Digital Commons Network^™

Unveiling Resilience And Motivation Through Testimonios: Exploring The Influence Of Trio Student Services On Motivation And College Completion, Emily Leonard Garrison

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the impact of TRIO Student Support Services (TRIO SSS) on the motivation and college completion rates of first-generation rural community college students. Utilizing a qualitative approach centered on testimonios, this research captures the lived experiences of students at a rural community college in North Carolina, focusing on how TRIO SSS influences their educational journeys.

Through narrative inquiry, the study documents the personal stories of TRIO SSS graduates, highlighting the program's pivotal role in enhancing student retention and success. The findings demonstrate that TRIO SSS is essential in providing targeted support that aligns with the students' unique challenges …

A Systems Theory-Based Framework For Uncertainty In Complex System Governance, Teresa Anne Crater

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Complex systems are all around. A complex system is a system whose collective behavior is more than the behavior exhibited by the individual parts. Such a system is characterized by an exponential increase in information, complexity, ambiguity, emergence, and high levels of uncertainty (Jaradat, 2015). Uncertainty is intrinsic to complex systems. Uncertainty refers to epistemic situations involving imperfect or unknown information. Uncertainty can refer to the chance of certain anticipated outcomes occurring, or it can refer to the unknown events that are not foreseeable as to when or if one might occur. It applies to predictions of future events, to …

Symbolic Regression For Data-Driven Equation Discovery: A Physics-Informed Approach, Anusha Reddy Singireddy

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Symbolic Regression (SR) is a cutting-edge machine learning technique that discovers mathematical expressions representing the underlying patterns in data. Unlike traditional regression, SR explores a wide range of mathematical models, allowing for flexible and interpretable solutions. We utilize PySR, a highly customizable symbolic regression package, which combines genetic programming and modern optimization methods to efficiently search for interpretable equations. PySR balances model complexity with performance by penalizing overly complex expressions while optimizing accuracy. In this thesis, we apply Physics-informed Symbolic Regression through PySR to model the x and t dependence of the flavor isovector combination H_u − d( …

An Agent-Based Approach For Designing A Sustainable Supplier Selection In Stochastic Environment: A Simulation Study, Sheida Etemadidavan

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In the 21st century, businesses are constantly striving for competitive advancement and increasing their economic performance in the rapidly changing market. Collaboration with other businesses and partnerships with them are becoming more common. As such, businesses are starting to invest in finding the right partners to stay competitive in an ever-changing business landscape. Suppliers play a crucial role in businesses' decision-making as they provide the materials, goods, and services necessary for a company to operate and succeed. Therefore, their selection, management, and relationship must be carefully considered to ensure optimal performance and profitability. A sustainable framework in a business's relationship …

The Role Of Policy Entrepreneurs In Understanding Oral Health Care Policy: A Case Study Approach Analyzing Multiple Streams Framework In Nc Oral Health Policy, Lori Gordon Hendrick

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The United States Surgeon General has defined oral diseases as a “silent epidemic” that affects the most vulnerable citizens. More often, this includes those from low socio-economic backgrounds, children, elderly, and many members of ethnic minority groups. Although preventative and treatment modalities have improved over the past fifty years, some Americans continue to have little to no access to educational and preventative programs. The lack of access to dental care for all ages and oral health care literacy remains one of the largest health concerns for American citizens making it a “wicked problem”. Historically, raising Medicaid enrollment has failed to …

Coach To Teach: Effects Of Ecoaching On Special Education Teacher Implementation Of Discrete Trial Training, Olga Karadimou

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

The growing shortage of special education teachers (SETs) and declining retention rates across numerous United States (U.S.) school districts pose a serious threat to the quality of education provided to students with disabilities. One of the ongoing challenges is the significant gap between evidence-based practices (EBPs) and their actual implementation in classrooms. Researchers emphasize the importance of providing high-quality professional development (PD) targeting the use of EBPs in the classroom, as doing so has been linked to SET retention (Berry & Gravelle, 2013; Berry et al., 2011; Hagaman & Casey, 2018; Reagan et al., 2019). This study aimed to experimentally …

Navigating Identity And Belonging: Itinerant Teachers Of The Deaf/Hard Of Hearing And The Blind/Visually Impaired As Structural Hole Spanners In Educational Ecosystems, Rj Horstmyer

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing and Itinerant Teachers of the Blind/Visually Impaired are highly specialized teachers and service providers who provide services to students who make up less than two percent of all students eligible for special education services and subsequently experience high levels of mobility between many schools. This study unearths the lived experiences of IToDs and ITVIs and examines how their itinerancy and ecological factors shape their identity and organizational belonging within and between multiple social networks. Participants were those currently employed as either Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing or Itinerant Teachers of the …

Institutional Responses To The First Amendment: Inclusivity And The Protection Of Free Speech Rights On Campus, Christina Lipuma

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

This collective case study explores institutional responses to First Amendment events to determine how institutional policies impact a sense of inclusivity and the protection of free speech rights on public college and university campuses. This study identifies the practices of a sample of public, university campuses that have experienced a free speech incident to determine how the experience shaped their policies on free speech, how administrators describe their experiences following the incident, and how institutional leaders rate the outcome of their efforts in relation to balancing inclusivity in the campus environment. Due to the complex nature of public university campuses, …

Optical Investigation Of A Low-Pressure Plasma In A Superconducting Radio-Frequency Cavity, Zachary A. Caudell

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The state-of-the-art cryomodules for particle accelerators use superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities. It is known that accumulation of hydrocarbon impurities reduces the cavity surface work function, decreasing cryomodule performance metrics such as field emission, thermal stability, and accelerating gradients. An in-situ method of plasma processing has recently been developed to clean the cavities and restore cryomodule performance [1]. This study is to understand the properties of the low-pressure plasmas generated in a C100 SRF cavity and ultimately to improve the performance of plasma surface cleaning using optical emission spectroscopy. Using a 500 mm focal length Czerny-Turner monochromator coupled with a photomultiplier …

Intrinsic Manipulation Of Microstructure And Strength Of Ice-Templated Lithium Titanate, Rohan Parai

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on developing a fabrication landscape first time ever for directionally porous lithium titanate (LTO) materials using ice-templating technique. Ice-templating, a promising fabrication technique for porous ceramics, enables the formation of sintered structures with anisotropic pores that are aligned to improve mechanical stability of materials.

The work presented in this dissertation addresses advancements in tuning the porosity, strength, and microstructural characteristics of ice-templated LTO materials through adjustments of intrinsic variables, including sucrose as a water-soluble additive, variations in freezing front velocity, solute concentration, and solid loading. First, this study demonstrated that adding sucrose in LTO suspensions increased the …

Machine Learning And Simulation Techniques For Detecting Buoys From Lidar Data, Christopher Adolphi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Maritime autonomy, specifically the use of autonomous and semi-autonomous maritime vessels, is a key enabling technology supporting a set of diverse and critical research areas, including coastal and environmental resilience, assessment of waterway health, ecosystem/asset monitoring and maritime port security. Critical to the safe, efficient and reliable operation of an autonomous maritime vessel is its ability to perceive the external environment through onboard sensors. The main sensor utilized in this research is a LiDAR sensor. This sensor is able to generate point clouds of the surrounding environment, of which a machine learning model is used to label each point in …

Suppression Of Dynamic Aeroelastic Response Of A Semispan Wing Using Traditional And Distributed Sensing, James Ramey

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Characterization and management of aeroelastic effects are a vital part of aircraft design. Mitigation of these effects often includes control systems to suppress the vibrations. Control systems are constantly being developed and improved, with one such avenue of development being new sensing systems that can increase the information fed into the controller. Fiber Optic Strain Sensing (FOSS) technology is one such system that utilizes Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) on a fiber optic cable to sense the strain on structural elements. This system has promise as a high-density feedback device, and the maturation of the technology has allowed assessment of its …

The Anaerobic Rose Chamber (Arc): Novel Applications For Probing Clostridioides Difficile Dynamics, Tatiana Zvonareva

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is an urgent public health threat with a high rate of recurrence and limited treatment options. Caused by the anaerobic intestinal pathogen C. difficile, this disease affects up to 500,000 Americans annually. Despite progress in our understanding of CDI pathophysiology, the lack of effective and accessible experimental platforms compatible with obligate anaerobe physiology hinders the advancement of treatment therapy. The application of in vivo models has been indispensable in understanding CDI pathophysiology, probing the complexity of the host response to the microbe, and establishing treatment protocols, and it continues to be essential in preclinical testing. …

Measuring Clas12 D(E, E′Π±) Cross Sections For E4nu, Caleb Fogler

Physics Theses & Dissertations

Neutrino experiments need neutrino event generators such as GENIE to simulate neutrino-nucleus (νA) interactions in order to measure neutrino oscillations. We need eA data to validate GENIE. GENIE d(e, e′ ) cross sections do not match data in the pion production region. Further analysis of this region can help constrain GENIE models. The goal of this project was to compare 4.244 GeV CLAS12 d(e, e′π±) cross sections to GENIE predictions. We analyzed data from the Fall 2019 run period of Run Group B (RG-B). We applied particle identification, fiducial, and vertex …

Error And Correction Analysis For The Ffa@Cebaf Energy Upgrade, Alexander Mattison Coxe

Physics Theses & Dissertations

An energy upgrade design for the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) is under development, using fixed field alternating gradient (FFA) return arcs to recirculate electron beam up to an additional five times through the accelerating structures at CEBAF. A necessary component of any large accelerator is a beam steering and optical correction system. Small environmental changes and system errors can lower beam quality or even shut down the machine; and in pursuit of the scientific mission of JLab, high quality electron beams must be delivered to the experimental halls on a predictable schedule. Correction in the novel FFA arcs …

Examining The Effects Of Video Camera Angles On Interpersonal Impressions, Rachel Valerie Ball

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The effect of different camera angles on the perceptions of the speaker formed over a virtual interaction, especially in the context of telehealth encounters, has not been systematically investigated. The present study explored how vertical and horizontal angles impact perceptions of a healthcare provider in a video encounter using a 2 (angle type: eye level vs. alternate angle) X 2 (video order: eye level presented first vs. alternate angle presented first) mixed design. Participants watched two different segments of an encounter where camera angle was examined within subjects and order of presentation was examined between subjects. It was hypothesized that …

Investigating The Effects Of Empathy On Implicit Race Bias, Macy Kisiel

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Over the years there have been changes to social norms, which now discourage expressions of prejudice, and changes in many people’s self-reported attitudes, but prejudice is still a major issue in present-day American society. One important step toward addressing prejudice and social injustices is to understand the psychological processes that underlie and strengthen them. The current study aimed to use an empathy passage to positively prime the schema about a minority person of color and manipulate regulation of implicit bias. The study utilized a mixed 2 × 2 design. Sixty-four participants (Mage = 20.88 years, SD = 4.75 years) were …

Pedestrian-Motorist Self-Reported Behavioral Intentions Toward Using Alternative And Standard Safety Infrastructure, Emma Sunshine Hood

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The increasing trend in pedestrian-motorist incidents on American roadways warrants a novel solution for improving roadway safety. Alternative crosswalk designs have piqued communities both in the United States and abroad. Designs range from slight changes in colors to extravagant illusions of the roadway falling beneath users. These crosswalk designs are not novel, literature on their efficacy as safety infrastructure is modest with mixed results. The purpose of the study was to expand the current literature on alternative crosswalk designs. The author hypothesized that the differences in behavioral intentions at alternative and standard safety infrastructure would be greater for younger male …

An Interaction Between Mental Integration And Levels Of Automation: An Analytic Approach Applying Systems Factorial Technology, Shelby Kate Scarbrough Long

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Automation has become nearly ubiquitous in modern society, supporting human performance in personal and professional tasks. Recent works have begun to focus on human-automation performance in speeded perceptual-cognitive tasks using workload capacity analysis, a novel mathematical analysis to measure efficiency of a human-automation team. The present dissertation examined how level of automation and demand for mental integration of information influence human-automation efficiency. Participants performed a multi-element probabilistic decision task with or without the assistance of an automated aid where level of automation and task demand were manipulated. Experiment 1 employed a mixed design with Automation (present vs. absent) and Task …

Effects Of Simultaneous Alarms On Resolution Heuristics, Amanda C. Allen

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Automated signaling systems are frequently used to direct operator attention to potential hazards. Although these automated systems can lead to enhanced human performance, factors such as degraded alarm signal reliability and lack of trust can undermine the potential benefits of automation (Breznitz, 1984; Rice, 2009, Wickens & 2007). Additionally, work by Gilson, Mouloua, Graft, and McDonald (2001), as well as Keller and Rice (2009), suggest that an alarm contained within a larger array of alarms should not be evaluated individually. Due to the increasing use of multiple alarms in complex environments such as operating rooms and cockpits (Konkani, Oakley, & …

Disciplinary Differences And Scholarly Literature: Faculty Experiences With Discovery, Browsing, And Format, Chad E. Buckley, Rachel E. Scott, Anne Shelley, Cassie Thayer-Styes, Julie A. Murphy

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

This study reports faculty experiences regarding the discovery of scholarly content, highlighting similarities and differences across a range of academic disciplines. The authors interviewed twenty-five faculty members at a public, high-research university in the Midwest to explore the intersections of discovery, browsing, and format from diverse disciplinary perspectives. Although most participants rely on similar discovery tools such as library catalogs and databases and Google Scholar, their discovery techniques varied according to the discipline and type of research being done. Browsing is not a standard method for discovery, but it is still done selectively and strategically by some scholars. Journal articles …

Etdsuite: A Toolkit To Mine Electronic Theses And Dissertations To Enrich Scholarly Big Data Using Natural Language Processing And Computer Vision, Muntabir Hasan Choudhury

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

In the past decades, there has been a growing interest in mining scientific documents to obtain domain knowledge automatically. One of the understudied types of scientific documents is Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs), as ETDs have distinct features compared with conference proceedings and journal articles. ETDs usually serve as partial requirements of academic degrees for students pursuing higher education. They are book-length documents (i.e., 100 – 400 pages long), and the topics may shift across chapters, exhibit the significant contribution of a student’s research over the entire degree pursuing period, and have unique metadata schema and page layouts. However, the …

A Dendrochronological Analysis Of Longleaf And Associated Pines From The Blackwater Ecological Preserve In Southeastern Virginia, Sarah Durham

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The field of dendrochronology utilizes annual tree ring growth data to create chronologies, which function as proxies to measure the effect of climate on radial growth. In the southeastern United States, dendrochronological studies involving the effect of climate on the growth of Pinus species exist, but significant gaps persist. For this study, I: 1) created chronologies of earlywood, latewood, and total ring-width growth for longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.), loblolly pine (P. taeda L.), and pond pine (P. serotina Michx.) and 2) conducted a climate analysis on each species to determine how climatic factors affected radial …

Intercellular Mitochondrial Transfer Contributes To Microenvironmental Fate Redirection Of Mammary Cancer Cells, Julie Sofie Bjerring

Biomedical Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The dynamic cellular microenvironment, made up of resident cells and various macromolecules, differs markedly across tissues in the body. The multidirectional signals that cells receive from this microenvironment, along with the signaling they send back, heavily influence their physiology and behavior. Recent important findings have further validated this notion as the mammary microenvironment has been shown to suppress tumor progression by redirecting cancer cells to adopt a normal mammary epithelial progenitor fate in vivo. However, the mechanism(s) driving changes in metabolic reprogramming and cancer fate redirection is understudied. The work presented in this dissertation focuses on exploring the impact of …

Thermal Management For Optimal Performance Of Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cells, Mythy T. Tran

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As the race to net zero energy intensifies around the world, hydrogen production and fuel cell technologies are attracting more attention, and the technologies are growing rapidly. Together, hydrogen production and fuel cell technologies hold potential for a reliable, green, and sustainable energy system. Hydrogen is an excellent energy carrier and can be produced from various sources, especially green and renewable sources. Fuel cells generate electricity and water from hydrogen and oxygen. In reverse mode, fuel cells operate as electrolyzers to produce hydrogen and oxygen from electricity and water. However, the major drawback that keeps hydrogen and fuel cells from …

Self-Identifying Minoritized Doctoral Students’ Experiences Of Epistemic Injustice In Counselor Education And Supervision, Francisca Rivas

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine and understand how epistemic injustice (EI) is experienced by minoritized doctoral students in Counselor Education and Supervision programs. The primary researcher performed a phenomenological study examining the experiences of EI for minoritized CES students (n = 8). There were three female participants with an average age of 31, two male participants with an average age of 31, and three nonbinary/trans participants with the average age of 33. Five participants were BIPOC, one being an international student, and six participants were LGBTQPA+. Five participants held Ph.Ds. at time of their interview, having …

A Quantitative Study Assessing The Impact Of Financial Sector Safeguards Rules On Us Publicly Traded Companies' Cybersecurity Breach Frequency And Severity, Alan Dinerman

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Cybersecurity failure in the private sector is a growing federal policy priority. Nevertheless, US policy makers struggle with policy instrumentation in this domain. Behavioral public policy theory asserts that a linkage exists between policy target behavioral & cultural attributes and effective policy tool instrumentation. The federal government is now embracing a regulation heavy approach, but little empirical study exists at the nexus of behavioral public policy theory and use of regulatory tools in the cybersecurity policy domain. Since the early 2000s, the financial sector has employed a regulation heavy approach using the Safeguards regulations to facilitate cybersecurity in financial private …

Cultivating Self-Knowledge In The Writing Classroom: A Study Of Contemplative Pedagogy, Jared Featherstone

English Theses & Dissertations

This pedagogical research study examines the effects of Understanding the Self Through Writing and Rhetoric, an undergraduate course designed by the researcher, on students. The course is an example of contemplative writing pedagogy, one that seeks to foreground first-person direct experience of the subject matter and integrates mindfulness meditation and journaling throughout. While writing and rhetoric are common undergraduate subjects to teach, the course focuses on particular, lesser-known aspects of them, internal rhetoric and self-making narrative. A third important part of the course is the examination of how communication technologies, especially social media and messaging applications, affect one’s internal rhetoric …

Simulating The Compound Impacts Of Climate Change And Sea-Level Rise On Coastal Shallow Groundwater Using An Integrated Surface-Subsurface Hydrologic Model, Zhaoyi Cai

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As climate change intensifies and sea levels rise, coastal aquifers become increasingly vulnerable to interacting oceanic and terrestrial processes. This dissertation examines the combined impacts of climate change and sea-level rise (SLR) on coastal shallow groundwater using an integrated surface-subsurface hydrologic model, focusing on the low-lying Little Creek watershed (LCW) in Norfolk, Virginia. The SWAT-MODFLOW model, a coupled system, unifies land surface, streamflow, and groundwater processes, providing a comprehensive framework for watershed-aquifer analysis. Model parameters were derived from U.S. Geological Survey datasets, relevant literature, station records, and technical reports, followed by meticulous calibration. The validated model first simulated baseline groundwater …

Roles Of The His-Purkinje System In Long Qt Syndrome Mediated Arrhythmias, Anthony Owusu-Mensah

Biomedical Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a genetic or drug-induced electrophysiological disorder in the heart that prolongs the QT interval on the electrocardiogram. LQTS is present in considerable proportions (1:3000 to 1:5000) of the general population. LQTS has a high incidence of malignant ventricular arrhythmias during physical and emotional stress and is a significant cause of sudden death in younger subjects. This poses a substantial medical burden on the healthcare system in terms of morbidity, mortality, and finances. Despite extensive genetic research into LQTS, the mechanisms underlying spontaneous initiation and maintenance of arrhythmias are not fully understood. Beta-blockers are the standard …