Digital Commons Network^™

Bleeding Red: The Relationship Between Feminism, Brand Activism Skepticism, And Attitudes About Menstrual-Realistic Advertisements, Adriana S. Mucedola

Dissertations - ALL

Beginning in the early 2000s, menstrual product advertisers in the U.S. and other developed countries began to use red liquid in their advertising to represent period blood rather than the blue liquid used in the past, which is often criticized because it portrays stigmatizing representations of menstruation. These more “menstrual-realistic” advertisements instead communicate that bleeding is normal and arguably help correct past wrongdoings relating to the tainted history of stigmatizing menstrual product ads. This imagery has garnered mixed reactions from the public, including praise, disgust, and skepticism. Extant research demonstrates that consumers prefer media that align with their preexisting beliefs; …

Distortion Estimates For Conformal Maps Predicated On Geometric Properties Of A Domain, Christopher G. Donohue

Dissertations - ALL

Geometric properties of a domain in the complex plane reflect important informationabout the conformal maps to and from the domain. We examine a variety of geometric properties and use them to construct explicit global distortion bounds for both the compression and stretching of conformal map. Compressive distortion is controlled when the modulus of the derivative of a complex function is bounded from below, expansive distortion when it is bounded above. For the initial set of results, we quantify the degree to which a convex domain is nearly round with two parameters; radii of the largest inscribed disk and smallest circumscribed …

Numerical Investigation Of The Effect Of Inlet Turbulence Intensity On A Bluff-Body Stabilized Flame At Near Blow-Off Condition, Amir Ali Montakhab

Dissertations - ALL

This thesis investigates the effect of a boundary condition on the dynamics of a bluff-body stabilized f lame operating near blow-off condition. Special emphasis is given to the effect of inlet turbulence intensity. This work is motivated by the understanding that more stringent regulations on fossil fuels generated emissions necessitate the design of combustion systems that operate at very fuel-lean conditions. Combustion at very lean conditions, however, induces flame instability that can ultimately lead to flame fluttering and eventual extinction. The dynamics of the flame at lean conditions can therefore be very sensitive to its boundary conditions. To better understand …

Investigating The Role Of The Transcriptional Coregulator Cited2 In Regulating Intermediate Progenitor Proliferation And Modulating Behavior, Nikolaus R. Wagner

Dissertations - ALL

The mammalian neocortex develops from a thin layer of neuroepithelial cells into a robust mosaic of differentiated neurons organized into distinct layers and functional areas. This process requires a complex choreography of transcription factors and epigenetic regulators to be spatially and temporally activated in a precise manner. Disruptions in any aspect of this delicate process may lead to neurodevelopmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, or intellectual disability. One such transcriptional coregulator that is a crucial regulator of neocortical development is Cited2. Previous work demonstrated that forebrain-specific Cited2 loss-of-function causes a reduction in neocortical progenitor proliferation which leads to reduced …

Immigrant Entrepreneurs And The Contingent Value Of Personal Legitimacy, Kurian George

Dissertations - ALL

Despite growing recognition of the importance of the founder’s personal legitimacy for successful venturing, various questions remain with respect to what founder legitimacy is and how it is achieved. My review of the legitimacy literature reveals that founder legitimacy can be conceptualized as both a characteristic and a process, and that the entity signaling the founder’s legitimacy can be the founder, an organization, or even an industry or region. My review also shows that the expertise needed for founder legitimacy is taken for granted in most studies. To develop a better understanding of how founders acquire and signal personal legitimacy, …

Investigation Of Holographic Lattice Theories, Muhammad Asaduzzaman

Dissertations - ALL

The Anti-de Sitter/Conformal Field theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence, also known as holography, has been the focus of a great deal of interest and research for the last two decades. It has improved our understanding of general relativity and quantum field theories simultaneously through the interplay between these two different kinds of theories. However, there are still many aspects of holography that we do not understand or demand further analysis. Perturbative quantum field theory and perturbative metric expansion techniques are not equipped to investigate holography in some of the most interesting regimes such as the strongly interacting gravitational theory in anti-de Sitter …

Switched Kinematic And Force Control For Lower-Limb Motorized Exoskeletons And Functional Electrical Stimulation, Chen-Hao Chang

Dissertations - ALL

Millions of people experience movement deficits from neurological conditions (NCs) that impair their walking ability and leg function. Exercise-based rehabilitation procedures have shown the potential to facilitate neurological reorganization and functional recovery. Lower-limb powered exoskeletons and motorized ergometers have been combined with functional electrical stimulation (FES) to provide repetitive movement, partially reduce the burden of therapists, improve range of motion, and induce therapeutic benefits. FES evokes artificial muscles contractions and can improve muscle mass and strength, and bone density in people with NCs. Stationary cycling is recommended for individuals who cannot perform load-bearing activities or have increased risks of falling. …

Molecular Mechanisms That Regulate Centrosome Movement During Tissue Morphogenesis, Nikhila Krishnan

Dissertations - ALL

Coordination of cell division, cellular epithelialization and ciliogenesis is necessary for tissue development in vivo. We argue that the process of epithelialization and ciliogenesis requires positioning the centrosomes to specific cellular locales. We identified that the centrosome can be repositioned to these locales in a Rab11-dependent manner towards the cytokinetic bridge during abscission and to the apical membrane for cilia formation. Rab11 is an essential GTPase that is involved in regulating abscission, cleavage of the cytokinetic bridge and cilia formation. Here we identified the role of Rab11 endosomes in regulating centrosome positioning during these processes in vivo. To study the …

Geometry Of Discrete And Continuous Bounded Surfaces, Kyung Eun Kim

Dissertations - ALL

We work on reconstructing discrete and continuous surfaces with boundaries using length constraints. First, for a bounded discrete surface, we discuss the rigidity and number of embeddings in three-dimensional space, modulo rigid transformations, for given real edge lengths. Our work mainly considers the maximal number of embeddings of rigid graphs in three-dimensional space for specific geometries (annulus, strip). We modify a commonly used semi-algebraic, geometrical formulation using Bézout's theorem, from Euclidean distances corresponding to edge lengths. We suggest a simple way to construct a rigid graph having a finite upper bound. We also implement a generalization of counting embeddings for …

Novel Epidemics: Contagion And Metaphor In Us Literature, Maxwell Clement Cassity

Dissertations - ALL

Metaphors of epidemic and contagion have played a powerful role in shaping American identity by using disease to symbolically mark out certain raced and classed populations as outsiders to the social body. In the twentieth century, epidemics and epidemiological reading came to dominate not only the fields of science, but also literary and cultural production and its critical lenses. “Novel Epidemics” examines how American novelists William Faulkner, Ishmael Reed, and Helena María Viramontes used epidemic as a fictional framework for examining and critiquing the ways that the US social body was imagined, constructed, and reinforced through an epidemiological lens. Using …

Targeted Mesenchymal Stem Cell Differentiation From Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells For Therapeutic Application, Tackla Winston

Dissertations - ALL

Over the past decade, mesenchymal stem cells have increasingly gained interest as a cell source for the treatment of a variety of diseases. This is because they play several roles in tissue homeostasis and regeneration, such as altering the immune response to limit inflammation, aiding tissue repair through the release of various proteins, cytokines and growth factors, or differentiating into functional cells in specific tissues. The interest in MSCs for biomanufacturing applications has resulted in the development of various protocols to differentiate them from pluripotent sources. These protocols, however, fail to account for the differences that exist between MSCs from …

Assembling Enslaved Lives: Labor, Consumption, And Landscapes In The Northern Shenandoah Valley, Matthew Clark Greer

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation is a study of the lives of some of the people enslaved on rural plantations and farmsteads in the northern Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia. Scholars did not widely acknowledge the presence of slavery in the Valley before the 1990s, and this is the first work to provide an in-depth view of the lives of enslaved Shenandoahans before 1860. Specifically, this project answers two questions: what was life like for enslaved people in the Shenandoah Valley, and how did they shape the region's political economies. Data for this project comes from archaeological excavations at the main enslaved quartering …

Parental Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of Synchronous And Asynchronous Online Learning At An Urban/Suburban Elementary School During Covid-19, Bracken Healy

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The aim of this qualitative research study was to examine parents’ perceptions of the effectiveness of synchronous and asynchronous online learning at an urban/suburban elementary school during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second goal of this research study was to add to the literature on online learning models through gathering valuable information regarding synchronous and asynchronous online instructional models. The following 3 major themes emerged during the data collection phase of this study: quality of instruction, parental support, and student motivation. Parents overwhelming believed that the quality of instruction was far superior in fall 2020 when the school employed a live …

The Effects Of Behavioral Skills Training On Skill Acquisition In Autistic Children: A Systematic Review, Kimberly E. Lucchesi

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Using behavioral skills training (BST) to promote skill acquisition to autistic children is seen throughout the literature. There are many research articles that use BST to promote skill acquisition such as safety skills, social skills, and sports skills to children with autism. The aim of the current project was to investigate if BST has a body of research sufficient enough to be considered an evidence based practice (EBP) when it comes to promoting skill acquisition to autistic children. This paper is a systematic search of EBSCO databases as well as Dissertations and Theses Global to determine if BST promotes skill …

Gertrude C. Ford Student Union Dedicated, Edwin B. Smith

University of Mississippi News

Expanded building name change made official during ceremony

Disease Burden In Patients With Acute Hepatic Porphyria: Experience From The Phase 3 Envision Study, Bruce Wang, Paolo Ventura, Kei-Ichiro Takase, Manish Thapar, David Cassiman, Ilja Kubisch, Shangbin Liu, Marianne T Sweetser, Manisha Balwani

Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Acute hepatic porphyria (AHP) is a family of four rare genetic diseases, each involving deficiency in a hepatic heme biosynthetic enzyme. Resultant overproduction of the neurotoxic intermediates δ-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) and porphobilinogen (PBG) leads to disabling acute neurovisceral attacks and progressive neuropathy. We evaluated the AHP disease burden in patients aged ≥ 12 years in a post hoc analysis of the Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled ENVISION trial of givosiran (NCT03338816), an RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic that targets the enzyme ALAS1 to decrease ALA and PBG production. We analyzed baseline AHP severity via chronic symptoms between attacks, comorbidities, concomitant …

Addressing Food Insecurity: A Qualitative Study Of Undergraduate Students' Perceptions Of Food Access Resources., Amanda G. Conrad, Terezie Tolar-Peterson, Antonio J. Gardner, Tianlan Wei, Marion W. Evans

Faculty Publications

Food insecurity has emerged as a leading health care problem in the United States, impacting college students’ health, well-being, and academic performance. The aims of this study were: (1) to assess the prevalence of food insecurity, (2) to identify college students’ perceptions about food access resources, and (3) to explore students’ expressed needs from the university in improving food security status. A mixed-methods approach was used to assess the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the study aims. An online survey to gather demographic information and assess food security status using the 6-item version of the US Household Food Security Scale …

Freyre’S Plantation Playground: The Changing Landscape Of The Sugar Plantation Monjope, Catherine Elizabeth Lavoy

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation investigates the changing landscape of the sugar plantation Monjope in Pernambuco, Brazil from the mid-seventeenth to the end of the twentieth century. I examine this plantation’s changing landscape as part of a number of larger social, economic and environmental forces; in particular the development of racially based labor. Established in the sixteenth century, Monjope was one of the many Brazilian sugar plantations that relied on African slavery for labor until the end of the nineteenth century. I argue the plantation’s built environment in conjunction with the larger plantation landscape was part of a global trend of controlling labor …

Potential Causes Of Stigma Toward Autism Spectrum Disorder In The Hispanic/Latin Community, Jill Morales

Psychology and Counseling Theses

The goals of this study were to (a) examine if stigma against ASD is predicted by high levels of acculturation, low socioeconomic status, low levels of education, and the lack of intention to seek help from a mental health professional, and (b) examine potential differences between Hispanics and Non-Hispanics on these predictors. I predicted higher levels of acculturation and lower levels of education among Hispanic/Latin individuals than non- Hispanic/Latin individuals, and that mature Hispanic/Latin individuals will have higher levels of acculturation and lower levels of education compared to their younger counterparts.

The data were collected via a Qualtrics survey distributed …

Curating Conflict: The Material Record Of The Philippine-American War At The Oregon Historical Society, Silvie M. Andrews

Dissertations and Theses

1898 marked the beginning of U.S. colonialism in the Philippines and the formation of the Oregon Historical Society (OHS), an organization that would later inherit a vast collection of Philippine and Spanish war booty from the defunct Battleship Oregon Museum. This thesis will explore the meaning of this war booty by recreating the context around its collection, accession, interpretation, and later descent into obscurity, drawing on the Battleship Oregon Collection of the OHS Research Library and institutional records of the OHS Museum as well as secondary sources that explore the colonial context around museum collecting. The first chapter will show …

Location-Specific Psychosocial And Environmental Correlates Of Physical Activity And Sedentary Time In Young Adolescents: Preliminary Evidence For Location-Specific Approaches From A Cross-Sectional Observational Study., Adrian Ortega, Carolina M Bejarano, Christopher C Cushing, Vincent S. Staggs, Amy Papa, Chelsea Steel, Robin P. Shook, Terry L. Conway, Brian E. Saelens, Karen Glanz, Kelli L. Cain, Lawrence D. Frank, Jacqueline Kerr, Jasper Schipperijn, James F. Sallis, Jordan A. Carlson

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Background: A better understanding of the extent to which psychosocial and environmental correlates of physical activity are specific to locations would inform intervention optimization.

Purpose: To investigate cross-sectional associations of location-general and location-specific variables with physical activity and sedentary time in three common locations adolescents spend time.

Methods: Adolescents (N = 472,Mage = 14.1,SD = 1.5) wore an accelerometer and global positioning systems (GPS) tracker and self-reported on psychosocial (e.g., self-efficacy) and environmental (e.g., equipment) factors relevant to physical activity and sedentary time. We categorized each survey item based on whether it was specific to a location to generate psychosocial …

Chap-Child: An Open Source Method For Estimating Sit-To-Stand Transitions And Sedentary Bout Patterns From Hip Accelerometers Among Children., Jordan A. Carlson, Nicola D. Ridgers, Supun Nakandala, Rong Zablocki, Fatima Tuz-Zahra, John Bellettiere, Paul R Hibbing, Chelsea Steel, Marta M. Jankowska, Dori E. Rosenberg, Mikael Anne Greenwood-Hickman, Jingjing Zou, Andrea Z. Lacroix, Arun Kumar, Loki Natarajan

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Background: Hip-worn accelerometer cut-points have poor validity for assessing children's sedentary time, which may partly explain the equivocal health associations shown in prior research. Improved processing/classification methods for these monitors would enrich the evidence base and inform the development of more effective public health guidelines. The present study aimed to develop and evaluate a novel computational method (CHAP-child) for classifying sedentary time from hip-worn accelerometer data.

Methods: Participants were 278, 8-11-year-olds recruited from nine primary schools in Melbourne, Australia with differing socioeconomic status. Participants concurrently wore a thigh-worn activPAL (ground truth) and hip-worn ActiGraph (test measure) during up to 4 …

Divergent Neural And Endocrine Responses In Wild-Caught And Laboratory-Bred Rattus Norvegicus, Joanna Jacob, Sally Watanabe, Jonathan Richardson, Nick Gonzales, Emily Ploppert, Garet Lahvis, Aaron Shiels, Sadie Wenger, Kelly Saverino, Janhavi Bhalerao, Brendan Crockett, Erin Burns, Olivia Harding, Krista Fischer-Stenger, Kelly Lambert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Although rodents have represented the most intensely studied animals in neurobiological investigations for more than a century, few studies have systematically compared neural and endocrine differences between wild rodents in their natural habitats and laboratory strains raised in traditional laboratory environments. In the current study, male and female Rattus norvegicus rats were trapped in an urban setting and compared to weight-and sex-matched conspecifics living in standard laboratory housing conditions. Brains were extracted for neural assessments and fecal boli were collected for endocrine [corticosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)] assays. Additionally, given their role in immune and stress functions, spleen and adrenal weights …

Campus Educators Selected As Inaugural Wow! Faculty Fellows, Pam Starling

University of Mississippi News

New workshops and learning communities to create vibrant online courses offered this fall

Daley, Joy Elaine, Mark Naison

Oral Histories

No abstract provided.

Research Performance Of Ifla Journals Based On Scopus Database, Akhilesh Kumar Varma Dr., Shudhanshu Soni Mr., Japesh Singh Mr., Neha Verma Dr.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study examined the performance of selected IFLA journals for 22 years between 2001 to 2021. The methodology used in this study includes Annual Growth Rate (AGR), Relative Growth Rate (RGR), and Doubling Time (Dt), as well as countries and institutions. With the highest productivity and distribution of publications per year, used to evaluate research productivity. To obtain the information required for this study, the Scopus database was consulted. During the research period, 813 publications were retrieved. Based on the study, the most articles were published in 2021, 84 (10.33%), and the lowest number was 25 (3.07%) in 2018. Due …

Review Of Fly-Ash As A Supplementary Cementitious Material, Nikki Shaji, Niall Holmes Dr., Mark Tyrer

Conference papers

This paper presents a review of fly-ash as a Supplementary Cementitious Material (SCM) in concrete in terms of its effects on hydration and durability. The climate change agenda has focused the cement and concrete industry on using low embodied CO2 materials and much effort has been made on incorporating industrial by-products into cement as SCMs. With worldwide cement production (circa 4 billion tonnes) currently accounting for approximately 8% of global CO2 emissions and 7% of industry energy use, the use of suitable SCMs to partially replace cement in concrete is extremely important. However, while coal-fired power stations are in the …

Fort Hays State University Tiger Weekly, August 26, 2022, University Relations

Tiger Weekly Newsletters

No abstract provided.

What Is Listeria? Ud Microbiologist Explains The Bacterium Behind Recent Deadly Food Poisoning Outbreaks, Yvonne Sun

Materials from the University of Dayton Magazine Website

Listeria causes serious illness and food recalls nearly every year, writes assistant professor of microbiology Yvonne Sun. Here's what you need to know.

5 Questions With Kate Sidor '23, Thomas M. Columbus

Materials from the University of Dayton Magazine Website

Sidor is from Chicago, where she spent weekends at a school learning Polish culture and language, the language her family speaks at home; most of their family is still in Poland. At UD, where she lives in a house with a big porch, she is a music studies major. One day she wrote a song about her faith. And a roomful of people sang it with her — in community.