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Toni Morrison's New World Black Woman: Refuting, Deconstructing, And Redefining Black Women's Identity, Victoria L. Bell

Master's Theses

Abstract

Through critical analysis of media: literary works, performance, and television, this thesis explores the prejudices, silencing, dehumanizing, sexualization, and marginalization of Black women, their bodies, identity, and trauma inflicted by White-authored texts, specifically the American canon. I analyze the works of Black women authors, scholars, and activists, who counter the false representation of the patriarchy. Their literary works refute, deconstruct, and redefine the canon’s distorted, racial and gendered stereotypes, later to be named controlling images.  While narrating the Black woman’s authentic self, experience, body, and womanhood they reclaim space, authenticity, and agency.

In my research and analysis, the central …

Deep Learning For Predicting Impact Energy And Compression After Impact Strength Of Composite Materials Using C-Scan Images, K. T. Tan, Jason P. Mack, Faizan Mirza, Zhong-Hui Duan

University Research

Traditional assessment of post-impact performance in carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites often relies on simplified scalar metrics that fail to capture the complex spatial interactions driving failure. This study addresses this limitation by developing an automated, end-to-end deep learning framework that shifts from manual feature extraction to the direct interpretation of raw damage morphology from ultrasonic C-scans. Using a ResNet18-based convolutional neural network (CNN) trained on 1,428 augmented images, the model achieved coefficients of determination (R2) of 0.7948 ± 0.0847 for compression after impact (CAI) strength and 0.9436 ± 0.0098 for impact energy. Beyond prediction, this dual-purpose methodology serves …

Behavioral Bottlenecks In Belizean Smallholder Farming: An Action Plan, Mckinley A. Almeida

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Behavioral Bottlenecks in Belizean Smallholder Farming: An Action Plan investigates why Belizean smallholders hesitate to adopt new practices informed by a two-month internship with the Ministry of Agriculture at the Stann Creek branch. During the internship, a seventeen-page bilingual farm plan outline integrating SMART goals, a standard business plan, and farming essentials relevant to the local culture and environment was designed and developed. The Farm Plan Outline is grounded in observations in goal-setting theory, risk aversion under price uncertainty, and knowledge gap literature (AKIS/AKAP) tailored by smallholder Belizean contexts. Farmers were assisted with the Sustainable & Inclusive Belize Program grant …

Do I Have To Know Someone? The Impact Of Factors Beyond The Playing Field That Affect Mlb Hall Of Fame Voting., Jackson Wollscheid

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

With the creation of WAR (Wins above Replacement), it has created an index to measure the player’s value using a variety of statistics relevant to that player’s position. The higher a player’s career WAR then the greater the impact that player had on the game during his career. However, players are not simply inducted into the Hall of Fame on this measure of value but on voting from members of the BBWAA (Baseball Writers’ Association of America). This research investigates external factors outside of standard playing statistics’ influence on Hall of Fame voting, including team affiliation, career length, and other …

Income Distribution And Poverty Rate Changes In Hurricane Katrina-Affected Parishes: A Case Study Of Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, And St. Bernard, 2000-2023, Carly L. Day

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

On August 28^th, 2005, the National Hurricane Center announced that a category five hurricane sustaining over 160-mile winds was cruising through the Gulf of Mexico, headed straight for the coasts of Louisiana and Alabama. By August 29^th, 2005, Katrina made landfall in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana as a category three hurricane. After surviving a significant amount of rainfall, the levee system in New Orleans failed, putting over 80% of the city of New Orleans underwater and leaving many residents without homes (“Hurricane Katrina”, 2025). Despite a mandatory evacuation order, many people were forced to take shelter in …

Manipulation Or Monetization?: The Rise Of Stock Buybacks And Their Effects On Firm Valuation And Investment, Thomas H. Serrano

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Abstract:

This thesis uses basic econometrics to examine the relationship between stock buybacks, firm valuation, and investment among publicly traded firms from 2000-2024. Using firm-level data pulled from Compustat North America and a fixed-effect multivariate regression, it evaluates whether buybacks are associated with higher valuation and stronger productive investment as defined in the paper. The results show that buybacks are positively associated with firm valuation the first year that they occur, but the relationship disappears when they are lagged for a year. Furthermore, the analysis does not find strong statistical evidence that repurchases are associated with changes in investment, or …

The Impact Of Change In The Legal Definition Of Confidentiality On The Redaction Behavior Of U.S. Firms, Alexey Alferov

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

U.S. public companies may redact information from material contracts in SEC filings as long as such information is not considered to be material by the SEC and when it is the type of information that the registrant treats as private and confidential. In 2021, the SEC revised redaction regulations in response to the expansion of the legal definition of ‘confidential’ by the Supreme Court of the United States. In this paper I examine whether these changes, referred to as FMI Amendments, impact companies’ decision to redact information from their material contracts filed with the SEC. In addition, I extend Thompson …

Structural Evidence For Innervation Of A Single Epitheliomuscular Cell By Multiple Sensory Neurons In The Sea Anemone Nematostella Vectensis, Aparajita Das

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract Here, I report new ultrastructural evidence for multineuronal innervation (many-one) of a single epithelia-muscular cell in sea-anemone cnidarian Nematostella vectensis. Using Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy (SBF-SEM) and ImageJ, I found that EMCs are located at the base of ectoderm, with an elongated cell body that includes basal processes, a bilobed nucleus, and myofibrils aligned parallel to the basal surface along with their structural quantification. Notably, I found multiple mechanosensory neurons form synapses with a single EMC. These findings enhance our understanding of cnidarian neuromuscular organization and reveal that coordination between sensory and contractile systems in N. vectensis is …

Gun Violence Prevention In The Christian Church: A Deductive Content Analysis Of Faith-Based Firearm Education Resources, Sarah Winn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzed whether Christian faith-based curricula and toolkits regarding firearm safety and violence prevention align with established best practices in public health, social work, and education research. Previous research has explored the prevalence and impact of gun violence, best practices regarding gun violence and safety interventions, the effectiveness of churches as public health initiative partners, and the relationship between Christianity and views on firearms. In this study, qualitative deductive content analysis indicated that faith-based gun violence prevention toolkits are strongly oriented toward advocacy, community mobilization, and public health framing. At the same time, gaps remain in their integration of …

Nanoscale Electrochemical Measurements: Theory, Instrumentation, And Operation, Kamsy Lerae Anderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electrochemical processes underpin many modern technologies (e.g., batteries, fuel cells, and corrosion protection systems), and because these processes are often controlled by interactions that occur at the nanoscale, gaining insight into nanoscale electrochemical behavior is essential to advancing these technologies. Nanoscale electrochemical imaging probes measure electrochemical activity with nanoscale spatial resolution and have enabled researchers to gain new insights into diverse experimental systems. However, limitations remain, including a lack of methods for direct quantitative interpretation, the influence of atmospheric conditions on experimental reproducibility and stability, and a knowledge barrier resulting from limited accessible resources, all of which continue to restrict …

Will The Demons Follow (And Other Stories), Eberechi Onyekachi Mcbride

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Will The Demons Follow (and Other Stories) is a collection of interconnected short stories that examines memory, trauma, migration, and womanhood across Nigerian and diasporic spaces. Set in both Nigeria and the United States, the stories move between villages, cities, and immigrant communities, presenting characters whose lives are shaped by cultural expectations, spiritual beliefs, family authority, and personal longing. Through multiple narrative voices, the collection considers how the past continues to shape the present. Characters struggle with family conflict, religious pressure, sexual violence, and the psychological burdens carried across borders. In the title story, “Will The Demons Follow?”, the narrator …

Design And Evaluation Of A Single-Gate Multi-Threshold Null Convention Logic Architecture For Area Efficiency, John Edward Swaim

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Asynchronous circuit design paradigms, such as NULL convention logic (NCL) and Multi-Threshold NCL (MTNCL), offer increased energy efficiency over synchronous equivalents and robust pipelines with minimal timing analysis. However, their dependency on dual-rail signal encoding causes significant overhead compared to single-rail equivalents. Previous single-gate and single-rail NCL paradigms have sought to reduce circuit area, but most compromise their quasi-delay-insensitivity and correct-by-construction nature with logic gate and system-level design choices. This thesis presents Single-Gate MTNCL (SG-MTNCL), a register controlled, single-gate, and dual-rail asynchronous architecture to improve the area efficiency of MTNCL without compromising the reliability of previous paradigms. The benefits of …

Across The Pond And Veil: Spiritualists, Female Mediums, And Ghosts In The Nineteenth-Century United States And Britain, Allison Tucker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how women mediums in the late nineteenth-century United States and Britain shaped Spiritualism and interpreted their respective social landscapes. Spiritualist mediums claimed the ability to communicate with spirits in the spirit world. These conversations with ghosts allowed mediums to speak on recent events, traverse social boundaries, and assume positions of authority. Drawing on trance writings, spirit-authored books, newspaper articles, and the performances of women mediums, this study compares the development and practices of Spiritualism in both countries. This thesis argues that proximity to violence significantly shaped Spiritualism during its formative years. The Civil War placed Americans in …

Of Dunes And Ice: A Surface-Atmosphere Investigation Of Mars Co2 Sublimation Features And Titan Aeolian Fields, Racine D. Cleveland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates a central question: How do planetary boundary layer processes manifest in observable surface geomorphology, and how can planetary imagery be used to quantify those effects? The planetary boundary layer (PBL) governs near-surface exchanges of momentum, heat, and volatiles, yet direct atmospheric measurements remain spatially and temporally limited on most planetary bodies. By analyzing geomorphic features preserved in high-resolution imagery, this work quantifies how boundary-layer processes leave measurable signatures on planetary surfaces. For Mars, high-resolution images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) HiRISE instrument were used to map CO2 sublimation features, or Swiss Cheese Features (SCFs), on the …

‘Enemy Communist Cocksuckers’: Conceptualizing Patriotic Masculinity In Threats To Election Officials, Alma Harrison

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research on political violence demonstrates how certain aspects of masculinity are linked to asserting ideological authority and reinforcing exclusionary social identities through physical aggression, such as assaults, homicides, and gender-based violence. However, little research analyzes the use of violent threats as masculinity performances to achieve these same ends. To address this gap, this study analyzes messages from qualitative interviews with 26 election officials who experienced violent threats, examining performances of a distinct form of masculinity – patriotic masculinity – which fuses hegemonic masculine norms with patriotic values. Findings reveal ways in which actors construct and perform patriotic masculinity to frame …

"Forward Together, Not One Step Back": Southern Women, Joy, And The Revitalization Of A Movement, Katelyn Holly Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to illuminate the ways that working women across the Southern United States organize labor within their communities both in and outside of the traditional union space. Due to the repressive nature of labor policy across the Southern US, this study focuses on how both unions and non-union organizations in the South generate feelings of collective identity and sustain solidarity. This study explores one central question: How do women in unions and worker-organizations in the South build solidarity and sustain collective action under restrictive labor conditions. Early findings reveal that working women in the South navigate multiple barriers …

Caregiver Self-Reflection: Does It Matter? A Study Of The Relationship Between Caregiver Self-Reflection And Participation In Home Programs In Outpatient Pediatric Physical Therapy Settings, Andrea Myane

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite evidence that caregiver coaching can improve patient outcomes and caregiver participation, little information exists on the effects of its individual components. Additionally, previous research has highlighted the importance of home programs in improving pediatric physical therapy outcomes. The aim of this study is to explore the role that caregiver self-reflection, a component of caregiver coaching, plays in facilitating outcomes in the pediatric physical therapy outpatient setting. Caregivers will be asked to complete a series of self-reflection questions based on Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle, while also recording the number of minutes they spend facilitating a prescribed home program. All study participants …

Conservation Agriculture Effects On Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Cotton, Soybean, And Corn In Southeast Arkansas, Jonathan Benjamin Brye

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The slow degradation of natural resources has resulted in the focus of agriculture shifting towards conservation practices, such as reduced/no-tillage, cover crops (CC), and organic amendments (i.e., biochar), that conserve and improve natural resource quality. The objectives of this thesis were to i) quantify the impacts of biochar rate (i.e., 0, 2000, and 4000 kg ha-1) and ii) the combination of CC and tillage practice on carbon dioxide (CO¬2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes, growing-season-long emissions, global warming potential (GWP), soil properties, and plant response from a minimally tilled cotton (Gossypium hirsutum)-corn (Zea mays) rotation and a soybean …

Searching Harder For The Darter: Evaluating Endangered Yellowcheek Darter (Nothonotus Moorei) Status And Drought Responses, Kearstin Findley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Freshwater ecosystems are one of the most imperiled habitats across the world with biodiversity declining rapidly. There are many stressors contributing to freshwater species declines including habitat loss and degradation, land-use changes, anthropogenic water demands, changes in precipitation and weather extremes, and pollution. Current environmental projections predict that these stressors will continue to impact freshwater ecosystems to greater extents moving forward. Stream drying from drought conditions increasing in intensity and frequency is especially concerning in northern Arkansas where seasonal drought is typical in the summer and fall months. With increased drying conditions, the elimination of shallow-water riffle habitats in streams …

Mechanisms Of Bacterial Glucokinase Inactivation Through Site-Specific Lysine Modification And Chemical Inhibition, Joseph Robert Will Andrews

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Glycolysis and related metabolic pathways are controlled by various post-translational modifications (PTMs) that affect enzyme activity and metabolic flow. In E. coli, glucokinase (GLK) sits at the crossroads of glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway and carries out the first committed step of glycolysis: ATP-dependent phosphorylation of glucose. While it's known that glucose binding causes GLK to close its domains, how phosphate binding, lysine modification, and small-molecule inhibitors regulate GLK's shape and function is still not fully understood. Here, I combine structural biochemistry and enzymology to figure out how phosphate binding, specific mutations, and chemical inhibitors affect E. coli GLK. …

Exploring A 'Fishy' Solution: Uncovering Human Norovirus Using A Zebrafish Model, Sahaana Chandran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Human norovirus (HuNoV) is the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis worldwide; however, the lack of robust laboratory culture systems and reliable animal models has limited progress in understanding viral replication and developing effective intervention strategies. While alternative models such as the zebrafish system have been explored, gaps remain in evaluating their ability to support replication across diverse HuNoV strains and in identifying factors that influence infectivity. This dissertation provides a comprehensive investigation into the use of the zebrafish model for studying viral replication, host interactions, and potential inhibition strategies. Initial studies focused on optimizing viral delivery methods using Tulane virus …

Design And Optimization To Advance Silicon Carbide Modules For Medium Voltage High Power Applications, Ahmed Ismail

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The commercial availability of the first 10 kV silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET removes the principal semiconductor barrier to medium-voltage power conversion, enabling converter topologies that are structurally inaccessible to silicon IGBT solutions at this voltage class. This dissertation presents the characterization infrastructure, device-level data, and preliminary system-level validation needed to advance the deployment of the third-generation 10 kV SiC MOSFET in converter applications. A custom-built 10 kV double-pulse test platform is developed with a fully documented component-sizing methodology, custom medium-voltage magnetics, and a measurement infrastructure capable of high bandwidth waveform capture at kilovolt common-mode potentials. On this platform, the third-generation …

Automated Circuit Design Algorithm And Implementation For Asynchronous Reset (Ares) Physically Unclonable Functions, Andrew Michael Felder

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Technology is increasingly interwoven in all aspects of society as it solves new problems, creates new possibilities, and enables new conveniences. With its unceasing evolution, environments handling protected information such as military, finance, and medicine demand ever-evolving threat mitigation. Combating attackers’ abilities to spoof devices, uncover cryptographic keys, and bypass security features is a never-ending task which drives technological advancement to improve existing capabilities and develop entirely new methodologies. In this dissertation work, the hybrid Asynchronous RESet Physically Unclonable Function (ARES PUF) is evaluated at the circuit to determine its merits as a PUF. As part of this evaluation, results …

Situational Determinants Of Severity In Bias-Motivated Violence, Sophia Glick

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although overall violent crime rates continue to decline, bias-motivated violence, including bias murder, is rising in the United States (United States Department of Justice, 2024). Criminologists have examined how situational factors—such as location, weapon use, and bystander presence—increase the likelihood of violence escalating to murder. However, it remains unclear whether these same factors similarly affect the severity of bias-motivated violence. These gaps are notable given that prior research suggests bias-motivated violence differs situationally from other forms of violence. Guided by the situational crime prevention (SCP) perspective, the current study investigates how situated attributes of factors reflecting the vulnerability and symbolic …

Toward Causal Generative Modeling: From Representation Learning To Controllable Generation, Aneesh Komanduri

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The hallmark of human intelligence is causal reasoning, the ability to infer relationships between causes and effects through observation and intervention. While modern deep learning has excelled at identifying statistical patterns, current generative models often struggle to capture the underlying structural causal mechanisms of the data-generating process, leaving them vulnerable to shortcut learning and spurious associations. To achieve true generalizability and interpretability, artificial intelligence must transition from simple association to higher-level causal reasoning to be capable of scheduling and planning in the real world. This dissertation develops fundamental methodologies for causal generative modeling by integrating Pearl’s Structural Causal Model (SCM) …

The Impact Of Quantum Computing On Ransomware, Byron Denham

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ransomware is one of the most pervasive and dangerous threats to cybersecurity today. Attacks involving ransomware have been responsible for the disruption of critical services in many fields including healthcare, education, and government. In the current paradigm, crypto ransomware relies on asymmetric cryptography to perform its operations in a way that ensure the victim’s only chance for file recovery is by paying the attacker’s requested ransom payment. However, advancements in quantum computing threaten the asymmetric cryptography that ransomware relies on. It has been shown that, once developed, a sufficiently powerful quantum computer will have the ability to break asymmetric cryptography …

Proud To Be Lao: Examining Lao American Identity Through Transnational Music And Performance, Zechary Phouthavong

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For some time, Lao popular music has not received the same global recognition as other genres emerging out of Asia, such as K-Pop and Bollywood. In recent years, however, Lao-pop artists like Thinlamphone and Zamio P have broken onto the global stage, with music that showcases a unique blend of traditional Lao instrumentation with hip-hop, pop, and R&B styles. This emerging trend is particularly poignant for Lao Americans, as Lao-pop allows for Lao Americans to negotiate their experiences of being both Lao and American, further signifying its importance to constructing identity. This thesis explores the unique process of Lao Americans …

Efficient Deep Neural Networks For Autonomous Perception, Reeshad Khan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Autonomous perception systems must operate reliably under uncertainty arising from noisy observations, incomplete supervision, and hardware constraints. This dissertation investigates the design of efficient deep neural networks for autonomous perception through a unified perspective that treats uncertainty, efficiency, and sensing as interconnected challenges. The first contribution develops adaptive extensions of unbiased risk estimators, including eSURE and ePURE, enabling unsupervised training of deep neural networks for magnetic resonance image denoising under Gaussian and Poisson noise. However, these methods rely on known noise assumptions, which motivates the second contribution: a unified diffusion and Bayesian risk framework that estimates and adapts to unknown …

Cognitive Appraisals, Empathy, And Helping Behavior: Toward An Integrated Model, Emily Morgan Vance

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Empathy leads to prosocial behavior (Ding & Lu, 2016), but the factors that influence whether we feel empathetic toward someone in need are less clear. I investigated whether cognitive appraisals and empathy explained helping intentions in response to help-giving contexts. This research was informed by Weiner’s attribution-emotion-action model (1980), Batson and colleagues’ empathy-altruism hypothesis (Batson et al., 1981), and appraisal theory of emotion (e.g., Smith & Ellsworth, 1985). Study 1 was exploratory and investigated the relationship between cognitive appraisals, emotions, and helping intentions in response to a help-giving scenario. Studies 2 and 3 manipulated the strength of the help-giving scenario …

Characterization Of Snrk1 Signaling In Rice Growth, Reproduction, And Stress Responses Using Phenotypic And Omics Analysis, Maria Clara Faria-Bates

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

SnRK1 is an evolutionarily conserved protein kinase belonging to the SNF1/AMPK family that is composed of a catalytic subunit (α) and two regulatory subunits (β and βγ), and it has a major role in adjusting growth in response to the energy status. SnRK1 phosphorylates and alters the activities of enzymes involved in metabolism and regulates gene expression by altering the activity of chromatin-remodeling enzymes or transcription factors. Rice contains three functional paralogs of SnRK1α: OsSnRK1αA (Os05g0530500), OsSnRK1αB (Os8g0484600), and OsSnRK1αC (Os03g0289100). Although SnRK1 is known to play a central role in plant growth and stress responses, the functional specialization of …