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Front Matter

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

Retrospective And Anticipated Regret For Self And Other: Implications For Health Behavior Decision-Making, Adrian Hernandez

McNair Scholars Journal

All individuals hold a degree of uncertainty or doubt in their decisionmaking process. As theorized through the notion of counterfactual thinking, we frequently reflect on the alternatives or unrealized possibilities of our decisions (Rafetseder & Perner, 2012). This is often associated with sentiment such as guilt, shame, and regret. Regret is defined as an unpleasant emotion that is felt after a realization that a current situation would have been better had a different decision been made (Breugelmans, Zeelenberg, Gilovich, Huang, & Shani, 2014).

Regret is unique because of its direct association with decision-making. However, in the domain of health behavior …

A Message From The Mcnair Scholars Program, Robert P. Smart, Susan Mendoza, Dolli Lutes

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

Counting Color: Biracial Activism In The Black Lives Matter Era, Maria Hamming

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

Bury Your Gays: History, Usage, And Context, Haley Hulan

McNair Scholars Journal

Bury Your Gays is a literary trope that has appeared in media across genre since the end of the 19th century. Works using the trope will feature a same-gender couple and with one of the lovers dying and the other realizing they were never actually gay, often running into the arms of a heterosexual partner. This trope was originally used as a way for gay authors to write about gay characters without coming under fire for breaking laws and social mandates against the “endorsement” of homosexuality. However, Bury Your Gays persists today in a time and social context in which …

The Effect Of Crf2 Receptor Regulation On Depressive-Like Behaviors During Protracted Ethanol Withdrawal, Liyah Marshall

McNair Scholars Journal

There are many times in which stress plays an influential role in alcohol addiction, but it is most influential during the time of relapse, in which there are cycles of heightened anxiety, depressive mood, and negative affect (Logrip et al., 2011). Clinical studies have suggested that the most common reason for relapse is the ability for alcohol to relieve these negative mood symptoms experienced during withdrawal (Hershon, 1977; Cloninger, 1987). The target of this study is the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) system, which is understood to play a central role in regulating the behavioral stress response within the body (Dunn & …

Characterizing The Cellular Function Of Protein Phosphatase 1 Isoforms, Christian Miller

McNair Scholars Journal

A protein phosphatase is an enzyme that removes a phosphate group from a specific amino acid residue on a target protein substrate. This protein phosphatase-regulated dephosphorylation is an important mechanism for many different processes and regulations inside mammalian cells (Rebleo, 2015). One of the major classes of protein phosphatases is the Ser/Thr-specific family. These phosphatases target the amino acids serine and threonine. There are many different members of the Ser/Thr-specific family, but the phosphatase that this study focuses on is called protein phosphatase 1 (PP1). PP1 has three different isoforms: alpha, beta, and gamma. These isoforms share roughly 90% of …

Statistical Modeling Of Multiple Sclerosis Patients’ Cognitive Data, Ryan Lietzau

McNair Scholars Journal

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a devastating autoimmune disease that affects a person’s physical and cognitive function. Immune system cells which normally attack pathogens and foreign cells instead target the nerves of the central nervous system. The myelin sheaths of nerve cells are left scarred and inflamed, lessening their ability to transmit electrical impulses. An attack on such an important and fundamental body system leads to a broad and complex set of symptoms: difficulty walking, worsened hand dexterity, loss of memory, slowed processing speed, and the like. MS and its effects on cognition are still not fully understood and many studies …

The Black Church And Communal Empowerment, Darwin Perry

McNair Scholars Journal

In 1892, the state of Grand Rapids, Michigan recognized Messiah Missionary Baptist church as the first Black church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. From 1892 until this present moment in time, the Black church in Grand Rapids, Michigan functioned as a vital source of communal empowerment for communities of color. Rather than operating as a mere building for Sunday gatherings, the Black church, the abstract collectivity of Black churches with a predominant membership and or congregation of individuals racially categorized as Black, simultaneously functioned to empower the Black community of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The great furniture city of Grand Rapids has …

Men Of The Fur Trade, Ca. 1620-1770s, Mitchell Mockerman

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Social Exclusion On Perceptions Of Poverty And American Identity, Vauwn Nghiem-Olson

McNair Scholars Journal

The current study aims to unveil how social exclusion and physical vulnerability influence personal perception. We hypothesized that social exclusion (versus acceptance and a neutral control) would facilitate negative perceptions of people in poverty and racial ethnic minorities and limit who is perceived as possessing an American identity. We utilized the reliving task paradigm to manipulate the experience of social exclusion and participants completed questionnaires assessing thoughts of physical vulnerability, perceptions of the poor and middle-class, and attributions for poverty, as well as questionnaires assessing personal impressions and perceptions of Americanness amongst various ethnic Americans. Although our hypotheses were largely …

Denying Atrocities: Comparing Policies And Pressures In Turkey And Japan, Miranda Owen

McNair Scholars Journal

Denialism has long been considered an aspect of genocide, and as Stanton (1996) argues, denialism is its final stage. After a genocidal act or other widespread act of violence, perpetrators will often try to eliminate as much evidence as possible and employ revisionist tactics in order to ensure that their crimes are forgotten. This study focuses on the history of denial amongst two mass atrocity case studies. The first is the Armenian Genocide, which has long been denied by Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, who were the perpetrators of the genocide. The second is the Nanking Massacre, …

The Effect Of Crf2 Activation On Anxiety-Like Behaviors During Prolonged Alcohol Withdrawal, Facundo Santome

McNair Scholars Journal

Alcoholism is estimated to cost the United States a quarter of a trillion dollars annually, including the deaths of 88,000 individuals. Recovering alcoholics often experience a multitude of withdrawal symptoms including long-term mood disturbances. Clinical studies have reported a strong relationship between anxiety and alcohol relapse, which hinders long-term recovery (Hershon, 1977; Cloninger, 1987; De Soto et al., 1989; Annis et al., 1998). Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is a 42-amino acid neuropeptide that regulates the mammalian endocrine, autonomic, and behavioral stress responses. Due to the relationship between anxiety and alcohol relapse, the CRF system is also an important mediator in enhanced …

The Anti-Islam Narrative In Diderot’S Entry “Sarrasins” For The Encyclopédie (1751-1772), Amber Sackett

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

Genetic Connectivity Of Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnakes In Michigan, Kristin Schepke

McNair Scholars Journal

Migration can be the mechanism through which gene flow occurs allowing for increased genetic diversity (Slatkin, 1985). When habitats are fragmented, genetic diversity between populations declines because of the inability of migrants to disperse between populations (Manier, 2005). Loss and fragmentation of suitable habitat, resulting in isolation of populations, has contributed to the decline and subsequent listing of the eastern massasauga rattlesnake as a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in September of 2016 (Chiucchi, 2010; Johnson, 1995; Mierzwa, 1993; Szymanski, 1998; United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 2016). Wetlands are a crucial environment for hibernation and …

Grand Valley State University Mcnair Scholars Who Have Received Their Phd As Of August 2017

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

About The Trio Programs

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

Back Matter

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

Non-Moral Considerations On The Civil Rights Narrative, Keegan Richards

McNair Scholars Journal

In this paper I argue that in the service of their political agenda, many leaders of the recent past have made decisions that, even today, serve to confuse the racial dialectic and slow civil rights progress in the 21st century. This confusion is then exacerbated by two related factors: the oversimplification of history common in the civil rights era, and the imprecision brought about by the use of moral language. Understanding these two factors is key to many phenomena seen both politically and culturally in America today.

Nietzsche believed that without the moral authority that God provides, we’ve lost our …

A Message From The Mcnair Scholars Program, Robert Smart, Susan Mendoza, Dolli Lutes

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

Do Children Have Their Own Mind? A Study On Maternal Mind-Mindedness, Bria Atkins

McNair Scholars Journal

Maternal mind-mindedness (MMM) is defined as a mother’s ability to attune to a child’s mental state and her tendency to interpret her child’s behavior with reference to the thoughts and emotions that may govern the child’s actions (Meins, 1998). Research has shown that MMM is correlated with attachment security, child behaviors, and parenting behaviors (Meins, Fernyhough, Fradley, Tuckey, & 2001; Meins, Centifaniti, Fernyhough, & Fishburn, 2013; McMahon & Meins, 2011). Specifically, appropriate mindrelated comments have been found to be independent predictors of attachment security (Meins et al., 2001). MMM measured in the first year has been linked to fewer behavioral …

The Amoy China Mission Of The Reformed Church In America, 1937-1951, James Bell

McNair Scholars Journal

The Amoy Mission of the Christian Reformed Church in America was founded in 1842 by David Abeel, a Reformed missionary working on behalf of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missionaries. Its primary goal was to spread Protestant Christianity among the Chinese people and create an independent Christian Church in China. This research, based on primary documents from the Joint Archives of Holland at Hope College, seeks to determine what methods the Reformed missionaries used in their attempt to accomplish this task, what impact events such as the Second Sino-Japanese War and the communist victory had on the missionaries’ …

Bringing The Food To The City: Reconstructing The Nature Of The Animal Economy In Early Urban Centers Of The Ancient Near East Through Stable Isotope Analyses, Parryss Carter-Mcgee

McNair Scholars Journal

This study used isotopic analyses of strontium, oxygen, and carbon on molar teeth of seven domestic ovicaprines (sheep and goat) and one wild gazelle from the Southern Levant of the ancient Near East to better understand herd management patterns in early urban centers. Analysis focused on the Early Bronze Age (EBA 3600-2400 BCE) site of Tell es-Safi/Gath in Israel. The main research question is how did early urban centers in this region acquire and utilize domestic animal resources? The main hypothesis was that a direct/local provisioning system was utilized in managing the domestic animals and that the animals would be …

Perfectionism And Procrastination: The Jekyll And Hide Paradox, Carin Echols

McNair Scholars Journal

Perfectionism is defined as putting in more work for a task than is necessary to complete it, while procrastination concerns the purposeful delay of a task altogether. They are both often labelled as unwelcome aspects of personality, but can these two seemingly opposite traits work together and exist in the same reality? This study examined the nuances of this relationship through conscientiousness, fear of negative evaluation, and temporal awareness in a sample of over 200 college students. For a point of reference, these constructs were characterized through the literary model of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Perfectionism was represented by …

Effects Of Diet On Sensitivity To Social Defeat Stress In Mice, Deseree Eudave

McNair Scholars Journal

There is a well-established link between stress exposure and risk for psychiatric disorders. However, only a small subset of stress-exposed subjects develops symptoms of psychiatric disorders. These individuals are termed stress-sensitive. The majority of stress-exposed subjects prove resilient. Both environmental and genetic factors likely contribute to stress-sensitivity or stress-resiliency. One potential environmental factor is diet. The purpose of this experiment is to identify whether a diet high in fat or sucrose will influence sensitivity to social defeat stress (SDS) in mice as measured by anxiety- and depression-like behavior.

Using a 2x3 design, C57BL6/N mice (C57) were assigned to either SDS …

Spain Remembering: The Civil War On Film, Sophie Delacruz

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

To The Victors Belong The Spoils: How The United States And Cuban Elites Undermined The Ideals Of The Raceles Nation And Cuba Libre (1898-1913), Daylin Pujol Lopez

McNair Scholars Journal

No abstract provided.

Synthesis Of Bidentate Phosphorus Ligands For Heavy Metal Chelation, C’Arra Miller

McNair Scholars Journal

A current challenge faced by society is the increased implementation of more sustainable energy sources and the reduction of carbon-based energy sources. In addition, these sources must meet immediate energy demands and minimize any detrimental effects on the environment. One such favorable energy source is nuclear power. In the case of nuclear power, this method generates significant amounts of energy with minimal atmospheric emissions. Unfortunately, two major challenges limit its usage, which are the remediation and long term storage of nuclear waste, also referred to as spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The separation of SNF is in part due to the …