Digital Commons Network^™

Population Structure And Connectivity Of Atlantic Nurse Sharks (Ginglymostoma Cirratum) In The Bahamas And Outlying Areas, Baylie A. Fadool

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Understanding animal ecosystem dynamics and behavior at the individual and population levels is essential for identifying life-history patterns and important areas for management and conservation. Marine fish species often face minimal geographic barriers to movement, but environmental (temperature, salinity, current) or intrinsic barriers (philopatry, site fidelity) can dictate gene flow. Atlantic nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum) are an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed ‘vulnerable’ species and present a unique opportunity to investigate patterns of population structure and connectivity in large-bodied sharks. They are benthic and display reproductive philopatry, with recent work suggesting they have the capacity …

Exploring Student Sensemaking During A Collaborative Biology Lab, Rebecca Kollipara

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Collaborative learning environments offer valuable opportunities for students to construct scientific understanding through dialogue, yet the conditions that support sustained conceptual reasoning in group settings remain incompletely understood. While prior research has identified discourse moves associated with productive collaboration, less attention has been paid to how those moves function together across turns and conceptual boundaries, or how individual student characteristics shape their emergence. This thesis examines collaborative sensemaking in an undergraduate General Biology II course, drawing on two complementary analyses of student discourse during a bryophyte life-cycle modeling activity.

Chapter 1 investigates how student groups participated in sensemaking and how …

Examining Extremes: A Comparison Between Machine Learning Based Southwestern Conus Seasonal Drought And High Fire Risk Event Synoptic Climatologies, Ethan M. Greenberg

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Southwestern United States (SW CONUS), comprised of California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, is a vast region that tens of millions of people call home. Hosting ecosystems ranging from grasslands and shrublands to temperate forests and climate zones ranging from Mediterranean climates to arid deserts, the region is nearly unanimously prone to intense droughts and devastating wildfires. While fire weather conditions and drought are often studied separately or mentioned as background conditions for the other, there are relatively few studies that compare the typical meteorological conditions between the two. This study aims to more closely understand the meteorological relationship between …

Gaining Mussel: Evaluating Reintroduction Success Of Native Freshwater Mussels In Nebraska And Eastern Wyoming, Travis A. Moore

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Freshwater mussels are one of the most imperiled groups of organisms in North America, with over two-thirds of species considered threatened, endangered, or of special concern. These long-lived bivalves are essential to stream ecosystems, acting as filter feeders that improve water quality and as indicators of aquatic health. In Nebraska and Wyoming, native mussel populations have declined sharply due to habitat modification, pollution, and reduced connectivity. Two species of particular concern are the Plain Pocketbook Lampsilis cardium, listed as Tier I at-risk in Nebraska, and the Fatmucket Lampsilis siliquoidea, a Tier II at-risk species. In response, state agencies …

The Impact Of Glucose Exposure On Organic Cation Transporters (Oct) Function In A Corneal Epithelial Cell Line, David A. Garza

Theses & Dissertations

Organic cation transporters (OCT) facilitate the movement of neurochemicals and medications, contribute to the removal of cellular waste, and facilitate neuronal communication. Three subtypes of these high-capacity, low-affinity transporters (OCT1, OCT2, and OCT3) are differently expressed in peripheral tissues such as the liver, kidneys, as well as the central nervous system. OCTs are also expressed in ocular tissues. Chronic hyperglycemia is a complication commonly associated with diabetes that can lead to ocular diseases such as diabetic keratopathy, which affects the cornea. In this project, we expose immortalized human corneal epithelial cells (HCE-S) to various glucose concentrations to study their impact …

An Examination Of Single Mothers' Psychological Capital In Seeking Higher Education, Jennifer L. Stuart

Theses & Dissertations

AN EXAMINATION OF SINGLE MOTHER’S PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL IN SEEKING HIGHER EDUCATION

Jennifer Stuart

University of the Incarnate Word, 2025

Research Focus. In the United States, single mothers head nearly 80 percent of single-parent households, representing one of the most educationally vulnerable yet motivated populations. Despite increased visibility of single-parent families, limited research has examined the internal psychological factors that influence single mothers’ determination to pursue higher education. Much of the literature has emphasized external barriers—financial hardship, childcare demands, and social stigma—while overlooking internal strengths such as self-efficacy, resilience, optimism, and hope. These traits, conceptualized collectively as psychological capital (Luthans et …

Moderating Effects Of Defense Mechanisms On The Link Between Dark Triad Traits And Stress: A Replication With Addition Of Early Trauma, Ngayin Cheng

Student Theses

Literature suggested Dark Triad traits, comprised of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, are linked to adverse childhood environment and maladaptive coping that contribute to negative mental health outcomes, but Richardson and Boag's study (Richardson & Boag, 2016) was one of the few studies that first found Dark Triad traits are associated with immature defenses and higher perceived stress simultaneously. This replicated study aims to verify the original findings of their research by examining how defense mechanisms moderate the relationship between Dark Triad traits and perceived stress. A sample of 199 participants completed self-report measures assessing the Dark Triad traits, defense styles, …

A Meta-Analysis On Joinder Effects: Do They All Have The Same Magnitude?, Amelia M. Tisk

Student Theses

The present meta-analysis examined whether different forms of joinder and procedural consolidation produce varying levels of prejudice in adjudicative decision-making. Although joinder procedures improve judicial efficiency, psychological research has suggested that combining charges, defendants, or plaintiffs within a single proceeding may increase conviction likelihood, liability judgments, and broader perceptions of wrongdoing. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted across 22 independent study effects examining charge joinder, defendant consolidation, plaintiff consolidation, multiple-complainant procedures, and related aggregation paradigms. Effect sizes were converted to Pearson’s r whenever possible. Overall, procedural aggregation produced a moderate effect on adjudicative outcomes, r = .27, 95% CI [.22, .32]. …

A Phenomenological Study: Examining Organizational Change Initiatives Within The U.S. Army To Influence Racial Climate, Reginald Gerald Dash Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research study was aimed at examining organizational change initiatives influencing the racial climate among African American soldiers in the United States (U.S.) Army. African Americans comprise a significant portion of the U.S. Army. However, African Americans’ significant contributions do not readily translate into “equal treatment”, which includes proportional representation at the highest levels of leadership. African Americans in the U.S. Army face career navigation challenges rooted in systemic racial division. The goal of this qualitative phenomenological study was to add African American soldiers’ voices to the existing literature by interviewing African American soldiers with at least five years of …

The Impact Of Career And Technical Education Teacher Certification Preparation Programs On Student Industry-Based Certification Examinations, Kaneesha Chameka Celestin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs are designed to prepare students for high-wage, high-demand industry jobs. However, there is limited research on Career and Technical Education teacher preparation programs (traditional, alternative, and industry-based) and the impact on student outcomes on industry-based examinations, such as ACT WorkKeys. This quantitative study analyzed Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation programs (traditional, alternative, and industry-based) and 12th -grade students’ outcomes on the 2023-2024 ACT WorkKeys examination and whether relationships exist between the two. Additionally, the research examined each Career and Technical Education teacher certification preparation program individually to determine the differences among traditional, …

Shared And Unique Neural Correlates Of Sign And Spoken Language Production: An Ale Meta-Analysis, Grace Robertson

Master's Theses and Capstones

This coordinate-based meta-analysis aimed to identify brain areas that are uniquely active in sign language production during single word/sign production tasks using Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE). Evidence from a pooled ALE of all studies revealed a shared network between sign and spoken language for language, specifically lexical, syntactic, and semantic selection and retrieval, motor planning and execution, sensorimotor integration, phonological working memory, and visual and multimodal processing. The ALE subtraction (sign language > spoken language) did not reveal any significant clusters above the corrected threshold. However, visual inspection of an uncorrected map revealed that regions responsible for language, spatial attention and …

Advancing Bathymetric Lidar Nearshore Mapping With Self-Supervised Learning, Joseph Wilder

Master's Theses and Capstones

The application of AI/ML to shallow bathymetric mapping with airborne lidar remains limited by a lack of high-quality labeled datasets, extreme spatial variability, and noise introduced by environmental conditions and hardware limitations. These issues reduce the generalizability of traditional statistical approaches for extracting bathymetric points from lidar point clouds, with additional challenges for supervised neural networks arising due to the amount and quality of labeled data required to properly capture broad seafloor characteristics. Recent advances in point cloud machine learning methods have the potential to improve conventional bathymetric processing workflows. This work examines modern self-supervised learning (SSL) methods for bathymetric …

Conserved Spatial Proximity And Immune-Linked Evolution Of Lncrnas From Protein-Coding Genes In Vertebrates, Sahar Jamialahmadi

Master's Theses and Capstones

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are widespread components of vertebrate genomes, yet theevolutionary principles governing their genomic positioning, origin, and functional associations remain incompletely understood. Here, we performed a comparative genomic analysis across 96 vertebrate species to investigate the spatial relationship between lncRNAs and protein-coding genes, their evolutionary trajectories within gene families, and their functional and genomic contexts.

We show that lncRNAs are consistently positioned in close proximity to protein-codinggenes across vertebrates, with distance distributions significantly deviating from random genomic placement in all species examined. Despite this non-random organization, genome-wide lncRNA–mRNA distance distributions were highly conserved across species. Ancestral state reconstruction …

Digital Deterrence Through Financial Controls: Anti-Money Laundering Laws, Lawfare, And The Prc Cyber Threat, Owen T. Tremblay

William & Mary Law Review

This Note argues that anti-money laundering (AML) laws have the potential to serve as powerful tools in disrupting and degrading the support networks that enable and sustain PRC offensive cyber operations. [...] Part I provides an overview of the PRC’s cyber force structure and the national objectives it seeks to achieve through state-sponsored cyber operations. Part II examines the existing legal mechanisms employed to combat PRC MCA [Malicious Cyber Activity], including criminal charges, sanctions, export controls, investment restrictions, civil lawsuits, and other regulatory measures. Part III introduces AML laws as an additional tool in the legal and regulatory toolkit used …

Prefrontal Engagement In Cognitive Flexibility Across Paradigms, Katarina Kalajzic

Honors Scholar Theses

Cognitive flexibility is an executive function that involves dynamically adapting behavior in the face of changing environmental circumstances to achieve a particular goal. Disrupted in numerous psychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, OCD, and depression, the neural correlates of cognitive flexibility are not well understood. However, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is strongly implicated in executive function and attentional control processes. Thus, we sought to examine the neural circuitry involved in distinct cognitive flexibility tasks – the attentional set-shifting task and the probabilistic 2-armed bandit task. Through optogenetic suppression, we targeted pyramidal neurons of the rodent medial prefrontal cortex, an …

Factors Affecting Pedestrian-Vehicle Conflicts: An Empirical Analysis, Christo D. Jamo

Honors Scholar Theses

The number of pedestrian deaths increased by 78% between 2009 and 2023, while other motor vehicle crash deaths increased by 13% in the same period [1]. To identify potential pedestrian safety measures, this study analyzed the effects of location-based demographics, pedestrian phasing type, and other physical infrastructure and behavior variables on the probability of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts at signalized intersections, which is a surrogate measure of crash risk. Data were collected from 55 intersections in Connecticut, and the pedestrian-vehicle interactions were classified by severity based on the Swedish Traffic Conflict Technique: undisturbed passage, potential conflict, minor conflict, or serious conflict. Because …

Policing The Bench: Why State Legislatures Target Judicial Ethics Commissions, Emily R. Grayson

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis examines the factors driving state legislatures to restructure judicial ethics commissions. Although judicial autonomy is foundational to the American legal system, these reforms signal a growing legislative willingness to exert direct influence over the bench. With a particular focus in Texas and Georgia, this study compares the variables that shape reforms and the common themes that are present in the legislative debates. Using Devlin and Wildeman’s (2021) framework as a guide, the specific arguments made by legislators regarding these reforms are examined in an effort to understand how they justified or contested the changes. By analyzing legislative discourse …

The Germinal Center Blueprint For Spatial Immune Mapping And Antibody Discovery In Breast Cancer Sentinel Lymph Nodes, Angel Shah

Honors Scholar Theses

Sentinel lymph nodes are the first nodes that receive drainage from a tumor and are commonly used to evaluate whether cancer has begun to spread, but they also provide an important window into how a patient’s immune system is reacting to tumor-derived antigens. This project examines immune activity within SLNs, with particular attention to germinal centers, where B cells mature, undergo clonal expansion and somatic hypermutation, and generate improved antibody responses. Using a combination of spatially mapped immune marker staining, rapid sampling of reactive germinal centers, cytokine profiling, and single-cell/single-nucleus RNA sequencing, the study aims to characterize the localization, activation …

Diagnostic Ability Of Rate Of Torque Development For Patellofemoral Pain, Arun Loganathan, Neal R. Glaviano Phd, Sungwan Kim Phd

Honors Scholar Theses

Context: Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is a highly prevalent condition (22.7% in general population) that significantly impacts the quality of life of those who suffer from it. However, there is no gold standard test to diagnose it yet, leading to inconsistencies with treatment as well as delayed intervention. Rate of torque development (RTD) is a neuromuscular measure that has shown strong connections to PFP.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the diagnostic ability of RTD for PFP.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Laboratory.

Participants: Thirty-five individuals with PFP (24 males and 11 females, 22.7 ± 3.7 years, 1.67 ± 0.1 …

Validation Of A Real-Time Pcr Laboratory Developed Test For The Detection Of Pneumocystis Jirovecii In Bronchoalveolar Lavage Samples, Caitlyn Moon

Honors Scholar Theses

Pneumocystis jirovecii is an opportunistic, host-obligate fungal pathogen responsible for causing P. jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) in humans. PJP is treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX), a strong broad-spectrum antibiotic that carries risk of renal and hepatotoxicity. Therefore, rapid diagnosis or exclusion of PJP is crucial to ensure PJP-positive patients receive effective treatment and PJP-negative patients avoid unnecessary antibiotics. Unlike most microorganisms, P. jirovecii cannot be cultured, presenting complications for the typical methods of diagnosing fungal pathogens. Historically, the gold standard for diagnosis was direct microscopic examination with stains such as methenamine silver and calcofluor white, but this diagnostic technique requires highly skilled …

Home Cage Pre-Training Enhances Behavioral Task Performance In Head-Fixed Mice, Richard Zou, Claudia Mizerek, Nicholas Audette Dr.

Honors Scholar Theses

Animals utilize predictive processing to improve the processing of sensory information by reducing neural responses to anticipated stimuli and increasing responses to unexpected ones. Prior studies use simple, single-prediction, head-fixed behavioral paradigms, leaving it unclear how the brain stores and processes multiple predictions. Animals must be taught sound generating behaviors to study multiple, simultaneous predictions; however, learning in head-fixed conditions is inefficient. Therefore, we developed a two-lever behavioral task with auditory feedback and exposed mice to the task in home cages prior to switching to head-fixed training. Behavioral analysis suggests that mice understand key components of the task during pre-training, …

Play To Win: A Randomized Controlled Trial To Assess The Effects Of Play-Based Training On Upper Extremity Function In Children With Hemiplegia, Vivian London

Honors Scholar Theses

Hemiplegia, or paralysis of one side of the body, is the primary symptom of unilateral cerebral palsy, a subtype of cerebral palsy, the most common movement disorder in children. Standard of care is regular physical and occupational therapy to improve performance in bimanual activities, but conventional therapy can be expensive and draining for caregivers and children, so a need exists for a novel intervention that can take place at home and that is economical for families while being engaging for children. This thesis reports data from a subset of ten children seen as part of a randomized controlled clinical trial …

A Border Of Broken Promises: The Unfulfilled Commitments Of The Crc For Migrant Children At The U.S. Southern Border, Eva R. Passer

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis examines how closely the treatment of migrant children from Latin America to the United States aligns with the ideals of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Its central question is: to what extent do current practices comply with CRC standards? Although the CRC outlines clear obligations to uphold the best interests and fundamental rights of all children, these principles are inconsistently applied within U.S. immigration policy and practice. Through a comparative analysis of Donald Trump’s first administration and Joe Biden's presidential administration, this thesis evaluates six CRC articles concerning child migrants. It then …

Technical Debt Amplified By Ai: Real-World Case Studies And Strategies For Mitigation, Alejandro L. Reilly

Honors Scholar Theses

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful tool that can help accelerate the accumulation of software debt, but it also provides the tools needed to manage and reduce that same burden. In this paper, we discuss the impact of AI-powered code tools on technical debt, as well as how these tools can be used to assist developers in their current practices. We also discuss some of the challenges that can arise when developers accept AI-generated code without going through the best practices of software engineering. The case studies in this paper show that the path to sustainable software in the era …

The Development Of A Crispr-Based Calibrated Functional Assay For Classifying Pathogenicity Of Msh2 And Msh6 Variants In Lynch Syndrome, Olivia N. Amodeo

Honors Scholar Theses

Lynch syndrome is a hereditary disease caused by the inheritance of a mismatch repair gene variant. Individuals with this condition are predisposed to cancer development, most commonly colorectal cancer. Current guidelines for variant classification are based on numerous evidence categories, including functional evidence. However, many novel clinical variants are not well characterized, and evidence is difficult to obtain if functional assays are not calibrated.

To address this, our lab created a calibrated functional assay that calculates an odds of pathogenicity score for MSH2 and MSH6 gene variants that can be used as evidence for classifying variants of uncertain significance. This …

Staying In Stem?: A Qualitative Exploration Of Women’S College Classroom Experiences In Stem Education, Sarah Dapaah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women leave STEM not because of a lack of ability, but because of the classroom and institutional conditions they encounter once they arrive. This study examines how classroom experiences shape women’s decisions to persist in or leave STEM majors at the college level. Drawing on the sociological frameworks of doing gender, gendered organizations, and intersectionality, this study explores how gender, race, and class shape women’s experiences of belonging, support, discouragement, and recognition in STEM. Using 21 semi-structured interviews and 4 classroom observations at the University of Mississippi, the study analyzes the experiences of undergraduate women who remained in STEM, women …

Mining The Body: Racial Capitalism And The Embodied Sacrifice Zone, Regina Marie Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mining the Body: Racial Capitalism and the Sacrifice Zone of the Body examines 20th and 21st-century American literature, excavating the ways in which mining not only extracted resources from the earth, but also mined the bodies of their workers for their labor, often ignoring safety in the name of economy. This extraction of coal and of labor, along with its attendant exploitations, sparked unionization and labor movements throughout the century, as miners were frequently at the forefront of asserting their rights in response to this treatment. Using a framework that relies on both environmental criticism, such as Rob Nixon’s Slow …

Examining The Relationship Between Co-Curricular Programming And Burnout Among Medical Students At An Academic Medical Center, Lauren Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This three-manuscript dissertation examines the relationship between co-curricular programming and burnout among Doctor of Medicine (MD) students at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), situating the issue within broader concerns about physician well-being and institutional responsibility.

Manuscript I establishes the conceptual and empirical foundation for the study by reviewing the prevalence, consequences, and theoretical framing of burnout in medical education. Drawing on Maslach’s three-dimensional model of burnout—emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment—and Astin’s Student Involvement Theory, the manuscript situates co-curricular engagement as a potential protective factor against distress. The literature review highlights alarming rates of depression, suicidal ideation, …

Invisible: An Autoethnographic Study Of Teaching And Learning With Physical Disabilities And Neurodivergence, Amanda Josephine Austin Goodwin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this autoethnographic study, vignettes of a female high school teacher and graduate student with invisible disabilities are analyzed through the lens of Critical Disability Theory. This study provides teachers, administrators, and policy makers with a first-hand account of some of the barriers individuals with invisible disabilities face. Policies, environments, and practices in K-12 education, higher education, and broader society are analyzed. Advancements in inclusivity and accessibility as well as improvements in teacher education programs are suggested. Reflection throughout this study, three core themes emerged: listen, believe, and support individuals with invisible disabilities.

Read Again, Succeed Again, Kaitlin Martz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of a repeated reading (RR) intervention on the oral reading fluency and comprehension of first grade students identified as “at-risk” in a high poverty school in the Mississippi Delta. Students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds often have limited early literacy experiences, which contributes to persistent achievement gaps in reading (Romeo et al., 2022; NAEP, 2024). This study is grounded in LaBerge and Samuels’ (1974) theory of automaticity to employ an intervention focused on building reading fluency as a means to improve reading comprehension.

Six students participated in one-on-one sessions three times per week for …