Digital Commons Network^™

Memes, Themes, And Rhetorical Schemes: Analyzing The Themes And Rhetorical Devices Used By Meme Creators In American Political Internet Memes In The First Week Of The Ukrainian-Russian War, Edward B. Zimmerman

Communication Theses

Internet memes carry news messages to mass audiences through social media platforms. In seconds, global events can be transmitted to millions of users in the form of an image with text overlayed. Despite the power of memes, there has been little scholarly research devoted to the selection mechanism of meme-makers. As both audience and creator, meme-makers’ craft and consume messages capable of influence. Grounded in work on rhetorical analysis and framing, this study examined memes posted to conservative and liberal affiliated Reddit communities in the wake of the first days of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The analysis focused on the themes …

The Effects Of Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles On The Innate Immune System, Madeline Bruhn

Biomedical Sciences Theses

Influenza remains a major global health issue, demanding the need for more effective vaccine strategies. This thesis searches into a novel approach, employing cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) to boost influenza vaccine effectiveness. It dives into the impact of EVs on the innate immune system and their role on a cellular basis. Using cell culture and in vitro immune assays, the composition and immunomodulatory traits of EVs from antigen-presenting cells are researched. The study systematically examines the interactions between these EVs and key components of the innate immune system, unveiling the mechanisms driving their immunostimulatory effects. This research yields crucial insights …

Conflicto Armado Colombiano: Una Mirada Interseccional De Género, Racismo Y Colonialidad, Sara Parra Cadavid

World Languages and Cultures Theses

Abstract: This research project analyzes the intersectionality of the concepts of gender, race, and coloniality through the testimonies collected by the Colombian Truth Commission; within the framework of the Peace Agreement signed between the country's government and the FARC guerrilla, in the text, My Body is the Truth Part 1. The analysis was obtained from the testimonies of racialized women in Colombia, who self-identified as black, Afro-Colombian, indigenous, and peasant; together with the theoretical approaches of feminist authors such as Simone De Beauvoir, Ochy Curiel, María Lugones, and Rita Segato. Furthermore, this research proposes the discursive and legal use of …

Sars-Cov-2 Receptor-Binding Domain-Based Mucosal Covid-19 Vaccines, Melissa L. Palacios

Biomedical Sciences Theses

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak originating in Wuhan, China in late 2019, declared a pandemic in March 2020 by the World Health Organization, and led to widespread hospitalizations and deaths, prompting a global shutdown. As time progressed, variants emerged, and a solution was needed to prevent the spread. Vaccines and therapeutics were developed, but current vaccines are not able to neutralize all variants and do not have the capability to induce effective mucosal immunity. This study investigates two proteins targeting the receptor-binding domain of the wild-type strain and Omicron variant that are glycosylated and tagged with the Fc …

Induction Of Inflammasome Activation In Macrophage Cells By Polyethyleneimine-Modified Graphene Oxide Nanoparticles, Ibinabo Lilly-Tariah

Biomedical Sciences Theses

Vaccine development has been a cornerstone of modern medicine and the use of adjuvants in vaccine development has been a phenomenon present since the early 1900’s. Nanoparticles offer unique advantages as adjuvants due to their adjustable properties and their ability to serve as antigen carriers. In this study, we investigate the influence of polyethyleneimine-modified graphene oxide nanoparticles (GO-PEI) on the activation of the inflammasome, a crucial component of the innate immune system, in macrophage cells. Narrowing our focus on testing the successful activation of the inflammasome and its mechanism of activation, we found that GP nanoparticles could induce the activation …

Postmortem Interval Estimation Within The Context Of Adipocere Formation, Emily Fields

Anthropology Theses

Adipocere is the transformed adipose tissue of a corpse into a wax-like substance. It is known for preserving soft tissue and subsequently obscuring the post-mortem interval (PMI) in a forensic context. The ideal conditions in which adipocere forms on human remains are generally considered to be in warm, moist, alkaline environments. However, these conditions can be highly variable. A searchable database is modeled here as a system for tracking forensic and experimental cases involving adipocere and using those findings to establish minimum PMI estimate for cases of unknown PMI. Test studies are experimentally run to validate the precision of the …

Applied Anthropological Perspectives On The Use Of Art Therapy And Creative Expression For Adults In Georgia, Juel Ables

Anthropology Theses

This research project will show how adults use art therapy and creative expression to cope with difficult emotions and stressful situations. Scholars have argued the importance of mediating stress in the human body, citing damage to a person’s mind and body after prolonged exposure to stress. Furthermore, researchers have cited the importance and helpfulness of creative engagements to cope and mediate stress. In addition, this research will show how public policies affect access to resources for art therapists and for patients of art therapists. Research methods included conducting in-depth interviews and autoethnography.

Paleoindian And Early Archaic Hunter-Gatherer Landscape Use: A Case Study From The Brier Creek Drainage In Burke County, Georgia, Quinn Connally

Anthropology Theses

Artifact collections in museum repositories and those held by private individuals are numerous. Often these collections are analyzed and then reshelved by curators. In the case of private collections, the artifacts are assembled through purchase, avocational field work, or by hobbyists and can have limited or provenience. Despite this, these collections are valuable to current and future scholarship in archaeology. In this thesis I investigate and summarize three different legacy collections and groups of data that have limited and disparate information known about them yet were all sourced from the same general location of Burke County, Georgia. Each collection contains …

Bless Your Heart: A Deconstruction Of Southern Hostility Disguised As Southern Hospitality And Its Effects On Black Identity In “Blues For Mister Charlie” And The Vanishing Half, Sterling S. Neill

English Theses

Southern hospitality, whether real or perceived, is a cultural stereotype tied to the Southern region of the United States. Studies on Southern hospitality are growing, possibly due to the recent surge of anti-Black legislation including disbandment of Affirmative Action, critical race theory, and women and gender studies in schools. As more racist and sexist doctrine is dispersed throughout America, it is imperative to evaluate false narratives, such as Southern hospitality, that perpetuate and reinforce structural discrimination, which historical literary works can function to counter. This thesis examines Blues for Mister Charlie by James Baldwin and The Vanishing Half by Brit …

Hyper-Learning With Deep Artificial Neurons, Brendan Blake Camp

Computer Science Dissertations

Two problems have plagued artificial neural networks since their birth in the mid-20th century. The first is a tendency to lose previously acquired knowledge when there is a large shift in the underlying data-distribution, a phenomenon provocatively known as catastrophic forgetting. The second is an inability to know-what-they-don’t-know, resulting in excessively confident behavior, even in uncertain or novel conditions. This text provides an in-depth history of these obstacles, complete with formal problem definitions and literature reviews. Most importantly, the proposed solutions herein demonstrate that these challenges can be overcome with the right architectures and training objectives. As this text will …

No Easy Path: A Ground-Penetrating Radar Investigation Of The Historic Penfield Cemetery., Robert Paul Theberge

Anthropology Theses

Numerous historic cemeteries in the rural American South currently face deterioration due to natural and human elements. Those founded by enslaved African American communities are particularly vulnerable due to historical inequities, and to events affecting Black populations after emancipation. Rediscovery of these sites prompts inquiries into best practices for their preservation and revitalization. Tools such as Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), have proven valuable in addressing preliminary questions essential for effective cemetery preservation efforts. This thesis employs GPR to assess the number and distribution of burials in the historically segregated African American section of the Penfield Cemetery in Greene County, Georgia. Following …

Gerber Food Product Guide For Caregivers And Their Infants With Pku Following The Simplified Food Plan, Mikayla Wood

Nutrition Theses

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an autosomal recessive inborn error of metabolism caused by a deficiency in the hepatic enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH).¹ Phenylketonuria can have many forms, ranging from mild to severe (i.e., classic PKU) based on an individual’s Phenylalanine Hydroxylase (PAH) mutation.¹ Phenylalanine Hydroxylase is a hepatic enzyme that converts the essential amino acid Phenylalanine (Phe) to tyrosine with the help of the cofactor tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4).¹A deficiency in PAH or its cofactor BH4 results in Phe accumulation. An accumulation of Phe can be neurotoxic and lead to severe cognitive disabilities if left untreated.¹ Newborn …

The Analysis Of Longitudinal Change Patterns In Developing Brain Using Functional And Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data, Rekha Saha

Computer Science Theses

This paper introduces a novel approach to explore longitudinal changes in brain func- tional network connectivity (FNC) and gray matter (GM) in adolescents, utilizing data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. The study focuses on mul- tivariate patterns of FNC changes over a two-year period, identifying structured Functional Change Patterns (FCPs). One noteworthy finding is the strengthened functional connec- tivity between visual (VS) and sensorimotor (SM) domains as participants age. Moreover, the research highlights gender-specific variations in these patterns. This approach offers a robust means of assessing whole-brain functional changes longitudinally.

Additionally, the paper presents two complementary …

Classifying Different Cancer Types Based On Transcriptomics Data Using Machine Learning Algorithms, Eunice Olorunshola

Computer Science Theses

Cancer, a complex group of diseases characterized by abnormal cell growth, presents a significant global health challenge. Accurate classification of cancer types is vital for effective treatment and improved patient outcomes. This master’s thesis addresses the crucial issue associated with accurate cancer classification. It analyzes transcriptomic data of RNA sequencing, from six cancer subtypes (breast, colorectal, glioblastoma, hepatobiliary, lung, pancreatic) and a healthy control group. This research utilizes several machine learning algorithms to construct accurate cancer classification models using gene expression profiles and gene count data. The study incorporates advanced techniques such as feature selection, data preprocessing, and model optimization. …

Adhd As An Evolutionary Mismatch, Brian Zorya

Philosophy Honors Theses

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD, is currently classified as a mental disorder in the DSM-V. The classification of a mental disorder leads to significant issues such as over-reliance on prescription medications, removal of agency, negative self-valuation, and more. Recent data in areas such as genetics, neurobiology, and psychology support the hypothesis that ADHD may be better understood as an evolutionary adaptive process that became maladaptive as a result of substantially different environmental characteristics in the modern environment. Key symptoms of ADHD may be explained by two processes. The first process is due to a genetic variation in Dopamine Receptor D4 …

Worry As Coping: The Roles Of Worry Beliefs, Anxiety, And Emotion Regulation, Anne Werkheiser

Psychology Theses

High-anxious individuals may be particularly vulnerable to emotion dysregulation and overreliance on maladaptive coping strategies such as worry (e.g., Mennin et al., 2005). The existence of contradictory theories regarding the role of worry in anxious individuals’ emotion regulation raises questions about what beliefs may undergird the use of worry. I collected data via an online survey of college students to examine associations between beliefs about worry and worry behavior, as well as associations among trait anxiety, contrast avoidance, and beliefs about worry. I found that affective beliefs predicted worry behavior over and above more-commonly studied instrumental beliefs. I also found …

Black American Parents’ Experiences Of Racial Discrimination And Youths’ Depression Outcomes: An Examination Of The Potential Mediating Role Of Parental Racial Socialization Practices, Ashanti Brown

Psychology Theses

Research indicates that racial discrimination is a significant contributing factor to Black American adolescents’ mental health outcomes, including childhood depression. Black youth are also impacted by the discrimination experienced by their caregivers and their resulting socialization behaviors. Growing bodies of literature demonstrate the importance of promotive and protective parenting factors, such as racial socialization, in adolescent psychosocial outcomes. Researchers have also started to explore the intergenerational impact of racial discrimination on developing Black youth. A key gap in the literature is the extent to which racial socialization serves as a mechanism impacting the relationship between parental experiences of discrimination and …

Dynalay: An Introspective Approach To Dynamic Layer Selection For Deep Networks, Mrinal Mathur

Computer Science Theses

Deep learning models have become increasingly computationally intensive, requiring extensive computational resources and time for both training and inference. A significant contributing factor to this challenge is the uniform computational effort expended on each input example, regardless of its complexity. We introduce \textbf{DynaLay}, an alternative architecture that features a decision-making agent to adaptively select the most suitable layers for processing each input, thereby endowing the model with a remarkable level of introspection. DynaLay reevaluates more complex inputs during inference, adjusting the computational effort to optimize both performance and efficiency. The core of the system is a main model equipped with …

Sisters Of Conspiracy: A Feminist Analysis Of Evangelical, New Age, And Qanon Movements In Contemporary American Politics., Rachael Rollings

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Theses

This thesis explores the link between New Age ideology, Evangelical Christianity, Qanon and the weaponization of women's body autonomy. It delves into how these factors have brought women into the Qanon conspiracy, leading them to engage in COVID denial, anti-vax movements, spreading medical misinformation, Qanon propaganda, and right-wing beliefs. Employing qualitative data analysis, cyberethnography, and feminist analysis, the research identifies online behavior, shared values, and beliefs in wellness, spiritual, and alt-right spaces through specific hashtags. This thesis focuses on a small set of social media hashtags on Facebook and Instagram between 2016 to 2020, revealing connections and shared agendas between …

Revolutionizing Knowledge Production: Transformative Reproductive Justice Activism Through Zine Making, Sierra R. Reyes

Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Theses

Often, academic knowledge and activist knowledge clash, one being dismissed as unscholarly and the other as impractical. As theory becomes further removed from its application in academic and activist spaces, how can scholars and activists work to produce revolutionary knowledge to transform our thinking and engage with social justice movements? This feminist action research project combines traditional and non-traditional methods of relaying feminist theoretical implications in the reproductive justice movement by pairing academic written text with a collection of “zines” to produce new and legitimate ways of transforming feminist scholarship and praxis. Because academia needs the “real world” experiences of …

Juvenile Curfews In Metro Atlanta: A Case Study And Content Analysis Of Laws, Arrests, And Victimizations, Olivia Berry

Political Science Theses

This thesis aims to analyze how juvenile curfew laws in Metro Atlanta affect juveniles compared to case studies in the literature. The research focuses on 11 Metro Atlanta counties with and without these laws. This study is primarily qualitative and designed to draw attention to the makeup of juvenile curfew laws, potential consequences, and how the situation in Metro Atlanta may differ from other regions. By utilizing data on juvenile crime and victimization sourced from the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Crime Statistics Database, in tandem with the language of each curfew law, this study explores the potential impacts of these …

For The Sake Of Curiosity: Do Monkeys Choose To View Counterfactual Information?, Elizabeth Haseltine

Psychology Theses

Counterfactuals are alternative outcomes to past events. Curiosity for the counterfactual acts as an important driver of learning under uncertainty and helps to improve on past behaviors. This experiment observed counterfactual information collection rates during times of uncertainty and also assessed the willingness of nonhuman primates to gain information when there was a cost or benefit associated. Humans (Experiment 1), capuchins, and rhesus macaques (Experiments 1 and 2) were presented with a three-choice gambling task that consisted of hidden and visible reward values. When choosing visible reward values, participants could view the counterfactual information associated with the gamble. Only humans …

Does It Really Matter? Presidential Rhetoric And Framing And Its Effect On State Marijuana Policy Diffusion., Dana Stevenson

Political Science Theses

The topic of marijuana prohibition has been a subject of discussion in the United States for more than a century. As the president of the United States is typically viewed as a figure who can influence policies in the country without legislative authority, I conducted a historical analysis of presidential statements and speeches regarding marijuana and drug policy implementation. I also investigated the impact of the president's words on the diffusion of marijuana policy across states. To do this, I reviewed speeches by presidents and searched for legislative issues related to marijuana from 1970 to 2023. By placing these events …

Affluence And Interpersonal Trust, Alexandra Tosone

Sociology Theses

This study explores the interplay between affluence and interpersonal trust in the United States. While existing research often focuses on the impoverished, this investigation shifts the lens to the affluent, shedding light on how affluence affects interpersonal trust dynamics.

Using qualitative methods, we conducted 15 in-depth interviews with affluent individuals and their family members. Three key findings emerged:

Trust Discrepancy: Participants claimed to trust others, but their behaviors suggested hesitancy in trust-dependent activities like sharing secrets or loaning money.

Affluent Upbringing and Lower Trust: Those raised in affluent households reported lower trust levels compared to others.

Reluctance to Discuss Finances: …

Thermal Maturity Of The Late Devonian - Mississippian Woodford Shale Ardmore-Arbuckle Basin, Oklahoma, Opeyemi Victoria Aransiola

Geosciences Theses

Exploring unconventional resources, particularly shale gas, necessitates comprehensive studies of shale rocks from reservoir to micro-fabrics to meet North America's energy demand. This study used clay mineralogy as an insight to the thermal maturity of the late Devonian-Mississippian Woodford Shale in Oklahoma.

The study analyzes the clay mineralogy of twelve outcrop samples from the Upper, Middle, and Lower Woodford at McAlister's Cemetery Quarry and Turner Falls Oklahoma. Illite, kaolinite, illite-smectite, quartz, and carbonate were identified as the main clay and non-clay minerals in the clay fractions of these shales. Diagenetic Illite-smectite (R1) was present in two samples, indicating a diagenetic …

Pathogenesis And Pharmacological Mitigation Of Influenza Viruses, Respiratory Syncytial Virus And Sars-Cov-2, Carolin M. Lieber

Biomedical Sciences Dissertations

Innumerable future deaths and hospitalizations could be avoided through improved pandemic preparedness and the use of personalized medicine. Here, various animal models have been used to improve an understanding of the pathogenicity and therapeutic treatment potential of three viral pathogens that have a significant impact on public health: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza virus.

Roborovski dwarf hamsters were developed as a novel animal model to study SARS-CoV-2-induced acute lower respiratory tract injury. Dwarf hamsters recapitulate the pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) and demonstrate that the effect size of molnupiravir and …

The Perception Of Skills For Maximizing Patient Comfort During Non-Invasive Ventilation Among Respiratory Therapists At Kfsh&Rc, Ahmed Albaqawi

Respiratory Therapy Theses

Background: Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) is a modality that supports patient breathing through different types of face ‏interfaces, such as a full-face mask and nasal mask. Noninvasive Ventilation modalities have proven to improve morbidity and mortality rates for patients suffering from respiratory failure in the hospital setting and Outpatient. It also helped prevent escalating the treatment to more advanced methods such as invasive ventilation. However, several elements are required for optimizing the therapy, including Health care providers' training in operating the different brands of NIV, equipment availability, cost, and appropriate adjustment to the settings according to patient response. Purpose: …

Transatlantic Utopia: American Antebellum Novels And Their Reflexive Historicism, Andrew J. Lamb

English Dissertations

This dissertation argues that the utopian novel offers an invaluable lens for understanding the social fabric of the antebellum America. The project focuses mainly on four works: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance (1852), a fantasy roman à clef of the Brook Farm utopian colony; William Gilmore Simms’ The Yemassee (1835), a novel about the native American threat to the utopia of a slaveocracy; Martin Delany’s Blake; or the Huts of America (1859), a call for pan-African revolt in North America; and Robert Henry Newell’s Avery Glibun; or, Between Two Fires (1867), a fantasy bildungsroman about the antebellum period as a …

Perceptions Of Sexual Minoritized Women’S Sexual Orientation And Masculine Gender Expression As Predictors Of Their Experience Of Enacted Stigma And Problematic Drinking, Brynne Velia

Psychology Theses

Minority Stress Theory posits that health disparities, such as the disproportionate development of problematic drinking, among sexual minoritized people are attributable to lifelong, experienced stressors such as enacted stigma. Researchers have examined downstream processes of stigma (i.e., what happens after stigma is experienced); however, there is little research on upstream processes (i.e., what leads to the experience of stigma in the first place). The present study sought to examine perception accuracy and perceived masculine gender expression as potential antecedents to experienced stigma and resultant problematic drinking among sexual minoritized women. Two samples of participants were recruited: 180 cisgender sexual …

On The Analysis Of Non-Euclidean Data: Sparsification, Classification And Generation, Yang Ye

Computer Science Dissertations

In light of the groundbreaking achievements of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in 2D image processing, there has been a pronounced interest in adapting these methods to non-Euclidean data, such as graphs and 3D geometric data. Point clouds, in particular, present unique challenges as they are sparse, unordered, and locality-sensitive, making the adaptation of CNNs to point cloud processing a non-trivial task. Similar challenges are encountered in the context of graph data. Consequently, the exploration of extending successful neural processing paradigms from 2D images to these non-Euclidean domains has emerged as a vibrant and dynamic research area.

This thesis focuses on …