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 …

Decoding The Mystery Of Antibiotic Persistence, Tahmina Hossain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work combines microbiology, molecular biology, Next-Generation Sequencing and system biology approaches to explore the mechanism of antibiotic persistence: a multi-drug tolerant, non-dividing, and metabolically altered state present in a subpopulation of cells due to phenotypic diversity rather than genetic variation (i.e. mutations). Persister can survive lethal antibiotic state and resuscitate after the treatment period is over. They are considered as the major contributing factor behind recurring infections. They also have a high mutation rate, which increases the chances of bacteria gaining antibiotic resistance. The formation of this phenotypic variant (persister) threatens the therapeutic effectiveness of antibiotics and understanding how …

High Protein Yeast-Based Ddgs As An Alternative To Commonly Used Protein Sources In Pig Diets, Yesid Ricardo Garavito Duarte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alternative ingredients and co-products from ethanol and biofuel industries represent an opportunity for utilization in swine diets. In this context, understanding nutritional value to practical swine feeding begins with product characterization and determination of nutrient digestibility. The objective of this research was to test the hypothesis: yeast-based high-protein DDGS (HP-GDDY) has comparable AA and metabolizable energy (ME) digestibility to feedstuffs commonly used in swine diets and that it could be included as an alternative protein source in nursery diets without negative impact on growth performance. Cornstarch-based diets were formulated using six ingredients as the sole source of AA: spray dried …

Leveraging Queueing Theory To Develop Advanced Synthetic Biological Circuits, Prajakta K. Jadhav

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The complexity and redundancy in the network topology of the cell hinder our understanding of the natural system, making it challenging to engineer living organisms with the desired functionality. The long-term goal of synthetic biology and bioengineering is to engineer cells to perform specific functions with increased robustness. The robust engineered systems can be easily applied to different species with the same outcome. An effective approach is a bottom-up approach where we tease apart the biological pathways and study them independently. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of biological pathways can be further applied to construct complex biological circuits that function similarly …

Nanomechanical Characterization And Comparison Of Additively Manufactured Grcop-42 Alloy, Trupti Suresh Mali

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an aggressive thermomechanical environment, the superior mechanical as well as thermal properties of materials play an essential role. GRCop which is a copper-based alloy developed by NASA has the potential to fulfill the requirements necessary for hightemperature applications such as the combustion chamber of liquid rocket engines. The first alloy of this family, GRCop-84 (Cu-8 wt.% Cr-4 wt.% Nb) was discovered followed with the development of GRCop-42 (Cu-4 wt.% Cr, 2 wt.% Nb). The reduction in alloying element percentage enhanced thermal conductivity with less built time while maintaining the strength of the material. The conventional fabrication is replaced with …

The Terrors Of Everyday Life: The Gothic Novel As A Woman's Conduct Guide To Survival, 1791-1817, Jessica Berg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Gothic is often associated with the fantastical, with people and events that only take place within our darkest nightmares. In my thesis, I explore how, in the hands of Ann Radcliffe and Jane Austen, the Gothic exposes the hidden dangers of reality perpetuated by conduct literature. Within conduct manuals, thousands of regulations direct women’s behaviors and identify the perfect woman as one who exists passively within the safety of the domestic sphere. Radcliffe’s The Romance of the Forest (1791) and Austen’s Northanger Abbey (1817) engage in subterfuge against eighteenth-century conduct literature and expose the realities of the domestic sphere: …

Using Deep Neural Networks To Analyze Precision Agriculture Data, Stephanie Liebl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the population of the Earth increases, there is a growing need for food to feed the inhabitants. Precision agriculture offers techniques and tools that can be used to help accommodate the growing population. One specific precision agriculture tool is remote sensing data, which can be used to image fields as an effort to better predict or understand the crops. In this thesis, deep neural networks are used to evaluate various spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions of three different satellite images to determine which best predicts corn yield. The main metrics we used to evaluate the models were R-squared (R2), …

The Significance Of A New 11,000-Year Volcanic Record From The South Pole And Inferences From Comparisons With Other Volcanic Records, Derek Lee Brandis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Snow accumulation at the polar regions of the planet preserves chemical substances from the atmosphere creating natural archives. Records of the atmospheric environment including atmospheric chemical composition and the climate can be reconstructed from ice cores from the polar ice sheets. Sulfur emitted by explosive volcanic eruptions is preserved as sulfate in polar snow and can be used to reconstruct the record of volcanic eruptions. Since large volcanic eruptions impact the environment and climate, records of volcanic eruptions from ice cores can help us to study and understand climate change and model the future climate environment. A 1750-m ice core …

Fire Emissions In The Tropical Indonesia: Improved Estimation And Driving Forces Investigation, Xiaoman Lu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Indonesia has experienced frequent fires since the 1970s due to large-scale peatland conversion and extensive drainage for agricultural development. Fire emissions released from these fires have led to Indonesia being the world’s 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gases in certain years. Given that fire emissions severely affect climate, weather, and the human environment, numerous approaches have been developed to estimate fire emissions. However, existing emission estimates differ largely by a factor of four in this tropical country because of frequent cloud interferences and low-temperature smoldering fires. Therefore, this dissertation aims to improve the quantification of Indonesian fire emissions through enhanced …

Factors Associated With Increased Breastfeeding At Initiation And Continuation At Two Months In American Indian Women, Addison Reimer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: The purpose of this report was to determine the prevalence of breastfeeding at initiation and two months continuation in American Indian South Dakota mothers who gave birth between 2017-2019 and determine the factors associated with breastfeeding and various health behaviors and beliefs. This study serves to fill the current gaps in research focusing on breastfeeding in American Indian women in South Dakota. Methods: Data from the South Dakota Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (SD PRAMS), a state-based surveillance system, was used to investigate the relationship between breastfeeding and maternal behaviors, attitudes, and experiences. Logistic regression was used to determine …

Mitakuye Oyasin : Pedagogy And Design In Composition I, Jody Lee Rust

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mitakuye Oyasin, an Oceti Sakowin (Lakota/Nakota/Dakota) phrase that translates as “All My Relations,” is a philosophy that means all things created on earth and in the universe are related and inhabit a shared space. Because all things are related and share space, they all have a purpose and a responsibility to discover and serve that purpose to ensure all of our relatives thrive in our shared space. This relational thinking influences the way the Oceti Sakowin interact with the world, including the way they teach. In this thesis, I analyze the way composition theories shape the curriculum and pedagogy of …

Students’ Perceptions Of Specific Laboratory Curricula On The Learning Experience In Chemistry Courses, Arwa Ali Alshehri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Laboratory courses play a key role in developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills and providing experience in certain aspects of a laboratory setting including reactions, materials, and equipment. Prior studies suggest that a laboratory course assists students toward cognitive gain on lecture content. In contrast, other studies conclude that laboratory is uncorrelated with cognitive gain on lecture content. Thus, a discord exists between researchers regarding the role that laboratory experiences play in furthering the understanding of chemistry concepts taught in lectures. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of two different laboratory curricula on students’ performance in …

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 …