Digital Commons Network^™

The Significant Role Of Seo In Effective Web Marketing, Ramtin Ranjpour

AMTP Proceedings 2024

With the ever-rising popularity of online shopping, the power of web marketing has become more essential than ever. And search engine optimization (SEO) plays a huge role in web marketing. This paper is a critical literature review that goes over the important scholarly and non-scholarly works of influential experts in SEO. It serves as a fun and engaging introduction for anyone interested in learning about SEO, specifically about its importance, benefits, top strategies, rivals, and how it can be combined with other marketing methods. The hope is that it helps individuals and small business owners with their web marketing and …

Taxing The Metaverse, Young Ran (Christine) Kim

Articles

The buzz surrounding the Metaverse has been growing steadily for the past couple of years, but the tax implications of this novel ecosystem remain fuzzy to most tax scholars. Such uncertainty is concerning, given the potential and momentum of this emerging technology. Although the Metaverse evolved from online video games focused only on user consumption, it now allows users to produce income and accumulate wealth entirely within the Metaverse. Current law seems to defer taxation of such until a realization or cash-out event. This Article challenges this approach and offers novel arguments justifying Metaverse taxation. Because economic activity within the …

Bounded Entities And (Some Of) Their Discontents, Saurabh Vishnubhakat

Articles

In his new article An Organizational Theory of International Technology Transfer, Professor Peter Lee offers two richly detailed accounts at once. One is a novel theoretical framework of "bounded entities" that generalizes both from the classic theory of the firm and, of more recent vintage, from the knowledge-based theory of the firm to specify a broader notion of organizations that are bounded in the sense of robust internal integration through corporate or contractual means. In short, such entities are not firms but resemble them in consequential ways. The other account is a practical elaboration of bounded entities that are multinational …

From Cough To Crip: The Development Of Codeine From A Purely Medical Substance Into A Popular Recreational Drug, Rhett C. Vaughn

Senior Theses

The research that was conducted aimed to elicit the influence that pop culture has on recreational drug consumption. Specifically, the usage of the drug codeine has become very popular in social media among many influencers. The research focuses on the prevalence of this drug across several media platforms, alongside the growing rate of consumption globally. Research was conducted primarily through combining various databases at various organizations and this study aims to compile the data into one coherent paper regarding codeine in pop culture. While, it cannot be solely attributed to one specific outlet or influence, this study found that alongside …

The Health Effects Of Chocolate: A Literature Review, Erika A. Pierce

Senior Theses

Chocolate has been a part of the human diet for centuries, but while it was once considered a healthy food, it is now seen as a dessert and unhealthy treat. It is known that chocolate contains polyphenols, flavonoids, and minerals that can affect body functioning. To determine the extent to which chocolate plays a role in health, a literature review was performed by searching the PubMed, CINAHL, and Web of Science databases for peer-reviewed articles published between 2004 and 2024. Of the 14 included studies, the health effects of chocolate fell into three overarching categories: neurological effects, including mental health, …

Decoding Implant-Related Sickness: Unraveling The Complexities Of Breast Implant Illness, Madison M. Stewart

Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the phenomenon of breast implant illness (BII), examining its potential correlation with individual factors such as obesity and poor lifestyle habits. BII, characterized by nonspecific symptoms, is often self-diagnosed by patients influenced by social media and internet sources, leading to requests for implant removal. Conducting a comprehensive meta-analysis, the study scrutinizes existing literature to evaluate the association between BII, obesity, and lifestyle choices. Employing inclusion criteria, peer-reviewed publications are analyzed through systematic review methodology to offer insights into the interplay between BII and adiposity, exploring inflammatory mechanisms and patient behaviors like exercise and smoking. The research aims …

"Fueling For A Healthy Life:" A Cooking Class For Adolescent And Young Adult Childhood Cancer Survivors, Hope Dominique

Senior Theses

Following cancer treatment, childhood cancer survivors (CCS) are at an increased risk of developing chronic diseases and face an increased risk of health-related death during adulthood. Recent literature demonstrates that modifying lifestyle factors such as nutrition can reduce the risk of late mortality in survivors, suggesting that interventions promoting a healthy lifestyle may improve quality and quantity of life for CCS. However, many adolescent and young adult (AYA) CCS do not adhere to national dietary guidelines and face both real and perceived barriers to adopting healthier eating habits while in a critical period for establishing behaviors that contribute to lifelong …

A Historical Analysis Of Health Institutions, Professionals, And Advocates In The Civil Rights Movement In Columbia, South Carolina, Anusha Ghosh

Senior Theses

From 1900 to 1970, widespread racism severely restricted healthcare access for Black citizens in the South, leading them to establish and staff alternative healthcare institutions to support their community.

Such institutions faced debilitating issues such as chronic financial shortages and patient overflow. Despite these problems, oral histories, media, and primary written sources show that Black healthcare workers in alternative healthcare institutions demonstrated a greater ability to meet the health needs of Black patients due to cultural understanding and external community involvement.

Dr. Matilda Evans was an African-American woman physician who became a leader in medicine, public health, and education in …

Facing Two Fronts: Asian Americans Grappling With Covid-19 And Xenophobic Tensions, Matthew Soos

Senior Theses

This thesis examines the impact of COVID-19-induced discrimination against Asian Americans (AsAms) and its effects on the mental health of college-aged individuals within this demographic. The study specifically targets East and Southeast Asians due to their heightened connection with the pandemic. Data was gathered via a survey disseminated among undergraduate AsAm students at the University of South Carolina. The survey sought information on the occurrence and forms of discrimination encountered pre-pandemic and during the pandemic, alongside the mental health condition and coping mechanisms of the respondents. Moreover, participants were prompted to assess the efficacy of suggested approaches in addressing discrimination. …

Focus Group And Survey Responses To Postural Feedback During Creative Movement Exploration, Mary C. Matthews

Senior Theses

John H. Riskind’s “appropriateness hypothesis” states that posture, positions, and gestures can be emotionally self-regulating if an individual holds a posture that is appropriate for its context. A litany of studies on power posing suggests expansive postures could increase Feelings of Power. One meta-analytic review demonstrates the “robust” significance for evidence of “power feelings, emotion, or self-esteem” due to postural feedback while cautioning researchers on the empirical invalidity of evidence for behavioral and physiological variables. A qualitative description of individuals’ experiences as they change posture, gesture, and position would direct future research on postural feedback. The current project qualitatively examines …

Design Of A Launchable Remote-Controlled Rover And Protective Aeroshell, Matthew Loewer, Colby Weeks, Lake Williams, Jackson Zazzaro

Senior Theses

Planetary rovers, vehicles that can traverse challenging terrain, have excelled in their exploration missions to other celestial bodies. They have been especially suitable for exploring Mars, as rovers such as Opportunity and Perseverance have collected valuable geological, atmospheric, seismic, and magnetic information from the Martian surface. Rovers will remain vital in future space exploration missions, and it is necessary to understand their design and functionality. This paper focuses on the design and prototyping of a miniature rover that can survive the rough Martian terrain while collecting and submitting environmental data for scientific analysis. The design is based off proven Martian …

The Role Of Sport For Adolescents: The Effect Of Sport Participation As A Unique Form Of Physical Activity On Mental Health And Overall Subjective Well-Being During Adolescence, Caleb M. Rogers

Senior Theses

Well-being is an extremely multifaceted domain, as there are numerous factors that contribute to one’s way of life. Objective well-being focuses primarily on material factors such as access to food, housing, and a steady household income. Although these factors play a large role, it is important to analyze well-being from the perspective of the individual. Subjective well-being focuses on how one perceives one's own well-being. Physical activity has been well established as one factor associated with improvements within this domain for adolescents. This project investigates the role of one specific form of physical activity during adolescence: sport. The general assumption …

The A-B Gap: An Assessment Of The Differences Between Ethical Attitudes And Ethical Behaviour Among The Next Generation Of Business Leaders In South Africa, Christo Bisschoff, Sam Fullerton

AMTP Proceedings 2024

The current study scrutinizes differences between the ethical attitudes and behaviour of South Africa’s future generation of business leaders. The target population comprises first-level employed business managers who are currently completing an executive MBA degree. Business managers at three selected South African business schools comprised the sampling frame. Each member of the target population received an online link for access to a questionnaire which featured a previously validated series of balanced 6-point itemized rating scales. Data were collected on both behaviour and attitudes regarding 14 questionable business behaviours, each representing a potential breach of ethical conduct. A 60% response rate …

Zoomer Generation: Used Car Automobile Purchasing Behaviors, Scott E. Whitaker, Joe Spencer, Giovanni Calise

AMTP Proceedings 2024

There is a growing trend of online automobile purchasing that is altering the relationship between consumers and automobile dealerships. Consumers are more informed and seek a larger variety of inventory and options when shopping for used vehicles. The online marketplace provides a viable alternative to local dealerships who have hereto dominated much of the market. This research shows the current generation of Zoomers is helping to drive this trend which has significant marketing implications toward the industry. There remains a gap in the academic body of knowledge examining this behavior in relation to large online purchases such as automobiles. This …

Conflicted Positioning: Product Positioning When Market Segments Have Conflicting Risk Goals, Richard Flight

AMTP Proceedings 2024

ABSTRACT

In some product and service categories concern for physical risk as a result of the product or service rendered is an inherent barrier to purchase. Meanwhile, the same perceived danger attracts thrill seekers who want (or need) a sense of adventure. In this exploratory research, the question of motive for and emotions associated with learning how to fly a plane are explored. When prompted risk is cited oftentimes as both a deterrent to engage in the activity and a motive to pursue it. This presents product and brand managers with the question of how to simultaneously assuage risk-related fear …

Consumers' Brand Loyalty Towards Small Family-Owned Businesses, Christo A. Bisschoff Prof, Christoff Botha Prof, Marco Van Schoor Mr, Doret Botha Prof

AMTP Proceedings 2024

Family-owned businesses constitute a substantial portion of the workforce and GDP in South Africa and, with limited work opportunities in the public sector, play a significant role in job creation. As a result, family enterprises significantly influence South Africa's economy. This study aims to understand consumer loyalty towards family-owned businesses as brands by investigating family-owned businesses in the small mining town "Stilfontein" in the North-West Province, South Africa. Qualitative data collection involved semi-structured interviews with customers of family businesses to gather insights into brand loyalty. The identified themes and sub-themes highlight the importance of community bonds, personalized services, product quality, …

Radiation-Induced Lymphopenia: Understanding, Predictive Modelling And Developing Photon And Proton-Based Mitigation Strategies, Yan Chu

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

It is well recognized that the effectiveness of radiotherapy (RT) requires an intact adaptive immune system, while lymphocytes are highly radiosensitive and are prevalent in the “dose bath” of radiation surrounding the tumor volume. Furthermore, it has been shown that, for nearly all disease sites, radiation-induced lymphopenia (RIL) is associated with poor outcomes. Recently, we observed compelling evidence of significant differences in the lymphocyte-sparing effects of proton therapy (PT) vs. photon (or x-ray) therapy (XRT) attributable to the differences in magnitudes of the dose baths of the two modalities. In addition, previous work has further demonstrated that both patient-specific and …

Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy For Lithium Toxicity: A Worthy Treatment To Avoid Intradialytic Hypotension And Vasopressors., Pooya Zardoost, Zachary Buckman, Joseph Weaver, Sidney Elston, Alex Prouty, Ryan Stuart, Henry L Wehrum

Ambulatory and Primary Care Articles

While intermittent hemodialysis (HD) is the most efficient method of removing lithium in patients with lithium toxicity, continuous renal replacement therapy is an acceptable alternative in the setting of intradialytic hypotension. This form of dialysis can reduce the need for vasopressors during HD, which increases mortality.

Recent Snap Participation In Farmers Markets: Market Representatives’ Perspectives, Laura Fincher

Honors Theses

As the 2023 farmers market season is the first in three years without Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Emergency Allotments, SNAP participation in farmers markets is likely to decrease, which could have negative impacts for farmers market earnings and community relations. The purpose of this study was to examine farmers market SNAP participation and the impacts of the expiration of SNAP Emergency Allotments from the perspective of market representatives. Farmers market representatives from Central Arkansas and East Texas were interviewed in field testing, then representatives from North Texas were interviewed in target data collection. Observations of farmers market sites and …

Determining The Lightcurves And Rotational Periods Of Four Main Belt Asteroids, Kaitlyn Kalisek

Honors Theses

This research found lightcurves and rotational periods of four main belt asteroids, 2854 Rawson, 5142 Okutama, (14362) 1988 MH, and 28248 Barthelemy. The A&M-Commerce observatory 0.7 meter telescope equipped with a CCD camera was used to collect multiple nights of data for each asteroid which was then analyzed to determine the asteroid’s lightcurve, rotational period, and create a possible 3D model. The rotational periods were found to be 4.775 ± 0.001 h for 2854 Rawson, 3.803 ± 0.001 h for 5142 Okutama, 3.645 ± 0.001 h for (14362) 1988 MH, and 3.128 ± 0.002 h for 28248 Barthelemy.

Behavioral Response Of Commercial Cattle To Common Handling Methods In Pasture Settings, Agustin Angel Espinoza

Honors Theses

Flight zones can be described as the personal space bubble of cattle. Cattle will make attempts to retain this personal space bubble when being approached in a pasture setting. Flight zone distance can be used by producers to understand cattle temperament. A larger flight zone may indicate a more excitable temperament. In this study female cattle aged 1-12 were approached on foot, by utility vehicle and by feed truck in a pasture setting to record their flight zone. This study evaluated how differing methods of approach affect the flight zone. Low stress handling was the method of approach taken to …

Autoethnography For Professional Growth In Science And Social Studies Pedagogy, Grace E. White

Honors Theses

A large body of research shows that reading and math instruction receive significantly more time, attention, and instructional minutes than science and social studies instruction in elementary classrooms(VanFossen, 2005; Wilkens, 2009; Blank, 2013; Rosenshine, 2015). In this study, I use an autoethnographic reflective research framework to combat the challenges of science and social studies professional growth while student teaching at a rural texas elementary school that has chosen to require only math and reading instruction from their teachers. It was found that science and social studies is most easily incorporated through the existing reading and math curriculum. The autoethnographic process …

Arcadia Magazine, 2024-04

Alumni Magazine

No abstract provided.

Visualizing The Standard Deviation Via Revolution Using R/Rstudio, Hieu Nguyen '25, Trung Pham '25, Mamunur Rashid, Jyotirmoy Sarkar

Student Research

The standard deviation is a commonly used statistical measure to quantify the level of variation present in a set of numbers or in a random variable. Sarkar and Rashid (2016) introduced an interpretation of the population standard deviation as the radius of a cylinder with a volume equivalent to that of the solid of revolution when the 2-D graph of the empirical cumulative distribution function is revolved about the vertical line through the mean. This article demonstrates step-by-step how to use the RevSD package in R/RStudio to visualize the standard deviation of data using this innovative technique. The RevSD package …

Lipprint: Using Lip Movements As A Silent Password, Ahmed Ketab, Nidhal K. El Abbadi

Mesopotamian Journal of CyberSecurity

Authentication and confidentiality are critical elements in many systems, and passwords are used to protect these systems. One way to enter the password into the system is via voice. The problem with this type of password is that people listen to it easily. The general purpose of this study was to make the password based on lip movement instead of sound. To address this problem, a visual speech recognition (VSR) system was proposed that detects speech from lip movement as a silent password. The proposed system consists of preprocessing the captured video via the proposed algorithms and feature extraction and …

Interactions Between Societal, Social, And Social Media Marketing, Jessica Holden, Ismet Anitsal, Melek Meral Anitsal

AMTP Proceedings 2024

This research explores the interactions among societal, social, and social media marketing concepts to provide clarity and distinction. These concepts are often confused, causing misunderstanding and misuse in practice. Societal, social, and social media marketing concepts need to be differentiated from one another and linked to the appropriate marketing tactics for them to be understood and utilized effectively in practice.

Exploring Practical Measures As An Approach For Measuring Elementary Students’ Attitudes Towards Computer Science, Umar Shehzad, Mimi M. Recker, Jody E. Clarke-Midura

Publications

This paper presents a novel approach for predicting the outcomes of elementary students’ participation in computer science (CS) instruction by using exit tickets, a type of practical measure, where students provide rapid feedback on their instructional experiences. Such feedback can help teachers to inform ongoing teaching and instructional practices. We fit a Structural Equation Model to examine whether students' perceptions of enjoyment, ease, and connections between mathematics and CS in an integrated lesson predicted their affective outcomes in self-efficacy, interest, and CS identity, collected in a pre- post- survey. We found that practical measures can validly measure student experiences.

Impact Of Temperature On The Bionomics And Geographical Range Margins Of The Two-Spotted Field Cricket Gryllus Bimaculatus In The World: Implications For Its Mass Farming, Henlay J.O. Magara, Chrysantus M. Tanga, Brian L. Fisher, Abdelmutalab G.A. Azrag, Saliou Niassy, James P. Egonyu, Sylvain Hugel, Nana Roos, Monica A. Ayieko, Subramanian Sevgan, Sunday Ekesi

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Gryllus bimaculatus (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) is widely considered an excellent nutrient source for food and feed. Despite its economic importance, there is limited information on the impact of temperature on the bionomics of this cricket to guide its effective and sustainable mass production in its geographical range. The biological parameters of G. bimaculatus were investigated at eight different temperatures ranging from 20–40∘C. The Insect Life-Cycle Modelling (ILCYM) program was used to fit linear and non-linear functions to the data to describe the influence of temperature on life history parameters and its farmability under the current and projected climate for 2050. Our …

Enhancing Pre-Vocational Programs For High School Students With Disabilities: The Impact Of Occupational Therapy And Support Staff Education, Maria Calzada

Capstone Projects

Pre-vocational programs in high school serve as a crucial platform for supporting students in the transition from education to the workplace. These programs provide classroom instruction, hands-on training, and practical experiences to maximize students’ vocational skills post-high school. Pre-vocational programs provide a crucial platform for the development of IADL skills, task analysis, and the promotion of occupational engagement among diverse populations. The purpose of this DCE was program development within the pre-vocational program and provide additional education for the support staff at the high school setting. The goal was to improve vocational skills, including problem solving, self-advocacy, sequencing, and sustained …

Holistic Education To Empower And Enhance Women's Health Throughout Pregnancy, Birth, And The Postpartum Period, Hannah Wilson

Capstone Projects

Making informed healthcare decisions on behalf of oneself for optimal outcomes first begins with comprehending basic health education about one’s own body, typical bodily functioning and bodily processes and ends with empowered decision making. Health literacy is the ability of an individual to understand and apply basic healthcare information to their personal healthcare decision making and is integral for any and all healthcare providers to comprehend when educating patients in practice. Occupational therapists (OTs) are healthcare professionals that work with any demographic of people to improve satisfaction with performance of everyday living activities and quality of life. OTs’ scope of …