Digital Commons Network^™

End-To-End Modeling For The Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area: A Review Of Available Tools For Conservation Objectives, James R. Lovvorn, Cara Nissen, Alexis A. Bahl, Erik Behrens, Cassandra M. Brooks, Katy Christensen, Michael S. Dinniman, Lilian A. Dove, Alice K. Duvivier, Eileen E. Hofmann, Hayley Kwasniewski, Young Shin Kwon, Sharon E. Stammerjohn, Lei Xing

CCPO Publications

The challenge of protecting marine ecosystems, including biodiversity and manifold interactions in changing environments, has encouraged development of end-to-end models linking physical drivers through entire food webs to upper-level predators. Ideally such models should have temporal and spatial resolution adequate to capture important small-scale processes, while including scales large enough to encompass local food webs and movements of wide-ranging consumers. The need for component submodels to be manipulated and upgraded independently by scientists from different disciplines, and used selectively depending on questions addressed, favors modular structure allowing linkage of different submodels with varying strengths and weaknesses. As an example, this …

Developing Collaboration And Community Through An Online Virtual Modality: Participatory Action Research, Jennifer Reed

Doctor of Education Dissertations

This action research study examined educators’ perceptions of collaboration and community within a virtual professional learning community and investigated how participation influenced collaborative actions over time. The study also compared the needs and goals of secondary and postsecondary educators participating in a shared VPLC model. Grounded in the Community of Inquiry and Online Collaborative Learning theoretical frameworks, this study addressed a growing need for effective, flexible professional learning structures that support collaboration across educational contexts. Data were collected from six educators, including three secondary and three postsecondary instructors, through pre- and post-administration of the Professional Learning Community Assessment–Revised, recorded virtual …

Beyond The Classroom: Exploring High School Graduates' Perceptions Of How Extracurricular Activities Influence College And Career Readiness, Miranda B. Grigg

Doctor of Education Dissertations

This mixed methods study explored high school graduates’ perceptions of how participation in extracurricular activities influenced their college and career readiness. Grounded in Bandura’s (1986) Social Cognitive Theory and Deci and Ryan’s (1985) Self-Determination Theory, the study examined how experiences in athletics, clubs, organizations, and leadership roles contributed to graduates’ development of confidence, motivation, leadership skills, belonging, and real-world competencies. A sequential explanatory mixed methods design was employed. The quantitative phase consisted of a 20-item survey completed by 67 graduates of a rural South Carolina high school, with responses analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square goodness-of-fit tests. Reliability was further …

A Regional Multimethod Study On The Impact Of Identification Practices For Diverse Populations In Academically Gifted Programs During The 2022-2025 Aig Plan Implementation, Stephanie G. Revis

Doctor of Education Dissertations

Historically, many North Carolina Local Education Agencies (LEAs) have not prioritized diversity in Academically and Intellectually Gifted (AIG) programs, and local control over funding and policies has led to wide variations in how identification and services are implemented. As a result, persistent equity gaps exist between the proportion of culturally, linguistically, and ethnically diverse (CLED) students in the overall population and their representation in AIG programs. The purpose of this study was to examine identification practices implemented by LEAs and determine their impact on the Relative Difference in Composition Index (RDCI), as well as to identify which practices contribute to …

Understanding Teacher Self-Efficacy And Its Influence On Teacher Effectiveness: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis-An Extension, Valene Williams

Doctor of Education Dissertations

This study examined teacher self-efficacy and its influence on instructional effectiveness within a high school mathematics context. The study was grounded in the work of Bandura (1997), in addition to an extension of Benitez's (2020) research. This replication-by-extension study sought to explore how teachers’ lived experiences shape their self-efficacy beliefs and how those beliefs influence classroom practice. The study addressed two research questions: (a) What can we learn about self-efficacy sources from teachers’ experiences? and (b) How do teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs influence their effectiveness? This research is important given ongoing concerns regarding mathematics achievement and the role of teacher beliefs …

Comprehending Teacher Retention: A Qualitative Study Of Job Satisfaction Viewed Through The Frameworks Of Maslow And Herzberg, Shakeria G. Mccullough

Doctor of Education Dissertations

Teacher shortages pose a significant concern, as numerous educators are departing from the profession (OECD, 2025). Schools are encountering difficulties in filling vacant positions with droves of individuals planning to depart the profession (Lurye & Griesbach, 2022). This qualitative study investigated alternatively certified and traditionally certified teacher perceptions regarding job satisfaction and teacher retention within a single public school system. Findings showed the need for policy shifts that address organizational challenges, an increased focus on pathway-specific and individual supports, a procurement of purposeful and meaningful instruction, greater attention to the realities of teaching and the well-being of teachers, and a …

Ecological Feedbacks In The Earth System, Eugene J. Murphy, Jessica J. Williams, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Vivienne P. Groner, David M. P. Jacoby, Lester Kwiatkowski, Jess Melbourne-Thomas, Emma Ransome, Cristina Banks-Leite, Laurent Bopp, Marion Gehlen, Eileen E. Hofmann, Babette Hoogakker, Nadine M. Johnston, Yadvinder Malhi, Emma L. Cavan

CCPO Publications

Ecological feedbacks are fundamental features of the Earth system, affecting physical processes and chemical cycles. Our understanding of the interactions underlying these feedbacks at different spatial and temporal scales and the extent to which feedbacks affect Earth system functioning remains limited. Climate change and other anthropogenic pressures are already negatively affecting ecological processes in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems. These will most likely be amplified in the coming decades under our current warming and socioeconomic pathways. The knock-on impacts on ecological feedbacks have the potential to cause rapid perturbations to the Earth system, and may significantly impact the structure and …

Basal Melting Variability Of The Ross Ice Shelf From Mixing Ratios Of Simulated Water Masses (1993-2018) And Potential Climatic Drivers, Enrico Pochini, Andrea Bergamasco, Florence Colleoni, Manuel Bensi, Giorgio Budillon, Pasquale Castagno, Michael S. Dinniman, Pierpaolo Falco, Emanuele Forte, Vedrana Kovačević, Stefanie L. Mack

CCPO Publications

Several water masses circulate under the Ross Ice Shelf (RIS), the largest ice shelf in Antarctica, each causing basal melting with a specific spatio-temporal pattern. To investigate these patterns and their variability, we applied a mixing ratio analysis to simulated water masses from a new numerical ocean model of the Ross Sea. The simulation, which was run over 26 years (1993–2018) and which includes the RIS cavity, shows good agreement with seaborne and mooring observations. The total RIS basal melt rate is 90 Gt/yr on average, and is caused mostly by High Salinity Shelf Water (HSSW) (68%), which enters the …

Targeting Ptp4a3 And Kvx-053 Mitigates Alcohol-Amplified Sars-Cov-2 Spike Protein-Induced Acute Lung Injury, Pavel A. Solopov, Ruben Manuel Luciano Colunga Biancatelli, Elizabeth R. Sharlow, John S. Lazo, John D. Catavas

Bioelectrics Publications

Introduction: Chronic alcohol exposure is associated with increased vulnerability to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and emerging evidence suggests that this susceptibility extends to the severe respiratory manifestations of COVID- 19. The SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein S1 subunit (S1SP) can independently trigger robust inflammatory and vascular injury responses in the lung, and our prior work demonstrated that chronic alcohol consumption markedly intensifies these effects in mice. PTP4A3 phosphatase is a key regulator of inflammation and endothelial barrier function. In this study, we investigated whether the PTP4A3 inhibitor KVX-053 can counteract alcohol-enhanced S1SP-induced lung injury in K18-hACE2 mice.

Methods: Animals were maintained …

An Insidious Interstice: Understanding Cognition And Language Behaviour Through The Eyes Of Juvenile Justice Professionals, Anne M. Perrotti, Allison T. Chappell, Tancy Vandecar-Burdin

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

Introduction

Despite evidence suggesting language and cognition deficits are prevalent for justice involved youth, little research explores how juvenile justice personnel experience language and cognition behaviours in the youth they serve.

Aims

This qualitative study explored how juvenile justice personnel understand language and cognition skills and deficits in justice involved youth.

Methods

Twenty-two U.S. juvenile justice professionals participated in individual, semi-structured interviews. Questions focused on individual understanding of receptive language, expressive language, social communication, and cognition (i.e., problem-solving, predicting consequences and impulsiveness) in juveniles served. Using a phenomenological lens, transcripts were coded identifying themes and sub-themes of participant responses.

Results …

Seeing The Invisible Load: Xr+ Multimodal Sensing For Cognitive Ergonomics In Industrial Training, Jessica M. Johnson, Andwele Grant

Virginia Digital Maritime Center (VDMC) Faculty Publications

Extended reality (XR) technologies are increasingly positioned as disruptive Industry 5.0 tools for human-centric industrial training and intelligent human–system integration. Coupled with multimodal sensing (eye tracking, EEG, HRV, GSR, and other physiological signals), XR environments promise to make otherwise invisible cognitive demands observable, especially for novice trainees entering complex industrial settings. Yet the evidence base is fragmented: (1) there is no quantitative synthesis of the cognitive ergonomics benefits of XR plus sensing; (2) little is known about which XR–sensor configurations yield the strongest effects; (3) prior reviews rarely focus on industrial and manufacturing tasks; (4) multimodal signals are used predominantly …

Preoperative Patient Sentiment Is Associated With Postoperative Outcomes In Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery, Ross J. Gore, David Mazur-Hart, Mohan K. Sunkara, Aaqib Ali, Qizar Ali, Christopher J. Lynch, Christopher Ames

Center for Secure and Intelligent Critical Systems (CSICS) Publications

Study Design: Prospective observational pilot study of adult spinal deformity surgery patients.

Objective: To determine whether preoperative patient sentiment, quantified using a 21-class valence scale extending the CARP paradigm implemented through an offline Large Language Model, predicts postoperative outcomes.

Summary of Background Data: Predicting adult spinal deformity surgery outcomes remains challenging with traditional clinical and radiographic parameters alone. Although patient psychological factors and expectations significantly influence postoperative satisfaction and quality of life, systematic approaches to capture these factors are underdeveloped. Offline Large Language Models offer scalable, privacy-preserving psychological risk stratification.

Materials and Methods: We prospectively enrolled 18 patients undergoing adult …

Autonomous Float Data Reveal Decoupled Trends In Chlorophyll And Stratification In The Indian Ocean, Marufa Ishaque, Sophie Clayton, John Klinck

OES Faculty Publications

Recent studies have shown that the Indian Ocean is warming significantly, but how this warming impacts primary production is largely unresolved due to a relative lack of depth-resolved biological observations. In this study, we have used Biogeochemical-Argo data from 2013 to 2022, comprising over 9,000 individual profiles, to examine regional patterns and trends in depth-integrated chlorophyll, depth-integrated net primary production and stratification in the northern and Equatorial Indian Ocean. Our analysis shows that water column stratification is increasing in the majority of the study area, with the highest rate of increase observed in the western Bay of Bengal. At the …

Education And The Maternal Childcare Gap: Evidence From The Uk Covid-19 Pandemic, Lara Bakhaya

Honors Theses

This paper examines whether college education shapes working mothers’ access to remote work, flexible working, and childcare hours in the United Kingdom, and whether COVID-19 school closures amplified these inequalities. Using data from the UK Time Use Survey (2016–2021), a repeated cross-sectional diary dataset spanning the pre-pandemic period and five COVID-19 waves, this paper estimates weighted logistic and ordinary least squares regressions on a sample of married or cohabiting, employed mothers. School closures serve as a natural experiment, providing an exogenous shock to caregiving demands that affected all mothers simultaneously regardless of education level. College education significantly predicted working from …

Sexual Politics Of The Anglo-American Relationship In 1942: A Case Study Of The United States V. Travis Hammond Court-Martial, Catherine Campbell

Honors Theses

On August 10, 1942, American private, Travis B. Hammond, was on trial for accusations of rape against a 16-year-old British girl, Maureen Thomson. This would mark the first American court martial case tried on British soil. This trial was preceded by the issuing of the United States (Visiting Forces) Act of 1942 (VFA) on August 6, 1942, which granted the United States military exclusive jurisdiction over their soldiers. When the Act was first given to Parliament, it was looked at in disdain as being wholly without precedent and antithetical to the norms within Britain. However, the importance of maintaining a …

Pay Gaps At The Top: How Ceo–Executive Compensation Disparity Affect Firm Performance, Anh Que Diep

Honors Theses

This paper examines the relationship between executive compensation disparity and firm performance using S&P 500 firms. CEO Pay Slice (CPS) is used to measure pay disparity, and firm performance is measured by Tobin’s Q and ROA. The results from fixed effects models show an inverted U-shaped relationship between CPS and firm performance, with performance maximized at approximately a 60% CEO Pay Slice. Further analysis decomposes CPS into fixed and performance-based components. The results show that fixed compensation disparity is positively and consistently associated with firm performance, while performance-based disparity has weaker and less robust effects. Taken together, the findings suggest …

Cultural Roots Of Eating: A Comparative Analysis Of Organic Discourse And Marketing Practices In China And The United States, Zubin (Jane) Guo

Honors Theses

This thesis examines how cultural frameworks influence the development of the organic food market and shape individual attitudes towards the label “organic” in the U.S. and China. While the popularity of organic food has increased in recent years, cognitive and behavioral reactions toward the label “organic” have differed across societies. In the U.S., healthy eating discourse aligns closely with the individualistic culture and atomistic cognitive style, highlighting the importance of salient elements such as specific nutrients or chemical use. In contrast, Chinese healthy eating discourse is based on balance and harmony, which is directly related to traditional Chinese culture of …

La Mode Comme Arme À Double Tranchant : Construction Et Déconstruction De L’Indochine Coloniale, Sasha Hanson

Honors Theses

Cette thèse explore la façon dont la mode façonnait le pouvoir, l’identité et la résistance dans l’Indochine française à travers trois oeuvres littéraires : Un barrage contre le Pacifique (1950) de Marguerite Duras, Métisse blanche (1989) de Kim Lefèvre et The Book of Salt (2003) de Monique Truong. En appuyant sur les théories postcoloniales de Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Frantz Fanon et Homi K. Bhabha, j’argumente que la mode et les vêtements font plus que révéler les hiérarchies coloniales de race, classe et genre ; ils les renforcent activement. Alors que dans son récit, Duras expose les inégalités socio-économiques à l'intérieur …

N-Allylation Of Secondary Amides With Unsymmetrical Propionates, Remi Graff

Honors Theses

The combination of trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate (TMSOTf) and Et3N promotes the N-allylation of 4-methoxyacetanilide 2 with unsymmetrical propionates 1 (eq 1). The amide substrate is believed to undergo conversion to a nucleophilic silyl imidate in the presence of TMSOTf and the amine base, which concurrently promotes carbocation formation in the same flask through the loss of trimethylsilyl propionate, leading to N-allylation of the amide. A range of unsymmetrical propionates, accessed by varying the R and R’ substituents, react efficiently in this one-pot process with yields ranging from 44% to 99%, affording regioselective ratios of up to >20:1 through formation of regioisomers …

Gender-Diverse State Legislative Candidates In The United States: Identity Used Strategically On Campaign Websites, Nicholas Mossman

Honors Theses

In this honors thesis, I evaluate how transgender, nonbinary, and other gender-diverse state legislative candidates in the United States use their campaign websites to communicate messages related to gender identity to voters, and the potential effects of communication on electoral success. I used a dataset of eighty-nine candidates between 2014 and 2024, and coded fifty-four candidate websites to measure how candidates describe their personal identity and communicate about issues related to gender identity, like LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination and gender-affirming care. While existing research evaluates how voters respond to LGBTQ+ candidates, this thesis examines how candidates potentially attract voters through their campaign …

Net Carbonyl Ene Reactions Of Olefins With Aldehydes, Alexandra Mock

Honors Theses

Aldehydes and olefins react in the presence of base and TMSOTf to yield homoallylic alcohols. In this net ene reaction, TMSOTf acts as a Lewis acid to activate the aldehyde, leading to a strong oxygen-silicon bond that acts as a driving force in the reaction. In the proposed mechanism, the α-methylstyrene attacks the carbonyl carbon of the TMSOTf-activated aldehyde to produce a carbocationic intermediate. Elimination using a relatively bulky base (2,6-lutidine) provides the homoallylic alcohol. This reaction has proven robust in terms of the aldehyde and olefin scope.

Mechanisms Driving Disparities In Income Mobility Across The Income Distribution, Joe Larkins

Honors Theses

This study examines intergenerational income persistence across the income distribution, testing whether mechanisms driving inequality differ between families in the top and bottom halves of the income distribution. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), a nationally representative longitudinal survey of 8th grade students and their parents, this research estimates an interaction model comparing parental income effects for children in advantaged versus disadvantaged economic circumstances. The analysis reveals that a $1,000 increase in parental income yields eight times greater income gains for children in the bottom half of the distribution compared to those in the top …

Crafting The “Greatest Classics” Of Girlhood: Advice Columns, Diaries, And The Emotional Lives Of American Teenage Girls, 1918-1939, Kylee Violet King

Honors Theses

“Crafting the ‘Greatest Classics’ of Girlhood: Advice Columns, Diaries, and the Emotional Lives of American Teenage Girls, 1918-1939” explores how American teenage girls who came of age between 1918 and 1939 used writing as a form of expression. As a response to the heightened anxieties—the “storm and the stress”—that was caused by the social structure of the era, teenage girls used writing in advice column letters and diaries as a form of self-fashioning, self-reflection, and self-therapy to discuss courtship, dating, and romantic relationships. Additionally, depending on the medium, writing acted as a form of advice seeking and community support. Writing …

Rockyou2024: What’S Your Password?, Yixuan Zhang

Honors Theses

Passwords remain a critical part of almost every account security system. As a result, password guessing attacks remain one of the most widespread yet profitable attacks possible. Setting a password resistant to attacks is thus an important task for account holders. In this paper, we use the RockYou2024 database, a collection of approximately 10 billion real-world passwords collected from data breaches, to analyze the characteristics of passwords found in real life. We start with basic statistical property analysis, such as length, distribution of digits and symbols, and proceed onto more complicated properties such as frequencies of combinations of characters, entropy …

Mnes Vs. Local Firms’ Resilience To Global Shocks: Evidence From The 2008 Financial Crisis And Covid-19, Yijie Wang

Honors Theses

This thesis examines whether multinational enterprises (MNEs) are more resilient than domestic firms during major global shocks, using the 2008 Financial Crisis and COVID-19 as case studies. Although MNEs may benefit from diversification, internal capital markets, and foreign linkages, they may also face greater exposure to global demand shrinkage and supplychain disruption.

Using Compustat North America firm-level panel data from WRDS, this study analyzes publicly listed U.S. and Canadian firms across 2007–2013 and 2018–2024. Firm resilience is measured through net sales, net income, and gross profit using a two-way fixed effects panel model. Multinational status is identified through two different …

From Shock To Routine: The Evolving Impact Of Shutdown-Related Sentiment On Stock Markets, Yiran Shao

Honors Theses

To address gaps in existing research, this paper selects two U.S. government shutdown periods, 2018-2019 and 2025, as research samples to explore the effect of policy uncertainty on sentiment. This paper primarily analyzes the following two research questions.

First, what is the correlation between government shutdown-related sentiment during the shutdown period and daily market fluctuations? Specifically, can the sentiment index constructed from shutdown-related news effectively predict the next-day stock return during the event period?

Second, does the market have a learning effect? That is, between 2018-2019 and 2025, has the relationship between shutdown-related emotions and market outcomes weakened, shortened the …

Borrowing By Committee: An Analysis Of The Link Between Government Type And Sovereign Debt, René Polanco

Honors Theses

Previous literature is divided about the impact of democracy on sovereign debt. In the context of the third wave of autocratization (Lührmann & Lindberg, 2019), this paper uses a new dataset (the Episodes of Regime Transformation) focused on regime transitions to analyze the impact of democracy and regime change on the levels of sovereign debt for a panel of 167 nations between 2008 and 2024. I examine how democracy impacts debt level, borrowing, and debt service and dovetail these results with analogous ones regarding how states of transition impact the same measures. By including this extra wrinkle of government transition, …

Associations Between College Students' Belonging, Classroom-Based Relationships, And Mental Health Outcomes, Ella Grace Will

Honors Theses

Humans have a fundamental need to belong (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). A lack of belonging is associated with negative mental health outcomes, making it important to study student belonging in higher education (Strayhorn, 2019). Classroom-based relationships with professors and peers positively impact students' belonging (Tinto, 1993). The purpose of this study was to evaluate: the relative contribution of professor trust and peer interactions to classroom and university belonging, and to assess the associations between student belonging and internalizing symptoms. Survey data were collected via Qualtrics in September 2025 (baseline) and December 2025 from students in 32 first-year seminars participating in …

Designing Faculty Standards For Technology Integration In Higher Education Institutions: A Design-Based Research Study, Helen Crompton, Diane Burke, Christine Nickel

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This design-based research study responds to the call from scholars, organizations, and institutions to address the gap in scholarly knowledge regarding the lack of technology standards for faculty in higher education. These standards cover the three areas of faculty workload: teaching, research, and service. Conducted over two iterative macro cycles, this unique study engaged 114 participants, including faculty from a range of disciplines and institutional types, accreditation organizations and coordinators, and education and technology organizations. The outcome is a framework comprising six faculty standards; Instructor, Coordinator, Leader, Researcher, Learner, and Contributor. Each outcome is accompanied by practical indicators that support …

Impacts Of Segmenting Principle On Learner Performance And Attitude In A 3d Environment: A Mixed-Method Multiple Case Study, Kristin Herman, Mohan Yang, Jim Shifflet, Noah Glaser

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This study presents a conceptual replication of Moreno’s (Appl Cogn Psychol 21:765–781. 10.1002/acp.1348, 2007) study on the benefits of adhering to the segmentation principle when utilizing multimedia learning objects. Furthermore, this study expands upon the original by taking place in a low-immersive virtual reality environment, allowing for further understanding on the extent to which multimedia principles are still relevant. Both a synchronous and an asynchronous case are presented. Results indicate benefits for both cases in far transfer of learning. Furthermore, synchronous learners indicated a significant reduction in cognitive load and increased overall attitudes towards learning due to segmented instruction.