Unveiling Barriers And Breakthroughs: A Qualitative Exploration Of Women In Educational Leadership Roles, Tara Grudzielanek

All Dissertations

This study explores gender disparities in educational leadership, focusing on the experiences of five women who successfully transitioned from teaching to principal roles. While women represent the majority of the teaching workforce, they remain underrepresented in leadership positions, facing unique barriers shaped by gendered expectations, cultural stereotypes, and institutional biases. This research investigates the challenges and breakthroughs encountered by these women, offering insights into how they navigated their journeys to leadership.

Guided by critical feminist theory and transformational leadership, this study explores how gendered power structures and inclusive leadership practices influence the paths of women in educational leadership. Critical feminist …

Magnetic Nano And Micro Rods As Tools For Characterizing Materials Mechanical Properties: Fundamentals And Applications, Artis Brasovs

All Dissertations

The focus of this dissertation is insect blood (Hemolymph). Hemolymph is analyzed by taking a materials science approach. Rheological characterization of hemolymph has been performed for the first time. Owing to a minute amount of available material, a new protocol was established where Magnetic Rotational Spectroscopy (MRS) with ferromagnetic nanorods was employed. The challenge was examining the microliter droplets' viscosity in less than a few minutes. This challenge was successfully resolved.

Blood is critical for the insect's survival: after wounding, the insect has to seal the wound quickly, in a few minutes. As the mechanism of fast clotting has never …

Ensuring Successful Bond Referendums In Rural South Carolina School Districts: Key Strategies Employed By Superintendents, David Fallaw

All Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of the strategies of superintendents that lead to the successful passage of referendums within small, rural districts in South Carolina. Federal, state and local revenue streams make up the majority of funding for operating expenses for districts in South Carolina. For capital projects, however, the majority of districts must rely on local funding. The primary method to acquire the needed revenue is through a referendum which can be a costly and time-consuming process that moves the focus of school and district leadership from teaching and learning to pursuing funding …

The Diverse Effects Of Continual Organic Inputs On Soil Biogeochemical Properties And Microbial Communities In Sandy Ultisols Under Organic Production, Zhine Wang

All Dissertations

The objectives of this study were to understand how continual organic amendment inputs improve Nitrogen (N) cycling, microbial diversity and functional traits. Fully crossed factorial experiments were designed to test four cover crop treatments (cereal rye, hairy vetch, mixture of the rye and vetch, and no cover crop fallow) and two levels of manure compost application (with manure application and blank control) in organic vegetable production from 2020 to 2023. Cover crop biomass, soil chemical and biological properties were analyzed for the distribution and availability of soil labile N (Chapter 2), the abundance of N-cycling genes (Chapter 3), the structure …

Exploring Mechanisms Of Chemical Resistance In Xanthomonas Arboricola Pv. Pruni And Strategies To Mitigate Resistance And Improve Disease Control, Milan Panth

All Dissertations

Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni (XAP) is a phytopathogenic bacterium that causes bacterial spot of peach. It causes spotted lesions on leaves and fruit, leading to early defoliation and unmarketable fruit, respectively. The pathogen can overwinter in twig cankers, which serve as the primary initial inoculum source for the next season’s leaf and fruitlet infection. The current disease management practice mainly relies on routine application of chemical bactericides containing copper or oxytetracycline (OTC) in the growing season. However, disease incidence can still be high despite chemical control measures in warm, rainy seasons.

Frequent applications of copper and OTC in United …

Laser Processing Of Multi-Phase Ceramics, Siddhartha Sarkar

All Dissertations

This research explores laser-based processing for multi-phase ceramics, offering a faster, more energy-efficient alternative to conventional ceramic fabrication. Four material systems are explored: silica-titania, alumina-iron, polymer-derived ceramic SiC-gadolinium zirconate, and polymer-derived ceramic SiC-yttrium silicate.

The silica-titania study presents a novel direct CO₂ laser writing approach to fabricating pure silica and silica-titania glasses with exceptional dimensional control and optical transparency, enabling fine spatial resolution, instantaneous consolidation, and eliminating post-heat treatment. Notably, the TiO₂ solubility in the silica network achieved is higher than previously reported, with structures remaining crack-free and transparent up to a specific TiO₂ percentage.

The alumina-iron …

Computational Representation, Analysis And Verification Of Requirements In Engineering Design And Systems Engineering, Chandan Kumar Sahu

All Dissertations

Systems are developed to satisfy a set of requirements derived from stakeholders’ needs, defining the problem space for which the system is created as a feasible solution. The system design process begins with eliciting these requirements and concludes with validating whether the created system meets them. Requirements engineering (RE) encompasses elicitation, representation, analysis, documentation, verification, and validation. However, challenges in RE, such as imprecision in natural language (NL), proprietary restrictions, and a lack of standardized quality metrics, hinder the creation of well-formed and comprehensive requirements. These challenges complicate formalization and analysis of requirements.

This dissertation addresses these challenges by proposing …

Bap1: Genotype-Phenotype Correlation, Variant Classification, And Treatment Efficacy, Elizabeth Hobbs

All Dissertations

BRCA1-associated protein 1 (BAP1) is a tumor suppressor gene located on chromosome 3p21.3 and encodes a deubiquitinase enzyme (DUB) involved in DNA repair, cell cycle and metabolism, and apoptosis. BAP1 pathogenic germline variants are primarily associated with a familial cancer syndrome, Tumor Predisposition Syndrome 1 (TPDS1), but new missense variants have been linked to a neurodevelopmental disorder known as Kury-Isidor Syndrome (KURIS). Patients with TPDS1 variants have an increased risk for developing cancers, such as uveal and cutaneous melanomas, mesothelioma, and renal cell carcinoma, at an earlier age with lower thresholds for environmental exposures, mainly UV rays and asbestos, compared …

Nanostructured Silicon Meta-Waveguides And Surfaces For Enhanced Light-Matter Interaction, Saddam Gafsi

All Dissertations

In this study, we tackle the challenge of light-matter interaction engineering and local field enhancement using various silicon photonic platforms based on three different approaches. (i) The first approach is based on boundary condition engineering where we present and show through simulation and experimental results, a silicon nanodisk “diabolo” configuration able to support significant local field enhancement levels in the range ~102 to 104 in the high index medium through proper structural modifications at the nanoscale. We show that the presented optical behavior is consistent with the anapole modes characterized by the observed near-field enhancement and coinciding with far-field suppression. …

"Don't Put Me Here To Meet A Quota": A Qualitative Descriptive Study Of Black Male Teacher Retention, Latresha Drummond

All Dissertations

The national teacher shortage has reached a fever pitch and can be accurately described as a crisis. Teacher vacancies in South Carolina (SC) have reached an all-time high since the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and advancement began tracking the teacher shortage in 2001. Further, the phenomenon surrounding the exodus of Black teachers is understudied. Currently, no agency or organization tracks demographic turnover among the teacher workforce in South Carolina.

I utilized a qualitative descriptive design informed by an improvement science framework to identify motivating factors for teacher mobility among current and past Black male educators in SC public schools. …

Characterizing Treatment Patterns And Associated Outcomes For Medicare Beneficiaries With Proximal Humerus Fractures, Sydney Lindros

All Dissertations

Proximal humerus fractures (PHF) are a common injury affecting older adults, though clinical decision making for these fractures remains challenging for physicians. Over the past two decades, clinical decision making has evolved with the emergence of new evidence like the ProFHER trial and the dissemination of reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA). There is a need to characterize the effects of these changes across geographic areas and evaluate the impact of differences in surgical procedure utilization rates on patient outcomes. Therefore, the goal of this dissertation was to gain a better understanding of the utilization patterns and outcomes associated with different …

Selective Hydroxyl Functionalization Using Novel Bifunctional Macrocyclic Catalysts And Sufex-Based Methodologies, Austin Seilkop

All Dissertations

The research behind this dissertation explores innovative strategies for the functionalization of alcohols. Alcohols are abundant in biologically relevant molecules and pharmaceutical drugs, so designing new methods for modifying them has gained significant interest over the years. The first and second chapters of this dissertation focus on the selective functionalization of a particular class of alcohols, amino alcohols, a well-represented functional handle in biomolecules. The hydroxyl functionalization of amino alcohols often demands multiple synthetic steps. We developed a new class of macrocyclic catalysts to enable precise and efficient transformations of amino alcohols, advancing the scope and efficiency of amino alcohol …

Foster Care, Substance Use, And Social Determinants Of Health In South Carolina: A Geographic Approach, Patricia Carbajales-Dale

All Dissertations

Foster care is a critical intervention for vulnerable children, with approximately 400,000 children entering the system annually in the United States. Parental substance use, second only to neglect, is now a leading cause of foster care entry. While previous research has explored the relationship between socioeconomic factors and foster care, few studies have incorporated spatial approaches at the neighborhood level to understand how factors such as economic inequality, healthcare disparities, and substance use influence foster care entries. This study addresses that gap by integrating spatial analysis and machine learning techniques to examine the geographic and social dynamics underlying foster care …

Optimization Of Polymeric Micelles As A Delivery System For Crispr/Cas9 Ribonucleoprotein, Lucian Williams

All Dissertations

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) is an adaptive immune system in bacteria that has been harnessed to perform precise genetic modifications in mammalian cells. Among CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins, Cas9 has emerged as a transformative tool in gene editing due to its simplicity, high specificity, and versatility compared to the other Cas proteins and gene-editing technologies. Despite its potential to cure genetic disorders, the clinical application of Cas9 has been hindered by challenges such as immunogenicity, off-target effects, and low delivery efficiency. To address these issues, this dissertation explores using polymeric nanoparticle systems to encapsulate and protect Cas9 and …

Protocol Transformations Across Osi Network Stack Layers For Attack, Evasion, And Defense, Nathan Tusing

All Dissertations

Network endpoints frequently contend with errors and deviations within protocols. Many factors account for these deviations including noise, tampering, and algorithm implementations. Intermediate nodes are expected to modify instantiated protocols and not guarantee correctness. This ability to modify traffic enables all sides of network security to alter security and performance properties of protocols, and we define this intermediary modification of an instantiated protocol as a transformation. Protocol transformations traverse layers of the OSI reference model and changes a protocol's time series byte sequence. Within this thesis, we show that this framework applies to multiple domains and protocols. Common examples of …

Characterizing Mechanisms Of Dna Repair And Genome Stability, Joshua Turner

All Dissertations

Every day our cells are bombarded with DNA lesions that threaten the stability of our genome. To help maintain genomic integrity our cells evolved to have a network of enzymes dedicated to repairing DNA lesions. Upon encountering a site of DNA damage, a cell recruits enzymes that remodel the stalled replication fork by reannealing the newly synthesized DNA together known as fork regression. Loss of fork regression activity has been shown to promote replication stress resistance after induced DNA damage. In this thesis, I discuss the role F-Box Helicase 1 (FBH1) plays in fork regression and how FBH1 promotes the …

Emerging Agency In Border Communities During Pandemics, William Ordeman

All Dissertations

“Emerging Agency in Border Communities During Pandemics” uncovers the complex natural and social histories of two Texas border counties, El Paso and Hidalgo, to explain how these counties became highly susceptible to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. This work argues that humans engaging with natural resources throughout history created a rhetoric of exploitation and social hierarchy along the Texas/Mexico border. Rhetoric from Spanish and Anglo colonists coupled with environmental phenomena across time displaced Latinx/e bodies living in these counties into precarious communities called colonias, and the presence of these colonias made each county highly susceptible to disease outbreak. I …

Barriers To Postsecondary Education Of Latinx Students Using Future Time Perspective Theory, Clayton Porter

All Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate how future time perspective influences high school Latinx’ seniors’ beliefs and access to postsecondary education through a case study approach. Future time perspective, the extent to which individuals anticipate and plan for the future, is examined in relation to the students’ educational aspirations and barriers. This study used a combination of surveys and semi-structured interviews to collect data from Latinx high school seniors. Interviews were conducted with eight high school seniors who identified as Latinx, and also were actively working towards graduation and application to a postsecondary institution. The data from …

Getting Out Of The Starting Blocks Well: Analyzing The Impact Of An At-Risk First-Year Mentoring Program At A Rural High School In The Southeastern United States Of America., Jeffrey Duncan

All Dissertations

As the US educational system recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts around the country search for ways to help students who have struggled to have academic success. Navigating the transition from middle to high school is critical for reaching on-time graduation for at-risk first-year high school students. A critical step in graduating is ensuring students feel that school is where they belong. Building relationships with a trusted adult on campus through weekly mentoring sessions is a strategy that can impact student academic outcomes. This dissertation uses the methodology of education improvement science through a Plan Do Study Act cycle …

Enhancing Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cells By Advanced Laser Processing For Superior Performance, Tianyi Zhou

All Dissertations

As global temperatures rise, the demand for clean energy solutions intensifies. Protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) offer advantages like higher conductivity at moderate temperatures (300–700 °C), fuel flexibility, stability, and lower costs. However, traditional PCFC manufacturing faces challenges with interface defects, structural imperfections, and scalability, especially in producing large-area cells and stacks.

This work addresses these issues using advanced laser processing techniques. Laser ablation and direct laser rapid additive manufacturing (DL-RAM) enable precise control of PCFC microstructures, removing surface defects and increasing bonding strength for higher efficiency. Digital layer deposition allows for large-area PCFC single cells and stack production with …

Leveraging High-Frequency Water Quality Data And Machine Learning For Monitoring Harmful Algal Blooms, Ibrahim Busari

All Dissertations

Freshwater management is one of the most critical resources on the earth due to the plethora of water use and its limited availability. Increased algae proliferation is one of the significant problems of freshwater bodies that is triggered by nutrient enrichment and enabling conditions such as light and warm temperatures. This algal proliferation is toxic to the ecosystem through their biomass and potential toxin production that can cause hypoxic conditions and is often referred to as Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). Current monitoring approaches include laboratory analysis of water samples to observe algal cells, monitoring of water quality parameters using water …

Academic Vocabulary Acquisition In A 3rd Grade Science Classroom: A Mixed-Methods Embedded Study, Nicole Langenhuizen

All Dissertations

With the acceptance of the Next Generation Science Standards, elementary-aged students are encouraged to develop the skills needed to communicate their thinking in science efficiently and effectively (NGSS, 2013). Since implementing these new standards in 2013, South Carolina has seen a decline in science standardized testing scores for grades 3-5. These results show that science and engineering skills support 67% of U.S. jobs today (National Science Foundation, 2021), and the current trend is that science and engineering skills are essential to students today and provide a rationale for exploring how teachers can help students develop the vocabulary necessary to communicate …

Supporting Holistic, Informed, Decision-Making Through The Complementarity Of Life Cycle Assessment And Radiological Protection, Bryanna Wattier-Weisensee

All Dissertations

Decision making is challenging and it is necessary to consider all relevant data to make an informed decision. The work herein provides a pathway wherein the fields of radiological protection and life cycle assessment (LCA) can be utilized synergistically to benefit the decision-making using the other (and vice versa). Specifically, LCA parallels decision-aiding techniques used in the optimization of radiological protection and LCA includes an ionizing radiation potential (IRP) impact category wherein the impacts associated with an emission of radioactive material is quantified to determine the human health impact. Thus this body of work focuses on (1) expanding the platform …

Exploring The Compositional Limits Of Y2o3-Al2o3-Sio2 Optical Fibers, Miranda Stone

All Dissertations

Of the widely varying compositions fabricated into optical fibers using the molten core method (MCM), the most studied by far as been those in the Y₂O₃-Al₂O₃-SiO₂ (YAS) system. Such fibers have been shown to be of interest for fiber amplifiers and lasers since they exhibit a good balance between reasonable loss, intrinsically low optical nonlinearities, and efficient gain. The majority of the fibers studied globally to-date have primarily focused on YAG-derived fibers, i.e., YAG (Y₃Al₅O₁₂) single crystals drawn in a pure SiO₂ cladding glass) …

An Efficient Computational Frameworks For Design And Analysis Of Metamaterials, Raj Pradip Khawale

All Dissertations

Advancement in additive manufacturing helps in building artificial lattice structures with unique properties that are not available in naturally occurring materials or in continuum structures. Specifically, beam-based lattices are well known for producing lightweight structures with very high strength, auxetic behavior, and energy absorption capabilities. In recent years, numerous research studies have been conducted on generating algorithms and frameworks to obtain unusual properties based on the variation in the cell geometry and material properties. However, the exploration of the full design space is hampered in practice primarily due to restrictions on cell tiling variation. Additionally, the lattices are very intricate, …

Advancing Substance Use Disorder Treatment Using Genomics And Metabolomics, Lindsey Contella

All Dissertations

Advancing our understanding of genetic, metabolic, and environmental factors in substance use disorder (SUD) could lead to more effective therapies. In 2022, 16.5% of the U.S. population was diagnosed with SUD, yet current treatments lack efficacy for all patients, making a precision medicine approach crucial. This dissertation explores SUD's relationship with tryptophan (TRP) metabolism through the kynurenine pathway (KP) as a potential therapeutic target. Chapter I reviews current knowledge on SUD and KP. Chapter II identifies how SUD alters KP metabolite concentrations, identifying a reduced concentration of the neuroprotective metabolite, kynurenic acid (KA) and elevated concentrations of the neurotoxic metabolite, …

Behavior In Phelan-Mcdermid Syndrome: Clinical Characteristics, Genetic And Metabolic Contributions, And Evaluation Of Behavioral Assessment Tools, Emily Payne

All Dissertations

Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS) is characterized by genetic and phenotypic variability with varying levels of developmental delay, intellectual disability (ID), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), speech delay, minor dysmorphic features, and behavioral issues. Genetic causes of PMS involve deletions in the 22q13.3 region or pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants in SHANK3. Due to the significant heterogeneity and complexities seen in individuals with PMS, there are numerous challenges surrounding research, accurate diagnoses, assessments, and the creation of treatments. Behavioral issues are present in the majority of individuals with PMS, including lower levels of adaptive behavioral skills needed for daily functioning, disruptive behaviors, restricted and …

Drosophila Model Of Cocaine Use Disorder, Jeffrey Hatfield

All Dissertations

Cocaine use disorder (CUD) is a major public health challenge. While the primary mechanism of action of cocaine has been well characterized, and family studies have identified a strong genetic component, the specific genetic factors that influence susceptibility to development of CUD remain poorly understood. Genetic studies of cocaine use disorder are difficult in humans, but can be readily performed in Drosophila, where environment, genetic background, and cocaine exposure can be controlled. Drosophila exhibit behavioral and transcriptomic responses to cocaine, which binds to the dopamine transporter in fruit flies as it does in humans. Here, we use Drosophila to …

Short-Circuit Modeling And Instantaneous Overvoltage Protection Of Renewable Farms, Shah Mohazzem Hossain

All Dissertations

The existing utility grid is experiencing a paradigm shift in electricity generation due to a significant penetration of renewable energy sources. This shift is primarily driven by the large-scale integration of solar and wind energy farms, particularly in the transmission network, where these farms are typically accompanied by battery energy storage in a hybrid configuration to overcome source intermittency and improve reliability. Such renewable farms comprise numerous inverters, pad-mounted transformers, collector feeders, and dc-side components depending on the generation-source type. Additionally, inverters within these farms exhibit distinct operating modes, such as `grid-following'(GFL) and `grid-forming'(GFM), as well as fault control modes, …

Quantifying Effects Of Partial Genetic Backgrounds To Decode Genetic Drivers Of Clinical Phenotypes, Rini Pauly

All Dissertations

Understanding partial genetic backgrounds illuminates the genetic architecture of complex traits and diseases, revealing how diverse genetic backgrounds contribute to phenotypic diversity. With this approach we could advance personalized medicine by identifying population-specific variants affecting drug metabolism, tailoring medical treatments to individual genetic profiles. Additionally, it offers evolutionary insights into human history, shedding light on past migrations and the spread of genetic traits. This research leverages cutting-edge statistical genetics techniques and novel machine learning approaches to efficiently analyze extensive population genomic datasets, distilling complex admixture signals into meaningful genetic markers.

The study introduces Admix-AI, an innovative convolutional neural network-based tool …