Digital Commons Network^™

Applying Mci-062, A Novel Pan-Ras Inhibitor, To Treat Kras-Mutant Lung Cancer, Richard Fu

Honors Theses

RAS is a prevalent oncogene that is mutated in 27% of human cancers. Gain-of-function RAS mutations activate multiple downstream pathways, including the RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK and PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathways, which are critical in tumorigenesis and cancer cell proliferation. RAS proteins such as KRAS, a member of the RAS protein family, and their downstream effectors are attractive targets for cancer therapy since their mutations act as frequent drivers in lung, colorectal, and pancreatic cancers. However, RAS proteins have relatively smooth surfaces that lack traditional binding pockets, making inhibitors specific to RAS difficult to create. Recently, a novel small molecule pan-RAS inhibitor named MCI-062 was …

Bee Pluribus Unum: Vergil As An Imperial Advisor, Oleander Reagan-Artemis

Honors Theses

All three of Vergil’s major works received patronage, although somewhat indirectly, by Augustus, the first Roman emperor, and they have been an integral aspect of education since they were given to the public. Research going back hundreds of years, from John Wesley of the late 1700s to the contemporary Peter White, has sought to address the finer details of the relationship between Augustus and Vergil, focusing heavily on Vergil’s attitude towards Augustus and the new imperial rule. In this paper, I will add to this controversy-steeped conversation from the perspective of an educator, highlighting the possibility that Vergil was a …

My Female Gaze, Sawyer Suerth

Honors Theses

My Female Gaze is a research paper that accompanies a two-year-long photographic study. I take back the disembodied power that the male gaze has over me in public space by taking photos of men that look at my body. For other works in the series, I have revisited the same areas and rephotographed the scenes, taking a forensic approach to the criminal potential of the male gaze. In this supporting paper, I expand on socio-political movements like feminism and internalized surveillance of the self, which contribute to my assertion that women have less visual, social power than men in public …

A Seminar For Student Leaders To Engage And Retain Members In Student-Led Organizations, Luke Mcpherson

Honors Theses

The challenge of attracting and maintaining members in student-led organizations (SLO) inspired this thesis. Current research literature was used to create a presentation for student leaders. The presentation applied marketing principles as well as best practices suggested by the research. Interviews with four student leaders and two administrators involved in student activities were conducted to interact with the research. Their insights suggested that the strongest factor in attracting students was social, whether personal invitation or a sense of belonging to the group. The strongest deterrent to participation was a perception that the benefits did not outweigh time commitments to school …

An Argument And Model For Garden Corps, Sydney Ellis

Honors Theses

The benefits of community gardening have been thoroughly documented. Despite the value of community gardens, however, these gardens face many barriers that threaten their sustainability. This research investigated the benefits, barriers, and solutions to barriers of community gardening. The author performed literature review and conducted interviews with four community garden coordinators from the Chattanooga area to explore these topics. The author used the insights gained from the interviews to develop a business model for Garden Corps, a nonprofit dedicated to building capacity for community gardens.

Theoretical Studies Of Benzoquinone Reactivity In Acidic And Basic Environments, Natali Majoras

Honors Theses

Quinones are a class of organic compounds containing a six-membered unsaturated ring with two carbonyl groups. They are biologically relevant mostly due to their ability to participate in redox reactions. Prior experiments in our lab showed that quinones can induce protein modifications that are pH dependent. In an acidic environment the modifications were less significant than in a basic environment. Previous computational studies have also been carried out to model, in neutral solutions, the reaction between various quinones and various amines. Various amine groups are used as a model for the amino group of lysine to represent protein modification. The …

Sentiment Trends In Political Tweets: A Case Study Of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Madeline Enlow

Honors Theses

Political public relations has changed in recent years with new developments in social media, leading to a greater use of digital communication. This thesis focuses on the wording in Twitter posts. This purpose of this case study is to find the potential effect of tweet sentiment on audience engagement when looking specifically at messages from Marjorie Taylor Greene’s professional Twitter account. A sentiment analysis of a sixth-month time span of tweets was created using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) system. The variables assigned for tone were averaged for each day and charted on a graph, showing when they …

Reestablishing A New Normal: Addressing The Social Injustices At The Heart Of Cardiovascular Disease Epidemic And Examining The Role Of Feutin-A As A Potential Therapy, Christopher Robinson

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Investigating Differing Covid-19 Vaccine Attitudes Within Families, Sarah Dulaney

Honors Theses

The dynamic between the young adult and their immediate parent(s) is unique as it is in limbo between childhood and the young adult starting their own family. Although young adults can legally make their own vaccine decisions, parental influence can be a major factor in their decision making (Patel, Zochowski, Peterman et al., 2012). The aim of this study is to investigate the sociological phenomena behind the differing attitudes between family members on the topic of COVID-19 vaccination. As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on the health and stability of society, understanding the factors that influence vaccine attitudes can inform …

Masked Up And Feeling Down: The Association Between Mental Health And Preventative Regulation During The Covid Pandemic, Mary Margaret Mitchell

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Nursing Students Attitudes Towards Patients' With Disabilities, Sonny Miles

Honors Theses

Attitudes have been found to impact the quality of healthcare provided to patients. Nursing students are individuals that will eventually care for and impact the livelihood of all individuals including those with disabilities. Measurements of attitudes among nursing students serves to evaluate the efficacy of nursing curriculums regarding disability and determines if revision is needed to better promote healthcare administration for the patient with a disability. This study utilized the Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP) to measure attitudes among nursing students enrolled in a baccalaureate nursing program at a Southeastern University. The mean score from participants was 108.49 …

The Implications Of Colorism On Black Women From The Early 20th Century To The Present, Allaija Briann Williams

Honors Theses

Colorism, a term first coined by novelist Alice Walker in 1983, is a systemic issue plaguing the black community because it demonstrates unequal treatment of people with different skin tones and hair. Although colorism is present among people of other races and black men, this thesis explores black prejudice towards dark-skinned black women in the 21^st century as compared to the 20^th. This study illustrates the historical continuity of the colorist narrative of dark-skinned women as ugly, angry, and incompetent. As a dark-skinned woman, I was inspired to write this thesis from my own experiences and observations. …

A Cold War On The Dark Knight: Batman And American Culture 1939-1975, Angelica Cantrell

Honors Theses

In 1930, Batman fought the prevailing fears of urban America. With the addition of Robin in 1940, the comics changed to appeal to children and continued to follow the cultural trends of America during World War II and into the Cold War. Fear and paranoia during the Cold War influenced American culture and domestic policy. Anticommunism was ingrained in American social structure and initiated efforts at social containment in the 1950s. American culture shifted to emphasize morality and domesticity, and many Americans actively sought to protect traditional Christian values in their society.

Among the rising concerns, Americans became increasingly worried …

The Effect Of 100 Percent Population Testing On The Perception Of Cpa Firms With Limited Liability Exposure, Brock Revels

Honors Theses

The present study investigates whether retail investors believe that a CPA firm’s liability exposure or the type of evidence collected by the firm impacts their ability to remain unbiased during the audit. This study is inspired by calls for further research pertaining to the benefits and effectiveness that big data can provide to the audit industry or whether it could lead to more regulation. After receiving approval for the study by the Institutional Review Board, retail investors responded to an experiment in order to gather information for the study. The results indicate that retail investors believe that a CPA firm’s …

Alternative Inhibitors Of Canonical Wnt Signaling, Abigail Grant

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Analyzing The Survival Rate Of Clinically Pathogenic Bacteria On Occupational Therapy Devices Used During Full Hip Replacement Rehabilitation, Meredith Rippy

Honors Theses

An increasing concern of the healthcare system has been that of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs). HAIs currently account for approximately 1.7 million infections and 99,000 deaths per year in United States hospitals. HAI’s (formerly called nosocomial infections) are defined as infections that develop in patients who have been in residence in a healthcare facility (i.e., in-patient clinics) for 48 hours or longer and who previously had no evidence of infection prior to admission. Consequences of HAIs include increased length of hospital stay, exposure to high frequency antibiotics, sepsis, and in unfortunate cases, death. In out-patient environments where patients are receiving rehabilitative …

Belongingness Needs, Personality, And The Influence Of Virtual Socialization, Katrina Johnson

Honors Theses

Social belongingness is a part of everyday life. The purpose of this study was to learn more about how personality and the use of virtual socialization interact with feelings of belongingness and subjective well-being. The findings of this study indicate that belongingness and well-being are significantly and positively correlated with extraversion. We also found that belongingness and social media used for maintaining friendships were significantly correlated. Further, in a regression analysis, extraversion consistently and significantly positively predicted perceived belongingness. These findings suggest that personality and modality of socializing interact with perceived belongingness.

Media Sexualization And Its Impact On College Aged Women, Madelyn Moncrief

Honors Theses

Social and traditional media are often studied in relation to women’s perceptions of sex. However, they are often studied separately instead of together, missing the overall connection of media on attitudes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between media consumption, specifically social media and television, and college-aged women's levels of internalized sexualization. The findings of this study found a significant positive correlation between time spent consuming romanced-based reality television and romantic comedies and higher levels of internalized sexualization in college-aged women. This study also found there to be a significant positive correlation between college women’s usage …

Speech Acts As Contingent Encounters: Realizing Agency In Contaminated Worlds, Zachary Cross

Honors Theses

Agency is realized in the act of speaking, an act which is always contingent on a collaborative process that transforms all parties involved. We think and act with one another and our concepts, there is no act of speech prior to encounter. In this paper I explore different ways which language shapes our thinking and play with those structures to use them as models for realizing agency. This exploration became personal insofar as exploring ways of thinking transformed my own sense of agency in the speech act. The completion of this paper is thus essential to its conclusion.

#Blacklivesmatter: Critical Political Implications Of Twitter Discourse In The Wake Of George Floyd, Jillian C. Waterhouse

Honors Theses

As we move forward into a digitalized age of communication, social media becomes increasingly powerful with each passing day. Digital forms of interaction foster an active political discourse and influence the behavior of both the public and government officials. The freedom to deliver public statements at will has been effectively utilized by individuals, local activists, and representatives of the legislative branch to interact in discourse concerning current events, therefore furthering the mobilization of social media to shape the American public policy stage as a whole. As a result of the accessibility of the internet, social media has become the most …

Understanding The Lived Experiences Of Immigrants In The United States, Isabelle Koslin

Honors Theses

When it comes to diversity research, immigrants have a long history of falling into an "invisible" group of people. This paper serves as an important first step into the vast amount of research that has yet to be done in regard to the lived experiences of immigrants that are legally living and working in the United States. Research for this project included open-ended, semi-structured individual interviews that took place with five immigrants. The participants immigrated to the U.S. on different visas, work in different industries, and are from different countries - thus allowing the interviews to reveal patterns of lived …

Creating A Classroom Culture, Molly Cahill

Honors Theses

Throughout my academic and creative life I have been in many different kinds of classrooms each possessing different values and practices. The art classroom for me was a place of exploration and play, arguably its chief and most important purpose. My thesis seeks to explore how art teachers can foster a creative classroom culture in which students are pursuing some form of expression and how art educators can engage with their students on an equal level and create together. I will also explore how the teacher as a practicing artist can further support and supplement this classroom culture. My thesis …

The Impact Of Water Infrastructure Inequality On Marginalized Communities, Indra Khalsa

Honors Theses

America’s current system of water infrastructure poses a threat not only to the environment but also to public health. The water crisis reveals the stark inequalities that exist from both an environmental justice and a social justice perspective. There is a growing concern that without adequate investment from federal resources, the problems related to this issue will only worsen the longer they are neglected. There is little information about how specific environmental and social factors combine with water infrastructure to create long-term infrastructure inequalities. However, this thesis explores the disparities in water infrastructure affordability, vulnerability patterns, and environmental hazards. It …

Accounting Case Studies, Megan Jansen

Honors Theses

This thesis is a combination of 11 accounting case studies. They are titled: A Tale of Two Cities, Exploring the FASB and GAAP, Presidential Debate, Tax Cuts and Job Act and Taxodus, Professional Interview, Case Competition Disney Overview, Case Competition Disney Audit Analyst, Case Competition Disney Tax Advisor, Case Competition Disney Advisory Consultant, Case Competition Disney’s Equity Position, and The Financial Crisis of 2008.These cases cover a variety of topics in the accounting and professional world. Five of the cases contain research that pertained to a case competition in which I was placed on a team and tasked with creating …

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 …

Homeland Calling: Myths As Mobilizers Of Conflict In The Zapatista Rebellion And The Kosovo War, Catherine E. Williamson

Honors Theses

How do conflict myths mobilize actors in insurgencies? This thesis aims to answer this question by exploring how insurgent leaders engage in revolutionary mythmaking in its messaging to combatants, members of the nation, and the international community, in order to incite and sustain their rebellions. I compare the Zapatista Army of National Liberation of the 1994 Zapatista rebellion and the Kosovo Liberation Army of the 1998 Kosovo war in order to examine the kinds of myths propagated in each case. This study argues that revolutionary mythmaking is not a mere feature of some insurgencies but a necessary condition for an …

The Effects Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On The Fear Of Missing Out, Anxiety, And Loneliness, Hannah Turner

Honors Theses

The unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic implores consideration for how the psychopathological constructs the fear of missing out, anxiety, and loneliness are affected within this context (Liverant et al., 2004; Rajkumar, 2020). These mental well-being variables also all appear in association with social media (Hunt et al., 2018; Caplan, 2007). While previous research has explored the initial impacts of the pandemic on mental well-being (Wang, Pan et al., 2020; Bu et al., 2020), this research further examines the effect on college students’ mental well-being in the pandemic alongside social media usage. I hypothesize that levels of the fear of …

Popular Protests And Democratization In Post-Soviet Countries: An Analysis Of Why Some Democracy Movements Failed And Others Succeeded, David Mcdonald

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to analyze pro-democracy movements in post-Soviet countries through the lens of existing theories of democratization to determine why a particular protest movement succeeded or failed. Through a qualitative analysis of theories of democratization and four case studies – Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Belarus – this thesis finds that the theories of democratization are ultimately applicable and helpful in understanding these case studies, albeit in different ways. Whereas the theories and their predictions might be proven correct in the cases of Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, the opposite is true in Russia and Belarus, where authoritarian regimes have taken steps …

The Underrepresentation Of Women In Filmmaking, Paola Sandoval

Honors Theses

My thesis project seeks to bring awareness to the ongoing problem of the underrepresentation of women in filmmaking. During the initial stages of filmmaking, many women contributed to the developing Hollywood industry. As film-watching grew in popularity in the 1920s, filmmaking turned into a lucrative business. Consequently, this boost of film production pushed women to the outskirts, making the field male-dominated. This has continued into the present-day leaving women having to overcome the challenges of garnering positions on a film crew.

Existing research on this topic mostly focuses on Hollywood. However, the underrepresentation of women in film is not only …

"To Control A Human Destiny:" Sound Design For Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, Allison Bucher

Honors Theses

This undergraduate thesis details the sound design process for the University of Southern Mississippi’s Fall 2021 production of Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen. Through analysis of the script style of the play, research of the playwright, and collaboration with the artistic team, this student created and implemented an effective sound design for this production.

Keywords: sound, design, theatre, Hedda Gabler, Ibsen