University of Southern Mississippi
Aquila Digital Community (University of Southern Mississippi, USM)Not a member yet
11361 research outputs found
Sort by
Women’s Rights in Limited Democracies: Comparative Study of Femicide in Turkey and Bulgaria
No full textIn this paper, I examine female homicide and its relation with Turkey and Bulgaria’s political and economic development and social structure. Turkey and Bulgaria are two countries sharing a border and many similarities with regard to politics, economics, and culture. These two countries have historically engaged since the 14th -15th centuries. Geographical closeness, living together during the Ottoman Empire, and sharing a common heritage and culture bound these two countries. Besides, they have politically similar patterns. Both are Republics and democracies, yet currently are struggling with democratic deficiency. Since I compare fairly similar countries and treat each country as a distinct object of the study, the findings tell more about the degree of similarities and differences in the femicide numbers. I investigate the contributing factors behind violence against women in two since 2001, using a novel quantitative dataset compiled from international sources. Both countries are categorized as having deficiencies in democracy, yet Bulgaria is assorted with a low level of religiosity compared to Turkey. I argue that high levels of democratic values and low religiosity are likely to facilitate women’s rights and less femicide. The analysis focuses on these political, economic, and cultural similarities and differences to compare their influences on femicide in Bulgaria and Turkey.
Keywords Bulgaria* Turkey* Democratization* Religiosity* Women’s Right
Evaluating the Efficacy of Detection Instructions on Additive and Contradictory Misinformation in Older and Younger Adults Using Eyewitnessed Visual Scenes
Get PDFExposure to misleading details about a previous event can become incorporated into memory—a pattern termed the misinformation effect. Recently, researchers have found evidence for two types of misinformation which differ qualitatively in how they relate to details presented in the initial event. Contradictory misinformation refers to suggested details that directly contrast specific details that were presented within the witnessed event. Additive misinformation refers to suggested details that supplement a witnessed event, but do not contrast a specific detail. My thesis evaluated whether misinformation is reduced following a strong warning to detect and highlight misinformation compared to no warning and whether misinformation reductions depend upon misinformation type. Further, age-related detection effects were evaluated by comparing groups of cognitively normal older adults to younger adults given older adults often show declines in controlled attentional processes that can compromise episodic memory and to produce larger misinformation effects. Finally, my thesis utilized video materials to bolster external validity. No difference was found in suggestibility to additive or contradictory misinformation types overall. However, older adults were more suggestible on a source recognition test. Importantly, when older adults were given a warning to detect misinformation, they were able to reduce misinformation to the same low level as younger adults without instructions. Collectively, instructions to detect misinformation are effective at reducing misinformation for additive and contradictory types, and particularly so for older adults
The Effects of Free Volume and Processing on the Development of Gas Separation Membranes
Get PDFStructure, thermal, mechanical, gas transport, and free volume properties of thiol-ene based systems are investigated and discussed. In the pursuit of generating low energy-cost polymer membranes for gas separation, it became apparent that UV-curing of thiol-ene materials presented several routes toward achieving this goal. Network structure plays a vital role in determining the gas transport properties of membrane materials. UV photopolymerization techniques provide a means to rapidly vitrify network morphologies which can be tuned depending on choice of monomer. Thiol-ene monomers offer a broad range of precursor materials from which to choose for the design of functional membrane materials.
Chapter I outlines the background and motivation of this dissertation, the basics of UV-cured thiol-ene polymer networks, modification of thiol monomers to tailer thiol-ene material properties, gas transport in membrane materials, and free volume in polymers. The methods used to investigate the phenomena of this work are also described in Chapter I.
Chapter II discusses the effects of silane modifications on thiol-ene polymer free volume and gas transport properties. Our group has shown the ability to modify thiol-ene networks for improved gas permeability while maintaining glass transition temperatures through monofunctional modification of a tetrafunctional thiol. UV-curing allows for the rapid setting or “locking in” of a network with modified precursor components, yielding polymer materials with similar long-range connectivity but slight changes in short-range free volume.
Chapter III again utilizes the ability of UV-curing to “lock in” a thiol-ene morphology for the benefit of improving gas permeability. The approach in this chapter however follows the recent development of hybrid organic inorganic materials known as mixed matrix membranes. Porous inorganic membranes have been shown to exhibit favorable gas transport properties but are limited by high production and operating costs. Here we combine porous zeolites with thiol-enes to fabricate high throughput membranes at low cost.
Chapter IV highlights our discovery of unexpected changes to thiol-ene material properties caused by the presence of solvent during the UV-curing process. We have found that solvent-processed thiol-ene materials, when compared to a chemically identical thiol-ene fabricated without solvent, yield increased glass transition temperatures and lower crosslink densities. The study in this chapter discusses our attempt to explain this phenomenon
Collective Memory and Place Attachment Expressed as Communicative Constitution of Community
Get PDFTwenty-six residents of Ralston, Nebraska recorded oral histories for use in the city library’s 100-year anniversary celebration. The recordings build a limited history of the city and expose residents’ collective memories as a conduit to place attachment in a changing community. By positioning the City of Ralston as an organization using the Four Flows approach to the communicative constitution of organization [CCO], I examined communication by members of the organization as maintaining the city. Qualitative coding of the city’s Facebook page and narrative analysis of the oral history recordings produced identifiable categories related to collective memory, place attachment, and the Four Flows model of CCO which highlight the experiences of residents in one small Midwest city as they work to face economic and social challenges. The work examines collective memories and place attachment in the expressed needs of participating residents and identifies avenues for communication about current and future city issues between the local government and residents as members of an organization
A Flicker of Light in the Midst of Darkness: The Mississippi Supreme Court, African Americans, and Criminal Justice in the Progressive Era (1890-1920)
Get PDFEditorial Commentary to the Special Issue on “Innovation in Education: Integrating Traditional and Digital Pedagogies”
Get PDFThis special issue containing seven articles collectively contributes to a deeper understanding of the evolution of education in the digital age, with a special focus on the integration of technology across disciplines. Each study utilizes rigorous methodologies and analytical frameworks to explore different aspects of innovation in education. The issue is enriched with in-depth, high-quality and unique articles based on empirical and theoretical research
The Use of Digital Technologies to Prepare Future Translators for the Modern Requirements of the Linguistic Services Market
Get PDFThe importance of the topic is emphasized by the current educational environment, which demands that professionals possess adeptness in modern information technologies. This adaptability is crucial in an increasingly technologically advanced society. The main goal of study is to study the peculiarities of training future translators, as well as to prove the effectiveness of the use of digital technologies in the process of training future professionals. The analyses methods used were structural-functional, dialectical, synthesis, logical and comparative analysis, and generalization. As a result, it was established that a number of socio-economic changes caused the emergence of new standards of professional training of translators. Digital resources are a priority for the development of translators’ skills and abilities. The advantage of using digital technology reduces the processing time without losing the quality of the translation, and this allows the translator to be efficient and popular among clients. For maximum effectiveness, the translator must have not only a solid foundation in linguistics, but also a deep understanding of culture, history, and religion
Poly(thioether) Thermosets with Gated Photodegradation
No full textPhotodegradable polymer networks are attractive due to the precise spatiotemporal control and large-area applicability of light. Chemical linkages that enable these polymer networks to be photo-responsive, also hinder their applicability in ambient light. Photostable and photodegradable networks have recently been reported to overcome this challenge by combining other stimuli with light for degradation. We report the design of a network that responds to a simultaneous, dual stimulus for photodegradation. We design poly(thioether acetal) networks with benzylidene acetal moieties that are known to undergo β-scission in the presence of free thiols. By blocking these free thiols with a thermally labile protecting group, we harness the photostability of polymer networks with no free thiols at room temperature and the photodegradability of free thiols at elevated temperatures. In the process, we discover a transthioacetalization side-reaction with a previously unreported isocyanate catalyst that interferes with both the photopolymerization and photodegradation pathways. We propose and execute strategies to successfully overcome this side-reaction. Thus, reporting the synthesis of photopolymerized, photostable, photo-processable and photodegradable polymer networks
Investigation of the Microbiome of a Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) for Crassostrea virginica Larvae
Get PDFRecirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) offer control over physicochemical and biological factors impacting aquaculture success. One understudied facet of RASs is the water microbiome. Oyster larval microbiomes are shaped by their aquatic microbiomes. Understanding the dynamics of and the factors shaping RAS microbiome may provide insights to how the microbiome can be a tool for optimizing larval production. This study’s goals were to investigate the microbiome stability of a RAS rearing oyster larvae across time and space, determine impacts of larval presence on the microbiome, and examine connections between larvae production outcomes and microbiome stability. Water samples were collected weekly from four compartments in the Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center’s RAS at the University of Southern Mississippi during three runs spanning May-October 2019 (168 days), June-October 2020 (115 days), and May-October 2021 (165 days). Sequencing was done using the V6-V8 variable regions of the 16S rRNA gene targeting bacteria. Water quality parameters and larval survival-assessments were collected. The RAS achieved stable physiocochemical conditions and microbiomes by the third run. Each compartment, with a specific function in water-reclamation/larval rearing, contained distinct microbiomes. Larval presence was not a factor shaping any compartment’s microbiome. Connections between larvae and the Raceway (first water-reclamation stage) microbiome elevated over time, and instability loosely correlated with declining larval performance. Establishing baseline microbiomes present in closed-systems and further exploring connections between production and RAS microbiomes would enhance knowledge of RAS microbiome dynamics. The better the RAS microbiome is understood, the more valuable a tool in aquaculture it can be
Comparison of Two Learning Methodologies: Virtual Reality and OSCE Simulation
Get PDFAnesthesia education has evolved immensely over the past twenty years, and with the new virtual reality (VR) simulations created by SIMVANA, the exponential growth can continue. The anesthesia program at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) currently utilizes an educational platform known as the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) for their students’ clinical curriculum. With the development of technology and education models, the purpose of the doctoral project is to determine if VR simulation can produce more effective learning than the OSCE modules. To determine the effectiveness, pharmacologic lessons for intraoperative hypotension were administered through both platforms and then tested on the related topics.
The study design that compared these learning models comprised fifteen first-year nurse anesthesia students, a pre-test, an intervention with the educational platforms, and a post-test for both quantitative and qualitative data. It was important to make sure that the recruited participants were similar in background, education, and prior knowledge of the sympathomimetic drug class. The quantitative data collected was conducted through several t-test evaluations representing a randomized clinical trial with a crossover design. Equivalency between participants was confirmed through pre-test sample means, and after evaluating overall pre-test and post-test means there was significant learning that took place. The crossover design revealed that the virtual reality produced statistically significant results, and these outcomes were compared to the OSCE model which was not statistically significant. Overall, both of the learning models did have a positive impact on the student’s learning capacity. Virtual reality, whether used concurrently or in place of the OSCE model, could be effectively used in anesthesia education for students and providers