Digital Commons Network^™

"Femme Fatales Of Faith": Queer And "Deviant" Performances Of Femme Within Western Protestant Culture, Kelsey Waninger Minnick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women and queer folk are changing the religious landscape of Christianity in America, and the scope of visibility for these figures and their apostolic endeavors is widening as more and more Christians are seeking out communities rooted in doctrines of love and connection rather than exclusion and hegemonic piety. Thinking on this phenomenon, this dissertation focuses on the intersectional dilemmas of faith practice and rhetorical discourse with Western Christianity, particularly as it revolves around those female pastors and clergy - considered "dangerous" by many within the church - who are advocating for a more inclusionary church space. By conducting a …

Decolonizing The Body Of The Chosen One: The Bodily Performance Of Anakin Skywalker, Buffy Summers, And T'Challa, Alise M. Wisniewski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis engages the figure of the Chosen One in fantasy literature. The Chosen One arises as a key figure in fantasy and exists today in the Anglo-American literary imagination as a hero above other heroes. This figure embodies Anglo-American understandings of the Hero's Journey and savior narratives theorized by Joseph Campbell. It is a site of colonial triumph and violence and heteronormative white masculinity. Embedded into reiterations of Chosen Ones in American fantasy films and television, this body is being destabilized and decolonized.

In close readings of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars, Buffy Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, …

Individual Adjustment As A Predictor Of Improvements In Romantic Relationship Quality From Adolescence To Adulthood, Jamie Novak Shoop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous work suggests that individuals who experience a poor quality romantic relationship during adolescence are at heightened risk of experiencing poor quality romantic relationships in adulthood. However, this literature has not yet identified factors that may predict which individuals will go on to experience improved romantic relationship quality in adulthood, despite having experienced a poor quality romantic relationship during adolescence. The goal of the current study was to examine whether adolescents' psychosocial adjustment (internalizing and externalizing symptoms, substance use, and self-esteem) predicted improvements in the quality of their subsequent romantic relationships. Data were drawn from a community sample of 200 …

New Insights Into Mycofactocin Biosynthesis, Structure And Function, Richard Selorm Ayikpoe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mycofactocin is a putative ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide (RiPP)-derived redox cofactor. Its biosynthesis is accomplished through the dedicated actions of the products of six conserved genes, mftABCDEF. The mycofactocin pathway is one of the most widely distributed RiPP systems in bacteria however, this distribution is heavily skewed towards the Mycobacteria genus including human pathogenic variants such as M. tuberculosis and M. ulcerans. Gene expression studies have demonstrated the essentiality of the pathway in the ability of M. tuberculosis to utilize the host's cholesterol as sole carbon source during latency. However, the biosynthesis, structure and physiological function …

Automation And Adaptation: Information Technology, Work Practices, And Labor Demand At Three Firms, Spencer J. Rockwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of information and communication technology to automate routine tasks involves two types of innovation: technological and organizational. Together, improvements in technological capabilities and complementary changes made by firms in the way they organize work and implement work practices constitute the conditions under which machines substitute for or complement human workers. Building on the prevailing model of routine-biased technical change and recent insights into organizational complementarities, I conduct three qualitative case studies in health care and real estate to assess the relationship between technology and firm-level labor demand. Unique combinations of technological innovation, organizational complementarity, and decision-making at each …

Social Determinants Of Health Theory: Policy Entry Points For Healthcare Providers, Kiah R. Vandergrift

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines a shifting paradigm in the U.S. healthcare system that will re-define the role that the healthcare provider plays in the production of health. It does this by first acknowledging two differing economic theories on the production of health: Human Capital Theory and Social Determinants of Health theory, and how both schools of thought have contributed to the paradigm that healthcare providers only play a role in the end stages of health production - to heal those who are already ill. However, policy, payment, and delivery system reforms have begun to force healthcare providers to re-think how they …

Restorative Injustice: A Study Of Failed Implementation Of Restorative Practices At An Urban High School, Paul Gerard Cama

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The restorative justice process utilizes various intervention strategies created by indigenous tribes throughout the world, as an alternative to procedural justice (Zehr, 2002). In modern education, restorative justice was incorporated into the public-school system, where it has evolved into a preemptive measure to combat punitive discipline policies that is often seen as both racially insensitive and detrimental to the learning of students. The purpose of this study was to examine the implementation process of a school based restorative justice program at an urban high school and focused on how these interventions were implemented, what resources were allocated, and how it …

The Movement Of The Spirit: A Constructive Comparison Of Divine Grace In The Theologies Of Paul Tillich And John Wesley, Thomas Albert Barlow Jr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work is a constructive comparison of the ways in which the operations of divine grace resonate in the theologies of John Wesley and Paul Tillich. The primary questions which initially motivated this project: First, how does Tillich's concept of theonomy intersect Wesley's conceptions of the activity of grace? Second, how would those intersections serve to provide a renewed (or clarified) understanding of Wesley's framework of grace? How does Tillich's concept of theonomy, and his method of correlation, inform Wesley's understanding of the activity of grace in human culture? How might gleaned from this comparison inform the work of faith …

An Archaeological Investigation Into Social Organization And Political Reform In The Reserve Area Of New Mexico, A.D. 1000–1350, Cameron D. Benton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes archival data from archaeological sites with great kivas in the Reserve region of west-central New Mexico dating to A.D. 1000-1350 and examines sociopolitical organization and reform between the dynamic Reserve (A.D. 1000-1100) and Tularosa (1100-1350) Phases. Specifically, studies in this thesis compare great kiva architecture and ceramic types present between sites using methods of descriptive statistics and quantitative analysis, which allowed for interregional variation and change to be identified between those time periods. The results of those analyses are correlated with the archaeological histories of the Mimbres and Chaco societies that bordered the Reserve area in prehistory …

Coupling Numerical Analysis Of Vibration And Thermal Buckling Of An Automotive Brake Disc, Joseph-Shaahu Shaahu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An engaged brake system generates high temperature gradients in the brake rotor and brake pads. This high temperature gradient in turn induces thermal buckling. During high speed rotation, vibration is likely to occur in the system. In terms of a brake disc vibration will occur when there is a misalignment of the brake disc or thermoelastic instability (hot spot) forms on the brake rotor. Coupled and uncoupled problems of thermal buckling and vibration of a brake disc are analyzed and presented using finite element analysis in this paper. Thermal buckling depends on the direction of the high temperature gradient. Having …

Characterization Of A Phosphomimetic Mutant Of The Als Associated Protein Tdp-43, Nicole Toro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Trans-activation response (TAR) DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) is a natively dimeric 414-residue protein that is encoded by the human TARDBP gene that has important implications in the pathogenesis of the neurodegenerative disorders ALS, FTD, and CTE. TDP-43 has been found hyperphosphorylated and ubiquitinated in the aggregates of the affected neurons of these diseases. The discovery of the presence of TDP-43 positive inclusions in brain matter of patients with CTE has made repetitive brain injury a possible environmental stimulus for aggregation in TDP-43 proteinopathies. We expand upon the hypothesis that TDP-43 readily aggregates under agitation conditions and that the addition of …

Probabilistic Record Linkage With Elliptic Curve Operations, Shreya Dhiren Patel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Federated query processing for an electronic health record infrastructure enables large epidemiology studies using data integrated from geographically dispersed medical institutions. However, government imposed privacy regulations prohibit disclosure of patient's health record outside the context of clinical care, thereby making it difficult to determine which records correspond to the same entity in the process of query aggregation.

Privacy-preserving record linkage is an actively pursued research area to facilitate the linkage of database records under the constraints of regulations that do not allow the linkage agents to learn sensitive identities of record owners. In earlier works, scalability has been shown to …

There Must Be A Reason People Come Here, Brian James Foley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The poems in this collection are meant to be read as a preparation of ground and ask to be connected to a larger thought beyond the discrete experience of the poem itself. That thought is that no artistic expression exists outside of the historical conditions in which it was made, and those conditions must be broadcast in concert with the poem.

I cite that these poems are the result of existential degradation developed during the production of subjectivity under modern, hegemonic structures of Neoliberal Capitalism. They were cultivated from "bits of sensitivity" drawn from an unexceptional past regulated by systems …

Transgenerational Effects Of Maternal Age On Offspring Fitness In Crickets, Jacob D. Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advanced parental age is an important aspect of parental condition that can have both positive and negative effects on offspring fitness, and thus, parental age can be considered a parental effect. As a parental effect, parental age may affect a variety of offspring traits and may cascade to influence several generations of offspring. Given the complexities of studying both paternal and maternal age, we studied the effects of maternal age only. Using the Pacific field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus, we asked 1) does maternal age have influences over several generations of offspring and 2) does maternal age influence the reproductive …

Social Support Satisfaction As A Protective Factor For Postpartum Maternal Distress, Amy-Lynn Elisabeth Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social support has been identified as a protective factor for postpartum maternal distress, a prevalent women's health issue, and most research focuses on the amount of support women receive. However, research in this area has failed to explore whether increasing satisfaction with social support may be a worthwhile approach to alleviating postpartum maternal distress, beyond increasing amounts. There is also little known regarding specific aspects of support, like satisfaction with emotional and instrumental support, that might lead to differences in postpartum distress outcomes. In this prospective, longitudinal study, we hypothesized that greater social support satisfaction will be associated with less …

Exploring The Lived Religious Experiences Of Gay And Lesbian Ordained Clergy In The United Methodist Church, Tracy Allen Temple

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United Methodist Church (UMC) as an institution has strict language against lesbian and gay people and against the ordination of the lesbian and gay people. Prior research has focused on how denominations and congregations discuss issues around sexuality, how attitudes have shifted around issues of sexuality, and how to provide spiritual care for the LGBTQ+ community. This qualitative study interviewed lesbian and gay ordained elders in the UMC to learn about their experiences of serving as clergy people in the UMC even though there are prohibitive statements in church documents. Firstly, the interviews revealed that the participants feel loved …

Rapid-Scan Epr And Imaging, Yilin Shi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

EPR imaging at low frequency is a powerful tool to obtain important biological information in vivo in a non-invasive way. Properties of nitroxide and trityl radical imaging reagents have been studied. Developments in rapid scan imaging techniques are reported that improve efficiency of experiments and user-friendliness of software.

Relaxation and signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) in pulse experiments on trityl radicals were measured at frequencies between 400 MHz and 1.5 GHz. Relaxation time increases as the frequency increases and the radical concentration decreases. Since relaxation time is a sensitive and accurate measure of oxygen pressure, this study provides criteria for the selection …

Computational Fluid Dynamics Investigation Of A Novel Hybrid Comprehensive Stage Ii Operation For Single Ventricle Palliation, Marwan Hameed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is a type of heart defect where the left ventricle is underdeveloped or not developed, resulting in only a single functioning right ventricle. Approximately 7.5% of patients with congenital heart disease are born with a single ventricle (SV) which is accompanied by a spectrum of other malformations such as atrophied ascending aorta, atrial septal defects, and ventricular septal defects (VSD). The existing three-hybrid staged surgical approach serving as a palliative treatment for this anomaly entails multiple complications and achieves a survival rate of only 50%. To reduce the trauma associated with the second stage of …

On Distributed Estimation For Power Constrained Wireless Sensor Networks, Mojtaba Shirazi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We study distributed estimation (DES) problem in power and bandwidth constrained wireless sensor networks (WSNs), where several sensors make noisy observations of an unknown, and transmit a locally processed version of their observations to a fusion center (FC) over wireless channels. The FC reconstructs the unknown via fusing the received data from sensors. We explore the following problems: (i) we derive Bayesian Fisher information matrix (FIM) for bandwidth-constrained DES of a Gaussian vector with linear observation model, where sensors transmit their digitally modulated quantized observations to the FC over power-constrained fading channels. We develop two transmit power allocation schemes from …

The Causes, Dynamics, And Implications Of Child Soldiering, Christopher Faulkner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Child soldiers continue to be regular participants in modern conflicts in many different parts of the world. This dissertation addresses several interrelated questions about child soldiering employing large-N statistical analyses, process-tracing, and in-depth interviews. First, it asks how foreign state support and the characteristics of these donors influence rebels' recruitment of child soldiers. An important finding is that rebels supported by democratic states are less likely to employ child soldiers. It then investigates the factors and conditions that lead some groups to diversify their demographics in the types of recruits and others to not. Specifically, it considers why a rebel …

Unraveling Pdi And Its Interaction With Ab Toxins, Jessica Guyette

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) is an essential endoplasmic reticulum (ER) protein that acts as both an oxidoreductase and chaperone. It exhibits substantial flexibility and undergoes cycles of unfolding and refolding in its interaction with cholera toxin (Ctx), which is a unique property of PDI. This unfolding allows PDI to disassemble the Ctx holotoxin, which is required for Ctx activity. Here, we investigated the unfolding and refolding property of PDI and how this affects its interaction with bacterial toxins. PDI showed remarkable redox-linked conformational resilience that allows it to refold after being thermally stressed. Deletion constructs of PDI showed that both …

Improving Traffic Safety At School Zones By Engineering And Operational Countermeasures, Md Hasibur Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Safety issues at school zone areas have been one of the most important topics in the traffic safety field. Although many studies have evaluated the effectiveness of various traffic control devices (e.g., sign, flashing beacon, speed monitoring display), there is a lack of studies exploring different roadway countermeasures and the relationship between school-related factors and crashes. In this study, the most crash-prone school zone was identified in Orange and Seminole Counties, Florida, based on crash rate. Afterward, a microsimulation network was built in VISSIM environment to test different roadway countermeasures in the school zones. Three different countermeasures: two-step speed reduction …

Parameter Estimation Of Stochastic Models Against Probabilistic Temporal Logic Behavioral Specifications, Arfeen Khalid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The inherent behavioral variability exhibited by stochastic systems makes it a challenging task for human experts to manually analyze them. Computational modeling of such systems helps in investigating and predicting the behaviors of their underlying processes but at the same time introduces the presence of several unknown parameters. A key challenge faced in this scenario is to determine the values of these unknown parameters against known behavioral specifications. The solutions that have been presented so far estimate the parameters of a given model against a single specification whereas a correct model is expected to satisfy all the behavioral specifications when …

From "Most Useful Book" To Scriptura Non Grata: Canon, Ecclesiastical Constrictiveness, And The Loss Of The Shepherd Of Hermas In Early Christianity, Robert Donald Heaton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With its roots in the first century CE and claims to special revelation from various apparitions, the Shepherd of Hermas portended an alternative Christian trajectory to the prevailing Christocentrism. But some in the second, third, and fourth centuries also deemed it compatible with the synoptic Johannine-Pauline metanarrative for Christianity, such that prominent bishops Victorinus, Eusebius, and Athanasius labored to depict it outside the scriptures of the New Testament. While their data and other early patristic writings presage the Shepherd's frequent appearance among scholarship on the biblical canon, this often manifests as little more than a curiosity, absent a proper …

Differences In Complete 2 Compete Participant Characteristics: What Can They Tell Us?, Audra Joan Trnovec

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The majority of C2C students participating at the University of Mississippi (UM) are adult students who face different barriers in their return to higher education than traditional students. These barriers necessitate the review of and changes in student services. To better understand this population, an analysis was conducted of 582 C2C participants who had already acquired some college credit at UM. The purpose of this study is to develop a sustainable program that assists more students to successfully return and complete a degree. The study looked at students’ ages, overall earned credits, gender, overall grade point average, ethnicity, number of …

Optimization And Characterization Of Hot-Melt Extruded Anti-Inflammatory And Local Anesthetic Bio-Adhesive Semisolid Formulation Using Design Of Experiments (Doe), Rishi Chinmay Thakkar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hot melt extrusion is a versatile continuous manufacturing process extensively investigated for its applications with production of oral solid dosage forms, the aim of this study was to venture the applicability of HME in continuous manufacturing of topical semi-solid ointment formulations. Novel combination of a topical corticosteroid (Triamcinolone Acetonide) and local anesthetic (Lidocaine hydrochloride) were selected to be formulated with a water-soluble ointment base consisting of PEG 4000, PEG 1500 and Propylene glycol after performing appropriate drug-excipient compatibility studies. To determine the ratios of the solid to liquid components of the macrogol base, ‘quality by design’ approach was employed by …

Improving The Quality Of Teaching: An Applied Research Study On Improving The Quality Of Teaching In Third-Grade Reading At Tigerville Elementary School, Valeree Ellis-Barnes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract This applied research study sought to improve the quality of teaching in third-grade reading at Tigerville Elementary School (TES). The need to improve the quality of teaching in third-grade reading was identified through Standardized Test for the Assessment of Reading (STAR. 2017-2018) reading data and Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP 2017-2018) test data. This study used three elements providing instructional support for teachers building teaching capacity and improving student achievement to address the central issue of improving the quality of teaching in third-grade reading. The program utilized an action plan and a program evaluation design to address improving the …

Basketball Officials' Training And Development: Links To Retention, Nathan Ferdinand

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The sharp decline in retention from year-to-year among sport officials is considered a “crisis” among the officiating community and research has attempted to explore the issue by identifying factors that impact retention (Warner et al. 2013). The seven-factor “Referee Retention Scale” (RRS) seeks to predict the likelihood of retention for officials one factor being officials’ ratings of their continuing education (Ridinger et al. 2017). However there is a lack of study for examining the relationships among methods and outcomes of training continuing education and referee retention across sporting contexts. A cross-sectional design was created using an online survey which combined …

Increasing Teacher Retention: An Applied Research Study On The Effects Of Mentoring And Culture In The Abc County School District, Jimmy Holland Weeks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Buffering..., Nicholas B. Vialpando

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Buffering… focuses on scenes from everyday life such as cooking breakfast or a day at the office which are presented in a half-rendered frozen form. The works are partially pixilated in certain areas to create a sense of perpetual buffering illustrating a never-ending frustration between advancement and expectation. This body of work is meant to create an opportunity for viewer to experience a sensation of tension while information perpetually buffers. This sensation reflects how society has been conditioned by its technological devices and their implied promises of instant gratification. This body of work aims to shed light on the frustration …