Digital Commons Network^™

Structures Of Metallacarboranes And Coordination Complexes: Coordination Sensors Based On Rhodamine B And Quinolines, Agozie Nnaemeka Oyeamalu

Dissertations

Rhodamine-based ligands that can complex different metals has been designed and synthesized. Using Rhodamine B as starting material, we synthesized and characterized quinoline precursors as well as successfully carried out the oxidation of methyl and aldehyde groups on the quinoline ring, and on the hydroxyl moiety of the quinoline spirolactone ring. These turn-on/off rhodamine fluorescence probes sense Cr³⁺ and Ni²⁺ with high selectivity and sensitivity. These probes can be applied to detect other metal ions that are present in chemical, biological and environmental settings. They were designed to fluoresce when bonded to ions such as cyanide in detecting …

Modelling Student Misconceptions Using Nested Logit Item Response Models, Mustafa Yildiz

Dissertations

Student misconceptions have been studied for decades from a curricular/instructional perspective and from the assessment/test level perspective. Numerous misconception assessment tools have been developed in order to measure students’ misconceptions relative to the correct content. Often, these tools are used to make a variety of educational decisions including students’ achievement level, instructional method effectiveness, and curriculum related achievement progress. These tools have included qualitative and quantitative assessment methods.

The quantitative analysis of misconceptions has mostly relied on classical test theory methods of test construction related to total raw score, percentage of correct responses, and/or percentage of misconception responses. More recently, …

Oncolytic Tanapoxvirus For Melanoma Therapy, Tiantian Zhang

Dissertations

Oncolytic viruses (OVs), which preferentially infect cancer cells and induce host anti- tumor immune responses, have emerged as an effective melanoma therapy. Tanapoxvirus (TPV), which possesses a large genome and causes mild self-limiting disease in humans, is potentially an ideal OV candidate. The purposes of our studies are to engineer TPV into effective OVs via arming immumo-stimulatory proteins and/or manipulating the virokines, and to explore the immuno-modulatory activities of TPV.

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) plays a critical role in activating T cells, natural killer cells and macrophages in both the innate and adaptive immune systems. In our study, a recombinant TPV expressing …

Fate Of Conductive Ink Pigments During Recycling And Landfill Deposition Of Paper-Based Printed Electronics, James Edward Atkinson

Dissertations

Printed electronics (PE) are being developed as an alternative to traditional electronics, due to the more efficient use of materials and lower cost of production. The overall goal of this study was to understand how metallic pigments in conductive inks in PE are partitioned during landfill disposal and paper recycling conditions. The purpose is to assess the potential environmental impacts of PE landfilling in terms of metal leaching and to help develop new strategies for sequestering metallic ink components while paper-based PE are subjected to conventional paper recycling methods. The objective of this research is to study the fate of …

Novel Membrane Structures For Air And Water Purification, Smruti Ragunath

Dissertations

Membrane separations have undergone rapid developments in recent years. The key component in the process is the membrane itself which acts as a selective barrier regulating transport of components between the two sections. The main advantage of membrane separation process in comparison to other unit operations is its unique separation principle, ease of operation, lower energy requirement, and can be easily coupled with other downstream processes. Different membrane based applications include filtration, osmosis, dialysis, gas separation, pervaporation, membrane extraction and membrane distillation (MD). The membranes can be fabricated by a variety of processes such as phase inversion, sol-gel, track etching, …

Regulation Of Mtorc1 By Homocysteine And Its Effects On Autophagy In Human And Mouse Neuronal Tissues, Khoosheh Khayati

Dissertations

The molecular mechanisms leading to and responsible for age-related, sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) remain largely unknown. It is well documented that aging patients with elevated levels of the amino acid metabolite homocysteine (Hcy) are at high risk of developing AD. The impact of Hcy on molecular clearance pathways in mammalian cells, including in-vitro cultured induced pluripotent stem cell-derived forebrain neurons and in-vivo neurons in mouse brains is investigated in this research project. Exposure to high Hcy levels results in up-regulation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) activity, one of the major kinases in cells that is tightly …

Systematics, Biogeography, And Species Delimitation Of The Malagasy Psorospermum (Hypericaceae), Heritiana S. Ranarivelo

Dissertations

Psorospermum belongs to the tribe Vismieae (Hypericaceae). Morphologically, Psorospermum is very similar to Harungana, which also belongs to Vismieae along with another genus, Vismia. Interestingly, Harungana occurs in both Madagascar and mainland Africa, as does Psorospermum; Vismia occurs in both Africa and the New World. However, the phylogeny of the tribe and the relationship between the three genera are uncertain. Using freshly collected specimens from my fieldwork as well as extant herbarium specimens, I aimed first, to generate a phylogeny of Psorospermum; second, to investigate its biogeography; and third, to investigate species boundaries within Malagasy Psorospermum …

Population Structure, Connectivity, And Phylogeography Of Two Balistidae With High Potential For Larval Dispersal: Balistes Capriscus And Balistes Vetula, Luca Antoni

Dissertations

The gray triggerfish (Balistes capriscus) and the queen triggerfish (Balistes vetula) are two exploited reef fish distributed in tropical and temperate shelf waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Both species are highly sedentary as adults but disperse pelagic larvae for extended periods of time potentially allowing connectivity across long distances under the action of oceanic currents. In this work population structure, phylogeography, and migration patterns were examined in the two species and contrasted with predictions of larval transport based on surface circulation data. A total of 1,017 gray triggerfish from twelve sampling localities …

Understanding Noncompliance: A Qualitative Content Analysis Of Title Ix Sexual Misconduct Violations Using The Office For Civil Rights Investigative Findings, Lenore N. Schaffer Nee Malone

Dissertations

On April 4, 2011 the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) reminding higher education institutions (HEIs) of their obligations under Title IX to respond to complaints of sexual misconduct. The 2011 DCL was meant to be a guidance document to assist HEIs in complying with Title IX, but many higher education administrators expressed frustrations concerning some of OCR’s requirements. Since releasing the 2011 DCL, OCR has opened more than 200 Title IX investigations at HEIs across the nation. When OCR concludes that a HEI has failed to comply with Title IX, …

"Her Splendid Children Will Be Born Here”: Anglo-American Relations And Sexual Selection In Transatlantic Fiction, 1870–1914, Jennifer Lynn Robertson

Dissertations

In recent decades, scholars have sought to examine the discourse of evolutionary theory in the realist novel. This dissertation examines the ways in which the novel form embodied evolutionary theory by examining Anglo-American courtship plots. In chapter 2, I examine Charles Glascock’s courtship of Caroline Spalding in Anthony Trollope’s He Knew He Was Right. During their courtship, Caroline’s dominant behaviors subvert traditional hierarchies between nations, classes, and genders. However, the open plot of evolutionary change hints at a revolutionary restructuring of social relations. I argue that Caroline and Glascock’s relationship reverts to a more traditional power structure upon their …

Optimizing Stadium Evacuation By Integrating Geo-Computation And Affordance Theory, Joslyn Jane Zale

Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to optimize football stadium evacuation time by integrating geo-computation with affordance theory from perceptual psychology to account for evacuee characteristics: age, gender, physical fitness, alcohol consumption, and prior experience attending football games at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM), evacuating from large, outdoor public places, and with hazard events.

According to the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act, football stadiums are part of the country’s critical infrastructure warranting special government protection. Evacuation modeling was identified as an important component of game day emergency …

Groundhogs, Tanya Mason Smith

Dissertations

This dissertation contains a collection of stories that explore loss and grief, illness and disability, parent and child relationships, and marriage and its expectations within the gay community and the south.

A Mixed-Methods Study Of Students’ Success And Persistence In Biology, Biscah Syombua Munyaka

Dissertations

Undergraduate success and persistence in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields is of critical importance to the United States (U.S.) maintenance of its position as the world leader in scientific innovations. While the total number of undergraduate degrees awarded annually has nearly tripled over the past 40 years, the same cannot be said for the proportion of degrees in Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The U.S. share of the world’s STEM graduates is sharply declining, on average less than 40% of incoming college freshmen elect to pursue a degree in a STEM field each year, with more …

An Investigation Of English Learning Of A Sample Of Students Who Are Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing And English Learners And A Sample Of Students Who Are English Learners, Sharon J. Becker

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the English learning of a sample of students who are deaf or hard of hearing and English learners (DHH EL) and a sample of students who are English learners (EL). The English language learning of four students who were DHH EL and four students who were EL was explored through a multiple-case study using cross-case analysis. Additional participants who supported the language learning of the students included seven culturally and linguistically diverse teachers (CLD), two teachers of the deaf (TOD), and one audiologist. In this qualitative study, observations, interviews, and artifacts were …

Uncovering The Identity And Metabolism Of Bacterial Coa-Rna, Joseph R. Spangler

Dissertations

Coenzyme A is an indispensable molecule in all known life with roles in metabolism, gene regulation, and macromolecule synthesis. As CoA is derived from RNA itself, it’s incorporation into RNA by in vitro methods has proven useful in research probing the origin of life based on the RNA World theory. The discovery in contemporary bacteria of RNA modified with CoA, however, provided an unexpected twist to previously well-characterized bacterial systems. The identity of sequences associated with CoA-RNA has been elusive since their discovery in 2009 based on the difficulties in isolation while maintaining RNA quality. The aim of this study …

Investigation Into The Application Of Personality Insights And Language Tone Analysis In Spam Classification, Colm Mcgetrick

Dissertations

Due to its persistence spam remains as one of the biggest problems facing users and suppliers of email communication services. Machine learning techniques have been very successful at preventing many spam mails from arriving in user mailboxes, however they still account for over 50% of all emails sent. Despite this relative success the economic cost of spam has been estimated as high as $50 billion in 2005 and more recently at $20 billion so spam can still be considered a considerable problem. In essence a spam email is a commercial communication trying to entice the receiver to take some positive …

A Multiple Regression Analysis Of Locus Of Control And Psychological Flexibility Regarding The Total Mental Well-Being Of Muslims, Hawazan Abdulaziz Binzaqr

Dissertations

This study was designed to investigate the relationships between mental health, psychological flexibility, and locus of control within the Muslim population, and how these variables are related to demographic characteristics such as gender, level of spirituality, and marital status. The sample of 235 participants was taken from the worldwide adult Muslim population. Mental health was measured by PROMIS-57 survey, psychological flexibility was measured by the AAQ-II survey, and locus of control was measured by the MHLC survey. All data were self-reported via online form. There was an inverse relationship between level of spirituality and poor mental health (high PROMIS-57 scores) …

A Novel Role For Osteopontin In Facilitating West Nile Virus Neuroinvasion, Amber M. Paul

Dissertations

West Nile virus (WNV) is a positive-sensed, single-stranded RNA flavivirus that can cause human neuroinvasive diseases, including encephalitis, meningitis, and flaccid paralysis. The mechanisms by which WNV enters the central nervous system and the host-factors that are involved in WNV-neuroinvasiveness are not completely understood. Osteopontin (OPN), a multifunctional glycoprotein, has been implicated as a bio-marker for a number of neuroinflammatory diseases. In particular, secreted (s)OPN has been implicated to participate in recruitment of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) to sites of its expression, while PMNs have been suggested to act as WNV reservoirs. Therefore, sOPN recruitment of PMNs may contribute to neuroinvasive …

Elucidating The Role Of Interleukin-17a In West Nile Virus Infection, Dhiraj Acharya

Dissertations

West Nile virus (WNV) is a neurotropic flavivirus of significant public health importance for which no therapeutics and vaccine are currently available. Interleukin-17A (IL-17A) is an inflammatory cytokine that regulates diverse immune functions, while its role is unclear in host’s immune response to WNV. Furthermore, CD8⁺ T cells are crucial components of immunity and play a vital role in recovery from WNV infection. Here, we report a previously unrecognized function of IL-17A in regulating CD8⁺ T cell cytotoxicity. We show that WNV induces the expression of IL-17A in both mouse splenocytes and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells cultured …

Study Of Rickettsia Parkeri Colonization And Proliferation In The Tick Host Amblyomma Maculatum (Acari: Ixodidae), Khemraj Budachetri

Dissertations

Amblyomma maculatum (Gulf coast tick) ticks are prevalent across the Atlantic to Gulf Coast region of United States. These ticks are recognized vectors of Rickettsia parkeri, a spotted fever group of Rickettsia (SFGR) known to cause American boutonneuse fever associated with fever and eschar rashes localized to the site of bites. We hypothesized that Rickettsia parkeri colonization and proliferation in the tick vector involve pathogen-symbiont dynamics and tick-pathogen interactions, which influence rickettsial transmission to the victims after tick bites. The rickettsial infection is maintained across the tick life cycle for many generations due to transovarial and transstadial transmission of …

Disorder In Cysteine-Rich Granulin-3 And Its Implication In Alzheimer Disease, Gaurav Ghag

Dissertations

Granulins (GRNs) are a family of small, cysteine-rich proteins that are generated upon proteolytic cleavage of their precursor, progranulin (PGRN) during inflammation. All seven GRNs (1 – 7 or A – G) contain twelve conserved cysteines that form six intramolecular disulfide bonds, rendering this family of proteins unique. GRNs play multiple roles and are involved in a myriad of physiological as well as pathological processes. They are known to a play role in growth and embryonic development, wound healing, and signaling cascades as well as in tumorigenesis. They are also implicated in neurodegenerative diseases like frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Alzheimer disease …

The Idiosyncratic Language Of Brazilian Music: Strategies For Performing Villa-Lobos Choros No. 10, Dennis Paz Leoni

Dissertations

Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Choros No. 10 is a composition with many cultural and symbolic inclusions. This work seeks to support a conductor’s informed performance of the piece by providing historical and technical context from the conductor’s life and influences. The first section examines the ethnographic and sociopolitical factors in Brazil during the conductor’s life, and then the personal influences on Villa-Lobos’ career, in order to establish the foundation for a section-by-section analysis of the work which illuminates the idiosyncratic nature of the composer’s masterpiece.

Anxiety-Like Behaviors And C-Fos Expression In Adult Zebrafish: Effects Of Housing Conditions, Alcohol And Caffeine, Adam Douglas Collier

Dissertations

Alcohol abuse is the third largest risk factor for disease world, responsible for an estimated 3.3 million deaths each year. The concomitant ingestion of alcohol and caffeine is hypothesized to increase risk factors associated with alcohol use alone by reducing subjective effects of intoxication. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has recently garnered attention from researchers as an effective pre-clinical in-vivo animal model in behavioral pharmacology research, largely due to small size, low-cost and ease of drug delivery. A number of studies have reported the effects of alcohol and caffeine on zebrafish behavior at a variety of doses. However, the …

Bioinspired Design Of Wetting And Anti-Wetting Surfaces Via Thiol-Ene Photopolymerization, Li Xiong

Dissertations

Surface wettability is known to have a profound influence in both academic study and industrial application of materials. Superhydrophobic surfaces, with a static contact angle higher than 150° and a contact angle hysteresis lower than 10°, have received continued attention for their broad applications, such as self-cleaning, antifogging and frosting, and drag reduction. The continuous development of materials and approaches that used to create superhydrophobic surfaces has led to further exploration of coatings with other desirable properties such as superamphiphobicity, mechanical robustness and thermal stability.

In this work, coatings with super wetting and super anti-wetting properties were designed and fabricated …

Design And Synthesis Of Polymer Brush Surfaces With Complex Molecular Architectures And Morphologies, Wei Guo

Dissertations

The combination of surface-initiated polymerization (SIP) and postpolymerization modification (PPM) is a powerful technique for the fabrication of functional soft surfaces. Better understanding the influence of the aforementioned factors on the PPM effectiveness is valuable for fulfilling the potential of the PPM approach for the fabrication of functional soft surfaces. Specifically, by carefully balancing modification reactivity and limitation of mass transport, polymer brush with composition heterogeneity and gradient along the normal direction of the surface otherwise unattainable by methods of direct polymerization can be fabricated via the PPM approach which opens doors to new routes to polymer brush with complex …

A Comparative Study Teaching Chemistry Using The 5e Learning Cycle And Traditional Teaching With A Large English Language Learner Population In A Middle School Setting, Cynthia Nicole Mcwright

Dissertations

For decades science educators and educational institutions have been concerned with the status of science content being taught in K-12 schools and the delivery of the content. Thus, educational reformers in the United States continue to strive to solve the problem on how to best teach science for optimal success in learning. The constructivist movement has been at the forefront of this effort. With mandatory testing nationwide and an increase in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs with little workforce to fulfill these needs, the question of what to teach and how to teach science remains a concern among …

Barack Obama’S Rhetoric Of Hope For Racial Reconciliation: An Examination Of American Mainstream Media’S Framing Of That Message, Zainul Abedin

Dissertations

This study explored Barack Obama’s rhetorical message for racial reconciliation and the framing of that message by the American mainstream news media. The study investigated Obama’s messages in texts and sound-bites of the news media—The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. The research included Obama’s speeches on three major occasions from 2008 to 2014—(1) “a more perfect union” speech on March 18, 2008, in Philadelphia; (2) Washington speech on August 28, 2013, on the 50th anniversary of MLK’s “I have a dream” speech; and (3) LBJ Library speech on April …

An Analysis Of Ed Nurse Opinion Of Their Ed Nurse Manager Leadership Characteristics And Outcomes, Charlotte Ann Gore

Dissertations

The purpose of this cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational study was to examine ED staff nurses’ opinions of their ED nurse managers’ full range of leadership characteristics , the degree to which the characteristics correlate with specific outcomes of leadership behavior, and how the results of the measure and subscale compare to other nursing groups in literature. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X Rater Form (MLQ 5X Rater Form) was used to measure ED staff nurses’ opinions of their ED nurse managers, along with an ED Staff Nurse Demographics Questionnaire to gather information about the characteristics of the population. The population for this …

The Relationship Between Social Status Motivation And The Detection Of Trustworthy And Affiliative Cues In Faces, Christopher J. Lustgraaf

Dissertations

A prominent feature of human (and non-human primate) social group structure involves the establishment and maintenance of a social hierarchy; that is, social groups are arranged hierarchically, based on individuals’ level of status, and conspecifics who more effectively ascend this status hierarchy accrue more reproductive and resource benefits (Hawley, 1999). Thus, for any individual, other group members could be either a threat to one’s status, or an ally to assist status goals, and accurate identification of these various social targets would have adaptive utility in status maintenance or status hierarchy ascension. The current study tested the hypotheses that activation of …

Stretched But Not Broken: A Multiple-Case Study Analysis Of Risk And Resiliency, Heather Danielle Beam

Dissertations

This study was a multiple-case study analysis of two men’s journey through life. From a young age, the participants were faced with multiple risk factors: racial discrimination or injustice, poverty, disability, mental health diagnoses, conflict (personal or external), exposure to violence and drugs, living in a neighborhood with high crime rates, constant relocation of homes and schools, involvement within the judicial system, lack of parental support and family cohesion, physical abuse, teacher abuse and neglect, lack of academic support, and family secrecy. Despite the risk factors each participant faced, they were resilient individuals who combatted the odds and are considered …