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Honors Theses

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Comparative Analysis Of Pregnancy Accommodation Laws Among States, Margaret Hampton Hay Jan 2019

Comparative Analysis Of Pregnancy Accommodation Laws Among States, Margaret Hampton Hay

Honors Theses

Pregnancy accommodations refer to changes in the workplace or the way a job is typically done that allows an equal employment opportunity to a pregnant individual. Twenty-three states and Washington, D.C. have enacted pregnancy accommodation laws or requirements. Through documentary analysis of the state laws and surrounding literature, I compare the state laws to one another and the issue of pregnancy accommodations is discussed. The United States needs a national or uniform pregnancy accommodation law to equally protect pregnant women from job loss, wage loss, hazards to their pregnancy, and other forms of discrimination. In addition, companies and employers benefit …


Accounting Principles: A Collection Of Case Studies, Rachel Brunette Jan 2019

Accounting Principles: A Collection Of Case Studies, Rachel Brunette

Honors Theses

For my thesis, I completed twelve case studies to analyze common accounting concepts with real companies and scenarios. Over two semesters, I was given the cases by Dr. Victoria Dickinson in a course specifically designed by the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. The purpose of the course and this thesis is to gain a better understanding of various accounting topics in respect to the current U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). The case study titles are broad but each case take an in-depth discussion into specific areas with the use of short answers, calculations, …


Authoritarian Regimes And Economic Development:Related Much?, Tia Denise Floyd Jan 2019

Authoritarian Regimes And Economic Development:Related Much?, Tia Denise Floyd

Honors Theses

This descriptive study seeks to identify the level of influence that authoritarian regimes have on development with countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The question behind this study is important in that not much is known about the autocratic countries within these regions though many of these countries have experienced much economic success in spite of difference in authoritarian regimes, and the threat of the resource curse. The data I have gathered focuses on observing variables such as GDP per capita (PPP), GDP annual growth, life expectancy index as well as the human development index which are …


The Culture Of Football In The United States: How Hegemonic Masculinity Affects And Is Expressed In American Football, Hallie Gillam Jan 2019

The Culture Of Football In The United States: How Hegemonic Masculinity Affects And Is Expressed In American Football, Hallie Gillam

Honors Theses

The construction of an American hegemonic masculinity has been solidified and protected since the 19th century, allowing particular groups, but not all groups, of men to wield power over others through strength, aggression, and toughness. The popularity of American football is a manifestation of society’s value of this form of masculinity, accepted as an aspect of American culture. My thesis work aims to answer the following question: how has American hegemonic masculinity shaped and been expressed through football, and in what ways has the NFL responded? In order to answer this question, I utilize a mixed methods approach to investigate …


Interactions Between Contextual And Phonetic Information In Children’S And Adults’ Perception Of Non-Native Speech, Alexis P. Zosel Jan 2019

Interactions Between Contextual And Phonetic Information In Children’S And Adults’ Perception Of Non-Native Speech, Alexis P. Zosel

Honors Theses

Phoneme categorization (i.e., the ability to differentiate between different speech sounds) is not an easy task, as individuals must integrate multiple sources of information, including both acoustic and contextual information. When a talker has a foreign accent, the listener may place more weight on sentential context because of the ambiguity of the acoustic/phonetic information. For example, listeners are more likely to classify a word that is phonetically ambiguous between goat and coat as goat if the sentential context is “The boy milked the ___,” and this is especially the case when listening to a non-native (compared to native) talker (Schertz …


A Discussion Of Twelve Financial Accounting Topics, Katherine T. Oglesby Jan 2019

A Discussion Of Twelve Financial Accounting Topics, Katherine T. Oglesby

Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to investigate twelve different financial reporting topics using specific scenarios and financial positions of existing companies that have been presented in various case studies. The case studies cover multiple topics, long-term debt, equity sales, marketable securities, deferred income taxes, revenue recognition, financial reporting of cash flows, impairments and securities’ sales related to debt, and capitalized costs and earnings quality. In addition to the financial reporting topics, four cases cover various accounting-related topics, including data analytics incorporated into the profession as a whole, transparency and ethics both during the accounting recruiting process, along with during …


Watering The Desert: Azraq, Public Opinion, And Environmental Post-Materialism, Wesley Gerard Jan 2019

Watering The Desert: Azraq, Public Opinion, And Environmental Post-Materialism, Wesley Gerard

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I analyze the physical, political, and societal transformations in Azraq, Jordan, caused by over-exploitation of the town’s aquifer. I also connect the changes I and others have observed in Azraq to two main theories: postmaterialism and its counterarguments, and the tragedy of the commons. In short, postmaterialism argues that societies that have advanced so that citizens do not have to devote their time and money to survival will have larger rates of environmentalism; the tragedy of the commons details the negative consequences of environmental degradation on those living around a common resource. In conducting the study, I …


The Baptist Tradition And Religious Freedom: Recent Trajectories, Samuel Kyle Brassell Jan 2019

The Baptist Tradition And Religious Freedom: Recent Trajectories, Samuel Kyle Brassell

Honors Theses

For my thesis, I have focused on the recent religious freedom bill passed in Mississippi and the arguments and influences Southern Baptists have had on the bill. I used the list of resolutions passed by the Southern Baptist Convention to trace the history and development of Southern Baptist thought on the subject of religious freedom. I consulted outside scholarly works to examine the history of the Baptist tradition and how that history has influenced modern day arguments. I compared these texts to the wording of the Mississippi bill. After conducting this research, I found that the Southern Baptist tradition and …


Effects Of The America Invents Act And Recent Supreme Court Decisions On Patent Law, Bridgett Roal Jan 2019

Effects Of The America Invents Act And Recent Supreme Court Decisions On Patent Law, Bridgett Roal

Honors Theses

Due to an interest in pursuing a career in patent law with an electrical engineering background, this thesis describes the 2012 America Invents Act (AIA), which made major changes to patent law in the United States including the switch from “first-to-invent” to “first-to-file” and the creation of the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB), as well as several relevant key Supreme Court decisions, and explains the impact that these events have caused. Through interviews with attorneys and others in the patent law community, personal research and investigation, and data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), it has …


An Exploration Into The Evolution Of Tutoring, A Comprehensive Business Plan For Launching The Online Tutoring Company Shortwork Llc, And A Post-Operative Analysis Of Shortwork's Business Model, William L. Tribble Jan 2019

An Exploration Into The Evolution Of Tutoring, A Comprehensive Business Plan For Launching The Online Tutoring Company Shortwork Llc, And A Post-Operative Analysis Of Shortwork's Business Model, William L. Tribble

Honors Theses

This thesis consists of a review of the history of tutoring and homework up to the modern day; the original business plan used to launch Shortwork LLC, an online tutoring company, in the Spring of 2018; and a post-operative analysis of its business model and executive decision-making, as well as discussion about the future of education. The business plan includes a competitive analysis of the online tutoring market, an overview of Shortwork’s management structure, an explanation of its product model and technology, and both the financial and strategic details of its Spring 2018 plans for 3-year growth. The concluding section …


A Study Of Financial Reporting Principles Through Analysis Of Case Studies, Thomas Anthony Steis Jan 2019

A Study Of Financial Reporting Principles Through Analysis Of Case Studies, Thomas Anthony Steis

Honors Theses

The following thesis provides solutions to case studies on various financial accounting standards in agreement with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles as set forth by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. In conjunction with the topics learned in Intermediate Financial Accounting, each case focuses on a separate area of financial reporting through application within specific companies. The thesis displays understanding of accounting principles, financial statement preparation and analysis, and current accountancy topics. The case studies were completed under the direction of Dr. Victoria Dickinson in fulfillment of the requirements for the University of Mississippi, Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, and Patterson School …


Are Treaties The Solution To The World’S Piracy Problem? Using International Institutions To Defeat Blackbeard, Gabrielle Elizabeth Brown Jan 2019

Are Treaties The Solution To The World’S Piracy Problem? Using International Institutions To Defeat Blackbeard, Gabrielle Elizabeth Brown

Honors Theses

For thousands of years, pirates have been a menace on the seas, yet somehow, they have also inspired generations of authors and directors to romanticize and trivialize their plundering in literature and film. Although piracy has generally decreased around the world, especially in the Western Hemisphere and European waters, it remains a global peril that continues to jeopardize maritime security and the commercial shipping industry. The economic impact of piracy may be on the decline; however, in 2017 alone, the economic toll of piracy in East Africa was $1.4 billion, which excludes West Africa, Southeastern Asia, and the Caribbean, all …


Contralateral Repeated Bout Effect Of The Elbow Flexors Not Observed In Young Women, Bailey Brown Jan 2019

Contralateral Repeated Bout Effect Of The Elbow Flexors Not Observed In Young Women, Bailey Brown

Honors Theses

The contralateral repeated bout effect (CL-RBE) is known as a protective effect in which an initial bout of eccentric exercise reduces muscle damage in the contralateral limb after a similar bout of eccentric exercise. To our knowledge, previous studies on CL-RBE only recruited males or a mixture of both sexes. PURPOSE: To investigate the presence of the CL-RBE of the elbow flexors in women. METHODS: Twelve healthy women (20.9 ± 2.5 years) performed two bouts of 45 maximal eccentric contractions (ECC) of the elbow flexors using the opposite arm separated by 14 days. The isokinetic muscle strength (60°/sec) was measured …


Evaluation Of The Efficacy Of A Recombinant Simian Varicella Virus Vaccine Expressing Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Envelope And Capsid Proteins, Thomas G. Wichman Jan 2019

Evaluation Of The Efficacy Of A Recombinant Simian Varicella Virus Vaccine Expressing Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Envelope And Capsid Proteins, Thomas G. Wichman

Honors Theses

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that infects CD4+ T-lymphocytes, which when left untreated, later develops into Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Up to 25,000 people die every week from AIDS infection, making HIV and AIDS research a very high priority for virologists. While highly researched by scholars around the world, no person has been able to develop a successful vaccine, as the retroviral nature of the virus and its high mutation rate make vaccine development incredibly difficult. However, recombinant genetic technology will hopefully allow the revolutionization of vaccines which have already proven effective in immunization. The already developed varicella-zoster …


The Role Of The Age/Rage Signaling Pathway In Cardiac Fibroblast Migration, Mallory B. Harmon Jan 2019

The Role Of The Age/Rage Signaling Pathway In Cardiac Fibroblast Migration, Mallory B. Harmon

Honors Theses

Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in the United States with around 30 million who suffer from diabetes and 84 million who are considered pre-diabetic. Diabetic individuals are at an increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease due to a stiffening of the left ventricle, which is thought to occur through fibroblast “activation” mediated by increased AGE/RAGE signaling. Advanced glycated end products (AGEs) accumulate within the body overtime and are accelerated under hyperglycemic conditions, and AGEs exert their effects by binding to their receptor (RAGE). Fibroblast “activation” is marked by elevated levels of α-smooth muscle actin expression and …


Chinese Male Homosexual Identity Construction On Yaba(丫吧), Brendan Ryan Jan 2019

Chinese Male Homosexual Identity Construction On Yaba(丫吧), Brendan Ryan

Honors Theses

Jianshangdejiaoyaba (肩上的脚丫吧), also known as Yaba (丫吧), is a forum on the Chinese website Baidu Tieba (百度贴吧) containing stories and questions from users that focus on homosexual experience and identity in China. The members of the forum communicate using Linyu (淋语), a form of Chinese Internet Language (CIL). This thesis seeks to understand why and how Yaba (丫吧) users use the word ji (鸡: chicken) and female kinship terms, two prominent features of Linyu (淋语). The research uses methodologies in virtual ethnography to conceptualize Yaba (丫吧) as a research site. To better understand the research site and the experience of …


Healthcare Practices Related To Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Muriel Mikayla Johnson Jan 2019

Healthcare Practices Related To Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Muriel Mikayla Johnson

Honors Theses

The incidence of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is abounding in hospitals across the nation due to the recent surge in opioid abuse. This thesis explores the variation in protocols and guidelines used by healthcare practitioners concerning NAS. This study consisted of a literature review as well as observations and interviews with healthcare practitioners in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). The literature review revealed there has been a greater increase in NAS among rural areas, and there is currently no national standardized protocol for the treatment of NAS. Field notes taken during the interviews and observations confirmed the literature in that …


The Impacts Of Charter Schools On Traditional Public School Districts: Lessons For Mississippi, Evan Dean Jan 2019

The Impacts Of Charter Schools On Traditional Public School Districts: Lessons For Mississippi, Evan Dean

Honors Theses

Charter schools are a fast-growing trend in alternative education policy across the United States. As of the 2015-16 school year, seven percent of public schools were charter schools. Between the 2000-01 and the 2015-16 school years, the total number of charter schools across the United States increased by approximately 350 percent. In some states, up to nine percent of students are enrolled in a charter school (National Center for Education Statistics, 2018). In 2013, Mississippi signed into law the Mississippi Charter Schools Act of 2013, allowing for charter schools to enter the field of public education in the state. The …


Incorporating African American Vernacular English In Education: Fostering Linguistic Diversity Within Mississippi K-12 Classrooms, Alyssa Eilers Jan 2019

Incorporating African American Vernacular English In Education: Fostering Linguistic Diversity Within Mississippi K-12 Classrooms, Alyssa Eilers

Honors Theses

In the United States, the language of education is American English; although everyone speaks a dialect, the institution of education values a standard, which devalues nonstandard varieties of English like African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Because language is intricately connected to identity, the way that AAVE is or is not included in classroom pedagogy points to the inclusion, or lack thereof, of students who speak vernaculars of English. Research shows that AAVE is related to Southern American English and exists proportionately in the south. Because Mississippi, a southern state, continuously ranks as one of the states with the lowest test …


Sons Of The Sāqiya: Grassroots Water Politics In Southeastern Morocco, John Chappell Jan 2019

Sons Of The Sāqiya: Grassroots Water Politics In Southeastern Morocco, John Chappell

Honors Theses

This study examines the informal institutions that govern the sāqiya and khettāra irrigation system in southeastern Morocco. I frame those institutions using literature concerning politics of irrigation, governing the commons, and North African political culture. While interviewing farmers in agricultural communities near the Morocco-Algeria border, five themes emerged as key aspects of sāqiya and khettāra governance: the definitions of irrigation communities, the methods of water distribution, the institutions for selecting leaders, and those leaders’ authorities and responsibilities. Institutional arrangements and management practices associated with those themes show that sāqiya and khettāra governance is rooted in the democratic values of consensus …


The Effects Of Retrieval Strategy On A Collaborative Reconstruction Task, Amanda M. Bullock Jan 2019

The Effects Of Retrieval Strategy On A Collaborative Reconstruction Task, Amanda M. Bullock

Honors Theses

The purpose of the present experiment was to explore the effects of using various retrieval strategies on a collaborative reconstruction task. More specifically, we sought to determine the extent to which the Retrieval Strategy Disruption Hypothesis (RSD) could explain the effects of collaborative inhibition on such tasks. Collaborative inhibition is observed when collaborative group performance is lower than the pooled performance of an identical number of individuals working alone (nominal groups). The RSD hypothesis suggests that one group member’s output disrupts another group member’s idiosyncratic retrieval strategy leading to poorer performance relative to individuals working alone. In the present study, …


Geographical Variability In Antibacterial Chemical Defenses Of The Caribbean Sponge Xestospongia Muta, Coleman Sisson Jan 2019

Geographical Variability In Antibacterial Chemical Defenses Of The Caribbean Sponge Xestospongia Muta, Coleman Sisson

Honors Theses

Coral reefs are important and diverse marine ecosystems, and sponges represent the majority of species in Caribbean reefs. Xestospongia muta is a giant barrel sponge that is one of the most abundant and visible sponges on Caribbean reefs, and has been the subject of many studies. Xestospongia muta produces a diversity of secondary metabolites that have various ecological functions including allelopathy, anti-fouling, predation deterrence, and antibacterial activity. The chemical defenses produced by a sponge can change in response to various biotic and abiotic stressors, including water temperature, sedimentation, nutrient runoff, and predation. This study compared the antibacterial activity of X. …


Super Pacs: Where They Came From And What We Know About Dark Money Seven Years Later, Catrina Curtis Jan 2019

Super Pacs: Where They Came From And What We Know About Dark Money Seven Years Later, Catrina Curtis

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore Super PACs as a source of campaign finance and their impact on the federal elections process. After explaining the history of federal campaign finance law in the United States, the role of anonymity by Super PACs is questioned. This thesis argues that two court case decisions are responsible for the creation of Super PACs: Citizens United v. FEC and SpeechNOW.org v. FEC. The cases, and their conflicting interests, are both summarized and analyzed. Next, using federal campaign finance data from the past decade, the impact of Super PACs on campaign finance is …


An Analysis Of Case Studies Regarding Principal Financial Accounting Concepts, Janesse Birdsong Jan 2019

An Analysis Of Case Studies Regarding Principal Financial Accounting Concepts, Janesse Birdsong

Honors Theses

During Fall of 2017 and Spring of 2018, I participated in an alternate thesis route for accounting majors. The alternate route consisted of enrolling in a year-long course with Dr. Victoria Dickinson and individually completing cases based on financial accounting concepts each week. The cases selected each focus on a specific financial accounting concept. The conclusions reached in the cases were based on materials from the case, in class lecture notes, and an intermediate accounting textbook. Each case presents a series of questions which start with basic accounting concepts and build to more complex conceptual issues. Each case further developed …


Active Shooters On Campus: University Of Mississippi Employees’ Perceptions And Preparedness, Calli Faye Holland Jan 2019

Active Shooters On Campus: University Of Mississippi Employees’ Perceptions And Preparedness, Calli Faye Holland

Honors Theses

The objective of this study was to examine university employees’ perceptions, knowledge, and preparedness of active shooter situations on campus, and how gender influences these factors. This study collected data from a broader survey of faculty and staff that examined crime on a college campus, perceptions about crime on campus, and knowledge about crime on campus. This research also serves as a companion piece to the research conducted by Mulvey (2018), where similar research questions were posed to a large sample of undergraduate students. As in Mulvey’s study, it was hypothesized that participants would report generally low levels of confidence …


The Impact Of Mindfulness-Based Yoga Interventions On Elementary Students’ Perceived Emotional Wellbeing And Classroom Transitions, Ashley Berry Jan 2019

The Impact Of Mindfulness-Based Yoga Interventions On Elementary Students’ Perceived Emotional Wellbeing And Classroom Transitions, Ashley Berry

Honors Theses

In recent years, there have been rising expectations for students’ academic performance in the United States (United States Department of Education, 2016). As a result, many students experience stress and anxiety. Simultaneously, an increased amount of instructional time has led to more sedentary behavior in the classroom (Burns et al., 2015). Therefore, this study sought to alleviate students’ daily stress and anxiety while also giving students the chance to move and stretch through the utilization of mindfulness-based yoga interventions. Recent studies have found that mindfulness is beneficial for people cognitively, physically, and mentally (Blair, 2007; Folleto, 2016; Mendelson, 2010). This …


Solvation Of Isoelectronic Halide And Alkali Metal Ions By Noble Gas Atoms, Carly A. Rock Jan 2019

Solvation Of Isoelectronic Halide And Alkali Metal Ions By Noble Gas Atoms, Carly A. Rock

Honors Theses

Alkali metal cations (M+ = Li+, Na+, K+, and Rb+), as well as their corresponding isoelectronic atomic anions (X− = H−, F−, Cl−, and Br−) were solvated with argon atoms (i.e., M+Arn and X−Arn where n=1−6). Full geometry optimizations were performed using the MP2 electronic structure method with a series of correlation consistent basis sets augmented with diffuse functions on argon and the anions (aug-cc-pVXZ) and weighted core valence basis sets were used for the cations (cc-pwCVXZ) that include the appropriate pseudopotentials for K+ and Rb+ (cc-pwCVXZ-PP). The basis sets for a particular cluster are, hereafter, simply denoted as XZ …


Effects Of Kanglaite, An Anticancer Herbal Medicine, On Breast Cancer Cell Metabolism, Sarah A. Hillhouse Jan 2019

Effects Of Kanglaite, An Anticancer Herbal Medicine, On Breast Cancer Cell Metabolism, Sarah A. Hillhouse

Honors Theses

Kanglaite (KLT) is an anticancer herbal medicine developed in China that consists of mainly fatty acid triglycerides from Coix lacryma-jobi L. var. mayuen (Roman.) Stapf. In this study, we analyzed the effects of KLT on normal versus breast cancer cell metabolism using the C2C12, MCF-7, and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. Each cell line was divided into controls (n=3), cells with 1 μM of rotenone (n=2), or cells 0.3%, 1%, and 1.72% KLT concentrations. Cells were cultured in serum containing regular FCS and serum containing charcoal-stripped FCS in order to examine the full effects of KLT on the cell. Cell energy phenotype …


Optimization And Cost Comparison Of Reactor Types In A Styrene Production Process, Claire Lenore Cozadd Jan 2019

Optimization And Cost Comparison Of Reactor Types In A Styrene Production Process, Claire Lenore Cozadd

Honors Theses

The focus of this thesis is to use the equivalent annual operating costs of isothermal, adiabatic, and packed bed reactors in order to determine which reactor is most cost effective in a styrene production process. In order to understand the steps leading up to this comparison, background information is first given regarding chemical engineering design, optimization, and process simulation. This information was necessary for completing the ChE 451 design project, which was to analyze the base case styrene process before optimizing it, in fall 2018. The results of this project are briefly outlined in the second section. The third section …


Discrete Optimization Of A Styrene Production Process, Seth Gray Jan 2019

Discrete Optimization Of A Styrene Production Process, Seth Gray

Honors Theses

This thesis will outline the two phases of my capstone design project for Chemical Engineering. The first goal was to simulate a styrene production process in Excel alongside my group members in ChE 451. During this phase, we looked at startup of the process and the first 12 years of operation. After the base case which included an isothermal reactor, the decision was made to switch to an adiabatic reactor based on net present value evaluations. Discrete optimization took place on the adiabatic reactor and the subsequent process. The second phase of my capstone project was the portion assigned to …