Digital Commons Network^™

Toward Lignin Valorization: Development Of Rhodococcus Opacus Pd630 As A Chassis For Triacylglycerol (Tag) Production From Recalcitrant Aromatic Feedstocks, Rhiannon R. Carr

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The advent of the industrial era was precipitated by the discovery of fossil fuels, and ushered in unprecedented changes for humanity included but not limited to the development of rapid transit and communications, improvements to food distribution and preservation, the mass production of goods, and a radical rearrangement of communities from relatively small enclaves to metropolises. With all the benefits, however, come considerable costs, especially to the global environment. Greenhouse gas emissions, built up over centuries of unregulated combustion, have precipitated a rate of global temperature change unparalleled in the 4.5 billion-year history of this planet. In order to preserve …

Nevr: Learning Continuous Neural Video Representation With Local Feature Codes For Video Interpolation, Wentao Shangguan

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Video frame interpolation aims to synthesis a non-exists intermediate frame guided by two successive frames. Recently, some work shows excellent results in learning continuous representation of temporally-varying 3D objects with neural field (NF), which could be used for interpolating the original video. However, these methods require several videos from different viewing angles, the information of camera poses, learning for each specific scene, and achieving sub-optimal results for video frame interpolation. To this end, we propose a new learning neural field representation-based model, Neural Video Representation (NeVR) to learn a continuous representation of videos for high-quality video interpolation. Unlike the traditional …

The Role Of Fear Of Evaluation In Individuals' Perceptions Of Groups, Jin Shin

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is associated with interpersonal impairment. One possible reason for this dysfunction is that people with SAD evaluate others differently on dimensions of warmth and dominance compared to individuals without the disorder. In the current study, we examined whether two core constructs of SAD, fear of negative evaluation and fear of positive evaluation, affect the judgments that people make about groups based on warmth and dominance. We also investigated whether racial similarity (i.e., whether someone is the same race as those they’re interacting with) and ethnic identity (i.e., one’s sense of belonging to a particular social group) …

Application Of ``Magnetic Anchors'' To Align Collagen Fibres For Axonal Guidance, Devindraan Sirkkunan, Farina Muhamad, Belinda Pingguan-Murphy

Research Publications (2021 to 2025)

The use of neural scaffolds with a highly defined microarchitecture, fabricated with standard techniques such as electrospinning and microfluidic spinning, requires surgery for their application to the site of injury. To circumvent the risk associated with aciurgy, new strategies for treatment are sought. This has led to an increase in the quantity of research into injectable hydrogels in recent years. However, little research has been conducted into controlling the building blocks within these injectable hydrogels to produce similar scaffolds with a highly defined microarchitecture. ``Magnetic particle string'' and biomimetic amphiphile self-assembly are some of the methods currently available to achieve …

The Effectiveness Of Indicators Of Financial Discipline In Strengthening The Exchange Rate, With A Special Reference To Iraq, Karrar Mahdi Fenjan, Mohammed Saleh Salman Al-Kubaisi

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

Controlling public expenditures is one of the main objectives of the public budget. The public budget often suffers from a deficit, whether in developed or developing countries, because expenditures are usually greater than the revenues generated. This requires the existence of financial rules that are adhered to by the government, which in turn leads to discipline. Fiscal policy leads to a reduction in the obligations incumbent on the government. Adhering to the financial rules would correct the course of fiscal policy in Iraq, with the need to direct oil revenues in the years of financial abundance when global oil prices …

Using Fuzzy Inference To Evaluation Suppliers In Diyala General Electric Industries Company, Safa Basim Ayed, Wakas S. Khalaf

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

The research aims to evaluate the suppliers at Diyala general electric industries company conducted in an environment of uncertainty and fuzzy where there is no particular system followed by the company, and also aims to use the problem of traveling salesman problem in the process of transporting raw materials from suppliers to the company in a fuzzy environment. Therefore, a system based on mathematical methods and quantity was developed to evaluate the suppliers. Fuzzy inference system (FIS) and fuzzy set theory were used to solve this problem through (Matlab) and the problem of the traveling salesman in two stages was …

Expatriate Workers And Its Repercussions On The Economy And Labor Market In Iraq After 2003, Yusur Qasim Dawood, Lawrence Yahiya Saleh Al- Kubaisi

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

The demand for expatriate labor to Iraq increased after 2003 as a result of the openness that Iraq experienced, but this expatriate labor, which was requested at an increasing rate, has had economic, social, and political effects on the Iraqi economy in general, and the Iraqi labor market in particular. This is due to the high rates of unemployment, as most of these expatriate workers cause competition to local labor, and thus cause repercussions on the Iraqi economy as a whole, except for those expatriate workers coming with companies working in the oil sector. Iraq's GDP

Comparison Of Some Non-Parametric Quality Control Methods, Hiba Mustafa Fawzi, Asmaa Ghaleeb Jaber

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

Multivariate Non-Parametric control charts were used to monitoring the data that generated by using the simulation, whether they are within control limits or not. Since that non-parametric methods do not require any assumptions about the distribution of the data. This research aims to apply the multivariate non-parametric quality control methods, which are Multivariate Wilcoxon Signed-Rank ( ) , kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) and k-nearest neighbor ( −

Comparison Between Nelson-Olson Method And Two-Stage Limited Dependent Variables (2sldv) Method For The Estimation Of A Simultaneous Equations System (Tobit Model), Fulla Makee Ahmed, Eman Mohammed Abdullah

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

This study relates to the estimation of a simultaneous equations system for the Tobit model where the dependent variables ( ) are limited, and this will affect the method to choose the good estimator. So, we will use new estimations methods different from the classical methods, which if used in such a case, will produce biased and inconsistent estimators which is (Nelson-Olson) method and Two- Stage limited dependent variables(2SLDV) method to get of estimators that hold characteristics the good estimator . That is , parameters will be estimated for the limited variables and find the variance-covariance matrix for extracted estimators …

A Proposed Mechanism For Financial Reporting On Sustainable Investment And Its Role In Achieving Value Added - Applied In The Iraqi Midland Refineries Company-, Mohammed Ataallah Ali, Salman Hussin Abdullah

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

The research aims to develop a proposed mechanism for financial reporting on sustainable investment that takes the specificity of these investments. To achieve this goal, the researcher used (what if scenario) where the future financial statements were prepared for the year 2026, after completion of the sustainable project and operation, as the project requires four years to be completed. The researcher relied on the results of the researchers collected from various modern sources relevant to the research topic and published on the internet, and the financial data and information obtained to assess the reality of the company's activity and its …

The Role Of Liquidity Indicators To Assess Its Risks And Enhance Capital Adequacy In Banking Activity, Saadallah Abdullah Snjawi, Serwan Kareem Essa

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

This purpose of the research is to test liquidity ratios to assess bank liquidity risks represented by liquidity ratios (current assets / current liabilities, current assets / total deposits, current assets / total assets, cash credit / total deposits, liquidity coverage ratio LCR, net stable financing ratio NSFR). This research involves evaluating these risks in banks via these ratios, and reveal the most important means used to solve these risks, including the capital adequacy ratio under the Basel II decisions and for selected period (2017-2019).The research reached the most important conclusion, which is the bank sample did not fall into …

Reducing Organizational Anomie In Light Of Entrepreneurial Behavior, Lamees Adnan Azeez, Sheffaa Mohammed Ali

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

The research aims to clarify the role of the main variable represented by the four dimensions of entrepreneurial behavior (creative, risk-taking, seizing opportunities, proactivity), in Reducing the dependent variable of organizational anomie with the dimensions (Organizational Normlessness, Organizational Cynicism, Organizational Valuelessness). The experimental, analytical method was adopted in the completion of the research, and an intentional sample of (162) individuals in the administrative levels (higher and middle) in the factory was taken. The questionnaire was also adopted as the main tool, which included (54) paragraphs, as (162) forms were distributed and 144 were retrieved from them, valid for statistical analysis …

The Mediating Role Of Product Innovation On The Relationship Between Marketing Information System And Customer Orientation, Osamah Sohaib Sabri Alwattar, Melek Yurdakul

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

Marketing information system (KMIS) is an essential factor of developing business’ performance and getting sustainable success. The main goal of the research is to measure effect of MIS on customer orientation and product innovation. Also, another goal is to analyze the mediation role of product innovation in relationship MIS and customer orientation. This study sought to analyze the marketing information system and measure its effect on the customer orientation and product innovation. The data of the study were collected using questionnaire. The data were analyzed using statistical tools and SPSS programming. The results of the study showed that the KMIS …

Cutinase From Amycolatopsis Mediterannei: Marked Activation And Stabilisation In Deep Eutectic Solvents, Yeqi Tan, Gemma K. Kinsella, Gary T. Henehan, Barry J. Ryan

Articles

Amycolatopsis mediterranei cutinase (AmCut) has potential biocatalytic applications in plastics degradation and ester synthesis. Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) are next generation biodegradable solvents for biocatalysis. However, the behaviour of cutinase enzymes in DES is little studied. Herein, we examine the effect of selected DES, and their components, on AmCut activity and stability. Low amounts (10% v/v) of DES (choline chloride:glycerol; 1:1 mole ratio) caused striking activation of AmCut (over 2-fold). Further examination showed that the choline chloride component of DES caused the observed activation. This is the first report of activation of a cutinase by a small molecule. At higher …

Are Vaccine Lotteries Worth The Money?, Christopher Robertson, K. Aleks Schaefer, Daniel Scheitrum

Faculty Scholarship

This research evaluates the effects of the twelve statewide vaccine lottery schemes that were announced as of June 7, 2021 on state vaccination rates. We construct a dataset that matches information on the timing and location of these lotteries with daily, county-level data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on the cumulative number of people who have received at least one dose of an emergency-authorized Covid-19 vaccine. We find that 10 of the 12 statewide lotteries studied (i.e., all but Arkansas and California) generated a positive, statistically significant, and economically meaningful impact on vaccine uptake after thirty days. …

Arkansas Soybean Research Studies 2020, Jeremy Ross

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

The 2020 Arkansas Soybean Research Studies includes research reports on topics pertaining to soybean across several disciplines from breeding to post-harvest processing. Research reports contained in this publication may represent preliminary or only data from a single year or limited results; therefore, these results should not be used as a basis for long-term recommendations. Several research reports in this publication will appear in other University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station publications. This duplication is the result of the overlap in research coverage between disciplines and our effort to inform Arkansas soybean producers of the research …

Health Reform Reconstruction, Lindsay F. Wiley, Elizabeth Mccuskey, Matthew B. Lawrence, Erin C. Fuse Brown

Faculty Scholarship

This Article connects the failed, inequitable U.S. coronavirus pandemic response to conceptual and structural constraints that have held back U.S health reform for decades and calls for reconstruction. For more than a half-century, a cramped "iron triangle" ethos has constrained health reform conceptually. Reforms aimed to balance individual interests in cost, quality, and access to health care, while marginalizing equity, solidarity, and public health. In the iron triangle era, reforms unquestioningly accommodated four legally and logistically entrenched fixtures - individualism, fiscal fragmentation, privatization, and federalism - that distort and diffuse any reach toward social justice. The profound racial disparities and …

Regulating Mobility Limitations In The Franchise Relationship As Dependency In The Joint Employment Doctrine, Andrew Elmore

Faculty Scholarship

Franchisors often impose exhaustive operational standards on franchisees, and enforce those standards by restricting the mobility of their franchisees and their franchisees' employees. But courts often ignore mobility limits when applying joint employer doctrine. This Article argues that courts and agencies should be more likely to find, and presume, that franchisors and their franchisees are joint employers under federal and state employment law based on proof that a franchisor restricts the mobility of franchisees or their employees. In so doing, this Article traces how the Chicago School's efficiency arguments in favor of relaxing antitrust law enforcement of vertical restraints developed …

Flamenco Dance And Film In Francisco Franco's Spain (Baile Flamenco Y Cine En La España De Francisco Franco), Gia Roberts

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In this project, it is postulated that during and after Francisco Franco's dictatorial regime, Franco's strict rules affected both flamenco dancing and the films Carlos Saura created. This paper explores how flamenco dance was implemented into his Nationalist agenda and in movies by Saura, and also how Saura created films (without flamenco dance) that criticized Franco because of his censorship of films during his authoritarian regime. Interestingly enough, Franco considered flamenco dancing a part of the Spanish national identity, so he encouraged it during his reign, and it also influenced other industries in Spain, such as film. The two famous …

Political Parties On Campus: College Republicans And College Democrats’ Conceptions Of Partisanship, Philip Goodrich

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This project seeks to examine College Republicans and College Democrats’ conceptions of partisanship. Specifically, I will test a theory set forth by Matt Grossmann and David A. Hopkins that claims the “Republican Party is best viewed as the agent of an ideological movement whose members are united by a common devotion to the principle of limited government” and the “Democratic Party is properly understood as a coalition of social groups whose interests are served by various forms of government activity” (2015). By performing a content analysis of College Republicans and College Democrats’ social media posts, I hypothesize that College Democrats …

Terrorism And Deceptive Media, Roxanne Aguilera

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Deception is easy, especially with fast media in the 21st century. News outlets in both a national and local levels are credited for exposure of inaccurate or dramatized information; which can negatively affect the population especially during events of collective trauma. In lue of the September eleventh terrorist attack, despite majority of civilans not having direct exposure, over 20% of participants in a past study, believed this attack was the worst event of their lives due to media coverage and exposure.This essay will examine the correlation between fear of terrorism and several factor ranging from news validity, forms of media, …

Eva Peron, The Radio, And Her Strategic Influence On Peronism, Or Eva Perón, La Radio Y Su Influencia Estratégica En El Peronismo, Natalya Bachoura

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Eva Perón, la radio y su influencia estratégica en el Peronismo

Eva Perón (Evita) fue renombrada por sus discursos poderosos. Jugó un papel fundamental en el ascenso al poder de su esposo, Juan Perón, y ganó mucho poder para sí misma durante el proceso. En esta investigación, se estudian las estrategias de comunicación que Evita usó para ganar esta influencia en la sociedad y promocionar el peronismo. Se va a enfocar en dos estrategias que ella usó para mostrar su éxito en capturar los corazones de la gente: la retórica peronista y el uso de emoción—pathos. Específicamente, se analiza una …

Patterns Of Fear Of Being Murdered And Homicide Victimization: A Comparison Of Perceived And Realistic Risk, Madilyn Rosenson

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In this research I will be observing the fear of falling victim to murder in the United States of America. The research will include comparison between the fear of being murdered by a stranger and the fear of being murdered by someone you know, and comparisons of this data collected from Wave 2 to Wave 7 of the Fear Survey. Also discussed will be the likelihood of either event happening – being murdered by a stranger or someone you know – and other potential independent variables that may have an impact on an individual’s fear or vulnerability to the situations. …

America's Declining Trust In Government, Megane Bos

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The world of media has grown immensely, from 24-hour daily news to social media platforms to business and advertising, and it’s taken the American population by storm in a surprisingly short amount of time. Media exposure and usage increases with each passing year as new technologies emerge and are made available to a larger number of the population, including America’s youth. This paper will examine how media exposure, age, and ideology influence public opinion on trust in government, looking at which types of media exposure people receive and how often they are exposed to it. Then, I will see how …

Lifespan Urbanicity And Perceived Neighborhood Disorder On Cardiovascular Health, Jackie Pak, Jennifer N. Robinette

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

While there is some evidence indicating neighborhood characteristics (e.g. disorder and urbanicity) are related to poor health, few studies observe these characteristics simultaneously. Using the 2016 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this study observed two research questions. First, is urbanicity over the lifespan related to cardiovascular health. Second, do urbanicity and perceived neighborhood disorder predict cardiovascular health synergistically? HRS participants were asked whether they lived in an urban or rural neighborhood in childhood, and the 2013 Beale Continuum code was used to assess the participants’ current (adulthood) neighborhood. Participants self-reported whether they had been told by a …

By Any Other Name: A Rhetoric Of Violence And Reclamation In The Philippine Drug War, Bernadine Cortina

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte launched an anti-drug campaign, cracking down on illegal drug use and illicit drug trade in the Philippines. Under his administration, the giyera kontra-droga has gained national and international scrutiny. Police admitted to killing more than 4000 drug suspects, and as of May 2018, more than 22,000 deaths were under investigation as unsolved killings possibly connected to the campaign (The Drug War Archive). While the Philippine government claims success in lowering crime rates and creating a safer environment for Filipinos, accusations of extrajudicial killings and human rights violations abound. Today, the full extent of the drug …

Computational Design Of Β-Fluorinated Morphine Derivatives For Ph-Specific Binding, Makena Augenstein, Nayiri Alexander, Matthew Gartner

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Molecular extension and dissection techniques are used to design a morphine derivative that promotes selective binding in inflamed tissue due to its lower pH while avoiding dangerous activation in the brain. Morphine is used to treat pain associated with inflammation. While being effective analgesics, opioids carry the risk of central side effects, including addiction, respiratory depression, and sedation. Opioids are agonists that bind to the μ-opioid peptide receptor (MOR) within central and peripheral nerves and act via a G-protein coupled receptor pathway.

Deprotonation of the tertiary amine induces a negative charge on the nitrogen, discouraging binding at physiological pH (pH=7.4). …

Framing The Axis Of Evil: American Fear Of An Iranian Nuclear Attack, Sabrina Ghashehbaba

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Since 9/11, the American perception of Muslims, Islam, and Middle Eastern people and countries has shifted seemingly negatively. This paper will investigate American’s opinions on Iran and fears of a nuclear strike by Iran while examining American fear of Muslims, party identification, 2020 election voting, news media representations of Iran, social media usage, fears of immigration, fears of falling victim to a terrorist attack, and fears of whites not being the majority. I predict the more Republican one is, the more they will fear an Iranian nuclear attack because of the conservative rhetoric used. I also expect those who voted …

The Rise And Fall Of The American Fear Of Climate Change: Examining The Trends Of Climate Change Fear In The United States, Hannah Waldorf

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The changing climate is a situation that can be characterized by the threat of dangerous and irreparable changes to the planet. These alterations include an increase in global temperatures, food and water insecurities, extreme weather patterns, social unrest, and political conflict. Fear of the climate’s change has decreased within the past two years (2020 and 2021)—this paper will examine factors that influence the change in American climate fear. Using data from The Chapman University Survey on American Fears (CSAF)—which includes 1,035 participants—it is expected that the current downward trend in climate change fear is rooted in changes of media consumption, …

The Implications Of Covid-19 On Fear Of Financial Collapse, Alexis Reekie

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

By disrupting the general value paradigm, the typical hierarchy of values, individuals directly affected by the COVID-19 virus have realized an overall shift in perspective, indicating a need to understand the effects of the COVID-19 virus on one’s outlook regarding economic anxiety and fear of financial collapse. The possibility of a global health crisis reaching levels of devastation are certainly great and worth investigating. Throughout this research paper I worked to determine the correlation between fear of financial crises and individuals who have been affected by the COVID-19 virus. Utilizing the Chapman Survey of American Fears (FEAR survey) questions pertaining …