Digital Commons Network^™

Our Mothers Are Dying: How Economics Affect Maternal Mortality, Kendall Wheelock

Honors Theses

One of the primary goals from the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals is to reduce maternal mortality on a global scale. It is well documented that economic success has a strong correlation with maternal mortality (Kirigia et al 2014, 1-3). There is ample research on how one’s health affects their ability to participate in society, furthermore protecting women within the sphere of medicine is a key part of advancing society. This thesis aims to give qualitative and quantitive backing to a deeper investigation of the correlation between economic success and maternal health.

To focus this research, the thesis focuses on …

Student Perception Of Covid-19 Mitigation Strategies And Correlation To Demographics At The University Of Mississippi, Anna Couhig

Honors Theses

COVID-19 caused an unprecedented dilemma for universities, the best method of continuing education during a pandemic. Different mitigation strategies were developed as higher education institutions transitioned back to in-person learning, and the effectiveness of these strategies depended largely on adherence by college students. COVID-19 remains a vastly unexplored research topic, and college students’ approval of mitigation strategies is largely untouched. This research answers the question: “Are University of Mississippi student perceptions of COVID-19 mitigation strategies correlated to demographics?” Through a mixed-methods survey that was sent to a random sample of full-time undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Mississippi, …

A Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Preserving The Great Barrier Reef, Taylor Cox

Honors Theses

This paper investigates both the economic benefits and costs of protecting Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The benefits associated with the Reef come from a 2016 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited report and quantifies direct economic contributions, nonuse values, and a social, economic, and icon value. The costs of protecting the Reef come from a collection of sources, including the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan, “The Cost and Feasibility of Marine Coastal Restoration”, and a number of annual reports from governmental and non-governmental organizations. By analyzing these documents, the net benefits were calculated. The Great Barrier Reef contributes $6.4 billion to …

Imperfect Immunity And The Stability Of A Modified Kermack-Mckendrick Model, Kaylee Sims

Honors Theses

The classic Kermack-McKendrick model of mathematical epidemiology suggests that a population is only in equilibrium when there is no disease present. In the modern era, we have several cyclic infectious diseases that show no signs of eradication, despite global health measures. In this thesis, we introduce a coefficient of waning immunity in order to produce a modified Kermack-McKendrick model and analyze whether the model yields system stability with a certain amount of infection present. Ultimately, the model is incongruent with real-world case data, with its most glaring failure being exponential dampening of the height of each disease case peak due …

The Dynamics Of Sedimentary Chlorophyll Α At A High-Energy Beach, Sarah (Gray) Abel

Honors Theses

Productive sandy beaches are one of the most crucial areas serving our ecosystem today. While often overlooked in scientific research, productive beaches have many essential functions that lead to the preservation and protection of many different species as well as ecological wellness and stability. A key factor that is linked to this productivity is the presence of chlorophyll in the sediments. Piston cores of the sediments at the low-tide mark at Waties Island, South Carolina, were collected across multiple years and subsequently analyzed for chlorophyll concentrations through fluorometry after acetone extraction and acidification. Each core profile was processed to calculate …

Play That Funky Music: A Study Of Bacterial Contamination Of Wind Instruments, Ashley Clark

Honors Theses

Should there be standards to routinely clean instruments and what methods are available for that? It has been found that the bacteria and other microorganisms inside of musical instruments may be the culprit of respiratory infections in musicians (King et al. 2016). This project was divided into two experiments. First, clarinet reeds were introduced to three different species of bacteria. Then mouthpieces of trombonists and clarinetists of Eastern Kentucky University were swabbed and analyzed using a Colony Forming Unit assay. Bacteria was found to live on unused reeds for up to 30 days. Mouthpieces house millions of bacteria, determined by …

Developing A Continuous Cell Line Derived From The Gulf-Coast Tick (Amblyomma Maculatum) Embryos, Sabrina Walia

Honors Theses

Tick cell lines provide an affordable, reproducible, and efficient in vitro experimental system to study tick-pathogen interactions at the cellular level. Before the first tick cell lines were developed, there was no established method to perform in vitro studies with ticks. Tick research at the organismal level is full of difficulties and challenges. An increase in tick-borne infections and the availability of cutting-edge molecular tools have stimulated the research community's interest in using tick cell lines to answer important biological questions related to new and emerging tick-borne diseases. Unfortunately, not all medically relevant tick species have a cell line available. …

Effect Of Temperature On The Microbiome Of A Laboratory-Reared Colony Of Haemaphysalis Longicornis Ticks, Brianna L. Mitchell

Honors Theses

Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks are invasive to the United States with potential to transmit several tick-borne pathogens that are native to the United States. Based on existing locations of H. longicornis in its native regions in Asia, as well as its invasive populations that are established in the United States, several geographic range prediction models have been produced to help understand future range expansion and distribution of this invasive tick in North America. Unfortunately, these models do not all agree and there is uncertainty associated with the potential geographic range expansion of H. longicornis ticks in North America. Climate can affect …

The Effect Of Different Types Of Plastic And Rubbers Often Found In Healthcare Facilities On The Survival Of Potentially Pathogenic Bacteria, Ashely George

Honors Theses

This study focused on the survival of different species of bacteria on different types of plastics and rubbers found in healthcare facilities. The gram-positive coccus Staphylococcus aureus and the gram negative bacillus Escherichia coli, known to have importance as potential pathogens in healthcare facilities, were tested on two types of plastic (polyurethane and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)) and two types of rubbers (latex and nitrile) typically found on reusable healthcare surfaces. Known quantities of bacteria were aseptically placed on disinfected plastic surfaces in triplicate, air-dried, and then incubated at room temperature for 30 minutes, 20 hours, and 40 hours. After incubation, …

A Comprehensive Compilation Of Accounting Case Studies And Analyses, Erin Morgan

Honors Theses

The following thesis consists of a collection of case studies surrounding accounting and related topics. These case studies were written and directed under Dr. Victoria Dickinson during the enrollment of Honors Accountancy 420 to fulfill the requirements for the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. Five of my cases specifically correlate to the company Johnson & Johnson for the case competition that was presented at the end of the semester to accounting professionals from numerous firms. The other cases include a variety of accounting topics. Through this thesis, I discovered a deeper understanding of accounting and related topics which will benefit …

Development Of A Novel Environmental Dna (Edna) Tool For Monitoring Vulnerable Freckled Guitarfish, Pseudobatos Lentiginosus, In The Western Central Atlantic, Sarah Toepfer

Honors Theses

Rhino-rays are the most threatened group of elasmobranchs, having experienced widespread declines due to mortalities in fisheries and habitat degradation. Within the Western Central Atlantic, there are two extant species of Rhino-rays, the Critically Endangered Smalltooth Sawfish, Pristis pectinata, and the Vulnerable Freckled Guitarfish, Pseudobatos lentiginosus. Although there is research committed to P. pectinata in this region, less is known about the distribution status of P. lentiginosus. Over the past 50 years, P. lentiginosus have undergone a presumed range contraction in U.S. waters; once found from North Carolina to Texas, and historically common in the north central …

Anthelmintic Resistance And The Use Of Diatomaceous Earth As An Alternative Anthelmintic In E. Caballus, Brandy Spoor

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Wild Rodent Gut Microbiota As A Function Of Exposure To Ticks And Tick-Borne Pathogens, Joshua Pandian

Honors Theses

Due to advances in high-throughput parallel sequencing, researchers have conducted novel studies exploring relationships between microbiome compositions and different aspects of organism health. Some of these studies have shown that the gut microbiome of rodent models has effects on organism health and behavior and that infection with pathogens and the composition of the skin microbiome are linked to changes in gut microbiome composition. While previous studies have shown how vector microbiota impact vector behavior and pathogen transmission, the effect vectors have on reservoir species microbiomes has been a less prominent focus. We were interested in the relationships between tick parasitism, …

The Characterization Of The Sars-Cov-2 Receptor Binding Domain Interaction With The Human Ace2 Receptor And Potential Small Molecule Inhibitors, Camryn Carter

Honors Theses

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), was identified in Wuhan, China after numerous patients experienced pneumonia symptoms, but existing medicinal treatments were ineffective.1 The global spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus caused an outbreak of the infectious disease, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was soon after declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, referred to as the COVID-19 pandemic. According to John Hopkins University, over 1,000,000 people have died from SARS-CoV-2 infection and about 104,000,000 cases have been confirmed in the United States (US). An infection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is caused by the …

From Big Farm To Big Pharma: A Differential Equations Model Of Antibiotic-Resistant Salmonella In Industrial Poultry Populations, Rilyn Mckallip

Honors Theses

Antibiotics are used in poultry production as prophylaxis, curative treatment, and growth promotion. The first use is as prophylaxis, or prevention of common bacterial diseases. The crowded conditions in concentrated animal feeding operations necessitate management of infectious disease to ensure overall animal health and the profitability of such operations. In these farms, between 20,000 and 125,000 birds are raised in shed-like enclosures [3], with an average of less than one square foot of space per chicken [34]. Antibiotics are currently used in chicken farms to manage and prevent common bacterial diseases such as respiratory and digestive tract infections, as well …

Case Study Summary: Johnson & Johnson And Macy's Inc., Cameron Richardson

Honors Theses

This thesis, over a one-year period, covers conclusions derived from research on two different companies: Johnson & Johnson and Macy’s Inc. Through a two-semester course taken within the scope of the honors college alongside Dr. Victoria Dickinson, I, alongside my respective group members for each company, were able to compile a thorough analysis of risks and business strategies the two corporations could identify and implement to manage present and future complications. This analysis followed standard conventions of the accounting profession, as our research was focused on identifying risks and strategies affiliated with audit, tax, and advisory services, modeling how professional …

A Content Analysis Of Media Coverage Of Telehealth In Mississippi, Hailey Layne

Honors Theses

Telehealth’s utilization within healthcare has expanded and changed areas of healthcare delivery. In rural states like Mississippi barriers to accessing healthcare services exist due to demographic factors, socioeconomic factors, or geographic distance. This study was meant to look at the literature related to telehealth that was being disseminated to Mississippians through online news sources. It was noted whether these articles viewed telehealth utilization in a positive or negative way. Utilizing a cross-sectional media analysis, the news articles were screened using a coding form that acknowledged different themes in the literature. Frequency analyses were conducted to aid in interpreting the common …

Exploring Portrayals Of Cults In News Media: Establishing A Continuum, Ashley M. Reynolds

Honors Theses

This thesis examines and analyzes the way cults are portrayed by various news media outlets. The intention of this thesis and my research in general is to convey the power of media influence in forming an individual’s perspective on cults. Each news media outlet (for purposes of this thesis, this includes Fox News, CNN, and the Associated Press) has their own definition of what a cult is, and this determines how they present those “cults” to the public. To understand how individuals form their opinions about cults and what exactly cults are via the media, it is necessary to investigate …

Identifying The Effects Of Anaerobicity And Propionate On Listeria Monocytogenes Metabolism And Central Nervous System Infection, Rebecca Rudd

Honors Theses

Listeria monocytogenes is a facultative foodborne pathogen that can enter the bloodstream and invades the central nervous system to cause meningitis. As an intracellular pathogen, L. monocytogenes replicates inside the host cell cytosol and avoids extracellular immune defenses as it disseminates throughout the body. L. monocytogenes can also reach and cross the blood brain barrier, resulting in severe or fatal symptoms in immunocompromised and elderly patients. The overarching goal of my research project is to better understand how different environmental factors, anaerobicity and propionate, in the intestinal lumen alter the ability of L. monocytogenes to cause infections. In the first …

Does Tssh Deletion In Paraburkholderia Bonniea Affect Its Symbiosis With Dictyostellum Discoideum?, Anna Chen

Honors Theses

Paraburkholderia are amoeba resistant, gram negative bacteria that form facultative symbiotic relationships with D. discoideum, a soil dwelling amoeba host. Three species of Paraburkholderia, P. agricolaris, P. hayleyella, and P. bonniea are able to persistently infect nonnative, or symbiont free, D. discoideum. These three species share a type III secretion system (T3SS) and type VI secretion system (T6SS) that is absent in other close relatives We hypothesized that the ability to persistently infect D. discoideum may be partially attributed to the T3SS and T6SS shared across the three species of Paraburkholderia.

The goal was to test the phenotypic effect of …

I Versus We: Social Regulations Exacerbated Tension Between Individualism And Collectivism During China’S Twenty-First Century Public Health Emergencies, Duan Wang

Honors Theses

Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a global public health problem, which stimulated restrictions like lockdowns, public service closures, and strict border controls that disrupted individuals' life patterns to mitigate the potential transmission within communities. Intriguingly, with its adherence to the “zero-COVID tolerance” policy, China represented a unique case in the overall global reopening trend after three years of the pandemic. Such an unwavering, uncompromising stance reflected conflicts between individuals and the Chinese government regarding COVID regulations, which exposed the tension between individualism and government-proposed collectivism.

This thesis investigates strict social regulations and the exacerbated tension between individualism and …

Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On College Students And Their Teamwork Abilities, Cameron Garde

Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic left a significant negative impact on the mental health of the world, most notably on traits that affect how people work well with others. Previous research into the effects of the pandemic have found how education has been impacted from the sides of both colleges and students to detract from upper education as a whole. Teamwork and group efforts also ran into unforeseen issues, heavily impacting college students both in the middle of and well past the effects of pandemic restrictions. This thesis uses and analyzes data from a survey disseminated to the University of New Haven …

Opening The Vault: An Osteobiography Of Three Individuals From A New Orleans Cemetery, Jordan Butler

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the lives of three individuals buried in Cypress Grove Cemetery in New Orleans through osteobiographies, which combines knowledge gained from human remains, material culture, and mortuary practices. The opportunity for analysis arose since the vault was being demolished due to its dilapidated condition.

The individuals were White and of middle-class status and date to the later nineteenth century. One burial is a middle-aged man who was of average height and showed no evidence of pathology; his muscle markers do suggest he was relatively Physically active during his life. Another individual is an …

Exploring The Effects Of Fatty Acids (Pufas) On The Antimicrobial Resistance In Vibrio Cholerae, Naina Patel

Honors Theses

As antibiotic resistance becomes a major challenge for public health professionals, our research objectives aimed to investigate the potential for polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) to create membrane vulnerability in the gram-negative pathogen Vibrio cholerae to help improve the efficacy of several antibiotics. V. cholerae, normally residing in aquatic environments, is capable of altering its phospholipid composition through the uptake and assimilation of exogenous polyunsaturated fatty acids. The purpose of this study was to measure PUFA-mediated changes in the membrane permeability and antibiotic resistance of Vibrio cholerae. The three physiologically relevant PUFAs used were linoleic acid [18:2], arachidonic acid [20:4], and …

Organizational Effectiveness Of Rabies Division Of South Carolina Dhec, Camden Daniel Sasfai

Honors Theses

There are two types of rabies, known as furious and paralytic, that are both spread mostly through saliva of wild or domesticated animals via scratches and bites. Both types can ultimately result in death of the human victim, yet both are vaccine-preventable diseases. Transmission of the rabies disease to humans is usually found following a deep bite or scratch from an infected animal, and transmission to humans by rabid dogs accounts for up to 99% of human infection cases, though bats are now an increasing source of human death due to rabies as well. Surprisingly enough, human deaths following exposure …

Analyzing Staphylococcal Contamination On Surfaces And Bedside Areas Of A Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Of A Children's Hospital, Daniel See

Honors Theses

Staphylococci species are known to be a cause of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) in neonatal intensive care units (NICU). There is limited research about the surveillance and identification of staphylococci bacteria from NICUs. Surveillance of bacteria within the NICU helps to identify areas acting as reservoirs for bacteria so that new cleaning policies and techniques can be put in place to stop the spread of HAIs. The objective of this study was to swab sample sites in a local level IV hospital NICU and identify locations of staphylococci presence throughout the NICU. Forty-one swabs were selected from over 900 swabs collected …

Invasion Properties Of Listeria Monocytogenes In Aged Cells, Mina Lane Chasteen Burton

Honors Theses

Listeriosis is a bacterial infection caused by the gram-positive pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. When compared to other foodborne illnesses, listeriosis has a higher death rate due to an increased incidence of complications such as meningitis, hydrocephalus, and sepsis in immunocompromised populations. Elderly individuals experience a condition known as immunosenescence, which is a gradual compromisation of the immune system brought on by natural aging. Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a rare genetic disorder causing premature aging, which allows HGPS cell lines to be used as models to further research in the field of biogerontology. This study utilizes the F2365 strain of …

Lectin-Glycan Complexes: A Comprehensive Analysis Of Docking Calculations, Ashton Custer

Honors Theses

Lectins are a type of glycan-binding protein that noncovalently bind glycans. Carbohydrates are molecules consisting of sugar units joined together. Glycans are carbohydrates. Hence, glycans are also sugars. Lectins and lectin-glycan complexes have a range of biological roles and can be found in animals (including humans), plants, bacteria, viruses, and yeasts and fungi.¹ Many scientists focus on the computational study of these complexes due to their intricate roles in many living organisms. Computational study is important in furthering our knowledge of lectin-glycan complexes and other such protein complexes. However, computational study is not perfect. There are many challenges in …

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. …

Anxiety At The Beginning Of The Covid-19 Pandemic: Associations Between Health Anxiety, Covid-19 Anxiety, And Preventative Behaviors, Lauren Elmore

Honors Theses

Following the emergence of COVID-19, there was a significant increase in mental health issues (Shahyad & Mohammadi, 2020). Anxiety was of note (Salari et al., 2020), and preventative behaviors typical of health anxiety were prevalent. Health anxiety is the phenomenon of interpreting benign bodily sensations as symptoms of a more serious disease and is often accompanied with disproportionate thoughts of anxiety. Little work has examined the association between COVID-19 anxiety and health anxiety. The aims of this study were to: 1) characterize COVID-related anxiety symptoms, and 2) examine the bivariate associations of COVID-19 anxiety, health anxiety, and COVID-19 preventative behaviors …