Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Ethnicity And Socioeconomic Status On Anxiety Prevalence And Treatment, Brianna Liberman

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

With the growing rise of anxiety disorders, psychosocial factors including ethnicity and socioeconomic status may be contributing to diagnostic disparities among different groups. The primary explanation for this trend has been income and ethnic differences. While previous research has followed the trends of income levels and mental health disorders, few studies have delved further into the influential nature of psychosocial factors as it relates specifically to anxiety. Rather, studies have focused on how psychosocial factors such as SES, mitigate mental health development overall. Data was collected to determine what role ethnicity, income, and parental marriage, play in the development of …

The Partisan Effects Of Covid-19: News Sources And Mask Wearing, Lily Martin

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Within only one year of the global pandemic caused by COVID-19, risk prevention, including the use of a mask to prevent spread of the disease, became incredibly politicized within the United States. By looking at mainstream media sources such as CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC, in this article I will be examining how news media sources affect the viewer's perceptions of mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Relying on the Chapman Survey of American Fears, a representative national sample of U.S. adults, I found that individuals who choose to watch FOX news every day were most likely to disagree that …

An Assessment On Microplastic Pollution In The Resacas Of The Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, Wesley D. Franklin

Theses and Dissertations

Microplastic pollution is a serious issue that impacts most aquatic environments. Microplastics have the potential to cause numerous detriments to the fitness and reproductive capability of many organisms. The resacas of the Lower Rio Grande are an understudied area that could be sinks for large congregations of microplastics. We analyze microplastic pollution in two species of fish as well as the sediment and water of eleven different pools from four resaca systems. We find that microplastics are present in every pool sampled.

Altogether 218 microplastic pieces are found from the water, sediment and fish samples. We find that microplastics are …

Virtual Screening For Potential New Chemotherapeutic Agents For The Gpr119 Receptor, A Target For Type Ii Diabetes, Jennifer Lizeth Bravo

Theses and Dissertations

Three frames from a molecular dynamics simulation run of a GPR119 receptor homology model were used for this study. The homology model was validated by virtually screening 76 known GPR119 receptor. 85% of these agonists bound to the receptor. Following the validation, 21,000 molecules were selected for the virtual screening study. 862 ligands came from the GPCR Selleckchem/Prestwick library, 42 compounds from the Prestwick Phytochemical library, 20,000 compounds from the ZINC library, plus four molecules from the literature. All ligands were built, geometry-optimized, and docked in the GPR119 models using a protocol combining High Throughput Virtual Screening, Standard Precision, and …

Centrifugally-Spun Ceramic/Carbon Composite Fibers And Their Use As Anode Materials In Li-Ion Batteries, Gabriel Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

The work in this thesis focuses in the study of Centrifugally Spun Short Fiber Composites and their Implementation as Alternate Anode Material in Li-Ion Batteries. Due to their high theoretical capacity, abundance, and environmental friendliness, metal oxides have been widely studied as alternate anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). In this research work, the processing of SnO2 and SnO2/TiO2 ceramic short fibers as well as flexible and porous metal oxide carbon fibers (FPMOCFs) by centrifugal spinning followed by an optimized coating technique is reported. In addition, the electrochemical performance of the composites was also investigated and is provided.

Absolute Power Measurements For Advanced Ligo Photon Calibrator, Francisco Llamas Villarreal

Theses and Dissertations

Since its first detection in 2015, the Light Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory has been notably recognized for the successful measurement of gravitational waves. The successful detection of gravitational-waves comes from the effort of more than a thousand scientist working in collaboration. To characterize the change in displacement of the ETMs, LIGO uses several methods of calibration. The Photon Calibrator has gained significance to the point of becoming the primary calibration tool for the Advanced LIGO detectors. Relying on photon radiation pressure to calibrate the interferometer, the photon calibrator measures the change in displacement of the ETM in relation to the power …

Semantic Adversarial Attack On Support Vector Machine, Yessica Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the breakthroughs in machine learning, most classifiers are not robust against adversarial attacks. They can be easily fooled by adversarial examples. These examples can be created in a variety of ways. In this thesis, the ideas of detecting edges or critical pixels in an image are investigated that could be used for fooling classifiers. Identifying those critical pixels in an image can lead the way to fix the vulnerabilities and thus making it robust against cyber-attacks. For testing, a Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to see the success of the adversarial examples generated.

Transatlantic Triangulations: Genre And Traumatic Memory In The Novels Of Esmeralda Santiago And Alejandro Zambra, Amanda A. Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

When a traumatic event collectively happens to a group or body of people, be that geographically, emotionally or physically, an imprint is left behind which impacts a part of a culture or society. The larger the scale of the incident, the wider the scope in terms of lives affected and memory established, which creates a new history for many.

In Alejandro Zambra’s (2011) Ways of Going Home, Zambra remembers his traumatic childhood growing up under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in war torn Chile in the 1980s. While this postmodern novel uses memory and historical perceptions from a child’s …

Urinary Total Arsenic And Arsenic Methylation Capacity In Pregnancy And Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Case-Control Study, Wei-Jen Chen, Erin M. Davis, Julie A. Stoner, Candace A. Robledo, Jean R. Goodman, Tabitha Garwe, Amanda E. Janitz, Chao Xu, Jooyeon Hwang, Jennifer D. Peck

School of Medicine Publications

Previous studies suggest arsenic exposure may increase the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, prior assessments of total arsenic concentrations have not distinguished between toxic and nontoxic species. Our study aimed to investigate the relationships between inorganic arsenic exposure, arsenic methylation capacity, and GDM.

Sixty-four cases of GDM and 237 controls were analyzed for urinary concentrations of inorganic arsenic species and their metabolites (arsenite (As3), arsenate (As5), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA)), and organic forms of arsenic. Inorganic arsenic exposure was defined as the sum of inorganic and methylated arsenic species (iSumAs). Methylation capacity indices were calculated …

Tennessee Farm Bureau News - May 2021, Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation

Tennessee Farm Bureau News

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Framework For Allied Legal Professional Programs: Assessing Improvements In Access To Justice, Andrea L. Miller, Paula Hannaford-Agor, Kathryn Genthon

Faculty Publications

The American legal system has a civil access-to-justice gap, wherein many people with civil legal issues are unable to obtain legal assistance. People with civil legal issues who cannot afford an attorney frequently must proceed through the legal system on their own. As the number of Self-Represented Litigants (SRLs) grows, several jurisdictions have investigated the creation of an additional tier of legal service providers, who can give limited legal assistance at a lower price than attorneys. For the purposes of this report, we will refer to these service providers as Allied Legal Professionals (ALPs). ALP programs can involve a wide …

Reconsidering Section 1983'S Nonabrogation Of Sovereign Immunity, Katherine Mims Crocker

Faculty Publications

Motivated by civil unrest and the police conduct that prompted it, Americans have embarked on a major reexamination of how constitutional enforcement works. One important component is 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which allows civil suits against any "person" who violates federal rights. The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that "person" excludes states because Section 1983 flunks a condition of crystal clarity.

This Article reconsiders that conclusion--in legalese, Section 1983's nonabrogation of sovereign immunity--along multiple dimensions. Beginning with a negative critique, this Article argues that because the Court invented the crystal-clarity standard so long after Section 1983's enactment, the caselaw …

Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Knowledge Of Endometriosis: A Pilot Study, Stephanie Schlorke

Honors Theses

This descriptive post-test design study was conducted to assess knowledge level of undergraduate nursing students regarding risk factors, clinical manifestations, age of diagnosis, common psychiatric co-morbidities, treatment methods, and pathophysiology of endometriosis. An author-created 8 question multichoice and select all that apply questionnaire was used to collect the data. Twenty-eight students responded to the questionnaire. The results were divided to compare knowledge differences between second-semester and fifth-semester students.

It was determined that the undergraduate nursing students have a working knowledge of endometriosis, but there are knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. Fifth-semester participants scored higher than the second-semester participants …

Vertebrates At The University Of Southern Mississippi: A Wildlife Survey Of The Bear Point Bayou And Surrounding Gulf Park Campus, Hannah Mcduffie

Honors Theses

This project originated through interest in pursuing a field-based research project involving vertebrates. After conducting literature reviews, it was found that the Bear Point Bayou running through the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park Campus has never been thoroughly surveyed for species richness (Mohrman et al. 2016). Four sites on the Gulf Park Campus were chosen and vertebrate species were documented and identified through observations, camera trapping, and vocalization recordings. These data, along with species previously recorded on campus, were combined, and compared to data from the Gulf Coast Phenology Trail of which the Gulf Park Campus was recently added …

Qualified Immunity: How Mississippi’S District Courts Have Shown Why The Doctrine Should Be Done Away With, Hannah E. Sawyer

Honors Theses

Qualified immunity is a legal doctrine created by the Supreme Court that has allowed police officers to violate people’s rights without fear of consequences. This doctrine protects all but the completely incompetent or those who violate people’s rights knowingly. The original intent of the Supreme Court was to prevent overdeterrence of police officers because of insubstantial lawsuits from being brought against them. This has backfired and now it seems that officers are under deterred because they are often simply placed on administrative leave with little to no consequences. The United States has seen numerous protests in just the last year …

Synesthesia: Does It Have An Effect On Memory?, Elizabeth Evans

Honors Theses

Synesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon involving an inducer (a stimulus) and a concurrent (elicited response). For many years, scientists have striven to explain synesthesia and whether or not there are benefits to the people who experience it. In this study, nineteen participants were asked to complete a questionnaire in an attempt to see if their synesthetic experiences gave them advantages in the area of memory. The seven questions were given in a multiple-choice or text entry format, and the questionnaire was approved by The University of Southern Mississippi’s IRB before being sent out in an electronic format. The majority of …

The Impact Of Graduate School Ranking On An Economics Professor’S Annual Earnings, Shailee Manandhar

Honors Theses

What are the economic returns to attending a more selective college? This thesis adds to the growing literature on college choices and economic returns by analyzing the effects of graduate school ranking on the annual earnings of economics professors in the United States. In order to answer this question, the author collected an original data set using publicly available salary information from a number of US-based institutions. The data in this paper uses McPherson’s ranking of US Economics Departments, h-index, and other factors collected from the individuals’ CVs to estimate the economic returns. The results from Ordinary Least Squares regression …

The Role Of Parenting Practices In Adolescent Aggression And Impulsivity, Elizabeth G. Payne

Honors Theses

Parents have an influential role in adolescent development. Previous findings have found a relationship between parenting practices and adolescent behavioral problems. The purpose of this study was to analyze different parenting practices’ influence on impulsive and aggressive behaviors in adolescents. This study uses data gathered from a unique population of at-risk adolescents from a military-style bootcamp who were asked about their parents’ behaviors and their own behaviors. Findings from this study expand upon previous research on parenting practices by analyzing a specific population of at-risk youth and looking at specific forms of impulsive and aggressive behaviors. Data was collected through …

Electrophysiological Measures Of Context Updating Along The Schizophrenia Spectrum, Rachel J. Mcclure

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Objective: Schizotypy is conceptualized on the spectrum of schizophrenia spectrum, but is seldom studied with schizophrenia. We investigated whether individuals endorsing schizotypy traits exhibit P300 amplitude and power more similar to deficits in those with schizophrenia or more similar to healthy controls. Method: Participants consisted of 109 individuals, 63 females, ages 18 to 64, (M = 30.98 years, SD = 9.9 years). P300 was elicited with an auditory oddball task, and peak amplitude & latency as well as power within the peak window within the delta, theta, alpha, beta & gamma frequencies were calculated. Schizophrenia symptom severity was measured using …

Coalition For Prisoners' Rights Newsletter, Vol. 46-C, No. 5, Coalition For Prisoners' Rights

Coalition for Prisoners' Rights Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Grief And Spiritual Coping: The Practices Of Three Generations Of Faith, Ron Bruner, Dudley Chancey

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

Among the more important tasks of ministry is assisting congregants dealing with the grief that permeates life. This project seeks to discover and describe spiritual coping practices, positive and negative, among three-generation families within Churches of Christ. This qualitative work reviews relevant literature, defines research questions for this research, details the methodology used to obtain data, describes the sample from which these data were obtained, and reports the results. Thematic analysis of narratives obtained in this qualitative study provides an enriched understanding of spiritual coping with life stressors that is useful for practitioners of clinical and pastoral counseling.

Hb 409, A Drastic Departure From Florida’S Traditional Stance On Will Execution Formalities, Justin Shifrin

Journal of Technology Law & Policy

The baby boomer generation is aging, and many of the citizens that belong to this generation are retiring to Florida. Accordingly, Florida is expected to host one of the largest wealth transfers in history. And while the baby boomer population ages, our society is becoming more digitized. Things we traditionally did by pen and paper are now increasingly done by computer and keystroke, and wills are no exception. What was previously considered a document whose sacred nature could only be appreciated by the affixation of a handwritten signature at the bottom thereof, wills are now being drafted, signed, witnessed, and …

Regulating The Impending Transformation Of The Meat Industry: "Cultured Meat", Jaden Atkins

Journal of Technology Law & Policy

Imagine the ability to create up to 80,000 burgers from one single sample of a cow’s leg and a simple serum. The impacts would all be enormous, from the reduction in land use and resulting environmental impact, to victories for animal rights, to human health impacts. This may sound far-off, but it could soon be our reality. Cell-cultured or simply “cultured” meat is in development and is expected to be widely available in the next few years. While this technology’s potential impacts are incredible, cultured meat challenges our current framework of food regulation, requiring new solutions to old problems.

The …

An Argument For Akrasia, Bryce Pattillo

Global Tides

The concept of akrasia is the idea that one could consciously act against one’s own best interests. Socrates argues in Protagoras that akrasia is impossible against the replies of his interlocutors and presents a strong argument for why no one truly acts against their own interests. Nonetheless, it is intuitive for most people that one can act against one’s own interests if they are tempted strongly enough. In this essay, Socrates’ argument is challenged in favor of this intuition, and a possible case for akrasia is presented.

Improving Candidate-Quality Preference-Specification Mechanisms: Incorporating (Gender-Empowering) Voter-Chosen Quotas, Vishal Wilde

Journal of International Women's Studies

I conceptualize the informal outlines of a new voting system/mechanism that is more holistic and democratically just; the proposed alternative would incorporate (gender) quotas amongst other fundamental, important aspects. This conceptual outline seeks to resolve the primary (intellectual) obstacles for the adoption of quotas in their current form which, I contend, is their discordance with mainstream conceptions of democratic justice. More precisely, the conceptualized voting system/mechanism seeks to increase the sophistication of preference-specification in voting procedures (thereby presenting an alternative to the prevailing, privileged paradigm of geospatial-constituency representation). I do not present results in the conventional sense; no data was …

Designing A Tensegrity Form Of An Outdoor Hydroponic System Utilizing Bamboo (Bambusoideae) And Abaca Fiber (Musa Textilis), Lara Isabelle M. Cabral, Claire Anne S. Magtibay, Liza Marie T. Rosales

DLSU Senior High School Research Congress

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unemployment and a lack of food. Filipinos have turned to indoor and outdoor gardening as an alternative source of income and food. However, one of the problems faced by home gardeners is space insufficiency. This research aims to find a solution to this problem by designing an outdoor tensegrity hydroponic system and constructing its model using Bamboo (Bambusoideae) and Abaca Fiber (Musa textilis). The research followed a system called the ADDIE Model to execute its methodology. The dimensions of the tensegrity hydroponic system design were planned during the Analysis phase. Freehand sketches of proposed designs …

Localization Of Hand And Wrist Anatomic Structures Among Physical Medicine And Rehabilitation Residents: Implication Of Ultrasonography In Palpation Skill Verification, Se Won Lee, Phuong Uyen Le, Craig Van Dien, Stefanie Lai, Eric Aguila

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Objective

The objective of this cross-sectional study is to evaluate the accuracy of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) resident palpation skills of hand and wrist joint and soft tissue structures using ultrasonography (US) verification.

Methods

PM&R residents palpated hand and wrist anatomic structures in an outpatient musculoskeletal (MSK) clinic. Once the presumed structures were localized, residents marked a one centimeter size circle on the overlying skin with an ink marker. The accuracy of the circle over the joint line and soft tissue structures was verified using US.

Results

Overall palpation accuracy for 16 joint line and soft tissue structures was …

Hyperglycemia Followed By An Abrupt Decrease Of Blood Glucose Is A Rare Cause Of Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome (Pres), Liza Garabet Diramerian, Nabila Ashraf, Admir Syla, Armen Malkhasian, Jason Madey

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Introduction

Posterior Reversible Encephalopathic Syndrome (PRES) is a clinical syndrome of headache, confusion or decreased level of consciousness, visual changes, seizures and focal neurologic signs associated with characteristic neuroimaging findings of posterior cerebral white matter edema. In most cases, PRES is precipitated by sudden increase in blood pressure; however, in the case presented here, the etiology was different as it was secondary to extreme changes in glucose levels.

Case Presentation

A 49-year-old female with a past medical history of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, type 2 was brought to the emergency room with a chief complaint of visual changes for 1 …

Modeling The Us Beef Industry’S Response To Covid-19, Owen Michael Fleming

Undergraduate Economic Review

To understand the beef industry’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, I proposed a three-sector model of the beef supply-chain and estimated it econometrically. Based on their definitions, it is found that panic, stay-at-home procedures, and expectations are not significant explanatory variables. However, there is strong evidence that COVID-19 spread in a set of counties with large meatpacking plants has the effect of increasing wholesale beef prices, while country-wide spread has the effect of reducing wholesale prices. The results further imply differences in competition across the market levels, with wholesalers responding as if they face less competition than retailers and farmers.

Analyzing And Decomposing South African Income Inequality By Income Source, Race, And Poverty Level For 2008 And 2014, Zia Saylor

Undergraduate Economic Review

In South Africa’s apartheid regime a white minority controlled the black African majority from 1948 until 1994, creating income and wealth inequalities between the different races that linger today. This paper uses data from the 2008 and 2014 National Income Dynamics Survey (NIDS) to understand income inequalities within and between racial categories, to examine how different income sources contribute to overall income inequality, and to study how the interaction between race and poverty shapes the inequality between African households when decomposing into subgroups above and below the poverty line. For this study, I use Gini coefficients to measure inequality. My …