Middle Tennessee State University
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Harmonizing Hegemony: How Music Helped Turn American Civil War Era Individuals into Collective Fighting Forces
No full textMusic was “a quintessential part of soldier life” during the American Civil War, namely because music impacted almost every American’s life in the mid-nineteenth century. Historian Christian McWhirter argued that nearly every Civil War era primary source—from diaries to widespread publications—mentioned music to some extent and that the thoughts and feelings of everyday Americans were expressed daily through their interactions with music. Utilizing a new and immense wealth of digitized letters and diaries, this thesis tests previous historiographical conclusions about music’s place in American Civil War Era study. The letters and diaries studied were collected from across the conflict illustrating a candid and universal passion for music as a strong cultural force in the war extending music beyond soundtrack into a position of vital study. Not tangential to the war, music provides a lens to view soldiering in all its aspects and answer questions about the common citizen-soldier. This thesis argues that military music of the fife, drum, bugle, and brass band was vital for control over soldiers and contenting their soldiering life. However, folk music and camp music was necessary to counterbalance military music alleviating the suffering of soldiering. This thesis highlights the importance of musicology for
Civil War era historians, the vitality of digital public history, from source gathering to public interpretation, as well as add to that growing dialog with a public history component that features this research in an online format. We will never hear the drums tambour, the fifes flouting, or the bugles blast the way Civil War soldiers did, but with this project we will better understand what that music meant to those citizen-soldiers.M.A
Gamification of Undergraduate French Courses: A Qualitative Study
No full textIn response to the need for enhanced engagement and motivation in language acquisition, this study examines the impact of gamification within undergraduate French courses at a public university located in southeastern United States. Gamification, which incorporates game-like components such as points, badges, and leaderboards, has been acknowledged for its capacity to enhance educational results by fostering motivation and participatory learning (Kapp, 2012).
Using a phenomenological approach grounded in Self-Determination Theory, Transition Theory, and Choice Theory, the research intends to document student experiences with gamified learning in foreign language education, a field that requires ongoing engagement and complex skill development (Deci & Ryan, 2000; Glasser, 1998).
Finding the advantages and possible disadvantages of using gamified content in language classes, as well as investigating students' motivational reactions, are significant goals for higher education faculty and staff. To provide a thorough understanding of how gamified features affect language learning results, qualitative data will be collected using surveys, interviews, and content analysis. This research contributes to a growing field by addressing the specific challenges of gamification in language acquisition and offering insights for educators aiming to implement gamification to enhance engagement and academic success in language learning (Hanus & Fox, 2015).Ed.D
The Roles of Resilience, Grit, and Academic Resilience on Student Achievement While Controlling for Depression, Anxiety, and Stress
No full textThe current study explored the relationships between resilience, academic resilience, and grit with student achievement while controlling for depression, anxiety, and stress. One hundred and sixty-one participants were administered assessments measuring resilience, academic resilience, grit, depression, anxiety, and stress, as well as a demographics questionnaire which included their self-report GPA. The results showed a significant relationship between grit and GPA, while controlling for the other covariates measured in the study. Neither resilience nor academic resilience had a significant relationship with any of the other constructs or with GPA. Implications for these findings and future directions for research are discussed.M.A
Psychosocial Functioning of Siblings of Individuals with Intellectual Developmental Disorders (IDD)
No full textABSTRACT
This study investigated the relationship between having a sibling with an IDD, family functioning perceptions, and symptoms of depression and anxiety in adulthood. Factors like younger age, sibling age difference, more severe IDD of the sibling, perceived childhood emotional neglect, sibling relationship attitudes, and poor family functioning were predicted to influence symptoms of depression and anxiety. Participants (N = 181) were recruited via social media and completed questionnaires used to evaluate their mental health symptoms, family functioning, and experiences related to having a sibling with an IDD. Regression analyses supported the hypotheses. The findings underscore the need for resources and support for the broader family system when working with individuals with an IDD, preventing emotional neglect of siblings of individuals with an IDD, and providing intervention for adults facing mental health stress related to their childhood circumstances in homes with a sibling with an IDD.M.A
Evaluating the Effects of Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors and Beta-Blockers on Verbal Memory in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease
No full textThe purpose of this study was to explore the effects of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors combined with beta-blockers on verbal memory in Alzheimer’s Disease patients. Participants consisted of 95 men and women with Alzheimer’s Disease who were seen at an outpatient neuropsychology clinic in middle Tennessee and underwent neuropsychological evaluation. Patients were given the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test – Revised and the Controlled Oral Word Associated Test as part of their evaluation. Information regarding the prescription of beta-blockers and acetylcholinesterase inhibitors was obtained from patients’ medical records. Participants were assigned to three separate groups: the No Treatment group, the AChEIs only group, and the Combined Treatment group. No difference between groups was observed during primary analyses. Patients who had been randomly removed during primary analyses were re-added in subsequent analyses, and a significant difference was observed between the AChEIs Only group and the No Treatment group on the HVLT-R delayed recall and retention.M.A
Assessing the Impact of Certificate of Need Laws on Organ Transplantation Outcomes
No full textThis dissertation examines how institutional regulations and regional dynamics influence the availability and quality of organ transplantation services in the United States. The first chapter assesses the average effect of certificate-of-need (CON) regulations on transplant outcomes across five organs—heart, kidney, liver, lung, and pancreas—using center-level data from 2010 to 2023. Although CON regulations generally enhance availability, they are associated with lower average quality, particularly for heart and liver transplants, possibly due to expanded access for higher-risk patients. The second chapter employs a synthetic difference-in-differences approach to evaluate the effects of repealing and reinstating CON laws on kidney transplants in two states: New Hampshire and Indiana. The findings indicate significant changes in market share, while the changes in availability and quality are either modest or not statistically significant after policy changes. This suggests that the impact of CON regulations may be influenced by regional factors and the initial market conditions of each state. The third chapter investigates knowledge spillovers in heart transplantation using an instrumental variable approach. It finds that centers in regions with higher transplant activity benefit from shared expertise, improving patient selection and procedural efficiency. However, increased transplant rates may also coincide with lower average survival outcomes, likely due to the inclusion of more clinically complex patients. Collectively, these chapters contribute to the literature on healthcare regulation by providing empirical evidence on how policy design and regional specialization influence outcomes in high-stakes medical services. The findings highlight the importance of interpreting average outcome metrics in light of patient heterogeneity and institutional context and suggest that regulatory and regional collaboration strategies can play a critical role in improving transplant care.Ph.D
Stock Car Etiquette: Norms in NASCAR
No full textThis dissertation explores the rise, erosion, and implications of the informal “Driver Code” in NASCAR—a decentralized system of unwritten norms that historically governed driver behavior on the racetrack. Operating alongside but independently of NASCAR’s formal rulebook, the Driver Code relied on peer sanctions, reputational discipline, and mentorship to enforce sportsmanship, maintain order, and reduce unnecessary risks in a high-stakes competitive environment.
Chapter 1 examines the emergence and structure of the Driver Code by focusing on a core insight from the economics of self-governance: informal norms often arise when competitors face lower monitoring and sanctioning costs than the formal organizer. Applying the framework of Fink and Smith (2012), this chapter shows that NASCAR’s drivers—operating within a tight-knit and highly repetitive environment—developed and enforced behavioral norms to fill gaps left by costly or impractical formal oversight. Drawing on historical accounts, driver testimony, and media coverage, the chapter identifies key elements of the Code—including reciprocal yielding, respect for race leaders, and informal retaliation—and explains how these expectations were collectively maintained through reputation and peer-enforced sanctions.
Chapter 2 uses Robert Ellickson’s theory of informal governance in close-knit groups to explain how institutional changes within NASCAR disrupted the conditions that had supported norm enforcement. It identifies three pillars of norm sustainability—low-cost information flows, accessible sanctioning mechanisms, and long-term time horizons—and demonstrates how recent rule changes, including the introduction of stage racing, the playoff system, and the Kyle Busch Rule, undermined each of these pillars. The result was a breakdown in peer-enforced order and the crowding out of cooperative behavior.
Chapter 3 illustrates the theoretical claims empirically, using a game-theoretic model and time-series analysis of late-race caution data from 1993 to 2024. The findings show a significant rise in aggressive driving in the playoff era, measured through increased Green-White-Checkered finishes and late-race cautions. These results support the central claim that formal rule changes shifted incentives, reducing the viability of informal governance.
By combining theory, qualitative evidence, and empirical analysis, this dissertation contributes to the literature on institutional change, self-governance, and sports economics. It shows how well-intentioned formal reforms can inadvertently dismantle effective informal systems, with broader implications for decentralized governance across competitive and organizational settings.Ph.D
Property Rights, Competition, and Wealth: A Public Choice Perspective on Markets and Institutions
No full textThis dissertation focuses on the fundamentals of a free economic society. Chapter one begins with how economists deal with the basic institution of property rights. Economists generally hold that a free economic society cannot exist without property rights. This chapter examines how those beliefs are dealt with in economic textbooks. If economists believe that property rights are primary to economic thought, then one would assume that those rights should be explored and discussed in basic, entry level textbooks. Chapter two progresses to another fundamental basis of a free market system: competition. The example used in this chapter is the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is charged with managing athletic events among colleges and universities, and their decision to change the method in which a championship is determined. This chapter evaluates the mixed results of the change and some possible reasons for the results. Lastly, chapter three focuses on how state control of an economy affects the accumulation of wealth and the ability of the individual to better themselves in a free market. Popular culture would say that a free market would benefit some people to the detriment of others. This examination attempts to show that the economy is more complex than simply a binary choice between a “free market” or a “command and control” system. The institutions and markets that create an economy are extremely complex and cannot be condensed into a single metric but are rather the culmination of the decisions of the myriad individual participants of the economy.Ph.D
Exploring the functional consequence of novel colchicine binding site tubulin inhibitors in neuroblastoma cell lines
No full textThe treatment of high-risk neuroblastoma remains a challenging problem amongst the medical community. Patients receive multimodal therapy that begins with surgery and intensive chemotherapy that involves the patient taking multiple rounds of combined chemo agents that always include a tubulin inhibitor such as vincristine. Unfortunately, eventual unresponsiveness to chemotherapy is common, with many patients displaying an acquired resistance to vincristine. Recently, a set of novel colchicine binding site tubulin inhibitors (CBSIs) were characterized that bind at the colchicine binding site, a location distinct from that of vincristine. CBSIs are a promising avenue of potential treatment as early studies suggest they can bypass the resistance mechanisms that plague tubulin inhibitor treatment in the clinic. In this thesis, I investigated the functional consequences of CBSI treatment on multiple neuroblastoma cell lines, including those with established vincristine resistance, so that we could understand the potential of CBSIs as a novel chemo agent for these childhood cancers. Here, we show that both newly developed CBSIs are effective antimitotic agents in both non-resistant and vincristine-resistant cells. The compounds were capable of impeding the colony forming abilities of multiple neuroblastoma cell lines and were effective at reducing the viability of vincristine-resistant cell lines. In addition, compound treatment induces cell death, or apoptosis, in all non-resistant cell lines tested, an effect that remains in vincristine-resistant cells marked by MYCN-amplification, a genetic factor correlated with the worst prognosis for patients. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the potential of these novel CBSIs as a new treatment approach for both primary and vincristine-resistant neuroblastoma.M.S
Understanding the context of anti-doping in Africa: A communication approach to the “dopogenic” environment
No full textAnti-doping communication is crucial to fighting doping by athletes and sportspersons and the widespread doping practices enabled by sports bodies and other institutions. There is therefore growing interest in anti-doping communication and the doping milieu. Additionally, there is a paucity of anti-doping research in Africa. The present study explores anti-doping communication and the broader context of anti-doping in Africa. The study is anchored in the Socio-Ecological Model and the concept of the “dopogenic environment”. A qualitative exploratory approach was used. Data were collected using individual in-depth interviews. Participants (n = 18) were 12 African national anti-doping officers, and six athletes recruited and interviewed at the 2023 African Games in Accra, Ghana. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings show that anti-doping communication and Africa’s anti-doping environment are affected by four key factors: personal (access to education and information, low technology use, and language barrier), social (social support and influencers such as coaches), institutional (mistrust among sports institutions, lack of coordination, and limited/event-based communication), and public policy (lack of knowledge awareness, funding, historical colonial legacies and socio-economic context). In conclusion, anti-doping communication in Africa should embrace a multifaceted and comprehensive strategy that fosters cohesive and integrative communication among all stakeholders ranging from policymakers and institutions to social groups and individual athletes.M.S