Digital Commons Network^™

Coronary Artery Disease: An Analysis Of Its Biochemical, Physiological, And Sociological Causes And Effects, Alexander Velazquez

Honors Theses

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is a serious condition caused by a buildup of plaque in your coronary arteries, the blood vessels that bring oxygen-rich blood to your heart. It disproportionately affects millions of Americans and thousands of Mississippians. This study presents the results of an evaluation of causation factors of CAD, the physiological impact on the body, and the contributing determinants of CAD on Mississippi populations. Data on Mississippi populations were collected using the Center for Population Studies at the University of Mississippi. A multitude of individuals were evaluated when examining the causes and effects of CAD including men, women, …

Chemical And Co-Solute Effects Of Polyethylene Glycol On I-Motif Formation, Lindsey Rutherford

Honors Theses

DNA typically forms Watson and Crick double helix structures in which adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine pair with their complimentary DNA base. However, DNA i-motif structures can form in cytosine rich DNA, typically under slightly acidic conditions (~pH 6). DNA i-motifs are four stranded secondary structures in which cytosine pairs with cytosine to form a quadruplex. The i-motifs are typically formed in acidic conditions because of the protonation in the C•C base pair between one of the three hydrogen bases. Recent studies have suggested i-motifs can also form under neutral conditions, which is more realistic for a cell. It is …

Support For Regionalist And Nationalist Political Parties In Spain, Bailey Burleson

Honors Theses

This research investigates the variation across the autonomous communities of Spain in the level of support for both regionalist and nationalist political parties such as the new far-right political party, Vox. This research looks at four cases: Andalusia, Catalonia, Galicia, and Murcia. Together these cases represent a spectrum of regionalist sentiment, support for regionalist parties, and support for nationalist parties. Using survey data from the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas ahead of the Spanish general election of November 2019, this thesis analyzes individual-level determinants of voting behavior corresponding to regionalist and nationalist political parties in Spain. Of the individual-level determinants of …

Has Maize Overtaken Our Reality? A Personal Briefing, Biochemical Comparison, Agrigenomics, And History Of Maize, Nader Pahlevan

Honors Theses

Maize (Zea mays ssp. Mays) is a revolutionary cereal grain that has raced to the world’s most popular staple crop, transforming societies and impacting history. This paper aims to build and portray the story maize has created through its journey to world domination. The important details that encompass this literature are maize’s cultural significance in my life’s story, the comparison of various starches broken down into amylose and amylopectin ratios, a summative historical account on maize’s spread throughout numerous parts of the old world, and the genetical analysis of maize that explains the key features that have led …

Implication Of British Economic Policies On Indian Famine, Soujanya Niroula

Honors Theses

During the British rule, India was engulfed by multiple devastating famines. Over the past, scholars have presented varied opinions on the cause of Famine. Here, we seek to understand the British economic policies and their effects. Our analysis is focused on examining the taxation system, export/import policies, and crop production. We find that the interest of the British aligned with the extractive colonial strategy. The imposed institutions fostered higher tax collection and strict implementation of the free-trade system. Moreover, their primary goal was aimed at preserving trade and commerce than alleviating the distress of the native population.

Potential For Democratization In Ethiopia, Abby Sonnier

Honors Theses

The United States is losing the competition for global power to China, especially on the African continent. This thesis aims to analyze opportunities for the United States to take advantage of China’s withdrawal from Ethiopia in order to develop relations with the quickly growing country and influence the country toward democratization. This author found that while democracy is not likely, through increasing relations with Ethiopia’s prime minister, the United States has an opportunity to push for increased individual freedoms for Ethiopians. The author relied on open-source information and strategic analytic techniques often employed by the U.S. intelligence community.

Of A Mustard Seed: The Portraits Of "Church-Going" Black Folks In The Rural South, Nakiyah T.M. Jordan

Honors Theses

I am a Black, queer, faith-driven artist from the rural parts of Southern Mississippi. Who I am greatly informs the work I make. I come from church fans and gas heaters, from winding backroads and yards full of “junk.” I come from flattened “get well soon” balloons as decor and piles of papers and things that will surely come in handy someday or another. This series of paintings is taken directly from snapshots of my family and church family over the years. Some are images from thirty years ago, and others are from just a few months ago. The work …

The Role Of Automotive Value Chains In The Development Patterns Of Mississippi, Mitchell Palmertree

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the automotive industry within Mississippi through a Global Value Chain lens. Through interviews conducted with economic developers affiliated with Nissan and Toyota’s recruitment, this thesis highlights the effect these final assembly plants on local economic development and the role these economic developers play in their recruitment. The automobile industry within Mississippi behaves much like the automobile industry elsewhere within the world as they tend to locate near final markets, drive the co-location of suppliers, and remain long-lived institutions in the community. This thesis also illuminates the role of state and local actors in recruiting the automotive industry. …

Small-Family Mindset: An Analysis Of The Impact Of China's Family Planning Policies On Family Culture, Sarah Ansley Croft

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the impact of China’s family planning policies on women’s attitudes towards family culture and the implications on China today. The family planning policies began in the 1970s as an emergency measure intended to create a short-term voluntary small-family culture by decreasing fertility rates. My research, comprised primarily of primary and secondary qualitative sources, discusses the development and implementation of the policies, the economic reforms beginning in the 1980s, and their joint effects on fertility rates, sex ratio at birth, women’s liberation, and changes in family culture, particularly in rural areas. This study found that the family planning …

The Politics Of Water Resource Management: State-Guided Framing Of China’S South To North Water Diversion Project And Its Impact On Citizen Perception, Mary Barlow

Honors Theses

Due to China’s geographic and human-exacerbated water scarcity, government leaders have turned to the South to North Water Diversion Project (SNWDP) in order to ensure a reliable source of water for the country’s increasingly parched Northern cities and townships. This thesis examines this inter-basin water transfer project (soon to be the world’s largest) through the lens of how government actors have framed the project. This official framing analysis is presented in tandem with citizen perceptions observed through online commentary in order to evaluate how effective such framing has been. Through such analysis, this research observes a pattern of nationalism and …

Purification Of Pcbp2 And Its Effect On The Formation Of Dna I-Motifs And Secondary Structures, Nathan Redden

Honors Theses

Several secondary, non-B forms of DNA are associated with the promoter regions of many oncogenes, including the intensely studied c-MYC gene that codes for a transcription factor. Two such secondary structures, G-quadruplexes, and i-motifs, have become topics of interest due to their prevalence within oncogenic promoters, as well as their potential accessibility for drug targeting. B-form DNA can adopt alternative structures under certain conditions. These alternative structures are favored when there is an asymmetric distribution of guanosine and cytosine on complimentary DNA strands. The strand rich in guanosine is able to form a quadruple stranded DNA complex termed a G-quadruplex. …

The Great Equalizer Or A Modern Iteration Of Historical Inequality: Artificial Intelligence In Latin America, Santana Amaker

Honors Theses

In recent years, governments across Latin America have taken steps to foster the development and implementation of artificial intelligence causing an expansion of the use of AI in the region. For instance, countries like Colombia and Argentina are using AI in their judicial systems. Superficially, the allure of AI in the judicial system stems from the thought that AI is an impartial entity that will pass fair and unbiased judgement. However, just like the programmers responsible for creating AI, algorithms used in AI system can be biased. The reason being AI is often trained to make predictions or decisions based …

Chronic Exercise And Memory Interference, Lisa Vogelgesang

Honors Theses

This online study examined whether chronic exercise is associated with attenuated memory interference. Sixty-three healthy, young adults completed an interference task (AB/AC-paradigm) and self-reported the number of days and minutes a day they engaged in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. We found that proactive interference (PI), but not retroactive interference (RI), occurred but none of the exercise modalities significantly impacted PI. Future studies should evaluate whether different interference tasks display diverse sensitivities to exercise-induced changes in memory interference. Moreover, other potential modulating factors, such as the duration and intensity of the exercise should be controlled for.

Analysis Of Multigenerational Behavioral Effects Of Dietary Benzo[A]Pyrene Exposure In Adult Zebrafish, Mary Beth Gillespie

Honors Theses

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon that is linked to negative reproductive and developmental effects in humans and animals. Because BaP is carcinogenic, and its continued presence in the environment allows it to be inhaled and ingested, better understanding of the effects of BaP is needed. To determine the behavioral effects of BaP exposure, zebrafish were used as a model. Wild-type zebrafish (5D) underwent two separate 21-day dietary exposures to 2.5 and 25 μg BaP/g fish to compare how BaP exposure affects locomotor activity. Following the dietary exposure, fish were mated to obtain and raise the F1 generation to …

Early Intervention Service Delivery Models In Mississippi: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, Claire Harper

Honors Theses

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to compare two models of service delivery for early intervention in Mississippi from a health care sector perspective: (1) face-to-face therapy in the home environment and (2) a hybrid model (i.e., telepractice and face-to-face therapy in the home environment), in order to compare costs and determine the most cost-effective service delivery of early intervention.

Methods: Children (n = 10) were recruited and determined to qualify for early intervention services through the Mississippi First Steps Early Intervention program. One early intervention provider, a certified SLP, from the northern health region provided early intervention …

Why Did The Camel Cross The Road?: The Use Of Camel Racing And Military Pageantry In Unifying Oman Through Nationalism Racing, Elizabeth Williams

Honors Theses

In 1970, Sultan Qaboos bin Said seized power from his father Sultan Said bin Taimur in a bloodless coup with backing from the British. Prior to this, bin Taimur led with policies that left Oman open to foreign involvement and internal divisions between the interior and exterior of the country. After coming to power, Qaboos undertook several progressive policies to modernize and unite the country. This paper examines how two cultural symbols- camel racing and military pageantry- were used to develop ethnic nationalism into civic nationalism.

Fakes, Forgeries, And Value Perception, Pearson Moore

Honors Theses

Fakes and forgeries generate a false sense of value in the art market that changes the perception of authentic works. Understanding the difference between a fake and a forgery is essential for explaining the schemes of deceivers who have fooled the art market into believing their work is of grandiose value and prestige. The creation of a forged piece or fake provenance documents requires immense artistic skill and a talent for breaking the rules. Examining famous figures and the criminal cases against them is a great way to work backwards from their “successes,” tracing the alleged origins of the piece’s …

Clinical Effectiveness Of Early Intervention Via A Hybrid Teletherapy Model: Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Rylan Ponthier

Honors Theses

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of Early Intervention (EI) provided via a hybrid model of teletherapy and traditional face-to-face therapy for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) compared to children without ASD.

Methods: In total, 10 children were evaluated receiving early intervention via a hybrid model of teletherapy and traditional face-to-face therapy. The children were divided up into two groups. Group 1 consisted of 5 children with ASD and Group 2 consisted of children without ASD. All children were assessed using the Rossetti Infant-Toddler Language Scale (RITLS).

Results: After 20 early intervention sessions, …

Fable In Action: A Discourse Analysis Approach To The Life Of Aesop, Martha Hamilton Mccafferty

Honors Theses

In this essay, I examine instances of fable-telling throughout the Life of Aesop in a new light by using linguistic theories from the subfield of Pragmatics in my analysis. I suggest that the author’s purpose in composing the Life of Aesop is to instruct his audience on how to use fable effectively, and that Aesop serves as both the positive and negative example for this lesson. I begin by considering the nature of fable and demonstrate why it is necessary to define fable in reference to the social action which it performs. I then address the complex position of fable …

A City Divided: A Gis-Informed Study Of Urban Planning In Amman, Jordan, Ella Lawson

Honors Theses

Amman, the capital of Jordan, faces an impending infrastructure crisis. The city is plagued by water shortages, a lack of affordable housing, extreme traffic congestion, and dwindling open space. Over the past seventy-five years, several urban planning commissions have attempted to address these issues through policy change and other municipal directives. These plans help illustrate the different forces at play in constructing the city—whether they be the residents themselves, city officials, or international consultants. All the plans use neighborhoods as a primary metric for measuring need and organizing development. Likewise, all the plans focus on the importance of green and …

Diagnostic Approaches To Combat Antibiotic Resistance In Bacteria, Alexander Oliveri, Shade Smith, Anshul Anugu

Honors Theses

The threat of antibiotic resistance is a major problem faced by the healthcare field affecting millions of people and costing tens of thousands of lives annually. Of the potential ways to mitigate this issue the field of antibiotic resistance testing presents an opportunity for significant improvement and benefits. Several methods of such diagnostic processes can yield more informative results than the current commonly used Kirby-Bauer test. However, there are benefits and limitations to each method. In the context of a clinically relevant diagnostic for antibiotic resistance, the microarray platform exhibits the necessary breadth with opportunities to overcome some limitations with …

A Survey Of Financial Accounting Reporting, James H. Robbins

Honors Theses

This thesis takes a survey of key accounting issues and concepts addressed in financial accounting reporting. Accountancy majors of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College were given an opportunity to complete their thesis before their internship during senior year by taking two classes over junior year. This thesis was constructed under the guidance of Dr. Vicki Dickinson. The thesis itself is a compilation of twelve different cases, and each case studies various areas of the accounting and business environment.

The Effect Of Advocate Disclosure On The Perceptions Of A Young Adult Who Stutters, Madeline Simpson

Honors Theses

This between-group study designed weighed the effects of stuttering disclosure on the perceptions of a 17-year-old male who stutters, relative to perceived speech skills and personality characteristics. 1225 participants were included in the dataset analysis with a balanced distribution across all ranges. The conditions used in this study include (1) control condition (no disclosure), as well as experimental conditions including: (2) father disclosure, (3) male coach disclosure, (4) female teacher disclosure, (5) girlfriend disclosure, and (6) female speech-language pathologist. Participants in the control group only viewed the primary video stimulus, while participants in the experimental groups viewed one of the …

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind: Analyzing Inhumane Practices In Mississippi’S Correctional Institutions Due To Overcrowding, Understaffing, And Diminished Funding, Ariel A. Williams

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to examine the political, social, and economic factors which have led to inhumane conditions in Mississippi’s correctional facilities. Several methods were employed, including a comparison of the historical and current methods of funding, staffing, and rehabilitating prisoners based on literature reviews. State-sponsored reports from various departments and the legislature were analyzed to provide insight into budgetary restrictions and political will to allocate funds. Statistical surveys and data were reviewed to determine how overcrowding and understaffing negatively affect administrative capacity and prisoners’ mental and physical well-being. Ultimately, it may be concluded that Mississippi has high …

Beliefs Of Translators About Medical Spanish Pamphlets, Margaret Coulter

Honors Theses

This paper addresses the beliefs of professional Spanish medical translators regarding the use of dialect variation in medical Spanish translation and the resulting effects on the level of healthcare attained by Spanish speaking patients in the United States. The health gap between English-speaking and non-English patients is explored as it relates to inadequate translation of medical information and instructions leading to poorer health outcomes and higher readmission rates among Spanish speakers.

On Narrative Approaches To Conspiracy Theory, John Hydrisko

Honors Theses

This thesis handles narrative approaches to conspiracy theory. It provides an overview of conspiracy theory and narrative before affirming a relationship between the two. It then introduces Fenster’s work on conspiracy narrative before engaging with the considerations therein. After discussing the tradition of visualizing narrative structure, it applies these practices to conspiracy narrative. This application allows for a discussion of recent innovations within conspiracy narrative. By using the QAnon as a case study, the paper investigates the emergence of protagonism and non-narrativism within the genre. Ultimately, this investigation suggests that contemporary conspiracy narrative is both better suited to the modern …

A Historical And Contextual Analysis Of Soviet And Russian "Active Measures": How Russian Political Warfare Efforts In Foreign Presidential Elections Have Transformed In The Information Age, Olivia Myers

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to analyze the transformation of Russian active measures in targeted national elections since the Soviet era. Through a historical analysis of research on active measures and contextual analysis of active measures campaigns themselves, this thesis finds that Russian active measures techniques have not drastically changed since the Soviet era. Instead, as a result of technology, Russian active measures have utilized platforms of social media to become more targeted, continuous, and convert. Therefore, Russian active measures campaigns have been better able to successfully target specific audiences, arguably making these campaigns more effective.

Beyond Beccaria: Diverse Criticism Of The Death Penalty In The Sixteenth, Seventeenth, And Eighteenth Centuries, Amelia Lawrence

Honors Theses

Most scholarly work on the history of criticism of the death penalty focuses on Cesare. Beccaria’s famous treatise, On Crimes and Punishments, and its impact on future thinkers and abolition movements. This thesis examines other trends, thinkers, and movements involved in the criticism or abolition of capital punishment in sixteenth-, seventeenth-, and eighteenth-century Europe. First, it argues that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries governments carefully orchestrated executions in order to foster acceptance of capital punishment. These attempts, however, were not entirely successful: early writings and trends reveal dissatisfaction with governments’ use of capital punishment. Second, it shows that during …

Evolution And Impact Of English Language Policy In Taiwan, Kaitlin Ashleigh Rigby

Honors Theses

This thesis takes a look at how English language policy (ELP) in Taiwan has changed over time and how it has affected the education system. This thesis also investigates the different attitudes directed toward ELP, some areas of concern, and problems that have occurred as a result of Taiwan’s approach toward ELP. Understanding why Taiwan supports the English language as much as it does while also considering its approach to implementing policy will provide insight on how Taiwan believes that ELP is a necessary part of globalization.

Measuring Rental Affordability Dynamics For The Southern United States With Constant Quartile Mismatch, Bradley Curtis

Honors Theses

This project centers on the topic of rental housing affordability for southern metropolitan areas in the United States. In an attempt to understand how rents have changed in relation to incomes in cities throughout the American south, this study uses IPUMS data to compare changes in the distributions of rents and incomes from 2000 to 2019 for each of the geographies in question. The Constant Quartile Mismatch metric employed in this project was first implemented in the study "A constant quartile mismatch indicator of changing rental affordability in US Metropolitan areas, 2000 to 2016". This thesis hopes to extend the …