Digital Commons Network^™

Literary Homeplace As A Site Of Knowing And Healing, Shamonique Hassell

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The concept of literary homeplace serves as a locus of rhetorical healing for Black women, emphasizing their lived experiences and creative expressions as forms of resistance and restoration (Collins, 1986; hooks, 1990; Nettles, 2001). The labor of Black women within families, churches, and artistic endeavors contributes to the cultivation of a collective consciousness surrounding oppression and healing (Edwards, 2010; Carey, 2016; Morrison, 1992). Building upon hooks’ (1990) notion of homeplace, this dissertation examines how Black women foster spaces characterized by care, dignity, and resilience (Hersey, 2022; Tate, 1984). Using personal narrative and articulating Black women’s voices, I position homeplace as …

Variations Of Hex Bar Deadlifts On Post-Activation Performance Enhancement In Collegiate Baseball Athletes, Samuel Sanders

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Single-session resistance priming protocols are used by strength and conditioning coaches to acutely improve neuromuscular mechanisms that are beneficial to athletic performance. This study aimed to examine if a concentric-only hex bar deadlift (CHBDL) would produce a similar post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) effect as a full-range-of-motion hex bar deadlift (THBDL) and mitigate perceived measures of fatigue and soreness in collegiate athletes. 19 NCAA Division I baseball athletes completed the study. A repeated measures design with randomized assignment and counterbalanced order was utilized. Over two weeks, the CHBDL and THBDL were added into a typical priming protocol used by the team’s …

Dynamic Analysis Of Malware Detection Using Customized Payloads: Examining The Effectiveness Of Manual And Automated Approaches In Web Applications, Jiban Krisna Das

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Web applications are becoming the prime targets for cyber-attacks, where SQL injection (SQLi) and Cross Site Scripting (XSS) are the most exploited vulnerabilities. The study explores a novel approach using customized payloads to examine the effectiveness of manual and automated techniques of malware detection. This dynamic approach can effectively generate attack payloads and identify the vulnerabilities in a website thereby strengthening website security measures. This research focuses on dynamic analysis in a controlled environment while testing and analyzing SQL and XSS payloads under varying security conditions. This quantitative analysis involves crafting targeted payloads to bypass Web Application Firewall (WAF) filters …

Application Of Semantic Segmentation To An Automatic Target Recognition Problem, Bruce W. Rush Jr.

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is an active remote sensing system commonly used in aerial reconnaissance. SAR penetrates cloud cover and vegetation by recording reflected energy pulses. The resulting information content is difficult to interpret due to vast clutter data and sparse target data. The time-consuming process of analyzing SAR imagery can be greatly reduced by implementing an Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) algorithm. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) are capable of extracting identification features from SAR data content. Further research in this field indicates that high performing models are insufficiently robust due to high clutter correlation among classes in the Moving and …

Impact Of Y-Mixer Geometry And Flow Rate Modulation On Chemical Gradient Generators In Microfluidic Devices, Elizabeth Thurston Hutton

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Various microfluidic structures are devised to generate tunable, stable spatiotemporal chemical gradients for single-cell studies. This work addresses the role of Y-mixer junctions in generating nonlinear gradients by increasing the width of one arm (bias), which is suspected to cause premature diffusion within the mixer. This study introduced a cinching feature to narrow the wider arm locally and redefine the junctions of these biased Y-mixers using four novel geometries defined by a 5-micrometer drawing rule. Furthermore, three flow rate factors allowed us to explore the impact on the generated gradient landscapes. The results showed that the four novel designs similarly …

Response Of Galactic Disks To Dark Matter Halo Triaxiality, Alex J. Hutton

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In this study we examine the influence of dark matter halo triaxiality on the evolution of galactic disks. We do this by running a series of collisionless N-body models. In a first set of models we place the galactic disk within an oblate halo at various orientations and examine the resulting evolution. In our second set we construct fully self-consistent models of a stellar disk embedded within a spherical halo, with an impacting external dark matter dwarf galaxy. After evolving the simulations for a Hubble time, we examine the disk orientation and warping along with other quantities such as bar …

Survey And Identification Of Entomopathogenic Fungi In Millipede Species In Coastal Georgia, Kristin L. Campbell Bailey

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Entomopathogenic fungi are well-known, species-specific pathogens of a wide diversity of insects that infect, manipulate, and kill their insect hosts to complete their life cycle. Recently in Savannah, Georgia, millipedes belonging to the genus Eurymerodesmus were observed exhibiting pre-death climbing behaviors associated with pathogenic fungal infection. Dying millipedes summited vegetation and subsequently died in elevated positions along edge habitat transitioning a recreational field and forest. Upon inspection, fungal structures found emerging from dead millipedes anatomically resembled Arthrophaga myriapodina, which is the first documented entomophthoralean fungus to infect millipedes. The goal of this research was to obtain species-level identification of the …

Majority Decision Using Top-Performing Neural Networks Models For Improved Credit Risk Prediction, Vincent Dey

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Credit risk prediction remains both a challenging and high-interest problem due to the inherently unbalanced nature of financial datasets and the continuous drive for higher pre- dictive precision. In this work, I build upon previous advancements in credit risk modeling and introduce an ensemble-based Artificial Neural Network (ANN) architecture designed to enhance classification performance. By leveraging a selective ensemble of decision net- works, this approach not only improves prediction accuracy but also mitigates the chal- lenges posed by imbalanced data distributions. While the primary focus is on credit risk prediction, my analysis demonstrates that the proposed model can be effectively …

Advocacy Across Divides: Attorney Aaron L. Buchsbaum In Savannah, Georgia, 1963-1969, Sydney Jolene Kelly

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the early life and career of Aaron Levy Buchsbaum, a Jewish lawyer from Savannah, Georgia. Buchsbaum's Jewish family upbringing, Southern childhood, and legal education all combined to mold him into an individual who used the profession to support those facing unjust treatment by the Savannah-Chatham County court system. By focusing on three of Buchsbaum's legal cases involving the Civil Rights Movement and his partnership with humanitarian organizations, this thesis contextualizes local conflicts in Savannah in the 1960s. Rather than safeguard the civil rights of all citizens, these cases demonstrate that the authorities, including judges, district attorneys, and …

Assessment And Health Benefit Of Vitamin C Using A549 Cell, Yetunde Adepoju

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a vital micronutrient recognized for its antioxidant capacity and essential bodily functions, such as collagen formation, neurotransmitter activity, and regulation of the immune system. This study explores how vitamin C can protect and potentially heal cells under oxidative stress and inflammation, using A549 cells, a human lung epithelial cell line, as the model system. The cells were exposed to varying concentrations of vitamin C dissolved in water, DMSO, and 5% DMSO. To assess the outcome, cell viability was measured with an MTT assay. In addition, the expression of key genes related to oxidative stress and …

Visual Attention And Memory Performance On Advertisements Featuring Celebrities, Kyrho Callis

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

VISUAL ATTENTION AND MEMORY PERFORMANCE ON ADVERTISEMENTS FEATURING CELEBRITIES

Accuracy In Real World To Pixel Coordinate Conversion, Noredia O. Imudia

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The field of computer vision has numerous applications of the real-world to pixel coordinate conversion. Related fields of machine learning, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality share similar benefits. My contribution involves assessing the accuracy of multiple coordinate conversion methods through experimentation. The Focal Length Calibration method allows for manual calibration using the scale factor. I have concluded that manual camera calibration causes the greatest improvements to accuracy when the method focuses on every point in the image. Methods that localize accuracy still increase accuracy, but not to the same degree.

Theatre As Sanctuary: Queer Identity, Religious Trauma, And The Path To Healing, Casey Worley

Theses and Dissertations

Growing up as a queer individual in a deeply religious Southern Baptist community, I learned early that faith and identity could feel like irreconcilable forces. I sat in the pews, surrounded by voices that preached love but often excluded people like me. For years, I struggled with the question: Can I be both queer and faithful? This tension—between belief and belonging, between the church I was raised in and the identity I could no longer deny—became the foundation of my journey, my artistic practice, and this thesis.

Through this research, I explore the intersections of queer identity, religious trauma, and …

Multiphysics Modeling Of Material Response To High-Intensity X-Ray And Laser Pulses: Heating, Ablation, And Plasma Expansion, Youssef Abouhussien

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a computational framework to investigate material response under high-intensity X-ray fluxes produced by an exo-atmospheric nuclear detonation and laser-material irradiations, with a focus on heating, ablation, and plasma expansion phenomena relevant to satellite vulnerability and high-energy-density environments. A hybrid Monte Carlo and Two-Temperature Model (MC-TTM) was developed to simulate X-ray and laser energy deposition and thermal relaxation in metals and semiconductors across a range of X-ray and laser pulse durations from femtoseconds to nanoseconds. Results demonstrate distinct thermal behavior between materials, with ablation thresholds and phase transitions captured in good agreement with experimental data.

In parallel, a …

Food Waste Renaissance: From The Table, For The Table, Yasamin Shaikhi

Theses and Dissertations

What if waste could be seen as a valuable resource rather than a burden? Food Waste Renaissance (FWR) explores innovative ways to transform excess food and byproducts into sustainable design materials. In Qatar, where food waste constitutes approximately 60% of urban waste, FWR promotes a shift in perception rather than attempting to resolve large-scale waste management issues. By fostering a culture where surplus becomes a resource, it inspires individuals, designers, and communities to embrace and contribute to a circular economy. FWR examines rice and date byproducts as biodegradable raw materials for lamps, bringing material from the table back to the …

Existing In The Context: A Conjunctural Analysis Of Kamala Harris Memes, Amaya Mcneal

Theses and Dissertations

Political memes have become a common way for people to express their political views online, helping politics reach young adults who weren’t previously interested. Consequently, politicians have begun sharing and creating memes themselves. The memeification of American politics has diminished debate about ideas, ideals, issues, and people’s vital interests, debasing voters by treating them not as citizens but as passive “consumers” and “spectators” of mediated politics. This paper helps make sense of this crisis, focusing on the example of former Vice President Kamala Harris. Vice President Kamala Harris' memeified presidential campaign during the 2024 U.S. election targeted voters through a …

Orb Weaver, Quinn Standley

Theses and Dissertations

Orb Weaver is a 24-minute experimental video/lm. This essay does not explain its meaning, as viewers should feel the power to trust their own interpretations. Instead, it reflects on the process of making the lm interwoven with autobiographical thoughts.

Mementos, Zixuan Guo

Theses and Dissertations

Relevance:

Personal Relevance: This project merges my passion for film photography and modern technology, aiming to create a design that bridges traditional and modern practices.

Local Relevance: Richmond’s rich historical context provides an ideal setting to illystrate that traditional arts like analog photography can be preserved while integrating modern digital technology.

Global Relevance: Globally, there is an increasing trend toward combining traditional and modern design approaches, particularly in architecture and interior design. Synthesizing analog and digital means is used to meet the balance between materiality and modern technology (Rose, 2014; Pelizzari & Scrivano, 2011). Designers balance tactile materials like wood …

Leveraging Distributed Semantics From Deep Learning Architectures For Literature-Based Discovery, Clint A. Cuffy

Theses and Dissertations

Literature-based discovery (LBD) is a scientific process that introduces methods to automatically identify novel insights between non-interacting sets of literature. To date, numerous statistical and machine learning-based methods have been applied in the biomedical domain to find treatments for diseases such as Raynaud's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Multiple Sclerosis. However, the lack of standardized practices and creation of bespoke methodologies produces a scenario where the adoption of LBD remains challenging in real-world systems. Our work addresses these concerns through the improvement of five critical areas: 1) error propagation within LBD's a priori dependent tasks, 2) exploring the integration of modern …

Rehabilitation In Stroke-Related Flexor Synergy, Shawn J. Dirocco

Theses and Dissertations

Upper extremity abnormal flexor synergy caused by stroke can impair individuals by coupling upper extremity muscles with deltoid activation. Previous studies have shown that reduction in deltoid loading can decrease flexor synergy. Robotic rehabilitation has the ability to allow for reduced deltoid loading while assisting or constraining joints along the arm to increase rehabilitation outcomes. The effects of higher degree of freedom low impedance robotics needs to be tested to learn how various parameters affect flexor synergy in comparison to end point robotics. During the first experiment, we tested 16 chronic stroke patients with flexor synergy problems in 3 tasks. …

A Data-Driven Approach To Offshore Wind Forecasting In The Celtic Sea, Ajit C Pillai, Peter Jenkin, Ian Ashton, Edward Steele, Marcus Juniper, Jiaxin Chen

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Accurate weather forecasting is crucial for various industries,including offshore wind, which is vital for global net zeroenergy goals. Machine learning models, trained on historicaldata, offer a new opportunity by replacing traditional physicsbasedequations. These models can learn patterns not alwaysrepresented by physical equations, potentially increasing the accuracyand efficiency of weather forecasting compared to traditionalNumerical Weather Prediction (NWP).This study applies a machine learning framework (MaLCOM)to offshore wind forecasting in the Celtic Sea. It uses anattention-based LSTM recurrent neural network to learn temporalpatterns and a random forest-based spatial nowcasting model,trained on ERA5 data, for spatiotemporal predictions. Windsderived from wave spectra measured by buoys …

The Effect Of Device Geometry On The Performance Of A Wave Energy Converter, Emma C. Edwards, Craig Whitlam, John Chapman, Jack Hughes, Bryony Redfearn, Scott Brown, Scott Draper, Alistair G.L. Borthwick, Graham Foster, Dick K.P. Yue, Martyn Hann, Deborah Greaves

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Wave energy presents an excellent opportunity to add much-needed diversification to the global renewable energy portfolio. However, a competitive levelised cost of electricity for wave energy conversion devices is yet to be proven. Here, we optimise the geometry of a wave energy device to maximise power while also minimising the power take-off reaction moments. Using theory, numerical modelling and optimisation techniques, we show that by including minimisation of reaction moments in the optimisation, instead of only maximisation of power, it is possible to substantially lower the design loads while maintaining high efficiency. Using the underlying physics of how geometry affects …

Advancing Point-Of-Care Testing With Nanomaterials-Based Screen-Printing Electrodes, S. Nazir

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Although numerous studies have been conducted on multiple screen-printing electrodes (SPEs), little emphasis has been placed on systematically assessing scholarly work on nanomaterial-equipped SPEs in bioanalytical research. The fabrication of state-of-the-art portable screen-printing measuring devices represents significant disease monitoring and diagnosis advancements. This review classifies screen-printing electrodes based on the nanomaterials used. It discusses cost, regulatory approvals for portable screen-printing electrodes in point-of-care diagnostics, sensitivity, specificity, size reductions, and proposed solutions. It looks into the significance of new nanomaterials and substrates in fabricating point-of-care diagnostic devices and miniaturisation techniques. The review primarily focuses on the recent downsizing advances that have …

“Some Vague Utopia”: Searching For Urania, Moira L. Neve

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the global pendulum swing of gender trouble marked by the United States’ President’s declaration that there are only two sexes, activists have been rejecting assimilation (ie. defining equality as gay marriage or queer people in the military) within queer studies long before 2025. In the first half of the 20th century, a journal by the name of Urania (1916-1940), privately published and circulated to their home base in the United Kingdom and beyond, five editors (Esther Roper, Eva Gore-Booth, Jessey Wade, Dorothy Cornish, and Irene Clyde/Thomas Baty), challenged the gender binary and the resulting assumptions of heterosexual marriage. This …

News Mediated Reporting And Governmental Narratives About The Enforcement Of Elite Criminality: Exploring The Social Construction Of Financial Frauds And Discrepancies In Punishment, Dominic J. Zicari

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how financial crime enforcement decisions are socially constructed through a qualitative content analysis of news articles and government communications pertaining to two specific cases: the Enron scandal of 2001 and the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. The study was guided by a theoretical framework that utilizes Barak’s (2017) theory of state-routinized crime control. The rigorous analysis of 394 news articles and government communication documents revealed that the media and the state rarely framed the subprime mortgage crisis as a criminal issue. Although the Enron scandal was frequently described as financial crime, journalists and government communicators were often …

“You’Re Only As Good As Your Resources”: Exploring Virginia Police Chiefs’ And Sheriffs’ Decisions As Public Administrators To Engage In Community Collaborations With Domestic And Sexual Violence Agencies, Christine E. Wengloski

Theses and Dissertations

The collaborations between domestic and sexual violence victim-serving agencies (DSVAs) and law enforcement agencies help connect victims of crime to needed services. To maximize the benefits of these victim-serving initiatives in Virginia, it is imperative that victim-serving agencies understand the perceptions and factors that influence the decision-making of law enforcement administrators. In this study, I first present a theoretical framework of Herbert Simon’s Decision-Making Theory as a guide to understanding police chiefs and sheriffs as public administrators. A review of the literature demonstrates gaps in existing scholarship around chiefs’ and sheriffs’ decision-making about domestic and sexual violence victim-serving initiatives. Next, …

Improving Telehealth Education And Training: A Needs Assessment Of Healthcare Providers And Trainees, Conor Duffy

Theses and Dissertations

Telehealth utilization has increased dramatically since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are many positive impacts of this shift to telehealth, including increasing access to care and reducing patient burden. However, healthcare providers report several consistent challenges that limit their ability to deliver telehealth, such as effective communication, technological difficulties, and difficulty performing physical examinations. To address these concerns, it is necessary to integrate telehealth education and training into healthcare professional training programs and healthcare systems. While many institutions have implemented telehealth education and training since the start of the pandemic, there is little consistency in the content, duration, …

Sffa V. Harvard: Racial Triangulation And The Invidious Myth Of Colorblindness, Philip Lee

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

In Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. (SFFA) v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, a case in which the Supreme Court ended the longstanding practice of race-conscious admissions in higher education, Asian Americans were used as a wedge between White people and non-Asian minorities to eradicate a mechanism that fostered greater racial diversity in student bodies in many highly selective institutions across the country. A majority of Supreme Court justices justified their decision in the name of “colorblindness.” However, the way the justices positioned Asian Americans against other people of color was not colorblind. It was consistent with …

The Impact Of Key Audit Matters On Earnings Quality: The Moderating Role Of Ownership Structure In Egyptian Listed Companies., Dina Hassouna, Rasha Elhaddad, Rasha Elbolok

Business Administration

This study investigates the influence of key audit matters (KAMs) on earnings quality, measured by earnings per share (EPS), in Egyptian listed companies, with a particular focus on the moderating role of ownership structure. To address potential endogeneity concerns, the study employs the generalized method of moments (GMM) for panel data analysis. The findings indicate that KAM disclosures have a significant negative impact on EPS, suggesting that increased disclosure of critical audit matters is associated with a decline in earnings quality. However, this relationship is moderated by ownership structure, as concentrated ownership helps mitigate the adverse effects of KAMs on …

The Impact Of Using Artificial Intelligence (Ai) On Employer Branding, Doaa Ayoub, Sherine Fathy El-Fekey, Malak Walid

Business Administration

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing Human Resource Management, enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and strategic capabilities as companies want to stay competitive in the global market. In recent years, AI has transformed numerous facets of business operations, especially in the development of employers’ branding strategies. Additionally, one-third (36%) of HR professionals anticipate a high use of AI in the next two years, while 61% expect at least moderate use within a year. AI enhances employers’ branding - fostering a work culture that attracts and retains top talent in the global market. Furthermore, the contribution of AI in improving employers’ branding strategies has …