Digital Commons Network^™

Social Interactions Occurring During An Introductory College Of Agriculture Course, Brittany Renea Leek

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the development of the internet, today’s students no longer are confined to the resources only found in their classrooms or public libraries and have been given the ability to gain access to virtually unlimited quantities of information on the topics or events they are discussing in their class rooms and with their peers. The use of technology for communication and education is rapidly changing, but the challenges of technology-driven learning opportunities rest on questions of access and use. There is a need to determine whether students use these methods (i.e., technology based) to more prevalently communicate today. The primary …

In The Groove: A Documentary About Vinyl, Jared Endsley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis project, ‘In the Groove’ is to tell the story of why vinyl records, a music format written off as a casualty to the digital age is experiencing a cultural resurgence. In the last several years vinyl records have been the only musical format to record positive sales growth.

For many musicians today, pressing their music to vinyl records yields the greatest return on investment. However, vinyl remains a niche market, supported by a devoted fan base.

This film focuses on a group of artists and vinyl enthusiasts as they navigate this new marketplace.

Membrane-Based Separation Processes For Treating High Salinity Produced Waters, Kamyar Sardari

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Produced waters (PW) generated in the oil and gas industry within the United States often contain extreme levels of total dissolved solids (TDS). These high TDS waste streams need to be treated cost-effectively as the costs associated with the current management techniques can exceed 15 USD per barrel of discharged PW. Thermally and osmotically-driven membrane separation technologies can show promising potential for treating high TDS waste streams, as onsite low-grade waste heat may be used for their operation. In this dissertation, the application of membrane distillation (MD), forward osmosis (FO) and a hybrid FO-MD process for treating synthetic and actual …

Effect Of Morinda Citrifolia (Noni)-Enriched Diet On Hepatic Heat Shock Protein And Lipid Metabolism-Related Genes In Heat Stressed Broiler Chickens, Joshua Flees

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Heat stress (HS) has been reported to alter fat deposition in broilers, however the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well-defined; therefore, the objectives of the current study were to: (1) determine the effects of acute (2 h) and chronic (3 wk) HS on the expression of key molecular signatures involved in hepatic lipogenic and lipolytic programs; and (2) assess if diet supplementation with dried Noni medicinal plant (0.2% of the diet) modulates these effects. Broilers (n=480 males, 1 d) were randomly assigned to 12 environmental chambers, subjected to two environmental conditions (HS at 35°C vs. thermoneutral condition [TN] at 24°C) …

Effect Of Yeast Supplementation During Various Stages Of Beef Production, Elizabeth Palmer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Supplemental dietary yeast products are beneficial during times of stress. Calves experience increased levels of stress during birth, weaning, and the post-weaning receiving period. Therefore, 3 experiments were conducted to determine how yeast supplementation affects growth performance and health during this time. In experiment 1, 2 truckloads of highly stressed calves (n = 175; initial body weight [BW] = 226 ± 24.5 kg) were assigned randomly to 1 of 3 treatments; unsupplemented control, or supplementation with 2 commercial yeast products (Y1 and Y2). Average daily gain (ADG) was not different (P = 0.99) during the 28 d receiving period; nor …

Theatrical Genre Prediction Using Social Network Metrics, Manisha Shukla

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the emergence of digitization, large text corpora are now available online that provide humanities scholars an opportunity to perform literary analysis leveraging the use of computational techniques. This work is focused on applying network theory concepts in the field of literature to explore correlations between the mathematical properties of the social networks of plays and the plays’ dramatic genre, specifically how well social network metrics can identify genre without taking vocabulary into consideration. Almost no work has been done to study the ability of mathematical properties of network graphs to predict literary features. We generated character interaction networks of …

Privacy-Preserving Photo Taking And Accessing For Mobile Phones, Ang Li

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Today, we are living in environments that are full of cameras embedded in devices such as smart phones and wearables. These mobile devices and as well as apps installed on them are designed to be extremely convenient for users to take, store and share photos. In spite of the convenience brought by ubiquitous cameras, users' privacy may be breached through photos that are taken and stored with mobile devices. For example, when users take a photo of a scenery, a building or a target person, a stranger may also be unintentionally captured in the photo. Such photos expose the location …

Secondary Biology Instruction In The General Senior Secondary Schools Of Aceh Province Indonesia: An Analysis Of Teachers’ Opinions And Teaching Practices Related To The Indonesia Biology Curriculum 2013, Wiwit Artika

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My study was to discover the perceptions of general secondary senior high school biology teachers about the application of curriculum 2013. Their further opinions of biology topics and the instructional practices in the class have supported the findings of this study. In addressing this study, general senior secondary school (GSSS) biology teachers (n=286) from 22 districts in Aceh province randomly participated in my study. Thus, six (n=6) teachers were selected as convenience sampling to have a one-on-one phone interview. The data collected were analyzed descriptively (frequency and percentage) and thematically to answer the research questions.

The documents comparison between the …

Effect Of Grain Sorghum Polyphenols On Fecal Fermentation, Danielle Marie Ashley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is an increasing epidemic which during 2015-2016 afflicted 39.8% of adults and 18.5% of youth in the United States. Not only can obesity affect quality of life, but it can lead to life-threatening diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers. Animal and human research have demonstrated a pattern of gut microbiota perturbation in overweight and obesity, characterized by a reduction of beneficial bacterial species and increase in harmful species. Diet has been established as a contributing factor in gut ecology, and foods including fiber, resistant starch, and polyphenols have been found to both enhance …

Modified Landscapes, Esther Nooner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modified Landscapes is a body of work that reflects serious thought regarding Nature and its future. My personal experience and beliefs are at the core of why I believe this subject to be of great importance and why it will sustain many artists’ investigations for the time to come. The influences that informed this process are explored through experiences I had traveling, reading and exploring the photograph as a material object. The manipulation of the photograph is meant to question the beautiful, untouched scene and break the Romantic gaze that is historically tied to representations of Nature and insist upon …

Palimpsest, Erin Ellis Gardner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Palimpsest explores the various ways in which the models, individuals who have gained and/or lost a large amount of weight, feel empowered and vulnerable. The skin is marked and each discoloration or indentation telling a story of loss, gain, and removal. The photographs mark these changes.

Subject To Change, Alexis Kurtzman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Subject to Change is comprised of a series of self-devised, ritually practiced free-associative action-mark-making strategies. Each procedure explores various degrees of chance operations and seeks to question and explore the roles of intuition, intention, interpretation and human participation. A hybrid of fixed method with variables of the unknown explores and investigates performative mark-making methodologies, in-person and internet collaboration, control and working under pre-fixed intervals. Alongside chance, time-based procedures are concurrently determined to achieve work on paper whose marks are not initially foreseen. This practice of working addresses the disconnect between the maker engaged in active activity of doing versus the …

Ice Cream, Richard Frank Peterson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ice Cream is a series of 2D and 3D depictions of lawn ornaments, Charlie Brown, and novelty ice cream bars, which question how White America is indoctrinated through seemingly innocuous images and objects. The exhibition unveils the white supremacy fostered within the American way of life and articulates an environment where Americans act in racist ways when they believe they are acting morally. The research found within Ice Cream attempts to dismantle the foundation these justifications are built upon. This honesty, coupled with acknowledging that these historic traditions are rooted in racial constructs, will result in a double consciousness and …

Real Goner, Nicholas Cox

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis paper is to tell the story behind, and outline the theoretical and conceptual framework underlying the exhibition, Real Goner. The exhibition combines a number of elements drawn from music and art history, as well as the theoretical writings of Albert Camus, Guy Debord, and Joseph Kosuth. Together, these elements produce a cryptic exhibition that attempts to address the inherent chaos, and apparent meaninglessness of existence; and to see art as a proposition, a performance, and a practice. The exhibition addresses issues of celebrity, the production and consumption of culture, and where that cycle leaves us …

Got Breadfruit? Marshallese Foodways And Culture In Springdale, Arkansas, Diana Kay Chen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding human food choices is essential in the examination of cultural knowledge and decision-making among members of any ethnic group. Ethnographic and cognitive anthropology methods, including a novel calculation of cognitive salience, were used in this study to explore the domain of traditional Marshallese foods in Springdale, Arkansas. Springdale is home to the highest population of Marshallese people outside of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI); the population is expected to rise as people continue to migrate from the RMI because of global climate change and other factors such as family ties. Studies of traditional foodways are increasingly crucial …

Milk, Lindsey Heiden

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My work is a composition of contemporary fairy tales of visual, written and oral forms. I examined the historical evolution of formula, from animal milk, to powder formula and now to a combination of animal milk, human milk and powder. The current scientific research being done with formula and animals, coupled with a fairy tale is the inspiration behind my current tale. The importance of women both in regards to the historical development of keeping a cultural tradition alive through oral tale-telling and the much larger role of keeping humankind alive through reproduction and birth, further build the base that …

Sustainable Intensification Of Agriculture: Opportunities And Challenges For Food Security And Agrarian Adaptation To Environmental Change In Bangladesh, Aaron Michael Shew

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates three unique aspects of sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI) in the context of Bangladeshi rice production. The first article presents a qualitative analysis of SAI and farmer surveys in the embanked polder region of coastal Bangladesh. The second article investigates the global food security and environmental impacts of already adopted High Yielding Variety (HYV) rice and double-cropped rice systems in Bangladesh using a spatial partial equilibrium trade model and a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The final article demonstrates a remote sensing methodology for monitoring dry season rice production at 30 m resolution in Bangladesh using a harmonic time …

For Wintonbury: An Expansion Of Narrative And Painting, Cassaundra Kayla Sanderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In March 2017, I began planning the narratives of what would become my Thesis Exhibition. One year later marked my installation of the exhibit: For Wintonbury, located at the Fine Art Center Gallery at the University of Arkansas.

A merging of the visual arts and literary fiction, For Wintonbury offers a more immersive experience in storytelling. The painted scenes, drawings, three-dimensional compositions, and short stories each serve their own purposes in presenting partial glimpses into the longer narratives of Wintonbury. Through multiple media and entry points, the viewer is given the choice in which sequence and manner to take in …

Queer Arab Writing Across Borders: Sexual Citizenship And Acts Of Belonging, Nicole Fares

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study provides a comparative analysis of various representations of sexuality in seven transnational Arab cultural productions: Salim Haddad's Guapa (2016), Rabih Alameddine's The Angel of History (2016), Ahmed Dany Ramadan's The Clothesline Swing (2017), Hasan Namir's God in Pink (2015), Fadia Abboud's I Luv U But (2016), Alissar Gazal's Lesbanese (2008), and Ayse Toprak's Mr. Gay Syria (2017). These productions demonstrate a range of experiences of discrimination and trauma experienced by queer Arab immigrants and refugees in Europe, the U.S. and Canada, as their national identities continue to be regarded as obstacles preventing them from fully integrating into the …

Cancer-Induced Muscle Wasting, Jacob Levi Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cancer-induced muscle wasting, otherwise known as cancer-cachexia, is a wasting syndrome that occurs in approximately 80% of cancer patients that is the primary cause of death for 22%-30% of cancer cases. Cancer-cachexia may be metabolically induced; therefore, the central hypothesis of this dissertation is mitochondrial degeneration occurs before cancer-cachexia, and increased oxidative stress because of mitochondrial degeneration in muscle may instigate cancer-cachexia. Lewis Lung Carcinoma cells (LLC) or PBS (control) were injected into the hind-flank of C57Bl6/J mice at 8 wks age, and tumor allowed to develop for 1, 2, 3 or 4 wks. Mitochondrial quality, function, ROS emission, protein …

Costume Design For Adam Rapp’S The Metal Children At The University Of Arkansas, Melissa Janet Hall

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis explains the process utilized to create and implement the costume design for the production of The Metal Children produced at the University of Arkansas University Theatre in the Fall of 2016. Throughout this thesis I will illustrate how the costumes went from initial research ideas to sketches and colored renderings and finally to finished three-dimensional costumes. The design process detailed here includes an analysis of the play, inspiration collage, portrait gallery, research, renderings, production images and an evaluation of the overall process.

The Creation And Development Of Rise, Paul Randall Mcinnis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In “The Creation and Development of Rise”, I will explain how my play evolved from the initial writing process until the actual production of the show. The Department of Theatre allows students to experience the development of new work through the functions of the classroom. The goal is to simulate how a process would occur in the professional world. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the journey of creation within Rise. Rise tells the story of the community of St. Marie, Louisiana during Mardi Gras, 1972. The play highlights the city’s triumphs and downfalls, and it is set …

A Focus On The Us Narrative: Does The New York Times Portrayal Of Women Living With Hiv And Aids In Southern Africa Perpetuate Hiv/Aids Stigma?, Boitshepo Monte Balozwi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the study was to determine the dominant and recurring frames influencing the narrative and media portrayal of women living with HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa, a region characterized by a low socio-economic status and the highest HIV and AIDS infection rates globally. The study analyzed 238 stories published in The New York Times from 1985 to 2017. Findings of the study show that news reports frequently associate sex workers and pregnant women to coverage on HIV and AIDS therefore stigmatizing them as vectors of the disease. The newspaper stories provided adequate socioeconomic context resulting in African …

Genetic And Phytopathological Studies On Charcoal Rot Resistance In Soybean [Glycine Max (L) Merr.], Marcos Paulo Da Silva

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Charcoal rot of soybean (Glycine max (L.), caused by Macrophomina phaseolina is a disease of economic significance in the United States. The identification and quantification of the resistance is difficult, and very little is known about the genetics and markers linked to the charcoal rot (CR) resistance genes. Current assay methods can be time consuming, and data may vary between tests. The objectives of this study were to 1) create a robust seed plate assay (SPA) for CR resistance by comparing results with cut-stem and CFUI assays; 2) correlate and compare field data disease assessments with SPA; 3) identify QTLs …

Applause, Laughter, Chants, And Cheers: An Analysis Of The Rhetorical Skill Of The “Great Communicator”, Reagan Gresham Dye

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study takes a content analytic approach to analyze the use of rhetorical devices in televised Republican National Convention (RNC) addresses by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. By measuring rhetorical strategies and their relationship with the type, strength, synchrony, and duration of audience responses during the 1976, 1980, 1984, and 1992 RNCs, this study finds that Reagan had the ability to control speech factors to his advantage to promote positive audience response. This study finds that Reagan was adept at utilizing humor, external attacks, and advocating for his policy agenda in a way that elicited positive audience responses such as …

From The Tartan Tories To Scotland’S Social Democrats: The Remaking Of The Scottish National Party, Natalie Jayne Mauchline

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The United Kingdom is entering a period of great uncertainty, with the future of Scotland’s membership still in question. Following personal work experience in the Scottish Parliament, it became apparent to me that the Scottish National Party currently finds itself in a unique position. By utilizing constituency maps, this study will trace the evolution of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and explore how its changing nature allowed it to grow from a minute populist group seeking independence to a social justice party hoping to appeal to a more diverse group of voters by increasing credibility at the local level and …

The Challenge Of Anonymous And Ephemeral Social Media: Reflective Research Methodologies & Student-User Composing Practices, Sara Elyse West

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project seeks to provide a framework for navigating anonymous and ephemeral research spaces to theorize student-user composing practices on these social media platforms. This project reflects on and builds from the difficulties that arose during a previous project for which I collected data from a space that was both ephemeral and anonymous. That experience led me to the questions of use and research methods that I consider in this project, wherein I rely on critical reflective research practices to provide an effective methodology for examining the type of data in question. In this work, I consider how past and …

Zinc Injection As A Novel Castration Method And Carry-Over Effects Of Growth-Promoting Implants In Beef Cattle, Jase Joseph Ball

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In experiment 1, crossbred bull calves (n = 31; body weight (BW) = 114.3 ± 26.3 kg; age = 119 ± 18.4 d) were allocated to treatments by BW and birthdate. Twenty-seven bull calves were allocated to 3 injectable castration treatments (n = 9 calves/injectable castration treatment) to reflect 3 dosage levels of zinc. Intact bulls had greater (P < 0.001) serum testosterone concentrations compared to bulls injected with zinc. In experiment 2, crossbred beef bulls (n = 180) were blocked by initial BW (337 ± 10.9 kg; 6 blocks) and assigned randomly to 1 of 3 treatments on d 0: 1) INJ; received 1 mL (100 mg Zn) of a Zn solution in each testis, 2) BAN; banded, 3) BUL; intact. Final BW was greater (P < 0.01) for INJ (672 kg) and BUL (686 kg) compared to BAN (611 kg). Serum haptoglobin concentration was greater (P < 0.01) in INJ compared to BUL and BAN on d 1, 3, 5, and 7. Zinc injection resulted in sterilization but not castration in feedlot bulls although it was efficacious in castration of young bulls at branding. In experiment 3, crossbred beef steers (n = 106; BW = 96 ± 3.9 kg; age = 74 ± 2.0 d) were blocked by parity of dam (≤ 2 or > 2 parities), stratified by BW, calf age, calf sire, cow BW and body condition score to 1 of 4 treatments: 1) RALG, Ralgro, Ralgro, Revalor XS, at branding (D 0), weaning (D 156), and feedlot processing (D 325), 2) COMP, Component …

Antiproliferative Activity Of Carotenoids, Phenolic Compounds, And Volatile Terpenoids In Carrots (Daucus Carota L.), Brittany Frederick

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Epidemiological studies have shown an association between high carrot consumption and low prevalence of cancer. This observation has been thought to be attributed to carrot carotenoids. Despite this, various intervention trials have displayed no changes in incidence or increased incidence of cancer with carotenoid supplementation. It is possible that carrot phenolics are responsible for this association, though this has not been widely accepted. Volatile terpenoids from carrots have not been studied in this regard. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to compare the antiproliferative effects of carotenoids, phenolics, and volatile terpenoids extracted from carrots on Caco-2 colon cancer …

Factors Affecting The Longevity Of Individual Terrorists, Madeline Brice

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine factors that affect the longevity of individual terrorists. Previous studies on terrorist group longevity have focused on the decisions terrorist groups have made rather than focusing on factors that help individuals evade capture. Literature also suggests that terrorists that manage to stay active may be able to use this as a valuable recruiting tool. This project examines six different relationships with longevity, including Attorney General (AG) Guidelines, demographics, ideology, level of participation, number of activities, and sophistication of attack. To examine these relationships, data will be used from the American Terrorism Study …