Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing The Relationship Between School Disengagement And Violence Involvement, Senneca Evans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social control theory suggests that having strong social bonds to a society prevents individuals from engaging in delinquent acts. Consistent with the main assumption of this theoretical framework, the current study assesses whether having a weak bond to school, specifically, school disengagement, impacts violent behavior among adolescents. The current study also assesses whether gender and race/ethnicity moderate the relationship between school disengagement and violence involvement. Data used in this study were obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescents to Adult Health public-use data (N = 6,045). Results show that school disengagement is a significant predictor of violent behavior among …

"No Redemption In Nonfiction": Portfolio Reflection On The Queer, Anticapitalist Directions Of Creative Nonfiction, Bethany Fitts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I reflect on the current state of my artistic practice and discuss rapidly changing documentary methods in the 21st century as they relate to broader evolutions in the creative nonfiction genre. I then discuss these methods alongside my experimental short-doc Gameplay.

International Forum Shopping: An Instrument Of Domestic Signaling, Giorgi Khatiashvili

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation explores the relationship between domestic politics and the choice of international venue for economic sanctions and trade disputes, utilizing the concept of forum shopping. The research argues that forum shopping is not only an outward, but also an inward looking endeavor, shaped by the government’s need to communicate with its domestic audience. The research identifies two main domestic constituencies – the public and economic groups – that influence the government’s behavior with regard to forum shopping. Empirical analysis reveals that when facing pressure from the domestic public, governments tend to choose larger and more legitimate international organizations for …

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 …

Characterization Of Inter- And Intramolecular Non-Covalent Interactions Through Computational Quantum Chemistry, Carly Alyssa Rock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computational quantum chemistry proves to be a highly effective means of exploring the nature and properties of a wide range of chemical systems that may be challenging to characterize experimentally. One area of particular interest is the investigation of non-covalent interactions, which play a crucial role in a wide variety of biological, chemical and physical processes. Obtaining accurate descriptions of systems dominated by weak inter- and intramolecular non-covalent interactions often requires sophisticated ab initio methods used in conjunction with robust basis sets. This approach, however, can become extremely computationally demanding as the size of the system of interest increases. Within …

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 …

On The Tensor Product Of Archimedean Riesz Spaces, Page Thorn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We characterize when, for any infinite cardinal α, Fremlin’s Archimedean Riesz space tensor product of two Archimedean Riesz spaces is Dedekind α-complete. We provide an example of an ideal I in an Archimedean Riesz space E such that the Fremlin tensor product of I with itself is not an ideal in the Fremlin tensor product of E with itself. On the other hand, we present conditions for which the Fremlin tensor product of ideals is an ideal and that the Fremlin tensor product of projection bands is a projection band.

Lastly, we prove that the Carathéodory space of place functions …

It’S Just A Way Of Life: A Symbolic-Interactionist Approach To Inequalities In The Contemporary American South, Angela Rankin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The contemporary American South is characterized by significant inequalities that are deeply- embedded into the social fabric of the region. These inequalities are dictated by cultural and social dynamics that have shaped the Southern region over time; however, they are reinforced daily through the individual agency of Southern social actors. This thesis aims to analyze Southern inequalities through a symbolic-interactionist focused lens and data collected from semi-structured, qualitative interviews conducted with over 70 White Southerners in two places within the American South- Oxford, MS, and Memphis, TN. In this thesis, I argue that White Southern actors actively use their individual …

Development Of Narrow-Spectrum Agents And Mray Inhibitors Targeting Multidrug-Resistant Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Tomayo Ireti Berida

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global health burden. This airborne infectious disease is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and resulted in 1.6 million deaths globally in 2021. The emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) underscores the urgent need to discover and develop new agents, particularly those with narrow spectrum activity and those acting by novel mechanisms. Although broad-spectrum antibacterials have been successful in treating drug-resistant bacterial infections, including TB, there is a push toward the discovery and development of anti-TB agents with narrow-spectrum activity. This approach aims to limit the spread of resistance across …

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 …

Ceremony On The Frontier: An Analysis Of A Thirteenth And Fourteenth Century Multi-Phase Mississippian Structure At The Carter Robinson Site, Lee County, Virginia, Taylor Greene

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Carter Robinson (44LE10, occupied from ca. A.D. 1200-1400) is a Mississippian mound site located on the frontier between the edge of the Mississippian world and the beginning of the Radford culture area in southwestern Virginia. Although several structures have been identified and studied in the past, only one structure has been featured intentional burning and reconstruction throughout the occupation of the site, and is designated as Structure 2. This structure is also unique due to its location at the site, on a small rise about 80-meters east of the mound, a construction area typically reserved for the homes of minor …

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 …

Negotiating Intersectional Identities In The Music Culture Of The Deeper Christian Life Ministries In Nigeria, If-Not-God Moses

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Christianity is the largest religion in the world with a population of over two billion. More than ever before, the rapid growth of this religion is getting more diverse due to a great variety of doctrines and practices that it accommodates. From the inception of Christianity, music has been prominent and a powerful bedrock of its religious worship. This thesis, underpinned by the paradigm of sound as a social structure as espoused by Steven Feld, examines the intersectional identities in the music culture of the Deeper Christian Life Ministries (DCLM) in Nigeria. This research aims to fathom the musical functions …

The Efficacy Of Interventions Aimed At Reducing Early Childhood Toxic Stress: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Sheerah Neal Keith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The foundations of mental health and well-being are built in the first five years of life. Early childhood toxic stress (i.e., repeated, excessive, or prolonged activation of the body’s stress response systems) can undermine children’s sense of safety, sense of stability, and ability to form healthy relationships. The damaging effects of toxic stress can disrupt the normal course of brain, immune, and metabolic development, placing children at increased risk for mental and physical health problems that can last into adulthood. Counselors are uniquely qualified to help prevent and treat early childhood toxic stress. Yet, gaps between counseling theory, research, and …

Gym Theory: A Guide To Maximize Your Gains & Minimize Your Trauma By The End Of The World, Joshua Nguyen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A collection of poems with a critical introduction.

“The War Will Be Over Sometime”: Female Authorship, Time, Trauma, And Healing In H.D.’S Wartime Works, Loren Samons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a tripartite collection of poems, at first glance H.D.'s Trilogy appears vastly different from her semi-autobiographical novel, Bid Me to Live, but the two are not as removed from each other as their formats and publication timelines might indicate. In fact, their connectedness is much less discreet than many scholars have suggested. In addition to being thematically similar in terms of their considerations of time and gender, Bid Me to Live and Trilogy could be viewed as works in conversation with each other, reflecting the development of the female authorial voice along a timeline of war-related trauma progression and …

Novel Formulation Strategies For Oral And Ocular Drug Delivery, Samir Senapati

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nanoformulations such as nanoemulsions (NE), solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN), and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) are colloidal particulate systems in the submicron size range and act as carriers of drug molecules. Their size varies from 10 to 1,000 nm (1). The capacity of these nanoparticles to permeate through many anatomical barriers, the prolonged release of their contents, and their stability on the nanometer scale have widely contributed to their efficacy in drug delivery. Owing to the advantages of nanoformulations, they were further explored in our studies to target different diseases like Dry eye disease (DED), glaucoma, and malaria.

Chapter 2 discusses …

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

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

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

Formulation & Evaluation Of In-Vitro Mefenamic Acid Oral Disintegrating Tablets Using Solvent Evaporation And Hme, Lokesh Mukesh Thawani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mefenamic acid, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug generally used for the treatment of pain, has poor solubility (0.2 mg/ml of water at 250C) and limited bio-availability. Thus, to improve these various techniques are used such as micronization, solvent evaporation, hot melt extrusion, chemical modification, pH adjustment, solid dispersion formation, complexation, co-solvency, micellar solubilization, hydrotropic, ultra-rapid freezing process, etc. Thus, to improve the improve the solubility Solvent Evaporation technique was employed to obtain the solid dispersion of Mefenamic acid and Eudragit® RL-PO followed by Hot Melt Extrusion to obtain the extrudates. The extrusion of Mefenamic acid (MA) and Eudragit® RL-PO was done …

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 …

Oh Men Of Justice! Petitioning In Protectorate Bahrain 1919-1939, Ashleen Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1934, Bahraini petitioners wrote to the Ruler of Bahrain to demand protection for the rights of individuals. The petition was not the first, nor was it the last, to demand rights in Bahrain during the interwar period. This study examines petitioning and claim-making in protectorate Bahrain. A close reading of petitions submitted by different Bahrain communities from 1919 to 1939 demonstrates Bahrain was shaped by multiple competing and cooperating priorities. This study identifies three stages of petitioning in the interwar period: petitioning for protection, petition for rights, and nationalist petitioning. Using a framework of jurisdictional ambiguity, the dissertation shows …

Phytochemical Constituents And Ppar Α/Γ Agonist Activity Of Juniperus Communis Berries And Comparison Studies Of J. Communis Berries To Saudi Juniperus Species (Arar): J. Procera And J. Phoenicea, Ibrahim Almarabi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Juniperus communis is distributed over a large geographical area mainly in the Northern Hemisphere across multiple continents making it the most known and medically used species among 75 other Juniperus species. One of the main traditional uses of J. communis that has been proven by several studies is its antidiabetic properties. An ethanolic extract of J. communis berries has shown promising antidiabetic results leading us to investigate its phytochemical constituents and to identify the active compounds that work through peroxisome proliferators–activated receptor (PPAR) α and γ receptors. Activation of both receptors by a drug candidate will achieve more benefits and …

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

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

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

Different Phonographic L1 Effects In Processing L2 Chinese Characters: The Role Of Phonology And Orthography In Lexical Entry, Shuang Cheng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Orthography-phonology mapping in world languages exhibits variations. Extensive research has investigated whether orthographic-phonological consistency impacts the cognitive processing of written words. A major body of work has focused on the recognition of phonographic first language (L1) written words. Results show that the more transparent the orthography, the more reliance on phonological processing, and vice versa (Katz & Frost, 1992). Another body of work has paid attention to the cognitive process of identifying Chinese characters because of their logographic nature. These studies have mostly focused on recognizing L1 Chinese words (including both simplified and traditional written words) (Perfetti & Zhang, 1995; …

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 …