Digital Commons Network^™

Representation Of Black Women In Jazz Media: The Exploration Of African American Female Identity Through The Lens Of Jazz Music In Film, Gabrielle Dempsey

Institute for the Humanities Master's Papers, Projects, and Capstones

[From Importance of Films reflection section] This Project’s approach is to create new visual, research-based content that applies the different elements of art including music, film and storytelling. This project intends to form connections between aspects of African American History and the evolution of jazz music. This new work is made with the intent to connect the new understanding that the younger generations have with the origin, history and purpose of this jazz.

Constraint-Aware Metaheuristic Optimization For Experimental Design, Benjamin N. Fuller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Designing experiments becomes much more challenging when many variables and strict constraints are involved, as is common in modern science and engineering. This thesis introduces a new computational and mathematical framework that efficiently searches for optimal experiments in complex, high-dimensional spaces where traditional methods fail. By combining geometric techniques with flexible optimization algorithms like particle swarm optimization, our methods handle difficult constraints while scaling to real-world problems. Built in the high-performance Julia programming language and released as open-source software, this work bridges advanced theory with practical tools, offering researchers a powerful and accessible way to design better experiments under realistic …

Comparing Strategies For Wetland Revegetation In An Uncertain Water Future, Hailey M. Machnikowski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Wetlands worldwide are expected to experience more frequent and intense droughts and floods due to climate change. These shifting water conditions introduce challenges to restoring wetland plants, especially using direct seeding. Seeding is cost and labor-efficient compared to planting, but seeds and seedlings are highly vulnerable to water stress, so restoration efforts often fail when conditions are too wet or dry. Understanding how to improve seed-based revegetation under these conditions is increasingly important. Therefore, we sought to understand the response, measured by percent canopy cover or dry biomass weights, of native plants to different durations of drought in greenhouse experiments, …

Computational Modeling Of Lamina Cribrosa Biomechanics, Lydia Schwartz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The lamina cribrosa is a critical structural component of the optic nerve head and is believed to play a central role in the development of glaucoma. Understanding how its geometry and microarchitecture influence the mechanical behavior is essential for improving computational models of the optic nerve head. However, the complex structure of the lamina cribrosa presents a difficult challenge for experimental and computational investigations. In this study, two computational modeling approaches were developed to investigate the influence of structural representation on lamina cribrosa biomechanics. A curvature-based continuum model was used to examine the effects of the anterior surface geometry, parameterized …

Wrky Transcription Factors: Integral Regulators Of Defence Responses To Biotic Stress In Crops, Dongjiao Wang, Ruize Zhang, Wenhui Zou, Yuanyuan Zhang, Wanying Zhao, Tingting Sun, Qibin Wu, Zheng Qing Fu, Youxiong Que

Faculty Publications

Crops are continually challenged by biotic stresses, including fungal, bacterial and viral pathogens and insect pests, which cause substantial yield and quality losses worldwide. WRKY transcription factors constitute a plant-specific and functionally diverse family that is central to immune regulation. Recent advances in genomic resources and multi-omics approaches have accelerated the identification and functional characterisation of WRKYs in crops. This review summarises the structural features and classification of WRKY genes and their genome-wide distribution across crop species. It also synthesises WRKY-centred regulatory modules that mediate resistance to major classes of biotic stress. In antifungal defence, WRKYs reinforce pattern- and effector-triggered …

Ecological Responses To Living Shoreline Restoration, Aaron S. Bland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Coastal built communities and natural coastal ecosystems face similar and interrelated hazards: shoreline sediment erosion, shoreline retreat, and worsening storms, each of which is exacerbated by relative sea level rise. Living shorelines are coastal defense projects that incorporate natural habitats to provide more sustainable shoreline defense and improve the coastal ecosystem. Living shorelines have been widely adopted, but their performance has been highly variable, and the mechanisms of project success and failure are unclear. The overarching goal of this dissertation was to better understand the ecosystem responses to coastal restoration, focusing on the primary habitats of coastal salt marsh and …

The Legal Framework For Direct Ocean Carbon Capture And Storage (Volume 2: The United States), Korey Silverman-Roati, Romany M. Webb

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This paper, the second in a series of two, focuses on the U.S. legal framework for the marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) approach of direct ocean carbon capture and storage (DOCCS). The first explores DOCCS governance under international law and is available here: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/sabin_climate_change/271/.

DOCCS aims to remove some of the carbon currently stored in the ocean and thereby enable it to uptake additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. DOCCS is still undergoing research, but early studies suggest it could have significant carbon dioxide removal potential. However, DOCCS could also present environmental and other risks, including from the construction …

Use Of Electroencephalography To Evaluate Neural Correlates Of Attention In The Oddball Paradigm, Folsom J. Berry

Honors Theses

Electroencephalography (EEG) and Event-Related Potentials (ERP) are tools used to study and analyze cognitive processing. EEG measures neuroelectric brain activity from the scalp, while ERPs are time-locked averages that are used to isolate neural responses to stimuli. The P300 (P3) component (positive waveform elicited at 300 milliseconds (ms)) is the primary ERP component. This thesis project had two main objectives. The first objective was to develop conceptual and technical competency in EEG/ERP theory, data acquisition, and processing. The second objective was to implement the visual oddball paradigm through experimental demonstration. This experiment tested the hypothesis that infrequent target stimuli will …

Post-Exercise Vitals Recovery Response In Barrel Horses: A Field Study On Cooling Methods Used By Competitors, Lauran E. Hetrick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Barrel racing demands peak physical performance from equine athletes, yet limited research evaluates the field-based strategies used to optimize equine recovery at competition. This study assessed recovery management approaches used by competitors to elucidate their influence of physiological recovery by measuring heart rate, respiratory rate, and body temperature during a high-profile barrel race competition. Physiological data were collected at baseline, immediately post-exercise, and during a 15–30-minute cooldown period to characterize recovery under real-world conditions. Significant increases in HR, RR, and BT occurred from baseline to post-run (p < 0.001), followed by reductions during cooldown (p < 0.01), though values remained elevated (p < 0.05). Rinsing reduced HR and RR (p < 0.01), while shade and fans decreased RR and variably influenced HR. Noise, as a confounding variable, decreased HR but increased BT (p < 0.001). Ultimately, these results emphasize multimodal recovery approaches in competitive equine management in the field.

Propagation And Cultivation Of Sarracenia Species, Kathryn M. Huether

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluates the effectiveness of seed treatments on Sarracenina species to overcome seed dormancy; as well as evaluating fertilizer concentration and substrate mixture impacts on the growth of Sarracenia × wrigleyana, ‘Scarlet Belle’. The first portion of this study evaluated the effects of cold stratification and chemical treatments (smoke water and gibberellic acid) on the germination rates of Sarracenia alata and leucophylla. The primary objective was to determine whether increasing concentrations of these treatments paired with or without stratification could significantly enhance germination and serve as viable seed treatments for horticultural use. Germination did occur within all the …

Body Size Variation And Floral Associations Of The American Bumble Bee, Bombus Pensylvanicus, In East Texas, Sabekun Nahar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American bumble bee, Bombus pensylvanicus, is an important pollinator species that was once widespread in much of North America but has experienced population declines in recent decades in some regions. As a species of conservation concern, it is important to understand how body size varies in response to environmental conditions and to identify the key floral resources that support this species. I examined body size variation in East Texas and floral resource use of B. pensylvanicus across Texas. In the first chapter, body size variation among queens, workers, and males was quantified using thorax width and size variation …

Integrated Geophysical, Geotechnical, And Mineralogical Characterization Of Expansive Weches Formation Soils In East Texas: Implications For Infrastructure Design, Samuel Annobil

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the geotechnical, geophysical, and mineralogical characteristics of soils derived from the Weches Formation in Nacogdoches County, East Texas, with emphasis on the relationships among electrical resistivity, moisture condition, compaction state, and mineralogical composition. The Weches Formation is well known for producing clay-rich, moisture-sensitive soils that pose challenges to subgrade performance because of their plasticity and swelling behavior. Representative soil samples were collected and subjected to laboratory testing, including particle size analysis, Atterberg limits, Standard Proctor compaction, free swell tests, electrical resistivity measurements, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) mineralogical analysis. The soils are predominantly fine-grained and clay-rich, with USCS …

Predictors Of Elevated Borderline Personality Disorder And Pai-Bor Scores: The Role Of Psychological, Trauma, And Treatment Factors, Isabel Avendano Gil

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a complex and multifaceted mental health condition that significantly affects individuals' emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal functioning. BPD is characterized by impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, unstable relationships, and self-destructive behaviors, and often results in significant impairment across multiple life domains. Previous research has consistently identified Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), particularly sexual abuse (SA), as key contributors to the development of BPD. These early traumas are closely associated with core features of the disorder, including affective instability, identity disturbance, impulsivity, and maladaptive interpersonal patterns.

Psychotherapeutic interventions, such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), have …

Data-Driven Multimodal Mri Representation Learning For Subtype Discovery And Disease Progression Modeling In Parkinson’S Disease, Zihan Zhou

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Parkinson’s disease (PD) exhibits substantial clinical and neuroanatomical heterogeneity, limiting robust patient stratification and clinically meaningful progression modeling from MRI. We propose a unified multimodal 3D generative representation-learning framework that learns an interpretable latent space from co-registered baseline T1/T2 MRI with an edge-aware channel. Confound-corrected latent embeddings support unsupervised subtype discovery, while disease duration provides weak supervision to orient a continuous progression axis. On an independent external cohort (PPMI, N=171), the discovery-trained subtype structure shows significant partial replication (ARI=0.35; permutation test p=0.001) and enables longitudinal clinical stratification: mixed-effects modeling reveals subtype-dependent MDS-UPDRS III progression, with the strongest effect in subtype …

Considerations When Designing In Vivo Protocols For Conducting Biomechanical Research Of The Shoulder Joint In Hockey Athletes, Kylie Giesler

Honors Program Theses

While the numbers and details of hockey-related injuries are variable across sources due to variations in sample age, sex, location, and confidentiality of many large hockey leagues, a 2023 narrative review study identified more than 100,000 upper extremity injuries documented in research since 2000. Nearly half of those injuries were to the shoulder with common injuries being acromioclavicular joint sprains, shoulder instability and dislocations, labral and rotator cuff tears, and clavicle fractures. In respect to the National Hockey League (NHL), the highest level of play in ice hockey, 12% of all injuries are to the shoulder, second only to head …

Promoting Healthy Relationships Among Youth: A Community Based Educational Intervention, Cynthya N. Carrillo

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Unhealthy relationship behaviors among youth, including poor communication, lack of boundaries and normalization of control, remain a significant public health concern. This capstone project was implemented at Teen Health Outreach, a program within Santa Cruz County Public Health Department that provides sexual health education and outreach to youth. The community served included youth ages 12-18, with a focus in Watsonville, a diverse and underserved population with limited access to culturally responsive health education. The project involved the development and facilitation of an interactive healthy relationships workshop designed to increase knowledge of consent, communication and relationship “red, yellow and green flags,” …

Effects Of Culturally (Queer) Responsive Teaching On Lgbtq+ Students, Samantha L. Alonso

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) has been thoroughly researched, and its effects have been well documented. However, when responding to Cultural diversity within the classroom, most researchers and educators focus on racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse cultures. Despite this, CRT has proven its effectiveness for all students, and can be adapted for any minority culture. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of CRT for Queer students. As well as, the barriers, limitations, and hesitations in regards to its implementation. Using surveys conducted on students and educators alike, insights are provided in regards to student experiences and educators perspectives. Additionally, a …

The Investigation Of The Digital Divide: Government Literacy With African American Seniors, Jenettie Pirtle

Theses

My thesis, The Great Divide: An Investigation of Digital Literacy with African American Seniors, explores how race, age, and income shape access to technology and digital learning. Many African American seniors continue to face barriers to digital literacy due to limited resources, lack of exposure, and social inequalities. Using a qualitative approach, I conducted a focus group to hear directly from seniors about their experiences with technology, what challenges they face, how they feel about using it, and what support they need. Guided by Critical Race Theory and the concept of digital inequality, my analysis highlights the gap between access …

Reclaiming Suppressed Symbols: Yoruba Iconography And Nuyorican Identity In The Art Of Nitza Tufiño, Ariana Williams

Theses

This thesis examines the work of Afro-Puerto Rican artist Nitza Tufiño through Yoruba iconography, diasporic memory, and gendered Nuyorican identity. Grounded within the cultural and political context of the Nuyorican Movement of the 1960s and 1970s and, this study argues that Tufiño’s visual practice reframes suppressed African spiritual symbols through a woman-centered perspective, positioning Black femininity and spiritual labor as sites of resistance to colonial erasure and racial marginalization. Drawing upon Yoruba-derived cosmologies, Santería, and processes of visual syncretism, Tufiño integrates African, Indigenous Taíno, and Caribbean traditions to articulate a gendered visual language rooted in care, ritual, and collective memory. …

Soil Property Responses To Push-Pull Cropping In East Africa, Grace Mercy Amboka, Mattias Jonsson, Celina Apel, David Meinhof, Adomas Liepa, Frank Chidawanyika, Andargachew Detebo, Felipe Librán-Embid, Emily A. Martin, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, Marcell K. Peters, Jie Zhang, Michael Thiel, Michael Otim, James Mugisha, Ghebremedhin Belay Bahta, Fredah Maina, Alice Murage, Benjamin Feit, A. Sigrun Dahlin

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Push-pull technology is increasingly promoted in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for pest management and enhancing crop productivity. However, its influence on soil properties remains understudied, despite its potential implications for soil health and sustainable soil fertility management. This study examines soil properties in push-pull and conventional non-push-pull cropping systems. Soil samples were collected from push-pull and conventional plots in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. We examined the associations between soil physicochemical properties and cropping systems, along with key components of push-pull, namely Desmodium coverage and plot age, and manure and mineral fertiliser application. Overall, there were a few differences in soil …

Investigation Into The Effects Of Moderate-Dose Radiation On Ligament Biomechanics, Andrew Landefeld

All Theses

Recent advances in arthritis treatment pin ionizing X-ray radiation as a useful tool in reducing joint pain and immune response. However, due to a lack of fundamental research in the effects of low-dose ionizing radiation on tendon and ligament biomechanics, the safety of these studies is rather unknown. While most related studies investigated cellular response to low dose treatment, surrounding tissue physiology is left out of the picture. Additionally, moderate range doses of irradiation are rarely studied, as most uses of radiation on tendons and ligaments are for sterilization of cadaver tendons for allografts. This study provides a preliminary investigation …

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, …

Disruption Of Energy Homeostasis By Chemical Mixtures Containing Persistent Pollutants In Hepg2 And C2c12 Cells, Morgan Jacobellis

All Theses

The Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Fetal Growth Studies (ECHO-FGS) birth cohort data was used to identify chemical mixtures associated with adverse outcomes. This biomonitoring study associated specific chemical mixtures in maternal serum with low birth weight or childhood obesity (Pearce et al., 2021). Mixture Profiles 1, 3, and 4, comprised of different observed concentrations of DDE, PCB153, BDE47, and PFOS were prioritized. Mixtures were tested to determine whether they perturbed mitochondrial metabolism and energy sensing pathways. The purpose of this study was to elucidate a potential mechanism linking maternal exposure to mixtures containing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to …

Environmental Sustainability Assessment Of Field Phosphate Monitoring Methods For Creeks, Quintino Medi

All Theses

Creeks serve as conduits for water, nutrients, and contaminants to larger water bodies such as rivers and lakes, and their health is a key indicator of overall watershed water quality condition. Unlike rivers, creeks are under-monitored due to their small size, hydrological variability, and limited accessibility. Many technologies exist for monitoring phosphorus in surface waters. Technologies may be classified into two general categories: i) proxy real-time sensors, which record generic water quality parameters, and ii) chemical reagent-based assays, which quantify soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) in batch samples. There is a lack of studies that compare the features and benefits of …

Estimation Of The Mechanical Properties Of South Carolina Timber Piles Using Non-Destructive Evaluation Methods And Experimentally-Informed Models, Aashish Sapkota

All Theses

South Carolina has about 2,600 bridges that are supported by nearly 75,000 timber piles. They are increasingly vulnerable to biological decay, cracking and impact damages after decades of service. Current inspection methods used by the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT), such as hammer sounding and awl probing, are labor-intensive and expensive. This study investigated non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods, including micro-resistance drilling and stress wave timing, as alternatives for assessing timber pile condition.

Ten timber piles were collected from two South Carolina bridges, and their above-grade portions were cut into 40 specimens approximately 13 to 15 inches long. Specimens were …

Denisovan Introgression And Selection At Cntnap2 In Ancient And Modern American Populations, Matthew Barker

All Theses

The peopling of the Americas created new opportunities for genetic adaptation as ancient populations encountered novel environments across North and South America. Previous research has shown that segments of Indigenous American ancestry contain elevated proportions of Denisovan alleles. The gene CNTNAP2, which is involved in brain development and neuronal function, contains a Denisovan-derived haplotype that represents a candidate locus for adaptive introgression in admixed American populations. A Denisovan-derived core haplotype approximately 55 kb in length was identified within intron 13 of CNTNAP2. This haplotype is primarily found in admixed American populations and occurs rarely outside the Americas, and …

Identity, Party, And Politics: A Discourse Analysis Of Democratic Elites In Pod Save America, Geneva Lei P. Luteria

All Theses

The rise of popular podcasts has shaped public discourse and influenced millions worldwide on how they ought to think, imagine, and act about controversial subjects. Podcasts create an avenue for stories about power and technology to co-create a narrative that viewers buy into. This thesis analyzes one of these essential podcasts, Pod Save America, in how Democratic elite guests approach identity politics, a phenomenon best described as advocacy based on one position’s in society. I begin the thesis by considering the differences in scholarly interpretation of how identity politics functions conceptually and practically. Then, I integrate ideas about how …

Taking A Deeper Look: Attributing Tonal Values Of Photolumens To Their Emulsions Using Scanning Electron Microscopy, Anna M. Moore

All Theses

This thesis examines whether tonal variation in photolumens made with historic silver gelatin photographic papers can be linked to differences in elemental composition. Photolumens are cameraless photographic images created by placing objects directly on light-sensitive paper and exposing them to ultraviolet light. Because expired and historic darkroom papers often produce unpredictable colors and tones, this study asks whether visually defined tonal groups also show measurable chemical differences.

Twenty historic paper samples were exposed, documented, and sorted into five tonal groups based on visible image characteristics. Each sample was then analyzed using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) …

Between Home And Hallway: Does School Discipline And Parental Incarceration Moderate Academic Outcomes Among Justice Involved Youth?, Morgan M. Hamer

All Theses

This study examines the relationship between parental justice contact, school disciplinary action, and academic performance of juvenile justice involved youth. Prior research has found youth with parents with justice system contact and juvenile justice involved youth to be vulnerable populations. Specifically, this study examines how a youthful offender with at least one parent with justice system contact performs academically, and if this relationship is moderated by school disciplinary action. Using quantitative data from the baseline wave of the Pathways to Desistance Study (Mulvey et. al, 2004), an ordered logistic regression analysis was employed to assess whether parental justice contact predicts …

The Impact Of Dipeptides On Product Quality In Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells, Louise C. Herman

All Theses

Biopharmaceuticals are medicines produced in cells which are used to treat diseases such as cancer. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) represent the majority of approved biotherapeutics. MAbs are mostly produce using Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. CHO cells are favored for resiliency, scalability, and established safety, and are considered the “workhorse” organism for biopharmaceuticals.  Amino acids are a key component of cell culture media, however several amino acids have solubility limits, such as cysteine, cystine, and tyrosine.  At neutral pH, these amino acids are poorly soluble.  However, dipeptides, such as N,N'-di-L-Alanyl-L-Cystine (ACCA) have been reported to increase cysteine and cystine availability. Further, …