Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.), Franklin University, 2023, Business Administration

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred a significant retail shift, with consumers turning to online shopping due to safety concerns and lockdowns. Retailers quickly adopted omnichannel strategies, merging online and offline channels to stay relevant and enhance the shopping experience. This research, grounded in innovation diffusion theory, examined the pandemic's influence on customer behavioral intentions regarding omnichannel capabilities. Using a quantitative research approach with a survey in Northwest Arkansas, the study explored the relationship between innovation diffusion attributes and customer omnichannel Buy-Online-Pickup-at-the-Store (BOPS) behavioral intention. A ten-point Likert scale survey was adapted from Kapoor to gather data from 190 respondents online. The respondent's Intention to Use BOPS increased from 36.8% pre-pandemic to 84% post-pandemic. Data was analyzed using Pearson correlation for each characteristic and regression for the combined attribute and customer intention to use BOPS. Notably, relative advantage, compatibility, and observability attributes significantly impacted the model, whereas trialability and complexity lacked significance within the combined model. The findings suggested that customers prioritize buy-Online-Pickup-at-the-Store's relative advantage, compatibility, and observability when making adoption decisions. While complexity and trialability are essential, their significance diminishes when considered with other attributes. This study contributes valuable insights into consumer behavior during crises and the evolving retail landscape post-crisis. These findings can guide strategies for optimizing omnichannel capabilities and enhancing customer adoption.

Committee: Sherry Abernathy (Committee Chair); Tim Reymann (Committee Member); Charles Fenner (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Business Administration; Management; Marketing; Technology

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2023, Geology

Ammonoid suture patterns have long been a point of interest in the study of this extinct cephalopod group, as they can be used for phylogenetic classification, understanding organismal growth, and many other topics of inquiry. These patterns are traditionally recorded as flat lines through tracings made using tape placed on fossil specimens, which causes distortion of the original shape. This problem prompts the need for a solution that may help to increase the accuracy of the data collected from suture patterns. Fourteen ammonoid specimens representing nine species and four suborders and spanning the Middle Devonian to Late Cretaceous Periods were digitally modeled, and their 3D digital suture patterns were then compared to 2D tracings. First, 3D models of the specimens were made using photogrammetry, which is a low-cost method with a low barrier to entry done by compiling photographs taken of a specimen and stitching them together into a 3D model using open-source software. The original goal was to then digitally flatten the 3D models using additional software to create 2D representations of their suture patterns that could then be compared to the tracings created using the traditional hand-traced tape method. While there were technical complications with the 3D to 2D conversion, the method of photogrammetry produced accurate depictions of the original specimens, based on visual comparison of the 3D and 2D suture patterns. Several notable factors influenced the quality of the 3D model created using this photogrammetry method, including the preserved definition of the suture pattern, the reflectiveness of the fossil's surface, and the uniformity of color of the fossil. With these factors taken into consideration, photogrammetry can be a very accurate and cost-effective method for digitizing fossils, opening up a range of potential new morphometric analyses and expanding access to these important paleontological specimens beyond those able to physically visit fossil (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Margaret Yacobucci Ph. D (Committee Chair); Yuning Fu Ph. D (Committee Member); Peter Gorsevski Ph. D (Committee Member) Subjects: Geology; Paleontology

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Geology

Sauropods have been one of the most studied dinosaur groups due to their extremely large body size. An open question is what these animals ate to reach such gargantuan sizes. The diets of fossil vertebrates can be determined by examination of microscopic wear patterns on the surface of the teeth, which can distinguish between hard and soft foods and constrain the feeding height and food selectivity of the animal. This study examined the microwear patterns on ten Late Jurassic sauropod teeth from the Morrison Formation of North America, including the diplodocids Barosaurus, Diplodocus, and Suuwassea and the macronarian Camarasaurus, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, the capability of a three-dimensional laser scanner, a less expensive and potentially less damaging method than SEM, to image these microwear patterns was tested. The SEM images were analyzed for wear patterns, before they were marked on the images and the lengths and widths of the wear was measured. The 3D images were also examined to test if microscopic wear could be seen on the models. The 3D scans proved too coarse to view microscopic detail while only scratches were found on six of the ten teeth tested. No wear was found on the Barosaurus teeth tested. From this information it was concluded that both Suuwassea and Camarasaurus fit with previous studies indicating both were more selective, mid-height browsers while the single Diplodocus tooth tested did not match the previous study which indicated the animal should be a low level non-selective browser due to the lack of pitting visible on the wear surface. The laser scanner proved unable to create images fine enough to see the microscopic wear on the teeth, which indicates that while still a valuable tool in other circumstances, the 3D scanner has not reached a point where it can completely replace the older SEM method.

Committee: Dr. Margaret Yacobucci Dr. (Advisor); Dr. John Farver Dr. (Committee Member); Dr. Yuning Fu Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Geology; Paleontology

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2018, Environmental Sciences

The Willard Sherman Turrell Herbarium at Miami University (MU) is the largest collection of preserved botanical material in the state of Ohio. This report describes the projects I conducted at the MU Herbarium during my herbarium collections management internship. The internship and subsequent report were conducted to fulfill requirements for graduation from the Master of Environmental Science (MEn) program at MU's Institute for the Environment and Sustainability (IES). I completed three main projects during the course of my internship. The first project involved updating the MU Herbarium Assistant's Manual, which was last updated in 1980. The second project was the digitization of the fungal collection of the University of Cincinnati. The final project was the organization and intercalation of Peruvian specimens collected between 2004-2005 by MU Botany PhD graduate Xanic Rondon. Herbarium curator and advisor Michael Vincent selected these projects for my internship to provide specific learning opportunities that have prepared me for professional natural history collections management.

Committee: Michael Vincent (Advisor); Richard Moore (Committee Member); Suzanne Zazycki (Committee Member) Subjects: Botany; Conservation; Environmental Science; Museum Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, Physics

One of the primary unanswered questions in the field of astrophysics is the source of high-energy cosmic rays. Decades of searching by many different experiments have not identified any point sources. Cosmogenic neutrinos are an ideal candidate for source identification due to their ability to reach Earth unattenuated and undeflected. The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment is a high-altitude radio-antenna balloon designed to detect ultra-high-energy cosmogenic neutrinos via Askaryan emission in the Antarctic ice shelf. A redesign of the ANITA event trigger, called the Triggering Interferometric Sum Correlator (TISC), was performance tested and compared to simulations of the trigger. In order to characterize the performance of the TISC, a testbench was developed to generate impulsive signals and thermal noise that closely matched observations from previous ANITA flights. During this testing process, numerous unexpected issues were found including differential non-linearity of some digital-to-analog converters, errant digitization values due to poor signal encoding, and integral non-linearity within analog-to-digital converters resulting from integrated circuit variation during manufacturing. These issues, as well as others, were characterized and novel calibration strategies were developed to minimize their effect on the triggering performance. Threshold scans were performed at various impulsive signal amplitudes. Data from these threshold scans were used to develop efficiency curves that showed a factor of 1.38 increase in neutrino sensitivity compared to previous triggering systems. This increase in efficiency will allow a future ANITA flight to set stronger cosmogenic neutrino limits and increase ANITA's sensitivity neutrino interactions within the Antarctic ice shelf.

Committee: James Beatty PhD (Advisor); Amy Connolly PhD (Committee Member); John Beacom PhD (Committee Member); Klaus Honscheid PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Physics

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2008, Management Information and Decision Systems

Technical standards ensure compatibility among the components of complex systems. Economists and others have studied standards selection, their effects on competition, and how sub-optimal standardization outcomes vary by the mechanisms used to create them. Actual standards creation has received less attention and their wider effects on industry structures are less understood. This research addresses three questions: (i) how standards making and adoption plays out in the design and implementation of large systems, (ii) how organizational and other actors coordinate with one another, with technology, and with standards, and (iii) how the creation and adoption of standards relates to these patterns of coordination. These questions are explored using in-depth case studies of the US and UK mobile wireless and television industries. Two cases examine the development of early cellular radio standards and the data capabilities that helped transform the mobile phone into a computing and multimedia platform. Two other cases look at the TV industry, its convergence with telecom, and the emergence of mobile TV services. The cases draw upon archival sources and interviews with 42 executive level interviewees. The cases show that standards, along with the characteristics of natural phenomena, shape the coordination of technologies and organizations in these industries. Economic and some social theoretical perspectives exhibit too much technological or social determinism to satisfactorily explain the relationships between standards and industry structures observed. The actor-network based process model presented conceptualizes industry changes as the dynamic interactions among actors pursuing their standardization and other strategies. This is extended to incorporate the analytical domains proposed by Lyytinen and King (2002): the innovation space, the marketplace, and the regulatory regime. The resulting model provides a high-level view of the actor-network, and of actor-network (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kalle Lyytinen PhD (Committee Chair); Bo Carlsson PhD (Committee Member); Carsten Sorensen PhD (Committee Member); Youngjin Yoo PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Information Systems