Digital Commons Network^™

Embodied Queerness: Exploring Cultural Dimensions Of Asian Queer Body Narratives, A Literature Review, Wanyi Huang

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The author explores the Asian queer narrative by investing in related articles and literature on body art in this capstone thesis. In the thesis, body art is identified as a way of self-expression that serves as a creative outlet for play, artistic expression, and advocacy. The concept of body modifications, such as tattoos or piercings, can be viewed as acts of resistance to challenging societal norms. In a larger scope, it can also include changing body shape, such as fitness and cosmetic surgery (Pitts, 2000). People engage in body modification practices to express themselves to the world, show creativity, and …

Processing Priorities, Researcher Use, And Programmatic Improvement, Megan M. Mummey

Library Presentations

No abstract provided.

Beyond Amateurism: Examining The Potential Labor Expenses Of Ncaa Student-Athlete Employment, Alayna K. Falak

Honors Thesis

In light of recent administrative developments urging the classification of student-athletes as employees, litigation challenging the current status of student-athletes, and the Supreme Court’s willingness to tackle National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) issues, many questions surrounding the future of college sports under an employment model have emerged. The authors analyzed key litigation, recent developments from administrative agencies, and academic literature. Then publicly available data was used from the NCAA, the United States Department of Labor (DOL), and other sources to construct two estimates of what it would cost the NCAA member institutions to treat their Division I athletes as employees. …

Development Of A Synthetic Biomarker System For Early Detection Of Ischemic Stroke, Mason L. Matthies

Honors Thesis

Stroke, particularly Ischemic Stroke (IS) affects millions of individuals across the world each year . Current diagnostic methods like CT scans and MRI imaging have limitations in detecting minor IS due to the limited spatial resolution of the CT scan and the feasibility and access to MRIs warranting a more effective method of early detection. Natural biomarkers are currently ineffective in detecting IS prior to severe damage like rapid cell death (32,000 cells/sec) post arterial blockage because there is minimal amount of natural biomarkers expressed from minor cellular damage . Our proposed Synthetic Biomarker System (SBS) would solve this by …

The Mexican Immigrant Experience In Northwest Iowa: A Qualitative Pilot Study, Gabriela J. Luevano

Honors Thesis

This study focuses on acknowledging and amplifying the voices and experiences of the Mexican immigrant community in Northwest Iowa. To that end, the primary question this study answered was: “What is the experience of Mexican immigrants in Northwest Iowa?” Furthermore, this study focused on community, how Mexican immigrants understand it, when they do and do not experience it, and how they seek to create it. This study aimed to shed light on the unique experiences of this population and provide insights into better ways to support their well-being and integration among local communities.

Through thematic analysis, this study found that …

Accuracy Of Machine Learning To Predict The Outcomes Of Shoulder Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review, Amir H. Karimi, Joshua Langberg, Ajith Malige, Omar Rahman, Joseph A. Abboud, Michael A. Stone

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence (AI) uses computer systems to simulate cognitive capacities to accomplish goals like problem-solving and decision-making. Machine learning (ML), a branch of AI, makes algorithms find connections between preset variables, thereby producing prediction models. ML can aid shoulder surgeons in determining which patients may be susceptible to worse outcomes and complications following shoulder arthroplasty (SA) and align patient expectations following SA. However, limited literature is available on ML utilization in total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) and reverse TSA.

METHODS: A systematic literature review in accordance with PRISMA guidelines was performed to identify primary research articles evaluating ML's ability to …

Beyond Misinformation: Strategies And Tactics For Addressing The Growing And Pernicious Problem Of The Misrepresentation And Misappropriation Of Research, Winn W. Wasson

Librarian Publications

The contemporary information landscape has produced numerous incidents of researchers having their research misunderstood, misrepresented, or misappropriated—or worse, being subjected to intimidation and harassment—by individuals or groups who seek to cherry-pick evidence in support of ideological agendas or who wish to suppress evidence that counters those same agendas. While the covid-19 pandemic elevated these tactics in their frequency, visibility, and intensity, this phenomenon did not start or end with the pandemic. To help prepare current and future researchers for the possibility that their research might be misrepresented, misappropriated, or politicized in other ways by ideologically motivated individuals or groups, Syracuse …

Recidivism In South Dakota, Allison L. Young

Honors Thesis

The South Dakota Criminal Justice System suffers from a high recidivism rate across the state. There are few resocialization methods used within state facilities, and the existing ones have not adequately addressed what is causing the high rate. People who are either incarcerated or were formerly incarcerated have a myriad of systematic barriers that prevent them from finding a stable footing before and after release. This literature analysis aims to compare existing resocialization methods among various countries and states to South Dakota’s techniques to identify which would be most successful for the state. Using a grounded-theory structure for the analysis …

Scholarship Celebrates Life Of Um Physics Professor, Jonathan Scott

University of Mississippi News

OXFORD, Miss. – Wendy Garrison is honoring her late husband, Richard Raspet, by establishing a scholarship that enables students to obtain a transformative higher education at the University of Mississippi.

Promoting Social, Emotional, And Behavioral Development For Children In A School Setting Using Targeted Occupational Therapy Intervention, Mykenzie N. Hall

Occupational Therapy Capstone Presentations

Children who have experienced trauma often have poor emotional regulation skills which can lead to peer rejection, decline in engagement at school, and poor academic performance. Occupational therapists have the knowledge and skills to create a client-centered approach when working with children who have experienced trauma. This emotional regulation program is guided by a trauma-informed care approach and a public health approach to mental health. The program consisted of 59 students between transitional kindergarten and 5th grade meeting in small groups once a week for 30 minutes over 11 to 12 weeks. The sessions included activities related to emotional regulation …

User Perception Of Gender Studies In Video Games, Quinn T. Gienapp

Honors Thesis

Alongside the increase in video game popularity, a subclass of games was formed that offer very unconventional gaming experiences. These games offer different stories that differ greatly from games made on multi-million-dollar budgets. Many of these types of games exist on the fringes of the industry and portray LGBTQ+ themes through their writing or gameplay. One of these games uses the medium of video games to process their trauma by relaying their own story. The game “He Fucked the Girl Out of Me” is an autobiographical video game that highlights the story of the Author and their experiences with …

Impacts Of Hurricane Idalia’S Surge On Coastal Sand Biogeochemistry, Wendy "Cor" Mchone

Honors Theses

Beaches are heavily influenced by extreme events, such as hurricanes. Biological and chemical processes, such as primary production and diagenesis are often interrupted by these events. To examine the effects of hurricanes on coastal biogeochemistry, this study used sand and porewater samples from Waties Island, SC, which were collected before and after Hurricane Idalia. The samples were analyzed for macronutrient concentrations, organic content, and chlorophyll concentrations. Macronutrient pore water concentration changes were not uniform. The inventory of nitrite decreased significantly after the storm, which was reflected in slight increases in the inventories of nitrate and ammonium. Concentrations of nitrate, which …

Belonging And Disagreeing: Arab Student Activism On A College Campus, Angelina E. Baroud

Honors Capstones

There has not been sufficient research on Arab college students and their activism in the United States. This topic is especially important because of the new wave of protests across college campuses due to the Israel-Hamas war. This project focused on what made Arab students join an Arab organization at a university in the Midwest and the disagreements that exist within the group. Data was gathered through participant observations of the group meetings and semi-structured interviews with the group members. This study found that the desire to connect with their culture and find a sense of community brought Arab students …

The Role Of Inflammatory Cells In The Sex Dimorphism Of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, Erin M. Schreck

Honors Theses

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) is a disease associated with high blood pressure specifically in the lung circulation. Symptoms include dyspnea and cyanosis, and the mean survival post-diagnosis is 2.8 years without treatment. PAH can be characterized by accumulating vascular damage which results in lesion formation causing a decrease in the diameter of vessels, obstruction of flow, and ultimately increased pressure on the right heart leading to failure. These lesions define an arteriopathy that is a hallmark of PAH which is, in part, dependent on infiltration of inflammatory cells into the vascular wall. PAH presents uniquely in males and females with …

Testing For The Significance Of Generational Differences On Opinions Of Nuclear Power, Eli Moore

Honors Theses

Different generations have different experiences from each other depending on the circumstances of the world they were raised in. As a result, different generations have different views of different controversial topics, and there are few topics as controversial as nuclear power. Throughout its history, it has been seen as both the solution to our energy problems, as well as a threat to the safety of life as we know it. This project aims to see if such a difference exists, and if so, what factors would be most influential in creating this difference? Would the past mistakes and catastrophes shape …

Cognitive Control In Health And Disease: A Dynamic Approach To Mapping Oscillatory Activity Across The Lifespan, Mikki Schantell

Theses & Dissertations

Cognitive control is critical for flexibly adapting goal-directed behaviors to meet the demands of dynamically changing environments. The neural oscillatory dynamics serving cognitive control undergo changes across the lifespan, both in health and disease, with impairments in cognitive control functions being broadly implicated across a multitude of psychiatric disorders. Despite this, the trajectory of the population-level neural oscillatory dynamics supporting cognitive control across the lifespan remain poorly characterized, presenting challenges in fully understanding perturbations to these systems relative to one’s stage in neuronal maturation. Herein, we used the Eriksen flanker task during magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recording to map the neural oscillatory …

Jtc 24: Lifting Others, Emily Howorth

University of Mississippi News

This story is part of the 2024 Journey to Commencement series, which celebrates the pinnacle of the academic year by highlighting University of Mississippi students and their outstanding academic and personal journeys from college student to college graduate.

Workplace Transformation: Exploring The Impact Of Digital Nomad-Inspired Travel Experiences, Ekaterina Chevtaeva

All Works

This short research paper explores the experiences and transformations of employed remote workers who engage in remote work trips, a type of digital nomad-inspired travel where individuals combine work and leisure while traveling. The study aims to understand the meaning of these experiences and their impact on participants’ work practices. The methodology employed in this study is Heidegger's hermeneutical phenomenology, which focuses on subjective interpretations of experiences. Data was collected between 2022 and 2023 through prolonged engagement with seven participants who have work flexibility but do not identify as digital nomads. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to empathize with the participants’ …

Development Of Long-Acting Antiviral And Antimicrobial Prodrug Nanoformulations, Srijanee Das

Theses & Dissertations

Over the past decade, the global burden of infectious diseases has increased substantively, underscoring the need for more effective treatment strategies. However, the discovery and development of new drugs with desirable safety, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy is a time consuming and costly process with great uncertainty around success rate. As an alternative to new drug development, prodrugs and novel drug delivery systems have increasingly been explored. Both serve to overcome the drug development challenges. Such drug formulations that permit extended dosing intervals of potent native drugs serve multiple purposes by promoting patient adherence to in improving treatment outcomes. This is especially …

A Tale Of Two Proteins: An Investigation Of Recruitment Of Eukaryotic Proteins Fli1 And Lrrf1 To The Chlamydial Inclusion Membrane, Natalie Sturd

Theses & Dissertations

Chlamydia trachomatis is the pathogen responsible for the majority of infectious blindness and sexually transmitted bacterial infections worldwide. As an obligate intracellular pathogen, it establishes a niche within a pathogen-specific vacuole, termed the chlamydial inclusion. C. trachomatis modifies the inclusion membrane by type III secretion and insertion of effectors known as inclusion membrane proteins, or Incs. These Inc proteins are critical for chlamydial pathogenesis via their interactions with host proteins and their capacity to stabilize the inclusion membrane. Previous studies from our lab demonstrated the localization of two eukaryotic proteins, Flightless 1 (FLI1) and its binding partner leucine-rich repeat interacting …

Sensory Dysfunction And The Role Of Nrf2 In The Production Of Pain In Chronic Hindlimb Ischemia, Oliver Kitzerow

Theses & Dissertations

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a progressive and debilitating atherothrombotic disorder that is estimated to impact >200 million people worldwide. Higher physical activity levels are associated with better overall survival rates, slower decline of functional capability, and improved quality of life. However, intermittent claudication, pain produced by physical activity, severely limits functional capacity in PAD patients. Despite known sensory dysfunction and documented neuropathy in diseased patients, the neural mechanisms that produce pain in PAD are yet to be identified. Importantly, few animal models of hindlimb ischemia (HLI) successfully recapitulate chronic human PAD. We developed a chronic animal model of HLI …

Online & Blended Learning Environments: A Mixed Methods Study Evaluating The Feasibility, Acceptability, & Influence Of An Online Professional Development Course For Health Professions Educators, Tanya M. Custer

Theses & Dissertations

Online and blended teaching and learning (OBTL) are integral to the future and success of higher education, including health professions education. Institutions with a goal of developing high-quality online and blended programs must prioritize time and resources dedicated to professional development and training. This research study utilized an online professional development course as an intervention to gain deeper insights into the scope of faculty development to effectively teach in online and blended learning environments. The study, utilizing a convergent mixed methods approach, gathered data through a pre- and post- intervention survey measuring health professions faculty readiness to teach online, a …

The Interactions Of Centromeric Nucleosomes Elucidated By Atomic Force Microscopy, Shaun Filliaux

Theses & Dissertations

Nucleosomes are the fundamental unit of compaction for DNA in the genome. These positively charged proteins have two main types of nucleosomes: canonical (H3 containing) and centromere (CENP-A containing). The compacting of DNA allows for DNA to fit into the nucleus of cells, but creates a barrier for DNA accessibility for operations such as replication or transcription. Centromeric chromatin is a subset of chromatin structure and governs chromosome segregation. Compared to the bulk chromosome, centromeres are composed of H3 and CENP-A nucleosomes in which H3 histones is replaced by its homolog CENP-A histone. This results in nucleosomes with different structures, …

Experiences Of Registered Nurses Returning To Practice After A Career Break, Jill V. Scott

Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the complex experiences of Registered Nurses (RNs) returning to practice, with a particular focus on the impacts of self-efficacy, recruitment strategies, and regulatory barriers. The first article, a literature review, examines the self-efficacy of RNs returning to practice, emphasizing the importance of refresher programs and support to facilitate this transition. This review also evaluated the preparedness of RNs re-entering the workforce, and evaluated the role of self-efficacy in successful reintegration into clinical practice. The second manuscript delves into the challenges of reaching and recruiting health professionals who have left the profession, identifying community partnerships, social media, and …

Mucins: Drivers Of Cancer Cell And Microenvironment Crosstalk In Pancreatic Cancer, Xiaoqi Li

Theses & Dissertations

Mucins facilitate the pancreatic cancer (PC) initiation, progression, and metastasis. Among mucins, MUC4 has been reported to inhibit lymphokine-activated cell killing and induce the apoptosis of cytotoxic T-cells. Counterintuitively, MUC4 expression is upregulated by multiple T-cell-secreted cytokines, such as IFN-γ, IL-17, and stroma-secreted factors like retinoic acid. Previously, we have identified that nuclear receptor coactivator 3 (NCOA3) regulates the MUC1 and MUC4 expression by increasing chromatin accessibility and maintaining protein stability. However, the comprehensive crosstalk mediated by MUC4 in cancer cells and T-cells and how its upstream regulator, NCOA3, modifies the cancer cell-intrinsic behavior is still elusive. Here, we show …

Using Readiness To Change For Dietary Modification In A Rural Primary Care Setting, Rebecca Johnson Beller

Theses & Dissertations

Cardiovascular disease is a prevalent noncommunicable disease. Modifying lifestyle behavior can decrease cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality outcomes. This dissertation's purpose was to explore behavioral change interventions with dietary strategies to reduce cardiovascular disease rates. The integrative review explored aspects of dietary strategies in the primary care setting. Despite the importance of diverse studies, comparing all the components results in limited generalizability. In the following chapter, a cross-sectional study elicited healthcare professionals’ perceptions of the usefulness of a readiness for lifestyle change tool in clinical practice. Currently, a common, widespread adoption of a readiness for lifestyle change tool is not …

Kenya Psychosis-Risk Outcomes Study (Kepros): Development Of An Accelerated Medicine Partnership Schizophrenia-Aligned Project In Africa, Daniel Mamah, Michael P. Harms, Andrey P. Anokhin, Shingshiun Chen, Jerome Nashed, Yazen Al-Hosni, Alaina Yarber, Semyon Golosheykin, Masoomeh Faghankhani, Megan Sneed, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

A Financial Valuation Of Comcast (Cmcsa), Lucas Marcinkowski

Honors Thesis

The current valuation of the global entertainment and media industry revenue is $2.32 trillion. When investing in the entertainment and media industry, individuals think of the fame and glamorous side of the entertainment industry. However, the industry is fiercely competitive and continuously evolving. Through examining the historical financial statement of the publicly traded media and technology conglomerate Comcast, as well as its competitors, I forecasted the future financial valuation of Comcast utilizing the Discounted Free Cash Flow and Public Comparable Firm Multiples models. This analysis examines the effects of the pandemic and other economic conditions on the entertainment and media …

Sun Protection Behaviors, Health Beliefs, Attitudes, And Norms Among College Students, Madison A. Klump

Honors Theses

Purpose: This study sought to assess the relationship between attitudes, health beliefs, and societal norms of sun protective behaviors among college students. Methods: Students (n=224) volunteered to participate in an electronic survey through the permission of instructors of an introductory public health class. Results: Those who felt susceptible to skin cancer were more likely to use sunscreen, perform skin checks on themselves, and avoid suntanning. Those who felt there were no barriers for use of sunscreen were more likely to use sunscreen and reapply sunscreen. Those who felt sun tanning was a societal norm were less likely to reapply sunscreen, …

Sedimentary Conditions At A Tidal Creek That Exhibits Seasonal Pelagic-Benthic Variations, Jack B. Corbin

Honors Theses

Tidal creeks in the Grand Strand of South Carolina are small but numerous connectors between land and ocean. One of these creeks, White Point Swash, exhibits a seasonal switch between planktonic and benthic photosynthesizers. As plankton become less abundant in fall, benthic macroalgae bloom, aided by lower water levels due to fall-winter dredging of the main channel, until late Spring. This study builds on previous findings and examines sedimentary conditions at this site further. Sedimentary chlorophyll a (in microphytobenthos) and pore water nutrient concentrations are confirmed to be higher than water-column concentrations. Sedimentary nutrient fluxes to the sediment-water interface, calculated …