Digital Commons Network^™

British Subjects "Of Ye Jewish Religion": The Negotiated Identities Of The Levy-Franks Family, Laura Miriam Drake

Theses and Dissertations

Through a series of determined choices over sixty-five years, the Levy-Franks family blended their religious identity as Jews with their claimed British socio-political identity to achieve economic success in eighteenth-century colonial New York. Through colonial records, newspapers, legal petitions, portraits and, most significantly, the letters of Abigaill Levy Franks, this dissertation examines the family’s actions taken to create a blended identity, despite the potential threat that their participation in the broader British Atlantic world posed to their religious selves. During a time in British history when religious identities were at the forefront of political debate, the Levy-Franks family created a …

Patterns Of Molecular Evolution Driving Reproductive And Genomic Processes In Sauropsids, Taylor Green

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual reproduction is an important driver of genetic diversity and speciation through such forces as selection, mutation, and drift. Sauropsids are an appropriate clade to study shared molecular drivers of sexual and genomic evolution due to their genome architecture, sex determination mechanism (SDM) plasticity, and large syntenous genomic regions. Using comparative phylogenetic methods, I identify predictable patterns of selection in meiotic recombination genes and clade-specific drivers of recombination rate evolution. Then, leveraging whole genome sequencing, I demonstrate that American alligator genomes are characterized by an ancient loss of genetic diversity driven by drift and historic inbreeding. I also generate a …

Assessment Of Energy And Hydration Demands Of Farm Workers In Mississippi, Mckenzie Lynne Hargrove

Theses and Dissertations

The agricultural community in Mississippi is critical to the state’s economy and the health of its communities. Farm workers meet these needs by performing highly demanding work with long hours of labor, limited resources, and stressful environmental conditions. The purpose of this investigation was to examine and measure indicators of physiological and behavioral adaptations to the heat such as whole body sweat rate (WBSR), sweat sodium (Na+) content, urine specific gravity (USG), and fluid intake, as well as determine total daily energy expenditure (TEE) and water influx (rH2O) via the doubly labeled water technique (DLW) in farm workers during the …

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 …

A Research-Informed Wellness Guide For Creating A Culture Of Educator Wellness And Retention In Schools, Anthony L. Herbert

Theses and Dissertations

Teacher attrition in high-poverty K–12 schools continues to undermine instructional continuity, organizational stability, and educational equity. While compensation and accountability pressures contribute to turnover, emerging research identifies workload intensity, emotional exhaustion, and the absence of systemic wellness supports as central drivers of burnout and departure decisions. The purpose of this capstone project is to develop a research-informed wellness guide designed to assist site-based leaders in embedding educator wellness within school systems as a strategic approach to improving teacher retention. This study addresses the question: What leadership strategies and school-level practices does the research recommend for creating supportive, wellness-centered environments in …

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 …

Parhsom: A Novel Parallel Hierarchical Self-Organizing Map Implementation, Rebekah E. Lane

Theses and Dissertations

The digital age has completely transformed the way that information is processed and stored, which makes cybersecurity a crucial field of research. Cybersecurity contains many different domains, but this work focuses on Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs). Within the literature, Hierarchical Self-Organizing Maps (HSOMs) have been used to create trustworthy, explainable, and AI-based IDSs. However, HSOMs are trained sequentially, which means that training HSOMs on large datasets is slow. This work presents a novel parallel HSOM architecture, called parHSOM. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect that parallel computation has on the HSOM training time. parHSOM is tested …

Reproductive Genetics Of Caenorhabditis Nematodes, Dharani U. Matharage

Theses and Dissertations

Variation in reproductive traits and genome evolution reflects the interaction between selection, environment, and life-history. In the genus Caenorhabditis, recombination rate and sperm size exhibit a striking variation between strains and species. Here, Iintegrate three projects investigating recombination rate variation and recombination plasticity in C. elegans and sperm size divergence across Caenorhabditis species. First, I quantify recombination rates in two genetically distinct strains, N2 and CB4856, with different levels of laboratory adaptation using fluorescent markers spanning across gene-rich and gene-poor regions of the chromosome IV. I identify significant differences in recombination rate between the two strains within both gene-rich and …

Body Swaps, Prophetic Dreams, And The Angel Of Destruction: Agency And Narration In Mary Shelley’S Short Stories And Revisions To Frankenstein, Meg Mcdougal

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates Mary Shelley’s later bibliography, focusing on several of her short stories published around the 1831 revisions to Frankenstein. This study investigates Shelley’s techniques to present the agency of each of her protagonists through various techniques of narration, including points of view, methods of storytelling, and usage of voice. Comparing three of Shelley’s short stories creates a throughline of agency and narration in tandem with the presence of the supernatural, and this throughline can be found exclusively in the 1831 edition of Frankenstein. Through this examination, Shelley’s later edition of her most famous work can be looked at …

Using Seafloor Geomorphology, Classification Schema, And Spatial Analysis To Predict Geologic Structures, With Applications For Mars, Emma Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated whether seafloor geomorphology can be used to predict subsurface fault locations along the Cascadia continental margin and explored whether such relationships can be transferred to Mars. Geomorphological classification schemas such as geomorphons, bathymetric position index (BPI), slope, rugosity, aspect, and curvature were derived from seafloor bathymetry data and used as predictor variables in maximum entropy (MaxEnt) models developed separately for Pre-Pleistocene, Pleistocene, Quaternary, and active fault datasets. Model performance ranged from AUC = 0.62 to 0.67, showing moderate predictive skill, with younger fault systems exhibiting stronger geomorphic associations. A secondary analysis showed a weaker but detectable relationship …

Comparison Of Degree Attainment Between Traditional And Nontraditional Community College Transfer Students From The Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study, Diann Mills Nichols

Theses and Dissertations

Nontraditional students have been part of higher education for over a century, yet their enrollment has increased substantially in recent decades and is expected to continue rising. Many return to college to gain credentials and skills needed for career advancement or reentry into the workforce. Despite their growing presence, nontraditional students remain less likely than traditional students to complete a degree within six years, often due to competing responsibilities such as work, family obligations, and financial strain. The purpose of this study was to compare nontraditional community college students who transferred to four-year institutions with their traditional counterparts in terms …

The Lived Experiences Of Mississippi School Leaders Addressing Food Insecurity In Their Schools, Krista Vowell Nicholson

Theses and Dissertations

Title of Study: The lived experiences of Mississippi school leaders addressing food insecurity in their schools Pages in Study 135 Candidate for Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Food insecurity among children in the United States remains a significant concern for educational leaders. Researchers have consistently found a relationship between food insecurity and diminished student academic outcomes. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine how school leaders and teachers in schools in Mississippi describe their lived experiences responding to students dealing with food insecurity. The research study included semi-structured interviews with 12 principals and teacher leaders from four …

Characterizing The Microbial Structure And Function In Black Soldier Fly Digested Dairy Manure And Subsequent Larvae, Branden N. Pierce

Theses and Dissertations

This work examined the microbial structure and gene expression found in Black Soldier Fly larval guts and their frass when reared on dairy cattle manure that had been amended with either R. rhodococcus 21198, P. polymyxa 8158, or both and compare the results to larvae reared on untreated manure. First an overview of literature surrounding projected global food supplies and the possible use of insects to either increase them or mitigate the environmental effect of producing said supply. A cellulose degradation assay was performed to assist in determining which bacterial species to use as amendments. Characterization of the microbial communities …

Remote Sensing Techniques For Soil Moisture Retrieval And Crop Yield Estimation: Employing Multi-Sensor Receiver Systems From Uas And Ml For Precision Agriculture, Mohammad Abdus Shahid Rafi

Theses and Dissertations

Accurate soil moisture (SM) measurement and crop yield estimation are critical components of modern precision agriculture (PA) management. Efficiently observing SM at high resolution on a sub-field scale can enhance irrigation planning and management, leading to improved yields and product quality while also conserving environmental resources. Yield predictions provide insights into expected production, facilitating optimized resource allocation, improved agricultural management strategies, and enhanced profitability. Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) based multi-sensor receiver systems offer promising solutions in obtaining high-resolution SM measurements across large fields where satellite remote sensing falls short, as well as collecting necessary data over corn and cotton for …

A Cradle To Grave Life Cycle Assessment Of Captured Landfill Methane Abatement Strategies, Joshua Caleb Richard

Theses and Dissertations

Landfill methane mitigation strategies are commonly evaluated using percentage-based leakage assumptions and linear scaling models. These approaches may misrepresent system performance at varying throughput levels and real-world operating scenarios. This thesis develops a system-level life cycle assessment framework that incorporates both fixed infrastructure losses and employs sensitivity analysis to more accurately characterize emissions from landfill gas management pathways. Three scenarios are evaluated: methane capture and flare, methane capture and combustion for electricity generation, and methane upgrading with pipeline injection as renewable natural gas. Results demonstrate that emissions models over- dependance on static factors may inadvertently lead to under-reporting and provide …

No-Till Versus Conventional Tillage Cover Crop Systems Effects On Cotton In The Blackland Prairie Region Of Mississippi, Mallie West Rivenbark

Theses and Dissertations

Nitrogen (N) plays a critical role in cotton production systems. Management practices such as tillage systems and cover crops (CC) can influence nutrient cycling and availability within the soil. The present study assessed the effects of CC in a conventional tillage (CT) vs. no-tillage (NT) system on cotton yield, fiber quality and N use efficiency. Ramifications for CC and N rates on lint yield and cotton N uptake were investigated during the 2024 and 2025 growing seasons in Verona, MS. Cover crop treatments include cereal rye (Secale cereale), crimson clover (Trifolium incaranatum) and a mix of cereal rye and crimson …

Intersection Of Food Insecurity And Housing Among Veterans And Disabled Adults, Julie Anne Stepp

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how housing tenure is associated with food insecurity (FI) among veterans and adults with disabilities, utilizing the housing-food insecurity nexus framework. Previous research documents elevated FI among veterans and individuals with disabilities, yet few studies assess housing tenure as a mechanism connecting these statuses to food hardship. Using data from the 2024 National Health Interview Survey Adult Sample (n=32,629), logistic regression models estimate the independent and interactive effects of renting, veteran status, and disability status on FI. Results suggest renters have significantly higher odds of FI than homeowners, even after adjusting for poverty status, SNAP participation, and …

Evaluating The Spatial Relationship Between Geomorphology And Subsurface Structures On The Us Atlantic Margin With Applications To Other Terrestrial Planets, Andrea Caitlyn Stiles

Theses and Dissertations

High-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) are widely available for terrestrial planetary bodies, but subsurface structural data remain limited. This research evaluated whether surface geomorphology could predict subsurface features, specifically faults and methane seeps, along the US Atlantic continental margin as an analog site. Faults were mapped with seismic interpretation and compared with quantitative geomorphic classifications derived from 100-m bathymetry including slope, aspect, rugosity, bathymetric position index, and geomorphon classes. Maximum-entropy modelling was used to predict fault occurrences from surface data. Results indicated that specific geomorphic landforms and slopes had the strongest control on fault presence, reflected in topographic expression of …

Liposomal Bupivacaine Caudal Epidural In Horses Results In Adverse Effects Without Analgesia, Christopher Stokes

Theses and Dissertations

Liposomal bupivacaine (10 mL; 1.3%) was administered into the caudal epidural space via an indwelling epidural catheter. Mechanical nociceptive threshold (MNT) testing with pressure algometry was used to measure analgesia at 4 anatomic locations for 72 hours following injection. Physical examinations were performed and ataxia scores recorded every 4 h to monitor for adverse effects, and fecal and urine output were recorded. There were no significant differences at any time point in rectal temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, or MNT at any anatomic site compared to baseline. Ataxia scores were significantly elevated from 24 to 36 h following epidural injection. …

Exploring The Effect Of Students' Exclusionary Discipline On Their Academic Achievement In A Rural High School., Danya Turner

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the extent to which exclusionary discipline practices, specifically in-school suspension and out-of-school suspension, are associated with academic achievement among high school students. More specifically, the study investigated the relationship between students’ exclusionary discipline days and performance on Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) assessments in Algebra I, Biology, English II, and U.S. History. The study was guided by the Opportunity to Learn (OTL) framework, which emphasizes the importance of access to instructional time for student academic success. Archival discipline and assessment data were collected from a rural public high school in east-central …

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’ …

Accuracy Of Parameter Estimation For A Simple Gene Regulatory Network Model Is Sensitive To Network Motif, Number Of Parameters Estimated, And Magnitude And Direction Of Regulatory Relationships, Nikki C. Chun, Kam Dahlquist

Honors Thesis

A gene regulatory network (GRN) is a set of transcription factors that regulate the expression of genes encoding other transcription factors. The dynamics of a GRN explain how gene expression changes over time. GRNmap is a MATLAB software package that uses ordinary differential equations to model dynamics of small-scale GRNs. We used the program to estimate production rates, expression thresholds, and regulatory weights for each transcription factor in three related literature-derived GRNs based on yeast cold shock microarray data previously collected in the Dahlquist Lab. We noticed large differences in estimated weight values when 1-2% of the expression values were …

Phase Field Modeling And A Fully Discrete Numerical Scheme For Two-Phase Incompressible Mhd Flows With Different Densities, Electric Conductivities And Viscosities, Xiaoyong Chen, Rui Li, Jian Li, Xiaoming He, Yanping Lin

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

This article establishes a phase field model for governing the two-phase incompressible MHD flows with different densities, electric conductivities, and viscosities. In addition to the coupling between the Cahn–Hilliard phase field equations and the single-phase MHD equations together with the varying parameters, it is physically faithful and mathematically rigorous for the modeling to incorporate a relative flux term, which is related to the diffusion of the components, into the coupled system, inspired by Abels et al. and Shen and Yang. We present a linear fully discrete numerical scheme for this complex multi-physics system, which leverages the artificial compressibility method, an …

Within These Walls, Nicholas J. Roberts

LSU Master's Theses

I was raised to understand home through labor. In the working-class household I grew up in, in rural Southeastern Pennsylvania, value was earned through work, identity took shape through trade, and rest was often an afterthought. That framework was not chosen. It was inherited. And it has not been easy to see it clearly from the inside.

The Exhibition, Within These Walls, examines that inheritance through printmaking and sculpture, using the material and spatial language of domestic construction as both subject and method. Through fragile paper structures that resemble wood but cannot hold weight, a staircase that cannot be climbed, …

College Of Fine Arts Outreach And Health Promotion For Injury Prevention: A Service Learning Project, Andrea Bejaran-Choto, Emily Horner, Marlene Quirarte, Shaye Robles, Dora Segura, Duc Tu, Trevor Williams

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction: This community-based academic initiative targeted a significant deficiency regarding rehabilitative care and wellness assets for Southern Nevada's fine arts practitioners. Despite possessing trauma frequency rates similar to those of collegiate-level athletes, this demographic lacks sufficient infrastructure for health support. The endeavor sought to bolster the University of Nevada, Las Vegas College of Fine Arts (CFA) and the regional performance art sector utilizing the UNLV College of Fine Arts Physical Therapy Clinic (CFA-PTC).

Description: The initiative focused on three essential objectives: (1) augmenting student consciousness and utilization of therapeutic care at the CFA-PTC, (2) broadening health-related guidance for the artistic …

Fallen Through The Cracks: The Experiences Of Dually-Involved Youth, Kaylee Dawn Faria

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Dually-involved youth (DIY) are a uniquely disadvantaged population, simultaneously involved with both the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Information regarding the system experiences of DIY and how they compare to their single-system, juvenile justice-only involved (SSY) counterparts is sparse, particularly through a criminal justice lens. Additionally, no research on the within-individual differences between DIY pre- and post-DIY identification is currently available. The present study seeks to bridge current gaps in the literature by (a) establishing a baseline comparison of DIY and SSY in Clark County, Nevada, (b) assessing depth of system penetration differences via case processing outcomes, and (c) …

At The Crossroads Of Traditional And Nuclear Forensics: Decontaminating Radiologically Contaminated Dna Evidence Using Magnetic Beads, Rin Nyx Ruby

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Known for its impressive discriminatory power, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fingerprinting stands as the “gold standard” of forensic investigation. However, complications arise when such evidence is contaminated with radioactive material. Though biological samples exposed to ionizing radiation can still yield comprehensive DNA profiles, most forensic laboratories lack the facilities which meet the safety and security requirements necessary for handling radioactive material. While nuclear facilities can decontaminate samples prior to forensic analysis, conventional methods for radiological decontamination – such as mechanical cleaning and chemical washes – may degrade the quality of the forensic evidence. The purpose of this study is to evaluate …

Realizing Reality — C.S. Lewis And The Hierarchical Model Of Christian Neo-Platonism, Jordan Spina

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Spina, Jordan, H. “Realizing Reality: C.S. Lewis and the Hierarchical Model of Christian Neo-Platonism.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2025. 253.

In recent years there has been a growing interest in C.S. Lewis’ intellectual relationship to the Medieval cosmological model. Scholars have demonstrated that, for Lewis, the Medieval cosmological model represented more than a scientific picture of earth in relation to other heavenly bodies. Its significance was not dependent upon the number of planets or the order in which they were positioned. Instead, it represented a philosophically robust view of reality

However, what has yet to be demonstrated is the roadmap …