The Varied Response of Cherokees to Land Allotment

This paper analyzes Cherokee opposition to allotment, a United States policy, expressed in the 1887 Dawes Act and other U.S. legislation and executive orders, that coerced tribal nations to break their communally held lands into private holdings, or allotments. This paper argues that the shifting beliefs, political views, and grassroots movements surrounding allotment, and its closely related issues, were both based in and influenced by personal and political interests, as well as from traditional, collective Cherokee values and spirituality

The Onnagata: A Note Regarding the Male Actor of Female Roles in Japanese Theatre

This paper discusses the influence of the Kabuki onnagata, male actors portraying female characters, on Japanese culture

Automation of Vulnerability and Patch Management: Information Extraction, Association, and Optimization

Vulnerability and patch management is an integral part of a robust cybersecurity program, yet it grows increasingly complex due to the sheer amount of data that must be analyzed. Particularly in Operational Technology (OT) environments, analysis must be done manually because of the lack of automated solutions. Additionally, there are many steps in this process, from the initial discovery of the vulnerability to the implementation of its remediation, and each step in the process requires different data in order to be performed effectively. In this work, we provide approaches and strategies to assist operators in industrial or OT environments throughout the vulnerability management cycle. Security advisories provide key information about mitigation strategies, or actions that can be taken when a patch is unavailable or cannot be installed. Details of these strategies are not shared in public vulnerability databases and must be found manually. We approach this problem by designing a solution to automatically identify that information within vendor security advisories and retrieve it for operator use. We start with an approach that requires domain-specific knowledge of certain frequently-seen reference websites. Next, an approach that can work on an arbitrary website but relies on certain keywords. Finally, an approach that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods and does not require specific knowledge or keywords. Each of these approaches is more general than its predecessor; we demonstrate high accuracy for all approaches. Advisories also often contain details of affected products in non-standard or natural language formats. While this information can be easily understood when read by an operator, the non-standard format acts as a barrier to effective automation. We provide an approach for the first step in this process: identifying vendors in security advisories and mapping them to a standard framework for representing digital assets and software products. We evaluate five established string similarity algorithms, plus one of our own design that combines string similarity and information theory, on the task of mapping vendors to their corresponding entries in the Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) repository. Our results show that our proposed metric outperforms all others. Due to the constraints on time, finances, and personnel for organizations, Large Language Models (LLMs) may seem like attractive opportunities for security operators to speed up information gathering; however, it is still not clear whether LLMs can handle vulnerability management tasks well. To answer this question, we perform an empirical study of LLMs’ ability to provide consistent, accurate information about vulnerabilities in order to guide organizations in their adoption of LLMs. We observe poor performance for all models tested, suggesting that these models are not well-suited to the consistent retrieval of accurate vulnerability information. Finally, once vulnerabilities have been identified and any additional information has been obtained, operators must decide which remediation actions to implement based on their available resources. This already-complex problem becomes even more so when we consider that a vulnerability may have multiple avenues for remediation. We formulate this scenario as two knapsack problems and provide solutions, which we then compare against several existing strategies for vulnerability prioritization seen in real operational environments

Assessment of Social Media Use and Strategies for Combating Misinformation Among Extension Educators in Arkansas

This study assessed the use of social media by Extension educators in Arkansas and examines strategies for identifying and combating misinformation within agricultural extension services. Guided by the Uses and Gratifications Theory, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and the Third-Person Effect Theory for objectives one, two, and three, this research employed quantitative and qualitative approaches, specifically, two quantitative cross-sectional surveys and a qualitative focus group study developed into a three article dissertation. The first article assessed the extent to which Extension educators utilize social media for professional activities, revealing that social media is predominantly used for event announcements, program marketing, and educational content dissemination, with limited adoption for interactive engagement, collaboration, and impact assessment. The second article applied the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to identify key factors influencing educators’ acceptance and use of social media. Findings indicated that perceived usefulness, ease of use, and social influence significantly impact social media adoption. At the same time, barriers such as time constraints, lack of training, and absence of institutional incentives hinder its effective use. The third article employed qualitative methods to explore educators’ experiences, challenges, and strategies for identifying and combating misinformation. Participants acknowledged the prevalence of misinformation on social media and emphasized the need for digital literacy training, fact-checking mechanisms, and institutional support to address misinformation effectively. Results also highlighted variations in social media adoption based on job roles and gender, with 4-H & Youth Development agents demonstrating the highest usage levels and female educators engaging more frequently than their male counterparts. The study’s findings contribute to the growing body of literature on social media use in extension education, providing practical recommendations for enhancing digital communication strategies, improving social media training programs, and strengthening efforts to mitigate misinformation in agricultural extension services

#Girls Gone Viral: Girlification Trends and the Digital Postfeminist Sensibility

This thesis provides a critical analysis of viral girlification trends on TikTok to bolster understanding of the rhetoric of popular feminism in the emerging digital landscape. Grounded in feminist cultural theory, this thesis posits that women’s digital engagement influences their notions of self-actualization, their avenues for resisting sexist ideals, and ultimately, their political mobilization. Extending scholarship on postfeminism, I offer two unique but co-constructive features of the postfeminist sensibility: post-irony and the confession paradigm. The first chapter analyzes the “girl dinner” trend as a site of post-ironic discourse. Characterized by ambiguity and ambivalence, post-ironic discourse muddles the line between sincerity and irony to the extent that no distinctive feminist sentiment can be reliably discerned. The second chapter examines on the “girl math” trend with a focus on confession, discipline, and humiliation. I argue that the postfeminist sensibility has developed a confession paradigm that promises women empowerment through self-disclosure but ultimately results in feminine humiliation and further discipline. In an effort to cultivate digital visibility in an economy of popular feminism, these trends have adopted both post-irony and confession as central discursive tools. In doing so, the culture of the postfeminist sensibility has persistently evolved and with it, the ways in which women conceptualize feminist engagement

Be Curious, Not Judgmental: Neurodiversity in Legal Education

This Article takes the position that the curiosity associated with legal education is limited to those who are neurotypical. For students who are neurodivergent, law school is a place of judgment, not curiosity. The number of neurodiverse law students is increasing, yet they are not sufficiently supported in law school. This Article will seek to show how the current structures of legal education, although fundamentally sound, have become overly rigid. Instead of providing students with intellectual foundations of legal doctrine that prepare them for the challenges of practicing law, the existing status quo stifles those goals. By limiting our practices to what we currently know and what we are comfortable doing, we limit our potential for excellence. In Part I, I introduce what neurodiversity means, especially for law students, the problems they face, how law schools fall short, and why law schools should care about this. In Part II, I explain the legal mandates designed to remove barriers and the roadblocks legal education and law schools erect. In Part III, I lay out concrete solutions and strategies for engaging our curiosity rather than our judgment

Examining the Combination of Race-by-Age Segregation on Violence in Little Rock, Arkansas

The Present study addresses the issue of residential segregation. Specifically, how the physical isolation of populations segregated based on both age and race affects violent crime. The sample includes all 155 Census block groups, which represent neighborhoods, in the city of Little Rock Arkansas. Data is accessed from the U.S. Census and the Little Rock Police Department. The current study asks: does the segregation of juveniles by age and race affect the distribution of crime? The theoretical frameworks guiding this research are social disorganization theory, structural-cultural theories of crime, the racialization of space perspective, and routine activities theory. The key findings are as follows. First, violence is moderate-to-high, but skewed to the high end of the distribution such that a few block groups have exceptionally high rates of crime. Second, Little Rock as a whole, also has a high degree of racial segregation. Third, regarding the control variables, the average Little Rock neighborhood contains considerable disadvantage. Fourth, the results of all three OLS models show that segregation strongly predicts increased violent crime rates. Finally, across all three models, disadvantage has a statistically significant positive association with crime

Measuring the Impact of GED Preparation on GED Testing Outcomes

This quantitative study investigates the relationship between participation in GED preparation programs and GED test outcomes among adult learners at a single Adult Basic Education (ABE) center located in an urban area of a south-central U.S. state. Recognizing the significance of the GED as an alternative credential to a traditional high school diploma, the research examines how instructional hours and structured preparation correlate with students’ final scores in mathematics, English language arts, social studies, and science. The study also describes the demographic characteristics of the learners, including gender, race, and age groups, and analyzes their performance on the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) pre- and post-tests. By focusing on academic achievement within a defined educational setting, this research aims to provide actionable insights for educators and policymakers seeking to enhance the effectiveness of GED preparation efforts. The study is framed within the broader context of challenges faced by individuals without a high school diploma, including limited employment opportunities and poorer socioeconomic outcomes. While the research emphasizes measurable academic variables, it acknowledges limitations related to its single-site design and the exclusion of qualitative factors such as student motivation and external life circumstances. Despite these constraints, the findings are expected to offer valuable contributions to understanding how GED preparation programs impact adult learners’ success on high-stakes equivalency tests. Ultimately, this study seeks to inform instructional practices and program development in adult education, supporting efforts to improve GED attainment for non-traditional learners

Community Perceptions of a Crisis Response Collaboration: A Community Survey of Attitudes Towards Police and the Crisis Intervention Response Team.

This thesis examined community perceptions of the Fayetteville Police Department (FPD) and its Crisis Intervention Response Team (CIRT), focusing on how racial minorities and individuals from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds view these professionals and their roles in crisis situations. The research also aimed to determine whether perceptions of the collaborative effort through CIRT influenced views of the FPD. Previous research has explored perceptions of police, social workers, and co-response teams individually, but a gap remains in understanding how community members feel about the collaboration between police and social workers and whether these perceptions influence their views of the police. Regression analysis indicated that SES does not significantly predict views of the FPD or CIRT, rejecting the first hypothesis. Race was a significant predictor for traditional optimism towards CIRT, with White participants reporting higher optimism compared to non-White participants, partially supporting the second hypothesis. Finally, attitudes towards CIRT, particularly optimism for non-traditional policing outcomes and pessimism toward potential burdens on police, significantly influenced perceptions of police legitimacy, supporting the third hypothesis. Consequently, community perceptions of co-response programs, which involve collaboration between police and social workers, might be more positive than those of the police alone and could potentially influence overall community perceptions of the police. Understanding how community members view co-response teams is crucial for improving trust, enhancing service delivery, and ensuring that these teams meet the needs of vulnerable populations. Additionally, community support is essential for the sustainability of publicly funded programs like these