1287 research outputs found
Sort by
Brief Survey and Testbed Development for Blockchain Based Internet of Things
Get PDFBlockchain and the Internet of Things are uprising in today’s technology world. Internet of Things or IoT are the devices with unique identifiers that share data or information over the internet whereas, Blockchain is a peer to peer network with a distributed ledger that contains a list of blocks that are linked together by cryptography. Fascinated and motivated by blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT), this thesis provides a review on blockchain based internet of things and also introduces a working testbed that integrates the two together. It also uses IoT device to invoke transactions into the blockchain. The reasons behind combining of blockchain and IoT is because the present centralized architecture won’t hold the exponentially growing use of IoT, blockchain implementation can reduce cost and moreover, decentralization will remove the bottleneck from the centralized server
An Exploratory Investigation Into Youth Tackle Football Safety in Mississippi
Get PDFA football field in the south is a place where young men grow as friends and teammates, but, unfortunately, it is also a very dangerous arena. Players are often concussed, bruised, or have broken bones. These injuries are sometimes shrugged off, but there is increasing evidence that the injuries that young players sustain in their youth will impact their lives in years to come. In this thesis, I examine the current concerns in youth tackle football safety policy and what improvements can be made to the policies that exist. The literature provides evidence of current debate being had over safety; however, I conduct interviews with experts in the field throughout the state of Mississippi in order to better understand the issue as it relates to youth tackle football safety policies.
I found that there are various philosophies surrounding the game of football and what to do to make it safer, there is a lack of adequate safety policies and oversight of those policies, and there is inadequate funding for equipment and personnel that help to make the game safer. These inadequacies do have a way to be improved. By using Kraft and Furlong’s Policy Process Model, I present various policy recommendations in order to better the safety of youth tackle football in the state of Mississippi
Comprehensive Analysis of Financial Reporting Through Case Studies
Get PDFThis thesis covers both fundamental and nuanced issues relating to accounting and, more specifically, financial reporting. These issues range from cash flow analysis to bank auditing opinions. The thesis is a compilation of twelve case studies assigned by Dr. Victoria Dickinson in the Professional Research and Development Program. From a broader perspective, the insight gained through this thesis is primarily concerned with how the three fundamental financial statements, the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows interact with one another within a given fact set. Transactions, estimates, and adjustments can influence all three financial statements, changing how financial statement users perceive a company. Therefore, it is extremely important to understand how these items fit into the financial reporting framework
Increasing the Effectiveness of Impossible Spaces in Virtual Environments Using Moving Textures
Get PDFThis study looks to examine a method of overcoming the limitations caused by the size of a physical tracking area in virtual reality environments known as impossible spaces and attempt to improve its efficiency by altering the texture flow of the virtual environment. The experiment
involves running participants through a series of small buildings consisting of two rooms in which the percentage of overlap between the two rooms and the ratio of texture movement to user movement (corresponding to textural
ow conditions) differs from trial to trial and asking participants to make a judgement of whether or not the environment is possible in the real world or impossible. The
study found that a 50% slower condition increased the point of subjective equality by an overlap percentage of 2.88%, a 150% slower condition increased the point of subjective equality by 4.51%, a 50% faster condition decreased the point of subjective equality by 0.92%, and a 150% condition
decreased the point of subjective equality by 1.82%. The results found in this study have led to the conclusion that increased textural flow increases sensitivity to overlap by making the distance between the rooms feel smaller, while decreased flow decreases sensitivity by making the distance
between the rooms feel larger
Analysis of Atlantic and Northern Gulf Coast Wetland Bacterial Extracellular Enzyme Activity
Get PDFSea-level rise is projected to cause saltwater marshes to migrate landward replacing brackish and freshwater marshes. Coastal wetlands are important sinks of carbon, phosphorous, and nitrogen, so it is important to understand the function of their microbial communities. This study aims to categorize the difference in function between different spatially distinct wetland marsh types in advance of the expected alteration of the wetland ecosystems. Extracellular microbial enzymatic activity was measured to understand organic matter decomposition and nutrient mineralization in different marsh types. We measured the activities of the extracellular enzymes β-glucosidase, NAGase, peroxidase, phenol oxidase, and phosphatase across sites along the Northern Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coast. Both tidal salt and tidal fresh marsh sediment were sampled at each location. Higher salinity depressed the activity of NAGase. Salinity did not have a significant effect on phosphatase activity. High salinity slightly repressed carbon-degrading enzyme β-glucosidase activity but increased peroxidase and phenol oxidase activities. Sediments with high organic matter content had lower enzyme activities. Warmer water temperature sites tended to exhibit higher overall enzyme activity. This study finds that increasingly saline wetlands will cause a change in nutrient cycling functionality. Saltwater intrusion into fresh marsh will reduce the capacity for nitrate removal leading to potential coastal eutrophication, and saltwater intrusion will increase carbon metabolism leading to less accretion than in freshwater marshes further amplifying the effect of sea-level rise
Analysis of Financial Accounting Procedures and Reporting Topics
Get PDFThis thesis contains a series of case studies completed throughout the 2017-2028 school year. These case studies divulge into theories and concepts within financial reporting and accounting. By completing this series of cases, I not only saw how transactions were made due to real-world scenarios, yet also learned why we make these journal entries. The purpose of this research was to become familiar with everyday accounting concepts and how to use them for more complex situations. This thesis will be quite different than most theses submitted to the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors college, as this covers a wide-range of topics rather than a specific, detailed topic. This wide-range of topics includes financial statements for various companies, research of various financial databases, and other financial theories. The method for this thesis was to complete each weekly case on my own ideas and research. Each case took time and thought, as I realized this was apart of a greater body of work. After completion of all these cases, this thesis is a revised compilation of all the researched information. All this work was completed in a group setting with fellow accounting classmates within the Honors College. This group setting helped me build off others’ discussion to further divulge into the subject I was researching. It also created lasting relationships with my fellow peers outside of the classroom, which I am quite thankful for
Religion in Education: The Effects of Political Ideologies on Andalusian Youth
Get PDFThis study investigates the driving factors behind a student’s choice to take a class on Catholicism, or the alternative social and civil values class, throughout their educational career in Andalusia, Spain. Major sociological theories are used to understand how religion, education, and politics tie together in society, and additionally the impact they have on individuals. In order to understand the personal factors that play into one’s choice to take a class on Catholicism, a survey was created using the platform Qualtrics and afterwards sent out to students in Andalusia, Spain. The study uses a qualitative approach to analyze the data collected from the survey. The data collected showed that students whose parents’ identified as right were more likely to take the class on Catholicism than students whose parents’ identified as left; however, one student, who identified as Muslim, took religious education even though both herself and her parents’ identified as left, and her religion did not align with the religious teachings of the class. Therefore, it seems that, at some level, even though people are attending religious worship less, and starting to identify with religions outside of Catholicism, being Spanish still has ties to being Catholic, even for immigrants. However, what Catholicism looks like is changing as society modernizes
Design and Development of Chemically and Biologically Stable Salvinorin-Based Ligands for Opioid Receptors
Get PDFThe number of opioid prescriptions as a method in pain management increased dramatically in the mid 1990’s following Dr. James Campbell’s 1995 Presidential address to the American Pain Society, where he called for patient pain to be included as a vital sign. The rapid increase in prescriptions in the early 2000’s coupled with a massive effort by pharmaceutical companies to downplay the addictiveness of these drugs has led to a consistent increase in opioid-related drug overdoses, with 47,600 of 70,237 drug related deaths involving opioids in 2017. Opioid analgesics most commonly act upon the mu-opioid receptor (MOR), which is one of four G-protein coupled receptors that constitute the opioid system. The remaining three are the kappa-opioid receptor (KOR), the delta-opioid receptor (DOR), and the nociceptin-opioid receptor (NOR). Theses receptors are widespread throughout both the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and the central nervous system (CNS) and are imperative in the modulation of antinociception and behavioral states such as addiction, anxiety, and depression. Salvinorin A, the primary active ingredient of the plant Salvia divinorum, is one of the most potent naturally-occurring opioid receptor KOR agonists. It has the potential to be beneficial in pain management, as well as a number of CNS disorders, but the intense hallucinogenic effects of Salvinorin A have prevented it from ever passing clinical trials. Salvinorin A has, however, served as a prototype for related drug candidates. Our lab recently discovered several Salvinorin-based ester compounds that have dual or mixed activity on opioid receptors, which have the potential for the treatment of pain, anxiety, and depression without the addictive side effects of pure MOR agonists or hallucinogenic and dissociative side effects of pure KOR agonist. In attempts to create biologically and chemically stable analogs, our lab successfully synthesized five target amide-linked salvinorin compounds that would probe how the inclusion or exclusion of heteroatoms in the 6,5-fused ring structure will confer selectivity to various opioid receptors. The preliminary binding results of these compounds confirm that the linker also plays an important role in the structure-activity relationship of the C2 binding pocket
The Effect of Simulated Storm Passage on the Behavior of Whitespotted Bamboo Sharks, Chiloscyllium Plagiosum and Golden Shiners, Notemigonus Chrysoleucas
Get PDFEnvironmental changes during a storm can affect animal behavior; for example, tagged sharks leave shallow waters during tropical storms. While changes in shark behavior during storm passage have been documented, there have been no experimental tests to determine which environmental parameters are responsible. In this study, we experimentally manipulated two environmental cues: barometric pressure, and thunder sounds, to determine their effect on whitespotted bamboo sharks, Chiloscyllium plagiosum, and golden shiners, Notemigonus crysoleucas. Elasmobranchs do not have a swim bladder to detect pressure change; therefore, we used golden shiners to compare the reaction of a fish with a swim bladder. The pressure was decreased by 1.52 cmHg from a high atmospheric pressure (75.69 cmHg – 76. 35 cmHg) over three hours, and the lowest pressure (1.52 cmHg from the atmospheric pressure) was held for an hour while activity was recorded. There was no difference between the activity during the treatment of manipulated pressure and treatment of constant pressure in C. plagiosum. When observing time interval of decreasing pressure (Hours 0 to 3), N. crysoleucas was more active when the pressure was decreased than when pressure was not decreased. When observing the activity of the golden shiners, we found that the golden shiners were less active as the pressure continued to decrease. C. plagiosum were also exposed to recorded thunder sounds, and a control of no thunder sounds. We documented the activity during each trial. There was no significant difference in the activity of C. plagiosum between the treatment of thunder sounds and the treatment of no thunder sounds. The daily fluctuations of activity may have been a confounding variable to the activity resulting from the treatment. While many of these results are preliminary, the results are an interesting insight on how these two species, white spotted bamboo sharks and golden shiners, possibly react to various isolated cues present in a storm