Supporting Healthy Eating Habits In Preschoolers, Adrian Arechiga-Martinez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Unhealthy eating habits in early childhood are a growing health concern that has long-term effects on children’s physical and emotional health. Early childhood is an ideal time to support healthy eating habits because nutritious food choices support 1 children’s growth, brain development, and overall well-being. Making healthy food choices also helps prevent diseases such as diabetes and heart disease (Al-Mahshi et al., 2025). However, many young children face limited nutrition education, a lack of parental influence, and inadequate food environments. To address this issue, I created a one-day workshop for children at an early childhood daycare, Ale’s Learn and Play …

Book Review - Beyond Banks: Technology, Regulation And The Future Of Money, Dan Awrey, (Princeton And Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2024), 292 + Viii Pp., $48 Cad, Benjamin Geva

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Reading Between Lines: Mapping El Orinoco Ilustrado, Guillermo Pupo Pernet

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines El Orinoco Ilustrado (EOI) by Joseph Gumilla as a layered textual and cartographic artifact central to the production of colonial knowledge in the Orinoco River basin. Moving beyond surface narratives of evangelization and exploration, it interrogates the sombras and silencios implanted in the Jesuit chronicle. Through an intradisciplinary approach combining literary analysis, archival research, and visual studies, the study reveals how EOI helped construct imperial visions of space, race, and resource extraction in eighteenth-century Spanish America. The dissertation is structured around six chapters. Chapter One outlines a theoretical framework. Chapter Two provides a longue durée historical context, …

Energy Flow Differences In Throwing Arm Joints Between Javelin And Weighted Balls In Male Javelin Throwers, Hans-Peter Köhler, Kristof Kipp, Nikola Prvulović, Maren Witt

Exercise Science Faculty Research and Publications

Introduction: To enhance release velocity during competition, javelin throwers incorporate implements of varying mass into their training regimens. Previous research has demonstrated that, although velocity contributes quadratically to the computation of kinetic energy, heavier implements generate substantially greater kinetic energy at the moment of release, despite markedly lower release velocities. The primary objective of the present investigation was to analyze energy transfer within the throwing arm to gain deeper insight into the biomechanical mechanisms underlying the use of implements with different masses.

Methods: The three-dimensional coordinates of 16 reflective markers were recorded for 6 athletes during throws using 6 different …

Imagine The Peace: Exploring The Intimacy Of Imagined Intergroup Contact In Kosovo, Eric Manley

Dissertations

Peacebuilders have utilized positive intergroup contact in various settings to help groups encounter each other. I implemented three different intimate imagined contact scenarios in Peja, Kosovo with Albanian and Serb participants. I conducted this research to understand how multiple intimate social settings could impact individuals’ encounters with the outgroup during each imagined scenario, thus gathering better operationalization efforts regarding intimacy and imagined contact. Using written responses, interviews, and one-year follow-up interviews, the café and workplace scenarios created a positive experience for most participants, and while half of participants had a positive experience with the fiancé scenario, many more had negative …

Educators’ Perspectives, Practices, And Implications Of Ai In Education For A Title I Middle School, Melanie N. Garland

Dissertations

This study examines educators’ perspectives, instructional practices, and the perceived implications of artificial intelligence (AI) integration within a Title I school context. As AI technologies become more embedded in educational settings, it is essential to understand how teachers in under resourced environments engage with these tools. The research explores how educators perceive the benefits and challenges of AI, the extent of its integration into their pedagogy, and the broader implications for access, particularly for subgroups such as students with disabilities (SWD) and English language learners (ELLs), as well as student engagement and instructional effectiveness. A qualitative case study methodology was …

A Phenomenographical Study Of Rural Teacher Retention Before, During, And After The Covid-10 Global Pandemic, Stacey Lb Collins

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This phenomenographical study investigated rural teachers’ perceptions regarding their decisions to remain teaching in rural areas, with attention to experiences before, during, and after the COVID-19 global pandemic. The research was guided by two questions: (1) What experiences do rural teachers perceive impact their decision to remain teaching in rural school systems before, during, and after the COVID-19 global pandemic? and (2) How do rural teachers perceive the role of school administrators in retaining teachers in rural systems, before, during, and after the COVID-19 global pandemic? Participants were teachers who served in rural districts prior to, during, and after …

Immersive Learning In Action: A Qualitative Case Study Of High School Teachers’ Experiences With Prisms Learning In Science And Mathematics, Hilary A. Cassidy

Dissertations

The use of virtual reality (VR) in the secondary STEM educational space is increasing as costs to access VR technology decrease. There is a current lack of research supporting the efficacy of virtual reality use in the secondary space to improve student success criteria, particularly for specific VR-based instructional products like Prisms. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of Prisms VR curriculum from the teacher perspective, with specific attention to student engagement, conceptual understanding, and instructional practices. The goal of the study was to contribute to existing research about the paradigm shift toward active student participation …

Emotion Regulation Flexibility And Well-Being In College Athletes In Aesthetic Sports, Kaitlyn D. Chamberlain

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined emotion regulation flexibility and well-being (including psychological well-being, physical well-being, perceived sport performance and worth of sport participation) in athletes in aesthetic sports. This population experiences high environmental demands and constraints and thus low control over their environment. Collegiate athletes within aesthetic sports and female athletes experience specific social factors and demands that threaten their well-being, compared to those experienced by male athletes and athletes within non-aesthetic sports. Consistent with the transactional theory of stress and coping, individuals with less power to regulate their environment will require greater ability to regulate themselves in accordance with their changing …

Studies Of Trispyrazolylborate Molybdenum-Oxo Compounds And Related Reactions, Miranda Sanders

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation details the design, development, and synthesis of a molybdenum-dioxo complex bearing a trispyrazolylborate ligand. The system was tested for its efficiency as a catalyst for deoxydehydration with a small substrate scope. Deoxydehydration reactions with 1-phenyl-1,2-ethanediol, diethytartrate, and 1,2-octanediol show low yields with catalytic turnover only found for diethyltartrate. Electrochemical studies show well behaved PCET behavior with two distinct electron transfer events in the presence of a proton donor. Studies of two molybdenum-dioxo complexes bearing dianionic pincer ligands were conducted to expand further on systems that have been extensively studied in our lab. Deoxydehydration of glycerol by a molybdenum-dioxo …

Perception Of Drinking Water Quality Among Arkansas Residents, Kolade Olawale Olatunde

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Objective: Perceptions of drinking water quality influence public trust, water consumption behaviors, and the willingness to invest in infrastructure improvements. Despite the importance of safe drinking water, regional and socio-economic disparities impact how residents perceive their tap water and their readiness to pay for enhancements. While past research indicates that negative views of tap water quality have resulted in behavioral changes, the connection between perception and actual household water usage remains ambiguous. This study aims to investigate how perceptions of drinking water quality differ across regions in Arkansas and how residents are willing to invest in quality improvements. Method: A …

Series Resonant Converters With Medium Voltage Sic Mosfets For Electric Aircraft Applications, Xinyuan Du

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To develop high-performance high- power-density MV power converters, the emerging silicon carbide (SiC) devices are more attractive than their silicon (Si) counterparts, since the fast switch frequency brought by the SiC can effectively reduce the volume and weight of the filter components and thus increase the converter power density. From the converter topology perspective, with the MV dc distribution, the single stage isolated dc/dc converter are suitable for next-generation electric aircraft system due to soft switching and high power density. In this work, comprehensive static and dynamic characterizations were conducted for the latest 6.5 kV silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs from …

Synthetic Dataset For Understanding Negation In Text-Guided Image Editing, Nhat-Tan Bui

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Negation is a fundamental linguistic concept used by humans to convey information that they do not desire. Despite this, minimal research has focused on negation within text-guided image editing. This lack of research means that vision-language models (VLMs) for image editing may struggle to understand negation, implying that they struggle to provide accurate results. One barrier to achieving human-level intelligence is the lack of a standard collection by which research into negation can be evaluated. This thesis presents the first large-scale dataset, Negative Instruction (NeIn), for studying negation within instruction-based image editing. Our dataset comprises 366,957 quintuplets, i.e., source image, …

Implementation Of A Three-Port Solar Converter With A Battery Energy Storage System, Maison Christopher Phipps

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The increasing deployment of distributed solar and energy storage systems has created the need for integrated power converters that can efficiently manage photovoltaic (PV) generation, battery energy storage, and grid-tied AC output. This thesis presents the implementation and validation of a 5kW non-isolated Three-Port Converter (TPC) adapted for residential solar applications. The converter consolidates three power stage into a high-frequency, compact architecture: a unidirectional boost converter for PV input, a bidirectional interleaved buck-boost converter for battery energy storage, and a configurable DC/AC inverter for 120Vac single-phase output. The system is controlled using a central controller implemented on a TI C2000™ …

Programmable Network Approaches To Resilience And Security In Phasor Measurement Unit Networks, Zhiyao He

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The security and resilience of smart grids are critical for ensuring reliable and stable power delivery. As modern power systems evolve to incorporate more advanced sensing and control capabilities, Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) have become an important source of high-frequency, time-synchronized measurements that support wide-area monitoring, control, and protection. However, the growing complexity of smart grids and their reliance on real-time communication expose them to a range of cyber threats, including data loss, tampering, and coordinated attacks. This dissertation explores the use of programmable network technologies, particularly P4-based programmable switches, to provide in-network solutions that enhance the reliability and security …

Discriminative And Generative Video Modeling, Anh Pha Nguyen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Video modeling stands at the core of modern computer vision, enabling progress in domains such as surveillance, autonomous driving, and instructional assistance. Yet the complexity of spatiotemporal dynamics, multimodal integration, and the need for scalable and generalizable models present significant challenges. This dissertation addresses these issues from three complementary perspectives: discriminative modeling, multimodal (vision + language) alignment, and generative approaches, contributing new methods, datasets, and paradigms for advancing video understanding. In the discriminative setting, we propose a domain-adaptive framework for crowd counting that employs entropy minimization and adversarial learning to improve cross-domain generalization, and introduce a single-stage global association method …

Increasing Soil Health In Zero-Grade, Flood-Irrigated Rice In Eastern Arkansas, Hannah Elizabeth Vickmark

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to build and maintain soil health and sequester soil C, many producers and researchers are turning towards regenerative management practices in agricultural systems, such as reduced tillage or no-tillage (NT), the implementation of winter cover crops (CC), and the use of organic or green manures, such as biochar. However, little research is being conducted on the long-term soil health and agronomic benefits of these practices in a flood-irrigated rice (Oryza sativa L.) production system. Three replications of seven treatment combinations were applied to 6.1 x 30.5 m rice plots. Baseline soil health properties were quantified at six …

Optical Characterization Of Ge And Gesn Grown In Aspect Ratio Trapping Structures For Enhanced Emitter Performance, Abdulla Said Ali

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Silicon (Si) began dominating the electronics industry since 1960s, the dominance came due to its affordability and well developed fabrication processes. But when it comes to light emitting devices and photonics devices in general, the indirect bandgap of Si has caused many scientists to search for alternative semiconductor materials that can deliver better light emission, materials that can also improve wavelengths detection which is also very limited when it comes to Si, reduce losses and greater light amplification, all this while still being affordable. Despite these limitations, Si has been widely used in Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) manufacturing and …

Privacy Protection In Cloud-Based Biometric Systems, Yatish Reddy Dubasi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The widespread adoption of server-based biometric authentication systems, often hosted in the cloud, has introduced significant privacy risks. While these systems offer convenience, they require storing sensitive biometric templates on remote servers, creating a high-value target for adversaries. Unlike passwords, compromised biometric data is immutable and cannot be reissued, leading to an irreversible loss of privacy. This threat is exacerbated by template inversion attacks, which can reconstruct a user's original biometric trait (e.g., a face image) from its stored feature vector. This dissertation addresses these critical privacy challenges by designing, implementing, and evaluating a suite of novel frameworks for privacy-preserving …

Ecological Elemental Homeostasis And Stoichiometric Shifts: Biotic Responses To Ionic And Viral Stress, Samuel Anthony Tooru Dias

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic activities are reshaping the elemental composition of freshwater ecosystems, often creating stoichiometric imbalances that influence the growth, physiology and interactions of aquatic organisms. Ecological stoichiometric theory (EST) provides a framework for examining these changes by linking organismal elemental regulation to broader ecosystem processes. While traditionally focused on elements, such as carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P), emerging stressors highlight the need to expand this framework to be more elementally inclusive for the examination of novel interactions. My dissertation integrates abiotic (salinization) and biotic stressors (viral infection) into an EST framework to evaluate how these factors alter elemental regulation …

Establishment Of Native Warm-Season Forages Using Organic Practices, Kolten Ray Wright

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract Grassland agriculture is seen as a particularly sustainable form of agriculture. Many opportunities are known to use organic production methods or incorporate native warm-season grasses (NWSG) to accomplish both production goals and environmental or social outcomes. Environmental concerns have led some practitioners to question the use of organic methods to establish NWSG. As limited work has been accomplished in the northern bermudagrass belt, this project sought to compare organic establishment strategies for common NWSG species. A field trial conducted at the USDA ARS Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center in Booneville, AR found that NWSG establishment success in the …

Contextual Embedding Using Machine Learning For Cybersecurity: Access Control And Application, Thanh Bui

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Access control is a well-established challenge in cybersecurity, with significant research focused on enhancing system autonomy and accuracy across various scenarios. Access control rules can be designed based on users’ roles, attributes, or relationships requesting access to specific resources. However, despite their benefits, these models still require human oversight. As systems expand and grow, it becomes increasingly complex for administrators to maintain precise access control rules, often necessitating extensive system updates or even a complete overhaul. This dissertation introduces a novel approach that leverages contextual embedding for user information to enable the system to autonomously authorize user requests for resources. …

Unraveling Nucleation Mechanisms In Membrane Distillation: A Molecular Dynamics And Enhanced Sampling Approach, Nazanin Abbasi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Membrane distillation offers a promising route for desalination but remains limited by salt scaling, where mineral crystals nucleate and grow in concentrated brines. To inform strategies that mitigate scaling, this thesis investigates homogeneous nucleation in supersaturated aqueous NaCl solutions using molecular dynamics and enhanced sampling techniques. Several collective variables (CVs) are tested to capture the early stages of ion aggregation and crystal formation, including ion–ion coordination number, dehydration, and bond orientational order parameters Q₄ and Q₆. Enhanced sampling techniques, such as metadynamics and umbrella sampling, are employed to overcome the high free energy barriers associated with the formation of critical …

Advanced Membrane Methods For Treatment Of Toxic Contaminants And Education Of Early-Career Researchers, Thomas Mckean Iii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Membrane technologies are attractive as they are linearly scalable and often require lower operating costs compared to other technologies. One area where they are particularly effective is the treatment of water contaminated with toxic substances. The simplicity of this removal mechanism provides reliable performance capable of meeting stringent removal requirements. However, membrane fouling is a major challenge that often limits their commercial viability. This research sought to investigate novel approaches to pretreatment and membrane modification to overcome fouling and high operating pressures. In addition, membrane separation processes can often be developed into simple yet educational experiments that are ideal for …

Effect Of Peracetic Acid Dip Frequency On The Quality And Functional Properties Of Non-Marinated And Marinated Broiler Tenderloins, Joaquin Jose Esquivel Vergara

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The poultry industry continues to balance the need for effective antimicrobial interventions with the preservation of meat quality. Among the most widely used antimicrobial agents, peracetic acid (PAA) has proven effective for reducing foodborne pathogens in poultry products. However, excessive or repeated exposure to PAA can influence meat functionality by altering protein structure, color, and water-holding capacity. Therefore, the broad objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of PAA dip frequency and post-treatment marination timing on the physicochemical and functional quality of broiler tenderloins (Pectoralis minor), in order to provide processing insights that optimize both microbial safety and …

Using Color And Fluorescent Spectrometry As A New Rapid Cleaning Verification Method In Poultry Processing Plants, Clark Griscom

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The poultry industry is expected to be growing at 3% in the total global market with the U.S. being the largest producer of poultry meat. Poultry processing plants are expected to produce 140 birds per minute with the potential of up to 175 birds per minute to meet the market demand. With the growing market and need for faster production, maintaining food safety needs to be a priority to ensure the safety of consumers. Over 9.9 million foodborne illness cases are reported each year in the United States. A change in food safety is needed, and one area lacking is …

When The Grid Goes Dark: A Digital Forensics Study Of Industrial Control System Cyberattacks, Katie Kettler

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and Operational Technology (OT) maintain the grid, ensure water safety, and keep transportation running. Because they influence nearly every aspect of daily life, these systems have become prime targets for cyberattacks. The need for this research arises from the fact that when ICS and OT systems are compromised, the consequences go beyond data loss, and they can directly disrupt communities and endanger public safety. This thesis introduces digital forensics fundamentals and explains how investigations in ICS environments differ from those in traditional IT environments. This work then examines major attacks, including Stuxnet, the Ukrainian Grid Attacks …

Volume Status Detection With Integral Pulse Frequency Modulation Model Of Peripheral Venous Pressure, Jeremiah Rhys Wimer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies the effectiveness of utilizing a modified integral pulse frequency modulation (IPFM) algorithm to synthesize peripheral venous pressure (PVP) waveforms for the detection of several physiological conditions using logistic regression. PVP waveforms are collected from 18 human patients and 4 porcine subjects. Human data are used to train models for determining the hypovolemic status of the patient, while the porcine data are used to train models for determining level of anesthesia and detecting internal hemorrhaging. In the human dataset, the waveforms collected from the 18 patients are classified into two groups according to serum chloride levels: resuscitated (≥100 …

Design Of Phase Shifter And True Time Delay Gan Mmics For High-Temperature Ku-Band Applications, Michael Lee Thompson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the design, implementation, and high-temperature characterization of Gallium Nitride (GaN) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) developed for beamforming and phased-array systems operating in the Ku-band (12-14 GHz). Two integrated circuits were designed: a 3-bit digital phase shifter and a 3-bit true time delay (TTD), both optimized for high linearity, low insertion loss, low phase error, and stable operation at elevated temperatures up to 300°C. Developing both a phase shifter and a TTD enabled a direct comparison of their beamforming performance and the evaluation of beam squint effects over frequency, a critical factor in wideband array design. The …

Next-Generation Salmonella Inactivated Vaccine Platforms And Phytobiotic-Modulated Immune Responses In Poultry, Santiago Uribe Diaz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Here, a comprehensive understanding of immune responses triggered by either a multimeric CD40 receptor-agonistic DNA aptamer-based or mannosylated chitosan-based Salmonella Enteritidis inactivated vaccine platforms, along with phytobiotic supplementation as an immune modulatory strategy in response to Salmonella lipopolysaccharides, is presented. This dissertation supports the development of next-generation Salmonella vaccine platforms that simultaneously stimulate both protective cell-mediated and humoral immune responses, while indicating the potential immunomodulatory effects of phytobiotics supplementation to reduce the immunological impact of Salmonella lipopolysaccharides in chickens. The first chapter describes that both vaccine platforms administered in broiler chickens initiated local inflammatory responses, recruiting heterophils and macrophages from …