Digital Commons Network^™

Latent Profiles Of Psychopathic Traits Among Emerging Adult College Students: Functional And Dysfunctional Psychopathy And Related Outcomes, Lydia J. Stanhope

Theses and Dissertations

Psychopathy research continues to study the adaptability of psychopathic characteristics and differentiate between functional and dysfunctional features. The current study identified latent profiles in emerging adults and compared them across behavioral/cognitive correlates, functional outcomes, aggression types, and also examined gender differences. Results demonstrated that men scored higher across cold-heartedness and fearless dominance profiles, but not self-centered impulsivity. The low psychopathy group had lower proactive aggression than the high psychopathy group; no other differences were observed. Additionally, men and women in the high psychopathy group did not significantly differ regarding experienced outcomes. Lastly, higher psychopathy was not associated with higher proactive …

Classified: How Inequality Shapes The ‘Need To Know’ Question In Sex Education, Sarah Thornton

Theses and Dissertations

Schools are a critical site of socialization in which young people learn both formal curricular materials and informal lessons about social structure, agency, and inequality. This study examines the meaning making patterns of teachers and students in sex education classrooms and considers how these patterns reflect the structure and agency relationship between people and the institutions in which they are embedded. Through a series of interviews and using qualitative thematic analysis, I identify themes in how students and teachers discuss their experiences, how these themes relate to broader patterns of social hierarchy, and how sex education can act as a …

Comparing Importance Of Knowledge And Professional Skill Areas For Engineering Programming Utilizing A Two Group Delphi Survey, John F. Hutton

Theses and Dissertations

All engineering careers require some level of programming proficiency. However, beginning programming classes are challenging for many students. Difficulties have been well-documented and contribute to high drop-out rates which prevent students from pursuing engineering. While many approaches have been tried to improve the performance of students and reduce the dropout rate, continued work is needed. This research seeks to re-examine what items are critical for programming education and how those might inform what is taught in introductory programming classes (CS1). Following trends coming from accreditation and academic boards on the importance of professional skills, we desire to rank knowledge and …

The Chemistry And Catalytic Activity Of Dehydrogenative Silylation And Hydroboration Of Complexes Bearing Semirigid Ligands With Group 14 Elements, Niroshani S. Abeynayake

Theses and Dissertations

Incorporation of silicon in the ligand backbone would yield electron-rich metal complexes upon coordination to transition metal complexes. The coordination chemistry of semirigid benzyl phosphines bearing a single or multiple phosphorus atoms and varying number of Si−H moieties has gained interest in recent years. This dissertation focuses on synthesizing silyl and germyl transition metal complexes of groups 9 and 10. Chapter II presents the synthesis of a family of four coordinated 14-electron rhodium complexes. The newly synthesized complexes were characterized in solution by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and in the solid-state by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. These d⁶ complexes possess sawhorse …

A Constitutive Material Model For Simulating Texture Evolution And Anisotropy Effects In Cold Spray., Creston Michael Giles

Theses and Dissertations

Cold spray has seen rapid advancement since its inception and has shown significant potential as a method of additive manufacturing. However, the large plastic deformation and repeated heating/cooling cycles that the material undergoes during the cold spray process can result in gradients in material structure and large residual stresses. The purpose of this study is to extend the existing EMMI material model to include anisotropic material response through the use of orientation distribution functions to predict residual stresses and anisotropy resulting from cold spray and similar additive manufacturing processes. Through the use of a finite element simulation, yield surfaces for …

Augmented Reality Fonts With Enhanced Out-Of-Focus Text Legibility, Mohammed Safayet Arefin

Theses and Dissertations

In augmented reality, information is often distributed between real and virtual contexts, and often appears at different distances from the viewer. This raises the issues of (1) context switching, when attention is switched between real and virtual contexts, (2) focal distance switching, when the eye accommodates to see information in sharp focus at a new distance, and (3) transient focal blur, when information is seen out of focus, during the time interval of focal distance switching. This dissertation research has quantified the impact of context switching, focal distance switching, and transient focal blur on human performance and eye fatigue in …

Analysis Of Process And Environmental Parameters Impacting Membrane Fouling, Methane Production, Soluble Microbial Products, Extracellular Polymeric Substances And Chemical Oxygen Demand Removal In Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors Wastewater Treatment, James Mark-Ige

Theses and Dissertations

Aerobic (AeMBRs) and Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors (AnMBRs) are an essential part of the advanced wastewater treatment options, which offer advantages in terms of higher effluent discharge and smaller footprints over the traditional wastewater treatment. This study evaluates the performance of (AnMBRs) by analyzing the cumulative effect of eleven physico-chemical parameters from the data obtained from the studies conducted from year 2000 onwards. Effect of various parameters such as Solid Retention Time (SRT), Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT), Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS), influent Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Organic Loading Rate (OLR), influent COD, and temperature on the COD removal, methane production …

Assessing Wood Failure In Plywood By Deep Learning/Semantic Segmentation, Ramon Ferreira Oliveira

Theses and Dissertations

The current method for estimating wood failure is highly subjective. Various techniques have been proposed to improve the current protocol, but none have succeeded. This research aims to use deep learning/semantic segmentation using SegNet architecture to estimate wood failure in four types of three-ply plywood from mechanical shear strength specimens. We trained and tested our approach on custom and commercial plywood with bio-based and phenol-formaldehyde adhesives. Shear specimens were prepared and tested. Photographs of 255 shear bonded areas were taken. Forty photographs were used to solicit visual estimates from five human evaluators, and the remaining photographs were used to train …

Surrogate Model-Based Design Optimization Of A Mobile Deployable Structure For Overpressure Load And Vehicular Impact Mitigation, Daniela F. Tellkamp

Theses and Dissertations

Artificial Neural Network (ANN) ensemble and Response Surface Method (RSM) surrogate models were generated from Finite Element (FE) simulations to predict the overpressure load and vehicle impact response of a novel rapidly deployable protective structure. A Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) was used in conjunction with the surrogate models to determine structure topology input variable configurations which were suited to produce the optimal balance of minimum mass, minimum rotation angle, minimum displacement, and maximum total length of the deployable structure. The structure was designed to retract into a container, be lightweight to facilitate transportation, and be able to adapt to …

Unraveling The Anti-Inflammatory Mechanisms And Efficacy Of Cannabidiol On The Progression Of A Murine Model Of Multiple Sclerosis From The Innate To The Adaptive Immune System To Clinical Symptoms, Christa Marie Frodella

Theses and Dissertations

Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid with structural similarity to Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is currently being investigated as a therapeutic for its immunosuppressive effects. One disease for which CBD is extensively researched is multiple sclerosis (MS), a demyelinating, autoimmune disorder, and its murine model counterpart, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). The focus of this dissertation aimed to analyze the transcriptomic brain pathways in EAE and its comparison to MS in addition to CBD’s immunosuppressive mechanisms in the innate and adaptive immune systems. Evidence presented here showed that transcriptomic signaling pathways in the EAE brain of mice with clinical symptoms were similar …

United We Stand? Investigating The Impact Of Unified Dues Agreements Between State And National Career & Technical Education (Cte) Professional Organizations On Cte Funding In The Southern States, Justin Ryan Hall

Theses and Dissertations

Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers have long been active in lobbying the federal and state governments in support of CTE through their professional organizations, but these are not traditionally considered interest groups. This study sought to determine if the formal relationships—dues agreements—between the two largest national professional organizations, and their state affiliates had an impact on state funding for CTE. The impacts of professional organization unity, membership rates, and lobbying expenses on state-level CTE funding were analyzed through the lens of interest group theory, a subfield of political science. Within this population (N = 13), 1) a link …

Design And Synthesis Of Novel Donor-Acceptor-Donor Xanthene-Based Dyes From Heteronuclear Ring Systems For Chemical, Electrochemical, And Biological Sensory Materials, Ishanka Nirmani Rajapaksha

Theses and Dissertations

Conventional xanthene dyes (eg: fluorescein and rhodamine) have their absorptions and emissions in the visible region, which limits their use in cellular imaging. Absorptions and emissions at longer wavelengths allow for low background cellular autofluorescence, deep tissue penetration, and minimum cell damage. Chapter I discusses the background of fluorescent dyes and the importance of near-infrared (NIR) emissive dyes for biological applications. Chapter II is based on the design and synthesis of new xanthene-based NIR I dyes using simple and short synthetic routes. This study used pyrrole and indole as donor molecules and combined them to the xanthene core by the …

Critical (Re)Approach To Higher Education Admission Policy: The Impact Of Open Enrollment Policy Implementation, Shirdonna Yvonne Lawrence

Theses and Dissertations

Federal and state policies affecting higher education, like the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1832, Brown vs. Board of Education, and Higher Education Act of 1965 have posited change regarding the proliferation of diversity and expansion of access (Thelin, 2011).

I analyzed BOT policies for enrollment and conducted a socio-diagnostic CDA on the implementation of admission policy to understand the impact of the policies’ implementation. I focused on 1) exploring how open enrollment (OE) policies were constructed, 2) how institutions adopt and interpret these policies, and 3) how individuals at the institution enact these policies, by conducting a discourse-historical analysis …

Recruiting More U.S. Women Into Engineering Based On Stories From Morocco: A Qualitative Study, Soundouss Sassi

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this project is to examine the differences between Moroccan and American students with regards to the cultural influences that led them to pursue an engineering degree. Annually since 2015, a partnership between a university in Morocco and MSU allows senior engineering Moroccan students to study at MSU to obtain their graduate degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering. The roughly equal gender representation in most Moroccan cohorts prompted our research question: “How do students from Morocco and the United States describe the cultural reasons that factored into their choice to pursue an engineering degree?” This exploratory qualitative study …

Inequity Of Access Across America: A Spatial, Temporal, And Modal Disparity Analysis, Sanju Maharjan

Theses and Dissertations

The overarching goal of this dissertation is to examine the spatial, temporal, and modal disparity of access across America. This is achieved by posing three research objectives. The first objective determines the spatial and temporal disparity of transit and automobile access gap, its impact on transit use, and its socioeconomic and built environment correlates. The second objective examines the spatial and temporal disparity of slightly and extremely risky bike infrastructure and measures the social inequity of access to bike infrastructure. The third objective indicates spatial transit access mismatch between high- and low-wage employment across metropolitans. Three findings are discerned. First, …

Vegetation And Nutritional Changes Over 20 Years Of White-Tailed Deer Exclusion, Gabrielle Nicole Ripa

Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge of the impacts of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; hereafter deer) as dominant herbivores throughout the Southeastern United States of America is lacking. To address this, three paired experimental units of exclosures and controls were constructed in 2000 on three Wildlife Management Areas across Mississippi within the ecoregions of the Upper Coastal Plain, Lower Coastal Plain, and the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Vegetation was sampled in the summers of 2000, 2005, and 2021 including vegetation structure, canopy coverage, basal area, and species composition. Additionally, in 2005 and 2021, biomass was sampled to determine potential impacts on nutritional carrying capacity. Among the …

Developing An Early Life Cycle Manufacturability Assessment For Conceptual Designs, Tonya Gamblin Mccall

Theses and Dissertations

Studies have shown that 70 – 80% of a product's life cycle costs are committed by the end of the product design phase (Anderson, 2014; National Research Council, 1991; Swift, 1987). This supports the general claim that decision making in the conceptual stage drives the cost throughout the life cycle. The use of concurrent engineering has been viewed as the answer to this problem, offering the Design for Excellence (DFX) as one approach for evaluating product designs across specific disciplines. This research focuses on a subset of DFX referred to as Design for Manufacturability to develop a means to assess …

Mapping Forest Structure In Mississippi Using Lidar Remote Sensing, Nitant Rai

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed at evaluating the agreement of spaceborne Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) ICESat-2 canopy height with Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) derived canopy height to inform about the performance of ICESat-2 canopy height metrics and understand its uncertainties and utilities. The agreement was assessed for different forest types, physiographic regions, a range of percent canopy cover, and diverse disturbance histories. Results of this study suggest that best agreements are found using strong beam data collected at night for canopy height retrieval using ICESat-2. The ICESat-2 showed great potential for estimating canopy heights, particularly in evergreen forests with high canopy …

Geologic Mapping Of The Sparta 7.5-Minute Quadrangle In Northern Mississippi Via Remote Sensing, Traditional Geologic Survey, And Applied Geospatial Information Systems Methods, Rayford Dean Parnell

Theses and Dissertations

Traditional geologic mapping involves substantial time and labor in the field as geologic contacts are manually examined and interpreted. The processes of mapping geologic contacts can be condensed into a quicker and less laborious process using advances in remote sensing and GIS (geospatial information systems), including increased resolution and computerized data management and interpretation. Application of these advances reduces the costs and time of geologic mapping. The Sparta 7.5-minute quadrangle provides a mostly unaltered view of regional Paleocene and Upper Cretaceous geology due to its rural locale, lack of development, and stream topography. Recently LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) survey …

White Savior Projects: An Examination Of The Antitrafficking Social Movement, Jennifer A. Cheek

Theses and Dissertations

For this dissertation, I conduct an ethnography of three antitrafficking programs; interview 38 activists and survivors of trafficking; and analyze organizational texts, websites, and social media. I examine the history of the antitrafficking movement. Among the three organizations, activists provide housing; food, clothing, and hygiene items; medical services; mental health services and counseling; mentorship; education for survivors; a 24-hour hotline; outreach; case management and referrals; training for law enforcement; a drop-in center; and education and awareness events. I examine activists’ diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing of sex trafficking, and other framing tactics, such as frame alignment, frame diffusion, frame resonance, …

Reassessing Nitrogen Management For Maize Production In Mississippi, Camden Dawson Oglesby

Theses and Dissertations

12 N treatments in 2020 and 11 in 2021 were replicated four times over four locations in a randomized complete block design. The first research tested the efficacy of CYG for Mississippi corn (Zea mays L.) production. The optimum N rates were calculated by fitting four models. Differences between the CYG rate and AONR were compared. AONR varied from 134 to 301 kg N ha–1 at different management levels. When we compared the AONR to the CYG rate, the CYG rate over-recommended N in 12 of the 14 possible comparisons. The second study compared different VIs, methods, and sensors at …

Agile Enterprise Simulation – A Framework For Organizational Decision-Making Analysis, John P. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Decision-making by one or more individuals to select a course of action is predicated on the values and preferences to identify, choose options, and finally select the option that is evaluated to be the “best option.” Decision theory provides the means to model and analyze both the processes and options available to the decision-makers. This dissertation assembled in three phases: 1) An effort to collect and review existing literature relating to the concept of expanding decision analysis options to provide a model of decision-making made with time-dependent factors along with uncertainty and risk. Further, adding the concept of a decision …

Losing Longleaf: Forestry And Conservation In The Southern Coastal Plain, Fraser Livingston

Theses and Dissertations

From the end of Reconstruction to the beginning of World War II, no other ecological change affected as great a part of the southern landscape as the loss of the longleaf pine from the southeastern coastal plain. This dissertation examines the causes and consequences of the species’ disappearance. In the span of just decades, lumber operations and naval stores producers descended upon longleaf pine woodlands with a voracious appetite that greatly contributed to the demise of the pine. However, as this dissertation argues, exploitation by the hands of the timber and turpentine industries was not the only agent that transformed …

Design, Development And Evaluation Of The Ruggedized Edge Computing Node (Recon), Sahil Girin Patel

Theses and Dissertations

The increased quality and quantity of sensors provide an ever-increasing capability to collect large quantities of high-quality data in the field. Research devoted to translating that data is progressing rapidly; however, translating field data into usable information can require high performance computing capabilities. While high performance computing (HPC) resources are available in centralized facilities, bandwidth, latency, security and other limitations inherent to edge location in field sensor applications may prevent HPC resources from being used in a timely fashion necessary for potential United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) field applications. To address these limitations, the design requirements for RECON …

The Use Of Single-Subject Research Design For Assessment, Evaluation, And Research In Higher Education, Jordan C. Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

While enrolling in a college for a degree is still considered to be more of the expectation than the rule in households across the United States it is facing public criticism regarding its overall cost versus long-term benefits. This has prompted researchers to reevaluate practices in higher education to determine ways in which post-secondary institutions can improve their overall outcomes. In part, research indicates that this should include revisions to assessment, evaluation, and research (AER) practices. Currently, higher education faces many challenges associated with rigorous AER practices, which include an institutional focus on accountability measures, organizational challenges, and difficulties in …

A Multi-Method Exploration Of Health Disparities And Covid-19 Incidence And Mortality In The United States, S M Asger Ali

Theses and Dissertations

The 21^st century experienced several health crises, especially in the form of infectious disease outbreaks such as the SARS outbreak in 2003, the H1N1 in 2009, and Ebola outbreaks in 2013. However, none has produced a worldwide socio-economic and health impact compared to the recent pandemic, known as COVID-19. As of October 4, 2022, more than 614 million cases with 6 million deaths have been reported worldwide. The United States is currently in the leading position with more than 98 million cases and 1 million deaths. The pandemic, however, did not impact the entire region similarly, and the infections …

Dynamics Of Redox-Driven Molecular Processes In Local And Systemic Plant Immunity, Philip Berg

Theses and Dissertations

The work here presents two main parts. In the first part, chapters 1 – 3 focus on dynamical systems modeling in plant immunity, whereas chapters 4 – 6 describe contributions to computational modeling and analysis of proteomics and genomics data. Chapter 1 investigates dynamical and biochemical patterns of reversibly oxidized cysteines (RevOxCys) during effector-triggered immunity (ETI) in Arabidopsis, examines the regulatory patterns associated with Arabidopsis thimet oligopeptidase 1 and 2’s (TOP1 and TOP2), roles in the RevOxCys events during ETI, and analyzes the redox phenotype of the top1top2 mutant. The second chapter investigates the peptidome dynamics during ETI …

Empathy And Cultural Involvement As Pathways To Resilience In The Face Of Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Native American Indians, Joy Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to examine two specific pathways to resilience for Native American Indians (NAIs) that have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) and are seeking behavioral health services on the Choctaw Indian reservation: empathy and cultural involvement. The study is an examination of the effects of empathy and cultural involvement on the resilience of NAIs with one or more ACEs. The researcher also investigated the type of ACEs reported among adult NAIs seeking behavioral health services on the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indian (MBCI) Reservation. Lastly, the association between ACEs and resilience was …

Testing Competing Theories To Develop A Linguistic Assessment On Online Extremist Content, Matthew Dean

Theses and Dissertations

The development of threat assessment protocols has largely neglected a theoretical
foundation, leading to a multitude of protocols with little shared in the way of scientific
foundation. The focus of this study is to test components of two theories – Sternberg’s (2018) FLOTSAM Model and Maynard and Benesch’s (2016) Integrated Model of Dangerous Speech (IMDS) – as potential criteria to use in assessing the seriousness of online threats. This study utilized a dataset of 500 open-source online communications linked to the extremist QAnon movement. An EFA was used to pull an empirical model from the data. Three CFA and SEM …

School-Based Agricultural Education Teachers: Self-Efficacy With Face-To-Face, Remote, And Hybrid Instruction And Perceptions Of Professional Development Regarding Technology Integration, Gayle Clark

Theses and Dissertations

This three-article dissertation examined the perceptions of school-based agricultural education teachers in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama on self-efficacy and professional development activities since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first article was an examination of teacher self-efficacy in delivering instruction in three classroom settings: face-to-face, remote, and hybrid, which is a combination of face-to-face and remote simultaneous instruction. The second was a descriptive study of teacher experiences and perceptions of professional development activities related to instructional technology over the past two years. The third article examines the correlation between each of the teacher self-efficacy instructional setting constructs and perceptions …