(The) Invisible Threads: Portraiture, Memory, And Relational Endurance, Behnaz Ghasempour

Masters Theses, 2020-current

(The) Invisible Threads is an MFA thesis investigating how invisible interpersonal bonds, collective traces, and communal endurance can be made perceptible through drawing, material, and immersive installation. Drawing from my lived experience as an Iranian woman who has witnessed everyday constraint, collective uprising, and migration, the project asks how the presence of others continues to inhabit the body and shape identity even in conditions of separation and distance. Large-scale self-portraits, layered with other faces on transparent fabrics, copper plates, and stitched threads, position the artist’s own body as a site where personal and collective histories converge, allowing the self to …

Machine Learning Assisted Development Of Al0.2cufemnni High Entropy Alloy Through Selective Laser Melting, Hareharen K Mr

Theses and Dissertations

High Entropy Alloys (HEAs) are an emerging class of advanced materials that have gained significant attention due to their exceptional mechanical strength, thermal stability, and structural performance. Unlike conventional alloys based on a single principal element, HEAs are composed of multiple elements in a near-equiatomic ratio. Despite these advantages, designing HEAs with tailored properties is difficult because of the enormous number of possible combinations and the limitations of traditional trial-and-error methods. To overcome these challenges, this study presents a machine learning (ML) based approach to accelerate the design and development of an HEA.

In this work, a newly designed composition, …

Vietnamese American Anti-Imperialism: South Vietnamese History And Analysis Of Publications Pre-1975, Jeannie Nguyen

Master's Theses

During the Vietnam War, citizens contested US imperialism at multiple levels. In South Vietnam, citizens published newspapers and magazines to challenge their government and expose the depth of US aggression in South Vietnamese society and culture. Inside the imperial core, Black, Chicano, and Asian American activists formed solidarities to resist the war and challenge racial inequality. At the intersection of imperialism inside and outside its borders, lies a group of South Vietnamese students and scholars who became American, migrating during the war via state-structured projects. However, in response to the heightening of war and drawing inspiration from their ‘Third World’ …

The Role Of Math Anxiety – And Associated Support Mechanisms And Strategies – In The Academic Success Of Stem College Students, William Jacob Tschume

Theses and Dissertations

Math anxiety has been widely documented as a barrier to student success, yet its role within institutional student success frameworks – particularly in gateway STEM courses – remains underexamined. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between math anxiety, academic support mechanisms, and academic performance among undergraduate STEM students enrolled in a gateway mathematics course at a large, public, research-intensive university. Guided by the Debilitating Anxiety Model, student success frameworks, Social Cognitive Career Theory, and equity-oriented perspectives, this study addressed three research questions: (1) how student demographic characteristics relate to levels of math anxiety, (2) the …

Tracing Hazing Across Adolescence: Examining How Prior Hazing Experiences Shape Hazing Motivation And Tolerance Among Newly Initiated Ifc Fraternity Members, John Michael Vanhorn

Theses and Dissertations

Hazing remains pervasive and underreported, disproportionately affecting adolescent and emerging adult men, particularly within athletic teams and fraternity contexts. Although hazing is most often studied within collegiate organizations, many students encounter hazing behaviors prior to college, yet little is known about how these early experiences shape later hazing perceptions, motivations, tolerance, and masculine norms. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) model, this dissertation conceptualizes hazing as a developmental process shaped by repeated social interactions, individual characteristics, contextual environments, and time across adolescence and emerging adulthood. Using a two-paper approach with a quantitative, longitudinal survey design, study 1 examined fraternity new members’ …

Integrating Augmented Reality Visualizations Into Data Science Notebooks Using Microsoft Hololens 2, Derek Willis

Theses and Dissertations

Data-science notebooks support iterative analysis but are limited to two-dimensional (2D) displays. This work presents an approach to extend such environments with rapid augmented reality (AR) visualization while preserving conventional 2D workflows. An opensource R package was developed to convert notebook objects into three-dimensional (3D) models, export them in the Graphics Language Transmission Format (glTF), and transfer directly to a Microsoft HoloLens 2 via a USB connection for viewing in the native 3D Viewer application. The proposed workflow eliminates manual conversion and transfer steps required by earlier methods. A user study employing a post-session questionnaire indicated that participants found the …

Development Of Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Composite Rotor Sleeves For High-Speed, Multi-Layer Ferrite-Based Interior Permanent-Magnet Motors, Andrew Walters

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated whether a non-wound carbon fiber reinforced composite (CFRC) sleeve could serve as an effective retention mechanism for a high-speed, multi-layer ferrite-based interior permanent magnet motor. Material characterization testing was conducted on IM7/CYCOM-5320 and IM7/8552, with IM7/8552 selected due to its superior commercial availability. Experimentally obtained properties for both materials fell within acceptable tolerances of published values. Sleeves were manufactured to rotor design specifications (50-mm width, 1.2-mm thickness, 88.6-mm diameter) and tested per ASTM D2290 Procedure A to determine apparent hoop-failure stress. These experimental results validated a finite element model of the D2290 test, confirming realistic strain patterns …

Feasibility-Aware Deep Reinforcement Learning For Sustainable Timber Procurement Under Hurricane Demand Uncertainty, Jarod Wright

Theses and Dissertations

The timber supply chain connects landowners and mills to provide wood products but faces challenges from stochastic demand, seasonal variations, and disruptions such as hurricanes. Fur- thermore, sustainability concerns like transportation emissions create trade-offs in procurement. This study proposes a feasibility-aware Deep Reinforcement Learning framework for sustainable timber procurement and inventory control under joint demand–hurricane uncertainty. We develop a stochastic mathematical model capturing mill-landowner interactions, seasonal demand, hurricane- driven pricing, and carbon emissions. The problem is formulated as a constrained Markov decision process and solved using Proximal Policy Optimization with a feasibility-enforcing layer. A Mississippi-based case study with 2,100 landowners …

Wildfire Risk Mitigation Methods To Enhance The Resilience Of Power Systems, Fasiha Zainab

Theses and Dissertations

The resilience of the power system has become increasingly important in recent years and needs to be further enhanced in the future under wildfire conditions. A major concern is the two-way interaction between power systems and wildfires: power systems can ignite wildfires and be disrupted by them. Power system-induced wildfires occur when electrical components, particularly transmission lines, ignite fires due to faults exacerbated by extreme weather conditions. The presence of uncertainties, especially those related to unpredictable weather conditions, makes it difficult to handle and can significantly increase the risk of wildfire. Furthermore, these ignitions not only threaten public safety and …

Experimental Investigation Of The Effectiveness Of Various Stitching Methods On Arresting Mode-Ii Interlaminar Damage Propagation In Geometrically-Scaled Stitched Resin-Infused Composites, Allison Jean White

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an experimental and analytical investigation of mode-II interlaminar fracture in geometrically-scaled quasi-isotropic resin-infused composites, with emphasis on through-thickness stitching as reinforcement. A global-local framework integrating load-displacement response, size effect fracture energy analysis, and digital image correlation-based separation measurements enabled direct comparison between unstitched and stitched configurations. Unstitched laminates exhibited pseudo-ductile behavior but significant post-peak load drops (16.7–26.8%) and a small fracture process zone (FPZ) of 0.73 mm, limiting stable crack growth. Stitching preserved pre-peak stiffness while reducing post-peak load drops by 43–95%, increasing effective fracture energy by 39.7% (to 2.413 N/mm), and expanding the FPZ to 2.85 …

Beyond English: Auditing And Mitigating Cross-Lingual Data Contamination In Multimodal Large Language Models, Pavan Dharma Adapa

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis extends data contamination auditing for multimodal large language models to multilingual settings. Using LLaVA 1.5 and a high-fidelity French parallel dataset derived from ScienceQA, the study evaluates how performance changes when identical image-question pairs are translated from English to French. The resultsshow a substantial cross-lingual performance decline and frequent flips from correct English predictions to incorrect French predictions, indicating that benchmark performance can depend heavily on memorized English-specific patterns rather than stable multimodal reasoning. To address this weakness, the thesis introduces an inference-time mitigation strategy based on perturbation ensembling and cross-lingual consistency aggregation. The proposed method reduces instance-level …

Design And Uncertainty Methodology In High Efficiency Filtration Media Testing, Jeremy Andrei Adriano

Theses and Dissertations

Electrospun nanofiber media are being developed as potential alternatives to conventional HEPA filtration materials due to their small fiber diameters and tunable microstructures. To support future testing of these materials, the Small-Scale Test Stand (SSTS) at the Institute for Clean Energy Technology (ICET) requires modifications to ensure accurate and repeatable aerosol filtration measurements. Electrospun filters introduce challenges including fragile media structures and uncertain filtration efficiencies that may allow particle penetration to downstream instrumentation. This work evaluates adaptations to the SSTS design to support testing of electrospun filtration media. In addition, an uncertainty framework for aerosol measurements obtained using a Scanning …

Improving Durability And Structural Integrity Of Southern Pine And Sweetgum Through Fabrication, Treatment, And Mechanical Testing., Ershad Ahmmed

Theses and Dissertations

This research integrates material modification, preservative performance, and engineered fabrication to enhance the long-term durability and structural reliability of southern pine and sweetgum for outdoor and structural applications. The first project investigates the effects of simulated checks and splits on the strength and stiffness of southern pine fence posts. By introducing controlled defects and conducting mechanical testing, the study quantifies reductions in load-carrying capacity and evaluates how defect severity influences structural performance. The results provide insight into service life prediction and grading considerations for in-ground applications. The second project evaluates water ingress behavior in creosote-treated sweetgum using wetting angle measurements …

Impacts Of Structural Design On Oyster Survival And Predation In Restored Oyster Reefs, Jaden Akers

Theses and Dissertations

Restoration efforts are critical to ensure healthy oyster populations, but the high cost and marginal success rate of many restoration efforts demonstrates the need to evaluate alternative oyster reef restoration designs and strategies. To address this issue, I conducted a paired field and mesocosm study to assess the influence of structural design on oyster survival and predation. Results of the field portion of this study showed that oyster survival was greatest in short and bed-level (i.e., sitting on the sea bottom) reef designs. When assessing how design features impact oyster drill activity, elevated reefs (i.e., elevated above the sea bottom) …

Machine Learning-Based Decision Support Models With Applications In Postsecondary Education, Marco Paolo Anglesio

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the deployment of machine learning methodologies in an industrial engineering framework for the development of advanced decision support systems in the context of enrollment management. Drawing on techniques from educational data mining, the research addresses three key phases in the lifecycle of traditional and non-traditional students. First, it analyzes student retention using predictive classification models designed to identify individuals at elevated risk of attrition. Second, it employs temporal convolutional networks for time series forecasting, estimating aggregate enrollment levels over highly variable, finite planning horizons on the basis of partially observed data and using an asymmetric loss function. …

Community Development Professionals’ Perceptions Of Agritourism In Mississippi, Emma Jane Berry

Theses and Dissertations

Agritourism has emerged as a strategy for supporting rural economies, strengthening community identity, and increasing agricultural literacy. Although prior research has examined agritourism operators and visitors, limited attention has been given to the perceptions of community development professionals who influence local planning and program support. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to examine community development professionals’ perceptions of agritourism’s role in community development, economic growth, and agricultural literacy in Mississippi. Guided by Social Exchange Theory, data were collected through two semi-structured virtual focus groups with 12 professionals representing Extension, tourism, economic development, and Main Street organizations. Data were …

Assessing Differences In The Frequency And Severity Of Osteoarthritis On The Mandibular Condyles Between Males And Females At Tell Abraq, Brittany C. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Tell Abraq, a Bronze and Iron Age site in the United Arab Emirates, was a center of trade and cultural expansion during the Umm an-Nar period (2700–2100 BCE). Its multichambered tombs contain large, commingled burials, reflecting increasing sedentism and agricultural practices. This study examines mandibular osteoarthritis (OA) to explore lived experience and biomechanical stress. A total of 138 adult mandibles were analyzed for sex and OA severity. Results show generally mild and infrequent OA, though preservation limited analysis. Sex estimates suggested more gracile morphologies than previously identified. No strong sex-based differences in OA were observed. Overall, findings highlight the impact …

Characterization Of Water Quality In The Mississippi Sound Using In-Situ And Satellite Observations, William Elliott Butler

Theses and Dissertations

The Mississippi Sound is a highly productive estuary facing increasing pressures from natural disasters, oil spills, freshwater inflows, and coastal urbanization, yet it remains insufficiently monitored. In this study, key water quality parameters were quantified at 25 stations across the Mississippi Sound from 2024-2025 and integrated with Sentinel-3 satellite imagery retrievals to generate monthly turbidity maps from 2016-2025. Peak turbidity (~10 FNU) and TSS (~20 mg/L), reduced Secchi depth (~100 cm) and conductivity (~20,000 μS/cm), were observed from late winter to early summer; these conditions varied in fall and early spring. Colored dissolved organic matter was moderate, while chlorophyll-a and …

Determining Agricultural Literacy Proficiency Of Extension Professionals And Primary Volunteers In Mississippi, Molly Campbell

Theses and Dissertations

The development of agricultural literacy is a lifelong process, moving from gaining agricultural knowledge to communicating with others to applying to societal issues, and extends beyond the formal classroom. The Mississippi State University Extension Service has the ability to reach various audiences through educational programming, making them a potential catalyst for change in increasing agricultural literacy across the state. The study aims to determine the agricultural literacy levels of Extension professionals and primary volunteers in Mississippi and the factors potentially influencing these levels. Twenty-nine Extension professionals and eleven primary volunteers completed a survey of demographic questions and the Judd-Murray Agricultural …

Regional Variability In Tornado Tracks: A Gis-Based Study Of Surface Roughness And Land Cover Differences Between The Lower Midwest And Southeast United States, Joshua Morgan Dison

Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the years, much research has been dedicated to the physical processes leading to tornadogenesis and tornado decay. Much of this research is centered around the inner workings of the supercell itself. Recent studies are now showing that tornadogenesis and decay processes may be generated by interactions with the Earth’s surface. This study examines longtrack tornadoes from 2001-2016 in the southeast and lower Midwest regions of the United States. Utilizing the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) and American Meteorological Society / Environmental Protection Agency / Regulatory Model (AERsurface) surface roughness values, efforts are made to see if statistical significance is …

Evaluating The Spray Patterns Of Boomless Spray Nozzles At Increasing Application Speeds, Thomas Hayden Duncan

Theses and Dissertations

Boomless nozzles have been largely ignored in spray studies, resulting in limited understanding of their spray patterns and how they are affected by operating parameters. A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of application speed on the performance of four boomless nozzles. Dyed water was applied to Kromekote® paper to assess spray distribution based on coverage data at three speeds, and MSMA was applied to a mixed turf stand to evaluate the effect of speed on performance. Overlap simulations were done to evaluate how uniformity could be improved, and nozzle performance was compared to manufacturer claims. Spray patterns of …

Evaluation And Mitigation Of Bias And Toxicity In Open-Source Large Language Models Using Crows-Pairs And Bold, Sai Harika Gade

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis evaluates bias and harmful language generation in five open-source language models and tests practical mitigation methods that do not require retraining. Two masked models are assessed with a sentence-pair benchmark for stereotype preference, and three generative models are assessed with a prompt-based benchmark for harmful continuations across demographic domains. The study uses a unified experimental workflow to compare model behavior, summarize differences across bias categories, and measure changes after intervention. Results show that the masked models favor stereotypical content above a random baseline, while the generative models usually produce low average toxicity but still show uneven risk across …

Investigating Teacher Cognition Of Teaching Spatial Thinking Among Middle And High School Stem Teachers: A Knowledge, Belief, And Attitude Perspective, Jonathan Grant Harris

Theses and Dissertations

Spatial thinking is a critical cognitive ability that supports learning and problem solving across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Despite extensive research highlighting the importance of spatial thinking in STEM achievement and career success, limited research has examined STEM teachers’ cognition of spatial thinking or developed instruments to measure it. The purpose of this study was to investigate middle and high school STEM teachers’ cognition of spatial thinking, including their perceived pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of spatial thinking, self-efficacy beliefs about teaching spatial thinking, and attitudes toward spatial thinking as a critical component of STEM learning and achievement. …

Adaptive Channel Switching For Contention Resolution, Shafqat Hasan

Theses and Dissertations

Contention resolution is a fundamental problem in distributed computing, where multiple devices compete to transmit over a shared channel without centralized coordination. Classical models typically assume a single always-available channel and focus on minimizing makespan. However, modern wireless systems increasingly operate under spectrum-sharing frameworks in which access to high-capacity spectrum is opportunistic and may be interrupted by higher-priority users. These settings introduce new challenges, including asymmetric channel speeds, adversarially scheduled evictions, and non-trivial switching costs. In this thesis, we study contention resolution in a dual-channel model consisting of a slow, always-available channel and a faster channel subject to adversarially scheduled …

Root-Cause-Analysis Of Crane System Variable Frequency Drive Failures Through Testing And Power Quality Analysis, Elizabeth Hayes

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the root-cause-analysis of repeated failures of an AC-DC converter in a variable frequency drive system on a 325-Ton crane through electrical testing based on NETA and IEEE standards. The testing is accompanied with a power quality study based on the IEEE 519-2019, simulation using SKM power modeling software, and fault study from two captured faults. The converter failures presented no immediate solution despite experienced technicians, engineers, and other specialists. This study attempts to eliminate root-cause by examining the line-side equipment and in-feed power quality as contributions to the converter faults.

Developing And Evaluating U.S. Army Bridging For Ship Simulation, Jacob C. Hodges

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the intricacies of ship simulation and developmental processes for integrating wet gap crossing capabilities into a simulated environment. The US Army Mark III Bridge Erection Boat (BEB) and Improved Ribbon Bridge (IRB) were modeled in commercial off the shelf (COTS) and Government Co-Owned (GCO) navigation software suites to determine their performance capabilities and limitations. Each model was constructed using naval architecture concepts to accurately capture their hydrostatic and hydrodynamic effects before being validated against available performance data and expert elicitation from expert US Army watercraft operators. Models were configured and tested in simulated river flows with current …

Mapping And Measuring Sidewalk Network Connectivity In Starkville, Mississippi: The Role Of Policy-Required Development, Public Investment, And Destination Access, Isabella R. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Sidewalks support pedestrian mobility, public health, social community, and access to destinations, but few studies explore sidewalk connectivity in small cities. This study examines changes in sidewalk network connectivity in Starkville, Mississippi after the adoption of a sidewalk ordinance in 2009. Using ArcGIS Pro, a dataset of the city’s sidewalk network was created and used to analyze changes in the network between 2009 and 2024. Sidewalks were given connectivity ratings using a system that considered physical connections to the network as well as proximity to important destinations such as grocery stores, parks, schools, bus stops, and the city’s hospital. The …

Accelerating Defensive Cyber Operations Via Unsupervised Log Clustering And Automated Regex Template Synthesis, Charles Matthew Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Modern Security Operations Centers (SOCs) ingest millions of log entries per day, but manual parsing does not scale to the volume, heterogeneity, and rapid evolution of log formats. This dissertation investigates whether unsupervised clustering can automate the generation of candidate field-extraction templates while remaining deployable in production and feasible under realistic runtime and memory constraints. The central research question asks whether a machine-learning-assisted pipeline that proposes extraction templates for security engineer review—relative to reproducible human-authored baselines such as hand-written regular expressions—can measurably improve rule-set deployability and corpus-scale extraction quality. Improvement is quantified using four applicability metrics: Coverage Rate (CR), Exclusive …

A Pedagogically Effective Conceptual Framework For The Resilience Of Unit Test Suites To Refactoring, Daniel Paul Knight

Theses and Dissertations

Unit test suites are intended to support safe and efficient source code refactoring, yet in practice they can hinder rather than help when tests are tightly coupled to implementation details. Such non-resilient tests require frequent co-evolution, consume valuable engineering time, and may disincentivize beneficial code improvements. While concepts such as passive and active resilience, test smells, and technical debt have been studied individually, they have not been integrated into a single actionable framework, nor has their pedagogical value been systematically evaluated. This dissertation introduces a novel conceptual framework for the resilience of unit test suites to refactoring, grounded in resilience …

Low-Dimensional Metal Halides For Light-Emitting Diodes (Leds): Photophysical Aspects And Device Engineering, Udara Madushanka Kuruppu Kuruppu Achchige Don

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, low-dimensional metal halides have garnered significant interest due to their exceptional optical properties. This dissertation focuses on the structural, optical, and photophysical properties of both lead-based and lead-free low-dimensional metal halides and investigates their applications in light-emitting diodes. In Chapter II, the nature of Mn2+ doping in two-dimensional (2D) lead halide perovskites is discussed. 2D perovskites show strong excitonic and dielectric confinement due to their quantum well structures. Introducing optically active Mn²⁺ dopant ions into these 2D perovskites further enhances their optical properties and promotes energy transfer from the host to the Mn²⁺ dopants, resulting in dual …