Digital Commons Network^™

The Uncertain Foundations Of Public Law Theory, Jud Mathews, Emad Atiq

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The (Unnoticed) Revitalization Of The Doctrine Of Equivalents, Daryl Lim

Faculty Scholarly Works

Over the past century, few patent issues have been considered so often by the Supreme Court of the United States as the doctrine of equivalents (“DOE”). This judge-made rule deals with a question that lies at the heart of patent policy—what is the best way to define property rights in an invention? The doctrine gives patentees an opportunity to ensnare an accused device that does not literally infringe a patent claim if the accused device is substantially similar to each claim limitation. Patentees enjoy this advantage, but it comes at a cost to the public, who must face the uncertainty …

A Black Woman Law Dean Speaks About The Precarity Of Leadership, Danielle M. Conway

Faculty Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Structural Causes Of The “Gender Gap” In Nuclear Security: An Overview, Şebnem Udum

International Journal of Nuclear Security

This article elaborates on the discussion from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) International Conference on Nuclear Security (ICONS) 2020 conference and discusses the reasons for the gender gap between professionals working in nuclear security. It puts forward the structural causes for women's choice of field and the formation of gender biases from the perspective of Political Science. It emphasizes the importance of having role-models for women working in the field and provides recommendations to increase the number of women working in nuclear security.

Drama Integration Across Subjects, Grades, And Learners: Insights From New Teachers As Inquiring Reflective Practitioners, Sergio L. Sanchez, Steven Z. Athanases

Benerd College Faculty Articles

Promoting equitable access to the arts may depend on structures that support teachers in integrating arts into core curricula. We describe an arts-integration design that spotlights attention within and beyond one teacher credential program to one arts field–drama–engaging 24 new non-arts teachers across grades and subjects who participated in a drama academy. Our project shines the light on contributions of early-career teachers to generating conceptions derived from immersion in drama and inquiry into classroom practice. We focus on teachers’ developing repertoires of drama-based pedagogy (DBP) practices for use among wwdiverse learners, and on engagements in ongoing inquiry and reflective cycles. …

Effects Of Adolescent Alcohol Exposure Via Oral Gavage On Adult Alcohol Drinking And Co-Use Of Alcohol And Nicotine In Sprague Dawley Rats, Cassie M. Chandler, Usman Z. Hamid, Sarah E. Maggio, Hui Peng, James R. Pauly, Joshua S. Beckmann, Kimberly Nixon, Michael T. Bardo

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: Preclinical models simulating adolescent substance use leading to increased vulnerability for substance use disorders in adulthood are needed. Here, we utilized a model of alcohol and nicotine co-use to assess adult addiction vulnerability following adolescent alcohol exposure. Methods: In Experiment 1, adolescent (PND30) male and female Sprague-Dawley rats received 25% ethanol (EtOH) or a control solution via oral gavage every 8 h, for 2 days. In young adulthood, animals were tested with a 2-bottle choice between H20% and 15% EtOH or 0.2% saccharin/15% EtOH, followed by co-use of oral Sacc/ EtOH and operant-based i.v. nicotine (0.03 mg/kg/infusion) self-administration. In …

Learning Deficits And Attenuated Adaptive Stress Response After Early-Life Seizures In Zebrafish., Harsimran Singh, Alfonsina Ramon, Dana Finore, Kaleigh Burnham, Scott Mcrobert, Jocelyn Lippman-Bell

PCOM Scholarly Works

Early-life seizures (ELS) are often associated with the development of cognitive deficits. However, methods to predict and prevent these deficits are lacking. To increase the range of research models available to study cognitive consequences of ELS, we investigated whether seizures in larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) lead to behavioral deficits later in life. We thus modified the existing pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced seizure model in larval zebrafish, exposing zebrafish to PTZ daily from 5 to 7 days post-fertilization (dpf). We then compared later-life learning, social behavior (shoaling), and behavioral and chemical measures of anxiety in the PTZ-exposed zebrafish (PTZ group) to …

Experiencing Dyslexia Through The Prism Of Difference, Keith Murphy

Doctoral

According to research by AHEAD (2021), students with specific learning difficulties are accessing third level education in greater numbers than ever before. My research has shown this to be the case also, however, my research, alongside a larger body of research (Clouder 2020; O’Brien, 2019; McCullagh, 2018) have highlighted that student with dyslexia tend not to access the support services. Within the body of research conducted in third level education in Ireland, few have focused on the overall experiences of students with dyslexia studying in third level education. My study addresses this gap in knowledge as it provides an insight …

Social Determinants Of Disease: Hiv And Covid-19 Experiences, Raiza M. Beltran, Ian W. Holloway, Chenglin Hong, Ayako Miyashita, Luisita Cordero, Elizabeth Wu, Katherine Burris, Paula M. Frew

Epidemiology & Biostatistics Faculty Research

Purpose of Review: The differential impact of the COVID-19 and HIV pandemics on marginalized communities has renewed calls for more robust and deeper investigation into structural and social causes of health inequities contributing to these infections, including underlying factors related to systematic racism. Using the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) framework, we analyzed parallel and divergent factors associated with COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS and the prevalence of disparate disease in diverse communities. We utilized PRISMA guidelines to identify relevant literature (N = 210 articles) that resulted in a review of 125 articles included in our synthesis. Recent Findings: With racial health …

Inferring Phylogenetic Relationships Using The Smith-Waterman Algorithm And Hierarchical Clustering, Rafael Hidalgo, Anthony Devito, Nesreen Salah, Aparna S. Varde, Robert W. Meredith

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

All biological species undergo change over time due to the evolutionary process. These changes can occur rapidly and unpredictably. Due to their high potential to spread quickly, it is critical to be able to monitor changes and detect viral variants. Phylogenetic trees serve as good methods to study evolutionary relationships. Complex big data in biomedicine is plentiful in regards to viral data. In this paper, we analyze phylogenetic trees with reference to viruses and conduct dynamic programming using the Smith-Waterman algorithm, followed by hierarchical clustering. This methodology constitutes an intelligent approach for data mining, paving the way for examining variations …

Bridging The Gap Between Journalism 273 And Graduation, And Beyond, Mackenzie Slate Ross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While Journalism 273: Creative Visual Thinking is a requirement for all undergraduate students majoring in Integrated Marketing Communications and some students majoring in Journalism, there are students who end up graduating from the University of Mississippi with a desire for more knowledge of graphic design. Feedback from current students in the School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi as well as alumni of the program was gathered in two surveys to understand better how Journalism 273 benefits them and pinpoints opportunities for improvement. One hundred nineteen students who took Journalism 273 and were enrolled in the …

The Queer And Trans Ecologies Of Shakespeare's Ocean, Elijah Two Bears

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis squarely approaches the overlooked theoretical nexus of early modern blue ecologies and LGBTQIA2S+ studies to argue that Shakespeare's ocean is a deeply queer space that inspires both queer and trans effects in his characters, plays, and audiences across time. I argue you can’t fully process Shakespeare’s aquatic environments, and the broader range of his more watery plays, without accounting for the queer destabilization and trans self-fashioning that is inextricably linked with encountering the ocean, whether it is through shipwreck, ship travel, or near-drownings. This project recreates a lost world using whatever small gems of textual and historical evidence …

Application Of Hot-Melt Extrusion And Fused Deposition Modeling On Screening Filaments And Developing Diverse Dosages, Pengchong Xu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Three-dimensional printing (3DP) provides a flexible and cost-beneficial solution to patient-centric medicine and its potential to challenge current pharmaceutical supply chains. Fusion deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the most commonly applied 3D printing techniques in pharmaceutical study. But the poor mechanical properties of printing filaments have limited mainly the application of FDM 3D printing in the pharmaceutical area. In this dissertation, the development of texture analysis methods to evaluate the printability of filaments was investigated first. The parameter “Stiffness” was successfully developed to measure and predict the printability of filaments in the direct-extrude FDM printer. Then, the combination of …

Sportisation And Values Of Competition : The Case Of Yo-Yoing, Ho Wang, Danny Kwong

Bachelor of Social Sciences – Senior Theses

Yo-yoing was a popular pastime in the 90s. It has now developed as a sport with standard rules. This research locates competitive yo-yoing within the sociology of sports, specifically, it builds on the lifestyle sports literature. I understand yo-yoing as a lifestyle sport, serious leisure, and subculture. I argue that competition is a site of meaning-making in competitive yo-yoing and delineate the community’s response to sportisation through interviews with 15 yo-yo players in Hong Kong and an examination of a Netflix documentary on yo-yo. The findings suggest 2 implications: a re-visit to the anti-competition discourse among lifestyle sports, and, a …

Integrating Sensor Technology Into Artistic Practice: A Critical Examination Of The Role Of The Performer, Marcella Barz

Doctoral

This research questions how interactive music technology might enable creativity in performers. The format is a semi-autoethnographic narrative that follows the performer’s artistic process of preparing nine compositions for performance; these works are for bass clarinet or clarinet and live processing (created with Ableton Live, Max for Live, and the SABRe multi-sensor and remote).

In order to conduct this research, I remixed two existing bass clarinet works, collaborated with two composers on six new works, and composed my own piece. I maintained a reflective journal for four and a half years that documented the process of preparing these compositions for …

Increasing Detection Sensitivity For Rare And Endangered Species In Kansas Through Development Of An Aquatic Environmental Dna Sampling Protocol, Sarah Hallyburton

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Anthropogenic global climate change is forcing the mass extinction of wildlife across the globe. Humans depend on freshwater ecosystems for many aspects of life including agricultural production, sanitation, and recreation. Healthy levels of biodiversity in freshwater environments ensure economically beneficial ecosystem services are maintained. Freshwater ecosystems are hotspots for biodiversity and have higher levels of imperiled organisms compared to terrestrial and marine systems. Within freshwater systems, freshwater mussels (Family: Unionidae) are the most imperiled with over 70% of North American species assigned to a conservation class as judged by state or federal management agencies. The objective of this study was …

Stable Isotope Analysis Of A Platecarpus Tympaniticus (Squamata, Mosasauridae) With Actinocamax Sternbergi (Mollsuca, Belemnoidea) Reveals Possible Endothermic Thermoregulation, Mitchell Lukens

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Mosasaurs, ancient marine reptiles, dominated the late Cretaceous oceans. However, their ecological success is a contentious topic. Were they ectothermic, like their modern relatives the varanid lizards? Or endothermic like extant marine mammals? Stable isotopes can reveal temperature and physiological variances within skeletons, but do not differentiate between body temperature and ambient environmental temperature. A rare mosasaur specimen from the Smoky Hill Chalk of a partial, articulated Platecarpus tympaniticus with stomach contents of belemnites provides a possible direct temperature contrast between predator and prey. The belemnites, related to modern coleoids, are identified as Actinocamax sternbergi. These animals possessed body …

Investigation Of A Misophonia And Fluid Intelligence Relationship: Sound Spectrum Variation Impact On Fluid Intelligence Task Responses, Leslie Watson

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

ABSTRACT Studies of misophonia have not assessed the impact of music and sound complexity on intelligence in individuals with misophonia. Edelstein et al. (2013) have provided work which pools trigger sound characteristics including sound repetitiveness yet does not include a substantial music subcategory. Utilizing the Cattell–Horn–Carroll model of intelligence, the current study explores the nature of music and music complexity on fluid intelligence, as described by Sternberg (2012). The hypotheses for this study focused on the relationship that complexity and music might have with misophonia. The rate of misophonia in the Mechanical Turk population was hypothesized to be 20%. The …

Dye Tracing And The Effects Of Infrastructure In Hidden River Cave, Horse Cave, Ky, Alexa G. Franks

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Hidden River Cave is a stream cave system found in Horse Cave, KY with continuous water flow of its two branches, Wheet River and East River. The infrastructure of the city of Hose Cave, KY was originally designed to utilize natural sinkholes for drainage of all wastewaters. The city uses many of these, now modified, sinkholes for wastewater disposal and storm water drainage. Historically, Hidden River Cave has been severely impacted by unmonitored dumping of contamination. To better understand and identify specific flow paths from sinkholes and infrastructure into Hidden River Cave, this study documented various sinkholes and other infrastructure, …

Influences Of Grazing On Habitat Characteristics, Avian Community Composition And Nesting Bird Abundance Within Cheyenne Bottoms, Ks, Kirsten Granstrom-Arndt

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Cheyenne Bottoms is a 41,000-acre prairie-marsh ecosystem in central Kansas. Approximately 8,000 acres of mixed grassland are dedicated for the conservation of bird populations, but little is known about the status of bird communities within these areas. This study took place within grassland areas of Cheyenne Bottoms from May – July 2021. I investigated bird community composition, relative abundance of frequently observed bird species, vegetative characteristics, and similarity of sites across different grazing intensities (continuous, rotational, and non-grazed). The four most common bird species observed were dickcissel (Spiza americana), grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), meadowlark species ( …

A 16s & Its Soil Microbiome Analysis Of Native & Old-World Bluestem Invaded Soils Of Kansas Grasslands, Zachary Nelson

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Invasive species are becoming an increasing problem throughout the world. Their effect on local ecosystems is detrimental and widespread, harming productive efforts such as biomass accumulation, forcing native species (plant, animals, microbes) out, and ultimately, reducing biodiversity. Investigations of how invasive plants spread are widely studied; however, there has been little to no examination of how native plants influence the microbiome in the surrounding soil. In this study, I performed a fungal and bacterial metagenomic analysis of the soil and root microbiomes of both native grasslands and grasslands invaded by Old-World Bluestem Grasses to help determine if they influence the …

The Demiurge And The Primeval Serpent Motif Within Classical Thought And Its Culmination Within Gnosticism And Early Christianity, Jim Mcpeters

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Dragons or great serpents associated with creation stories have been well documented within ancient Near Eastern myths, Classical religion, and Judaism. The motif involved monstrous and hostile supernatural figures emblematic of disorder that were subdued by a benevolent deity. The sect known as the Gnostics that emerged in the first and second centuries AD drew upon these ancient creation narratives and creatively mixed them with the idea put forward by Plato of a Demiurge, or craftsman who ordered the material universe. Because they held that the material cosmos was inherently evil, the Gnostics endowed their Demiurge with the characteristics of …

Inhumane, Jordan Brown

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

My Goal is to bring awareness to the plight of wild creatures who have lost their habitats due to pollution and urban sprawl. I will be making porcelain vessels that influence people to think about their role on the environment. Both terrestrial and aquatic life has been impacted by humans through poaching, non-traditional medical practices, and human activity in the ocean. By making impressionable clay urns, I hope to bring light to these issues that affect animals. Through research I have been enthused by the steep historical forms from Greece, China, and Europe. Their exceptional skill and knowledge of the …

Efficacy Of Non-Lethal Molecular Methods In Elucidating Distribution Of Gray Treefrog Complex (Hyla Chrysoscelis/Versicolor) In Kansas, Nora K. Lazerus

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Globally, amphibians are the most imperiled vertebrate taxa in part because they rely on both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Specifically, their permeable skin makes them uniquely susceptible to habitat degradation and alteration. Cope’s Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis) and the Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor) are a diploid-tetraploid, morphologically indistinguishable sister pair of cryptic anurans native to Kansas. Since 1987, the distribution of gray treefrogs in Kanas has extended west but the status of each species in the complex in Kansas is not known beyond its documented combined western expansion. Currently, species identification cannot be determined by nonlethal …

How False Accusations Of Rape And Domestic Violence Affect The Lives Of Black Male Athletes: Analysis Of A Flawed Title Ix, Nichelle Womble

Florida Entertainment and Sports Law Review

How do you put a price on the aftermath of false criminal accusations? False accusations of domestic violence and sexual assault or misconduct, including false rape accusations, continue to affect the lives of Black athletes. When someone is falsely accused, there is a chance of loss of time to live life, scholarships, loss of employment, and so much more. However, the only recourse falsely accused individuals have are civil suits for libel or slander or Title IX lawsuits. Yet, these options are not enough as it does not rectify the damage caused. For these reasons, this Essay will be split …

Domestic Lives Of The Worthless And Insignificant: Land And Labor In Eighteenth-Century British Literature, Mellissa Black

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Domestic Lives posits that the proliferation of the georgic mode in selected eighteenth-century works provided writers with the language and tropes needed to negotiate burgeoning stresses on the stability of political, cultural, and class systems. In my reading of the georgic as a “gentrifying” force, the mode generates and recreates a managerial authority over the productive potential of what I call the “laboring sort,” those who are rooted in agricultural labor. In turn, the georgic aided the expansion of the British empire by allowing for the expansion of definitions of national identity. As national identity was gentrified, so too was …

Perceived Value Of A Vr (Virtual Reality) Tourism Experience: A Scale Development, Fernando Arroyo Lopez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Firms are skeptical about what values travelers anticipate obtaining from a Virtual Reality (VR) experience in tourism, and the valuation of trade-offs they are willing to make. This scale development aimed to fill this gap in the literature by creating a scale that can capture the perceived value derived from a VR experience in tourism. This research study adhered to well-established, mainstream psychometric scale creation and validation methods as demonstrated by several authors. This study provides a key step in developing measurement theory related to the perceived value derived from a VR experience in tourism and identifies four value dimensions: …

Karaites & Reformers: Two Failed Cases Of Coherent Interpretation, Menashe Chaim Roberts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There are two groups which claim that proper textual interpretation does not require extratextual information. They posit that the meaning of texts is discoverable from the words of the text and/or an individual's reason alone. Thus, no extratextual information is required to arrive at a cogent and coherent interpretation. The medieval Karaites reject the notion that there is any such thing as interpretive precedent and everyone's interpretation, when guided by reason, is as valid and coherent as anyone else's. Early Protestant Reformers such as John Calvin and Martin Luther argue that all one needs to interpret the Bible is the …

Sustained Delivery Of Carbon Monoxide (Co) Via Organic Co Prodrugs: Pharmacokinetic Studies, Minjia Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Carbon monoxide (CO) is widely known as poisonous gas. Its role as a signaling molecule (gasotransmitter) with various therapeutic effects is less known. Recent years have seen a surge of interest in CO because of its demonstrated therapeutic effect in treating conditions such as inflammation, drug-induced toxicity, ischemia-reperfusion injury, and kidney injury, among others. In developing CO-based therapeutic agents, one key issue is the availability of pharmaceutically acceptable ways of delivering CO. During the past decade, there has been a large number of experiments in cell culture, animal models, and clinical trials using CO gas incubation/inhalation and heavy metal based …

Impaired Β-Cell Neogenesis In A Mouse Model Of Metabolic Syndrome, Modhi Abdullah Alshammari

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Pancreatic islet β-cell plays an essential role in insulin release and hence glucose homeostasis. The maintenance of glucose homeostasis depends on β-cell ability to cope with enough insulin to fulfill metabolic and physiological demands. Adequate insulin release is the result of highly complex and dynamic interplays between acute changes in β- cell electrical activity, exocytosis and chronic adaptations in cellular function, volume, mass and proliferation. All of this appears modulated, to some extent, by the functional presence of Slc12a2 symporters, also known as Na+K+2Cl– cotransporter-1 (Nkcc1), which accumulates intracellular Cl– above its electrochemical equilibrium. Recent studies from our laboratory showed …