Digital Commons Network^™

Efficacy Of Hormone-Toxin Fusion Protein In Cell Culture, Morgan Dillard

Honors Theses

Luteinizing hormone (LH) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) are members of the gonadotropin family and are vital for fertility in animals. Both LH and hCG bind to the luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR), found only in gonadal cells. Binding of the hormone to its receptor causes production of the steroid hormones testosterone and estrogen. By ablating cells that express LHR, the production of sex steroids would be terminated, leading to a loss in fertility. The overall goal of the project is to create a nonsurgical, single-dose sterilant for cats and dogs by ablating these cells. One way to target these cells …

A Theatrical Approach To Raising Awareness Of Human Sex Trafficking Across The Globe, Gwenn Gideon

Honors Theses

As a culmination of my theatrical studies and other academic and personal interests developed over my four years at Bucknell University, I conducted a yearlong project that raised awareness of human sex trafficking in the 2014-2015 academic year. My project was composed of three distinct parts that included facilitating in-class workshops, public workshops, and directing a staged reading. The overall goal of this project was to raise awareness of human sex trafficking, get people interested and involved in the project, and give people the information they need to do more. This project was a THEA 319 Independent Study that was …

Mass Wasting Processes, Geomorphic Response, And Seasonal Variation Of Icy Debris Fans On The La Perouse Glacier And Douglas Glacier, Tai Poutini, Westland National Park, Southern Alps, New Zealand, Mattie Morgan Reid

Honors Theses

Ice-dominated mass wasting processes from deteriorating alpine ice-caps are constructing icy debris fans at outlets of incised bedrock catchments along valley glaciers margins. Previous short-term field observations provided limited understanding of the nature and rate of depositional processes. Recent eight-month time-lapse imagery (January - September 2013) permits the investigation of frequency, area, and volumetric contributions of mass wasting deposits to seven fans in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Time-lapse imagery and field observations document remarkably high depositional rates, primarily by ice avalanches (83-98%). Debris flows, slush flows, and rockfalls all account for 2-17% of recorded events. Time-lapse imagery only …

Beyond The Black Flag: Modernism, Ideology, And The Rise Of Isis, Justin Patrick Burnham Marinelli

Honors Theses

ISIS is not just the "new face" of Salafi jihadism. It is a new breed of extremism, with elements from previous fundamentalist movements but also with an infusion of both modernist and post-colonial influences that make it more properly understood as a "reactionary modernist" movement. The failure to properly conceptualize it as such is a retardant on our ability to properly understand this group. This attempt to correct this misunderstanding is thus of extraordinary necessity. Additionally, the implications of ISIS's rise run deeper that is commonly realized. The same factors that gave birth to ISIS are likely to manifest themselves …

Depositional Age Constraints And Provenance Of Detrital Zircon Age Populations From The Paleoproterozoic (1650 Ma) Manzano Group, Central New Mexico, Kimberly Noel Nagotko

Honors Theses

In Paleoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks from the Manzano Mountains in the Mazatzal crustal province (ca. 1.68-1.60 Ga), Mazatzal age detrital zircon are intermixed with Yavapai age (1.78-1.70 Ga) and older detrital zircon (Whitmeyer and Karlstrom, 2007). LA-ICP-MS 207Pb/206U ages for igneous and detrital zircon constrain the age of rhyolitic magmatism and provide some insight into the provenance of the metasedimentary succession. Maximum depositional ages were determined in all samples by looking at the youngest, significant peak age. Detrital zircon from the oldest metasedimentary unit, a lithic arenite, show a narrow unimodal age distribution ranging from 2810 Ma to 1645 Ma with …

You Can't Sit With Us: An Examination Of The Influence Of Forgiveness And Accountability On The Use Of Relational Aggression In College-Age Women, Katherine Frances Long

Honors Theses

The current study seeks to investigate the ways in which forgiveness and accountability influence the likelihood that a female perpetrator of relational aggression will continue this behavior, and/or reconcile with her victim. It is hypothesized that when a perpetrator of relational aggression is held accountable for her actions, and is also forgiven by her victim, she will experience the greatest level of guilt, will perpetrate the least number of similar instances in the future, and will be most inclined to seek reconciliation with her victim. Ninety female students attending Bucknell University (57 in the fall, 33 in the spring) were …

The Influence Of Network Effect On The Valuation Of Online Networking Companies, Yi Xu

Honors Theses

Online networks are having an enormous economic impact, both at the micro and the macro level. The growth of the online networks involves the participation of users, advertisers, and platform providers. This paper argues that the optimal revenue is directly proportional to user population, which is a key factor driving the online networking firms forward. Also, different companies are able to generate different value from each individual user. These arguments are supported by our empirical tests analyzing the current online networking giants. Empirical models further suggest that our theoretical model performs best when we look at the relationship between growth …

Random Matrix Theory And The Attraction Of Zeros Of L-Functions From The Central Point, Katherine Elizabeth Harris

Honors Theses

We explore the attraction of zeros near the central point of L-functions associated with elliptic curves and modular forms. Specifically, we consider families of twists of elliptic curves, the family of weight 2 modular forms, and the family of level 1 modular forms. We observe experimentally an attraction of the zeros near the central point, and that the attraction decreases with the rank r of the L-function. However, for each set of L-functions of rank r within a particular family we observe a statistically significant increase in the attraction as the conductors of the L-functions increase. This indicates a correspondence …

Geophysical Investigation Of Icy Debris Fans With Ground Penetrating Radar, Southern Alps, New Zealand, Erica May Rubino

Honors Theses

Degradation of ice caps has begun to alter alpine periglacial regions, resulting in the exposure of bedrock escarpments, and in the occurrences of mass-flow processes. These mass wasting processes include ice avalanches, rockfalls, slushflows, and icy debris flows, and can result in the development of poorly understood landforms known as icy debris fans. Icy debris fans are formed at the base of escarpments along the margins of valley glaciers. According to a 2013 study in New Zealand, fan surfaces are dominated by ice and lithic material derived from ice avalanches, which constitute >90% of mass flows annually. Depositional processes over …

Predicting Protein Contact Map By Bagging Decision Trees, Chuqiao Ren

Honors Theses

Proteins' function and structure are intrinsically related. In order to understand proteins' functionality, it is essential for medical and biological researchers to deter- mine proteins' three-dimensional structure. The traditional method using NMR spectroscopy or X-ray crystallography are inefficient compared to computational methods. Fortunately, substantial progress has been made in the prediction of protein structure in bioinformatics. Despite these achievements, the computational complexity of protein folding remains a challenge. Instead, many methods aim to predict a protein contact map from protein sequence using machine learning algorithms. In this thesis, we introduce a novel ensemble method for protein contact map prediction based …

El Archivo Político Y Los Archivos Alternos: Tensiones Entre La Comisión De Verdad Y Reconciliación Del Perú Y El Texto Cultural (Cine, Literatura, Y Música), Jose Carlos Flores

Honors Theses

This Honors Thesis composes itself as a comparative study of the political-historic narratives and the cultural-historic narratives that serve as means of narrating the internal conflict of Peru (1980-2000). Also known as the Era of Terrorism in Peru, it is considered as the landmark of Peruvian contemporary history and one of the most bloody and violent internal wars in Latin America. It was an era shaped by the conflict between the Peruvian state and the terrorist groups: Sendero Luminoso (The Shining Path) and MRTA (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement), -the conflict between the state and the Shining Path was the most …

Moral Education In Plato's Gorgias, Wenhui Xie

Honors Theses

In this thesis I argue for the theme of moral education as an important theme for Plato's Gorgias. The Gorgias has been commonly understood in terms of politics and philosophy either separately or jointly. I argue that the theme of moral education is equally important and deserves attention. I first contextualize the Gorgias into the cultural background of late 5th century BCE when the decline of traditional morality stimulated the Greeks to ask whether virtues (which were traditionally conceived to be hereditary traits exclusive to members of noble family) were teach-able (and thus, could be learned). Next, I analyze the …

Peer Encouragement Of Risky Behavior And Other Statistical Predictors Of Campus Sexual Assault Victimization, Gwenn Gideon

Honors Theses

Campus sexual assault (CSA) is a chronic health crisis. There are many factors that are thought of to be predictors of CSA, such as alcohol consumption, which is the most robust correlate of CSA. Additionally, previous research (e.g., Flack et al., 2007) demonstrates a positive association between CSA and hooking up. Hazing is an activity that often includes alcohol and hooking up. Female peer encouragement of risky behavior is a set of behaviors that women engage in with other women that may place them at higher risk for CSA victimization. Some examples include engaging in hook-up and drinking bets. The …

Deriving The Jarzynski Relation From Doi-Peliti Field Theory, Andrew James Baish

Honors Theses

Recently, a number of strict equalities have been developed for far from equilibrium statistical mechanical systems that relate work done on a system and its change in free energy. We develop a field-theoretic description of non-equilibrium work relations using Doi-Peliti field theory. Specifically, we create the Doi-Peliti field theory for thermal systems and use it to derive the well-known Jarzynski equality. Our resulting framework can be extended to other non-equilibrium relations. We consider classical particles on a lattice that experience pair-wise interactions and a local potential. These particles hop with rates determined by coupling to a thermal bath. Work protocols …

The Impact Of Modern Processed And Natural Food Diets On Flavor-Nutrient Learning And Response To Sweet Taste In Rats, Kristen Marie Palframan

Honors Theses

Animals use classical conditioning to learn predictive relationships between flavors and postingestive nutrients, which allows them to regulate their body weights. This is made difficult by modern diets, which have confusing flavor-nutrient relationships due to added fats, sugars, and flavors in processed foods. Cafeteria diets containing a variety of human-typical foods are often used to study the effects of a modern diet in animal models. Foods used in cafeteria diets typically combine aspects such as high-fat high-sugar, variety, and high palatability. However, no past studies have analyzed the effect of variety on flavor-nutrient learning by using only natural foods. In …

Beyond The Physical:Exploring The Function Of Disease In Selected Words Of 19th- And 20th- Century French Literature, Cassandra Maria Ricci

Honors Theses

My thesis, Beyond the Physical, is a project that aims to investigate the function of disease in 19th and 20th century French literature through the analysis of the narrative techniques of three fictional novels and secondary sources. This work is an interdisciplinary study that combines the social and scientific aspects of Public Health with literary elements present in French and Francophone Studies. In La Cousine Bette (1847), a Realist novel by Honoré de Balzac, Valérie Marneffe's obsession with greed and attention leads her to pursue various extramarital affairs in her efforts to augment her financial status. Her death by syphilis …

The Ecstasy Of Economics: The Evolution Of Sergei Eisenstein's The Old And The New, William Hays Persing

Honors Theses

In my thesis, I analyze the development of the most often forgotten work by Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein ¿ The Old and the New. The production of the film from 1926 to 1929 was during a tumultuous period of economic transition during the Soviet Union when the socialist state moved from the mixed markets of the New Economic Policy (NEP) to the centralized planning of the First Five-Year Plan. The development of The Old and the New mirrors the economic period. I analyze how Eisenstein actively adapted his cinematic practice to accommodate the changing landscape of Soviet economic policy. Additionally, …

Testing Marginal Value Theorem In Saimiri Sciureus, Evan T. Sloan

Honors Theses

Marginal value theorem (MVT), a key component of optimal foraging theory, aims to model how an individual will most efficiently utilize a resource distributed in patches of varying size and value throughout a habitat. Among the fundamental assumptions of MVT is that foragers will maximize their net energy gain by foraging in a resource patch until reaching the average rate of intake for the habitat. This "give-up time" (GUT) per patch, defined as the time between the final prey capture and departing the patch, should remain constant throughout the habitat as a whole, but vary across habitats of different quality. …

Soft Power And Cultural Exchange: The Obama Administration And The Impact Of U.S. Public Diplomacy On The Beliefs Of Estonians, Kadri Lutter

Honors Theses

America's engagement with the world in the years following 9/11 is often criticized for being arrogant, conducted in a top-down fashion, and paying too little attention to listening and creating meaningful human interactions. Since 2009, President Obama has emphasized his belief in people-to-people contacts and soft power: the idea that a country can achieve what it wants in world politics by the power of attraction. Public diplomacy programs such as cultural and educational exchanges are believed to be valuable in creating lifelong friends for the United States, but there is little empirical evidence of their effectiveness as a foreign policy …

Exploring The Art Of Connections: Directing Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, John Patrick Brunner

Honors Theses

In the March of 2014, the Department of Theatre and Dance at Bucknell University selected me to conceive and direct a production of Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl. This production would be the winter Main Stage show of the university's artistic season in February 2015. This project would not only serve as an honors thesis project, but also as a THEA 319 Independent Study for the culminating experience of my theatre degree. In preparation for this project, I conducted significant research of both the play itself and the initial design concepts that I felt best supported the piece. …

Undressing The Power Of Fashion: The Semiotic Evolution Of Gender Identity By Coco Chanel And Alexander Mcqueen, Sveva Marcangeli

Honors Theses

The use of clothing reinforces gender roles culturally assigned to men and women by emphasizing individuals' biological sex and encouraging them to behave in specific ways based on their sex. However, individuals can manipulate their clothing to challenge the gender roles assigned to them. 20th century Gabrielle Coco Chanel and 21st century Alexander McQueen are two designers who have freed women from binding and restricted clothing, which set women as objects and not as strong assets with knowledgeable contributions. I use various studies of semiology and sociology through a gender theory and linguistic standpoint to understand the signs found within …

Are There Shared Characteristics Among Children With Autism Who Develop Speech While Training With The Picture Exchange Communication System?, Katherine Neidhart

Honors Theses

It is clear in the literature that there are many factors that may contribute the development of speech as a possible outcome of training with the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Research has indicated a need for more data on the characteristics and skills of children with autism that may contribute to their success while using PECS, and the possible development of speech while receiving PECS training.

This study sought to identify common characteristics and skills of children with autism that acquired speech while receiving PECS training through creating an inventory of demographics, pre-requisite skills, and other characteristics of children …

The Effects Of Lotion Fatty Acids On Gram Negative Skin Flora: Implications For Membrane Remodeling And Pathogenicity, Adrianna Eder

Honors Theses

AIM: The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether or not Enterobacter aerogenes, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which are three gram negative bacteria commonly found on the skin, utilize fatty acids in a manner that affects bacterial phenotype. Furthermore, an objective was to gain a deeper understanding of how the alteration of bacterial membranes, as a result of fatty acid uptake, affected the pathogenicity, membrane permeability, and resistance in gram negative bacteria. METHODS: The lipids were extracted using the method of Bligh and Dyer and analyzed using thin-layer chromatography (TLC). A series of tests were performed, including a …

Engendering Epic: Heroism As Constructed Masculinity In The Epics Of Gilgamesh And Beowulf, Rachael Scott Poe

Honors Theses

When considering epic heroes like Gilgamesh and Beowulf, it is readily apparent that they are products of patriarchal societies, and, consequently, masculinity is an inherent consideration when defining heroism. Gender is not a neutral aspect of the human experience, nor is it uniform across socio-cultural boundaries; rather, individual cultures determine the range of appropriate and desirable behavior for each gender. Thus, the concept of gender is central to every human being, and especially to the epic heroes Gilgamesh and Beowulf whose masculine achievements shape the course of their tales. Though these heroes come from extremely different times and places, there …

Solicitation Of Identity In Cien Años De Soledad, Marinda J. Cauley

Honors Theses

In this thesis I intend to analyze Gabriel García Márquez’ canonical, magical realist novel, Cien años de soledad (1967), which is the fictional (and historical) account of several generations of the Buendía family in their town of Macondo. Cien años de soledad made its debut in 1967 at the height of the Latin American “Boom Era” of literature (1960-1970). This novel, García Márquez’ most commercially successful work, has elicited much response in the form of articles and books of literary critique. Due to its complex and repetitive nature, many critics have traditionally sought to uncover possible allegorical and/or symbolic meanings …

Factors Affecting Child Mortality, Lisa Wheatley

Honors Theses

This study examines the factors that contribute to the rate of child mortality within a country. Through regression analysis, this model attempts to explain the rate of child mortality for a country as a function of factors including the adult female literacy rate, fertility rates, adult female labor force participation, rate of immunization for tuberculosis, access to safe water, income per capita, and prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus. This paper surveys a range of low-income countries from different regions including Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, South Asia, and Latin …

Modeling The Diffusion Of Heat Energy Within Composites Of Homogeneous Materials Using The Uncertainty Principle, Elyse M. Garon

Honors Theses

The purpose of this project is to model the diffusion of heat energy in one space dimension, such as within a rod, in the case where the heat flow is through a medium consisting of two or more homogeneous materials. The challenge of creating such a mathematical model is that the diffusivity will be represented using a piecewise constant function, because the diffusivity changes based on the material. The resulting model cannot be solved using analytical methods, and is impractical to solve using existing numerical methods, thus necessitating a novel approach.

The approach presented in this thesis is to represent …

An Outsider Amongst Outsiders: Psychosocial Impact Of The Devil’S Backbone, The Orphanage, And Mama, Abigail M. Cathcart

Honors Theses

The horror movie genre has a history of developing stories that use both empathy and fear to reflect upon timeless cultural concerns. Guillermo del Toro’s works, The Devil’s Backbone, The Orphanage, and Mama, are contemporary examples of this formula at work. In this project, I intend to examine the sociality of these films according to the psychological theories of Freud’s “Uncanny” and Todorov’s “Fantastic.” Through these concepts, del Toro and his collaborators fashioned the issue of social isolation in a variety of ways to sculpt villains, victims, and families into entities that engender both our compassion and …

Biomimetic Adhesive Thiol-Ene Films For Improved Adhesion, Laken L. Kendrick

Honors Theses

Current dental restoration materials fall short in adhesion and often pull away from the surface of the tooth upon curing. This project seeks to design polymers that can adhere to wet, heterogeneous surfaces as potential materials for dental restoration applications. The goal of this project is to mimic the structure and adhesive properties of natural adhesives containing 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-L-alanine (DOPA). We will synthesize mono- and di-functional DOPA derivatives with catechol functionality and investigate their adhesion compared to their non-catechol-containing alternative through incorporation into a model thiol-ene photopolymerization. Functional group conversion, real time kinetics, and adhesion data will be used to analyze …

2-Domination And Annihilation Numbers, Sean C. Patterson

Honors Theses

Using information provided by Ryan Pepper and Ermelinda DeLaVina in their paper On the 2-Domination number and Annihilation Number, I developed a new bound on the 2- domination number of trees. An original bound, γ₂(G) ≤ (n+n₁)/ 2 , had been shown by many other authors. Our goal was to generate a tighter bound in some cases and work towards generating a more general bound on the 2-domination number for all graphs. Throughout the span of this project I generated and proved the bound γ₂(T ) ≤ …