Digital Commons Network^™

Comprehensive Analysis Of The Different Fields Of Law, Kaitlyn Lee

Honors Theses

Since American law developed in the early 1700s, lawyers have played a crucial role in society, advocating for justice and upholding the rule of law. Over the years the legal profession has evolved immensely and now offers many different fields for individuals to practice. People are often curious about the work that lawyers do and the education that is required to become an attorney. This thesis aims to satisfy the curiosity of those individuals by exploring many facets of the different areas of law. It will examine the unique and shared aspects of the various legal fields, detailing the specific …

Self And Tell: Exploring Identity Through Music, Logen Crandall

Honors Theses

My honors thesis is a five-song EP titled ‘self and tell’. It is considered an EP (Extended Play) because it is longer than one song but shorter than an album. As an English: Creative Writing major, I wanted to write something for my thesis that truly excited me. However, I was ignited by the thought of writing an essay, play, collection of poems, or work of fiction. As someone who has always had a passion for music and singing, I instead chose to use my knowledge of poetry and storytelling to write lyrics that followed a central theme from one …

Matrix Training For Expanding The Communication Of Toddlers And Preschoolers With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jacy Durdel, Maggie Ratcliff

Honors Theses

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly display a range of deficits from communication skills to play skills. When the ability to generalize is improved, a greater number of stimuli can be learned without having to be directly taught, which can be done through matrix training. Matrix training provides a framework for actively teaching a singular exemplar of a target, and, through recombination, many more stimuli can be learned. Participant is a 4-year-old boy diagnosed with ASD who was taught noun-verb combinations through tactile movement of figurines. All targets are tested before and after the single stimulus of each …

Exploring Social Workers Potential Role In Mitigating Maternal Mortality Through Coordinated Care, Jena Brown-Talib

Honors Theses

Maternal health disparities persist as a significant challenge in Mississippi, particularly for African American women. This thesis explores the intersection of coordinated care models and social work interventions in addressing maternal mortality. Coordinated care involves collaboration among physicians, nurses, practitioners, social workers, community health workers, and other support services, aiming to maximize pregnant patients' overall health outcomes.

Analyzing strategies of social workers within coordinated care models is important for improving maternal health outcomes within this study. A qualitative approach was chosen to delve beyond statistics and illuminate the reality of maternal health disparities and the efforts to resolve them. Data …

Examining The Nexus Of Food Insecurity And Oral Health, Abigayle Talbot

Honors Theses

This research paper delves into the relationship between oral health and nutrition status among individuals with food insecurity. As both oral health and nutritional well-being play pivotal roles in overall health, understanding their interplay in the context of food insecurity becomes important. This study investigated how inadequate access to food resources, a characteristic of food insecurity, can impact oral health, leading to a spectrum of dental issues. The study explores the impact of compromised oral health on dietary habits, potentially resulting in nutritional deficiencies or malnutrition. By examining the potential pathways through which these factors influence each other, the study …

Proposals To Address Health Disparities In Occupational Therapy, Madison Michelle Cotten

Honors Theses

Health disparities, “preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health,” are infamous for their effects within both general healthcare and occupational therapy settings (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2008). Though existing literature establishes a need for the widespread adoption of anti-discrimination measures, specific recommendations for occupational therapy schools remain limited. This project aims to remedy this gap in knowledge by serving as an initial overview of healthcare disparities within occupational therapy and by addressing the potential value of incorporating diversity courses into the curriculum of occupational therapy schools. Through the presentation …

Russian Interventionism: A Case Study Of President Vladimir Putin's Personal Influence In The Syrian Civil War, Lee Holmes

Honors Theses

The most influential factors in implementing interventionist policies into vulnerable countries are widely debated depending on political factors in the international relations sphere. Russia’s decision to intervene in Syria’s civil war in 2015 while Syria collapsed from civil unrest and authoritarian corruption is a prime example. Although most literature agrees that Russia’s intervention stemmed from an attempt to solidify political influence and diplomatic relations in the Middle East, hardly any addresses President Vladimir Putin’s individual influence as a determining factor. Since national power is consolidated to the individual leader in authoritarian regimes, it is crucial to understand President Putin’s personal …

Scared To Give? A Look Into How Terrorism Affects The Flow Of Foreign Aid, Madelyn Jarjoura

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the role of formal ties to terrorism and its effect on foreign aid

from donor countries considered either democratic or not. I hypothesize that as more seats are occupied in a recipient country’s government by a known terrorist organization, the less total aid democratic donor countries will send to that country (vice versa for non-democratic donors). However, with stronger ties to terrorism, the more aid democratic donors will bypass through NGOs (vice versa for non-democratic donors). To test this, I used Hezbollah’s seats in Lebanon’s Parliament from the years 1995 – 2021 as a case study for …

Attitudes And Perceptions Of Sex Offenders Amongst Rural Populationns, Riley Allen

Honors Theses

The current study aims to examine rural residents’ attitudes regarding sex offenders and their perceptions of the recidivism rates of these types of individuals. Data from qualitative interviews of rural Illinois residents (N=24) will be used. This archival data will be coded with NVivo software to determine the prevalence of certain responses indicating positive or negative attitudes as well as perceptions of both adult and juvenile recidivism rates. Through the examination and analyses of the coded data, this study will help determine what kind of attitudes rural residents in southern Illinois harbor towards sex offenders and how that may correlate …

Can Vice Make Us Virtuous? The Effects Of Greed Reminders On Charitability, Hayley Pitts

Honors Theses

Historically, society wishes to encourage people to be good – but also warns against being bad. There is little comparison between the two of which works: the threat of damnation through vice, or the promise of salvation through virtue. This study examines how each of these affect donation behavior. There are two studies within the present research, each with 149 participants randomly assigned into three categories: control, vice, and virtue. Participants were distracted then asked to view an image based on their randomly assigned category, followed by a donation question: would participants donate a $1.00 bonus to a local charity, …

The Effects Of Processing Tasks On False Memories, Caroline Lewis

Honors Theses

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects that three different processing tasks had on the rate of false memories. Participants were randomly assigned into a story condition, survival condition, or a pleasantness condition. Using a word list that had three groups of ten words each connected to a nonpresented critical word, participants were asked to process the words using instructions based on their given condition. Processing occurred through written sentences, which was then followed by a short mathematical distraction test. Participants were then given time to recall all of the words presented on the list by …

Biogeographic Patterns In Phyllosphere Bacterial Communities On Southern Magnolia Trees In A Small Town, Elizabeth M. Eckard, Venkat K. Kota, Kurre T. Luber

Honors Theses

The phyllosphere, consisting of aerial plant surfaces colonized by microorganisms, remains a relatively understudied ecosystem in terms of bacterial biogeography, particularly at intermediate spatial scales. This study characterized the bacterial community on the leaves of 89 Magnolia grandiflora trees throughout a small town, encompassing an area of approximately 60 km². Sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene revealed the dominant bacterial phyla to be Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Acidobacteria, consistent with other studies of the phyllosphere. Unlike other studies over smaller spatial scales, there was no significant relationship between phyllosphere community similarity and distance between trees (i.e., trees further …

Revisiting Snack-Time: Analyzing How A Food Prescription Program In Charleston, Ms Affects The Children Of Participating Parents And Caregivers, Aubrey Bethay

Honors Theses

This study examines how Food Rx programs impact the children of enrolled families. Currently, research in this area is limited to data that focuses on produce consumption rates and BMI; however, there are other measures of physical and mental well-being that require evaluation. Consequently, this paper takes a more comprehensive approach, looking into childrens’ sense of security and perception of healthy food. 10 parents (representing 23 children) were interviewed and participated in recorded focus groups in order to gather information. From here, their responses were organized into domains in order to categorize the data.

Many parents reported that their children …

Effects Of Vdac 1 And 2 N-Terminal Peptides On Bax Conformation Assessed By Blue Native Gel Electrophoresis, Allison G. Dupree

Honors Theses

Members of the Bcl-2 family are responsible for regulating the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis through Bcl-2 homology 3 (BH3) domain interactions of pro- and anti-apoptotic members. Apoptosis occurs when BH3-only pro-death members overwhelm the pro-survival ones, leading to oligomerization of the multi-BH domain pro-death protein Bax to signal death by releasing cytochrome c from mitochondria into the cytoplasm. This process is essential for proper embryonic tissue development as well as maintenance of mature tissues. While BH3-only proteins such as Bim and Bid bind to and activate Bax through their BH3 domains, other regulators of this mitochondrial permeabilizer may exist. Two …

An Analysis Of Congressional Disgust Language On Twitter By Party Identification, Martha Nichols

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to advance the existing work in the field of political communications through a study of congressional Twitter use. While there has been a significant amount of study focused on presidential Twitter presence, there is less existing literature on the use of Twitter by members of the U.S. Congress. This study focuses on the use of disgust language on Twitter and tests the hypothesis that Republican congressmen and women will have a higher proportion of disgust language in their Twitter presence over time. The hypothesis was unsupported, as the results produce an unexpected outcome that Democratic members of …

Timber And Tornadoes: A Journalistic View Of Mississippi's Escalating Climate Challenge, Alice Ann Hollingsworth, Alice Ann Hollingsworth

Honors Theses

Timber and Tornadoes: A Journalistic View of Mississippi’s Escalating Climate Challenges is a project which explores the impact of climate change on the state of Mississippi and its industries. Specific areas of interest were the recent onslaught of wind disasters including tornadic activity and hurricanes as well as the impact of weather events on the timber and forestry industries in the state. This project involved interviews of industry professionals as well as academic experts. In addition, interview questions and necessary supplemental context were developed using significant background research. Emphasizing the potential challenges that climate change will present for the state …

An Analysis Of Professional Education For Future Physicians To Address Implicit Racial Bias In Black Maternal Health, Jasmine Butler

Honors Theses

The history of medicine in the United States is littered with incidences of racism and exploitation of Black Americans. The extensive history of medical racism has continued to be perpetuated in healthcare today. Within the field of maternal health, the dark history of medicine shows its face with the treatment of black mothers. Black maternal health is a current public health crisis currently being exacerbated through discrimination in the form of implicit bias. Implicit bias is a current issue in our healthcare system that needs to be addressed through adequate training of both medical students and physicians. This qualitative research …

An Examination Of Cardio-Vascular Patients’ Experiences In A Rural Food Prescription Program, Julia Hansen

Honors Theses

The burden of diet-related chronic diseases in rural communities has prompted the implementation of food prescription programs in rural areas to investigate the impact of more affordable and accessible fresh produce on these vulnerable populations. Because there is little research on the impact of food prescription programs on cardiovascular patients in rural areas, this study will focus on how food prescription programs can benefit this at-risk population. Another goal of this study is to receive feedback from participants to improve food prescription programs to better suit cardiovascular participant needs. To accomplish these goals, a series of questions were asked to …

An Ethical Analysis Of Sports Specialization And The Harms It Poses To Youth Athletes, Caleb Bohannon

Honors Theses

Whereas youth sports in the United States were once commonly funded by local or state park and recreation commissions, current commercialization trends within the industry have caused youth sports to become increasingly commodified. Now, youth sports use private pay-to-play, or “competitive” sports models. Attempting to maintain a competitive advantage over their peers and further their athletic pursuits in this context, more youth now seek to specialize in their respective sports. When youth specialize, they focus their participation on a single sport for most of the year, which interferes with their participation in other sports and activities. This thesis explores neglected …

A Compilation Of Financial Accounting Case Studies, Molly O'Connor

Honors Theses

The case studies comprising this thesis place accounting in the context of the broader political and economic landscape. Through multimedia platforms and group discussions presented throughout the spring and fall semesters of 2023, I considered the interplay between legislation and business and reflected on the ultimate impact these events have on Americans. In- class discussions regarding references to current events, such as the war in Ukraine and impending legislation, prompted me to see the need to be well-informed if I want to be an effective auditor as well as a responsible citizen. In Case 1, I was offered the opportunity …

Benzo[A]Pyrene-Induced Multigenerational Gene Expression And Dna Methylation Changes Are Influenced By Paternal Epigenome, Caroline Sturgis

Honors Theses

The objectives of this study were to determine the sex-dependent contributions to developmental and behavioral effects of preconceptional exposure to benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). BaP is implicated in numerous adverse outcomes in offspring of exposed parents, but the molecular mechanisms for the developmental and multigenerational effects associated with BaP exposures have yet to be fully elucidated. To assess the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (Ahr), a waterborne exposure of the offspring of ahr heterozygous (ahr^+/-) parents was conducted. At 120 hpf, BaP treated fish moved significantly less in the dark phase regardless of genotype. At 3 wpf, there …

Sleep's Relationship To Executive Functioning In Toddlers, Ella Havertape

Honors Theses

The primary purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between toddlers’ sleep and executive functioning. While there are a few studies that examine the relation between sleep and executive functioning in this age group, the majority of research focuses on older populations. Regardless, previous research has found a correlation between sleep problems and executive functioning abilities. This study utilized a parent reported questionnaire to measure children’s sleep and a battery of tasks to measure executive functioning. The results revealed no correlation between sleep duration and executive function performance, however, I did find a correlation between night wakefulness and …

Development Of A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (Cure) Using The Bess Beetle, Sreya Maddali

Honors Theses

Participating in scientific research has increasingly been important in helping students develop necessary science learning skills, like critical thinking. One way of introducing students to these experiences is a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE). CUREs enable students to improve in similar ways to internships and are more accessible to students from diverse backgrounds. The goal was to create a CURE centered around ecological genetics, using the Bess Beetle (Odontotaenius disjunctus) as the focal organism of a 16-week course. This species was selected because of its wide geographic range and divergent genetic lineages based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) …

Correlation Between Interest Rates And Bank Mergers, Maren Egging

Honors Theses

This paper examines the relation between macroeconomic factors and bank mergers and acquisitions from 1995 to 2022. I build upon the work of Etsy et al. (1994) to determine an updated analysis of how interest rates and stock market returns may influence merger activity in the banking segment. Using a dataset of 1,153 large bank mergers, I perform correlation analyses to draw three main conclusions. Firstly, bank mergers demonstrate weaker correlations with key macroeconomic variables than industrial mergers. Secondly, I observe material differences from the work of Etsy et al. with what appears to be significant changes in underlying relations. …

Predicting Personal Growth: An Analysis Of Self-Relevant Approaches, Cole Morse

Honors Theses

Identifying predictors of personal growth–defined as striving to fulfill one’s unique potential–may be important for achieving a life of flourishing (Ryff & Singer, 2008). While existing research demonstrates the link between self-esteem and personal growth, gaps remain in our knowledge of the relationship between other potential self-referential predictors and personal growth (Paradise & Kernis, 2002). The intention of the current study is to not only conceptually replicate the link between positive self-regard (i.e., a positive self-evaluation that is theoretically akin to self-esteem) and personal growth, but to also investigate whether different ways of relating to the self offer unique pathways …

The Effects Of Additive Manufacturing On Canine Hind Limb Repairment Surgery, Annabel Keers

Honors Theses

The intention of this project is to explore some of the ways that additive manufacturing is affecting veterinary medicine. I will specifically be delving into canine hind limb repairment surgeries, such as cranial cruciate ligament reconstruction. 3D printed prototypes have been utilized in the human medical field for quite a while, and it has inspired such technology to expand into the world of veterinary medicine. Such emerging research is expected to take-off as the pet market grows in size and level of care for the health of our animals.

I took special interest in this field as I will be …

Your Money Or Your Life: A Study Of Medical Debt In The Southeastern United States, Grace Barrett

Honors Theses

A major issue has emerged from the U.S. healthcare system: medical debt. Medical debt is a serious problem in the U.S. that often cripples those who received healthcare services, but are unable to pay the bill. The most common scenario is when an unexpected major medical issue occurs, e.g. a heart attack, an automobile accident, cancer or anything requiring an emergency room visit. These hospital visits often result in very large, very unexpected expenses. These expenses are ultimately owed to the healthcare provider by the patient (or the patient's insurance policy) and increasingly, cause lifelong financial stress to those who …

Moca Normative Data On Young Adults Using An Adapted Version And Remote Administration Via Zoom, Elizabeth Johns

Honors Theses

Overview:

Cognitive decline is often associated with the emergence of dementia and other negative developments in health. Due to the potential for harm that cognitive decline can cause, it is essential that clinicians are able to detect and identify when it is occurring. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is useful clinically mainly because of the test’s ability to identify mild cognitive impairment. Following the pandemic in 2020, telehealth has become prominent. Previous studies considering MoCA have mostly used samples of older adults, but it is important to understand the impact of traumatic brain injuries on young adults. The following study …

Climate Change In Mississippi: A Journalistic Exploration Of Education And Activism, Kala Nance

Honors Theses

Climate Change in Mississippi: A Journalistic Exploration of Education and Activism takes an investigative, journalistic approach toward climate change in Mississippi. Specifically, how education and awareness have a direct impact on Mississippi industries, people and legislation. The project explored the level of acknowledgement of climate change across the state, and how certain individuals used advocacy to encourage education about climate change to raise awareness of the severity of the situation. This project includes interviews with university professors and researchers, non-profit organizations, educational groups and working individuals in some of Mississippi’s largest areas of employment. Additionally, this project draws on research …

Manipulative, Dark, And Unethical Design Practices In Ui & Ux Design, Ryan Edward Brown

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the pervasive and detrimental effects of manipulative user interface and user experience design (UI/UX) practices on individuals and society. Focusing on three critical areas – accessibility, dark patterns, and polarization – the study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining findings from a comprehensive literature review, an analysis of specific design patterns and methods, and a survey of user experiences.
The literature review covers topics such as the importance of accessibility in design education, the prevalence of dark patterns in mobile and desktop sites, the role of personalization algorithms in shaping user experiences, and the formation of echo chambers …