Digital Commons Network^™

Learning To Love Bats, Bethany J. Lawson

Honors Theses

Throughout history, bats have often become entangled in various myths and legends that have negatively influenced human perceptions of bats. Media outlets often sensationalize the relationship of bats to novel diseases, which also creates negative perceptions of bats in the human imagination. Bats are beneficial to our ecosystems and provide pollination services, seed dispersal, and insect control. However, bats are currently facing a variety of life-threatening issues, such as habitat destruction, fatalities at wind energy sites, climate change, and most notably, white-nose syndrome – a disease that has killed millions of North American bats in the past decade. With bats …

An External Expression Of The Inner Spirit: Dance, Religion, And Taboos In Christianity, Erin E. Ingram

Honors Theses

Dance, religion, and the presence of taboos have each been recognized as what is known throughout the social sciences as “cultural universals.” For example, though not every individual dances, dance can be found in all societies (Brown, 2004). Furthermore, many cultures use dance as part of religious or ritual worship. The following thesis explores possible answers to these three intertwined questions: “Many cultures across the world have developed dances for the purpose of religious or spiritual rituals and celebrations. Does dance as a form of expression stem from a biological, spiritual, or cultural need? Why do cultures turn to dance …

Assessing The Role Personality Plays In Puppy Raisers And Guide Dogs In Training, Cassidy D. Wood

Honors Theses

Several factors affect how guide dogs in training fare during the period before the dogs are paired with their future handler. One factor that has not been researched in the past is personality compatibility between the puppy raiser and the dog in training. For the needs of the visually impaired community to be met, guide dog schools need to efficiently train and match dogs to handlers without the dogs failing. To help reduce the number of dogs that fail guide dog training, this study suggests the assessment and comparison of personality for the dog and potential puppy raisers to better …

Language Maintenance And Cultural Identity: Case Studies Of Filipino Immigrant Families In Mississippi, Joy Cariño

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Identifying Drought Stress Tolerance Characteristics In Brassica Carinata Lines At Germination, Sarah Frey

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Tcdd On B Cell Populations In Various Anatomic Locations In Eae, Amye Mcdonald

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Gender, Intertextuality & Market Demands: Publishing Children's Picture Books, Mackenzie Scott

Honors Theses

Children’s literature in the U.S. has long since reflected, and also influenced, the nation’s societal and cultural identity. The genre’s representation of gender has historically aligned with traditionally distinct and separate sex-typed roles of domestic or non-domestic behavior. Through textual analysis of 80 New York Times bestselling picture books between 2009 and 2019, this research seeks to determine if publishers and consumers are selecting titles that support or subvert stereotypical gender roles. Prior studies on gender representation in children’s literature have concluded that the prevalence of static, passive female characters and active male characters negatively impacts the identity development of …

Boundary, Costs And Trade-Offs In Reserve Design Systems, Justus Hurd

Honors Theses

Due to limitations in funding and natural resources, it is infeasible to construct perfect reserve systems for large populations of critical species. For this project, our objective is to formulate a reserve design model that minimizes the distance between reserve sites meeting a threshold of biodiversity features subject to a species coverage constraints. Coupled with other spatial characteristics including reserve size and configuration, the boundary of a reserve system is of key importance. While positive area effects are gained when selecting additional sites, negative boundary length effects are also experienced. For example, it is costly to implement and maintain boundary …

Entre Países, Jared Steiman

Honors Theses

This collection of original poems deals with the unique experience of transnational family, particular to the international and interracial tensions of the years 2014-2020. The works focus on intimate portraits of life in the United States South, the Mexican South, and the relationship between. Love and loss feature prominently. Injustice is sewn throughout. Accompanying the original poems are a number of translations of Octavio Paz and Rosario Castellanos, as well as a craft essay detailing the process of creating this body of work.

A Comparative Analysis Of Appalachian And Chukchi Folktales, Maggie Bishop

Honors Theses

Comparative folktale studies have revealed high quality emic data in past Anthropological study, but not nearly enough studies have been done. This thesis proposes an ideal avenue of study for delineation of patterns to reveal historically particular emic data as well as universal ideals. The avenue of study is that of comparative analysis of six folktales from two vastly different cultures. The people of the icy Chukotka peninsula in Northern Russia and the people of the temperate Appalachian Mountains share rich folktale traditions that provide a look into the cultural valuables and undesirables within both of these cultures. Through a …

Reconciling Flourishing Egoism With Common Morality, Mark Lamb

Honors Theses

It is a common critique of moral theories focused on the agent that they are selfish and immoral. Selfish here typically carries a negative connotation. Morality is supposed to show how we ought to treat people outside of ourselves; and this is true to a degree. But so often it seems, at least to me, that the more “selfless” moral theories seem to forget that the agent is as deserving of the good as those that the agent interacts with are. Egoism, broadly, reverses this and places the agent at the forefront of ethical decision-making. Unfortunately, this has historically led …

Phospholipid Remodeling Via Exogenous Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Uptake Modulates Stress Resistance In Vibrio Cholerae, William Strike

Honors Theses

Antibiotic-resistant pathogens represent an escalating threat to public health worldwide, substantially increasing the burden of healthcare and community-acquired infections. Several factors contribute to the emergence and spread of this threat, including but not limited to improper antibiotic use and prescriptions in health-care settings and the community, increasing global travel and migration from countries that have higher levels of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and a lack of new antibiotics under development. According to the World Health Organization, rising rates of resistance among Gram-negative bacteria (such as Vibrio cholerae) are of particular concern. These bacteria have evolved a number of endogenous membrane remodeling strategies …

Meta-Analysis Of Biological Research Literature, Evan Suggs

Honors Theses

Comparative studies have been powerful tools in generating a broad understanding about the evolution of animal social systems but they currently rely on the slow, manual process of reading thousands of abstracts and papers from research databases. A web application was created for researchers conducting a comparative survey, in order to speed up their research. This web application automates the retrieval of research papers and their selection process. Using previously obtained data sets on the orders Artiodacytla and Lagomorph, a machine learning application was created to classify the papers. These techniques and tools should greatly increase the speed at which …

Canopy Openness As A Predictor Of Growth For Castanea Dentata Seedlings In The Cumberland Uplands Of Tennessee, Hannah Crawford

Honors Theses

Castanea dentata growth and reproduction in the forest ecosystem is limited by light. Canopy gaps could be used for restoration efforts; however, the lack of blight resistant planting material has limited what is known about the silvicultural requirements of C. dentata. I studied the survival and growth of chestnut seedlings in various sized light gaps in the Cumberland Uplands in the 2019 season. The Tennessee Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation previously established Eagle Point Railroad (Cumberland Plateau) and the Starr Farm (Eastern Highland Rim), and I established a site near Barker Pounds trailhead (Cumberland Plateau). Results indicate that canopy …

Tectonic, Rebecca E. Holifield

Honors Theses

Tectonic is a collection of original poems accompanied by a critical preface.

Spectroscopic And Computational Studies Of The Agricultural Active Ingredient Dicamba, James Johnson

Honors Theses

3,6-dichloro-2-methoxy benzoic acid, more commonly known as Dicamba, is the active ingredient in an array of pesticides used on farmlands across the globe. Dicamba’s mode of action works by mimicking the plant hormone auxin, which is synonymous to growth hormones in mammals. The mimicking of auxin results in excessive elongation and growing, which is eventually fatal for plants when the rate of growth can no longer be sustained. Dicamba has risen in prominence in recent years due to drift damage as a result of Dicamba’s high volatility. Having the ability to identify Dicamba is crucial for the agricultural industry. The …

Lectin Properties Of Synthetically Produced Glucuronate, Alginate, And Related Boronates, Vanessa Angel

Honors Theses

In the nineteenth century, researchers discovered that some proteins had the ability to agglutinate red blood cells (Goldstein, 1980). These proteins were found mainly in the seeds of leguminous plants and were named phytohemagglutinins or hemagglutinins. Particular hemagglutinins were able to agglutinate red blood cells (RBCs) of a specific blood type. Now a days, these proteins are more widely known as Lectins. Lectins are proteinaceous macromolecules of nonimmune origin, capable of interacting with carbohydrates to form complexes (Goldstein, 1980). Lectins sources derive mainly from leguminous plants, animals, fruiting bodies of fungi, and bacteria. This research focuses on identifying the lectin …

A Modern Cat-Tas-Trophe? The Relationships And Impacts Between Feral Cat Management And Sustainable Urban Development: A Literature Review, Gage Mofield

Honors Theses

For this literature review, I will be reviewing the impacts that feral populations have on sustainable development, specifically in urban environments, and doing an intensive analysis of the economic, social, and most significant, environmental impacts that feral cats have on the respective urban environment. Following this, I will then be reviewing the different management strategies that currently are in place for managing feral cat populations, specifically lethal methods of feral cat management, and then analyzing a non-lethal feral cat management program known as “TNR”, which stands for Trap-Neuter-Return, and seeing which methodology is the best suited for managing urban feral …

Separate And Unequal: The Causes And Effects Of Economic Inequality In Our Communities, And What We Must Do About It, Jonathan Payne

Honors Theses

This project seeks to create a deep understanding of some of the key causes and effects of economic inequality. In it, I review a wide variety of research and reporting on inequality as well as interview people that have been impacted by inequality in my community, Oxford, Mississippi. This information, as a whole, is not meant to create a complete, comprehensive understanding of income and wealth inequality, which would be impossible. Instead, it is a meditation on the origins, cycles, outcomes and ethical implications of the phenomenon. In it, I contend that the vast majority of negative outcomes of inequality, …

Are Florida Manatees (Trichechus Manatus Latirostris) Wearing Their Teeth Beyond Functionality? Interspecific And Intraspecific Mesowear In Manatees, Nina Woodard

Honors Theses

Manatees (Trichechus spp.) are herbivorous aquatic mammals found in tropical and subtropical waters. At maturity, they possess only supernumerary molars (SM), with 5-8 in occlusion at each quadrant. Manatees exhibit a dental replacement system in which they shed old teeth anteriorly and erupt new teeth posteriorly. This adaptation is thought to have arisen to deal with abrasive foods. Mesowear (facet development on occlusal surfaces of teeth) increases from posterior (younger) to anterior (older) molars. Tooth functionality is linked to level of mesowear, with increased amounts resulting in decreased food-processing ability. Less functional teeth can result in an increase in feeding …

Novel Zinc Porphyrin And Bacteriophage Pev2 Combination Therapy For Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Biofilms, Erin Elise Pellot

Honors Theses

Within recent years there have been a growing number of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. Many of these strains produce biofilms, which are sturdy layers of bacteria on a surface. Biofilms often form layers on surfaces which can prevent typical antibiotic treatment methods from being effective. In recent years the novel porphyrin, Zinc Porphyrin (ZnPor), has been used at the University of Dayton to disrupt biofilms created by the bacterial species Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Experiments using ZnPor as a biofilm disruptor have successfully reduced the number of colonies present on multiple substrata (Patel). To further reduce biofilms presence on substrata surfaces the …

Patience, Young Grasshopper: Analyzing The Fungal Components Of The Grasshopper Gut Microbiome, Staci Seitz

Honors Theses

Microbes inhabit many corners of the Earth, including the intestines of all animals. These intestinal microbes, collectively called the “gut microbiome,” provide numerous nutritional and regulatory functions for the animals they live in and thus play an important role in animal health. The fungal communities in insects, specifically, play a diverse, but important role in insect physiology, as well as insect control. The goals of this project were to expand knowledge of R programming through statistical analysis of microbial ecology and to identify the fungal communities in grasshoppers to enrich our knowledge in insect fungal microbiome. Questions that we wanted …

The Effects Of Technology On Student Interest In Steam Education, Paige Elizabeth Innes

Honors Theses

In recent years, there has been a decline in interest in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) subjects beginning around 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. Interest was monitored before and after experiencing Texas Instruments’ TI-Nspire calculators in conjunction with the TI-Innovator Hub and TI- Innovator Rover in an attempt to combat this problem. The calculators allow students to write their code and then are connected to the Hubs and Rovers to create colors and sounds on the Hub or to make the Rover move. Students begin by learning the basics of coding in this format, but they continually increase …

A Language Of Silence: Analyzing The Effects Of Sexist Language On Women’S Classroom Experiences, Emily Battaglia

Honors Theses

The English language has been defined and dominated by the male voice throughout all of history. Consequently, language has played a strong role in upholding the existing patriarchal structure of society. The extent to which this affects women is still widely unaddressed in past and current research; and much of this research fails to directly address how sexist language affects women in learning environments. For my thesis, I have conducted and assessed in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 10 high school seniors and 10 college seniors. With a significant focus on female shame, silence, and self-perception, this study reveals that the language …

The Development Of A Scfa Analysis Method And The Examination Of Factors Affecting Listeria Pathogenesis, Ashton Dix

Honors Theses

This thesis focuses on the three different projects that I worked on during my time in Dr. Yvonne Sun’s microbiology lab. The main goal of the first project was to develop an analytical method on UD’s campus to analyze SCFAs by using Gas Chromatography. This was achieved by creating defined media that could sustain the growth of Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria) and developing a successful characterization method on a GC. The main goal of the second project was to determine the effects that SCFA supplementation and age have on Listeria infection. This was achieved using in vitro methods to assess the …

Investigating The Role Of The Etc In Listeria Monocytogenes During Ethanol Exposure, Amanda Fawcett

Honors Theses

To better understand how alcohol consumption negatively impacts our defenses against pathogens, I investigated how Listeria monocytogenes, a foodborne pathogen that can cause serious infections, responds to ethanol exposure. More specifically, I investigated the contribution of the electron transport chain (ETC), which involves different proteins to carry out respiration, in L. monocytogenes survival in ethanol. Survival assays were performed under different physiologically relevant conditions for wildtype bacteria and mutants deficient in ETC components. I found that ETC mutants, compared to wildtype bacteria, exhibited significantly altered ethanol survival in a manner sensitive to oxygen levels. This suggests that ETC plays a …

Direct And Indirect Effects Of Additional Sodium On Grasshopper Growth And Development, Mark Ghastine

Honors Theses

In order to investigate why sodium, combined with macronutrients, led to a spike in grasshopper abundance in a Texas prairie field, laboratory and field studies were conducted in Ohio and Texas to understand if sodium has an effect on grasshopper growth and development. These effects could happen directly, by altering grasshopper physiology, or indirectly by altering the plant communities that grasshoppers eat. To examine direct effects, grasshoppers were captured, reared, and fed diets with varying amounts of sodium. Indirect effects were examined by collecting the most dominant plants within plots treated with different micro and macronutrients, and feeding them to …

Designing Fictional Spaces: Questionable Architecture That Supports Sustainable Design, Noël J. Michel

Honors Theses

This thesis presents the modeling of spaces described in short stories that are difficult to visualize. The three stories are Kafka's “The Burrow,” Borges’s “The Library of Babel” and Barthelme's “The Balloon.” Three-dimensional models were created based on the details provided by the authors in each story. Several 2-D images are then generated from these models to match specific scenes. This consideration of these works of fiction provokes the asking of several questions about the science, mathematics and engineering that underpins the stories. In all cases, questions about sustainability arise.

This manuscript is divided into three parts to correspond to …

Where You Are And What You Know: Impact Of Location And Education On Individual Engagement With The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Emily V. Sandstrom

Honors Theses

The United Nations created the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to include 17 goals and 169 targets that foster ongoing environmental, social, and global economic development and aims to accomplish each goal by 2030. There has been considerable enthusiasm in various sectors since the SDGs have been in place; however, there is still a significant amount of work to be done to engage experts and young scholars (the future experts) in the SDGs. According to Salvia, et al., researchers at institutions of higher learning from around the globe found a relation between locality and research, though questions remain concerning …

Newspapers In The Transformative 1960s At The University Of Dayton, Brendan Zdunek

Honors Theses

This honors thesis focuses on the University of Dayton during the 1960s when the university transitioned from a small, parochial Catholic college to a larger, more secular institution. This change was rooted in much wider transformations taking place in both the Catholic community and broader society during the decade. During this period of transition, two major groups, Dayton residents and University of Dayton students, had differing opinions on the transition. Campus and city newspaper coverage of key debates helped shape public opinion. This thesis examines how the local Dayton Daily News and the University of Dayton student newspaper, Flyer News, …