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Flood Waters Rise: Hurricanes, Disaster Response, And Race Relations In Coastal Alabama, 1906 – 2006, Danielle Leonardi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This thesis examines the changes in social relations after natural disasters, specifically hurricanes. The Hurricane of 1906 caused massive damage to Mobile due to the limited warnings. Tensions before the hurricane were already heightened from the Atlanta Race Riot and boiled over after the storm, resulting in a double lynching. Mobile received very little federal aid after the 1906 hurricane and relief heavily on their own communities and the Alabama National Guard. Hurricane Frederic in 1979 was much different because of its position in the Civil Rights Movement. The government relief was slow due to the overwhelming amount needed, and …

Federal Appeals Court Rules Gov’T Health Plans Must Cover Gender-Affirming Care For Trans People, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Breaking Barriers: An Innovative Tool To Assess The National And City-Level Physical Activity Policy Development To Practice Disconnect, Eugen Resendiz, Andrea Ramírez-Varela, Juliana Mejía-Grueso, Jane Moon, Josef Mitáš, Ross C Brownson, Deborah Salvo, Michael Pratt

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Population-level physical activity increases are improbable without intersectoral collaboration across government levels and sectors to develop and implement physical activity promotion policies. This study aims to provide information about the development of the Interaction between National and Local Government Levels in Development and Implementation of Physical Activity Policies Tool (INTEGRATE PA-Pol). A framework was created to examine the development and implementation of national and subnational physical activity policies and the (mis)alignment between government levels.

Methods: The work was conducted in 3 phases: (1) a scoping review was carried out to identify local government physical activity promotion policies and instruments …

Complete Issue, Patrick J. O'Connor Phd, Laura Owen, Moya Malcolm, Diana Camilo, Christopher W. Tremblay

Journal of College Access

No abstract provided.

Introductory Pages, Christopher W. Tremblay, Patrick J. O'Connor Phd, Diana Camilo, Laura Owen, Moya Malcolm

Journal of College Access

No abstract provided.

Master Narrative Of College Access Belies Reality For Today’S Students, Jonathan S. Lewis, René A. Hernandez

Journal of College Access

Master and alternative narratives offer a useful framework through which to consider contemporary issues in college access. Implicit and ubiquitous, the master narrative of a linear progression from high school through a residential college toward a fulfilling career has long been dominant. Meanwhile, alternative narratives of fluid, dynamic, alternate pathways are ascendant, having received a boost from the Covid-19 pandemic and the stubborn lack of affordable postsecondary options. Observing a decline in a shared cultural narrative about college, the authors recommend that advisors help students to sort through possible storylines and then write their own.

An Examination Of Products That University Of Mississippi Students Consume For Managing Their Stress, Kiersten Rickard

Honors Theses

Students are notoriously one of the most stressed groups in our society. Stress is a complex topic; causes, mitigation methods, and manifestations of stress all vary in an individual. Being that stress is an universal experience, this research capitalizes on the importance of stress and the methods used to mitigate stress. This study looks at, among other ideas, stress on the University of Mississippi campus in regards to demographics and the products (caffeine, sleep aids, over the counter medicines, stress supplements, and CBD) that students use. Results demonstrate that, overall, higher stress levels correlate to higher product usage rates. The …

Impact Of Baseline Emotional Distress On Long-Term Quality Of Life In Head And Neck Cancer Patients, Kimberly Oslin, Eric Adjei Boakye, Samantha Tam, Courtney Rose, Kyle Leonard, Veronica Bernacchi, Steven S. Chang, Suhael Momin, Farzan Siddiqui, Vivian F. Wu, Amy Williams

Conference Presentation Abstracts

Introduction: Psychosocial symptoms (e.g., emotional distress, anxiety, and depression) are under-recognized and undertreated in patients diagnosed with cancer. Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients are particularly vulnerable to poor psychosocial health due to the often disfiguring and permanently life-altering nature of HNC treatment. Prior research suggests that psychosocial symptoms contribute to poor quality of life in HNC patients. However, the association between precancer treatment anxiety and depression on quality of life after HNC treatment is unknown. This study examined the associations between pre-treatment anxiety and depression and long-term quality of life among patients with HNC. Methods: This is a retrospective …

Barriers To Mental Health Treatment Among Medical Students: Preclinical Vs. Clinical Years, Urvashi Singh, Agnes Wrobel

Posters

Our study aims to:

• Investigate medical students’ attitudes towards seeking assistance from mental health professionals.
• Compare the importance of various barriers that deter help-seeking in preclinical vs. clinical years of medical education.

Assessing Barriers To Upward Mobility In The Cape Fear Region, Sabrina T. Cherry, Christopher R. Prentice

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Researchers explore upward mobility to better understand how economic and employment factors drive or undermine social justice and equity in the United States. This scholarship can inform activists and researchers seeking to design solutions that help overcome systemic challenges to upward mobility. Therefore, as an interdisciplinary team of scholars in a public university, we collaborated with community partners to conduct a case study in which we assessed the barriers to—and the drivers of—upward mobility in a medium-sized city in Southeastern North Carolina. We conducted key informant interviews and focus groups with a cross-section of local residents to learn about their …

Extant, Amanda Joy-Petersen

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

On April 15th, 2022, I was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer, the most aggressive form. Everything changed that day. My body became a specimen, inspected weekly. I decided to document the process of my treatment as a way to understand the implications and ramifications of living with the disease.

I transform my artwork into multiple iterations in response to my body’s changing landscape. The transparent layers of my abstracted poetry, transitional body photos, and MRI scans suggest the permeability of the cortex and the fluidity between the interior and exterior. Looking through the layers allows for a connection with …

Smoking And Covid-19: An Analysis Of Demographics, Risk Factors, And Outcomes, Andrew Vrtar, Luca Cucullo, Richard H. Kennedy

Posters

• Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a respiratory pathogen that first emerged in late 20191 and was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020.
• Cigarette use is a significant public health concern throughout the world. Despite reductions in prevalence in recent years, tobacco smoking remains one of the main preventable causes of ill-health and premature death.
• Both tobacco smoking and vaping are phenomena that may increase the vulnerability of these individuals to COVID19 infection.4 Therefore, it is crucial to explore the medical consequences of and …

The Effects Of Police Culture And Procedural Justice On Citizens' Perceptions Of Police Legitimacy And Trustworthiness, Kityara U'Nae James

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Police departments have often cited “a few bad apples” when discussing incidents of officer misconduct or improper use of force. However, police reform organizations often posit that when the tree is bad, all fruit it bears will be rotten. Police culture serves as the root of the tree in this analogy; the basis of the characteristics and behaviors of police rely on the specifics of police culture that has been imprinted during the police academy and maintained through everyday police work. Police culture determines how police officers interact with citizens and behave on the job. Those interactions can influence how …

El Testimonio De Los Niños De El Parque: Discipline Practices And The Impact On Public High School Students, Francisco E. Huizar-Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

What happens to our students when they do not complete their studies and drop out of school? Perhaps this question is probably not something that we reflect on as educators. This study seeks to amplify three studentsâ?? voices and explore their unique experiences and the challenges they faced after they did not complete their high school studies. The interviews that I conducted tell the story of three minority students from lower-income families. Their stories highlight the overall purpose of this study, which is how students who find themselves involved in disciplinary issues are pushed out of school. The interviews capture …

Risk And Protective Factors Associated With The Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Alcohol Expectancies In Latina College Students, Andrea Rodriguez Crespo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Alcohol use among college students is a public health concern, with rates increasing in recent years. Several constructs have been studied in past research to assess alcohol use, alcohol consequences, and motives to drinking. However, to the authorâ??s knowledge, no study has assessed risk and protective factors that may influence the relationship between alcohol expectancies and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) among Latina college students living on the U.S/Mexico border. The present study assessed the relationship between ACEs and positive and negative alcohol expectancies, as well as the impact of risk and protective moderating factors on the relationship. Latina college students …

Mechanical Adaptations To Anterior Load And Fall Risks In Nulliparous Women With Simulated Gestational Weight Gain, Heather Vanderhoof

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Approximately twenty-five percent of pregnant women experience falls during pregnancy, posing significant risks to maternal and fetal health outcomes. However, research on falls in pregnant women remains limited. PURPOSE: This study aimed to address this gap by comparing static postural stability between pregnant and nulliparous women with simulated gestational weight gain (GWG), thus validating the use of simulated pregnancy; and to observe the mechanical influences of simulated GWG on postural stability in static and dynamic conditions. It was hypothesized that increasing simulated GWG would decrease postural stability in single-limb stance, bilateral standing, margin of stability during gait initiation, and dynamic …

Resource Scarcity Caused By Environmental Changes: Driving Factor In Terrorism Attacks In Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Amaris Bustamante

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Climate change, resource scarcity, and terrorist attacks are ever-growing crises that disproportionately impact different states. They are crises that can impact the stability and resilience of humanity in the following decades if they are not addressed and mitigated. This study addresses the impact of resource scarcity caused by climate change that can then serve as a driving force in terrorist attacks in climate-sensitive and conflict-prone states. The objective of this mixed-methods study is to identify the correlation between climate changes that lead to resource scarcity such as rainfall and surface temperatures with terrorist attacks when taking into consideration other demographic, …

Talking About Sex: The Relationship Between Cultural Constructs And Sexual Behaviors Among Latina Emerging Adults, Ariana Cervantes-Borges

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Emerging adults account for a significant portion of yearly STI cases with Latinxs living in border regions often being disproportionally affected. Moreover, Latinas may hold much of the responsibility for sexual health when compared to their male counterparts; however, culture may serve as both a protective and risk factor for deleterious sexual behaviors. These disparities highlight the importance of assessing Latina sexual risk and to a further extent, perceptions of sexual and reproductive health services. The present study assessed how cultural constructs were associated with sexual risk and STI testing views among Latinas and how these associations may be moderated …

Examining The Relationships Between Social Media Use Constructs And Mental And Sleep Health In Hispanic University Emerging Adults, Miguel Andres Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The number of social media users and platforms have increased dramatically in recent years. Several different social media use constructs have developed from past research to assess social media engagement, including overall social media use, nighttime in-bed social media use, social media addiction, social media self-control failure, and emotional investment in social media. Such constructs are distinct from each other and may adversely impact mental and sleep health, especially during emerging adulthood. This study investigated the relationships between such social media use constructs and mental and sleep health in Hispanic university emerging adults through a framework of Uses and Gratifications …

A Writer In Writing, Stephanie Lamas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As a writer and individual, I speak between many roles, presenting myself as “I” but also “her”. Inevitably, there is a gap between “who I am” and “who I am made out to be” that I am not always in control of. Similarly, there is a disparity in intention versus interpretation in writing. Since we don’t exist in a vacuum, I must account for these gaps, acknowledging my individuality while adapting to changing circumstances and needs. As an individual with several disadvantages and particularities, however, my sense of self is unstable and uncertain, reflecting the instability and uncertainty in my …

Our Author Is Crazy, Zani A. Meaders

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis delves into the realm of young adult (YA) fantasy literature, exploring how its meta-narrative elements, fast-paced story beats, and relatable characters can facilitate the acquisition of healthy coping mechanisms among its readers. In the preface, I discuss the importance of providing YA audiences with narratives that not only entertain but also serve as tools for navigating the complexities of adolescence. Drawing upon psychological theories and literary analysis, I argue that meta-awareness in YA fantasy can offer readers a unique perspective on their own struggles and encourage them to develop resilience and coping skills.

The accompanying YA Fantasy story …

Religiosity And Executive Compensation Tournaments, Toufiq Nazrul

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This paper examines the effect that local religiosity has on executive compensation tournaments. The main finding suggests that a higher degree of local religiosity significantly reduces the magnitude of executive compensation tournaments. Subsample analyses involving the majority religious group of Christianity show that a higher local presence of Protestants relative to Catholics and other non-religious population heightens the negative effect of community-level religiosity on the magnitude of executive compensation tournaments. Additional subsample analyses involving the minority religious denominations also show that the effect of overall community religiosity is not solely driven by the different sects within the Christian denomination. Minority …

Deal With A Dead Man, Afton Reed

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Value of Fantasy in Exploring Intangibles

Often, a story is sparked because of asking the question, “what if?” which is what happened to create the hydra that is Deal with a Dead Man. Two percolating ideas happened to coincide, and eventually crashed together. Early on, it began when I was introduced to the Russian fairytale of Koschei the Deathless and his fear of death, but inability to enjoy life. Over the past year, my family experienced several deaths, one tragically early, and another of ripe old age. My fascination with the fairytale grew as I watched myself and family …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of A Resilience Intervention On College Students' Mental Illness And Subsequent Alcohol Use, Aitiana Ivonne Sanchez-Garciaguirre

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Mental illness and stigma surrounding mental illness are common among college-aged individuals. Alcohol use is also common among college-aged individuals, and often coexists with increased symptoms of mental illness, leading to unhealthy perpetual coping mechanisms. However, increased resilience and adaptive coping strategies may suppress the need to use alcohol as a coping mechanism when experiencing symptoms of mental illness and the stigma associated with it. The present study sought to utilize a resilience intervention to increase resilience and adaptive coping strategies among Hispanic college students to reduce their alcohol use and experiences of depression and/or anxiety. Additionally, the present study …

Race, Severe Mental Illness, And Crime: An Intersectional Look Into Stigma And Policy Implications, Elena Therese Vaudreuil

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Criminal behavior has been a long-discussed topic in the United States and often is tied to characteristics such as race and mental illness. The presumed connection between criminal behavior and being a member of a racial minority group or having a mental illness have been researched for years, however few researchers have sought to take an intersectional approach to investigate the unique experiences of people belonging to both groups in the criminal legal system. Using the lenses of attribution and intersectionality theories, the proposed studies sought to understand the effect of race that influences policy support of justice-involved people with …

Exploring The Barriers To Mental Health Treatment Among Justice-Involved Women Living In The U.S.-México Border Region, Rebekah Ruth Adair-Russell

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

For women in the criminal justice system, mental illness is a complicated and prevalent factor, with rates ranging from 49.2% to 67.9% (Bronson & Berzofsky, 2017). To address the mental health care that justice-involved women need, scholars have called for a closer examination of barriers that hinder access to mental health and substance use treatment among this population (Winham et al., 2015; Wilfong et al., 2021). Barriers to treatment can be attitudinal (i.e., stigma and fear) or structural (i.e., transportation, cost of treatment), yet few, if any, studies have examined how these barriers present in a group of justice-involved women …

The Role Of Soft Infrastructure In Developing Sustainable Volunteer-Based Healthcare For Transient Migrants In The El Paso-Ciudad Juárez Border Region, Daniel Avitia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Examining The Effects Of Acute And Chronic Stress On The Interrogative Suggestibility Of Young Adults, Claudia Cota

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

High-stress situations, like police interrogations, can hinder an individual's decision-making and critical-thinking ability (Liston et al., 2009), making them more susceptible to suggestive or leading messages during questioning. While research on suggestibility mainly focuses on children and adolescents, young adults may also be vulnerable to suggestion because of their sensitivity to social feedback (Blakemore & Mills, 2014; Redlich & Goodman, 2003). Since the legal consequences of suggestibility for young adults are more severe than for children or adolescents, it is essential to examine the role of stress in young adults' suggestibility. The present study used objective and subjective methods to …

Ventral Hippocampus Mediates Inter-Trial Responding In Signaled Active Avoidance, Cecily R. Oleksiak, Samantha L. Plas, Denise Carriaga, Krithika Vasudevan, Stephen Maren, Justin M. Moscarello

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Highlights

• Ventral hippocampus mediates inter-trial responses in signaled active avoidance

• Ventral hippocampus DREADD activation drives inter-trial responding across contexts

• Context fear reduction through extinction does not reduce inter-trial responses

Abstract

The hippocampus has a central role in regulating contextual processes in memory. We have shown that pharmacological inactivation of ventral hippocampus (VH) attenuates the context-dependence of signaled active avoidance (SAA) in rats. Here, we explore whether the VH mediates intertrial responses (ITRs), which are putative unreinforced avoidance responses that occur between trials. First, we examined whether VH inactivation would affect ITRs. Male rats underwent SAA training and subsequently received intra-VH …

Harnessing Eye And Face Movements: Bridging Technology And Human Interaction, Daniel Rubin

Master's Theses and Capstones

AbstractThe profound impact of non-verbal communication in the realms of psychology, virtual reality (VR), and automated systems; underscores, a critical inquiry: How can we effectively interpret and utilize non-verbal cues; for example, eye and head movements, to address current limitations in technology and ethics across various applications? This thesis explores the potential of eye and head movement techniques, as a transformative tool in enhancing diagnostic accuracy, user interaction, and ethical compliance in these fields. One significant contribution of my research is the identification and implementation methods of non-invasive diagnostic tools, in healthcare. Through, the advanced analysis of eye and head …