Digital Commons Network^™

Essays On The Market For Higher Education, Samuel Lawrence Rhoads Glick

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation studies the market for higher education and impacts of higher education policy on the market. In the first chapter, I estimate the short-run elasticity of supply of higher education using the rollout of state merit grant programs as plausibly exogenous variation in student demand for in-state higher education. I find that public and private not-for-profit four-year institutions have elastic supply responses to these programs. Public institutions have an estimated elasticity of 2.1 and private institutions have an estimated elasticity of 1.34. I estimate the causal effects of marginally qualifying for and receiving the federal Pell Grant and the …

Evaluating The Early Impacts Of The Snap Online Purchasing Pilot, Kyle Jones

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation consists of three chapters that evaluate how a change in the redemption of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits impacted grocery purchasing behavior and food consumption to provide some of the first estimates of the impacts from the pilot. The SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot (OPP) allowed recipients to use their benefits online for participating retailers which was initially planned for 8 participating pilot states with a few participating retailers but massively expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first two chapters evaluate how the SNAP OPP impacts grocery purchasing behavior with the first chapter evaluating before the COVID-19 pandemic and …

Essays On Impacts Of Natural Disasters, Fang-Yu Yeh

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation consists of three chapters that study how natural disasters affect households and individuals. The first chapter examines how Kentucky’s housing market responds to changes in flood risk information. The second chapter looks at disproportionate drinking water non-compliance post-disaster. The third chapter studies the effect of flooding events and the national school meals program in Kentucky on education outcomes.

The first chapter examines Kentucky’s housing market response to changes in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) flood maps and how the responses differ depending on whether an area has been flooded recently. I use Zillow’s ZTRAX property transaction data …

Contributions Of The Replication Initiator Protein Dnaa To Physiology And Virulence Of The Lyme Disease Spirochete, Andrew Krusenstjerna

Theses and Dissertations--Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics

Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiological agent of Lyme disease, is the most prevalent vector-borne disease in the United States. The spirochetal population is naturally maintained by consistently cycling between Ixodid ticks and small vertebrates. To survive within these diverse niches, B. burgdorferi has evolved a unique physiology and regulatory network to sense and respond to environmental fluxes. Replication is a hallmark of the Lyme spirochete’s enzootic life cycle, specifically at the nymphal tick-to-vertebrate interface. The mechanisms and regulatory schema for the basic cellular processes in B. burgdorferi, or indeed any member of the phylum spirochaetota, are largely unknown. The central hypothesis …

Genetic And Metabolic Factors Shaping Functional And Systemic Recovery Post-Spinal Cord Injury: A Focus On Apoe, Chase Taylor

Theses and Dissertations--Neuroscience

There are currently approximately 300,000 individuals living with a spinal cord injury (SCI) in the United States with an additional 17,000 injuries occurring each year. Perhaps of equal importance the median age at which an SCI occurs within the population has steadily increased since the 1970s to the 2010s from 29 years to 43 years and is still on the rise. Women, historically underrepresented in biomedical research, have also seen a slight increase in SCI incidence. This increase in age of injury onset means that more people with an SCI will be impacted by genetic factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease …

What’S Harm Reduction Got To Do With It? A Study Of The Implementation Of Substance Use Management Practices Among A Sample Of U.S. Domestic Violence Programs, Stephanie H. Ratliff

Theses and Dissertations--Social Work

Domestic violence programs are essential resources for survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). Programs offer services that go beyond providing safety and shelter. To improve outcomes, program staff have expanded services to meet the needs of survivors. One population of survivors that has gained attention in the peer-reviewed literature is survivors who use substances (SWUS). These survivors have unique needs and are at increased risk of IPV due to substance misuse. Research about the support available to SWUS after they access shelter is scarce. Using cross-sectional data from a national sample of 97 U.S. domestic violence programs, this study describes …

Fathers’ Perspectives On The Role Of Spirituality In Substance Misuse Disorder Treatment And Engaging With Their Children, Kendra Michelle Eubank

Theses and Dissertations--Social Work

The father's role and the extent of involvement with his children have shifted over the past several decades. As a result, researchers have made considerable advances in understanding paternal influences on child development and families. However, one under-researched topic is how fathers' substance misuse, and the recovery process may influence father involvement and effective co-parenting, and specifically, how spirituality plays a role in that. In this qualitative study, fourteen participants participated in semi-structured interviews. The data revealed two main themes: 1) pillars of a spiritual awakening and 2) applying spirituality to healthy fatherhood engagement.

These findings led to four interpretations: …

The Performance Of Marginal Modeling Methods For Rare Events With Application To Opioid Overdose Mortality And Morbidity, Shawn Nigam

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Opioid misuse is a nationwide epidemic, with Kentucky having one of the highest opioid overdose-related fatality rates across all US states. These rates have increased significantly over the past decade, with particularly large increases during the COVID-19 pandemic. This dissertation aims to study the behavior of these increases and the methods for the marginal modeling of count outcomes related to opioid overdose.

Opioid overdose-related fatality rates in Kentucky increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this chapter, we characterize the changes in opioid overdose fatality rates in Kentucky and identify associations between potential factors and fatality rates. County-level opioid overdose …

A Praxis Towards Social Change Based On Foucault's Conceptualization Of Experience As Relational, Lila Maureen Wakeman

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

This project develops a praxis towards social change based on the works of Michel Foucault. It first establishes Foucault’s philosophical assumptions, methods, and political goal of countering “objectivizing” modern Western social forces. It then draws on sources from the three major phases of Foucault’s career to trace his development of a general conceptualization of experience as relational, or as non-exhaustively co-constituted by and through three indispensable kinds of social forces: knowledge, power, and ethics. It then evaluates implications of Foucauldian experience for efforts towards social change to conceptualize a general Foucauldian praxis towards social change. The praxis aims to affect …

On The Principles And Ends Of Education: A Thomistic Approach, Keith Parkinson

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

This dissertation develops an account of the nature of education from a Thomistic point of view. The thesis is that education is best understood as ‘human growth’—growth, because it is the natural development of potentialities inherent within the human person toward full actualization, and human, because it pertains in particular to those faculties of reason that are unique to human beings among all natural creatures, the intellect and will. The first three chapters provide an overview of Thomistic anthropology and virtue theory, from which I conclude that the final goal toward which all genuinely educational activity aims is the speculative …

Hegelianism As Anti-Authoritarianism, Tyler Van Wulven

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

My dissertation intervenes in two ongoing conversations about the nature of freedom. The first seeks to understand and combat the allure of authoritarianism. The second, rooted in 19^th and 20^th century philosophy, sheds light on this phenomenon by suggesting that the acknowledgment and endorsement of the social and historical origins of our normative commitments would awaken us to our radical freedom. My dissertation contributes to this conversation by suggesting that authoritarianism is rooted in a failure to comprehend ourselves, and that a proper investigation into human selfhood is needed to understand and actualize our powers of self-determination. Drawing …

Location, Location, Location: Geographic Qualities Of Political Instability And Military Coups, William O'Connell

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

Previous research has shown that political instability can lead to military coups, especially when it occurs close to the capital. However, other than proximity to the capital, no other geographic qualities of instability and their relationship to coups have been explored. Therefore, this dissertation serves as a detailed analysis of how the location of instability conditions its impact on coups.

To show how the locational qualities of instability influence coup likelihood, I borrow from expected utility models of coups, and explore how instability influences militaries’ disposition and ability to coup differently when it occurs in different areas within a country. …

Speaking, Running, Leading: Black Women In American Politics, Sherelle A. Roberts

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

This dissertation examines African American women as constituents, candidates, and policy entrepreneurs. It illuminates the ways in which Black women navigate the complexities of politics, while balancing their equally complex intersectional identities. It critiques the notion of African American women as politically marginalized actors and highlights the ways in which they surmount social, cultural, and political disadvantage to gain political success.

Recovery Capital In A Justice-Involved Population: An Asset-Based Approach To Recovery And Community Reentry, Evan Joseph Batty

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

The burden of the opioid epidemic demands further efforts to facilitate recovery, particularly for disadvantaged populations and those recently released from prison. After community reentry, individuals face a period of vulnerability as they adjust to new roles and responsibilities to meet their basic needs. Prison-based substance use disorder treatment (SUD Tx) programs provide support to help prepare individuals with SUD for their release and facilitate successful recovery goals after community reentry. This dissertation has three aims: (1) further the understanding of potential barriers and facilitators of recovery after community reentry, (2) assess how prison-levels of recovery capital influence recovery outcomes …

Variable Selection For High-Dimensional Data With Interaction Effects: Methods, Applications, And Inferences, Leiyue Li

Theses and Dissertations--Statistics

For high-dimensional data where the number of variables greatly exceeds the number of observations, selecting important variables while maintaining the required heredity conditions can be challenging. This dissertation is structured into three interconnected parts. In the first part, we propose a variable selection method by implementing a well-known optimization technique, the Genetic Algorithm. An R package was developed to simplify the implementation and usage of the proposed method. We then propose another variable selection method by extending the study from the Genetic Algorithm to a different but related optimization technique, Simulated Annealing. We consider three different hierarchical structures in both …

High-Dimensional Tests And Projection Methods: Subvector Analysis And Matrix Variate Data, Shouryya Mitra

Theses and Dissertations--Statistics

In this dissertation, we study projection-based methods to testing problems for high-dimensional data. We also investigate inferential methods for matrix variate data with block compound symmetry (BCS) covariance structure. The research reported in dissertation consists of three projects.

The first project addresses power loss and ill-conditioned error covariance estimates commonly faced by multivariate tests in high-dimensional settings. To overcome these challenges, previous approaches avoided correlations in constructing test statistics, but this required strong assumptions about covariance matrices and dependence structures. More recently, some methods have incorporated correlations by employing random projection into a lower-dimensional space. We develop a unified framework …

Estimation And Testing Of Nonparametric Effects Of Incomplete Multivariate And Repeated Measures Data, Swetalina Maity

Theses and Dissertations--Statistics

In this dissertation, we investigate three distinct but interrelated problems in analyzing repeated measure data with missing values.

The first project is on semiparametric methods for analyzing repeated measures designs with missing values. A closed-form estimator for the parameters and their asymptotic covariance are derived using block partitioning based on the missing data pattern. We also derive the asymptotic distribution of the estimators and construct test statistics to test hypothesis formulated as linear contrasts of the mean vector.

In the second project, we focus on purely nonparametric methods. In this setup, nonparametric treatment effects are defined as functionals of the …

Intentions To Seek Mental Health Services Among Nursing Students In The United States: The Impact Of Adverse Childhood Experiences And Psychological Distress, Zainab Almogheer

Theses and Dissertations--Nursing

Supporting the mental health of university/college students is a crucial issue facing institutions of higher learning in the U.S. A web-based survey encompassing 196 campuses in the U.S. found that rates of diagnosed mental illness among college students has significantly increased in the last decade from 21.7% in 2007 to 35.5% in 2017 (Lipson et al., 2019). Despite the availability of mental health services within universities/colleges, students with mental health problems do not often utilize these services. Recognizing the significance of assessing the mental health of nursing students is paramount, as evident from a study where 35% of 170 participants …

Design Of Kappa Opioid Receptor Agonists For Potential Treatment Of Multiple Sclerosis, Lindsay Kornberger

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system characterized by demyelination and neuroinflammation. There is currently no cure for MS. There is a critically unmet need for the development of pharmacotherapies that can induce remyelination promoting both repair and recovery. The kappa opioid receptor (KOR) has been identified as a potential target for the development of remyelinating pharmacotherapies. KOR activation has been shown to promote functional recovery and remyelination preclinically. However, typical KOR agonists like U50,488 have limitations such as sedation and dysphoria limiting their use. This necessitates further development of new KOR agonists that maintain …

Two Essays On Asset Management, Quan Qi

Theses and Dissertations--Business Administration

My first chapter shows that disruptions in derivative markets can propagate to corporate bond markets via mutual funds that hold both fixed-income securities and derivatives. The transmission arises because when fund managers incur losses in their derivative investments, they are obligated to deliver cash payments to counterparties or provide additional cash collateral to meet margin calls. Using the Covid-19 crisis as an adverse shock on derivative investments bond funds made in 2019 Q4, I find that funds with substantial exposure to derivative market disruptions liquidate fixed-income assets to fulfill corresponding payment obligations. The forced liquidations cause sizable price depressions in …

The Methodology For Integrating Robotic Systems In Undeground Mining Machines, Peter Kolapo

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Roof bolting is a critical operation in ensuring the safety and stability of underground mines by securing the roof strata with bolts. The process involves moving and manipulating heavy tools while being vigilant about the safety of the area. During the installation of roof bolts, operators are exposed to hazardous conditions due to challenging working conditions in underground mines, extensive working hours, and demanding shift schedules leading to personnel fatigue and influencing operators to take shortcuts that may increase the risk of injuries and fatal accidents. The successful completion of roof bolting tasks depends heavily on operator judgment and experience …

Discrete Element Modeling To Predict Muckpile Profiles From Cast Blasting, Russell Lamont

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Movement of overburden or ore from one location to another may be considered the primary physical process of mining. The means by which it is transported is then of primary concern both to economic production and cost control. The geologic characteristics of some mineral deposits, especially coal and phosphates, lend themselves to overburden transport by means of cast blasting, which when efficiently designed has proven itself to be a cheaper method than traditional truck/shovel, dragline, or even dozer push transport. Simultaneously, this movement of a significant portion of overburden using explosives may enable an operation to increase mineral production, as …

Prediction Of Final Subsidence Under Dipping Seam Conditions, Ernesto Maldonado Esguerra

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

The prediction of ground movements due to underground coal mining and their impacts on the surface are essential considerations that numerous researchers worldwide have studied. Most of these studies have focused on developing different analytical and empirical models for predicting and calculating ground deformation indices for flat or gently dipping seams under variable topography. However, a few studies are available on predicting ground movements under dipping seam conditions. Although most inclined coal seams are in China, India, and a few other countries, dipping seam conditions have been encountered in some cases in the US, where the inclination (dip) may be …

The Determination Of Darcy Permeabilities And Slip Parameters In Porous Thermal Protection Media Via Pressure-Driven Steady Flows At Varying Levels Of Thermal Decomposition, John Ryan O'Nan

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

A flow apparatus for determining the Darcy permeability and Klinkenberg molecular slip adjustment parameter in arbitrary porous media was created. Two leak-proof methods were developed to secure samples of porous media in the flow apparatus independent of surface irregularities, structural integrity, or material porosity. The first of these methods uses thermoset resin casting to permit material samples of a highly irregular profile to be studied. The second method utilizes heat-shrink polyolefin tubing to create a wall seal while preserving the exposed faces of a given cylindrical sample, enabling the study of inhomogeneous surface features. These methods were used to characterize …

Propagation Of Vibro-Acoustic Energy In Ducts: Measurement, Simulation, And Attenuation Studies, Caoyang Li

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Vibro-acoustic energy propagates through heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems through both airborne and structureborne paths. In this research, measurement and simulation studies are performed to better understand this propagation of energy and how to better attenuate the sound before it impacts building occupants.

First, a scaled-down experiment was developed to assist in the validation of numerical simulation models. A small source room was attached to a wooden duct with variable cross-sectional area. The sound power for both untreated and treated ductwork was measured using sound intensity scanning, and the insertion loss is the difference between untreated and treated …

Characterization Of The Spallation Phenomenon In Ablative Thermal Protection System Materials Resulting From Arc-Jet Experiments, Kristen Price

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Thermal protection systems are critical for protecting spacecraft from the large amounts of heating incurred during atmospheric entry. Ablative thermal protection systems in particular often consist of a carbon fiber matrix impregnated with a polymer resin and use thermal and chemical reactions to decompose the material. Weakening of these carbon fibers by oxidation, along with the impact of shear forces, results in the mechanical failure of these materials in a process known as spallation. Being able to quantify and characterize this process is important for modeling and designing heat shield materials that account for the additional spalled mass loss.

Two …

Measurement And Simulation Of Aeroacoustic Sources Generated By Elementary Muffler Components, Seth Donkin

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Mufflers and silencers are commonly used to control noise from sources such as internal combustion engines and heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. In these applications, flow interacts with muffler components generating aeroacoustic noise sources. In order to measure these sources in a lab setting, specialized flow rigs are designed to isolate aeroacoustic noise sources. Flow sometimes compromises muffler performance. However, muffler performance is sometimes improved because flow can increase the attenuation of some muffler elements such as perforates. To better understand the complicated impact of flow, the University of Kentucky developed a muffler test rig to measure insertion …

Characterization Of Heterogeneous Material Architectures Through X-Ray Computed Micro-Tomography, Cameron Brewer

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Low-density carbon-phenolic composites, such as phenolic impregnated carbon ablator (PICA), possess meso-, micro-, and nano-pores making the structure of the resin difficult to characterize. X-ray Computed Tomography (XRCT) is a widely ac- cepted method for characterizing the carbon fiber preform, yet this technique is often insufficient for visualizing the resin because of its minimal attenuation of the incident x-ray beam. Phase Contrast Retrieval (PCR) reconstruction considers not only the linear attenuation coefficient, but also the refractive indices of the constituent materials. This research leverages phase contrast tomography to characterize the meso- and micro-structure of the porous resin phase with a …

A Hyphenated Career: Sustainable Pathways For Dancers, Rebecca A. Ferrell

Theses and Dissertations--Arts Administration

Despite the rich cultural and artistic contributions of dancers, there exists a pressing need to comprehensively address the challenges and complexities surrounding the sustainability of careers in dance due to underemployment, underpayment, data undercounting and physical strain. This dissertation research aims to understand occupational trajectories that build a sustainable career for dancers. Through a historical examination of the professionalization of dance and an investigation of current career opportunities, this study investigates the growing support systems for dancers, the influence of occupational identity, and the workplace environments needed to sustain a dance career.

Occupational identity theory, motivation-hygiene theory, and transaction cost …

Three Contemporary Prosecution Case Studies And The Challenges Affecting The Indian Arts And Crafts Act, Tiffini Bowers

Theses and Dissertations--Arts Administration

The Indian Arts and Crafts Act (IACA) is America’s only federal arts policy. This study explores the IACA and the challenges contemporary prosecution cases identify for arts stakeholders, along with the implementation and effectiveness since the 2010 Act, to understand better the social and public policy implications and challenges for arts stakeholders. A qualitative study using multiple legal case studies, document analysis, and semi-structured interviews, along with an elite theory theoretical framework, anchors the research. Findings support existing research by indicating the main challenge is the definition and complexity of Indian identity; additional significant findings that contribute to future policy …