Digital Commons Network^™

Angelic Wasting: The Impacts Of The Enlightenment, Evangelicalism, And The Industrial Revolution On Romanticization Of Tuberculosis In England, 1800-1850, Sara M. Sudano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to elucidate the intersections between the portrayal of tuberculosis in the Romantic era and the Enlightenment, evangelism, and the Industrial Revolution. This study aims to do so by locating and analyzing depictions in the primary source representations of the disease, then considering the effects of the three factors mentioned above on its representation. The Enlightenment, evangelism, and the Industrial Revolution interacted in a variety of ways, and the influence of all three factors was found within the representations of tuberculosis, albeit in often indirect ways. In the novels of Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell and Charlotte Brontë, tuberculosis was …

Sacred Connections In Cartoonish Places: Exploring The Implications Of Teotl In Avatar: The Last Airbender (2008), Makenzie P. Morrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Taking Avatar: The Last Airbender (2008) seriously, Sacred Connections in Cartoonish Places explores the animated children’s series and how it is understood through the monistic Nahua (Aztec) concept of teotl. Relying on James Maffie’s text Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion (2014), this thesis determines that Avatar: The Last Airbender benefits from monistic analysis. This analysis results in a breakdown of the show into four body chapters. These chapters respectively explore Aang’s role as a monistic representative, the differences between the physical and spirit worlds presented in the show, the kind of relationships that appear in the series, and …

The Scream Notation System: A Notational System For Screamed Vocals, Matthew Delcambre

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Western music notation, there is no specified system of notation for screamed vocals, a style of singing that has become increasingly popular since the late 1970s with the advent of metal music and seen increased interest in screams in other genres since. Screams are a unique and diverse vehicle of delivery that can be differentiated according to timbre, technique, pitch and physiology. This research aims to first identify the anatomical and timbral differences between named screams and create a database of screams to be studied. The next task is to design a notational system appropriate for screams and then …

La Narcocultura In Mexico: Analyzing Representations Of Gender, Religion, And Law Enforcement Through The Silver Screen, Emma M. Plutnicki

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work analyzes the ways in which la narcocultura is represented in films about Mexican drug trafficking through the lens of gender, religion, and law enforcement. The four selected films Savages (2012), Heli (2013), Sicario (2015), and Emilia Pérez (2024) are used to assess how stereotypical images of the Mexican narco world are consumed by the public. The aim of this work is to bring attention to potential misrepresentations within the Mexican drug trafficking world. By exploring the portrayal of gender, religion, and law enforcement, this work highlights the ways in which filmmakers perpetuate and reinforce damaging stereotypes. The consumption …

Inside A Youth Participatory Action Research (Ypar) Process: A Practitioner’S Communicative Experience Navigating Processual And Relational Power Dynamics Within Ypar, Lacey Nicole Stein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the communicative dimensions of Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), with particular attention to the power dynamics embedded in the processual and relational aspects of the research process. Through a meta-level examination of a nearly two-year YPAR project, this study illuminates how communication can function for YPAR practitioners as they navigate YPAR's complex power structures, thereby addressing a significant gap in existing literature. The study employs Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis to reveal nuanced findings in two key areas. First, it identifies the communicative complexities of enacting multiple adult roles within YPAR, including those of "superior" adult, facilitator, …

Teachers’ Perspectives On Incorporating Moodle In A Ninth-Grade Reading Classroom, Cathy L. Miamba

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Effective technology use in the classroom can help stimulate a variety of learning styles and engage students through fun and exciting activities that help the students comprehend the content. Although research reported the benefits of technology in the classroom, there is a lack of knowledge of the effects of technology like Moodle on students’ academic scores, engagement, motivation, and overall achievement. As such, the problem addressed in this study was the lack of effective use of technology that affects students’ motivation, engagement, and achievements in the classroom. Using Vygotsky’s constructivism theory as the theoretical foundation and qualitative case study as …

Boundaries And Barriers: A Study On The Factors Influencing Bachelor’S Degree Attainment For Women In Arkansas At Regional Public Universities, Meagan Rochelle Bowling Fudge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Arkansas consistently ranks among the bottom five states nationally for bachelor’s degree attainment. To explore the factors contributing to this trend and identify opportunities for increasing degree completion, this study focuses on women attending Regional Public Universities (RPUs) in Arkansas. By examining the barriers these women face, this research aims to uncover critical gaps and inform future areas for research, policy, and investment.

Women represent the largest segment of undergraduate enrollment in the state, consistently enrolling in college at higher rates than their male peers. RPUs enroll more bachelor's degree-seeking students than any other type of institution in Arkansas, including …

Succession Planning And Organizational Structures Of Academic Health Sciences Libraries, Elizabeth Hinton Mcmurphy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Academic health sciences libraries are vital in educating and training future healthcare professionals. Over the last decade, a significant number of library directors, many of whom had served in their positions for ten years or more, have retired from the field. The retirement wave in libraries has been anticipated since the late 1980s with the advent of end-user searching. However, due to the aging workforce and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this predicted exodus has become a more imminent reality. Consequently, the intricate organizational structures of academic medical centers and academic health sciences libraries, coupled with the frequent absence …

Framed By Education: Labeling, Stigma, And The Behavioral Pathways Of Alternative School Students, Abigail Dempsey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alternative education has emerged as a critical part of the education system, addressing the needs of students who face academic, behavioral, or personal challenges. However, concerns persist about their long-term effectiveness and the stigma associated with alternative school placements. This study examines how stigma tied to alternative school placements impacts delinquency outcomes among adolescents, utilizing labeling theory as a conceptual framework. Drawing on longitudinal data from the Pathways to Desistance dataset, this research explores the relationships between school placement, self-perception of success, and delinquent behaviors. It also serves to investigate whether labeling of an alternative school placement creates a self-fulfilling …

Resilience Imagined In The Mississippi Delta: Exploring Housing, Education, And Community Adaptation In Mississippi’S Internal Colonies, Semonti Jannat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the impact of housing insecurity on educational attainment and community resilience in Cartersville, Mississippi, a historically marginalized community in the Mississippi Delta. Utilizing a qualitative research design, the study draws from in-depth interviews with eleven primary caregivers, revealing the multifaceted ways in which inadequate housing conditions affect children’s learning environments, mental health, and academic performance. The findings indicate that housing instability, manifested through overcrowding, poor infrastructure, and high financial burdens, significantly disrupts students’ educational experiences, contributing to absenteeism, limited academic focus, and stress-induced underperformance.

While the study highlights the persistent socioeconomic challenges linked to the enduring legacies …

Hiding In The Shadows: The Growth Of The Coconut Sector In The Gold Coast, Ca.1874-1957, Abdul Kuba

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation provides an analysis of the development of the coconut sector in Ghana during the colonial era. While previous scholarship on the export crop economy of this African society has grown impressively in recent years, little attention has so far been paid to the coconut sector. To fill this gap, this dissertation draws on previously unused archival material and on other sources dealing with the colonial economy of the Gold Coast, and it engages two of the many models used to evaluate the impact of colonialism in Africa: the vent for surplus and dependency models.

It is shown, on …

Storytelling In Context: How Resources Enable And Constrain The Stories Entrepreneurs Tell, John J. Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how entrepreneurial storytelling is shaped by and shapes its material and cultural context, extending the Theory of Cultural Entrepreneurship (TOCE). While TOCE highlights storytelling as a mechanism through which entrepreneurs construct legitimacy and secure resources by drawing on culturally resonant narratives, prior research has largely overlooked the constraining and enabling role of material resources in this process. This dissertation addresses this gap by examining how context functions, not merely as a backdrop but as a constitutive force in entrepreneurial storytelling. Using ethnographic methods, two studies were conducted at a regenerative farm and processing facility in rural Mississippi. …

Meeting The Mandate: An Applied Research Study On Improving Student Success In Advanced Placement Courses., Heather Bryan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Educational policy influences the landscape of American public schools. School leaders are tasked with navigating change and addressing unforeseen repercussions stemming from shifts in educational policy. As Mississippi moved to integrate Advanced Placement courses in all high schools, school leaders were tasked to comply and provide systems of support for school and student achievement. These unintended consequences led to an adjustment in expectations and rigor in all classrooms. This applied research study with program evaluation aimed to mitigate this change and support not only Advanced Placement students, but all students, to facilitate student growth and achievement. The program sought to …

Do College Students Delegate Over The Counter Product Choice To Pharmacists? A National Survey Experiment, Joanne Elizabeth Mansalay Canedo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: College students are known to have more frequent use for over-the-counter (OTC) cold products. Choice overload can lead to an increased burden of responsibility and dissatisfaction with one’s decision. The act of delegating to a pharmacist can prevent OTC product misuse and potential for abuse. The objective was to examine the effect of OTC choice difficulty and pharmacist accessibility on college students’ likelihood to delegate pharmacists for choosing OTC products for the common cold.

Methodology: An experimental within-subjects survey design was utilized on a national convenience sample of undergraduate students aged 18 years and older through Qualtrics market research …

Afrissippi, Peter Muvunyi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how Guelel Kumba, a Senegalese Fulani griot, chef, and musician currently residing in Oxford, Mississippi, incorporates West African cuisine and music into his daily life in the South. This profile study asks: How does Kumba's performances and cooking translate Fulani heritage into Mississippi's blues and soul-food scenes? The research employed observation, secondary sources, purposeful semi-structured interviews, and a documentary.

Kumba views tradition as an arsenal, preserving its essential rhythms and flavors while reworking family recipes and tunes to suit local tastes. Customers can eat, listen, and interact their way into shared history at his food truck and …

A Research Project On The Feasibility Of The State Of California’S Mandate To Sell Only Zero-Emission (Electric) Vehicles By The Year 2035 For California And South Dakota, Sandeep Pudasaini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research evaluates the feasibility of California's mandate to transition entirely to zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2035 and explores the prospects of South Dakota adopting a similar policy. The study analyzes key factors such as infrastructure readiness, renewable energy capacity, material requirements for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, and socioeconomic variables that influence ZEV adoption. Feasibility studies like this are critical because large-scale policy mandates have far reached implications for energy systems, environmental outcomes, and economic planning. Understanding whether a state is equipped to meet such a goal allows policymakers to anticipate challenges, identify infrastructure gaps, and allocate resources more …

Here, There: Jewish Identities In The South Through The Lens Of Food, Charles George Pappas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the role that place performs in the creation of different Jewish identities in the South through the study of foodways practices. The first chapter provides a historical background of Jewish foodways and an analysis of two Jewish cookbooks and their recipes. These texts act as historical markers of the similarities and differences between varying diasporas across space and time and show how these elements impact Jewish culinary practices. Chapter two is centered around an oral history conducted with Jewish chef Laurence Faber and the places that have shaped his approach to the food served at his Knoxville …

Testing The Effect Of Source And Environment On Native Seed Germination To Inform Seed-Based Restoration Of Grasslands, Brandon Clark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Grasslands are one of the most endangered ecosystems on the planet, and they provide a variety of important ecosystem services that people rely on. Losses of grasslands can be mitigated through restoration. Seed-based restoration is a regularly used practice due to its practicality and cost-effectiveness. Planting non-local seed that may not be suitable for its destination environment can have consequences in plant establishment and subsequent restoration success. This experiment tested the response (final germination and germination rate) of seed from 11 perennial tallgrass species sourced from 3 different locations to different germination temperature conditions. Seeds from three sources of each …

Global Spectral Clustering Of Temporally Stable Pixels For Epics Identification, Validation, And Hyperspectral Assignment For Satellite Calibration, Juliana Maria Fajardo Rueda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Lucumí Language Preservation In Cuban Literature: A Study Of Miami Santeros’ Perceptions, Dayni Deysi Diaz Mederos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Santería is an Afro-Cuban religion that has played a significant role in shaping Cuba’s cultural identity and that of its diaspora. Lucumí, a liturgical language primarily derived from Yoruba, is at the core of its religious practices. This language has been incorporated into the works of Cuban writers such as Lydia Cabrera, Alejo Carpentier, Nicolás Guillén, Miguel Barnet, and Nancy Morejón. While previous scholarship has examined Lucumí from linguistic and literary perspectives (Olmstead, 1953; Castellanos, 1939; Concordia, 2012; Ramos, 2013; Matibag, 2017), little attention has been given to how santeros, practitioners of Santería, perceive the representation of their sacred language …

Beyond Guns Vs. Butter: Gendered Dynamics In Security Policy Preferences, Elaine Elizabeth Tagert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation challenges the foundational assumptions of the “guns versus butter” debate by recentering gender, insecurity, and state legitimacy in the analysis of public opinion. Drawing on over 300,000 individual responses across 80 countries, and original survey data from post-conflict Colombia, it demonstrates that the commonly held belief that women are more likely to prioritize welfare over security is both context-dependent and empirically unstable. Rather than reflecting innate preferences, gendered policy attitudes emerge from lived experiences of violence, inequality, and institutional trust.

The first empirical chapter reveals a striking reversal of conventional expectations in the Global South: in regions where …

Multi-Source Remote Sensing–Based Soil Moisture Prediction Using Machine Learning, Niraj Neupane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Soil moisture (SM) plays a central role in climatic and environmental processes, influencing shear strength of soil, agricultural productivity, land–atmosphere interactions, and hydrologic functioning. However, accurately estimating SM across diverse climatic regions remains challenging due to spatial heterogeneity, limited in situ measurements, and inconsistencies in sensor resolution. Machine learning (ML) and remote sensing offer promising avenues for improving SM prediction, yet many existing approaches struggle with generalization across climatic gradients and often fail to capture temporal variability. This study integrates multi-source satellite and climate datasets, including SMAP L4_SM, MODIS land surface temperature, Daymet meteorological variables, and in situ observations from …

Quantitative Assessment And Validation Of Thermal Profiles In The Protodune-Ii Horizontal Drift Detector Using Computational Fluid Dynamics, Hunter Wallster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) aims to advance understanding of neutrino properties using large liquid Argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs). The ProtoDUNE-II Horizontal Drift (HD) detector, constructed at CERN in Switzerland, serves as 1:20 scale prototype to validate design and operational parameters for DUNE’s Far Detectors. Accurate prediction of cryostat thermal behavior is critical to predicting liquid Argon purity distributions and detector performance, motivating the development of a validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. This research extends previous work at South Dakota State University by constructing a higher-fidelity CFD simulation of ProtoDUNE-II HD using Siemens Simcenter StarCCM+® 19.04.007. Geometry …

Satellite And Uas Synergy For Large-Scale Crop Canopy Cover Mapping With Deep Learning, Muhammad Ali Irshad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Climate Variability Study For Arid Regions, Faisal Almutairi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Water is the primary source for all living species to thrive, and water scarcity has been a primary concern for biological species and plants in arid regions due to urban planning, population growth, poor water management, and overgrazing. The objective of this research was to study the climate variability in precipitation and temperature for an arid region. This research encompasses two distinct studies. The first study examined the impact of climate variability on precipitation in Phoenix. Precipitation data were acquired from NOAA from 1948 to 2023 and the study was broken down into three time scales: annually, seasonally, and monthly. …

Remote Sensing - Based Mapping And Analysis Of Winter Cover Crop Adoption For Sustainable Agriculture, Minnehaha County, Belinda Buechler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Winter cover crops planted by farmers such as cereal rye, crimson clover, radishes, hairy vetch, and winter wheat are used to conserve and protect the soil during winter. These crops offer numerous benefits such as improving soil health, reducing erosion, fixing nitrogen, increasing carbon sequestration, and weed suppression. Over time, winter cover cropping has been recognized as a sustainable agricultural practice and has gained attention from Federal and State conservation programs, farmers, and non-governmental organizations. Due to their vital benefits, agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conversation Services (NRCS) have partnered with cost-share programs …

Modern Feminist Social Movements In Rural America: A Three- Part Study, Susan Kroger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Modern feminist social movement can be characterized by several distinctive features. The use of social media, the incorporation of intersectionality, and the injection of policy into modern social movements requires a broad approach to these movements that allows for examination from multiple angles. The proposed project allows for a nuanced and thorough look into an existing social movement in rural America as it unfolds and examines that movement through several lenses. Additionally, the project incorporates current social movement and feminist theory and notes the importance of examining these theoretical perspectives through an applied lens: in order for change to occur, …

Shifting Waters: A 41-Year Time-Series Analysis Of Surface Water Change In The Prairie Pothole Region, Madison Dejarlais

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Prairie Pothole Region (PRR) is a landscape defined by a dynamic surface water system, with wetlands, lakes, and rivers playing critical roles in supporting biodiversity, regulating floods, and maintaining hydrological balance. This study conducts a time-series analysis of surface water change in the PPR from 1984 to 2024, using remote sensing tools including Google Earth Engine, ArcGIS Pro, and ENVI. 41 annual surface water presence rasters were compiled into a cumulative dataset, allowing for both year-to-year comparisons and broader trend analysis. Results indicate that the presence of surface water in the PPR has not followed a simple linear trend. …

Large Scale Crop Damage Mapping Using Optical And Sar Satellite Data Fusion And Deep Learning, Santosh Subedi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Slum Area Detection In Dhaka City, Bangladesh, Using Satellite Remote Sensing And Deep Learning, Soubhoon Sadeq Shinjini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dhaka City, a rapidly growing megacity and high-density developing area in Bangladesh, faces numerous urbanization challenges. Among these, informal settlements or slum areas pose serious concerns for authorities and policymakers striving to improve living conditions for slum dwellers. Dhaka City’s slums are characterized by high-density, one- or two-story structures made of low-cost materials, often located adjacent to natural water bodies and lacking basic public infrastructure (Ahmed 2014; Iqbal 2014; Jahan 2012). The need for accurate and up-to-date data on these settlements is crucial for researchers and policymakers, particularly for implementing slum upgradation and resettlement programs. However, traditional field surveys for …