environments, they have healthier movement behaviors compared to less structured environments where children have more discretionary time to engage in obesogenic behaviors. Besides school/childcare, …

Elevating Next Generation Wireless Devices Towards Contactless Sensing For Healthcare Applications, Aakriti Adhikari

Theses and Dissertations

There is an increasing interest in technologies that can understand and perceive at-home human activities to provide personalized healthcare monitoring, aimed at early detection of disease markers and assisting physicians in making clinical decisions. Existing approaches, such as wearables, require users to wear sensors that can be cumbersome and cause discomfort. Vision based solutions, such as optical cameras, IRs, LiDARs, etc., can be used to design contactless at-home monitoring systems. However, these systems are limited by poor lighting and occlusion, and they are privacy-invasive. Fortunately, high-frequency millimeter-wave wireless devices provide an effective alternative to the existing systems to enable fine-grained …

Hearing The Unheard: Creating A Brave Space To Analyze The Experiences Of Men Of Color In Student Service Roles And Their Mental Health Challenges Within Higher Education, Calvin Maurice Joyner

Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed the experiences of five men of color in student service roles dealing with mental health stressors, such as discrimination, workplace burnout, tokenism, and low morale. To highlight their experiences, a brave space was utilized as an intervention. The following questions were examined and answered within this qualitative, action research study: (1) What are the experiences of men of color with mental health challenges in student service roles? (2) How do mental health problems affect the personal and professional lives of men of color in student service roles? (3) How do the brave spaces impact the mental health …

Positive Self-Talk, Politics, And Poetry: The Impact Of A Culturally Responsive Workshop In A High School Support Lab, Danielle Ann Verwers

Theses and Dissertations

This action research dissertation describes my effort to expand access to the arts for my high school students with IEPs through a culturally responsive poetry workshop. For this qualitative study, I used ongoing content analysis to explore how the experience impacted my students and me, drawing insights from artifacts, field notes, and interview data. Predetermined categories of student identity, writing, and poetry yielded themes like positive self-talk, family, voice, and reimagining to illuminate the students’ experiences. As I analyzed my own experience, two categories of pressure and political impact emerged, characterized by freedom, growth, struggle, burnout, and hope. In addition …

The Role Of Symmetries In Atomic, Electromagnetic, And Particle Physics, Joshua Martin O'Connor

Theses and Dissertations

Symmetries in atomic, electromagnetic, and weak interaction physics are explored to understand symmetry-breaking extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics. Lorentz-violating field theories are extremely interesting theoretically, since they possess many new features that are absent in Lorentz-invariant models. We outline the formalism and experimental status of the Lorentz- and CPT-violating Standard Model Extension, in both the classical and quantum regimes. Processes such as vacuum Cerenkov radiation, which are kinematically forbidden when Lorentz symmetry is exact may become allowed when this symmetry is weakly broken. Particle decays, such as pion and kaon decays, although allowed in Lorentz-invariant theories, are …

Causal Neuro-Symbolic Artificial Intelligence: Synergy Between Neuro-Symbolic And Causal Artificial Intelligence, Utkarshani Jaimini

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding and reasoning about cause and effect is innate to human cognition. In everyday life, humans continuously engage in causal reasoning and hypothetical retrospection to make decisions, plan actions, and interpret events. This cognitive ability allows us to ask questions such as: “What caused this situation?”, “What will happen if I take this action?”, or “What would have happened had I chosen differently?” This intuitive capacity to form mental models of the world, infer causal relationships, and reason about alternative scenarios, particularly counterfactuals, is central to our intelligence and adaptability. In contrast, current machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) …

A Neuro-Symbolic Ai Approach To Scene Understanding In Autonomous Systems, Ruwan Tharanga Wickramarachchige Don

Theses and Dissertations

Effectively understanding scenes requires a unified representation of scene data and background knowledge. A neuro-symbolic AI approach to scene understanding leverages such a unified representation to enable advanced expression, inference, and labeling of scenes, improving the perception of autonomous systems.

Scene understanding remains a central challenge in the machine perception of autonomous systems. It requires the integration of multiple sources of information, background knowledge, and heterogeneous sensor data to perceive, interpret, and reason about both physical and semantic aspects of dynamic environments. Current approaches to scene understanding primarily rely on computer vision and deep learning models that operate directly on …

Play, Guide, Aspire: How Game Type And Trainer Involvement Shape Orientation Training Outcomes, Damla Sonmez

Theses and Dissertations

The use of gamification in orientation training has gained attention in organizational settings, yet questions remain regarding how different gamified training designs influence new employees’ emotional commitment, willingness to participate in future training, and long-term aspirations. Drawing on Stimulus–Organism–Response (SO-R) theory, Achievement Goal Theory, and Ecological Systems Theory, this dissertation investigates how game type (individual vs. team) and trainer involvement (active vs. passive) shape these outcomes.

Two experimental studies using vignette-based scenarios were conducted. Study 1 tested the direct effects of game type on emotional commitment and willingness to participate. Study 2 employed a 2 (game type) × 2 (trainer …

Beyond Entertainment: Unveiling Digital Platform Strategic Implications For International Business Growth Of Individual Entrepreneurs, Hoik Kim

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how digital identity, comprising visual, psychological, and strategic components, impacts entrepreneurial success on global digital platforms. Rather than treating identity as a static or aesthetic trait, this study conceptualizes it as a dynamic and strategic construct shaped by audience perception, algorithmic systems, and institutional environments. The research is structured into three empirical studies. The first explores how facial visibility and social media engagement affect monetization on YouTube, considering the international context. The second study empirically investigates how a biometric cue influences entrepreneurial performance on digital platforms and interprets the results through the lens of social psychological perspectives. …

On A Conjecture On Covering Systems And An Irreducibility Question On Sparse 0,1-Polynomials, Alexandros Kalogirou

Theses and Dissertations

In 1952, H. Davenport posed the problem of determining a condition on the minimum modulus $m_0$ in a finite distinct covering system that would imply that the sum of the reciprocals of the moduli in the covering system is bounded away from 1. In 1973, P.~Erd\H os and J.~Selfridge indicated that they believed that $m_0$ > 4 would suffice. We provide a proof that this is the case in Chapter 2. Chapters 3 and 4 are dedicated to showing that $0,1$-polynomials of high degree and few terms are irreducible with high probability. Formally, let $k\in\mathbb{N}$ and $F(x)=1+\sum_{i=1}^kx^{n_i}$, where $ 0

A Spatial Scan Statistic For Group Testing Data, Vincent Onyame

Theses and Dissertations

Group testing involves pooling specimens from multiple individuals and offers an efficient means to surveil low-prevalence pathogens, but poses challenges for spatial cluster detection when only pooled results are observed. In this thesis, we develop a spatial scan statistic tailored to group-testing data with variable pool sizes. The statistic compares a null hypothesis of a homogeneous infection rate across all clusters to an alternative hypothesis that infection probabilities differ inside and outside a candidate cluster, with both models fitted by maximum likelihood estimation. We approximate the null distribution of the maximum likelihood ratio test via Monte Carlo simulation.

Through a …

Information Literacy In Charter Schools: An Institutional Ethnography, Katherine Klein

Theses and Dissertations

A strength of US charter schools is their opportunity to carve out an educational niche. Without the same regulation and district control present in traditional public schools, a charter school’s approach can seriously impact how the school addresses information literacy. In our current culture, we are saturated with media and technology, and students learn about navigating, evaluating, and using information responsibly and creatively at school. However, there is currently no published research on how charters do this critical work with their students, particularly with fewer libraries and librarians in the sector. This study uses institutional ethnography to map ruling relations …

The Influence Of Sex Education On Sexual Behaviors From Adolescence To Young Adulthood In South Carolina, Megan Elizabeth Austin

Theses and Dissertations

Sex education in South Carolina (SC) is known to be limited, which may influence adolescent sexual behaviors, leading to a higher likelihood of lower ages of sexual initiation, more sexual partners, and more experiences of sexual violence. These behaviors are associated with many negative health outcomes.

A political content analysis of bills, laws, and educational standards provides insight to changes in political discourse around sex education from when the Comprehensive Health Education Act (CHEA) was passed in 1988 until 2024. A variable created through this analysis is used along with SC Youth Risk Behavior Survey data to assess changes in …

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 …

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 …

Some Likelihood-Based Methods For Clustering Functional Data, Tong Shan

Theses and Dissertations

The analysis of functional data is an increasingly relevant part of statistics. The exploratory data analytic method of cluster analysis plays a very important role in different fields. Over the years, researchers have developed many clustering approaches, striving to achieve more accurate and efficient clustering. In Chapter 1, we aim to improve the accuracy of our outcome when clustering functional data. To achieve this goal, we use a predictive likelihood function which serves as an objective function to optimize in order to determine the most appropriate clusters. To optimize the objective function over the space of clustering partitions, we produce …

Clusters In The Storm: Regional Economic Specialization Before And After Hurricane Harvey, Gwyneth King Waddington

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, large-scale disaster events have dominated headlines. As the world faces an increasing number of such disasters, it is crucial to understand their impacts beyond immediate monetary losses. Disasters not only directly impact individuals and businesses but may also reshape the spatial patterns of the regional economy. Through a case study of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana, this study examines how disaster events influence regional economic specialization patterns and contribute to uneven impacts across economic supersectors and geographies. Expanding on previous methodologies, this study incorporates temporal analysis tools to identify and investigate case studies of economic change. …