Digital Commons Network^™

Identifying Effective Teaching And Recruitment Strategies Used By Efnep In Reaching Limited Income Audiences In The United States, Alexandria Mcleod

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The two articles presented in this thesis used a researcher-developed literature-based survey instrument to collect data on the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) in the United States. Data was collected on methods of teaching, communication technologies used, recruitment strategies, barriers to attending classes, and program assistant demographic data. There were 803 program assistants working during the 2018-2019 program year. There were 346 program assistants who completed the 35-question survey instrument during data collection.

The first article focused on identifying effective teaching strategies used to increase program engagement by collecting data on program characteristics, methods of teaching, and educational …

Development Of Biomaterials For Drug Delivery, Raquel De Castro

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drug delivery systems (DDS) have highly evolved in the last decades with the development of hydrogels and nanoparticles. However, high systemic uptake, side effects, low bioavailability, and encapsulation efficiency continue to be a major hurdle faced by such DDSs.

Nanoparticles and hydrogels can be specifically designed for targeted DDSs to mitigate some of the problems. This dissertation aimed to design two DDSs for ocular drug delivery and one for cancer treatment. The first project sought to develop chitosan nanoparticles (Cs-NP) using PEGDA as a copolymer to encapsulate gentamicin (GtS) for ocular drug delivery. Cs-NPs contain positive charges that can interact …

Economic Feasibility Of Sub-Surfaced Poultry Litter, James Timothy Stults

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Livestock producers routinely spread fertilizer or broadcast poultry litter to improve forage production. With poultry litter widely available across the Southeastern United States and a cheaper source of plant nutrition than fertilizer when proximal to application sites, the novel application of litter below the soil surface, while costly, allows for greater nutrient retention than broadcasting. Since quantifying costs and benefits of sub-surface litter application (SSLA) is complex, we develop and present a spreadsheet tool for automated comparison between SSLA, fertilizer, and broadcasted litter for user-specific scenarios involving equipment choices (new, used, custom), desired nutrient needs for crops grown, litter nutrient …

Caring Against The Carceral: How Families Mediate The Social Death Of Incarceration, Jessica Claire

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Incarceration, especially in the United States, is deeply related to issues of racism, poverty, and citizenship. These particular experiences are the result of a history of biopolitical control affecting Black and brown communities and have a quintessential origin in enslavement. Those who are incarcerated are isolated, dishonored, and powerless as a result of the criminalization of race and poverty. These observations led to questions surrounding the particular impact families may have on the experiences of those who are incarcerated. Families of Incarcerated Loved ones, or FOILs, mediate incarceration through intentional socialization which has the potential to counteract the realities of …

Examining The Demographic And Situational Characteristics That Predict News-Media Coverage Of Bias Homicides:, Caitlin Tidwell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent trends indicate that incidents of hate crime have become increasingly more violent since 2017, resulting in an overall increase in incidents of bias homicide specifically. Knowledge of bias crime among the general public largely derives from news media sources and, unfortunately, research that illustrates how the media covers and/or portrays bias crime incidents remains underdeveloped. Using theories of strategic news making, the current study examines the types of bias homicide incidents that receive media coverage by constructing a unique database of newspaper articles from prominent, national papers for 216 bias homicides that occurred between 2000 and 2019 drawn from …

Alcohol Abuse And Misuse Amongst Homeless Persons In Northwest Arkansas, Reilly Gibson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol misuse and abuse has been found to be a detrimental risk to individuals having significant impact on their overall health and well-being. Any comprehensive attempt at examining the intersection of alcohol abuse history along with one’s risks and resources as it relates to abuse history among homeless individuals is missing. Using in-depth interviews among homeless adults in Northwest Arkansas (n=168), the current study examines the role of social vulnerabilities, individual risks, and social and psychological resources in explaining alcohol abuse history. Findings support the hypothesis that a person’s vulnerabilities and risks are associated with alcohol abuse histories. Persons who …

“They’Re Bringing Drugs... They’Re Bringing Crime... They’Re Rapists”: Exploring Latino Immigration, Crime, And Voting Patterns In The 2016 Presidential Election, Brogan Estelle Arguelles

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The political race for the 2016 United States President brimmed with conflict over an array of issues, notably Latino immigration from Mexico and Latin America to the U.S. The rhetoric of then Presidential Candidate Donald Trump centered around the idea that Mexico was not sending its finest immigrants; that, in place, they were sending rapists and criminals. This rhetoric was heard loud and clear and has since affected various U.S. policies and programs that actively exclude Latino immigrants. Using census data from 2015, rates of immigration and rates of violent crime were compared against 2016 election results, all at the …

Integrating Systems, Processes, And Human Judgment: Three Essays On Value Creation With Supply Chain Analytics, Rebekah Inez Brau

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Big-data, analytics, automation, and machine learning are changing the role of managers in supply chain and operations functions. Extant research indicates that effective value creation by analytics is achieved through careful attention to three components: technology, people, and processes. As such, the purpose of my dissertation is to improve the integration of people in current supply chain and operations management systems with ever-changing technologies and processes. I focus on one critical function—demand planning—since it is increasingly influenced by predictive analytics yet can still require human judgment. My dissertation is comprised of three essays as follow.

In Essay 1, I implement …

Investing In Our Future: A State-Level Analysis Of The Relationship Between Education Funding And Economic Growth, Corinna Campbell-Green

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research paper aims to investigate associations between education investments and economic growth on the state level. These relationships are measured in terms of two dependent variables: state gross domestic product output and cumulative personal incomes by state. These dependent variables, or indicators of economic growth were selected from previous supportive literature. The present study analyzes publicly available aggregate school finance data reports and aggregate GDP output reports for the year of 2018. Two hypotheses were tested to assess these associations. The results of the present study showed significant, positive associations for both tested hypotheses. This study further supports existing …

Mvskoke-Nene Momis Komet Yvkvpvkkeyetos/We Keep Walking The Mvskoke Path: A Reflexive And Phenomenological Ethnographic Study Of The Ceremonial Beliefs And Practices Of A Modern Mvskoke Community In Florida, Christopher B. Bolfing

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an ethnographic investigation of the intersection between cosmology, worldview, ethnoecology, and traditional religious performance, particularly in terms of the relationship between subjective experience and intersubjectivity. It is a study of how people come to understand the world – an attempt to understand understanding. I explore the acquisition of social, cultural, and ecological knowledge through participation in the traditional religious ceremonialism of a Mvskoke ceremonial community, called the Busk. I write about living people and living religious traditions, but I am also a member of this community and, therefore, I am also telling my own story. Reflexivity, then, …

Poems And Translations, Rome Hernández Morgan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This document is separated into two parts, a collection of original poems and a collection of translations of the crônicas of Rubem Braga. The collection of poems, titled, “Because I Never See You,” attempt to parse the complexities of familial and intimate relationships, addiction, and BIPOC experience. The collection of translations attempts to offer a small sample of the crônicas of Rubem Braga (1913-1990), a Brazilian journalist who is known throughout Brazil for “elevating” the form of the crônica from ephemera to the literary.

Immersive Systems And User Engagement Through Neurois Lens, Ali Balapour

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Immersive systems (e.g., Virtual Reality) are at the forefront of the next generation of innovative technologies. Recent technological advancements have made them viable for businesses and individuals to adopt. For example, some realtors now offer virtual house tours in the absence of walk-ins. The concept of “immersion” is at the heart of these technologies. However, despite the fact that this concept has been studied for almost three decades, our understanding remains weak and inconsistent. Specifically, there remains a lack of consensus on what it is, its antecedents, and how it should be measured.

This dissertation includes two essays. In Essay …

Artistry In Air: The Story Of The Younkins, Beth Lewis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For sixty years, a Northwest Arkansas family has dominated the world of general aviation by drawing upon its wealth of expertise, innovation and exceptional talent. Jim Younkin, an electrical engineer, invented an autopilot series that revolutionized the industry. His son, Bobby became one of the top aerobatic pilots in the world and Jim’s grandchildren, Matt and Amanda, also became critically acclaimed performers in the air show business. Like his father, Matt is ranked among the best of pilots in the industry. Jim also received national recognition for his stunning recreations of and restorations of historical aircraft. Bobby operated Younkin Airshows, …

Analysis Of Photodetector Based On Zinc Oxide And Cesium Lead Bromide Heterostructure With Interdigital Metallization, Tanveer Ahmed Siddique

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, photodetector based on the zinc oxide and cesium lead bromide hetero structure were fabricated and characterized. Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were synthesized using solution processing and cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3) thin film was synthesized using two step deposition method. Three phonon modes were obtained by the Raman spectroscopy of ZnO nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction spectra of ZnO exhibits five exciton peaks which denotes that the synthesized ZnO structure was of good crystallinity with wurtzite hexagonal phase. The absorbance spectrum of ZnO shows the bandgap (Eg) in the order of 3.5 eV that aligns with reported results. The photoluminescence …

Role Of Reptile-Invertebrate Interactions In Enigmatic Reptile Declines, Meredith Swartwout

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reptile populations are declining world-wide and the mechanisms behind many of these declines remain enigmatic. Food web interactions (i.e., reduced prey availability or increased predation) have been implicated behind some reptile declines. However, relatively little is known about predation on lizard and snake eggs, despite egg survival being important for population dynamics of some species. Ants are important predators of squamate reptile eggs in tropical and temperate systems. In Costa Rica, long-term declines in terrestrial anole lizards were linked with reduced leaf litter depth, a factor that could influence egg vulnerability to ant predation. Fire ants (genus Solenopsis) are aggressive …

The Jordanian Novel In Postmodern Context, Hamed Alalamat

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the Jordanian culture is gradually impacted by the globalization process of late capitalism, this study argues that many Jordanian novels exhibit a number of postmodern characteristics, such as blurring boundaries and disrupting hierarchies, the use of pastiche as a compositional technique, formal fragmentation, and the weakness of utopian imagination. Adopting Fredric Jameson’s theory of postmodernism as a framework, the study explores ten Jordanian novels written between 1986 and 2016 to demonstrate that the modernization process and the cultural changes in the Arab world, in general, and in the Jordanian society, in particular, have increased the density of postmodern features …

Prediction, Recommendation And Group Analytics Models In The Domain Of Mashup Services And Cyber-Argumentation Platform, Md Mahfuzer Rahman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mashup application development is becoming a widespread software development practice due to its appeal for a shorter application development period. Application developers usually use web APIs from different sources to create a new streamlined service and provide various features to end-users. This kind of practice saves time, ensures reliability, accuracy, and security in the developed applications. Mashup application developers integrate these available APIs into their applications. Still, they have to go through thousands of available web APIs and chose only a few appropriate ones for their application. Recommending relevant web APIs might help application developers in this situation. However, very …

The Impact Of Media Algorithms On The Habermassian Public Sphere And Discourse, Kendal Heavner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Media algorithms are increasing in use among popular social networking sites (Geiger, 2009).Algorithms are used to sort a users’ social media feed based on relevance and interest rather than content publish time (Geiger, 2009). Widely accepted and recognized as influential in the media sector, algorithms create a highly personalized experience for the individual viewer. However, some scholars argue the specified curation of media based on a user’s personal preferences leads to a “filter bubble,” an online-based self-fulfilling prophecy in which users’ pre-existing opinions are continually reaffirmed. Because of this, this thesis will examine the intersection of algorithms and media theory. …

Community And Idolatry: San Francisco Cajonos, Yalalag, And Betaza Through The Criminal Court Of Villa Alta, 1700-1704, Jessica Mitchell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The trials of San Francisco Cajonos and Betaza and Yalálag heard in Villa Alta’s criminal court depict many important facets of life in Colonial Oaxaca, and they especially paint the picture of community, how it was defined and how it operated in reality. Looking specifically at these two rich examples in Villa Alta’s criminal court, at the time, idolatry – native religion, rituals, and devotions defined by Catholics as idolatrous -- helped shape the lines of community and defined who belonged in which space. It also highlights how betrayal and revenge were construed by a community and the response for …

Narrative Inquiry: Life Experiences Of Elite Athletes, Sarah Elizabeth Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Elite athletes face numerous personal and professional pressures and high-stress experiences; however, there is a gap in the literature connecting identity development with these life experiences. Using narrative inquiry analysis with six emerging adult athletes competing at professional and Olympic levels, this study identified self-narratives they created from life experiences within the context of sport and analyzed when these meanings were formed. Athletes described experiences causing great psychological disturbances as a normal risk within their sport and needing to regulate or compartmentalize their emotions to get through those experiences. Participants discussed various roles they play within their team but lacked …

Replication And Tribological Engineering Of Physical Surfaces Using Two-Photon Lithography, Shelby Robert Maddox

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Up to one-fifth of all energy consumed each year goes directly to overcoming frictional effects. This waste will remain even if renewable energy becomes feasible as a large-scale replacement for conventional fuel sources. If that wasted energy could be saved instead, then overall energy consumption could either decrease or be redirected to where it would be most beneficial to human and environmental flourishing. To this end, there is a need for strategies and techniques to reduce frictional energy loss. It is well established that surface texturing can be used to reduce friction. There are many industrial methods in current use …

Spatial Assessment Of Urban Growth In Cities Of The Decapolis; And The Implications For Modern Cities, Wade A. Pierson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Levant’s Decapolis was a network of ten cities in Greco-Roman Israel, Jordan, and Syria that established a thriving economic community. The Decapolis was home to ancient and modern cities like Damascus (Dammásq) and Amman (Philadelphia). Despite the various origins of these cities, Roman administration and their city planners oversaw the implementation of idealized Roman city form throughout the region. Three Decapolis cities represent intriguing examples of the larger confederation. Philadelphia (Amman), Gerasa (Jerash), and Gadara (Umm Qais) represent cities of common original urban form which developed drastically diverse urban morphologies over time.

Spatial analyses of these cities required working …

Optimization Of Broken Rice Consumption Through Understanding The Confluence Of Sensory And Economic Preferences, Matthew Greer Richardson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The authors were perplexed by the seeming dichotomy between the majority 70% of Haitian consumers being chronically food insecure, but still preferring to pay premium international market prices for long-grain rice that constitutes 30% of the calories in this poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. The aim of this study was to determine the optimal percent broken rice in regards to price specifically to Haiti. Optimization between quality and price point is seen as the best rice for the price, and can be found through combining individual preferences with willingness to pay. Broken rice (brokens) garner a significantly discounted price …

Telepractice In The Communication Treatment Of Individuals With Post-Stroke Aphasia: Systematic Review, Gayanthi Kodituwakku-Wewalwala

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Telepractice, a branch of telehealth, which is the delivery of services to distant sites employing telecommunication, has been developing rapidly nowadays. Owing to the nature of the condition and treatment foci in aphasia, telepractice has been identified as a potential mode for intervention to persons with aphasia (PWA) in the field of speech-language pathology. Based on the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (2005), telepractice is considered a means to extend services to a wider context overcoming the barriers of transportation, costs, and limited availability of services. Thus, exploration of treatment accessibility to underserved populations in middle/low-income countries or rural areas via …

Quantifying The Leaching Of Nutrients And Metals In A Pasture Soil As Affected By Excreta Of Ruminants Fed Alternative Diets, Ian Kennedy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The leaching of nitrate through the soil profile and into adjacent water systems has been a leading cause of water pollution and results in the loss of a valuable nutrient from animal production systems. Forage-based animal production systems may be improved through manipulation of animal diets that incorporate tannins and total polyphenolic compounds with feed, increasing the amount of nitrogen (N) retained by an animal/decreasing rates of digestion and altering the N-containing compounds that are excreted and deposited onto soil. Incorporating the forage legumes sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneate [Dumont de Courset] G. Don) and lablab (Lablab purpurues L.) into the …

Starter Nitrogen Source And Preflood Nitrogen Rate Effects On Rice Grown On Clay Soils, Linda Rachelle Martin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Seedling rice (Oryza sativa L.) grown on clayey-textured soils generally develops slowly as compared to loamy-textured soils. Our research examined the effects of starter-N source and preflood-N rates on canopy closure, total aboveground N uptake, and grain yield of rice grown on clayey-textured soils. Eleven field trials were established in Arkansas and Mississippi including five trials with a hybrid cultivar and six trials using a pure-line cultivar. Starter-N sources included no starter-N (NONE), ammonium sulfate (AMS), diammonium phosphate (DAP), and urea (UREA) applied at 24 kg N ha-1 at the rice 2-leaf stage and five preflood-N rates ranging from 0-224 …

Characteristic Reassignment For Hardware Trojan Detection, Noah Waller

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the current business model and increasing complexity of hardware designs, third-party Intellectual Properties (IPs) are prevalently incorporated into first-party designs. However, the use of third-party IPs increases security concerns related to hardware Trojans inserted by attackers. A core threat posed by Hardware Trojans is the difficulty in detecting such malicious insertions/alternations in order to prevent the damage. This thesis work provides major improvements on a soft IP analysis methodology and tool known as the Structural Checking tool, which analyzes Register-Transfer Level (RTL) soft IPs for determining their functionalities and screening for hardware Trojans. This is done by breaking down …

The Impact Of Mindfulness On Healthy Food Choices, Kaylea Hopfer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The practice of mindfulness has a long history in research, particularly psychological studies. In this paper I examine the effects of a short mindfulness intervention on healthy food purchases. Specifically, I developed an online survey and recruited 634 participants via Prolific between July 24 - July 27, 2020. I randomly assigned participants to either a mindfulness manipulation or a control condition. Following treatment (or control) participants completed a food choice task and various other control. Following the survey, I analyzed data using R version 4.0.2 (2020-06-22) and R-Studio. I estimated three different regression models, ordinary least squares (OLS), Poisson, and …

Facts From Fiction: Packaging Misinformation, Angel Ray Houts

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous research established that readers learn both accurate and inaccurate information from fictional stories. The current study explored factors that might moderate the impact of misinformation. Participants read fictional stories that contain three assertions; the first two were labeled as set-up assertions, and the last were labeled as the critical assertion. First, there was a manipulation of plausibility of information within the stories by presenting either assertions with truthful information, assertions with small lies (plausible misinformation), or assertions with big lies (implausible misinformation). Second, there was manipulation of reliability of the fictional stories by presenting big lies or truthful information …

Influence Of Local- And Landscape-Scale Factors On Avian Assemblage In Fragmented Tallgrass Prairie Landscape, Pooja Panwar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Agricultural expansion and increasing urbanization are driving rapid landscape modification in the Tallgrass prairies ecosystem and are affecting biodiversity at multiple spatial scales. Thus, the conservation of fragmented grassland and steeply declining grassland avifauna is dependent on the relationship between local- and landscape-scale factors and avian assemblage. We also need to understand how these factors, operating at different spatial scales, drive the occupancy of different guilds in the assemblage. We conducted repeated point count surveys during the breeding season of 2019 at 66 grassland sites across Arkansas and Missouri, USA. We developed a multi-species occupancy model to estimate species richness, …