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Phylogenetic Relationships Of The Genera Of Achariaceae Based On Analyses Of Morphological And Dna Data, Corey L. Pagart

Honors Theses

Achariaceae are a mostly tropical family of flowering plants consisting of about 29 genera and 150 species of trees and shrubs. Although they are closely related to passionflowers (Passifloraceae), violets (Violaceae), and willows and cottonwoods (Salicaceae), phylogenetic relationships of the genera remain unclear because the only studies have been focused on particular genera or had limited sampling. Few studies of the family in general have been conducted, except for some on species that produce chaulmoogra oil, a commonly used historical treatment for leprosy. For my study, I investigated the relationships of the genera within the family using morphological and molecular …

A Retro Development In Education: Evaluating The Feasibility Of Integrating Place-Based Education Into Mississippi Curriculum Standards, Colby K. Mcclain

Honors Theses

This thesis evaluates the feasibility of integrating place-based environmental education activities from Think Green, Take Action: Books and Activities for Kids into the Mississippi Department of Education’s (MDE) Frameworks for Science and Social Studies for K-5. As children develop and experience the world, their ability to understand and interpret the surrounding environments expand; however, Mississippi schools are not focused on experiential environmental education, even though experiencing and understanding the surrounding environment is vital in fostering eagerness to learn. Due to a growing disconnect between humans and the natural world, this thesis examined 37 place- and environment-based activities for children, sixteen …

The Implications Of Rising Turnover And Voluntary Turnover Within The Federal Government, Laura E. Kirkman

Honors Theses

Human Resources (HR) is a dynamic, changing, and vital part of every business whether commercial or governmental. HR is also often left to deal with voluntary turnover and the difficulties it brings. This study focuses on the implications of rising turnover/voluntary turnover within the federal government. The aim of this study was to analyze the data collected by the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to determine the connections between turnover/voluntary turnover and demographic factors, workplace satisfaction factors, and organizational/relational factors within the federal government. This analysis examined the Fed Scope data from 2011 through 2016, and employee surveys …

African-American Perceptions Of Community-Oriented Policing Programs, Adrian L. Griggs

Honors Theses

Reports of police killings of unarmed African-American men have been commonly featured on the news in recent months. Protests in response to those incidents have occasionally turned into riots, and the tension between the minority community and police remains unchanged. There is always a racial variable implicit whenever the African-American community policing debate arises. Researchers have conducted studies on this challenge and have examined differences in perceptions of police officers between African Americans and other racial groups. Studies have been conducted that examine why there might be less satisfaction with police among African Americans but have not considered how these …

The Preparation Of Synthetic Myod Mrna For Cellular Differentiation And Innate Immune Response Downstream Application, James D. Grenn

Honors Theses

The development of therapeutic immune responses from the manipulation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) via induction of synthetic RNA with 5’ capped and 3’ poly(A)tailed ends would lead to development of stem cell therapy. A necessary step in attaining such a goal is to first produce an mRNA transcript from a plasmid containing the open reading frame (ORF) for a transcription factor for cellular activation.

In this research, the DNA plasmid pMD4 encoding MyoD was transcribed into synthetic mRNA. The plasmid was first amplified using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and analyzed using gel electrophoresis. The amplified template was purified via …

Religious Commitment, Job Satisfaction, And Social Acceptability Among Religious Groups, Kathryn E. Dozier

Honors Theses

This study seeks to develop a better understanding of the relationships between religious commitment, social support, and job satisfaction. This research specifically investigated the correlations between religious commitment and social support, religious commitment and job satisfaction, and social support and job satisfaction. After surveying undergraduate students from a southern university, there was no statistical evidence supporting the idea that the indicated combinations contributed to job satisfaction. The research did demonstrate, however, a correlation between religious commitment and social support. In addition, groups were tested for significant differences in levels of religious commitment, social support, and job satisfaction; the groups based …

A Survey Of Lake Thoreau’S Benthic Invertebrate Community, Elizabeth A. Dobronski

Honors Theses

This survey was conducted at the Lake Thoreau Environmental Center in Hattiesburg, MS. It began with four benthic samples taken in the deep area of the lake as well as four taken in the lake’s shallow area. Samples were taken with a 6”x6” Ekman Grab Sampler and filtered through a U.S. standard 30 mesh sieve (openings = 0.6 mm). The samples were initially stored in formaldehyde for 24 hours, and then transferred into ethanol. In the laboratory, macroinvertebrates were picked out of the samples while viewing the samples through a dissecting microscope. High densities of the phantom midge Chaoborus larvae …

Altering The Structure Of Carboxysomal Carbonic Anhydrase Csosca To Determine The Necessity Of The N-Terminal Domain In Csosca Function, Dana L. Dillistone

Honors Theses

In this project, a DNA construct was designed and developed to remove the first fifty amino acids of the CsoSCA protein in the chemolithotrophic bacterium Halothiobacillus neapolitanus. The csoS3 gene codes for a carbonic anhydrase enzyme (CsoSCA) that is unique to a structure called a carboxysome. Carboxysomes are polyhedral microcompartments where carbon fixation is housed. The carbonic anhydrase is a shell-associated protein that improves the catalytic efficiency of ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO), the enzyme that catalyzes the fixation of carbon. By deleting the first fifty amino acids of the carbonic anhydrase, the necessity of the amino acids in carboxysome function was …

Phylogenetic Relationships Of Salicaceae Based On Analyses Of Nuclear Dna Data, John Marshall Diffey

Honors Theses

Salicaceae are an economically and ecologically important family of flowering plants. The family includes willows and cottonwoods and was recently enlarged to include a large number of tropical species formerly placed in the family Flacourtiaceae. Relationships of these tropical relatives to willows and cottonwoods have been explored at a basic level using morphology and plastid DNA data, but to date no molecular phylogenies have been constructed with significant sampling of nuclear DNA, which sometimes results in a different picture of relationships because of its biparental inheritance. For this project, I sampled one region of nuclear DNA (GBSSI) across the family …

“Patriotism Is Not Enough”: Edith Cavell’S Life And Death In Anglo-American Context, Erin B. Blackledge

Honors Theses

In October 1915, British nurse Edith Cavell was killed by the Germans for aiding in the illegal liberation of Allied soldiers. In the wake of her death, the British government created a propaganda firestorm to garner both domestic and foreign support for the war. In particular, the propaganda featuring Cavell was highly gendered and over the course of multiple generations has generated a diverse, and often polarized series of social and political responses in both Britain and the United States. Through the examination of government documents, newspapers, and popular culture, such as film and children’s novels, this thesis examines the …

Recombinant Expression And Purification Of Amyloid-Β In E. Coli, Wisam M. Beauti

Honors Theses

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder that affects people older than 65 years 1,2,5. It is characterized by the presence of extracellular plaque deposits that are seen specifically in the brains of AD patients 4,5. These plaques are mainly comprised of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide aggregates. Aβ plaque production and deposition is believed to drive AD pathogenesis. Studying these proteins is crucial to understanding aspects of AD in order to develop possible therapeutic treatments. Recombinant expression of Aβ can also provide a handle to introduce mutations in the protein to further study their structure-function relationships. However, synthetic Aβ monomer …

The Effects Of Including Physical Activity In Classrooms With Children With Language Disorders, Shelby E. Auer

Honors Theses

As obesity becomes a rising concern in the United States and the importance of high test scores continues to add stress to students, physical activity opportunities are beginning to become less frequent in schools. The Center for Disease Control reports a total of 12.7 million children were classified as obese from 2011 to 2012 (CDC, 2015). While many researchers have also acknowledged this trend, the majority of studies focus on the correlation of physical activity in the classroom with increases in fitness and cognitive functioning levels among average population students, much like the research done by Webster, Russ, Vazou, Goh, …

Assessing Career Decision-Making Status: The Casve Cycle Questionnaire, Brianna J. Werner

Master's Theses

The CASVE Cycle Questionnaire (CASVE-CQ) was developed to assess an individual’s progress in the CASVE cycle. A multi-phase development process was utilized, which included: initial item development, review by the current targeted demographic (i.e., college students), expert review, measure pilot, and measure administration with item refinement at each of the first three phases. Additionally, the CASVE-CQ identifies those who may have passed over important components of the CASVE cycle. As hypothesized and consistent with guided theory, exploratory factor analysis resulted in a 6 factor measure consisting of 55 items. Validity was supported through correlations between the CASVE-CQ and the identity …

Sparking A Dolphin's Curiosity: Individual Differences In Dolphins' Reactions To Surprising And Expectation-Violating Events, Malin Katarina Lilley

Master's Theses

Non-scientific literature consistently describes dolphins as “curious animals,” but there has been little systematic research on curiosity in dolphins. Curiosity in humans and certain non-human animal species, including birds and non-human primates, has been studied by examining individual differences in exploration and reactions to novel stimuli. Additionally, research has explored how human infants and non-human animals react when an event violates their expectations. The present study explored dolphins’ reactions to spontaneously surprising and expectation-violating stimuli. The reactions of dolphins, 15 bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) and 6 rough-toothed (Steno bredanensis), at Gulf World Marine Park were analyzed in …

Italian Fellas In Olive Drab: Exploring The Experiences Of Italian-American Servicemen In Sicily And Italy, 1943-1945, Guido Rossi

Master's Theses

Despite constituting the largest ethnic group in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II, the experiences of Italian-Americans have received scant attention by historians. In particular, the stories of the U.S. citizens of Italian descent or Italian-born but naturalized Americans who served in Italy, have received almost none. These soldiers, sailors, airmen, and coastguardmen who could often speak Italian, had grown up in Italian-American families and neighborhoods, and still had relatives in Italy, were asked to go fight in their country of origin. During the Allied advance, these men found themselves in close contact with a destitute Italian population …

No Foreign Despots On Southern Soil: The American Party In Alabama And South Carolina, 1850-1857, Robert N. Farrell

Master's Theses

During the 1850s in the South, the American Party, also known as the Know Nothing Party, rallied southerners culturally and politically around nativism, an anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic ideology. This thesis studies nativism in the Deep South and challenges existing scholarship by Tyler Anbinder and William Darrell Overdyke. Anbinder claims that southern Know Nothings held little in common with their northern counterparts and exhibited only regional characteristics. Overdyke maintains that the American Party in the Deep South participated in the national organization, but he argues that nativism appeared only as an incidental component.

An analysis of private papers, speeches, and newspapers …

Towards A Better Understanding Of Zebrafish Sleep Behavior, Kanza Musarrat Khan

Master's Theses

Sleep serves many vital functions in humans, ranging from energy restoration to memory consolidation and information integration. Sleep deprivation is linked to worsened physiological states and psychological conditions. Zebrafish are an emerging model in neurobehavioral research and have recently demonstrated great utility in the study of sleep. This teleost species possesses several of the same neurotransmitter and neuropeptide systems that are involved in the regulation of sleep and waking rhythms in higher order mammals. Previous study of these animals has revealed a differential gene and proteomic expression following sleep deprivation through changes in environmental stimuli. The present study sought to …

Grooming As An Agonistic Behavior In Garnett’S Small-Eared Bushbaby (Otolemur Garnettii), Jennie L. Christopher

Master's Theses

Social behaviors are a necessary component of group living and interactions between organisms. To correctly assess social interactions, researchers must be able to observe behaviors and interpret their function based on the behavior or the behavioral context. In primate species, grooming is often used to assess affiliations between group members and the consensus has been to always interpret grooming as an affiliative behavior. However, a number of avian, rodent and feline species have been shown to groom conspecifics aggressively. These instances of aggressive grooming appear most often when individuals are required to maintain close proximity to one another, such as …

Increasing Novel Vocalizations For Individuals With Asd Using A Voice Output Communication Aide, Shawn Kathleen Bishop

Master's Theses

This study aimed to extend the literature on VOCA as a means of producing increased verbal speech using a prompt delay and shaping methods. Intervention targeted novel vocalization for three children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and limited vocal speech. All three participants increased vocalizations, but to varying degrees and only after a second phase where an echoic prompt was introduced. While the results vary across participants, increased vocal speech for all participants and high social validity suggest that VOCA-based interventions may be an appropriate intervention to increase vocal output for children with ASD.

Overparenting And Emerging Adults' Mental Health: The Mediating Role Of Emotional Distress Tolerance, Christopher Michael Perez

Master's Theses

Overparenting is a type of parental control that features intense parental involvement, which is negatively associated with the development of age-appropriate autonomous behavior in children and emerging adults. To this point, overparenting has been linked to poor mental health in young children (Bayer, Sanson, & Hemphill, 2006; Gar & Hudson, 2008), as well as in emerging adults (LeMoyne & Buchanan, 2011; Segrin, Woszidlo, Givertz, & Montgomery, 2013). The emerging adult population has continued to be one of interest across recent studies concerning mental health, given the unique emotional and behavioral changes that arise during this stage of development. Emotional distress …

A Longitudinal Investigation Of The Effect Of Violent Video Game Play On Capability For Suicide, Claire Houtsma

Master's Theses

According to the interpersonal theory of suicide, for an individual to be capable of engaging in suicidal behavior they must be fearless about death and possess elevated physical pain tolerance. It is believed that such capability is developed through exposure to painful and/or provocative events, which serve to habituate the individual to fear and pain. The current study sought to expand on previous studies to examine the impact of video game play on capability for suicide. Participants (n = 63) were randomly assigned to a violent or non-violent video game condition and fearlessness about death and pain tolerance were assessed …