Digital Commons Network^™

Designing Security Primitives Using Digital And Analog Discrete-Time Chaotic Systems, Mrittika Chowdhury

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we explore the design of lightweight, reconfigurable, and entropy-rich security primitives using both digital and analog discrete-time chaotic systems. By leveraging the inherent unpredictability, sensitivity to initial conditions, and nonlinear dynamics of chaos theory, we present two distinct architectures: a pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) built using digital chaotic maps and a physically unclonable function (PUF) constructed from a compact analog chaotic oscillator. Each system is tailored for efficient implementation on resource-constrained platforms while maintaining strong statistical and security properties.

Boundaries And Barriers: A Study On The Factors Influencing Bachelor’S Degree Attainment For Women In Arkansas At Regional Public Universities, Meagan Rochelle Bowling Fudge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Arkansas consistently ranks among the bottom five states nationally for bachelor’s degree attainment. To explore the factors contributing to this trend and identify opportunities for increasing degree completion, this study focuses on women attending Regional Public Universities (RPUs) in Arkansas. By examining the barriers these women face, this research aims to uncover critical gaps and inform future areas for research, policy, and investment.

Women represent the largest segment of undergraduate enrollment in the state, consistently enrolling in college at higher rates than their male peers. RPUs enroll more bachelor's degree-seeking students than any other type of institution in Arkansas, including …

The Underrepresentation Of African American Male Educators In K-12 Education, Nisa Lewis Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American education system has struggled with a significant teacher shortage for years. Alongside this shortage is the underrepresentation of African American male teachers. Despite the increasing diversity of the student population, African American men make up less than 2% of teachers nationwide (Aftunion, 2020). This disparity denies all kids access to diverse perspectives in the classroom and limits the presence of role models for students of color. Research studies have shown that African American students who have African American teachers show improvement in their grades, standardized test scores, attendance records, and graduation rates (Breazeale, 2023). This study aimed to …

Asking Pharmacists About Over-The-Counter Oral Contraceptives: Intention Among Adolescents And Young Women, Ivy Leong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The recent availability of over-the-counter oral contraceptives eliminates many barriers to accessing birth control. Even with this easier accessibility, pharmacists can still play an important role in educating users, especially adolescents and young adults. However, hesitation to reach out to pharmacists among younger populations has been documented. Additionally, little is known about the underlying driver of this hesitation.

This study aimed to examine predictors of young females’ willingness to seek assistance from pharmacists for over-the-counter oral contraceptive use and to determine the difference in the effect of these predictors between adolescents (age 16 to 17) and young women (age 18 …

Secure Wireless Communication With Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces, Babita Pradhan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the promising use of Intelligent Reflecting Surface (IRS) for enhancing the security in wireless communication, this dissertation explores secure wireless communication facilitated by IRS to improve the secrecy rate of the system. We consider a multiple-input single-output (MISO) communication system supported by the IRS in the presence of a single legitimate user (Bob) and an illegitimate user (Eve).

First, we focus on maximizing the secrecy rate of the system through joint optimization of transmit beamforming and the phase shifts of the IRS elements. We examine two methods: (1) Method 1, which directly optimizes the secrecy rate as the objective …

Exploring Aging And Bone Health In Normal Weight Obesity And The Prevalence Of Unhealthy Lean Phenotypes, Pouria Sefidmooye Azar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is a complex chronic condition characterized by the excessive accumulation of body fat. While numerous studies have highlighted the risks of adverse complications associated with obesity, limited research has explored the relationship of body composition phenotypes, more specifically normal weight obesity with aging, and bone health. Also, the prevalence of unhealthy lean phenotypes in adults in the U.S. is not clear. A secondary-data analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2002 were performed to further examine the relationship between body composition phenotypes—normal weight lean (NWL), overweight/obesity with normal body fat percentage (OBL), normal weight obesity (NWO), …

A Profile Of Contempt: Its Expressive Function In The Age Of Profilicity, Eric Michael Servatius

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Contempt permeates modern political discourse and popular media. Nevertheless, within the psychological and philosophical literature on reactive attitudes, moral emotions, and negative sentiments, contempt remains comparatively understudied. In this paper, I examine contempt’s intimate connection with social identity and argue that existing accounts of contempt largely overlook the broader social role it plays in a contemporary moment characterized by digital communication and fluid group dynamics. I contend that public expressions of contempt serve two primary expressive functions in modern society: (1) to signal group identification and (2) to enforce group norms—not for the target of contempt, but for third party …

A Catalyst For Change: A Program Evaluation Of Professional Learning Communities At Title I Elementary Schools, Sheila R. Wright

Doctor of Education Dissertations

This mixed methods program evaluation analyzed the implementation of professional learning communities (PLCs) in four Title I elementary schools within a North Carolina district. This study examined stakeholders' perceptions regarding the impact of the PLC framework on instructional practices, the significance of collective efficacy within the framework, and the characteristics that define an effective PLC, as defined by Hord's (1997) five dimensions. The North Carolina Educator Effectiveness System (NCEES) requires educators in North Carolina to implement PLCs to promote collaboration and improve student achievement (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2018). The study's results were utilized to assess stakeholders' perceptions …

Factors That Motivate Special Education Teachers To Stay In Their Profession In A Rural South Carolina School District, Sherrod J. Davis

Doctor of Education Dissertations

This study was designed to contribute to our understanding of the different motivating factors that contribute to the long-term retention of special education teachers after they have been in the field for over 5 years. They set out to ascertain predominant mechanisms that motivate these teachers to stay in their positions as well as to inform on the associated struggles and support structures that are helping to both retain their teaching workforce as well as to support their commitment to their teaching lives. Using a descriptive convergent parallel mixed methods design, the study combined quantitative data from online surveys with …

Through Their Own Eyes: A Mixed Methods Study On Perceptions And Reflections Of Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy Of North Carolina Elementary School Teachers, Bria C. Wright

Doctor of Education Dissertations

Historical inequities disproportionately impacting historically marginalized communities continue to persist in classrooms today. Culturally responsive teaching plays an important role in addressing these inequities by recognizing and affirming diverse cultural identities. The purpose of this study was to explore elementary school teachers’ culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy (CRTSE) perceptions. This mixed methods convergent parallel study examined CRTSE across five domains: culturally congruent instruction, cross-cultural communication, culturally relevant curricula, cultural diversity knowledge, and cultural caring learning communities. Quantitative data were collected from 147 North Carolina elementary teachers using the CRTSE Scale, and qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 16 participants. …

The Shift Towards Resilience: Disaster Risk Reduction (Drr) In The International And Regional Legal Frameworks, Eleni Polymenopoulou, Flavia Zorzi Giustiniani

Denver Journal of International Law & Policy

This article provides an overview of the legal framework applicable in the event of disasters, with an emphasis on resilience and disaster risk reduction (DRR). It provides an overview of the emergence and nature of International Disaster Law (IDL), and the inclusion of DRR in this context. It further explores the array of international and regional standards applicable in the event of disasters, including the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft articles and recent efforts in the context of the European Union (EU) and South-East Asia for a more concerted approach. The chapter further provides examples from the practice of international …

Impact Of An Herbicide Treatment In An Annual Grass Invaded Sagebrush Steppe, Jordan Dino Santia

Undergraduate Scholarship

Globally, rangelands are being threatened by invasive annual grasses (IAGs) that alter fire regimes, drive vegetation type conversion, and alter ecosystem function. This study evaluates vegetation responses to an Imazapic treatment applied in 2020 to control a population of Taeniatherum caput-medusae, an IAG, that flourished following a severe wildfire in 2013. The site, located on a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) grazing allotment east of Klamath Falls, Oregon, has been monitored annually using the Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) protocol since the Summer of 2022. Over this period, very little T. caput-medusae has been detected while bare ground has …

Systematic Analysis Of Fatal Collisions Between Mobile Equipment And Pedestrian Workers To Inform The Use Of Proximity Detection Devices, Damien Burlet-Vienney, François Gauthier, Chantal Gauvin

Articles dans des actes de congrès

Context.

Collisions between mobile industrial equipment and pedestrian workers (PWs) are a major occupational health and safety concern, particularly on construction sites (e.g., during earth-moving operations). The use of driver aids, such as proximity warning devices designed to alert workers and drivers of potential collisions, is a growing and constantly developing avenue of prevention (e.g., AI-enhanced cameras; RFID tags). However, structured feedback to guide the implementation of these technologies on mobile equipment remains rare (e.g., technology choice, installation and settings).

Objective/Methodology.

 In this context, a systematic analysis of all fatal accident reports related to this issue for the province of …

A Geopolitical Economy Analysis Of China And India’S Approaches To Transnational Data Governance, Yujia He, Ka Zeng

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

Recent literature on the behavior of rising powers in digital trade and data governance highlights their discourses of data sovereignty and desire to preserve domestic policy autonomy. This article contributes to the literature by employing a political economy lens that shifts the focus from the nation-state/inter-state framework towards the dynamics of state–capital relations, allowing for a more historical and contextual understanding of the geopolitics of data governance in emerging economies. Using China and India—two of the largest emerging economies—as comparative cases, and drawing on secondary data from government documents and other sources, the article argues that the interplay between the …

Beyond Weirds – How We Advanced Theories Of Gender Beliefs – Insights From Towards Gender Harmony Project., Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka

Online Readings in Psychology and Culture

Using insights from cross-cultural multination analyses performed on data collected from over 33,000 participants in 62 countries during the four-year Towards Gender Harmony project, I will present five main reasons why sampling beyond WEIRD nations advances theories of gender beliefs, helps us meet “good science” criteria, and is doable, but yet full of challenges.

Louisiana Survey 2025, Lsu Reilly Center For Media & Public Affairs

Reilly Center Louisiana Surveys

The 2025 Louisiana Survey is the latest in an annual series of statewide surveys from the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs at Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communication.

Reflecting the continuing evolution of survey research, we use two approaches in this year’s survey:

1. In partnership with the research firm YouGov, we administered an online survey to a nonprobability sample of Louisiana residents who participate in the YouGov panel, selected to represent the state’s adult population geographically and demographically.
2. We use a traditional probability-sampling approach to draw landline and cell phone numbers for a live-interview …

Advances In Tropical Climatology–A Review, Flávia D.S. Moraes, Craig Ramseyer, Paul W. Miller, Jill C. Trepanier

Faculty Publications

Understanding tropical climatology is essential to comprehending the atmospheric connections between the tropics and extratropical latitudes weather and climate events. In this review paper, we emphasize the advances in key areas of tropical climatology knowledge since the end of the 20th century and offer a summary, assessment, and discussion of previously published literature. Among the key areas analyzed here, we explore the advances in tropical oceanic and atmospheric variability, such as El Niño–Southern Oscillation and the Madden-Julian Oscillation, and how those teleconnection events have helped us to better understand variabilities in tropical monsoons, tropical cyclones, and drought events. We also …

Vertebrate Fossils Of Louisiana, Suyin Ting, Lorene E. Smith, Connor D. White, Irene Martí Gil

Special Publications of the Museum of Natural Science

No abstract provided.

An Early Web History Of Vaccine Skeptical Digital Rhetorics, Miles C. Coleman, Will Mari

Faculty Publications

Vaccine hesitancy is a public health threat stoked by vaccine skeptical rhetorics that circulate via the Web. While there is a body of work that studies the digital rhetorical tactics of vaccine skeptics, most of this work focuses on the Web rhetorics of the “Web 2.0” era, leaving the “Web 1.0” era relatively understudied and, in turn, foreclosing opportunities to look back before moving forward in the current moment. In efforts to yield glimpses into the antecedents of digital culture that have shaped contemporary vaccine skeptical discourses, in this article, we draw on systematically sourced website “snapshots” of vaccine skeptical …

Slope Stability Hazard Investigation Of Calhoun County, Mississippi And The County Road 210 Landslide, Miles Heath Grames

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses geological field data, laboratory characterization of sediments, and multiple computational models of slope stability to investigate a landslide that occurred in Calhoun County, Mississippi. The primary hypothesis is that intense rainfall led to the saturation of the slope, triggering failure through the reduction of shear strength.

Fieldwork included drilling at the failure site to obtain subsurface samples and drone-based site characterizations. Laboratory analysis included soil descriptions, grain size analysis, and Atterberg limit testing. Sample characterizations revealed a stratified soil profile dominated by fine-grained silts and clays, including an organic-rich lignite layer (OL). Strata generally exhibit low permeability …

¡We Count! The Enumerated History Of The Latinx Legal Academy: Part One, Beginnings To 1990, Emile Loza De Siles

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

Latinx law teachers and scholars are vital to the success of Latinx and other students in legal education, as well as to the attainment of the power, influence, economic advancement, and justicegetting that students seek through that education. Today, one in five Americans are Latinx with the proportion quickly growing to one in four. Although there are many Latinx law professors who are highly credentialed, sharply skilled, and deeply committed, to date, there has not been an adequate accounting of their presence and contributions at law schools. What is known is that their numbers are, and have long been, grossly …

About The Authors, Sjsj

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Leveraging The Zebrafish Model For The Study Of Human Health Impacts Of Particulate Matter Exposure: Exploring Biological Effects Of Fuel Source Emissions, Autism Spectrum Disorder-Like Behaviors, And Molecular-Level Reproductive Impacts, Shayla Victoria

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Particulate matter (PM) is the solid and liquid portion of air pollution that can be found at various size fractions, including PM2.5, which is 2.5 μm or smaller in aerodynamic diameter. PM is a complex mixture, containing a wide variety of chemical constituents, including inorganic compounds (heavy metals), organic compounds (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), and pesticides, that have been individually linked to human health impacts. These include cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, but due to its small size and chemical composition, PM has the ability enter into systemic circulation and cause dysregulation of other physiological processes, such as neurodevelopment and reproduction, which …

From Difficult Heritage To A Symbol Of Peace: A Case Study Of The Chibondo Mass Grave In Zimbabwe., Peter Mudzingwa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the contested interpretation and memorialization of the Chibondo mass grave in Zimbabwe, analyzing how unresolved historical grievances shape national reconciliation efforts. Discovered in 2011, Chibondo became a politically charged heritage site, officially framed as a symbol of liberation while simultaneously raising allegations that it contains victims of post-independence violence, including the Gukurahundi massacres. Employing the theoretical frameworks of difficult heritage, transitional justice, and memorialization, this research explores the political, social, and ethical complexities that emerge when nations confront traumatic pasts. Through a mixed-methods approach that combines semi-structured interviews, direct observations, and scholarly reviews, the study critically assesses …

Human Papillomavirus Knowledge, Beliefs, And Behaviors Among Community College Students: Why Should It Matter?, Eric Pittman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States (U.S.). Approximately 42.5 million individuals in the U.S. are infected with disease-associated HPV, and 13 million new cases occur every year. It is estimated that 85% of sexually active adults will be infected with HPV at some point during their lifetime. Most individuals infected with HPV are asymptomatic and clear the virus without any complications. However, in some individuals, the virus persists. Prolonged HPV infection has been associated with six different types of cancer and genital warts. There are approximately 37,000 cases of HPV-associated cancers …

Improving Detection Capabilities Of Traditional Machine Learning (Ml) Algorithms Against Data Poisoning Attacks On Image Data, Sabrina Perry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Machine learning (ML) algorithms play a critical role in automated decision-making systems across domains such as healthcare, finance, and autonomous systems. However, these models are increasingly vulnerable to adversarial threats, particularly poisoning attacks that manipulate training data without the knowledge of the ML developers. As ML models are often trained on publicly available data, data poisoning is trivial for attackers to perform, with no way to determine if training data is legitimate, poisoned during data collection, or poisoned during training in the current ML training pipeline.

This dissertation investigates data poisoning attacks, with a focus on label flipping and gradient …

Comparative Analysis Of Out-Of-Pocket Expenditures On Authorized Generics And Independent Generics Among Medicare Beneficiaries, Arman Arabshomali

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Authorized generics (AGs) are essentially brand-name drugs without the brand name on their labeling. AGs are often marketed as cost-saving alternatives to brand-name drugs; however, their impact on patient out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures compared to independent generics (IGs) remains understudied, especially within Medicare. This study investigates the OOP costs of AGs versus IGs among Medicare beneficiaries with Part D coverage.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using the 5% national sample of Medicare Part D claims data from 2012 to 2020, linked with the FDA’s NDC Directory data to specify Authorized Generics, Independent Generics, and Brands. The study compared OOP …

The Predictive Value Of College Entrance Exams On Retention Of Domestic, First-Time, Full-Time Freshman At The University Of Mississippi, James D. Corner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the predictive value of college entrance exams specifically the ACT and SAT on the academic retention of domestic, first-time, full-time freshmen at the University of Mississippi. With the rise of test-optional admissions models, particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, this research investigates whether standardized test scores remain relevant in forecasting student success, defined by persistence from freshman to sophomore year and academic performance measured through GPA in the first and second semesters. Drawing upon a conceptual framework that includes pre-college characteristics, standardized assessments, and early academic performance, this study challenges the long-held assumption that standardized exams …

Exploring Psychological Capital In Student Pharmacists: Insights, Outcomes, And Instructional Considerations, Joseph Aaron Dikun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background/Objectives

The positive psychology movement served to create momentum to move from treating disease to exploring what makes life worth living, emphasizing the exploration of what contributes to human flourishing. One’s psychological capital has provided a practical framework for personal development that highlights the potential for individuals draw upon resources to thrive amidst challenges. As students face numerous stressors, including academic pressures, uncertainties, and personal struggles that threaten their well-being and performance, self-awareness and ability to utilize these intrinsic resources provide an actionable target for development. First, a measure of psychological capital was adapted and refined. Next, positive psychological capital …

Don't Let Them In: Our Vampire Stories In The French Quarter, Sela Ricketts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of vampires in New Orleans. The reason I have chosen to include the word “Our” in the title is because we created the stories that I am studying. We created, perpetuated, changed, and eventually monetized them. Throughout this paper I discuss how the vampire came to New Orleans and how that same vampire shows up in New Orleans folklore. Then I discuss how the vampire made the jump from urban legend to pop culture. In doing that it gained “humanity”. They were still monstrous, but it was enough humanity to acquire regional identity, a southern …