Digital Commons Network^™

A Content Analysis Of State-Level Restorative Justice Statutes, Mason Karlyn Myers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Restorative justice programs have garnered attention as a potential policy solution to address critical issues within the criminal justice system, such as mass incarceration, re-victimization, and costliness. However, effective implementation of these programs faces various challenges, including communication gaps, inadequate program design, and implementation issues. These challenges may be further exacerbated by the lack of consistent policies at the state level guiding restorative justice practices. Surprisingly, limited research has been conducted to examine restorative justice statutes at the state level. In response to this gap in the literature, this study analyzes the restorative justice policies of all fifty states, including …

A Review Of Mental Health Intake Assessments In Mississippi Jails, Sierra Molina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over 64 percent of jail inmates report mental health concerns in the United States. Limited research, however, has explored the guidelines provided by jail facilities for screening and assessing mental illness. To address this gap in the literature, this study used a qualitative design to examine the intake policy guidelines for mental health screening in Mississippi jails. Furthermore, it explored the following questions to discover themes relating to correctional mental health: how many facilities have policies relating to screening for mental health symptoms; how are these guidelines defined by correctional officials; is there variation across location and facility; and are …

Dark Personality, Sexual Satisfaction And Sexual Perceptions: An Event-Contingent Study, Jasmine Whitney Rios

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research has consistently linked Dark Personality (DP) to one’s mating tendencies (e.g., mating strategy, sexual behavior, sociosexual orientation) and sexual motivation. However, DP researchers have failed to expand the association between DP and sex beyond these common sexual dimensions. As such, there is little to no research linking DP to people’s sexual satisfaction and sexual perceptions. Additionally, personality research has predominantly investigated sexuality at the global-level (e.g., average/general report of sexual satisfaction) when studying aspects of sexual interaction at the interaction-level (i.e., soon after the interaction) can reduce various issues that accompany global measures. Thus, one purpose of this current …

Development Of A Novel Psychological Screening Tool For Young Children In Educational And Childcare Settings, Diana Tinsley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Young children experience psychological difficulties at comparable rates to school-aged children (Egger & Angold, 2006; Bufferd et al., 2011; Fuchs et al., 2013), yet few screening tools are available for this age range. Childcare and preschool settings present a unique opportunity to increase early screening efforts, particularly in terms of observing children among their peers. The current study presents initial steps toward the development of a new psychological screening tool for young children ages 1.5 – 5 years in childcare and educational settings. The aim of the study was to develop a brief and broad psychological screening tool that can …

Enhancing Student Engagement: Regional Campus Students’ Access To High Impact Practices And Co-Curricular Organizations, Angela Kristina Austin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Regional campuses serve a vital role in today's higher education landscape, extending access to college education for underserved locations and populations. The University of Mississippi’s university system has five regional campuses. The students at a regional campus, like their traditional main campus counterparts, aspire to attain bachelor's or graduate degrees. However, regional campus students often exhibit characteristics more akin to community college or non-traditional students.

While literature on regional campuses is limited, ample research supports the positive impact of student involvement in higher education. Even more limited is research on participation levels of non-traditional students in co-curricular organizations and high-impact …

Saudi Perspective On Using Efl Resources To Improve Their English Pronunciation In Saudi Public Institutions, Khadija Abdullah Alzahrani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to the lack of a pronunciation curriculum and materials in Saudi universities, EFL students individually select use different resources to help with their English pronunciation difficulties. Therefore, this study aims to describe (a) Saudi students' perspectives and attitudes toward pronunciation resources that may help with their pronunciation (b) if they use them to help with their weaknesses, and (c) the teachers’ perspectives on their students' pronunciation difficulties, their knowledge of the resources the universities provide, and what they use to help the students' pronunciation learning and development. This study investigates what Saudi students think they need to learn pronunciation, …

Level Of Pj (Peace Journalism) Awareness Among Journalists From Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Ayidh J. Alqahtani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to ascertain whether Saudi Arabian journalists know peace journalism. According to the peace journalism model and the framing theory, journalists' practices are supposed to foster peace rather than fuel violence. As a result, journalists can shed light on the social and underlying causes of violence with the noble goal of demoting violence and promoting peace. In that sense, 100 journalists from Saudi Arabia made up the sample population of this study. The mixed-method approach was used to collect data; Consequently, the researcher provided the participants with a questionnaire to elicit the level of awareness of peace journalism …

"It's My Job:" Graduate Student Socialization And Career Choice, Megan Black

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of planning this evaluation is to explore perspectives of graduate student socialization to practitioner careers in students’ fields of study. Socialization in graduate programs refers to the process by which students learn and adapt to the norms and expectations of their anticipated career fields, and the activities within programs that provide related information and practice. Higher education in the United States has been undergoing a long-term change in which full-time, tenured faculty positions are becoming increasingly rare, with many new doctoral graduates relegated to non-tenure track adjunct positions. Also of note is the growing number of doctoral students …

Academic Medical Center Governance: A Study Focused On The University Of Mississippi Medical Center, Jacob Daniels

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) face many challenges, which can lead to financial constraints. For AMCs to remain sustainable in today’s healthcare system, the literature presents a compelling case for expansion to mitigate their financial burdens. Expansion often requires quick decision-making, and as a result, scholars repeatedly discuss the importance of AMC governance being both nimble and efficient. The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) substantially impacts Mississippians, and the institution must remain a thriving center for education, research, and healthcare for the state. Given the importance of efficient and nimble governance in the institution’s sustainability, this Dissertation in Practice (DiP) …

L2 Perception Of The S-Aspirated Phone In Spanish, Raúl A. Gamboa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation deals with the perception of the aspirated coda /s/ by Spanish L2 learners. Second language research, with some exceptions, focuses on whether L1English–L2 Spanish learners can perceive the aspirated variant, showing that only advanced learners with time spent in s-weakening regions succeed at the task. L2 studies about s-aspiration have yet to investigate the perception of the aspirated coda /s/ in different environments across actual phrases and sentences. This study focuses on the intelligibility of pairs of ambiguous phrases and sentences perceptually differentiated only by the aspirated coda /s/. Additionally, it investigates the prosodic stress´ influence on the …

"Dug Way To Liberty": Newspapers, Prison, And Jim Crow In Georgia In The Early 1900s, Avery Elise Gross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On April 15, 1907, twelve Black and white convicts escaped from the Durham Mines prison camp located on Lookout Mountain, Georgia. Over the next month, newspapers throughout Georgia and in neighboring states reported the escape and discussed the recapture events. Within five days of the prison break, the local white community recaptured all nine Black convicts. None of the white convicts were caught. As this thesis investigates the lives, crimes, and recapture of all twelve prisoners, it connects the convict lease prison system with the newspaper media to understand the impact of white supremacy ideology and the repressive systems that …

Mathematics And Special Education Co-Teaching In The Middle School: How Teachers Make Sense Of Their Partnership, Bethany Lavalley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Co-teaching is the practice of general educators and special educators sharing instruction in a general education setting to deliberately meet the needs of students with and without disabilities. Co-teacher research tends to focus on the processes of co-teaching, and little is known about how teachers go about creating a system of interconnected professional expertise that flexibly meets the diverse learning needs of students. This comparative case study examines the interpersonal and professional relationships of two co-teaching teams who were supported by their respective administration, who shared common planning time, co-instructed together in the mathematics classroom, and were engaged in a …

Fte2: An Exploration Of Full-Time Employed, Full-Time Enrolled Undergraduate Student Perceptions Regarding The Impact Of Support Systems On Their Ability To Persist, Victoria Lauren Mccord

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Full-time enrolled students participating in full-time employment is a growing trend on college campuses. This dissertation serves to explore the perceptions of full-time employed, full-time enrolled graduate students’ perceptions on the impact of their support systems on their ability to persist. The proposed study utilizes Laura Perna’s Conceptual Model for College Access and Choice (2006), along with Cabrera, Nora, and Castenada’s Integrated Model for Student Retention (1993) to the following research questions: (1) What factors, support systems or resources do students utilize? (2) What formal or informal support systems and/or resources aid in student persistence, if any? This dissertation addresses …

Galvanizing Parental Involvement In Early Childhood Education To Promote Student Attendance, Marquita Robertson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This applied research study aimed to increase parental involvement to improve kindergarten attendance. The need to increase parental participation arose from low academic achievement ratings and high chronic absenteeism rates among young students. This applied research study used three elements to increase kindergarten attendance. The researcher used surveys, interviews, and kindergarten attendance data to complete the study. Using the abovementioned instruments and the school leadership team's collaborative involvement, findings support that improving parental involvement can lead to improved kindergarten attendance and shared organizational learning.

Prevalence Of Meeting 24-Hour Movement Guidelines And Sociodemographic Correlates Among U.S. Adults, Samantha Cohen-Winans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Much evidence exists for the health benefits associated with individual movement behaviors, which include light-intensity physical activity (LPA), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep. However, individual movement behaviors are codependent in nature and exist within a finite period of 24-hours, further underlying the importance of examining the integration of movement behaviors. Despite the absence of 24-hour movement guidelines in the U.S., the benefits of adhering to such guidelines outweigh the potential harms, such as with various levels of physical activity intensity. Moreover, many intervention studies focus on one individual movement behavior underscoring the need for studies to examine intervention …

"No Redemption In Nonfiction": Portfolio Reflection On The Queer, Anticapitalist Directions Of Creative Nonfiction, Bethany Fitts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I reflect on the current state of my artistic practice and discuss rapidly changing documentary methods in the 21st century as they relate to broader evolutions in the creative nonfiction genre. I then discuss these methods alongside my experimental short-doc Gameplay.

International Forum Shopping: An Instrument Of Domestic Signaling, Giorgi Khatiashvili

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation explores the relationship between domestic politics and the choice of international venue for economic sanctions and trade disputes, utilizing the concept of forum shopping. The research argues that forum shopping is not only an outward, but also an inward looking endeavor, shaped by the government’s need to communicate with its domestic audience. The research identifies two main domestic constituencies – the public and economic groups – that influence the government’s behavior with regard to forum shopping. Empirical analysis reveals that when facing pressure from the domestic public, governments tend to choose larger and more legitimate international organizations for …

Impact Of Flow Conditions On Graphene-Coated Soil And Geotextile Materials, Brennan Power

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Levees are fundamental infrastructures for reducing and mitigating flood risk during extreme weather events. Unfortunately, levees do not eliminate flood risk entirely due to floods potentially exceeding a levee’s capacity. Graphene has become a significant material for enhancing the mechanical properties of materials such as concrete and soil. The focus of this study was to determine methods to coat two materials commonly used in levee sites, sand and geotextile, with graphene to determine the stability of the coating on the materials under different flow conditions simulating real-life scenarios such as wet and dry periods. These graphene-coated materials could then be …

Code-Switching In The Emotionalnarratives Of Bilingual Speakers Of English And Arabic, Yasmeen Alruwaili

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores code-switching (CS) in the emotional narratives of bilingual speakers of English and Arabic. Exploring the immigrant Arab community in Mississippi, USA contributes to the literature gap and provides valuable insights into the correlation between codeswitching and bilingual identities in various emotional, social, and cultural contexts. This study examines the complex relationship between linguistic choices, cultural identity, and emotional expressions in bilingual contexts, offering cross-linguistic and cross-cultural insights into codeswitching practices. It also seeks to investigate the types of linguistic structures that appear in the narratives of bilingual speakers and the reasons behind their choices.

In order to …

It’S Just A Way Of Life: A Symbolic-Interactionist Approach To Inequalities In The Contemporary American South, Angela Rankin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The contemporary American South is characterized by significant inequalities that are deeply- embedded into the social fabric of the region. These inequalities are dictated by cultural and social dynamics that have shaped the Southern region over time; however, they are reinforced daily through the individual agency of Southern social actors. This thesis aims to analyze Southern inequalities through a symbolic-interactionist focused lens and data collected from semi-structured, qualitative interviews conducted with over 70 White Southerners in two places within the American South- Oxford, MS, and Memphis, TN. In this thesis, I argue that White Southern actors actively use their individual …

Exploring Clinical Judgment In An Accelerated Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum, Marlie Lawrence Farrar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nurses play a pivotal role in the healthcare world. They play a role in many settings, caring for patients with chronic issues to patients in life threatening situations. These settings call for nurses to be able to analyze patient situations and correctly intervene. This skill is clinical judgment. However, Kavanagh and Swzeda (2018) have shown that new graduate nurses do not demonstrate this skill, potentially causing patient harm. Findings such as this one have led to a reformation of the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). The revamped exam called the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) will focus on …

Ceremony On The Frontier: An Analysis Of A Thirteenth And Fourteenth Century Multi-Phase Mississippian Structure At The Carter Robinson Site, Lee County, Virginia, Taylor Greene

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Carter Robinson (44LE10, occupied from ca. A.D. 1200-1400) is a Mississippian mound site located on the frontier between the edge of the Mississippian world and the beginning of the Radford culture area in southwestern Virginia. Although several structures have been identified and studied in the past, only one structure has been featured intentional burning and reconstruction throughout the occupation of the site, and is designated as Structure 2. This structure is also unique due to its location at the site, on a small rise about 80-meters east of the mound, a construction area typically reserved for the homes of minor …

Negotiating Intersectional Identities In The Music Culture Of The Deeper Christian Life Ministries In Nigeria, If-Not-God Moses

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Christianity is the largest religion in the world with a population of over two billion. More than ever before, the rapid growth of this religion is getting more diverse due to a great variety of doctrines and practices that it accommodates. From the inception of Christianity, music has been prominent and a powerful bedrock of its religious worship. This thesis, underpinned by the paradigm of sound as a social structure as espoused by Steven Feld, examines the intersectional identities in the music culture of the Deeper Christian Life Ministries (DCLM) in Nigeria. This research aims to fathom the musical functions …

“The War Will Be Over Sometime”: Female Authorship, Time, Trauma, And Healing In H.D.’S Wartime Works, Loren Samons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a tripartite collection of poems, at first glance H.D.'s Trilogy appears vastly different from her semi-autobiographical novel, Bid Me to Live, but the two are not as removed from each other as their formats and publication timelines might indicate. In fact, their connectedness is much less discreet than many scholars have suggested. In addition to being thematically similar in terms of their considerations of time and gender, Bid Me to Live and Trilogy could be viewed as works in conversation with each other, reflecting the development of the female authorial voice along a timeline of war-related trauma progression and …

Novel Formulation Strategies For Oral And Ocular Drug Delivery, Samir Senapati

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nanoformulations such as nanoemulsions (NE), solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN), and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) are colloidal particulate systems in the submicron size range and act as carriers of drug molecules. Their size varies from 10 to 1,000 nm (1). The capacity of these nanoparticles to permeate through many anatomical barriers, the prolonged release of their contents, and their stability on the nanometer scale have widely contributed to their efficacy in drug delivery. Owing to the advantages of nanoformulations, they were further explored in our studies to target different diseases like Dry eye disease (DED), glaucoma, and malaria.

Chapter 2 discusses …

Oh Men Of Justice! Petitioning In Protectorate Bahrain 1919-1939, Ashleen Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1934, Bahraini petitioners wrote to the Ruler of Bahrain to demand protection for the rights of individuals. The petition was not the first, nor was it the last, to demand rights in Bahrain during the interwar period. This study examines petitioning and claim-making in protectorate Bahrain. A close reading of petitions submitted by different Bahrain communities from 1919 to 1939 demonstrates Bahrain was shaped by multiple competing and cooperating priorities. This study identifies three stages of petitioning in the interwar period: petitioning for protection, petition for rights, and nationalist petitioning. Using a framework of jurisdictional ambiguity, the dissertation shows …

Phytochemical Constituents And Ppar Α/Γ Agonist Activity Of Juniperus Communis Berries And Comparison Studies Of J. Communis Berries To Saudi Juniperus Species (Arar): J. Procera And J. Phoenicea, Ibrahim Almarabi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Juniperus communis is distributed over a large geographical area mainly in the Northern Hemisphere across multiple continents making it the most known and medically used species among 75 other Juniperus species. One of the main traditional uses of J. communis that has been proven by several studies is its antidiabetic properties. An ethanolic extract of J. communis berries has shown promising antidiabetic results leading us to investigate its phytochemical constituents and to identify the active compounds that work through peroxisome proliferators–activated receptor (PPAR) α and γ receptors. Activation of both receptors by a drug candidate will achieve more benefits and …

Increasing Mathematics Proficiency And Growth Through Focused, Data-Driven, Professional Learning, Joye Camille Cullen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I aimed to improve elementary teachers’ mathematical instruction by enhancing their content knowledge and skills through the implementation of professional learning communities (PLCs) and professional development. The research design consisted of multiple evaluation steps conducted over time with a collaborative action plan the leadership team, mathematics specialist, and teachers developed. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from participating classrooms and were analyzed at different phases of the program evaluation.

The scope of the study addressed the lack of content knowledge among elementary teachers, which led to gaps in instruction and difficulties in explaining to students advanced mathematical …

Strengthening Tier One Instruction In The Mathematics Classroom By Increasing Teacher Mathematics Content Knowledge And Pedagogy, Cynthia Becton French

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this applied research study was to strengthen Tier I instruction within seventh and eighth-grade mathematics classrooms. This applied research study uses three elements; professional learning communities, consistent content-specific professional development, and increased student achievement to strengthen Tier I instruction in middle school mathematics and measure student academic growth. Interviews, surveys, statewide assessments, and benchmark scores were used in this study as measures for program success. Using these elements to support Tier I instruction can lead to increased student achievement in mathematics at the middle school level.

Slavery, Antislavery, And Masculinity In Kansas And Kentucky, Spencer King

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gender roles and conceptions of gender have varied cultures throughout the world and have transformed over time. Times of significant change, such as times of intense conflict and warfare, have often aided these transformations in gender as people adapted to their circumstances. The opening of Kansas Territory and the eventual start of the Civil War mark one of these moments, as white abolitionists moved from the eastern United States to the West in order to prevent the spread of slavery and encountered violence from proslavery actors who sought to preserve the institution. Bleeding Kansas, the violent conflict between proslavery and …