Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of Recombinant Varicella-Zoster Virus Vaccines Expressing Sars-Cov-2 Antigens, Cody Wilson

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) continues to cause infections and deaths around the globe. Since its emergence, scientists have worked diligently to discover and produce vaccines to battle the virus. While they successfully created and distributed vaccines, the vaccines are not without flaw. These vaccines do not grant long term immunity, require multiple booster shots, and have not prevented the emergence of viral variants. In this study, the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD), which is a key part of the spike protein (S), and nucleocapsid (N) genetic sequences were inserted into the live varicella …

Catholicism Online: How The Church Is Communicating In The Visual Field, Alexandra Barfield

Honors Theses

ABSTRACT

Given the rise and importance of social media in the last two decades, religious institutions, especially the Roman Catholic Church, have an important place online to fulfill their mission and belief of spreading the Gospel message. Communicating this message on social media and with contemporary marketing practices is an opportunity and a challenge for churches, Catholics, and apostolates alike. In this study, I analyze a variety of Catholic-related Instagram accounts and interview individuals involved in Church management and content creation. This primary research is prefaced with secondary research exploring the status of the Catholic Church in the United States, …

Critically Observing The Challenges And Changes: An Analysis On Covid-19’S Impact With An Emphasis On Students In Higher Education, Landon Perkins

Honors Theses

This project involves comparing different visualizations related to COVID-19 and higher education in order to determine key impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on students in higher education, as well as higher education as a whole. The main metrics used to determine the impact were mental health indicators for anxiety or depressive disorders, enrollment numbers by control type (public, private non-profit, or private for-profit) and state for 2020 and 2021, and state mandate lift dates for a variety of mandates implemented across the United States. These metrics were analyzed both individually and against each other to determine if they had any …

Comorbidity Burden And Covid-19 Vaccination Intention: Application Of The Health Belief Model, Michael Raymond

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many aspects of American’s lives causing over 79 million cases and over 950,000 deaths. Existing research shows severity of COVID-19 infection may be linked to number of underlying health conditions, known as comorbidities. The objective of this study was to determine if comorbidity burden was associated with intention to vaccinate against COVID-19. This relationship was looked at through the Health Belief Model (HBM) and its mediating variables of perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers. Our sample was compromised of 350 individuals recruited from an online platform who were not already vaccinated against COVID-19. …

Differences In Covid Related Anxiety Between Those With And Without Type 2 Diabetes, Jane G. Hewes

Honors Theses

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals with diabetes may be at higher risk for experiencing negative behavioral, psychosocial, and disease-related outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to compare COVID-19-related anxiety between adults with and without type 2 diabetes. Two separate samples were recruited for this study from web-based panels of adults: 372 adults with type 2 diabetes and 259 adults without type 2 diabetes. COVID-19-related anxiety was assessed using the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S)This scale includes 7 items scored on a 5-point Likert scale. Scores are summed to generate a total score with higher scores …

An Analysis Of The Tanzanian Public Response To Tanzanian Leadership During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Savannah Pipkin

Honors Theses

This thesis discusses the similarities and differences in Tanzanian COVID-19 policies implemented by the late President John Pombe Magufuli and his successor, President Samia Suluhu Hassan. It also analyzes the responses of Tanzanian citizens to these different policies as expressed in the media. The conclusions that were made in this thesis are based on qualitative analysis of articles published in Tanzanian-based newspapers during specific time periods surrounding significant policy changes during each presidency. The situation of COVID-19 policies in Tanzania is unique due to the differences in the COVID-19 policies implemented in comparison to those implemented by other countries and …

Delineating The Source And Implications Of Social Polarization, Logan Kohan

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research was to examine the causes and consequences that meta-perceptions of polarization in the United States entails. The survey used in this study assessed respondents demographic and political information prior to questions regarding polarization. This study found that the polarization in the United States results from a multitude of variables, including: the intrusion of partisan cues into everyday life, social sorting, polarization’s implicit effect, and differences in moral concern. Moreover, polarization encompasses and variety of ramifications that include disease, amplified interparty animosity, biased policy evaluation, reduced governmental efficiency, intraparty polarization, tribalism, and the quest to achieve …

Contributions Community Health Centers In The Delta Have Made During The Pandemic And Their Future, Ajah Tiyanna Singleton

Honors Theses

Community health centers that are located in the Mississippi Delta serve as critical points of contact for residents pertaining to medical care. The framework for the services provided locally, and nationally, originate from the now Delta Health Center in Mound Bayou, MS. The care that providers within these institutions have transformed over the course of the pandemic, and the aid rendered to patients have enabled residents to maintain their current level of health. Analyzing the various services provided during this time will allow for stakeholders to determine the next steps for these institutions as the imminent transition into a COVID-19 …

The Efficacy Of The Covid-19 Vaccine In Mississippi, Ilyse Miriam Levy

Honors Theses

The Efficacy of The COVID-19 Vaccine in Mississippi

(Under the direction of Dr. Xin Dang)

By tracking and analyzing fifty-three weeks of COVID-19 data, this thesis analyzes the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine within the State of Mississippi. Over the course of these fifty-three weeks, I have also been able to calculate the confidence intervals for vaccination efficacy and the risk reduction due to vaccination by using data regarding the correlations between deaths and vaccination status, provided to me by the Mississippi Office of Epidemiology. My analysis demonstrates that the COVID-19 vaccine is effective not only in Mississippi but also …

Communicating Through A Crisis: An Analysis Of The University Of Mississippi's Initial Covid-19 Crisis Communications, Sydney Waitley

Honors Theses

This thesis, in effort to examine modern-day crisis communications, focuses on the analysis of University of Mississippi’s initial crisis communications during the COVID-19 pandemic during March 2020. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the university’s communication efforts during this crisis in order to determine the effectiveness of the University of Mississippi’s initial COVID-19 crisis communications. First, the researcher analyzed historical case studies on three notable crisis communications (the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol Crisis of 1982, the United Airlines Crisis of 2017, and the Crock-Pot Crisis of 2018). From these case studies, qualities of good crisis communications were determined …

Adapting, Overcoming, And Connecting: How College Sports Social Media Responded To Covid-19, Jackson Sepko

Honors Theses

This project, inspired by the researcher’s own experience as a digital media marketing assistant for Ole Miss Athletics, investigates how certain NCAA team accounts grew their social media engagement in the 2020-21 seasons despite the challenges and interruptions of COVID-19. First, metrics from data analytics firm SkullSparks were analyzed to determine which accounts increased their engagement metrics the most or performed strongly compared to their peers. Then, those accounts’ posts were analyzed using CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned data analytics tool, and using Twitter’s advanced search features to see which posts overperformed compared to each account’s average posts.

From there, with an …

Social Environment Changes During Covid-19 Quarantine, Aileen Jimenez

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research project is to understand perceptions of the psychological, behavioral, and social impacts of COVID-19. Students at the University of Mississippi were invited to participate in an online questionnaire administered through Qualtrics. The questionnaire was composed of questions concerning health behaviors, including questions from the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21, Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale, Fear of Coronavirus-19 Scale, and the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring study. 274 students participated in the study. Overall, the results of this study suggested moderate distress across the sample, differences in sleep, exercise, and alcohol consumption during quarantine conditions, …

Covid-19 And Challenges To The Traditional Understanding Of Individual Medical Autonomy, Callon A. Green

Honors Theses

Throughout history, vaccines have provided the human population with the ability to combat dangerous illnesses and avoid preventable suffering. Despite the benefits vaccines provide to the public health of the United States, anti-vaccination sentiment and resistance to vaccine uptake are still prevalent in the modern day. As the COVID-19 pandemic has developed into a major public health crisis that can be controlled through vaccination, the issues underlying vaccine resistance are becoming more critical to return to normal life. Using COVID-19 as a case study, it is evident that the individual choice to deny vaccination can have consequences on the health …

Do Autocratic Regimes Excel In Natural Disaster Relief? A Case Study Of Political Institutions And Covid-19 Exposure, Jane Kay

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has challenged what we know about the politics of public health. In this research study, I investigate the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural disaster and hypothesize if authoritarian governments are more adequate at disaster control and relief. I hypothesize that the more autocratic a government structure, the better they would be at handling COVID-19 exposure and outbreaks due to their centralized decision making, unified media, and their ability to make unpopular decisions without repercussions. In order to test this theory, I gather data from the Johns Hopkins database for three key dates in the pandemic …