Digital Commons Network^™

Chemical Imaging Of Latent Fingerprints Using Ftir Microspectroscopy, Reba E.A. Chamblee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Analysis of latent fingerprints, the pattern left behind on surfaces from the friction ridges of a human finger, has been a lead investigative tool in identifying suspects for over a century. Pores from the skin ridges produce natural secretions containing various endogenous compounds that can be transferred onto surfaces that the finger touches. The chemical composition of fingerprint residues can thus contain both natural secretions as well as environmental contaminants collected from surfaces or materials the person has touched. With this, incriminating evidence such as traces of explosives or illicit drugs can be characterized from latent fingerprints, giving strong evidence …

U.S. Gaap Financial Statements Best Practices In Presentation And Disclosure, 76th Edition, 2022; Accounting Trends & Techniques, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa)

Accounting Trends and Techniques

No abstract provided.

Inclusive Music Teacher Preparation In The Presbyterian College Of Education At Akropong-Akuapem, Ghana, Samuel Agbenyo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For the past three decades, Inclusive Education (IE) has emerged as a crucial educational agenda all over the world. In this study, IE is the practice of including students with disabilities in the general (music) education classroom, where they are educated together with their typically developing peers. Although IE efforts began in Ghana in 1957, some pitfalls have characterized the implementation process over the years, especially regarding music teacher preparation to implement the policies. Studies have reported a state of frustration among stakeholders, notably the elementary school teachers, who feel inadequately prepared to teach within IE settings. In this case …

Repetition And Retracing In Aphasia Across Discourse Types, Emily Anna Culbertson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Fluency is an important criterion to classify subtypes of aphasia. Previous studies have discussed the factors of fluency using various speech-language aspects. However, limited research investigated how much lexical hesitations (i.e., repetitions and retraces) are produced in people with aphasia. Lexical hesitations are important indicators of word finding difficulty and self-error detection skills which may be mediated by cognitive-linguistic demands across different discourse tasks. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the lexical hesitations production in people with fluent and non-fluent aphasia compared to neurologically intact adults in various discourse tasks.Method: Three groups of people with fluent …

Molecular Design Of Transition Metal Complexes For Photocatalytic Co2 Reduction And Redox Mediation In Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, Anthony Devdass

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The search for cost-efficient alternate energy sources has been a significant goal of the scientific community. Around 83% of global primary energy consumption currently comes from fossil fuels and this over dependency on fossil fuels has been a major contributor for increased carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere. The safe path is to use carbon-neutral energy sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal energy or to use these renewable energy sources to drive chemical reactions to convert CO2 to energy rich fuels or fuel precursors. Such a strategy involves storage of energy in the form of chemical bonds …

Resilience Capacity Of School Meal Programs In Southeastern U.S. School Districts During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Findings From Mississippi, Louisiana, And West Virginia, Kritika Gupta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mississippi (MS), Louisiana (LA), and West Virginia (WV) have some of the nation’s highest rates of poverty and health disparities, reflected in high rates of food insecurity. Many of the school districts in these states have greater than 40% of students qualifying for free meals and, under community eligibility, can provide meals free to all children. School meals play an important role in addressing food insecurity in the U.S. and those were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The ability of social systems (schools) to continue operations during adverse circumstances (pandemic) to ensure the sustained outcome of interest (food security) …

On Statistical Models For Signal Detection, Adedotun Michael Lawal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A thesis on developing statistical models that will aid in predicting signal detection at an infrasound sensor given a noise model for the sensor. The thesis aims first to provide a means to sample from a set of atmospheric profiles effectively using a statistical model, so we can have a smaller sample space to generate transmission loss values, saving time for running propagation models. And secondly, it aims to provide a formalism for a signal detection criterion using signal-to-noise ratio. The statistical model is developed using Empirical Orthogonal Function Analysis also known as Principal Component Analysis, and Inverse Transform Sampling. …

Tectonic Origin Of The Mississippi River Using Evidence From Detrital Zircons From The Cretaceous Mcnairy Sand, Manuel Dela Eli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

U-Pb geochronology of detrital-zircon in the McNairy Sand from southern Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and northern Mississippi characterizes when the Ancestral Mississippi River changed its flow direction from westward in the Early Cretaceous, progressing south in the Late Cretaceous. The aim of this study is to investigate the sediment deposition patterns of the McNairy Sand unit the northeastern margins of the Mississippi Embayment to reconcile the known records of westward and southward drainage of the Mississippi River through time. The sediment accumulated during the reactivation of the Late Proterozoic to Early Paleozoic Reelfoot rift system at the end of the Mesozoic …

Design And Identification Of Organic Molecules As Agonists Of The Gabab Receptor And As Difluoro-C-Glycosylated Derivatives Of Flavonoids Using Molecular Modeling, Reem Alkhodier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of molecular modeling in pharmaceutical research is continuously growing. This growth is a result of the increasing number of experimental structures, the development of sophisticated modeling methods, and the improvement in computer performance by using GPUs and cloud computing. Nowadays, molecular modeling is routinely used in drug discovery to investigate biological processes and molecular properties. Herein, we use molecular modeling to investigate the behaviors of compounds with unique scaffolds.

Baclofen is the only marketed GABAB receptor agonist that is used for spasticity disorders, and it has shown promise as an anti-abuse agent. However, it has disadvantages that raise …

The Role Of Technology: Graduate Students' Experiences In An Ed.D. Program, Veronica C. Crawford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study contributes to our understanding of online learning in a graduate program – the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) – designed to prepare practitioners to impact their local contexts, practices, and communities. Online learning is one of the fastest-growing trends in the instructional use of technology (Means, Toyama, Murphy, & Baki, 2013; Nguyen, 2015). However, the literature is scant on how graduate students learn in technology-rich environments. This study aimed to explore how graduate students perceive the online learning environment in an Ed.D. program at a public, not-for-profit research institution in the United States. Unequivocally, online education is ubiquitous. However, …

Effects Of Tonic Drone And Singing On The Pitch Accuracy Of Middle And High School String Players, Starkey Allen Morgan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of tonic drone, and tonic drone and singing on the intonation accuracy of middle school and high school string students in a classroom setting. Participants (N=58) in the study included middle and high school string players from two school districts in northern Mississippi. Tonic drone (n=22) and tonic drone and singing (n=36) groups were comprised of one middle school and one high school class each. One group performed pitch–matching exercises that include a tonic drone while the second group performed pitch-matching exercises that included the tonic drone and singing. A …

Biopolymer Unfolding As A Process Of Biased Activated Barrier Crossing, Sudeep Adhikari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The biopolymer unfolding process can be conceptualized as the thermally activated crossing of a barrier in some energy landscape; the real-world unfolding dynamics are in correspondence with the rate of transit over the barrier. In this dissertation, we report on four projects that exploit this analogy to advance our understanding of so-called pulling experiments, in which a biopolymer chain is encouraged to unfold by direct application of forces to its two ends. Regardless of the specific experimental realization, standard pulling techniques give rise to a biased barrier crossing problem. The applied force has the effect of tilting the energy landscape. …

Linguistic Expressions Of Pidgin In Nigerian Stand-Up Comedy, Jimoh Junior Braimoh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of the comics’ lexical choices and how they achieve their goals with words. The comics’ choice of words is far from being incidental, superficial, or supplementary. Performers’ choices of words show how their ideas are embodied in language. That is to say, the effect of how a comedian uses words and humor strategies is vital for understanding the contextual meaning of jokes and how they appeal to logic and reason. The objectives are to identify and categorize lexical choices and interpret their denotative, connotative, and affective meanings. Based on the Incongruity Theory (Attardo, 1994) Data …

Student Success: Do First-Time, Full Time (Ftft) Students At The University Of Mississippi Enrolled In Intermediate Math (Ds 099) Earn Higher Grades In College Algebra (Math 121) Than Those Students Who Enrolled Directly In College Algebra?, Martina Brewer-Mister

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Critics of developmental studies suggest that remedial courses may negatively influence a student’s program selection, persistence, and completion because remedial classes do not count toward graduation requirements (Long & Boatman, 2013). They have also found that over half of the students referred to remediation do not complete the courses (Clayton, Crosta, & Belfield, 2014; Bailey, Jeong, & Cho, 2010). The number is even lower for minority students (Bailey, 2010).

Using pre-existing data collected from the Office of Institutional Research, Effectiveness, and Planning at the University of Mississippi, an independent sample t-test and correlation analysis were conducted to examine the outcomes …

Extra-Legal Factors In Juvenile Court Outcomes: What Is The Role Of Youth’S Race/Ethnicity And Family Structure In Disposition Decisions?, Vitoria De Francisco Lopes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to the unique nature of the juvenile justice system, its focus on rehabilitation and the population it serves, juvenile court judges serve as the sole decision maker and are given substantial power of discretion. Prior literature has indicated extra-legal factors to influence court outcomes, and scholars have argued that the use of discretion has led to a significant variability in the way youth are treated by juvenile court officials and may contribute to the issue of minority overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system. Yet, family structure has not been examined in depth, especially as it relates to race/ethnicity. The …

Spectroscopic Investigations Of Newly Developed Materials For Light Harvesting, Energy Conversion, And Bioimaging, Austin L. Dorris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A multitude of spectroscopic techniques were employed in the making of this dissertation to investigate materials with environmental, commercial, optoelectronic, bioimaging, and solar energy conversion applications. Graphene-like materials like biochar represent a field of study in which bioavailable materials are deployed for CO2 and heavy-metal adsorption to combat the detrimental effects of industry on the environment. Vibrational characterization of these materials via Raman spectroscopy is integral in elucidating the structure-function relationship and determining the best approach for material preparation and functionalization. Carbonaceous systems such as cellulose are also studied via Raman spectroscopy to interrogate the viability of cellulose nanocrystals as …

Applications Of Correlated Gaussian Functions To Few-Body Ions, William Earwood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For few-body systems, the Schrödinger equation can be solved using the linear variational method, where the wavefunction is expanded in a set of parameterized, all-particle functions. However, it remains a challenging task to determine a quality set of nonlinear parameters that result in accurate wavefunctions when the Schrödinger equation is solved from the solution to an eigenvalue problem. In this work, a stochastic optimization algorithm has been implemented to drive the optimization of wavefunctions and first-order perturbed functions. For Z ≤ 10 lithiumlike ions, variational wavefunctions are determined for the 22S, 22P, 32P, 42P, and 52P states. For the Z …

Socialization To Research And Sponsored Programs Administration Through Transformative Learning: A Qualitative Exploration Of Faculty Perceptions At The University Of Mississippi, Melissa Hodge-Penn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined faculty socialization at the University of Mississippi regarding research and sponsored program administration through the lens of transformative learning. Participants were 10 tenure track faculty who had been employed at the University of Mississippi no less than one year, no more than seven years, and who had submitted a proposal to or been awarded by an external sponsor to support their research. This study uses a phenomenological design of inquiry where the researcher describes the lived experiences of individuals regarding a phenomenon as defined by the participants through semi-structured interviews. Findings suggested that sponsored research faculty perceived …

Inevitable Mortality And The Incessant Momentum Of Medicalized Death, Clifford Mckay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Atul Gawande, MD, affirms the inevitability of human mortality and the end of life in natural death. He decries current medical delivery’s incessant momentum toward medicalized death and recommends a meaningful conversation between doctor and patient to chart a course of care that supports what is important to the patient. But the tradition of a doctor’s dominance and a patient’s submissiveness disrupts the conversation. New definitions of both doctor and patient, and the intent to respect a patient’s autonomy, will facilitate decision-making and support patients’ values at the end of life, diminishing the momentum of medicalized death.

The Effects Of Advocate Disclosure On Perceptions Of A Female Child Who Stutters, Peyton Mcknight

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research indicates that people who stutter are frequently attributed with negative stereotypes by listeners as a result of their speech. Previous research has examined the use of self-disclosure in offering the stuttering community a means of acknowledging and sharing the presence of their stuttering with a conversation partner. Subsequently, stuttering self-disclosure has been shown to reduce negative listener perceptions. Select advocate disclosures have also been found to yield beneficial results for a male child who stutters, but the effects of advocate disclosure on perceptions of a female who stutters has remained unexplored. This study expands upon previous research and examines …

Flow Separation In Rotating Channels, Devika Vipul Patel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Direct numerical simulations are carried out to study the flow separation in a channel flow rotating about the spanwise axis. A bump is introduced on one side of the channel by an immersed boundary method. The numerical schemes are studied, the solver is validated, and the computational domain and grid resolution requirements are determined. The characteristics of the separating flow behind the bump are described by comparing the flow at rotation numbers Ro = 0, 0.42, and 1.0. The bulk Reynolds number of the channel is 2,500. Both clockwise and counterclockwise rotations at these two rates are examined. The bump …

Using Ab Initio Quantum Mechanical Methods For The Characterization And Isomerization Of Novel Compounds, Kimberley N. Poland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computational quantum chemistry is the branch of chemistry derived from quantum mechanics to calculate structures and properties of molecules utilizing rigorous mathematical equations and approximations. This work focuses on utilizing wavefunction based methods to compute molecular properties such as optimized geometries, harmonic and anharmonic vibrational frequencies, dipole moments, strain energy, and isomerization channels with high degrees of accuracy, allowing for a direct comparison with previous work and experiment. Electronic structure modeling using various \textit{ab intio} methods can provide insight into the characterization and behavior of molecules otherwise unobserved, including, but not limited to, detection in the interestellar medium.

Building Rapport Via Telepractice: The Perceptions And Strategies Used By Speech-Language Pathologists In Speech-Language Telepractice Sessions, Jaret Webb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Telepractice has been increasingly used in the field of speech-language pathology. Within this study, we aimed to explore the perceptions and strategies speech-language pathologists (SLPs) use to build rapport with their clients via telepractice. Two populations were considered to evaluate their influences, children with speech sound disorders (SSD) and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In addition, two age groups were also studied within these disorder populations, including children ages 0-3 and children ages 4-8.

20/20, Rucy Cui

Yalobusha Review

Winner of the 2021 Barry Hannah Prize in Fiction, judged by Raven Leilani

Acceptability And Feasibility Of Healthcare Communication Considerations For Altering Perceptions Towards Influenza Vaccine: A Qualitative Study, Saumil Jadhav

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background

Influenza (influenza) is a contagious disease, causing thousands of deaths every year. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends routine annual influenza vaccination for all people over 6 months of age who do not have contraindications, yet the vaccination coverage for 2018-19 season was 49.2%, around 20% less than the goal set by Healthy People 2030 of 70% coverage. The national foundation of infectious diseases survey showed that 51% of respondents do not think the flu vaccine works, 34% are concerned with the side effects from the vaccine, and 22% are concerned about getting flu from the vaccine. …

Development Of Hollow Vaginal Device Using Stereolithography (Sla) 3d Printing For Intravaginal Drug Delivery, Preethi Lakkala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vulvovaginal candidiasis is a condition caused by the polymorphic opportunistic fungus Candida albicans, which involves the first-line treatment with antifungal agents comprising azole groups. An intravaginal drug delivery device is an alternate approach to conventional therapy that transcend multiple daily administrations and systemic side effects associated with oral medications and offers effective drug concentrations at the target site for a sustained period. This study reports, for the first time, the development of a novel hollow vaginal device by exploiting stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing technology to achieve localized and extended delivery of Itraconazole. These devices were fabricated using a shape memory …

Scan Stack: A Search-Based Concurrent Stack For Gpu, Noah Brennen South

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Concurrent data structures play a critical role in the overall performance of GPGPU applications. Stack is one of the basic data structures and finds numerous applications where data is processed in a Last In First Out (LIFO) fashion. Although concurrent stack is well researched for multi-core CPUs, there is little research pointing to the conversion of CPU stacks into a GPU-friendly form. In this paper, we propose a concurrent search-based GPU stack named "Scan Stack." The proposed stack is designed to take advantage of GPU memory access patterns, memory coalescence, and thread structures (i.e., warps) to increase throughput. Our experiments …

The Effects Of A Blended Learning Environment On Students' Discourse In A Secondary Mathematics Classroom, Brandi Blake

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To prepare students for college and careers, the Common Core Mathematical Practice Standards propose teachers engage students in classroom discourse where they make sense of mathematics by working collaboratively and communicating their thinking. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore the relationship between a blended learning environment and the discourse students produce while in an AP Calculus AP course. Participants in this study are members of a large high school enrolled in either hybrid or virtual learning environments. Data were collected through recorded observations, coded using the Mathematics Classroom Observation Practices Protocol (MCOP2) and analyzed using statistical …

Down The Stream: The Evolution Of Queer Stream-Of-Consciousness Novels Through The Works Of Virginia Woolf And Ali Smith, Turner Nat Byrd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis attempts to understand the evolution of the stream-of-consciousness genre as it applies to, is written by, or centers queer people. Through generous Marxist-feminist readings of the works of Virginia Woolf and Ali Smith—used in this project as exemplars of the genre—it attempts to understand the differences within both the formal and philosophical/political outlook of the two authors. Specifically looking at Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse and Smith’s Hotel World, The Accidental, and Girl Meets Boy, this project posits that Smith, intentionally or not, has effectively re-written the basic narratives and re-visited the same themes as Woolf, …

Bridging The Gap Between Journalism 273 And Graduation, And Beyond, Mackenzie Slate Ross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While Journalism 273: Creative Visual Thinking is a requirement for all undergraduate students majoring in Integrated Marketing Communications and some students majoring in Journalism, there are students who end up graduating from the University of Mississippi with a desire for more knowledge of graphic design. Feedback from current students in the School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi as well as alumni of the program was gathered in two surveys to understand better how Journalism 273 benefits them and pinpoints opportunities for improvement. One hundred nineteen students who took Journalism 273 and were enrolled in the …