Digital Commons Network^™

At Home Among Strangers, Aleksandra Gorbacheva

Theses and Dissertations

At Home Among Strangers is a character-driven documentary that explores the price of freedom for a gay person in a society that lacks freedom and civil rights. It follows an asylum seeker from Russia, Sasha Smirnov, during a crucial moment of his life: starting over in New York City at 40 as a journalist without English language skills. The film reflects on the choices one makes and the consequences of staying true to oneself.

Principal Laissez-Faire Leadership On Teacher Turnover: A Look At The Role Gender Has On Teachers With Different Levels Of Experience, Aarol Tyler Broyles

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this correlational study was to explore the relationship, if any, between school principals’ laissez-faire leadership and teacher turnover. My research expanded the literature to focus specifically on principal gender and teachers at different levels of teaching experience. I used the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) to measure the independent variable, principals’ laissez-faire leadership, and the Turnover Intention Scale (TIS-6) to survey the dependent variable, teacher turnover intention. The study found that experienced teachers who are led by laissez-faire principals are more likely to leave their job. The findings illuminated that it is teachers with more than three years …

Incorporating Spatial Relationship Information In Signal-To-Text Processing, Jeremy Elon Davis

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation outlines the development of a signal-to-text system that incorporates spatial relationship information to generate scene descriptions. Existing signal-to-text systems generate accurate descriptions in regards to information contained in an image. However, to date, no signalto- text system incorporates spatial relationship information. A survey of related work in the fields of object detection, signal-to-text, and spatial relationships in images is presented first. Three methodologies followed by evaluations were conducted in order to create the signal-to-text system: 1) generation of object localization results from a set of input images, 2) derivation of Level One Summaries from an input image, and …

Phosphorus Enriched Modified-Douglas Fir Biochar As A Soil Amendment, Beatrice Arwenyo

Theses and Dissertations

Biochar application as a soil additive is gaining global acceptance. In this era of climate change, biochar use for improved soil productivity is not just a sustainable eco-friendly substitute to synthetic fertilizer, but a noble contributor to the fight against climate change. Although biochar has been accredited with some environmental and agricultural benefits, most studies concentrated on agricultural and biowaste products as feedstocks. This research was designed to explore P-enriched modified-Douglas fir biochar potential as a soil additive. Using corn as a test crop, greenhouse studies were performed on acidic sandy soil, comparing phosphorus enriched modified-Douglas fir biochar efficacy to …

Workers Of Iniquity: Stories, Isaac Huckaby

Theses and Dissertations

In her essay, “The Grotesque in Southern Fiction,” Flannery O’Connor notes, “Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one” (44). In the introduction to this collection, I investigate the importance of the grotesque, gothic, and surreal elements that tend to make up the depictions of the South in the works of authors such as Flannery O’Connor and Brad Watson and several horror writers, such as Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, and H.P. Lovecraft, exploring how horror can be used to emphasize the …

Migration Ecology Of American White Pelicans: Circannual Movement, Geographic Range, And Annual Survival, Ryo Ogawa

Theses and Dissertations

Responses of migratory birds to seasonal climate and long-term environmental changes have been a central theme of avian migration ecology. Atmospheric conditions (e.g., winds and thermals), climate, and land cover and land use (LCLU) are major factors influencing the flights of soaring birds. Soaring American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) (hereafter, AWPEs) migrate between the subtropical Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and the temperate Northern Great Plains. American White Pelicans are also economically important piscivorous birds, causing enormous damages to the commercial Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) aquaculture in the Southeastern US. My studies aimed to evaluate the effects …

Knowing Your Audience: Identifying The Demographic Characteristics, Consumer Trends, Participation Levels, And Activity Preferences Of Mississippi’S Agritourism Clientele, Alexis Kate Turnipseed

Theses and Dissertations

The implementation of agritourism in the U.S. has increased in recent years. Agritourism provides social and economic benefits to rural communities, leads small-scale farms to achieve financial viability, and offers clientele an entertaining opportunity to meet local producers. Although multiple resources exist to educate individuals interested in pursuing agritourism business ventures, related materials cannot be generalized to Mississippi due to inapplicable data. This study aimed to gain knowledge about Mississippi’s agritourism clientele by administering surveys to attendees of the 2021 Mississippi State Fair. The survey instrument was amended from a previous study conducted by Nasers and Retallick (2009) in Iowa. …

Assessing Priority Bird Response To Open Pine Management In Eastern Mississippi, Holly Marie Todaro

Theses and Dissertations

Fire suppression, combined with lack of forest thinning and short-rotation, monodominant management, has drastically altered the landscape in the southeastern U.S., leading to the loss of open pine ecosystems and associated avian species. Management of open pine ecosystems is a common practice; yet, there remains uncertainty regarding how vegetation structure impacts priority species. Using empirical data, I assessed changes in species abundance and associated vegetation characteristics before and after management. I also sought to identify vegetation characteristics that influence home range establishment and microhabitat selection of Bachman’s Sparrows. Priority species were negatively associated with hardwood midstory and abundance per site …

Nesting Ecology Of Wood Ducks And Other Cavity-Nesting Ducks In Mississippi, Justin Taylor Gibson

Theses and Dissertations

Man-made nest boxes are surrogate nest sites widely used by waterfowl managers in North America to propagate free-ranging Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) and other cavity-nesting waterfowl. I monitored 129 and 174 nest boxes in 2020 and 2021, respectively, at Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge and York Woods, Mississippi. I evaluated site-specific biotic and abiotic factors that were potentially influential on nest survival of Wood Ducks and general nesting ecology and apparent nest success of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis) and Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus). Daily survival rate of Wood Ducks was negatively influenced by increasing encroaching vegetation at Noxubee NWR and …

Health-Related Caretaking In An Institutionalized Setting: Applying The Index Of Care To Burial 1 From The Mid-19th To Early-20th Century Mississippi State Asylum, Jackson, Ms., Darcie Badon

Theses and Dissertations

This project employs a modified version of the Bioarchaeology of Care (BoC) in an analysis of Burial 1 from the Mississippi State Asylum, Jackson, MS. Burial 1 is a skeletal individual recovered from the historic MSA cemetery. Notably, Burial 1 exhibits recidivistic cranial trauma in the form of cranial depression fractures (CDFs) and significant entheseal changes in the upper extremities. However, because there is no identifying information associated with Burial 1, interpretations of the caretaking they may have received, both prior to and after institutionalization, include short- and long-term outcomes from their community and the MSA. Additionally, Burial 1’s CDFs …

Optimized Selenium Status, Gut Microbiota, And Type 2 Diabetes, Ying-Chen Huang

Theses and Dissertations

We have previously demonstrated that long-term dietary Se deficiency in old Terc^-/- mice with humanized telomeres induces type-2 diabetes and exacerbates age-dependent increases in the abundance of A. muciniphila and Lachnospiraceae, which are related to obesity and metabolic syndromes. The objectives of this dissertation are: 1) to determine the minimum intake of Se required for type 2 diabetes prevention in middle-aged mice; 2) to evaluate the efficacy of A. muciniphila and R. torques (a Lachnospiraceae family member) to intervene dietary Se deficiency-induced type 2 diabetes and the underlying mechanisms; 3) to assess sex differences in the responses to …

The Effects Of Ecological Simulation For Ground Vehicle Mobility Forecasting, Christopher R. Hudson

Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) are being explored for use in military domains. Military UGVs operate in complex off-road environments. Vehicle mobility forecasting plays an important role in understanding how and where a vehicle can operate. Traditional mobility forecasting has been done using an analytical model known as the NATO Reference Mobility Model (NRMM). There has been a push to extend the forecasting capabilities of NRMM by integrating more simulation methods. Simulation enables the repeated testing of UGVs in scenarios that would be difficult or dangerous to study in real world testing. To accurately capture UGV performance in simulation, the operating …

Contextual Creativity: The Role Of Ambiguity In Creative Cognition, Sarah K. C. Dygert

Theses and Dissertations

This body of work is composed of three individual papers that each seek to explain individual differences in creative cognition. Paper 1 used structural equation modeling to examine the ways in which creative problem solving and creative idea generation relate or differ. Results from Paper 1 demonstrate that divergent thinking and creative problem solving are best represented as a bifactor model, bearing distinct domain-specific factors, as well as a shared domain-general factor. Though working memory and fluency of memory retrieval explained significant portions of the domain-specific constructs, they only explained ~2% of variance in the domain-general factor. Paper 2 explores …

Novel Strategies In Near Infrared Spectroscopy (Nirs) And Multivariate Analysis (Mva) For Detecting And Profiling Pathogens And Diseases Of Agricultural Importance., Johjan Mariana Santos Rivera

Theses and Dissertations

The time required for the identification of pathogens is an important determinant of infection-related mortality rates and disease spread for species of relevance in agriculture. Conventional identification methods require a processing time of at least one to twenty days. Therefore, inaccurate empirical treatments are often provided while awaiting further identification, such that most cases progress with further aggravation of symptoms, contamination of other animals or plants, generating economic loss from decreased yield, and increased mitigation costs. Thus, there is a need for innovative, non-destructive, and rapid analytical techniques that provide reagent-free, portable, reliable, and holistic approaches to detect diseases in …

A Comparative Study On The Functionality Of Porcine Dura As A Tissue-Engineered Dura Mater Graft For Clinical Applications, Ashma Sharma

Theses and Dissertations

Damage to dura mater may occur during intracranial or spinal surgeries, which can result in cerebrospinal fluid leakage as well as other potentially fatal physiological changes. As a result, biological scaffolds derived from xenogeneic materials are typically used to repair and regenerate dura mater post intracranial or spinal surgeries. In this study we explore the mechanics, structure, and immunological capacity of xenogeneic dura mater to be considered as a replacement for human dura. A comparative analysis is done between native porcine dura and a commercially available bovine collagen-based dura graft. Native porcine dura mater was decellularized and subjected to mechanical …

Evaluation Of Non-Labeled Herbicides In Cotton Production In Mississippi, Zaim Ugljic

Theses and Dissertations

Weed resistance has decreased the number of herbicides that provide effective weed control in cotton. Studies were conducted to determine weed control efficacy and crop safety in cotton with herbicides not currently labeled for use in the crop. Herbicides were applied at two different timings near Starkville and Brooksville, MS. Cotton injury following application of ametryn, bentazon, florpyrauxifen-benzyl, topramezone and tolpyralate at the 3-5 or the 8-10 node growth stage ranged from 24 to 43% and 15 to 51%, respectively, up to 56 days after application. Except for bentazon, applying non-labeled herbicides to cotton at the 3-5 or 8-10 node …

Identification Of Pneumococcal Membrane Proteins Involved In Colonization/Biofilm Formation And Cognate Host Cellular Receptors, Yoonsung Hu

Theses and Dissertations

Colonization is prerequisite for infection and transmission of Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus. Currently available pneumococcal conjugate and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines can provide protection against a limited number of capsular serotypes. Implementation of vaccines has decreased the frequency of invasive pneumococcal disease and their colonization rates, but only in a serotype-dependent manner. This has led to serotype replacement in pneumococcal ecology and increased invasive disease caused by non-vaccine serotypes. Development of conserved protein-based vaccine that can provide protection against all pneumococcal serotypes is needed. Numerous surface proteins are conserved in all serotypes, and some are known to be involved in …

Is Agriculture Being Implemented In Private School Classrooms? The Impact Of Teacher Willingness And Availability Of Resources., Casey Moss

Theses and Dissertations

Agricultural literacy has been a topic of concern as most of the population have little to no understanding of agriculture, and the impact it has on society. Agricultural literacy can be defined as “having knowledge and understanding of agriculturally related scientific and technologically based concepts and processes required for personal decision making” (Meischen & Trexler, 2003, p.44). Numerous studies have been conducted to determine the significance of agricultural literacy beginning with elementary aged children and continuing through high school. The majority of studies conducted focus on public school students and teachers. This has led to a gap in the knowledge …

Plugging Into A New Age: The Impact Of Social Media Use On Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions Of Production Agriculture And Consumer Decisions, Shannon K. Allen

Theses and Dissertations

Today, 84% of young adults between the ages of 18-29 use at least one social media site (Pew Research Center, 2020) and are in the stages of emerging adulthood where they are making independent decisions for the first time (Arnett, 2000). As society becomes more technologically advanced, we become further removed from agriculture (Powell & Agnew, 2011; Dale et al., 2017). Thus, resulting in a separation between consumer and producer (Wilson & Lusk, 2020; Holt & Cartmell, 2013). This leaves the opportunity for society to turn to social media for agriculture information leading to negative perceptions of agriculture (Eyck, 2000; …

Comparison Of Abdominal Computed Tomography To Ultrasound In The Diagnosis Of Canine Biliary Disease Manifesting As Acute Abdominal Signs, Shanna Christine Marroquin

Theses and Dissertations

Biliary diseases are uncommon, potentially fatal causes of acute abdomen in dogs. Little information is present comparing the performance of computed tomography (CT) to ultrasound in identifying canine biliary pathology. Thirty-five client-owned dogs presenting for acute abdomen signs received an abdominal ultrasound and contrast-enhanced abdominal CT. Two authors reviewed the randomized, anonymized CT and ultrasound studies. Twenty-eight dogs had biliary pathology and seven dogs serving as controls had no evidence of biliary disease. The final diagnoses of patients with biliary pathology included cholelithiasis, gallbladder mucoceles, cholangiohepatitis/cholangitis, extrahepatic biliary obstruction, gallbladder wall edema, gallbladder wall mass, and cystic mucosal hyperplasia. Computed …

Assessing The Microbiological Profile Of Raw Goat Milk And Understanding Producer Practices And Perceptions, Jacinda Skye Leopard

Theses and Dissertations

Raw milk sales are legal in 30 states, including Mississippi, where regulations are largely management-based and not food-safety related. The research objectives were to analyze the microbial profile of raw goat milk from Mississippi farms and assess food safety practices and perceptions of dairy goat farmers. Deficiencies and opportunities for improvement in raw goat milk safety were identified. Staphylococcus spp. was present in most (70%) milk samples but aligned with drying-off. E. coli, Enterobacteriaceae, and coliforms were observed in 4, 10, and 12 samples, respectively; no Salmonella spp. or Listeria monocytogenes were detected. The survey highlighted farmers' need for …

Evaluating The Role Of Area, Isolation, And Human Behavior On Meso-Mammals In A Small Statistical Demographic Area, Brittney Palode

Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization offers unique challenges for wildlife. The urban landscape is fragmented and changes available resources for wildlife. Human-dominated landscapes can provide food, shelter, or cover through human-subsidized resources. However, to thrive in human-dominated landscapes, wildlife must adapt or disperse, otherwise they will die. In this study, I investigated how the urban landscape and human behavior influence urban wildlife occurrence. I established 35 camera sites during April 2020. I surveyed residential property dwellers around each camera site to determine what behavior they performed that could increase species occurrence. Gray fox and coyote site use decreased with increased isolation while no species …

Improving Nutrition And Food Safety Knowledge Of Small-Scale Fish Processors In Delta State, Nigeria, Grace Adeola Adegoye

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Fish is an affordable animal source food that provides nutrition and serves as a source of income for many people especially women in Nigeria. Smoking and sun drying are the processing methods in practice that expose the fish products to possible contaminants which may consequentially negate their nutritive value.

Aim: To improve the knowledge of fish processors on nutrition and safe fish handling.

Methodology: A 3-day participatory training was organized to train 122 fish processors, 95 women, and 25 men. The training was conducted in the three senatorial districts in Delta State, Nigeria. Knowledge was assessed using the pre …

Performance Enhancement Of Wide-Range Perception Issues For Autonomous Vehicles, Suvash Sharma

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the mission-critical nature of the autonomous driving application, underlying algorithms for scene understanding should be given special care during their development. Mostly, they should be designed with precise consideration of accuracy and run-time. Accuracy should be considered strictly which if compromised leads to faulty interpretation of the environment that may ultimately result in accidental scenarios. On the other hand, run-time holds an important position as the delayed understanding of the scene would hamper the real-time response of the vehicle which again leads to unforeseen accidental cases. These factors come as the functions of several factors such as the …

The Effect Of Sprinkler Cooling On Water Conservation, House Environment, And Broiler Performance, Jonathan W. Moon

Theses and Dissertations

Maintaining performance and mitigating heat stress of the modern broiler is a challenging task during hot weather conditions. Increased demand of high quality reasonably priced animal protein and predictions of future limited water availability make sustainability and water conservation a worthwhile goal for the poultry industry. The most used form for cooling broilers after wind speed is evaporative cool cell (CC) systems. Though highly effective at cooling the incoming air, they substantially increase the relative humidity inside the house, which hinders the bird’s ability to cool itself through evaporative respiration. Cool cells also utilize mass amounts of water. The objective …

“Infantry Would Not Do:” Appalachia, The Environment, And The Evolution Of Mountain Warfare During The American Civil War, Lucas Michael Wilder

Theses and Dissertations

Union General Ambrose E. Burnside launched his invasion of East Tennessee in the summer of 1863. The corps he used consisted of half-infantry and half-mounted units to utilize their speed to overcome mountain obstacles. The successful campaign and the capture of the agriculturally rich region of East Tennessee and its vital East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad deprived the Confederacy of resources, ultimately contributing to Confederate defeat. The American Civil War saw commanders plunge into the mountains of Appalachia and encounter a terrain and a people with which many were unacquainted. This dissertation argues that their tactics and strategies for dealing …

Evaluating Soil Health Changes Following Cover Crop And No-Till Integration Into A Soybean (Glycine Max) Cropping System In The Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Alexandra Gwin Firth

Theses and Dissertations

The transition of natural landscapes to intensive agricultural uses has resulted in severe loss of soil organic carbon (SOC), increased CO₂ emissions, river depletion, and groundwater overdraft. Despite negative documented effects of agricultural land use (i.e., soil erosion, nutrient runoff) on critical natural resources (i.e., water, soil), food production must increase to meet the demands of a rising human population. Given the environmental and agricultural productivity concerns of intensely managed soils, it is critical to implement conservation practices that mitigate the negative effects of crop production and enhance environmental integrity. In the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) region of Mississippi, USA, …

Ultrastructure Of Cimex Lectularius L. (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) Salivary Glands After A Blood Meal Infected With Bartonella Henselae (Hyphomicrobiales: Bartonellaceae), Afsoon Sabet

Theses and Dissertations

Bed bugs (Hemiptera:Cimicidae) are a common, hematophagous ectoparasite of humans and other animals, and are experiencing an international resurgence. Cimicids have been implicated in the transmission many disease agents, including various Bartonella species, however disease transmission has not yet been confirmed. Bartonella spp. are transmitted by a variety of arthropods, including fleas, lice and sand flies, and it is speculated that bed bugs may also serve as a potential vector. In this study, we used an artificial membrane to feed two groups of adult Cimex lectularius rabbit blood, either infected or uninfected with Bartonella henselae. After two weeks, the …

Economic Aspects Of U.S. Catfish Farming: Technological Progress, Cost Of Regulations, And Economic Contribution, Shraddha Gurupad Hegde

Theses and Dissertations

This research provides a comprehensive picture of the economic status of the U.S. catfish industry through investigating several critical economic aspects such as technological progress, functional production relationships in intensive systems, regulatory costs, and economic contribution of the industry. The use of primary data is a unique aspect of this work reflecting the economic realities of catfish farms. Primary data collected through extensive in-person farm surveys covered over two-thirds of the catfish production areas in the U.S. The results of the study provided evidence of intensification in the U.S. catfish industry through increased adoption of two relatively new alternative production …

A Harmonic Radar System For Honey Bee Tracking To Better Understand Colony Collapse Disorder, William B. Woo

Theses and Dissertations

Honey bees are some of the most important pollinators for agriculture in the world and are pivotal to the health of worldwide ecosystems. Like all insects, bees struggle with exposure to parasites, diseases, and other environmental factors that can negatively affect the overall health of the colony. Recently, a new unexplainable phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has been wreaking havoc on bee populations worldwide. As a result, a system capable of tracking bees is required to understand the different contributions of chemicals, parasites, etc. to CCD. This research seeks to show data supporting the development of systems for an …