Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

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 …

Support Experiences Of Beginning Teachers In An Alternate Route Graduate Program In Mississippi, Elizabeth Young Sweeney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Beginning teachers are the group of teachers most at risk of leaving the profession, while research has shown that novice teachers who receive support, such as mentorship or cohort programs, are more likely to continue to teach than those who do not. This study explored supports that beginning teachers in an alternate route graduate program in Mississippi experience and perceive as beneficial. A qualitative research design utilizing a phenomenological approach was used to explore the lived experiences of participants and supports they experience as beginning teachers. Thirteen beginning teachers, each teaching for less than three years, were interviewed using a …

Tidally-Induced Nonlinear Resonances In Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals With An Analogue Model, David Bronicki

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The future space-based gravitational wave observatory LISA is expected to capture signals from extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs), a new class of inspiral systems which current detectors are not sensitive to. Detection and characterization of EMRI systems requires long and accurate waveform models, which may require accounting for effects like those seen in the presence of an external tidal field. In particular, such a perturbation may break integrability of the system and cause significant dephasing. In this thesis, we use a Newtonian analogue of a Kerr black hole to study the effect of an external tidal field when the system …

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.

Design And Application Of Single And Multi-Gate Transistor-Based Analog Chaotic Maps, Maisha Sadia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rapid advancement in technology has led to an increase in security threats, such as side-channel attacks and reverse engineering, which can potentially leak sensitive data or code to malicious parties. To address these challenges, researchers harness the inherent complexity of chaos-based computing. Leveraging chaos offers several advantages, including logic obfuscation, mitigation of power analysis attacks, and encryption of images and data.

The motivation has been to design hardware-efficient circuits that meet modern systems’ power, area, and performance requirements and provide enhanced security. We have introduced our novel one-dimensional discrete chaotic map circuits, designed using a 45nm CMOS process, although the …

On Security And Privacy In Machine Learning, Thomas Cilloni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years the use of social media platforms, surveillance cameras, and vision-enabled devices and services has increased exponentially. While the mere use of a device or service is not a privacy issue, Machine Learning use has also drastically increased, and it exposes a number of privacy and security threats, especially towards online users. Privacy legislation around the world prohibits to use of data unfairly, but the conversion of laws to technical applications is often subject to interpretation. Such ambiguity opens a gap for data owners to potentially misuse data, violating end users’ privacy.

The overall objective of this doctoral …

The Double Descent Behavior In A Two Layer Neural Network For Binary Classification, Chathurika Srimali Abeykoon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Machine learning and artificial intelligence have changed the world significantly in recent years. Its breakthrough innovations take machine learning to a whole new level where machines can learn to recognize tasks, inspired by the human brain's neural networks. The generally accepted belief about training these machines or models is that \larger models and more data are always better". In classical statistics, the test error is a \U-shaped" curve where the bigger and more complex models have higher test errors which is not favorable. But recent studies observed a surprising concept about test error called the double descent phenomenon where the …

Characterization Of Vibrational Response Of A Helical Coil Subject To Environmental Exposure And Structural Modifications, Nathan Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to fully characterize the response of a cylindrical helix, the heat and vibrational stresses are modeled using both simulations and experimental testing. The intent of this work is to identify the frequencies, shapes, and Q factors of the vibrational modes of the helix subject to different stimuli and evaluate changes due to environmental exposures and structural modifications. COMSOL Multiphysics is used to simulate the response of the helix under different boundary conditions. Experimental measurements of the response to impulsive and continuous wave stimuli are taken. The eigenfrequency data from the simulations and experiments are then compared for …

Development And Validation Of Different Analytical Techniques For The Quantification Of Cannabinoids And Cannflavins In Cannabis And Cannabis-Based Products, Mostafa Elhendawy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this study is to modify, develop, and validate techniques for detecting and quantifying the levels of major and minor cannabinoids, along with their corresponding acids, in Cannabis sativa plants and certain marketed products. To achieve this goal, the research employs Gas Chromatography (GC), High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), and a novel spectroscopic method known as Absorbance-Transmittance Excitation Emission Matrix Spectroscopy (A-TEEM). Another study validated and applied the HPLC technique to analyze the unique class of flavonoids (Cannflavins) found in various parts of the cannabis plant, including leaves, buds, and pollen.

The A-TEEM method was developed and validated …

Development Of Gastroretentive Floating Pellets Using Hot Melt Extrusion, Mengwen Li

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work aimed to develop a novel gastroretentive floating drug delivery system based on non-effervescent technology using hot melt extrusion technology to synergize gastric floating and bioadhesion strategies to achieve extended drug release. All components of the formulations including the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) of the drug (theophylline), the polymers acting as a floating matrix and achieving the adhesive function (chitosan, HPC HF, HPMC K4M, and PEO N80), and the gas generating agent sodium bicarbonate were directly fed into the hot melt extruder to prepare the novel gastroretentive pellets. The uniformity of all formulations met the United States Pharmacopeia criteria. …

Teachers' Experiences Implementing The 2018 Mississippi College And Career Readiness Standards For Science, Lydia Lytal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers have had to use standards to teach with since the 1980’s. The CCRS has made a significant shift in how standards are written and the expectations of students in learning them. With the three-dimensional design, teachers are required to change their pedagogy in order to implement the standards with fidelity. That requires training, support, and resources for the teachers. The purpose of this study was to provide insight in the experiences of high school teachers in Mississippi as they implemented the standards. Additionally, the researcher revealed emotions related to implementation and differences related to teachers in a tested subject …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On First-Time, Freshmen At Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Tiffany Perryman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Manuscript I of this dissertation in practice (DiP) explores the impact of the disruptions of the COVID-19 school year on the academic success of first-time, freshmen enrolled at a community college in Mississippi. The conceptual framework identifies the characteristics of community college students as well as indicators of student success at community colleges. The review of literature highlights the historical role of community colleges in higher education and the impact of COVID-19 on students, particularly first-time freshmen, attending community colleges. Manuscript II of this DiP serves as a formative evaluation to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student …

Detection Of Rayleigh Faded Signal Using Two Distributed Sensors, Sayantan Saha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Distributed detection(DD) is an area of interest in the Cognitive Radio(CR) Network domain. With the help of geographically dispersed sensors and a Fusion Center(FC) (i.e. the network element which generates the global network decision), a DD system can determine the presence or absence of a primary user signal. This prevents any harmful interference by a secondary user who is trying to gain access to the unoccupied spectrum opportunistically. DD system gained its popularity in spectrum analysis due to the limited bandwidth of the reporting channels between the sensors and their fusion center.

On Intersections Of Long Cycles And Paths In K-Connected Graphs, Philip Kains

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interest in the cardinality of the intersection of two longest cycles is inspired by Scott Smith, who conjectured that in a k-connected graph, two longest cycles meet in at least k vertices. Grőtschel and Nemhauser, Grőtschel, and Stewart and Thompson proved Smith’s Conjecture for 2 ≤ k ≤ 8, and for general k, Chen, Faudree, and Gould proved that in a k-connected graph, two longest cycles meet in at least c0k3/5 vertices, where c0 ≈ 0.2615. In this dissertation, we study the intersection of two long cycles or two long paths passing through a specified linear forest subgraph in which …

Improving Act Mathematics Scores In A Rural Mississippi Independent School: An Applied Research Study, Michael Curtis Mccain Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents an applied research study focused on improving ACT mathematics scores in a rural Mississippi independent school. The study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of increased mathematics instructional time and curriculum mapping on improving the percentage of students meeting the College Readiness Benchmark scores on the ACT mathematics subtest. The research focuses on two elements, instructional time and curriculum alignment. Students were assigned to a mathematics lab in addition to their standard curriculum mathematics course to increase the amount of mathematics instructional time. The curriculum of the mathematics lab was subsequently aligned to the ACT mathematics standards. …

Mathematical And Computerized Modeling To Optimize The Dimensions And Percentage Infill For The Targeted Dose Of Different 3d Printed Pharmaceutical Designs With Multiple Case Studies, Sundus Omari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) three-dimensional (3D) printing is the most studied method compared to other 3D printing technologies. However, the optimization of the 3D printing design must be done throughout the process for crucial parameters to deliver the desired dose. Optimizing the drug content and tablet weight has challenged researchers while designing the 3D printing dosage form. In this study, the concept of reference tablet and the mathematical modeling were used to correlate the volume of the printed object with its weight to control the height, diameter, and percentage infill of the 3D printed tablets to adjust the dose without …

Implementing Culturally Relevant Pedagogies For Black Students Through Targeted Professional Learning Communities, Willie Reece

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This action research emphasizes the need to implement curricula to engage marginalized students as well as promote literacy and high levels of academic achievement. Marginalized students include minority students who perform far below their White peers on state assessments. In Chapter I, the action research problem of practice is explored. The major issues at Genesis Elementary School are revealed, and they are targeted through culturally relevant pedagogies. Chapter II outlines relevant literature related to the research topic, and the researchers provide frameworks to guide the study. Chapter III focuses on the preparation and implementation of the action plan for the …

Navigating To The Top: Career Success Experiences Of Black Women Senior Leaders In Higher Education, Gladys R. Peters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The career advancement for Black women in higher education is not the same as their counterparts. Gender equity practices fail to challenge homogenous professional communities limiting how race and gender influence leadership advancement for Black women career trajectories. Black women who occupy positions of institutional influence and authority as senior leaders have largely been overlooked in in higher education research. Using a qualitative exploratory approach, this multiple case study explored the lived experiences of 10 Black women presently working in senior leadership roles in four-year public institutions of higher learning. This study sought to contribute to a deeper understanding of …

The Presence And Prevalence Of Underqualified High School Science Teachers In Mississippi, Shelby Ann Watson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With growth in STEM postsecondary programs and careers positioned as a national priority, ensuring that K-12 science classrooms are staffed with highly qualified teachers is an important step towards building student interest in STEM and preparing students for STEM careers. However, previous studies of out-of-field teaching have indicated that schools and districts across the country are hiring large numbers of underqualified teachers to fill high-needs positions, such as secondary science and mathematics. Complicating the issue is the fact that data regarding teacher shortages, vacancies, and underqualified teaching are often incomplete or inaccessible. Prior studies have found that underqualified teaching is …

Bounds For Symplectic Capacities Of Rotated 4-Polytopes, Matthew Palmer Zediker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Symplectic capacities are a central tool from quantitative symplectic topology which act as symplectic invariants, distinguishing symplectic manifolds as different. There are a wide variety of capacities common in the literature today. The still-open Viterbo conjecture states all normalized symplectic capacities coincide on convex domains. Even upper bounds for these capacities are not completely understood, and there are many hard computational barriers. The recent work of Chaidez and Hutchings as well as that of Haim-Kislev have yielded results simplifying computation of a capacity in the case of convex polytopes. In this thesis, we prove an upper bound on normalized capacities …

A Study Of Electron Energy Response Measurement In The Nova Test Beam Detector, Devesh Bhattarai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The NuMI Off-axis electron-neutrino Appearance (NOvA) experiment at Fermilab is a long-baseline accelerator neutrino experiment designed to study and understand neutrinos through their flavor oscillations between two functionally-identical detectors; a 300-ton Near Detector and a 14 kton Far Detector separated by 809 km and placed 14 mrad off-axis to the Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) neutrino beam produced at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). NOvA has key physics goals to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy, probe CP violation in the leptonic sector, and conduct precise measurements of the neutrino mixing parameters. To help further NOvA’s physics reach, the NOvA …

Full Bridge Modeling To Evaluate Effectiveness Of A Seismic Bearing On A Newly Constructed Bridge On I-55, Sandip Gupta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Infrastructure constructed should be safe and reliable. Bridges are essential infra structure used by large mass of people on a daily basis. Out of 617,000 bridges across the United States, 42% are at least 50 years old, and 7.5% are considered structurally deficient as per Infrastructure report card. 178 million trips are made on these structurally deficient bridges every day in the US. Thus, a bridge should be designed, not only for Strength and Service limit states, but also for Extreme limit states which includes earthquake. New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), located in southeastern Missouri, northeastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, western …

Action In Causal Set Theory, Santosh Bhandari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to explore causal set theory (CST), which proposes that at the smallest level of spacetime, discrete entities known as “spacetime atoms” are causally related to one another, forming the basis for understanding quantum gravity. While theories such as general relativity that operate on a continuous manifold are more appropriate when dealing with the universe on a large scale, it is crucial for the discrete causal points in CST to maintain their causal structure during the continuum approximation to ensure consistency with general relativity. One way to preserve the causal structure is to accurately embed …

Novel Formulation Strategies With Hot-Melt Extrusion Technology To Address Physicochemical And Physiological Constraints For Improved Oral Drug Delivery, Sagar Narala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Most current active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) exhibit poor water solubility, necessitating higher doses or repeated administration. Numerous methods were explored to augment solubility, including but not limited to amorphous solid dispersions, cocrystals, salts, and nanoformulations. The hot-melt extrusion (HME) technique has gained immense popularity due to its solvent-free and continuous manufacturing capabilities, contributing to its increasing use to enhance solubility and bioavailability. In the first chapter, hydrochlorothiazide (BCS-IV class) cocrystals were produced using coformers such as nicotinamide (NIC), resorcinol (RSL), and catechol (CAT) through HME technology. The cocrystals were compared against liquid-assisted grinding (LAG) cocrystals and then analyzed by DSC, …

A Discrete Conley-Zehnder Index For Symplectic Polytopes, Yutian Yu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A Hamiltonian system is a dynamical system governed by Hamilton’s equations. Hamiltonian systems provide a framework for studying classical mechanics. One fundamental principle in Hamiltonian mechanics is the conservation of energy along the flow of the Hamiltonian vector field. The smooth hypersurface of a Hamiltonian function on a symplectic manifold has a contact structure, and the associated Reeb vector field is, up to a scale, the Hamiltonian vector field. We are interested in the non-smooth case and a symplectic polytope makes a good model to study.

In this dissertation, we study the Reeb dynamics on the boundary of a symplectic …

Molecular Dynamics Simulations For The Mechanical Behavior Of Alpha Quartz With Void Defects Under Tension, Yu Jia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The structural and mechanical properties of void-free and single-void α-quartz were investigated using MD simulations with three different interatomic potentials (BKS, Vashishta and Tersoff). Two distinct ensembles, NVT and NPT, were separately applied to investigate the tensile response of α-quartz under uniaxial strain and uniaxial stress states. A comprehensive comparison among different potentials, as well as comparison with currently available experiments, has been made. The BKS and Vashishta potentials accurately predicted the structural properties of void-free α-quartz, while the Tersoff potential was deviated significantly from the experimental data. Under tension, the BKS did a better description for the mechanical performance …

Bio-Inspired Memory Device Based Physical Reservoir Computing System To Solve Temporal And Classification Problems, Md Razuan Hossain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, technological advancements in the field of computing have been limited by the slowing down of Moore’s law, which predicts the doubling of the number of transistors on a microchip every two years. The limitations of traditional solid-state electronics have become increasingly evident, as it is becoming difficult to increase the number of transistors while maintaining their reliability and performance. The breakdown of Dennard Scaling, which describes the power-density relationship in CMOS transistors, and the von Neumann bottleneck, which refers to the limited bandwidth between the central processing unit (CPU) and memory, have further exacerbated the situation. Moreover, …