Digital Commons Network^™

Formulation And Development Of Curcumin Implants For Treatment Of Colorectal Cancer: Application Of Hme And 3d Printing, Neha Rajendra Sali

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Targeted drug delivery for preventing colorectal cancer (CRC) reoccurrence after surgery can be one of the potent tumor reduction methods among other therapies, such as chemotherapy, ablation, embolization, and radiation therapy. Curcumin has been reported to target the growth factors in carcinoma cells and thereby reducing the proliferation and accelerating the apoptosis of the cancerous cells. Due to its poor bioavailability, it has several limitations for its use in anti-cancer therapy. Piperine has increased the solubility and bioavailability of curcumin and acts synergistically to suppress cancer cell growth. The current study intended to develop novel curcumin implants by coupling hot …

Customer Experience With Service Robots In Hospitality And Tourism: Scale Development, Olena Ciftci

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: This study aims to create a measurement scale of customer experience with service delivered by robots in hospitality and tourism settings to address the industry need and gap in the academic literature.

Methods: This study follows a widely accepted psychometric procedure for scale development. The scale development consists of four stages: item generation, item purification, item reduction and dimensionality, and scale validation. The items for the scale are generated from the literature on customer experience with and perception of service robots in hospitality and tourism and semi-structured interviews with customers who experienced service from robots in hospitality and tourism …

Formulation Development And Targeted Delivery For Bcs Ii Drugs Using Hot Melt Extrusion Technology, Ahmed Almotairy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hot-melt extrusion (HME) is one of the approaches to formulate an amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) and has gained popularity within the pharmaceutical industry over the past three decades. Additionally, HME has the ability to produce several versatile formulations and its ability to tailor processing materials through modifications in the screw design and mixing and shearing forces or by controlling the material feed rate; additionally, HME allows processing at multiple temperatures and screw speeds. HME has advantages over traditional pharmaceutical processing techniques, including its ability for continuous operation and ability to implement quality by design (QbD) and process analytical technology (PAT) …

Designing A Flexible Framework For Developing Acoustic Array Systems, Charles Fulton Gilliland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, research conducted by the Applied Acoustics group at the NationalCenter for Physical Acoustics has involved the use of microphone arrays to study the propagation of sound through outdoor environments. In such research, there is need for data acquisition systems which can be reconfigured in both hardware and software. This work is an effort to develop a modular acoustic data acquisition framework which can be configured to accommodate a wide variety of acoustic array applications. In hardware, the framework provides modularity with a generic mainboard which uses a common interface to collect data from application-specific microphone boards. In …

“Mississippi’S Greatest Minister”: A Historical Study Of Cornelius W. Grafton’S 61-Year Pastorate, 1873-1934, David Thomas Irving

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cornelius W. Grafton (b.1846, d.1934) pastored two Presbyterian churches in Southwest Mississippi for 61 consecutive years (1873-1934). He moderated the Presbyterian Church, U.S. General Assembly in 1916 and wrote a 658-page unpublished History of Presbyterianism in Mississippi. This dissertation studies Grafton’s ministry—his student years at the University of Mississippi and Columbia Theological Seminary, his sermons, his public opposition to lynching, and his periodical and historical writings—to understand how white Christians in the South thought of and responded to their context from Reconstruction through the Progressive Era and into the 1930’s. Many of the priorities of Grafton’s ministry corresponded to those …

Dear God The Light, Suado Abdirahman Sheikhhassan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This creative thesis contains original poetry by Suado Sheikhassan.

Impact Of Graphene Nano-Platelets On Calcium Silicate Hydrate Formation, Weam Elmahmoud

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H) is a vital component in cementitious materials, providing strength and durability. It forms during the hydration process of cement, where calcium ions react with silica-rich compounds to form a gel-like structure. The nanocrystalline units within C-S-H contribute to its unique properties and serve as a binding agent in the hardened cement paste. However, the mechanisms and impacts of nanomaterials, such as graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs), on C-S-H at the nanoscale level are not fully understood.

Incorporating GnPs into cement-based composites has shown promise in enhancing C-S-H formation and properties. GnPs possess exceptional mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties, making them …

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 …

A Multi-Scale Analysis Of The Hartselle Sandstone To Characterize Reservoir Properties And Inform Carbon Sequestration Feasibility, Xiaotian Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation takes multiple approaches to investigate lithology, depositional environments, diagenesis, and reservoir quality for petroleum and carbon sequestration in the Mississippian Hartselle Sandstone. The Hartselle Sandstone has been considered economically important for its viscous bitumen and natural gas reserves, with only minor attention given to potential oil reserves due to its low permeability. I proposed to reinvestigate the possibility of oil production from the Hartselle Sandstone, including a focus on the required elements of a conventional petroleum system. A detailed petrographic analysis recognized three lithofacies associations: beach lithofacies association, protected transgressive wave-dominated coast association, and unprotected transgressive tidal flat …

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 …

Predicting Microstructure Evolution In Alloys Using Deep Learning, Benjamin Mullins Rhoads

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Modeling the microstructure evolution and linking them to materials properties is critical in establishing processing-microstructure-property linkage in materials. In this project, the evolution of microstructure of Fe-C alloys is modeled using phase field simulations to understand the behavior of these alloys under various cooling temperatures and initial carbon concentrations. However, these simulations require significant computational resources. Therefore, in this thesis, a convolutional neural network (CNN) and gated recurrent unit (GRU) are coupled with phase field simulations to predict the solidification of Fe-C alloys. In addition to the data-driven approach, the solid-liquid interfacial energy is incorporated during the training process, giving …

Design, Synthesis, And Application Of Indolizine-Donor Containing Fluorophores For Near-Infrared And Shortwave-Infrared Biological Imaging, William E. Meador

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Low energy light in the near infrared (NIR, 700 – 1000 nm), shortwave infrared (SWIR, 1000 – 1700 nm), and extended SWIR (ESWIR, 1700 – 2700 nm) has numerous important applications including fluorescence biological imaging, secure display technologies, and photodetectors. While inorganic materials have dominated each of these spectral regions, organic molecules that absorb and emit light in these regions are being heavily researched due to their high degree of molecular tunability via structure-function relationships, cheap production due to the avoidance of precious metals, ease of manufacturing through solution processability, and operation under physiological and ambient conditions. This dissertation illustrates …

Earthscibert: Pre-Trained Language Model For Information Retrieval In Earth Science, Rishabh Shrestha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Large Language Models (LLMs), such as Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT) and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), have significantly advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP), achieving state-of-the-art results in various tasks. Notably used in systems like Google Search, these models can be domain-tuned through domain-specific pre-training. In Earth Science, where massive data is generated and made publicly available by institutions such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), understanding the usage of such datasets in scientific literature is critical to assessing their scientific impact.

This thesis develops and introduces EarthSciBERT, a domain-specific BERT developed for Earth Science by pre-training BERT …

Determining The Geochemical Variability Of Groundwater During Riverbank Filtration, Transfer And Injection In The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer In Shellmound, Mississippi, Alexandra Megan Ward

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With long-term water level decline in the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial aquifer (MRVAA), the Groundwater Transfer and Injection Pilot project is analyzing the feasibility of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) to increase groundwater availability in the Delta region of Mississippi. The MAR method chosen for this project included pumping water from a well adjacent to the Tallahatchie River using riverbank filtration, transferring the water through a 2-mile pipeline, and injecting the water into the MRVAA. However, by transporting river water into the aquifer, the water quality must be examined at both the river extraction site and the injection well site. The …

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 …

A Comparative Study Of Conventionally Manufactured And 3d Printed Tablets, Rujuta Vaibhav Manjrekar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to develop tablets of carbamazepine (CBZ) using 3D printing and direct compression and compare their release patterns. KlucelTM ELF grade was used as the polymeric carrier. The hot melt extrusion (HME) was used to prepare the feedstock for the 3D printing and the direct compression process. The processing parameters and formulation were selected and the physical mixture consisted of CBZ:Kulcel (30%: 70% w/w) was extruded using a twin screw hot melt extruder (HME) (11mm Process 11, Thermo Fisher Scientific). The temperature used for extrusion was 110oC at a screw speed of 50 RPM. The obtained HME filaments …

Design And Evaluation Of Graphene Additives For Asphalt Materials To Improve Load Carrying Capacity And Durability, Oubayda Sras

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Asphalt is the most common material used for road construction; however, asphalt has its downsides. Asphalt roads deteriorate with time due to (age hardening) and susceptibility to moisture damage shortening asphalt roads’ service life span; Hence, asphalt roads need to be resurfaced every 15-20 years, depending on maintenance. Asphalt binder short comings can be remedied by incorporating graphene (GNPs) and modified graphene (MGNPs) into the asphalt binder matric. This research study the effect of different GNPs surface modification on asphalt binder properties and performance, with three main surface modifications; oxidation, octadecylamine and aminopropylIsooctyl POSS. It also suggests a different criterion …

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 …

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 …

Particle Image Velocimetry Investigation Of Flow Around Grooved Cylinders, Jhalak Dhakal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an experimental study of the flow around a grooved cylinder in an internal flow passage with a square cross-section. The effects of groove parameters, such as groove diameter (depth) and orientation (streamwise and longitudinal), on the wake characteristics and the pressure drop across the cylinders are investigated. Three Reynolds numbers of, 1230, 2000, and 2825, are tested. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) and cross-correlation techniques were used to measure the velocity fields and visualize the flow patterns. The results show that streamwise grooved cylinders with larger groove diameters (H2.0, H2.5, and H3.0) have reduced wake length and width …

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 …

Can Graphene-Coated Sand Enhance Water Reuse By Improving Water Quality In The Presence Of Municipal Treated Wastewater?, Madelyn Barber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The need for alternative water sources is dramatically increasing. Therefore, it is essential to develop alternative water sources to meet the current water scarcity challenges. Water reclamation, recycling, and reuse involving treated municipal and or animal wastewater address these challenges by resolving water resource issues and creating new sources of high-quality water supplies. However, the presence of bacteria, high levels of nutrients, and turbidity, as well as the occurrence of chemicals of emerging concern (CECs) in the treated wastewater, combined with the willingness of the public to use treated wastewater can undermine the wide application of water reuse. Implementing affordable …

Geochronological, Geochemical, Petrographical, And Structural Analysis Of The Northeast Bighorn Mountains, Sheridan County, Wyoming, Usa, Robert Charles Andreoli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this project was to produce geologic maps of the Skull Ridge, and Dayton South, Wyoming 7.5-Minute Quadrangle (Scale 1:24,000), from the northern Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming Cratonic Province (WCP). Detailed analysis of the geology within these quadrangles was performed using geochemistry, geochronology, thin section petrography, and structures of geologic units. The Bighorns are divided into northern and southern sections where the north is characterized by an Archean felsic batholith with cross-cutting plutonic dikes, and the south is composed of an Archean gneiss complex. The basement rocks in this area were formed ~2900-2500 Ma during a series of geologic …

Neverender, David James Gambino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is a work of fiction exploring the Global War on Terror from the perspective of US aircrew servicemembers.

Development And Characterization Of Cannabidiol And Rho Kinase Inhibitor Combination Formulations For Ophthalmic Use, Mihir Sanjay Ghonge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible blindness globally, is a neurodegenerative disease marked by progressive death of the retinal ganglion cells in the eye. In 2018, FDA approved a 0.02% ophthalmic solution of netarsudil mesylate (NM), Rhopressa®, a rho kinase inhibitor, for the reduction of intraocular pressure in patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension; the first new drug class in more than two decades. Cannabidiol (CBD) has been studied for its effects on intraocular pressure since the 1980s. In 2022, a study established that topical administration of CBD (1% w/v) decreased the intraocular pressure in pigmented Dutch Belted Rabbits. This …

Nursing Faculty Turnover: Recruitment And Retention At Jones College, Alan Luke Hammonds

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The nursing profession has been facing a deficit of nurses for many years (Denehy, 2000; Haddad et al., 2023, Mayo, 1944; Schorr, 1980; Theisen & Pelfrey, 1990). Nurses are an essential part of the medical care system. They are responsible for most of the functions associated with healthcare. The schools that train nurses are as much affected by the shortage as the industry itself. With fewer nurses in the medical field from which to draw, nursing schools have had a difficult time maintaining nursing faculty levels to meet the needs of the medical community. With nursing faculty shortages already straining …

Food Retailing In Mississippi, 1895-2000, James R. Gulley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a history of the evolution of the grocery industry in Mississippi in the twentieth century. I used primary source interviews, analysis of newspaper articles and advertisements, U.S. Census data, archival materials, and secondary sources to inform the thesis. The research focuses on an urban market in Jackson, Mississippi, and a rural market in Philadelphia, Mississippi. This history also concentrates on two Mississippi-based supermarket chains, Jitney-Jungle and Sunflower, and the families that founded them. The thesis argued that the innovations in grocery retailing during this era improved the lives of all Mississippians by lowering the cost of food, …

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 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. …

Evaluating The Relationship Between Vegetation Types And Downscaled Surface Soil Moisture Data, Anupiya Vidarshana Ellepola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Remote sensing systems such as multispectral and radar imaging can provide detailed information about soil moisture levels, vegetation cover, and topography. These data can be used to identify areas of high soil moisture, monitor changes in soil moisture over time, and assess the impact of human activities on watersheds. A commonly used system in orbit for monitoring soil moisture is the Soil Moisture Active Passive Mission (SMAP). For SMAP and all spaceborne systems, one of the major limitations for users to implement satellite-based data is the coarse resolution of the pixels (~9 km). Downscaling approaches are introduced by many researchers …