Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Sarasota’S Local Theatre And Its Historical Structure, Cayla Schimmel

Theses & ETDs

This thesis argues that Asolo Repertory Theatre may not be the only single foundation for other existing and future theaters in Sarasota to exist but serves as a central model due to its unique historical layer, institutional structure, and lasting artistic influence which have helped modern day theaters like Urbanite Theatre to exist in a coexistent city. What originally began as a comparative project focused on identifying the differences between Asolo’s multiple performance venues, including its expansive proscenium Mertz Theatre and Urbanite’s concentrated black box space, led to a shift in perspective. It became an exploration of meaningful relationships that …

How Elements Including Location, Time Of Day, And Narrative Structure Influence Audience Engagement And Emotional Connection Within Short Form Video Content, Ashleighe Gibson

Communications and Digital Media Theses

This study examines how TikTok-based digital storytelling communicates urban walking experiences in New York City, focusing on how content strategies influence audience engagement and emotional connection. While both walking and short-form video storytelling have been widely studied, their intersection in shaping perceptions of urban environments remains underexplored. Using a mixed-methods approach, a TikTok account was created to document walking experiences, with content systematically varied by key factors including narrative structure, posting frequency, and environmental context. Engagement metrics, including views, likes, comments, and shares were analyzed alongside qualitative reflections to identify patterns in audience engagement and response. Findings indicate that engagement …

Editorial, Jo Cottrell, Louise Kane

The Journal of Wyndham Lewis Studies

No abstract provided.

"Neutrality—That Was Anathema": The Critique Of Ideology In The Revenge For Love, Joseph Owen

The Journal of Wyndham Lewis Studies

No abstract provided.

Wyndham Lewis And British Art Rock: A Practicological Modernism By Thomas Keller, David A. Wragg

The Journal of Wyndham Lewis Studies

Book Review

Thomas Keller, Wyndham Lewis and British Art Rock: a Practicological Modernism. (Narr Francke Attempto Verlag, 2024), 328pp. £54.00 (Hbk)

Ego Boost: Recreating The First Stage Of Blue Lock’S Second Selection As A 3d Game In Unity, Izzy Carlson

Theses & ETDs

Upon the completion of a successful animated adaptation, it is common for popular manga series to also receive video game adaptations; however, it is just as common for these games to be far removed from fan expectation. Blue Lock is a dichotomy to this phenomenon, possessing a game adaptation that is generally well received by fans. Nevertheless, the expectation of a game adapted from a football manga would be a game where the player is directly involved in matches; yet in the adaptation, they are merely simulated. The primary objective of the game developed in this thesis, Ego Boost, was …

Market Structure And Strategic Conduct In The U.S. Life Insurance Sector, Kaja Szuba

Theses & ETDs

This thesis applies the Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) model to conduct an industry analysis of the United States life insurance sector, integrating foundational economic theory to explain observed market behavior. The U.S. Life Insurance Industry exhibits oligopolistic characteristics, high regulatory barriers to entry, moderate product differentiation, and disciplined pricing behavior. Market share data is drawn from NAIC reports, supplemented by surveys conducted through LIMRA, and company-level financial data. The analysis examines seven key areas: the definition of the industry, the structure of the industry, the conduct of firms within the industry, the performance of the industry, the linkage of SCP constructs to …

University Of Nebraska At Omaha Graduate Commencement: May 2026, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Designing Enhanced Nonlinearity In Plasmonic Devices With Epsilon-Near-Zero Films, Kevin Tran Le

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (MS) Theses

The growing demand for energy-efficient optical information processing motivates compact nonlinear photonic devices that can operate at low power. Silicon photonics is a mature platform for linear optical functions, but nonlinear operation remains challenging because of its weak Kerr response, two-photon absorption at telecommunication wavelengths, and limited compatibility with deeply subwavelength plasmonic confinement. This thesis computationally investigates epsilon-near-zero thin films integrated into plasmonic waveguide architectures as a route toward stronger light–matter interaction in compact nonlinear devices.

Two waveguide geometries are examined: a hybrid metal-insulator-metal plasmonic slab waveguide incorporating an ultrathin indium tin oxide epsilon-near-zero layer (5–50 nm), and a dielectric-loaded …

Bard Observer Vol. 24 No.7 (May 2026), Bard College

Bard Observer, 2020 - 2029

No abstract provided.

Bard Observer Vol. 24 No.6 (May 2026), Bard College

Bard Observer, 2020 - 2029

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Quality-Of-Life Impact Of Driving For People With Aphasia, Kaleigh Welch, Emily Huddleston

Appalachian Student Healthcare Research Review

Purpose: This study explored how driving ability or loss affects the social, emotional, and practical quality of life of people with aphasia (PWA). Given that driving is a key marker of independence, identity, and community participation, the study aimed to understand how individuals with aphasia experience driving resumption or cessation and how these experiences shape daily functioning and psychosocial well‑being.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven adults with aphasia recruited from a university-based aphasia group. Interviews were completed in a private university clinic room. Open-ended questions elicited participants’ feelings, experiences, and perceptions regarding driving or not driving after aphasia. …

A Multi-Objective Optimization Framework For Equitable Stormwater Management In Urbanizing Rural Communities, Harry L. Wilson

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Due to limited technical and financial resources, urbanizing rural communities often face growing stormwater management challenges while undergoing rapid development. This thesis proposes a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) framework that integrates topography-driven stormwater flow behavior, infrastructure placement constraints, and multiple planning objectives to support cost-effective stormwater infrastructure decisions. Our model accounts for budget constraints, gravity-driven surface water flow, infiltration capacity, and spatial contiguity requirements to determine optimal pond placements that balance flood reduction and implementation costs. A synthetic discretized grid representing a small municipality is used to demonstrate model behavior under varying rainfall and topographic conditions. Results demonstrate the framework's …

The Impacts Of High Protein Diet On Sleep And Mood In Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (Pcos), Lily G. Hiegel

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The objective of this study is to determine whether adherence to a high protein diet over a sixteen-week period leads to improvements in sleep quality and mood in women with PCOS. It is hypothesized that individuals following the high protein diet will demonstrate significantly better sleep quality and more favorable mood profiles compared to individuals not following the high protein diet. By targeting insulin resistance and dietary carbohydrate intake, this intervention may influence multiple pathways involved in PCOS symptomatology, including hormonal regulation, metabolic function, sleep physiology, and psychological wellbeing.

The Association Of Birth Order And Coping Strategies In Children During Family Stress; A Case Study On A Second-Born Child, Jaymee Bass

Theses & ETDs

This study examined the association between birth order and coping strategies in children, with a particular focus on primary and secondary control coping during family stress. Drawing on theoretical models of coping that distinguish between efforts to change external stressors (primary control) and efforts to adapt internal responses (secondary control), the study explored whether children’s roles within the family may help predict their preferred coping mechanisms. Prior research suggests that personality traits, sibling dynamics, and family structure influence both emotional development and coping processes, indicating that birth order may be a meaningful factor in how children respond to stress. Participants …

Scenic Design: Adapting Psychological Horror From Film To The Stage, Natalie Welch

Theses & ETDs

This thesis has the goal of creating a scenic model for a new theatrical adaptation of an already existing psychological horror film. To help achieve this, it discusses psychological horror and how sets can create the desired effects of the genre. The thesis is split into two chapters. The first chapter is research-based and goes into psychological horror in both film and theatre. The mediums are looked at individually and then compared through the play and film versions of The Innocents and The Woman in Black. At the end of this chapter, I go into more detail about the practical …

Gendered Socialization Of Comfort With Risk And The Selection Of A College Major, Eliza S. Staton

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study investigates the potential relationship between the gendered socialization of risk preferences and the selection of a college major. Women are underrepresented in many fields of study, but especially in those related to science, technology, engineering, and math (S.T.E.M). Careers in STEM fields tend to require degree paths that require difficult classes, with lower average grade points, and a high chance of failure. As of 2023, only 24% of the student body in the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas was composed of women (Uark 2023). These high-pressure, male-dominated environments have been found to lose women at …

Sustaining Care In The Nonprofit Sector: A Qualitative Study On Burnout, Secondary Trauma, And Compassion Fatigue, Anna Kate Kelly, Alexia Angton Phd

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Given the high emotional toll of nonprofit work, burnout, secondary trauma, and compassion fatigue are prevalent among employees. This study examines how these phenomena manifest in individuals' everyday lives. Drawing on in-depth interviews with eleven nonprofit workers in the South-Central United States, the findings reveal three primary themes: the consequences of emotional labor, frustration with the system, and supportive strategies. Overall, participants described a tension between finding deep purpose and meaning in their work and experiencing an emotional burden that shapes how they engage with the world. These findings have implications for mental health care, organizational practices, advocacy and policy, …

Pixels And Presence: Celebrating 3d Animation And Miniature Model Construction Through Public Exhibition, Robert Pierce

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

Contemporary artists are increasingly expected to expand beyond conventional presentation methods. Through documentation and public exhibition, Pixels and Presence celebrates the artistry of three-dimensional (3D) animation and miniature model creation. This culminating experience document delves into both types of media, through eight supporting works, and challenges their integration through the primary, mixed-media project The Haunted Room. All artworks are included in a curated exhibition, and the development of the gallery display is also documented. The central work combines physical and digital spaces through the use of modern technology, the classic illusion of Pepper’s ghost, and a miniature room environment. With …

Perceptions Of German Eugenics: An Analysis Of German Eugenics In The Eugenics Review, 1920-1945, Ally Iandolo

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research examines how the eugenics movement in Germany was perceived by academic peers. I utilize entries from the British journal, The Eugenics Review, from 1920-1945 to create a database of all journal articles, book reviews, correspondence, and other entries that mention German eugenics. Then, using this database, I determine how German eugenics was perceived and which topics were identified by the journal’s contributors. Further, I analyze the careers of the authors who wrote these articles to understand the scope of interest in German eugenics from the Eugenics Review.

Avoiding Anchoring Bias In Lymphadenopathy: Metastatic Thyroid Cancer Mimicking Tuberculous Lymphadenitis, Giuliano Romano, Mitchell Schwocho, Jacob Morton

Conference Presentation Abstracts

Introduction The differential diagnosis for a new neck mass is broad and includes malignant, infectious, and autoimmune etiologies. A systematic approach incorporating history, physical examination, and diagnostic testing is essential when developing and narrowing down a differential. Case Presentation A 52-year-old man with a history of diabetes, asthma, ankylosing spondylitis on weekly etanercept, and GERD presented with a 2-day history of painless right-sided neck swelling. He denied fever, chills, weight loss, night sweats, dysphagia, dyspnea, cough, recent illness, or constitutional symptoms aside from mild fatigue. He had recently returned from a 1.5- month trip to Bangladesh and had self-discontinued etanercept …

Sequential Robustness In Adversarial Reinforcement Learning, Roman Lok-Ming Belaire

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

My goal is to build autonomous systems that expand the reach of human capability in challenging domains such as undersea and space exploration, disaster response, and large-scale infrastructure. In everyday settings, these systems will increasingly appear in safety-critical applications such as autonomous driving, robotics, and industrial manufacturing. A central requirement for these systems is the ability to operate reliably under uncertainty, particularly when the environment behaves in unanticipated ways.

The robust handling of unforeseen environment dynamics is therefore a technical cornerstone of autonomous decision-making; Adversarial attacks provide a useful and principled lens through which to study this problem. Adversarial \textit{robustness}, …

Perspectives On Interpretability For Neural Text Representations, Jia Peng Lim

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In this dissertation, we investigate interpretability in the three elements of learning neural text representations: inputs, passed into models, to produce probabilistic outputs. We emphasise perspectives as we present alternative novel methods to mine and organise meaning in this work.

Models. We initiate our investigation by examining Neural Topic Models (NTM), proposing an alternate angle of interpreting its word-topic distribution, producing better topic representations for interpretation. Our method maps the problem of finding these better interpretations to classical NP-hard graph problems, enabling examination of topic distributions in a composite manner. Next, we apply our previous findings to extract interpretations from …

Exam Approach Impacts On Test Anxiety And Motivational Outcomes, Makenna Lynn Frias

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

In science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields students are facing exams with record high rates of worry and discomfort, this is known as test anxiety (Rajiah, et al., 2014). Factors such as self-concept (Simpkins et al., 2006) and views of control (Levenson, 1974) are negatively affected by examinations (the terms ‘exam’ and ‘test’ will be used interchangeably) (Spielberger, 1980). A student’s fear of failure, or how the students perceive setbacks or challenges, impacts and is impacted by test anxiety (Henry et al., 2021; Conroy, et al., 2002). Being established by the professor, the exam approach is beyond a student’s …

Applications Of Cyrene For Pharmaceutical Synthesis, Anjali Mae Rabindran

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Cyrene is a cellulose-derived molecule that has gained interest in green chemistry as both a solvent and precursor for pharmaceutical intermediates. In this study, biocatalytic and chemical strategies were evaluated for converting Cyrene into these intermediates. Cyrene was carried through variations of a five-step sequence: reduction, reductive amination, esterification, tosylate salt formation, and Lewis-acid mediated acetal opening to generate ring-opened pyranose products (“deoxy sugars” and “deoxy amino sugars”). We successfully synthesized deoxy sugar intermediates; however, the production of stereochemically pure deoxy amino sugar intermediates was limited by unresolved diastereomeric mixtures. These findings highlight the promise of Cyrene as a renewable …

Rotunda - Vol 105, No 5 - May 1, 2026, Longwood University

Rotunda

No abstract provided.

Patterns Of Acquisition For /ɹ/ Across Phonetic Contexts, Hailey Nielson

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Purpose: 

This study examined longitudinal changes in /ɹ/ production (i.e., the “r” sound) among 14 children aged five to seven at risk for persistent speech sound disorders (SSDs). Children at risk for SSDs show slower or atypical development of /ɹ/, yet little is known about which early patterns predict persistent difficulty, making it difficult for clinicians to prioritize caseloads and provide timely intervention. Using perceptual accuracy ratings across varied /ɹ/ contexts, we modeled growth in /ɹ/ accuracy across different word contexts and evaluated the extent to which early accuracy and changes in /ɹ/production predicted mastery at age seven.

Methods: 

Longitudinal …

Implementation Of Udl In Secondary Classrooms: A Capstone Project, Livia J. Mortensen

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

In today’s classrooms, students come from various backgrounds and may benefit from a variety of instructional approaches to meet their unique learning needs. Regardless of the need to tailor instruction for students, traditional teaching methods continue in classrooms but often fail to accommodate all the needs of our students. Many students, including students with disabilities, may struggle to engage with the standard curriculum that does not provide sufficient flexibility in instruction to reach all types of learners (Smith, 2012). Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework that seeks to address this specific issue by promoting inclusive teaching practices, …

Which Energy Expenditure Equation Is Most Accurate In A Field-Based Setting?, Merrill C. Ward

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Several energy expenditure prediction equations for walking on varied terrain exist; however, these predictions are often theoretical and have not undergone rigorous field testing for accuracy. Field research on this topic is sparse. The aim of this study was to determine if any existing energy expenditure prediction equations are accurate in a field-based setting with load and gradient being taken into account (i.e., under conditions that are most applicable to day hiking). This was done by directly measuring relative VO₂ (ml/kg/min) of study participants and comparing these direct measurements to the values generated from the existing prediction equations. Fifteen …

Sql Query Optimization - Human Vs. Chatgpt, Hailey Dennis

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT have become ubiquitous tools for working professionals in the software industry. Many engineers are finding new ways to increase productivity by offloading tasks onto LLMs, while others are finding it difficult to trust code produced artificially, even after review. Taking a look at both perspectives, this study aims to compare a human’s ability to optimize SQL queries to that of an LLM and assess the experience using both methods.

Manual query optimization is a tedious task that relies heavily on statistics, heuristics, and good intuition. The SQL developer must search for the optimal …