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Clarifying The Conceptualization Of Empire: Is China's Belt And Road Initiative An Attempt At Empire?, Olivia Melvin

Honors Theses

Is 21st century China building an empire through the Belt and Road Initiative? Where do modern imperialist trends fit into the post-colonial world? This study explores different conceptualizations of empire used in previous academic studies and explores how the Belt and Road Initiative fits in this narrative of empire. Clarifying the discourse surrounding modern expansionist and imperialist behavior is a necessary first step in comparing phenomena that occur in very different historical periods. For example, when comparing former imperial dynasties of China to modern Chinese expansionist behavior, over 500 years of development divide these two historical periods. Newer terms such …

Design And Synthesis Of Novel Analogs As Potential Antitubercular Agents, Peggy Mccluggage

Honors Theses

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious, airborne disease which primarily infects the lungs. One-third of the world’s population is currently estimated to be infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent for TB [1]. Current treatment for this disease requires at least six months of taking multiple antibiotics with undesirable side effects [2]. Difficulty in complying to this regimen as well as the prevalence of HIV/AIDS has led to antimicrobial resistance seen in Mtb. In order to combat the Multi-Drug Resistant and Extensively-Drug Resistant strains of the disease-causing bacteria, preventative care and novel antibiotics are urgently needed [3]. The purpose for …

Effects Of Invasion By Plants And Beetles On Roots And Mycorrhizal Fungi Of Plantation Scots Pines In Poland, Meghan M. Van

Honors Theses

Biological invasions can cause significant changes to the environment in which they occur. One of the main changes that is caused is how invasive species can disrupt mutualisms between native species in ecosystems. The mutualism between mycorrhizal fungi and plants is one of the most important mutualisms that a plant forms. This mutualism is very important because it is the source of many nutrients that the plant needs. This study took place in a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) plantation in northeastern Poland, and aimed to determine the effects of plant and beetle invaders on ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi and …

An Evaluation Of Community Based Food Intervention: Cooking Matters In Charleston, Ms, Lindsay Fournier

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Cooking Matters classes in producing improvement in individuals’ cooking skills and confidence, as well as their eating behaviors, shopping skills, and perceptions of cooking in rural Charleston, MS. These classes have reported great success in more urban areas such as Atlanta, GA; Philadelphia, PA; and Washington, DC; however, different challenges may be faced in rural Mississippi. To study the effectiveness of the interventions in a new context, pre- and post-intervention self-report surveys were performed and evaluated using Wilcoxon statistical analysis as well as paired sample t tests, and bootstrap …

The Effects Of Narrative Processing On False Recall, Calista Spears

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to test whether false memory intrusions occur at a greater rate when participants encode words in a narrative processing scenario, as compared to a survival scenario or a pleasantness condition. In each condition, the participants were presented with one list of words related to an unlisted critical word adapted from Stadler, Roediger, and McDermott’s (1999) norms. For each condition (narrative, survival, and pleasantness), participants read a set of instructions and processed words by writing things related to the condition (i.e., writing a story line using the word, listing how the word would be used …

Vital Signs: Exploring Medical American Sign Language Interpreting Services In Mississippi, Morgan Pfleger

Honors Theses

This research involves the regulation, education and training, and availability of medical sign language interpreters in Mississippi, a topic that is seldom studied. The research consisted of a review of past literature on topics related to interpretation and Deaf and hard-of-hearing population, systematic policy review, and interviews with 9 individuals from 7 different medical facilities and one interview with 4 participants together in Mississippi including primary care providers, hospitals, and community health centers. These data were used to explore the interpreting services being provided for those using sign language in Mississippi. Both national and state policies require that alternative methods …

Interpreting Efforts In Mississippi Schools: Does Spanish Dialect Diversity Hinder Communication?, Walker Fortenberry

Honors Theses

This work examines the different Spanish dialects spoken by interpreters and their clients in public schools in Mississippi and whether dialectal mismatches hinder communication between interlocutors. To do this, I conducted a brief interview and survey of several interpreters for the Tupelo Public School District. The interview and survey assessed the interpreters’ personal use of Spanish dialects as well as their ability to identify certain dialects and opinions as to the relevance of dialects in their work. I found that interpreters, though aware of dialectal differences among Spanish speakers, were generally not able to identify specific dialects. Furthermore, I found …

Blood Glucose Levels Of Esports Athletes During High Intensity Gaming, Gunner Rhoden

Honors Theses

Given the rise in popularity of Esports, it is important to better understand the relationship between Esports and the human body. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between blood glucose levels and performance in Esports. Ten undergraduate students (9 male, 1 female; age = 20.3±1.2 years; BMI = 28.8±7.6; Esports mean hours per week = 18.9±14.3) were recruited from the Esports club at the University of Mississippi. Blood glucose levels were measured using a HemoCue Glucose 201 Analyzer (Angelhome, Sweden) a total of 8 times (4 per session). After the completion of an initial familiarization session, …

The Effects Of Largazole, A Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor, On Breast Cancer Cell Viability And Metastasis, Hannah Mccowan

Honors Theses

Histone deacetylase enzymes modify epigenetic characteristics of a genome by removing acetyl groups from histone proteins in chromatin. Histone deacetylase inhibitors work by stopping this activity which can have various results in a cell including apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, differentiation, and migration. The purpose of these experiments was to see how largazole, a histone deacetylase inhibitor, affected cell viability for breast cancer and associated metastatic cell lines in both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. The experiment was completed by setting up two 96-well plates with varying concentrations of largazole and conducting a sulforhodamine viability assay. The specific cell lines used in …

Accounting Research And Professional Development, Ragan Riley

Honors Theses

This paper is a compilation of various accounting studies assigned by Dr. Victoria Dickinson throughout a yearlong professional development course for accounting. During each of the twelve cases, the student was required to identify accounting principle problems within the cases, research proper accounting practices, and critically think through how these situations should have been handled in order for these companies to be in accordance with GAAP. There were also cases that facilitated decision making for students in their future career such as location decisions and articles regarding current accounting problems. This course allowed students to network with peers and accounting …

Acute Exercise On Memory Function: Open Vs. Closed Skill Exercise, Justin Cantrelle

Honors Theses

Accumulating research suggests that acute exercise may enhance memory function. Limited research, however, has evaluated whether the movement patterns of acute exercise may have a differential effect on memory. Such an effect is plausible, as research demonstrates that open-skilled exercise (e.g., racquetball) may have a greater effect on memory-related neurotrophins (e.g., brain-derived neurotrophic factors) when compared to closed-skilled exercise (e.g. treadmill exercise). A key distinction between open- and closed-skilled exercise is that open-skilled exercises are those that require an individual to react in a dynamic way to a changing, unpredictable environment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether …

Rethinking Boundaries, Spaces, And Networks Between Geography And Military Science: Understanding And Actualizing Real-Time Integrated Command And Control For Joint Air Operations, Samuel Wright

Honors Theses

Imagine a military commander standing around a table with a three-dimensional hologram projected onto to it. The hologram is of an ongoing air war of which this general is in command. Friendly forces are portrayed in blue and enemy forces in red as the opposing forces movements and actions are tracked and continuously updated. The commander has god’s eye view of where his forces are positioned relative to the enemy’s forces. Because of this view, the commander is able to make effective decisions with quick synergistic efficiency to achieve his desired outcome: defeat of the enemy. This scene invokes an …

Raman Spectroscopy Study Of Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol And Cannabidiol And Their Hydrogen-Bonding Activities, Kalee Sigworth

Honors Theses

Cannabis and products containing its cannabinoids have grown rapidly in acceptance and use in recent years with legalization of cannabis in many countries and US states. Cannabidiol and Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol are two primary cannabinoids in Cannabis that have been shown to produce analgesic effects along with many other positive side effects for the user. These two cannabinoids interact with receptors in the Central and Peripheral Nervous Systems. No spectroscopic study to our knowledge has been performed to analyze the hydrogen bonding effects of interactions between these two cannabinoids and solvents. Here, we employ theoretical Raman spectra through computational methods to study …

Comparative Analysis Of The Results From The Ideal Gas Assumptions With More Rigorous Calculations From Pro/Ii Of The Production Of Pharmaceutical Grade Acetone, Soibifaa Frank-Briggs

Honors Theses

The Chemical engineering team was assigned by Landshark Inc to investigate the production of 30,000 tonnes/yr of pharmaceutical-grade acetone with a purity of 99.9 wt.% from the dehydrogenation of isopropanol (IPA). The team was tasked with determining the necessary process and unit operation criteria to ensure the economic feasibility of the proposed plant.

The major goal of this thesis is to provide a data comparison of the reactor in acetone production process when designed in Microsoft Excel and Pro/II. The first part of this thesis will introduce the base case briefly, transition into engineering optimizations and show the results found …

A Study Of The Product Development Process For The Transparent Kitchen Knife Block, Benjamin Payne

Honors Theses

The purpose of this document is to summarize the research and planning, design, market evaluation, cost analysis, and production process for a kitchen knife block. The team began by researching multiple knife block designs and evaluating what strengths and weaknesses existed with the basic models that are currently offered in different marketplaces. After collecting data on material costs and discussing different design features, the team created a survey in order to gauge consumer preferences and gain a better understanding as to what features and price point the average customer would consider purchasing. The resulting information was used to create an …

How Misinformation And Mistrust Compound The Threat Of Epidemics, William Boyd

Honors Theses

This thesis was conducted to study the effects of misinformation and medical mistrust on the public health field. I use the events of the Chapare Virus outbreak in Bolivia in the summer of 2019 and the public dialogue during that time period to discuss these themes. I used data from market survey's in La Paz, newspaper articles from Página Siete, and Tweets from the time period of the outbreak. My findings suggest that misinformation and medical mistrust affected public health measures, which has major implications for the way the public health field should address future public health events.

View Of Pakistani Residents Toward Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) During A Rapid Outbreak: A Rapid Online Survey, Khezar Hayat, Meagen Rosenthal, Sen Xu, Muhammad Arshed, Pengchao Li, Panpan Zhai, Gebrehaweria Kassa Desalegn, Yu Fang

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a deadly disease that is affecting most of the countries worldwide. Public understanding, including knowledge about signs and symptoms, mode of transmission, and hygiene of COVID-19, is vital for designing effective control strategies during a public health crisis. The current study is aimed at investigating the public’s perspective about COVID-19, including their knowledge, attitude, and practices. Methods: A rapid online survey comprising 22 items was administered during the rapid outbreak of COVID-19 in Pakistan. Questions were focused on the prevention, transmission, clinical features, and control of …

Biomove: Biometric User Identification From Human Kinesiological Movements For Virtual Reality Systems, Ilesanmi Olade, Charles Fleming, Hai Ning Liang

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Virtual reality (VR) has advanced rapidly and is used for many entertainment and business purposes. The need for secure, transparent and non-intrusive identification mechanisms is important to facilitate users’ safe participation and secure experience. People are kinesiologically unique, having individual behavioral and movement characteristics, which can be leveraged and used in security sensitive VR applications to compensate for users’ inability to detect potential observational attackers in the physical world. Additionally, such method of identification using a user’s kinesiological data is valuable in common scenarios where multiple users simultaneously participate in a …

Update Of Inclusive Cross Sections Of Single And Pairs Of Identified Light Charged Hadrons, R. Seidl, I. Adachi, H. Aihara, D. M. Asner, V. Aulchenko, T. Aushev, I. Badhrees, P. Behera, K. Belous, J. Bennett, B. Bhuyan, J. Biswal, M. Bračko, T. E. Browder, M. Campajola, L. Cao, D. Červenkov, M. C. Chang, V. Chekelian, A. Chen, K. Chilikin, K. Cho, Y. Choi, S. Choudhury, D. Cinabro, S. Cunliffe, G. De Nardo, F. Di Capua, S. Eidelman, D. Epifanov, J. E. Fast, T. Ferber

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2020 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP 3 We report new measurements of the production cross sections of pairs of charged pions and kaons as a function of their fractional energies using various fractional-energy definitions. Two different fractional-energy definitions were used and compared to the conventional fractional-energy definition reported previously. The new variables aim at either identifying …

A Molecular Candle Where Few Molecules Shine: Hehhe+, Ryan C. Fortenberry, Laurent Wiesenfeld

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2020 by the authors. HeHHe+ is the only potential molecule comprised of atoms present in the early universe that is also easily observable in the infrared. This molecule has been known to exist in mass spectrometry experiments for nearly half-a-century and is likely present, but as-of-yet unconfirmed, in cold plasmas. There can exist only a handful of plausible primordial molecules in the epochs before metals (elements with nuclei heavier than 4He as astronomers call them) were synthesized in the universe, and most of these are both rotationally and vibrationally dark. The current work brings HeHHe+ into the discussion as …

When Do Pictures Reduce False Memory?, Rebekah E. Smith, R. Reed Hunt

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2019, The Psychonomic Society, Inc. An important discovery in false-memory research is Israel and Schacter’s (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 4, 577-581, 1997) finding that presenting pictures at study relative to words alone reduces false memory in the DRM paradigm, a result that has been replicated many times. The standard interpretation is that memory for visual processing of the pictures can be used to reject the critical distractors, which were not explicitly present at study. Beginning from the empirical observation that the pictures used by Israel and Schacter are not consistently labelled with the DRM word they are supposed to …

Unanticipated Stressful And Rewarding Experiences Engage The Same Prefrontal Cortex And Ventral Tegmental Area Neuronal Populations, Alberto Del Arco, Junchol Park, Bita Moghaddam

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2020 Del Arco et al. Brain networks that mediate motivated behavior in the context of aversive and rewarding experiences involve the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and ventral tegmental area (VTA). Neurons in both regions are activated by stress and reward, and by learned cues that predict aversive or appetitive outcomes. Recent studies have proposed that separate neuronal populations and circuits in these regions encode learned aversive versus appetitive contexts. But how about the actual experience? Do the same or different PFC and VTA neurons encode unanticipated aversive and appetitive experiences? To address this, we recorded unit activity and local field …

First Search For The ΗC2(1d) In B Decays At Belle, K. Chilikin, I. Adachi, H. Aihara, S. Al Said, D. M. Asner, V. Aulchenko, T. Aushev, R. Ayad, V. Babu, S. Bahinipati, P. Behera, C. Beleño, K. Belous, J. Bennett, V. Bhardwaj, T. Bilka, J. Biswal, G. Bonvicini, A. Bozek, M. Bračko, T. E. Browder, M. Campajola, L. Cao, D. Červenkov, M. C. Chang, V. Chekelian, A. Chen, B. G. Cheon, K. Cho, S. K. Choi, Y. Choi, S. Choudhury

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2020, The Author(s). The first dedicated search for the ηc2(1D) is carried out using the decays B+→ ηc2(1D)K+, B0 → ηc2(1D)KS0, B0→ ηc2(1D)π−K+, and B+→ ηc2(1D)π+KS0 with ηc2(1D) → hcγ. No significant signal is found. For the ηc2(1D) mass range between 3795 and 3845 MeV/c2, the branching-fraction upper limits are determined to be ℬ(B+→ ηc2(1D)K+) × ℬ(ηc2(1D) → hcγ) < 3.7 × 10−5, ℬ(B0→ ηc2(1D)K0) × ℬ(ηc2(1D) → hcγ) < 3.5 × 10−5, ℬ(B0→ ηc2(1D)π−K+) × ℬ(ηc2(1D) → hcγ) < 1.0 × 10−4, and ℬ(B+→ ηc2(1D)π+KS0) × ℬ(ηc2(1D) → hcγ) < 1.1 × 10−4 at 90% C.L. The analysis is based on the 711 fb−1 data sample collected on the ϒ(4S) resonance by the Belle detector, which operated at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e− collider. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Evidence For A Vector Charmoniumlike State In E+E- → Ds+ Ds2∗ (2573)-+ C. C., S. Jia, C. P. Shen, I. Adachi, H. Aihara, S. Al Said, D. M. Asner, H. Atmacan, V. Aulchenko, T. Aushev, R. Ayad, I. Badhrees, P. Behera, K. Belous, J. Bennett, D. Besson, V. Bhardwaj, T. Bilka, J. Biswal, G. Bonvicini, A. Bozek, M. Bračko, T. E. Browder, M. Campajola, D. Červenkov, P. Chang, A. Chen, B. G. Cheon, K. Chilikin, K. Cho, S. K. Choi, Y. Choi, S. Choudhury

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2020 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3. We report the measurement of e+e-→Ds+Ds2∗(2573)-+c.c. via initial-state radiation using a data sample of an integrated luminosity of 921.9 fb-1 collected with the Belle detector at the γ(4S) and nearby. We find evidence for an enhancement with a 3.4σ significance in the invariant mass of Ds+Ds2∗(2573)-+c.c. The measured mass and width …

A Thumb On The Scale: Chinese Investment And Influence In Ecuador And Colombia, Christina Pendergrast

Honors Theses

Over the past two decades, Chinese involvement in the developing world has increased dramatically, raising concerns over the intentions behind the provision of development packages. Critics have accused China of a practice known as debt-trap diplomacy, a method of ensnaring less developed nations by providing more loans than those nations have the ability to feasibly pay back. While China denies that their loan and investment packages are provided with any ulterior motive, the influence held by an investor like China has the potential to impact these partner countries for decades to come. In light of the scope of China’s role …

Gold Nanoparticles: Core Conversion Of Au144(Sch2ch2ph)60 To Au99(Sph-Ch3)42 Using Aromatic Thiolate Ligands And Crystallization Of Au99(Sph-Ch3)42, Elizabeth Turnage

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to synthesize Au₁₄₄(SCH₂CH₂Ph)₆₀ using a two-step synthesis reaction, and then using this product to conduct a core conversion from Au₁₄₄(SCH₂CH₂Ph)₆₀ to Au₉₉(SPh-CH₃)₄₂. The Au₉₉(SPh-CH₃)₄₂ product will then be used to attempt to form crystals using five different crystal set-up methods. Au₁₄₄(SCH₂CH₂Ph)₆₀ is made with aliphatic thiolate ligands, and when it is placed in a mixture containing excess para-methyl benzenethiol, it undergoes a …

Screening Revolution: Cinema As An Alternative Public Space During The Years Of Lead (1969 - 1994), Patrick Hayes

Honors Theses

1969 to 1988 was a period of social and political unrest in Italy known as the Years of Lead. Within this political foment, leftist directors produced films that dealt with topics that were of concern to the Left such as the condition of factory workers and police corruption. This thesis explores the role of cinema within the public sphere, whether it acted as an alternative space, and whether its role changed over time. Influenced by neo- Habermasian theory, I hypothesize that cinema served as an alternative public space in which directors critiqued the environment which drove students and workers to …

Proposed Revised Interpretation: Records Requests, May 1, 2020, Comments Are Requested By September 30, 2020; Exposure Draft (American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants), 2020, May 1, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants. Professional Ethics Executive Committee

Exposure Drafts, Comment Letters, and Statements of Position

No abstract provided.

Why Families Flee: A Study Of Family Migration Patterns From The Northern Triangle Of Central America, Claire Williams

Honors Theses

The past decade has witnessed an unprecedented increase in migrant families from the Northern Triangle, the region of Central America comprised of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The mass influx in family migration has important consequences for destination countries like the United States and Mexico as well as the countries which they leave behind. This study aims to answer the question of how family migration patterns in the Northern Triangle of Central America have changed in the past decade and why. I outline the migration decisions of families through a qualitative and quantitative lens. I use newspapers and NGO reports …

Brief Survey And Testbed Development For Blockchain Based Internet Of Things, Aishwant Ghimire

Honors Theses

Blockchain and the Internet of Things are uprising in today’s technology world. Internet of Things or IoT are the devices with unique identifiers that share data or information over the internet whereas, Blockchain is a peer to peer network with a distributed ledger that contains a list of blocks that are linked together by cryptography. Fascinated and motivated by blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT), this thesis provides a review on blockchain based internet of things and also introduces a working testbed that integrates the two together. It also uses IoT device to invoke transactions into the blockchain. The reasons …