Digital Commons Network^™

The In-Betweens Of Lifeworlds: Double Clicks Of Becoming-Entrepreneurial, Ahmed Amin

Theses and Dissertations

In this project, I de-naturalize dynamics of the establishment of social entrepreneurship as a political project that has on the underside of it after-modern passions and desires with an affinity to the European Renaissance and the West as, according to Michel-Rolph Trouillot, “a project not a place, a multi-layered enterprise in transparent universality” (Trouillot, 1991: 32). I purse de-naturalization through de-scription. I de-scribe and trace relationships and inter-actions that are made and re-made in the name of social entrepreneurship. In those very inter-actions, entrepreneurial bodies are re-assembled. According to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (1987), “we know nothing about a …

Characterizing The Spatial Variation Of Crop Water Productivity For Variable-Rate Irrigation Management, Jeffrey David Svedin

Theses and Dissertations

Irrigated agriculture is the primary consumer of limited worldwide freshwater resources. Drought, growing world populations, and environmental demands compete with irrigation for freshwater resources"”threatening sustainable global food, fuel, and fiber production. This escalating global crisis demands that agriculture produce more food using less water. Traditional irrigation management has used technology to apply uniform irrigation rates across landscapes"”ignoring natural environmental variation. This provides inherent inefficiencies of over- or under- irrigation within individual fields. Variable-rate irrigation (VRI) is modern technology that employs global positioning systems and geographic information systems to match irrigation to spatially variable crop water demands within a field. Although …

Evaluating The Efficacy Of Liposomal Delivery Of Nedaplatin In Enhancing Cytotoxicity, Genotoxicity And Dna Damage In Lung, Breast, And Osteosarcoma Cancer Cell Lines, Salma Abdelnaser

Theses and Dissertations

Today, cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide where chemotherapy is one of the common strategies to control it. Platinum-based chemotherapeutic drugs (PBDs) are a mainstay in chemotherapy due to their high effectiveness in a wide spectrum of cancer types. Severe toxicity and innate or acquired drug resistance are the two main problems limiting PBD clinical use. One approach to overcome both problems is by employing cancer-targeting drug delivery systems where liposomes, in particular, are gaining much attention in oncology application and have established superior potency compared to the corresponding free drugs in clinical application already. This study …

The Effects Of Neoliberalism On Poverty In Egypt, Adham Sameh Elmeligy

Theses and Dissertations

The issue of poverty is one of the major obstacles for economic and social development. Also, it is considered one of the key problems that negatively impact global economy. Egypt is one of the countries that suffered from poverty since 1960s. Poverty had widened the gap between the rich and poor. In 1990s, Egypt implemented neoliberal policies- namely structural readjustment and economic liberalization programs- for the sake of enhancing the economy and alleviating poverty. This thesis primarily examines the role of structural readjustment and economic liberalization programs in developing GDP and its negative impact on poverty reduction in Egypt. Furthermore, …

Perceptions Of Education For Sustainable Development In Egypt: Prospective Changes In Teaching Practices, Hanan Salah Yusuf Abozaied

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the perceptions of university faculty members about the concept of Sustainable Development (SD) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). It focuses on how their different perceptions influenced their teaching practices while addressing sustainability issues with students. The participants are 18 academics in the English department under the faculty of Arts and Humanities in a private university in Egypt. They teach two academic language courses in the advanced level for undergraduates in different disciplines. The study adopts a sociocultural theoretical framework. It uses a qualitative research design. A preliminary survey was conducted at the beginning of the semester …

Negotiation Of Space In Garden City: Urban Securitization, Gender, Everydayness And Affective Encounters., Diana Magdy

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is based on ethnographic research that explores the everyday lives of the group of people and the interplay of affect, gender and governmentality in Garden City as a securitized space. The research looks at the erection of walls, the ubiquity of barricades and checkpoints across Cairo post-2011 with focus on Garden City, which demonstrates the technologies of separation, domination, and control producing different spatial arrangement. Moreover, these techniques of control become an expression of power and the securitization of urban life as well as imposing a feeling of incarceration in the city. Nevertheless, the research goes beyond this …

The Woman’S Christian Temperance Union On Local, State And Federal Government: An Arkansas Case Study, 1879-1984, Michael Fondren

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the history of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in Arkansas through their state and local unions as a case study of their influence and ultimate reliance of federal administration to intervene in local restrictions on alcohol. From pioneering local option tactics and supporting legislation to prohibit alcohol in the state, to activity beyond the 1933 repeal, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was an essential temperance force that shaped the history of prohibition in Arkansas from its creation to its final days from 1876 to 1984. This paper outlines the history of the organization’s most prominent campaigns during …

Together But Unequal: A Study Of Undergraduate Student Persistence, Mia Phillips

Theses and Dissertations

The continued disparities that exist in achievement in higher education are becoming increasingly more complex yet are of paramount importance to understand and solve. Scholarly research focusing on things like persistence, attainment, attrition, engagement, and other factors that are major facets of student success have been studied for several decades by leading scholars in the field, however, these studies typically focus on the traditional face-to-face course environment. With the proliferation and exponential growth of online courses in the past decade, it is important to understand how students fare in what is becoming the primary mode of instruction for many college …

On Memory And The Radical Black Imagination, Todd Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

On Memory and the Radical Black Imagination is an exploration of the personal, sociological, and historical elements contained within the art of T. Eliott Mansa (Todd Eliott Thomas) Mansa examines the memorialization of black death and the radical black imagination. included are illustrations of specific art works and descriptions.

Effect Of Mnemonics On The Vocabulary Acquisition And Retention Of High School Students With Learning Disabilities, Erin L. Whitescarver

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of mnemonic devices on the acquisition and retention of social studies vocabulary by high school students with learning disabilities. Six students, four male and two female, from a pull-out U.S. history I resource class participated in the study. The research was conducted using a single-subject ABAB design. During baseline, students were evaluated on their acquisition of vocabulary taught using traditional methods. During intervention, students were evaluated on their retention of vocabulary taught using teacher created mnemonic devices. Results show that the use of mnemonic devices increased the acquisition and retention …

Layered Histories, Interpretive Desires, Rachelle Dang

Theses and Dissertations

I aim to excavate source material from the past and reinterpret its significance in the present through art. I merge history with the contemporary through acts of appropriation and material exploration, creating conditions for the viewer to grapple with colonial legacies in an affective space of visual experience.

Painting, Geography, And The Body: Charting The First Two Decades Of Mary Corse’S Art, Sarah A. Meller

Theses and Dissertations

Mary Corse has always maintained her position on the periphery, and her work has generally been excluded from art historical scholarship. This study illuminates the ways in which the first two decades of Corse’s practice were in fact in dynamic dialogue with broader impulses and concurrent trends operating at the time.

The Pond & The Sauna, Kaija Siirala

Theses and Dissertations

Combining interviews, observational footage, animation, archival images, video and film, The Pond & the Sauna examines the construction of home and family through an intergenerational collection of memories. Drawing on oral history traditions, the project traces the foundational threads that run through the lives of an extended family from past into the present. How do the values we learned as children manifest in our lives now? How do we negotiate our place within a wider social context? How are we moving through the cycles of life and what do home and family mean to us now?

A Critical Interpretation Of Study Abroad, Participant Identity, And Second Language Learning, Laura Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

In this study I explore the history of study abroad as a sojourn for the privileged, notions of whiteness, institutional racism and inequality, and nationality and linguicism, and apply theory from critical applied linguistics and post-colonialism to analyze and interpret data collected from five participants of either a semester or year-long study abroad at the Centre International d’Études Françaises (CIDEF) in Angers, France. The principal research questions are: What is the nature of how students negotiate their identities (racial, national, and gender), L2 learning, and engagement (or lack of) with various communities of practice while studying abroad in a non-English …

Speaking Truth To Power: Writing (Against) History In "The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao" And "The Things They Carried", Karen Chau

Theses and Dissertations

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and The Things They Carried subvert dominating historical narratives by challenging the frameworks that construct them through introducing alternate narratives. By reframing the ethics of truth, they rupture central narrative space with marginal perspectives, rewriting History in service of their own truths.

Representing Struggle: Raquel Forner’S Social And Political Engagement In The 1930s And 1940s, Diana Flatto

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Raquel Forner’s engagement with current events in her paintings from the 1930s and 1940s. Uncovering her realist style, each chapter focuses on a thematic area of her work over these years: the female figure and representation, religious iconography, and wartime.

Perceived Corruption In Ukraine: A National Analysis Using Individual Level Data From 2012-2014, Cody X. Weglinski

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationship of perceived corruption in Ukraine and the factors that influence that perception. In particular, this paper investigates the idea that an influential Russian presence affects the perception of governmental corruption amongst Ukrainian business owners and managers.

A Daily Vulnerability In America: Tornadoes On Our Highways With A Focus On Controlled Access Highways, Craig Douglas Croskery

Theses and Dissertations

Tornadoes are always dangerous, but inside a motor vehicle they are especially problematic due to an automobile’s smaller size and structure. Tornado fatalities in motor vehicles have not decreased in recent years despite downward trends in total tornado fatalities. Receiving tornado warnings is difficult inside a motor vehicle, particularly when alone in the vehicle. Controlled access highways are also difficult places to find shelter as access is limited to interchanges, while buildings at interchanges may not be able to withstand an intense tornado. Electronic signs and audible messages on mobile communications devices are the most suitable technologies available for reaching …

A Feel For The Whole: Considering State-Specific Quality Measures For Medicare's Value-Based Programs In The Context Of Social Risk Factors And Population Health, Kimberly K. Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are used as a measure for federal value-based payment programs. Using data for 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed newer risk adjustment models to calculate the standardized infection ratio (SIR) for various infections occurring in hospitals. New national baselines were set to compare performance among medical facilities and states. Despite adjustments for various facility-level factors that contribute to HAI risk, there are ongoing concerns that SIR calculations do not adequately account for non-hospital risk factors that have been linked to clinical outcomes. This explanatory study evaluates state-level data using simple linear regression to …

An Analysis Of Grain Corn Nutritional Supplements And Relative Maturity In Mississippi, Joseph Bryan Whittenton

Theses and Dissertations

A review of available corn relative maturity groups in Mississippi shows a limited range of maturity groups in use. Research focusing on expanding the range of maturity groups was conducted in MS in 2015 and 2016. Along with expanded maturity groups, treatments of fertilizer (10-34-0), foliar zinc, and a plant hormone blend were studied to shorten the growing season. Four site years in MS were studied to determine optimal plant maturity group and treatment for length of season. The results showed decreased yield of 0.09-0.15 Mg ha-1 (1.5-2.3 bu ac-1) for each day of decreasing relative maturity in three of …

Drought-Tolerant And Short-Season Corn Hybrids To Mitigate Risk, Optimize Yield And Profit, While Increasing Water Use Efficiency, John Joseph Williams

Theses and Dissertations

The Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer (MRVAA) aquifer is the principal water source for Mid-South irrigators, but the current rate of withdrawal from the aquifer is not sustainable. Means to increase the sustainability of the MRVAA is to improve corn’s water use efficiency (WUE) while, concurrently, maintaining or improving profitability. The objectives of this experiment were to determine the effects of sensor-based irrigation threshold, planting date, and hybrid on corn grain yield, WUE, and net returns above seed and irrigation cost. Season long irrigation thresholds of -50 kPa full irrigation (FI) and -125 kPa limited irrigation (LI) were used, utilizing …

Community College Student Retention: Effectiveness Of Online Intervention Methods In Retaining Students On Financial Aid Probation, Victor S. Parker

Theses and Dissertations

The role of community colleges is to provide educational opportunities to all segments of a population regardless of academic proficiency or economic ability. This openess admissions policy is meant to allow equal admission to academic and career-technical programs for all students. Due to openess admissions, economically disadvantaged community college students find themselves being admissible to community colleges with uncertain financial ability to pay for community college even though it is at a lower cost than 4-year institutions. Community college students historically face more financial and social barriers than 4-year students in attaining higher education and thus have a greater need …

Serum Banking Of The Mississippi Shelter Dog Population To Estimate Seroprevalence Of Diseases Affecting Animal And Human Health, Kristina Hubbard

Theses and Dissertations

Shelter dog populations in the United States are poorly quantified and characterized, but may be effective targets for measuring the occurrence of select diseases affecting animal and human health. Dogs in this population may have increased risk for disease due to intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors. Accurate estimates of disease in this population require sound sampling strategies within a comprehensive sampling frame. Knowledge of the prevalence of disease in the Mississippi shelter dog population is important for diagnostic test interpretation, shelter allocation of resources, and public health risk assessment. A serum bank provides a valuable resource to investigate both zoonotic …

Estimating Feral Swine Abundance And Their Effects On Native Wildlife In The Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Matthew Ryan Ivey

Theses and Dissertations

Feral swine (Sus scrofa) are an invasive species in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV). They cause millions in damage annually to agriculture, and likely negatively affect native wildlife species. Using camera traps, I monitored 36 forest patches within the MAV to assess the effects of swine invasions on native wildlife species richness. I also modified the double-observer point count technique into a new method for estimating swine abundance with camera traps. Feral swine suppressed native vertebrate richness by 26% when compared to uninvaded patches. I validated the new double-observer technique by determining if it could detect an abundance-area relationship in …

Investigating Effectiveness Of Wild Pig Policy And Legislation In The U.S., Andrew Lane Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The legislative procedures regarding wild pigs in the United States are expanding in scope and priority, however, the uniformity of legislation is entropic at best. Each state addresses the issues of wild pigs differently and treatment is based on a priority of resource concerns. An evaluation was conducted at the national level of federal, state, and local policy with regards to wild pig control. Additionally, successful and unsuccessful legislation is evaluated to determine commonalities in the social, economic, and ecological factors contributing to the success or failure of legislation. Information collected provides state legislatures with sample model legislation that can …

Assessment Of The Socio-Environmental Impacts Of The Urban Expansion Using Gis And Remote Sensing In The City Of Guayaquil, Ecuador., Erika P. Jimenez Rivera

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the impacts of the urban expansion from 1990 to 2010 in Guayaquil, Ecuador using geospatial technologies. It incorporates census and land cover data to identify the social and environmental repercussions through Hot Spot Analysis, land cover classification, and Markov chains model.

The Positive Developments And Applications Of Geospatial Technologies In Archaeology On Fort Benning, Georgia, Jane Mader

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the advantages of using geospatial technologies in the field of archaeology. The purpose of this study, conducted on Site 9CE16 on Fort Benning, Georgia, was to examine the ways in which Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to more accurately depict artifacts and features present on archaeological sites. With the research I gathered, I constructed an updated site map which can be viewed in Figures 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3. The map produced includes more features than were initially mapped at Site 9CE16 and help paint a clearer picture of the structures which existed at the original …

Microbial And Co2 Responses To Water Stresses Show Decreased Productivity And Diversity Through Time, David Michael Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Some bacterial taxa when stimulated by water additions will break dormancy, grow, and become dominant members of the community and contribute significant pulses of CO₂ associated with the rewetting event. These pulses of activity are associated with high levels of bacterial productivity in soils. (Aanderud et al. 2011) We examined the bacterial taxa that resuscitate and become metabolically active following two forms of water stress (soil drying-rewetting and freeze-thaw cycles) and we captured and measured the CO₂ emanating from those soils. Specifically, We used target metagenomics, which uses a specific gene pool within bacteria that is associated with …

An Autoethnographic Exploration Of The Professional And The Person: A Life's Journey Of A Hispanic Superintendent In South Texas, Gonzalo Salazar

Theses and Dissertations

Leadership effectiveness is often defined in terms of, a leader’s ability to motivate followers towards a collective goal, mission or vision (Knippenberg, Knippenberg, Cremer & Hogg, 2004). However, a leaders’ understanding of their own identity; how education, culture, upbringing, values and morals helped shape the self (Leary, & Tangney, 2002; Anzaldua, 2015; and Guajardo & Guajardo, 2017) and how the leader functions as a contributing member of the organization (Knippenberg & Hogg, 2003) is critically important.

Demographers have long held that by the year 2050, our nation will be increasingly more diverse and that there will be no racial or …

Client-Driven Creation & Professional Patterns In Modern Design: A Case Study Of One Vanderbilt Avenue, Joshua J. Schmitz

Theses and Dissertations

Design, though intricately tied to art through craft, concept and media, is the base converse of art. That is to say, Design is externally motivated by a client’s needs. This case study focuses on my professional work with the companies of S.L. Green and Firespring on the New York City skyscraper One Vanderbilt Avenue (OVA) and demonstrates how a creative concept can be altered through external factors, namely client input. My research will explain why a modern designer must occupy a production-oriented role and continuously leverage insight from an interdisciplinary team in a modern creative firm. The exhibition stemming from …