Digital Commons Network^™

Music Listening And Cognitive Function, Neil Kotta

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Gasification Based Waste Tire Integrated Energy Conversion Systems, Karah Powell

Honors Theses

The objective of this study was to evaluate the operating parameters impacts on the performance of a gasification-based waste tire integrated energy conversion system. In this system, the waste tires are put into a downdraft gasifier that is providing fuel for a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The system is evaluated by the syngas production, power generation, and overall efficiency under various operating conditions. A hybrid 1-D model was adopted to perform a parametric study of the tire gasification and calculations were done to estimate the integrated system power generation and overall efficiency using MATLAB. Three parameters were studied: the …

Examining An Intersection Of Environmental Justice And Covid-19 Risk Assessment: A Review, Ashley Ellis

Honors Theses

This study views the risks associated with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as an environmental injustice issue due to the connection between existing environmental disparities and the disproportional negative impacts brought upon by the virus. The social and health determinants attributed to those environmental disparities have traditionally been evaluated as individual risk factors, an approach that fails to gauge the complexity of an environmental injustice issue. This study employs the emerging theory of intersectionality, a belief that phenomena cannot be linked to one principal cause but instead an interconnected web of influences, in order to synthesize the multitude of factors believed …

The Role Of A-Layer In Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (Pufa)-Mediated Effects On Aeromonas Salmonicida Subsp. Salmonicida, Allen Lin

Honors Theses

Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida is a Gram-negative bacterium that infects salmonids and non-salmonids worldwide leading to an infection known as furunculosis, which is characterized by skin lesions and hemorrhages of the fish epidermis. This infection is carried out by a A+ (virulent strain) of A. salmonicida containing an important virulent factor known as the A-layer, which is a 2D paracrystalline structure that binds to the basement membrane and functions to promote adherence to host membranes and resistance to host defense. The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of the A+ A. salmonicida to incorporate exogenous fatty acids …

The Indirect Effect Of Childhood Trauma On Body Mass Index Through Exercise Frequency, Andreana Durham

Honors Theses

Objective: Research pertaining to Body Mass Index (BMI) and Childhood Trauma (CT) is very limited, with the main focus being on how these two variables correlate, disregarding other possible covariates. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of CT on BMI while including Exercise Frequency as a mediator of this relationship and sex as a moderator for both the direct and indirect relationships among these variables. Methods: Participants included 1,812 individuals (57.9% female and 42.1% male) who completed the Behavior Health Questionnaire, which included questions looking at exercise frequency, CT, and BMI. Results: CT was related …

“As A Father You Shall Be To Me”: Examining The Anglo-Saxon Oath In J.R.R. Tolkien’S Lord Of The Rings, Brady Kruse

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Biofortification As A Sustainable Solution For 'Hidden Hunger': Evaluating Its Impact On The Environment, Nutrition, Culture, And Ethics, Elysia Lewis

Honors Theses

Micronutrient malnutrition, also referred to as ‘hidden hunger’, negatively impacts the health of millions of people around the world. Because of this, several strategies to reduce malnutrition have been proposed, one of which is biofortification. The process of biofortification increases the nutrient content of plants during their vegetative life cycle. Research has been conducted that shows the ability of biofortification to increase micronutrient content in crops, so the next step is successful implementation and adoption by consumers. This paper reviews several publications that look at biofortification with respect to the environment, sustainability, human nutrition, culture, and ethics from a variety …

Terror Tactics: Vehicular Attacks In Israel, Garrett Smith

Honors Theses

Vehicular ramming attacks are a relatively new phenomenon within transnational terrorism. Their use is concentrated heavily within Israel and the West Bank. Using data from the University of Maryland’s Global Terrorism Database, I conduct an analysis of automobilebased terrorist attacks in Israel and the West Bank. I identify examine the relationship between Israeli counterterrorism policy, specifically the institution of barriers to physical movement, and the adoption of vehicle ramming tactics. These walls and checkpoints inadvertently provoke vehicle ramming attacks, even if effective at reducing firearm and explosive-based attacks. Exploration of existing literature on terrorist tactic selection suggests that vehicular attacks …

Assessing The Impact Of Covid-19 Restrictions On The Perinatal Experience In Mississippi, Baylee Grimsley

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to assess how COVID-19 restrictions affected the perinatal experience of women in Mississippi. A flyer detailing the purpose and inclusion criteria of the study was sent via social media platforms. Five postpartum women from the Hattiesburg, Mississippi area participated in this study. Eight open-ended questions were asked in an interview format, and a seven-question demographic survey was given to each participant at the conclusion of the interview. Five restrictions related to COVID-19 were identified: visitor restrictions in the hospital, mask requirements in healthcare facilities, screening of patients upon admission to the Labor and Delivery …

Techniques For The Enantioselective Asymmetric Synthesis Of Benzyl Substituted Malonic Acid Esters, Madison Hansen

Honors Theses

A popular method for the enantioselective synthesis of substituted malonic half esters is hydrolysis via Pig Liver Esterase (PLE), however some substrates produce low enantiomeric excess, namely benzyl-substituted malonic esters. Presented here are alternative methods explored for this synthesis, the first being phase-transfer catalyzed hydrolysis via N-benzyl quaternary ammonium salts derived from cinchona alkaloids. The second method utilized chiral auxiliary directed benzylation with auxiliaries including menthol and oxazolidinones. Though unsuccessful, this research provided valuable groundwork in the investigation for the enantioselective asymmetric synthesis of benzyl-substituted malonic acid esters.

Keywords: Pig Liver Esterase, Enantioselectivity, Phase-Transfer Catalysis, Cinchona Alkaloids, Quaternary Ammonium …

The Solubilizing Of Recombinant Influenza Polymerase Acidic Protein, Quinn D. Murray

Honors Theses

Influenza’s potential to start a pandemic is a global concern. The costs of the COVID 19 pandemic to the international economy and health are a clear example of the harm influenza could inflict. Even in a normal year, influenza is responsible for 36.5 thousand deaths, 475 thousand hospitalizations and 27 million infections. With rising drug resistance, new antivirals are imperative to safeguard the worldwide population. One potential source of novel antivirals is the inhibition of polymerase acidic protein (PA), which plays an integral role in influenza’s replication. While PA’s structure is known, current PA crystal forms do not provide an …

Why Searle's Objection To Twin Earth Is Problematic, Paul F. Scheeler

Honors Theses

The philosopher John Searle wrote that, “The fundamental question in the philosophy of language has always been: How does language relate to reality?” For much of history, people assumed the answer to this question was “the mind”, and the debate was then about how the mind related language to reality. Starting in the 1970s, this view was challenged by the philosopher Hilary Putnam and others who claimed that meaning is not only in the mind but also involved the environment (a view known as semantic externalism). In this paper, I will give some background to Putnam’s semantic externalism and will …

Viability Of Postconsumer Thermoplastics In Consumer Grade Additive Manufacturing, Peter A. Fabe

Honors Theses

Consumer grade additive manufacturing, colloquially referred to as 3D printing, has become a popular means of rapid prototyping and fabrication used by engineers, educators, artists, and hobbyists alike. As companies begin to produce recycled filament as feedstock for fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printers, it is important to quantify differences in the mechanical properties of virgin and first-reuse recycled plastics so that users can determine the viability of recycled filament for various end-use applications. This thesis explores the mechanical properties of two common postconsumer thermoplastics, rPLA and rPETG (where rPLA/rPETG denotes 100% recycled PLA/PETG), in comparison to their virgin counterparts …

The Cantor Set, Trees, And Compact Metric Spaces, Wyatt N. Lee

Honors Theses

The Cantor Set is a famous topological set developed from an infinite process of starting with the interval [0,1] and, at each iteration, removing the middle third of the intervals remaining. Our goal is to determine some of the properties of this unintuitive set and to show that it is homeomorphic to any general compact metric space with similar properties. To do so, we show that the Cantor Set is topologically equivalent to a tree, a more familiar structure, and use this fact to establish a homeomorphism to the general compact metric space.

The Relationship Between Status Motives And Social Activism, Olajuwon Olagbegi

Honors Theses

Numerous social and cultural events have resulted in increased interest and participation in social activism in the United States, stemming from mounting dissatisfaction with social inequality. Though explanations have previously included increased issue exposure and awareness due to the proliferation of digital media and increases in progressive ideology amongst the nation’s younger generation, the current study tests the hypothesis that social activism may in part be motivated by interest in status acquisition, given the evolutionary value of status for securing access to resources and mates. To test this hypothesis, participants were randomly assigned to a status versus control priming condition …

Investigation Of N-Sulfonyliminium Ion Triggered Cyclizations For The Synthesis Of Piperidine Scaffolds, Kaitlyn Birkhoff

Honors Theses

In consideration of the on-going global pandemic, immediate access to Food and Drug Administration approved pharmaceutical medications and vaccines is a matter of utmost priority to our national healthcare system. One significant modality in managed care is the dispensation of prescription drugs for the prevention or treatment of illnesses and diseases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, physicians order and provide over 2.9 billion prescriptions each year with analgesics, antihyperlipidemics, and dermatological agents being the most prescribed therapeutic classes. Within those classes exists a disparate variety of chemical structures that must be prepared on a metric ton …

Comparative Genome Analysis Of Fungal Antagonists Marinomonas Ostreistagni 398 And M. Spartinae 468., Jessie L. Fields

Honors Theses

Under certain conditions, the Spartina alterniflora and Juncus roemerianus grasses in marshes undergo progressive decline in an event known as Saltwater Marsh Dieback, which may be attributed to the presence of the plant pathogenic fungi Fusarium. The microbiomes of S. alterniflora and J. roemerianus from Deer Island, MS were characterized and Fusarium suppressing bacteria were identified. Among isolates capable of antagonizing Fusarium were Marinomonas ostreistagni 398 and M. spartinae 468. Despite the progress in understanding the diversity of Marinomonas, our ability to explain ecological, metabolic, and biochemical traits of marinomonads at the genomic sequence level remains limited. Analysis …

Item-Specific And Relational Encoding, But Not Warnings, Are Effective At Reducing The Illusion Of Competence, Emily Cates

Honors Theses

Metamemory, or the ability to understand the capacities of one’s own memory, is an important part of the learning process. One method for assessing metamemory is through the Judgment of Learning (JOL) task in which participants are asked to judge the likelihood of correctly remembering a target word in a cue-target word pair when only presented with a cue word at test. The associative direction of the cue-target pair has been shown to affect the accuracy of JOLs. Unlike forward pairs (e.g., credit-card), in which JOLs accurately predict recall, an illusion of competence has been reported for backward associates (e.g., …

The Oakland Athletics Use Of Sabermetrics And The Rise Of Big Data Analytics In Business, Jacob Moorefield

Honors Theses

The Moneyball phenomenon revealed how Billy Beane, the Oakland Athletics general manager utilized advanced data analytics; Sabermetrics, to statistically analyze the data in baseball which aims to quantify baseball players’ performances based on objective statistical measurements. As technology increases and big data becomes more accessible, sports organizations like the Oakland Athletics are illustrating how businesses, small and large, can use advanced analytics to promote growth. This research paper provides a meta-analysis on the results of large businesses using big data analytic techniques similar to Sabermetrics, to show the improvements in marketing, consumer outreach, revenue, and employee retention while questioning whether …

The Combined Influences Of Race, Sexuality, And Gender On Perceptions Of Sexual Harassment, Courtney House

Honors Theses

The current research examines the perceptions of sexual harassment based on the influence of the victim’s gender, and the race of both the victim and the perpetrator, and perceiver’s feminist beliefs. By using vignettes (a brief description of an event), we manipulated a) the gender of the victim (man or woman), b) the race of the victim (POC or white), and c) the race of the perpetrator (POC or white). Our hypotheses were as follows: a) vignettes depicting same-sex harassment will be less in line with the definition of sexual harassment; b) vignettes portraying the victim as a woman of …

Effects Of Gender And Sexual Orientation On Perceptions Of The Bereaved, John Dickinson

Honors Theses

The loss of a spouse is different for everyone who experiences it. There is no universal pattern for bereavement, and there is a wide variation in what is considered normal or healthy grieving (Hooyman & Kramer, 2010). Researchers have found that spousal bereavement is associated with increased risk of mortality, decrements in physical health, and diverse psychological reactions; some experience ongoing, disabling levels of stress, some experience symptoms that gradually decrease over time, and many experience little to no interference (Bonanno et al. 2004; Stroebe et al., 2007). The loss of a spouse or romantic partner affects most individuals at …

Reluctant Republican, Nominal Democrat: Harry F. Byrd Sr. And Modern Republican Conservatism, Noah Allen - Darden

Honors Theses

A consideration of the life and politics of Senator Harry F. Byrd provides further evidence that some Southern legislators broke with the national Democratic Party as early as the 1940s and articulated the main tenets of contemporary Southern conservative politics. A consideration of the internal struggles of the Democratic Party in Virginia within the context of the broader political landscape highlights the significance of Byrd’s career in the Senate and his role in the national Democratic party. In addition, this thesis will consider why Senator Byrd decided to remain in the Democratic party for the entirety of his career when …

“A Penny For Your Thoughts:” Developing An Adapted Stimulus Reward Association – Stroop Task To Assess The Impact Of Individual Difference Factors On Cognitive Control, Mia Melone

Honors Theses

Limited studies have examined the effect of feedback sensitivity and intrinsic motivation on cognitive performance. The present study serves as a pilot project for a study at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga that examines the modulating role of external, monetary reward incentives and cognitive intrinsic motivation on cognitive control. For the present study, the relationship among cognitive performance outcomes (reaction time and accuracy) on an adapted Stimulus Reward Association Stroop Task will be explored. Two main hypotheses were tested in the present study: H1 Reaction time on congruent trials will be significantly faster than reaction time on incongruent trials. …

Analyzing The Mutability Of Oral And Digital Media, Bennett Bowden

Honors Theses

This project takes the analyses of Walter Ong and synthesizes conclusions about the likelihood of different mediums to encourage change in artifacts over time. The mediums explored ar et eh oral and the digital, with two heavily studied works being examined as representatives of each. This study found much higher mutability of artifacts within digital media due to its likelihood to encourage cooperative creative behavior, and further study would be extremely helpful to the field.

The State Of Healthcare Policy Education In Nursing School Curricula: A Literature Review, Katelyn Gebelein

Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper was to conduct a literature review regarding the current state of health policy education in nursing school curricula. Additionally, the paper will outline what improvements are being implemented in nursing education. The database CINAHL was used to conduct this study. According to the literature, there are an inadequate number of nurses participating in health policy reform which can be linked back to a lack of health policy education while in nursing school. The literature suggests options such as experiential learning, group activities and reflections, enhancing faculty knowledge, suggesting new teaching strategies, and implementing new courses …

Educational And Experiential Factors Affecting Nursing Students’ Bias Towards Gerontology And Dementia Care, Hannah Holt

Honors Theses

According to the World Health Organization, ageism is defined as the stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination against people based on their age (WHO, 2019). Ageism can be found everywhere and has been normalized in modern day society. Ageism can result in older adults being overlooked for jobs and portrayed in a negative way in the media (WHO, 2019). Many researchers have explored the topic of ageism and the lack of quality in dementia care by nurses (Chaston, 2010), but there is a gap in existing literature related to the root cause. For example, (Chan, 2008) highlights areas of concern regarding dementia …

Test Transferability Of 3d-Mot Training On Soccer Specific Parameters, Micaela Dusseault

Honors Theses

Objective: The benefits of perceptual-cognitive training in elite level athletes has recently been investigated in multiple sports such as basketball, soccer, and archery, but conclusive evidence proving test transferability of 3D-MOT training is lacking. The purpose of this research is to examine the transferability of perceptual-cognitive training to on-field soccer performance parameters. Participants: NCAA Division I women’s soccer players (n=22) between the ages of 18-25 who were placed into either the experimental group (n=10) or control group (n=12). After baseline testing for both groups to determine visual tracking speed (VTS), the experimental group completed 10 3D-MOT training sessions with NeuroTracker …

Prostitution Law: A Study Of The Impact Of The Sex Buyer Law In Northern Ireland On Sex Violence, Kendra S. Ingram

Honors Theses

In this body of research, the Sex Buyer Law in Northern Ireland is critically examined. Specifically, this thesis examines the question, “Does the Sex Buyer Law have an effect on the sex violence rates in Northern Ireland?” England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland are all used as control groups to measure the efficacy of the policy in Northern Ireland. Through analysis of a difference in differences regression, this research demonstrates that the policy had no effect on sex violence in Northern Ireland. Scotland and Ireland proved to be better control groups for Northern Ireland in terms of the identifying assumptions …

A Case For The Decriminalization Of Simple Possession Of Narcotics In Mississippi, Stroud Tolleson

Honors Theses

Through its incarceration of simple possession offenders, Mississippi is failing to acknowledge the severity of addiction and importance of mental health. In this paper, I will examine Mississippi’s history of opinion and policy on drug use. In order to gain a better understanding of addiction and Mississippi’s criminal justice system, I interview several individuals with experience in varying aspects of these issues. Mississippi has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the United States, with stringent laws regarding the possession of narcotics. Mississippi’s mental health resources have been deemed unconstitutionally deficient on more than one occasion, and addicts are …

Classical String Quartet: A Transformation To Vocal Jazz, Victoria B. Sizemore

Honors Theses

no abstract submitted