Digital Commons Network^™

Reaction Of Halogenated Hydrocarbons With Cysteine And Nucleotides, Brittany S. Morgan

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Our objective is to develop a simple, inexpensive model to better understand the biologically relevant reactions of halogenated hydrocarbons and characterize them by NMR spectroscopy. We currently have a model that mimics the adduct created by the reaction of ethylene dibromide (a known toxin and carcinogen) with cysteine and guanosine 5’-monophosphate. Early attempts led to side products including ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol; however, our most promising method to date reacts cysteine with 2-bromoethanol in sodium methoxide/methanol followed by reaction of the 2-hydroxyethyl adduct with HCl and later with guanosine 5’-monophosphate. By reacting other halogenated hydrocarbons through the same method, …

In Defense Of Adaptation: Aestheticism Versus Functionalism In The Wicked Franchise, Amanda S. Adams

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This project serves as an extended case study on the adaptability of an aesthetic text into a popular text. It focuses on Gregory Maguire’s original novel Wicked, which drew its inspiration from the universally known land of Oz, and the subsequent stage adaptation by the same name. The first half of the project involves an extensive text-to-stage analysis, delineating the differences between the two mediums. The second half of the project involves an examination of the sequels to the original novel as commodities. Each of the novels is a literary text created for a narrower audience, while the popular …

Personal Reflections On Jumah Cola Time To Drink And A Declaration Of Ideals, Joel R. Fickel

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Approximately one year ago, I founded an experimental theater group on the campus of Western Kentucky University called The Corporate Surrealists of America. The group is made up of artists from radically different departments and disciplines and is focused on fostering an alternative kind of performance that is both richly multi-disciplinary and seriously concerned with burning political, social, and historical issues. One of the group’s main tenets has been to attempt to make art in the periphery of an institution as much as possible. Several thrilling independent productions were mounted including NIGHT RAID, WITH THESE MY HANDS OF THE …

Perceptions Of Peer Leadership Among Honors Students, Christy M. Culbreth

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

My Capstone Experience/Thesis project seeks to explore and compare the perceptions of peer leadership among freshmen honors students who have received formal leadership training and freshmen honors students who have received no formal leadership training. Peer leadership plays an important role in all aspects of life. If students who have had formal leadership training have a more positive perception of their peer leaders, educators may want to put more peer leadership curriculum into their programs. This study tests the hypothesis that freshmen honors students who have received formal leadership training will have a more positive perception of their peer leaders. …

The Concise Guide To The Modern Calvinist/Arminian Debate, David J. Leonhardt

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The Calvinist/Arminian debate is not a new issue to the Protestant Church; however, it is an issue that has resurged within contemporary Christianity. One major offense committed in this controversial debate occurs when a person or group uses a term from the opposite side in a way that is not the proponent’s original intent or meaning. Furthermore, misconceptions concerning the actual doctrines maintained by either side have become commonplace in the debate. In order to correct this problem, this thesis will serve as a guide for understanding the Calvinist/Arminian debate. It will provide information on the founders of the two …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Metallocorrole And Metalloporphyrin Complexes For Catalytic Oxidations, Zhibo Yuan

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Macrocyclic ligand-complexed transition metal-oxo intermediates are the active oxidizing species in a variety of important biological and catalytic oxidation reactions. Many transition metal catalysts have been designed to mimic the predominant oxidation catalysts in nature, namely the cytochrome P450 enzymes. Metal porphyrin complexes have been the center of research as catalysts in this context. This study focuses on the synthesis of porphyrin and corrole macrocyclic ligands and the corresponding ruthenium and iron complexes which are fully characterized by UV-vis and NMR spectroscopies.

The catalytic oxidation reactions towards organic sulfides by these metal complexes were also studied. Two ruthenium porphyrin complexes …

The Lyme Disease Spirochete In Tick Species Collected From Warren County, Kentucky, Cheryl C. Onwu

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The overall goal of this present study was to determine the prevalence of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, in south central Kentucky. A survey of ticks collected from a single location in Warren County, Kentucky was conducted between the months of April and June, 2010. A total of 293 ticks were collected. Three species were identified: 264 (91.7 %) of the ticks were Amblyoma americanum, 18 (6.6%) were Dermacentor variabilis, and 1 (0.35%) was Ixodes scapularis. The ten remaining ticks were immature nymphs and could not be identified. After identifying the species and sex of …

Debating Immigration: Arizona's Controversial Response To Illegal Hispanic Immigration, Parker M. Wornall

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Hispanic Immigration into the United States is no new phenomena. What is new in regards to this immigration is the strict measures being taken by various states where Hispanic immigration is most prevalent. These laws are proving to be arbitrary, punitive, and unethical. Arizona was the first to pass a “stop policy” on immigration with Senate Bill 1070. This bill does not aptly address the many push and pull factors that have caused this immigration; push factors being factors that will drive people away from Latin America, and pull factors being factors that attract them to the United States. Likewise, …

What's That Hooting Sound? A Survey On Novel Sound Producing Mechanisms In Chameleons, Keyana Boka

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This research project seeks to study how chameleons generate low frequency vibrations, some audible and some not. The mechanism responsible for this 'hoot' is unknown. A modified tracheal appendage we termed “the resonator” has been hypothesized as the potential source of this sound. An anatomical survey was conducted on various chameleon species including, Chameleo melleri (Meller), Chamaeleo pardalis (Ambanja, Nosy Be, Panther, Sambava), Furcifer rhinoceratus, Chamaeleo dilepis (Flapneck), Chamaeleo rudis (Side-striped), Chamaeleo calyptratus (Veiled), Chamaeleo jacksonii (Jackson’s), Chamaeleo quadricornicus (4-horned), Chamaeleo quilensis (Flapneck), Chamaeleo senegalensis (Senegal), Chamaeleo jacksonii xantholophus (giant Jackson’s), and Rhampholean brevicaudatus (Pygmy). Each chameleon was dissected …

Ua45/6 Commencement Program, Wku Registrar

WKU Archives Records

Commencement program listing graduates.

Strahm, Victor Herbert, 1897-1957 (Sc 2651), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2651. Diary kept by Brigadier General Victor H. Strahm while serving with the Ninth Air Force during World War II. Brief daily entries for 1944 cover his work and the progress of the war, particularly the air war against the Germans. Includes loose items from diary and four photos of Strahm.

Rodes Collection (Mss 427), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 427. Correspondence, photographs, and business and personal papers, primarily of Robert Rodes, Sr. of Danville, Kentucky, and John Barret Rodes of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Robert Rodes's correspondence includes letters outlining his fear of an invasion of Bowling Green by Confederate forces, 1861 (Click on "Additional Files" below for typescripts). Also includes material related to Rodes ancestors and descendants, as well as to members of the Grider, Hines, Helm, Loving and associated families.

Meeting Minutes, Wku University Senate

Faculty Senate

Meeting regarding wellness program, student evaluation of faculty, Student Government Association, research faculty policy and Colonnade Plan.

Meeting Minutes, Wku Graduate Council

Graduate School

Meeting minutes.

December Agenda, Wku Graduate Council

Graduate School

Meeting agenda.

Graduate Faculty Committee, Wku Graduate Council

Graduate School

Membership of Graduate Committee.

Farmers Bank - Smiths Grove, Kentucky (Mss 441), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 441. Letter press book of Farmers Bank, Smiths Grove, Kentucky, recording certificates of protest. Includes loose certificates found in the letter book.

Ua80/1 Meeting Minutes, W Club

University Organizations

Meeting agenda and minutes for December 2012 meeting of the W Club Board of Directors.

Cummings, F. G. (Sc 2648), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2648. Letter, 25 September 1851, of F. G. Cummings, Rochester, New York, to J. D. McGill, chairman of the board of trustees of Covington Theological Institute, Covington, Kentucky, inquiring about admission. He describes his background and his decision, made in Texas, to enter the ministry. He also inquires about teaching in the school’s preparatory department.

Beard, Thomas Houston, 1872-1956 (Sc 2650), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2650. Letter of Thomas H. Beard, Bowling Green, Kentucky, to his nephew William T. Beard, at school in Lexington,Virginia. He stresses the importance of education in the successful pursuit of a profession, and points to examples among some of his nephew’s contemporaries from Bowling Green.

Smiths Grove College - Smiths Grove, Kentucky (Sc 2649), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Small Collection 2649. Subscription lists, receipts and other financial records related to the operation of Smiths Grove College in Smiths Grove, Kentucky. Includes a debate outline demanding equal rights for women (Click on "Additional Files" below for scan).

Graduate Student Research Meeting Minutes, Wku Graduate Council

Graduate School

Meeting minutes.

Long-Term Effects Of Alcohol Consumption [Annotated Bibliography], Polly Cowan

Undergraduate Research Award

No abstract provided.

Crabb, Alfred Leland, Jr., 1919-2020 (Sc 2647), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2647. Reminiscence of Alfred Leland Crabb, Jr. of a visit to the Warren County, Kentucky farm of his grandfather, James Wade Crabb, in the mid-1920s.

The Legal Career Of Abraham Lincoln [Annotated Bibliography], Steven Fioretti

Undergraduate Research Award

No abstract provided.

Career Exploration Assignment [Nursing], Chelsea Pitts

Undergraduate Research Award

No abstract provided.

Ua12/2/1 The Stressbusters, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

Special finals week edition of the College Heights Herald.

Ua3/9 Fall 2012 End Of Semester Message, Wku President's Office, Gary Ransdell

WKU Archives Records

Memo from President Gary Ransdell to the faculty and staff thanking the faculty and staff for a successful semester, graduation and season's greetings.

Ohlenmacher, Carl Frederick, 1859-1932 (Sc 67), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 67. A sentimental essay entitled “Memories of School Days,” written by Carl Frederick Ohlenmacher, Scottsville, Kentucky.

Meeting Minutes, Wku Council Of Academic Deans

Council of Academic Deans

Meeting regarding prior learning assessment, summer school, vacation, memoranda of agreement, Kentucky Campus Compact, student identity, student productions, teaching assistants, credit hours, administrator selection, study abroad, tenure and promotion.