Digital Commons Network^™

Csi Botany: Dna Barcode “Fingerprints” Identify Cryptic Urban Flora, Luis R. Vega

Theses and Dissertations

As short genomic markers, DNA barcodes can play a role in conservation by identifying cryptic species and hybrids when morphological approaches fall short. Here we present our application of barcodes to the identities of two wetland taxa as part of an ongoing floristic inventory of Van Cortlandt Park (VCP), Bronx, NY. Previous barcode data by Marriott et al. (2018) identified the VCP lake water lily as the exotic Nymphaea alba, rather than the native N. odorata as historically described. In addition, cattails in the park were historically identified as the native Typha latifolia and the exotic T. angustifolia …

Effects Of Duckweed On Mosquito Oviposition And Larval Survivorship, Alyssa Gushka

Capstone Showcase

Invasive species are those non-natives to habitat and that negatively impact the environment or human health problems. Invasive mosquitoes threaten the environment and humans, as they transmit 17% of infectious diseases including malaria, West Nile virus and yellow fever. Aedes japonicas and Aedes albopictus are invasive mosquitoes that often deposit eggs in artificial containers. Chemical pesticides, such as Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (BTI), utilizes endospores to release toxins into the larvae. However, BTI creates negative consequences for the environment and other species. Many plants are being examined to see if they can act as natural pesticides. Duckweeds are native to North …

The Positive Effects Of Medical Cannabinoids On The Dysregulated Endocannabinoid System In Autism Spectrum Disorder Patients, Caroline J. Reichelderfer

Capstone Showcase

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability. The symptoms include a lack of social skills, a need for repetitive patterns of life, difficulty in communication, speaking deficits and numerous other symptoms. While the specific cause is unknown, there is much research being done on mechanisms including dysregulations of the immune system, endocannabinoid system, and overall brain (Nez Govorova 2021, Pol 2021). The Endocannabinoid system is a recently discovered branch of the nervous system composed of endocannabinoids which are produced naturally in the body; lipid-based neurotransmitters that bind to cannabinoid receptors (CBRs) and cannabinoid receptor proteins that are expressed throughout …

Vitamin D Enhanced Vitamin D Receptor (Vdr) Inhibition Of Nlrp3 Inflammasome Activation Can Attenuate The Development Of Autoimmune Thyroiditis, Alexzon Mandac

Capstone Showcase

Autoimmune Thyroiditis (AIT) is a prevalent autoimmune disease affecting approximately 2% of the population. Characterized by the gradual loss of thyroid function through an autoimmune attack on the thyroid gland, the disease manifests symptoms that negatively affect one’s quality of life. The mechanisms behind the disease’s pathophysiology are not fully understood; however, researchers are examining the involvement of the NLRP3 inflammasome in the disease. This thesis will address the question of whether Vitamin D can act as an inhibitor of the NLRP3 inflammasome and attenuate the progression of AIT in mouse model. Current investigations explore the effects of NLRP3 inhibition …

High Energy Blue Light Induces Oxidative Stress And Retinal Cell Apoptosis, Jessica Malinsky

Capstone Showcase

Blue light (BL) is a high energy, short wavelength spanning 400 to 500 nm. Found in technological and environmental forms, BL has been shown to induce photochemical damage of the retina by reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Excess ROS leads to oxidative stress, which disrupts retinal mitochondrial structure and function. As mitochondria amply occupy photoreceptors, they also contribute to oxidative stress due to their selectively significant absorption of BL at 400 to 500 nm. ROS generation that induces oxidative stress subsequently promotes retinal mitochondrial apoptosis. BL filtering and preventative mechanisms have been suggested to improve or repair BL-induced retinal damage, …

What Is Active Learning? Perspectives From Five Stem Professors' Teaching Practices In Their Classrooms, Iliana Correa

Capstone Showcase

This senior thesis investigated what ways, if any, STEM professors incorporated active learning pedagogy in their undergraduate classroom in a small private university in the northeast USA. STEM pedagogy was investigated because of the increasing prominence of active learning methods in the classroom compared to the didactic type of teaching that was prominent in the past (Eichler, 2020). A qualitative case study of five STEM professors was conducted and involved collecting data from biographical questions, a one-hour interview, and the analysis of a document provided by the professor that could have been a lesson plan, an assignment, or an activity …

Elite Women In The Mediterranean 31 Bc – 1380 Ad: An Investigation Into Female Agency, Identity, And Patriarchy Across Classical And Christian Paradigms, Julia Maurer

Capstone Showcase

This paper explores the responses of elite women to patriarchal regimes across the Classical Pagan and Medieval Christian paradigms in the Mediterranean from 31 BC to 1380 AD. While the current historiography acknowledges the radical differences between the two worldviews fundamental to the core values of Western Civilization, an investigation of three women that can be taken to be emblematic examples of the periods in which they lived reveals a striking continuity in the nuanced social roles available to women. This continuity contradicts expectations of significant changes reflective of this revolutionary paradigm shift.

I utilize Julia Augusti, Vibia Perpetua, and …

Women Play Football Too: Feminist Theory And Uk Football, Mikayla Kummer

Capstone Showcase

Women's Football in the UK has constantly overshadowed by Men's Football and with the popularity of social media it may have complicated the issue. The way women have been treated in the media has always been different to how men were treated. Gender can be considered a performance and how women are treated by the press demands a performance from them. Through Offside, a play by Hollie Poetry and Sabrina Mahfouz, this essay explores the relationship between feminist theory, women's football and social media. Women athletes have consistently been asked about their personal lives, bodies, relationships and anything besides the …

A Chromosome-Scale Genome Sequence Of Sudangrass (Sorghum Sudanense) Highlights The Genome Evolution And Regulation Of Dhurrin Biosynthesis, Paul W. Bible, Jieqin Li, Wenmiao Tu, Jian Zheng, Peng Jin, Yanlong Liu, Junli Du, Jiacheng Zheng, Yi-Hong Wang, Qiuwen Zhan

Computer Science Faculty publications

Sudangrass [ Sorghum sudanense (Piper) Stapf] is a hybrid between grain sorghum and its wild relative S. bicolor ssp. verticilliflorum and is grown as a forage crop due to its high biomass production and low dhurrin content compared to sorghum. In this study, we sequenced the sudangrass genome and showed that the assembled genome was 715.95 Mb with 35,243 protein-coding genes. Phylogenetic analysis with whole genome proteomes demonstrated that the sudangrass genome was more similar to US commercial sorghums than to its wild relatives and cultivated sorghums from Africa. We confirmed that at seedling stage, sudangrass accessions contained significantly lower …

Optical Tweezers: Exerting Force With Light, Gabriella Seifert

Scripps Senior Theses

Photons carry momentum. When a tightly-focused beam of photons hit a particle, they transfer some of their momentum to the particle, exerting a force. Optical tweezers take advantage of this phenomenon to trap (or “tweeze”) a spherical bead just after the focus of a diverging laser beam, creating a potential well that pulls in beads. In this thesis, I predict the force exerted on trapped beads and measure the actual force using an optical tweezers setup that I built. To predict the force, I follow the path of all possible rays from a diverging beam incident on a spherical bead …

Crime, Illness, & Abolition: An Exploration Through The Connective Tissue Within The Pic/Mic Matrix, Laila Kent

Scripps Senior Theses

This two part zine illuminates the shared mechanisms that construct and respond to ‘crime’, also define and treat illness in the US. Part 1 uncovers the status quo of our prison and health care system via the emergence of the The Prison-Industrial Complex (PIC), and The Medical-Industrial Complex (MIC). Through an exploration of the respective and overlapping histories, logics, and realities underlying the function of these systems, the mechanisms of individualism, objectification, and profiteering become strikingly clear. Part 2 breaks free of the status quo outlined in Part 1 by introducing abolition as the vision and strategy to heal from …

Utilizing Amr Surveillance Data To Analyze Trends In Escherichia Coli Antibiotic Resistance Levels In The South African Provinces Of Gauteng And The Eastern Cape, Celia Maris

Scripps Senior Theses

Antimicrobial resistant bacterial pathogens pose an ongoing threat to universal public health by causing more severe manifestations of infectious diseases, leading to an increase in healthcare expenditures and higher global mortality rates. Therefore, developing strategies to combat bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is vital for the future of human health. One promising strategy is through the utilization of AMR surveillance programs. This study focused on using AMR surveillance data from South Africa to analyze changes in Escherichia coli resistance levels to numerous antibiotics between January 2012 and December 2022 in Gauteng Province and the Eastern Cape Province. The study aimed to …

Quantifying The Carbon Stored And Sequestered By The Trees On Pomona College’S Campus, Paola A. Giron-Carson

Scripps Senior Theses

We are experiencing a climate crisis that must be confronted with strategic mitigation. Pomona College contributes to the climate crisis through its emissions for which there is a baseline record. However there is no baseline record of the climate mitigation currently performed by the trees on Pomona’s campus through carbon storage. This study seeks to determine a current baseline quantity of carbon stored and sequestrated by Pomona’s trees as well as possible courses of climate mitigation for Pomona College to take. Initial information gathering was conducted through interviews with several stakeholders. This study was conducted using data collected prior to …

Geographic And Environmental Patterns In Infection By Oyster Macroparasites Along The Georgia Coast, Sofia Markiewicz

Scripps Senior Theses

The eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is a keystone species that stabilizes sediments, cycles nutrients, filters water, and provides habitats and food for estuarine fauna. Oysters are prone to several macroparasites, including oyster pea crabs (Zaops ostreum), mud blister worms (Polydora websteri), and boring sponges (Cliona sp.). Prior research has shown that shellfish infected with blister worms and boring sponges exhibit weaker shells, are more vulnerable to damage and predation, and potentially experience reduced condition. Pea crabs may cause reduced condition, growth, and fertility in their hosts. However, the extent to which these parasites harm their hosts is still unclear. We …

Extending Lifespan With Metformin: A Comprehensive Review And Proposed Study, Caroline Delvecchio

Scripps Senior Theses

Aging is a non-adaptive epiphenomenon that characterizes the terminal phase of life. Aging leads to the dysregulation of metabolic processes that subsequently drive the downregulation of critical nutrient sensing pathways and autophagy, while increasing inflammation, cellular senescence, stem cell depletion, reactive oxygen species, and DNA damage; the gestalt of which is the aging phenotype. Age-induced subcellular alterations impact the whole organism, from cosmetic factors, such as grey hair and wrinkles, to the development of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. Fortunately, humans may have discovered a means of delaying aging through treatment with metformin. Metformin is an FDA-approved drug that …

Nitrogen Isotopes In Deep Sea Corals; A Potential Tracer Of Paleoceanographic Conditions, Sylvia Bergerud

Scripps Senior Theses

Abstract

In the face of anthropogenic climate change, increasing pressure is being mounted on contextualizing current climate altercations compared to those of the past. One key tracer of climate variation is the isotopic ratio of 15N compared to 14N, which tracks biological and chemical reactions throughout the N cycle. However, it is difficult to find accurate palaeoceanographic records of N isotope fractionation, as most sedimentary and organic samples are subject to extensive diagenesis, degradation, and erosive processes. Scleractinian corals present a potential solution to this lack of accurate data. Multiple studies indicate that, due to their protective aragonite skeletons and …

Heaven? Is It Worth It?: The Effect Of Belief On Religious Participation And Signaling, Claudia R. Chin

Scripps Senior Theses

Religion has long been a subject that baffles economists because of its seemingly inefficient requirements. It is hard to get one's mind around why an individual would be willing to give up secular commodities for religion, or face the strict entry costs and stigma society associates with the religion. Although many reasons have been suggested, the most widely accepted solution to why we engage in these behaviors is Religious Signaling Theory (RST). RST argues that people engage in these ineffective costs as a way to signal their commitment to the religion, and religions were utilized by society to enforce these …

Interpersonal Emotions As Emergent Phenomena: Social Neuroscience Beyond Western Cultural Constructions, Kaitlyn Penchina

Scripps Senior Theses

Because science as it exists today is a cultural construction of the West, studies of neuroscience have often been limited by Western perspectives. In particular, the Western proclivity towards individualism has led to a field of neuroscience which has historically focused on studying single individuals, as opposed to social or collective neuroscience. For the most part, it has just been assumed that collective phenomena such as interpersonal emotions must be able to be reduced in terms of individual phenomena such as individual emotions. However, closer review reveals that interpersonal emotions have emergent properties that individual emotions alone do not account …

Advancing Nutritional Psychiatry: Cultivating Knowledge And Confidence In Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners, Anne Marie Patterson

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Research on the relationship between nutrition and mental health is growing. Mental health professionals, including Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (PMHNPs), may lack the knowledge and confidence to endorse nutrition to benefit mental health outcomes. This quality improvement project sought to increase PMHNPs’ knowledge of nutritional psychiatry, build confidence in discussing nutritional interventions, and increase the nutritional education of patients. The project aims were to evaluate PMHNPs’ current knowledge and attitudes about nutritional psychiatry; assess if PMHNPs’ current practice includes nutritional psychiatry; analyze the effect of a training tool to increase knowledge of nutritional psychiatry and confidence in nutritional counseling; …

The Role Of Porn Literacy In Comprehensive Sex Education To Reduce Endorsements Of Gendered Sexual Violence And Support Healthy Adolescent Development, Kiana Harnish

Scripps Senior Theses

Due to stigmatization of sex and insufficient sexual education, modern-day adolescents rely on free online pornography as a source of education about sex and relationships. This thesis provides a review of the connections between adolescent porn use and the socialization of sexual violence (SV) and coercion against women, comprehensive sex education (CSE) and healthy adolescent sexual development, and porn literacy (PL) and sexual attitude or behavior changes. Porn literacy aims to equip adolescents with tools to critically analyze sexualied media and messages, to empower them to make informed decisions to engage or disengage with porn and their sexuality in a …

Puberty Blockers, Margo Collazo

Scripps Senior Theses

The onset of puberty initiates a period of rapid growth, the development of secondary sex characteristics and the achievement of fertility. For children with gender dysphoria (GD), puberty can be an extremely difficult period where they identify less and less with the sexual development of their body. The most common treatment for GD is puberty blockers, which can be started once puberty begins around 11 years old and have shown to reduce the risk of suicide and increase mental health in transgender and nonbinary youths (TGNB).

Puberty blockers suppress the body’s production of GnRH, delaying puberty until the individual can …

This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land: Environmental Education Curriculum At Federal Indian Schools As A Conduit For Colonial Violence And The Native Resistance And Resilience With Which It Was Met, Isabel Evans

Scripps Senior Theses

American environmental education pedagogy has been intimately intertwined with the federal government’s colonial project since the 1890 – 1920 period, when environmental education became a defined part of formal classroom learning across the United States. At federal Indian schools operating during these decades, environmental education represented a mechanism through which the federal government attempted to suppress traditional Indigenous environmental knowledge and to supplant it in the minds of Native children with capitalist, Protestant, and Anglo-American modes of thinking about land. Yet, in the face of this unprecedented colonial violence, Native children at federal Indian schools turned to the land as …

Fossil Fuels In Disguise: Environmental Issues With Carbon Capture Storage In The Central Valley, Medha Gelli

Scripps Senior Theses

The California Air Resources Board’s 2022 Scoping Plan supports the development of Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) facilities in order to meet California’s climate goals. Most of the proposed fourteen sites will be located in the Central Valley. CCS may help achieve negative emissions but poses several environmental problems. Key among these issues are water depletion and contamination, excessive energy usage, air pollution, and the potential for CCS-induced seismic risk. Due to the Central Valley’s disadvantaged and less-resourced background, this area is more at risk for environmental injustices with CCS implementation. By creating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) maps of factors related …

Computational Investigation Of The Ionization Potential Of Lead Sulfide Quantum Dots, Jessica Beyer

Scripps Senior Theses

The purpose of this work was to determine the impact of quantum dot size on ionization potential and to determine how the presence of carbonyl-based ligands affect the ionization potential of lead sulfide quantum dot systems. Ionization potential (IP) is defined as the energy required to remove an electron from an atom, molecule, or material. IP helps scientists determine how reactive the material of interest is, which is crucial information when manufacturing nanomaterials. Accurate quantum chemical calculations of ionization potential are challenging due to the computational cost associated with the numerical solution of the Dyson equation. In this work, the …

Mental Health Stigma In South Asians With Crohn’S Disease, Bansi Patel

Scripps Senior Theses

Chronically ill individuals often face comorbid mental illnesses. Mental illness symptoms can cause their chronic illness symptoms to worsen; the converse is also true. Such is the case with Crohn’s disease (CD) patients. The present literature lacks research on the relationship between CD and mental illness symptoms. Additionally, the literature lacks chronically ill participants who are South Asian Americans (SAA). SAA often face more mental health stigma than their white peers which can worsen one’s mental illness symptoms. This study examines the impact that mental health symptoms have on the psychological distress faced by SAA who are diagnosed with CD. …

Hearth And Homefluencers: Aesthetics Of Digital And Domestic Labor In #Slowliving Content, Lena Kohls

Scripps Senior Theses

Slow Living is a philosophy that has grown in popularity as a social media “aesthetic” in recent years due to the growth of TikTok as a global platform and the increase of home-based content during the Covid-19 pandemic. Female creators following the trend, which promotes the rejection of high-speed capitalist life in favor of a slow, minimalist lifestyle, have documented their transition from career to homestead through highly aestheticized and romanticized content. This paper analyzes the slow living trend with focus on the gendered dynamics of both digital and domestic labor. It observes the ways in which “feminine” labor is …

The Narrative Composer: Hector Berlioz’S Impact On The Evolution Of Film Scoring In The Twenty-First Century, Enrique Alberti

Honors Program Theses

Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, whose literary and musical works have an undeniable effect on the history of Western music. Specifically, Berlioz’s most famous orchestral work, the Symphonie Fantastique, transformed how music could be utilized in an orchestral setting because it was the first programmatic symphony, which is a symphony with music set to a written narrative. The Symphonie would inspire German composer Richard Wagner to create what is now recognized as the leitmotif, a musical phrase used to identify an idea. In modern Hollywood film music, Wagner is credited with establishing the techniques that have become staples …

Effect Of Decorating Super Paramagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles With Silver Nanoparticles On Their Magneto-Photo Thermal Heating Efficiency, Anthony Joseph Afful

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Cancer treatment is rather dangerous to the body, often involving many secondary effects, including nausea, hair loss, and weight fluctuations. The search for non-invasive, highly efficient, and targetable treatments ameliorates these issues. Super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONS) have been used for other medical purposes such as magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent and is being extensively studied as a potential candidate for many cancer therapeutic and diagnostic approaches due to its biocompatibility and superior magnetic properties. When subjected to an external alternating magnetic field SPIONS generate heat mainly due to the friction of the SPIONS against the fluid it is …

The Disrupted Path To Becoming Easy, Breezy, Beautiful: How Companies Are Deceiving Consumers With Their Animal Testing Products, Wendy Chao

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Imperial History Of Race-Religion In International Law, Rabiat Akande

All Papers

More than half a century after the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of the International Convention on the Prohibition of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), efforts are underway to formulate a protocol to the landmark convention. Much of the momentum for that endeavor comes from sustained local and global advocacy against racism. An integral part of contemporary anti-racism efforts is a push for legal recognition of the intersectional dimensions of racial domination and subjugation to address the unique precarity of persons inhabiting marginalized axes of identities and experiences. United Nations (UN) debates over repowering the ICERD have therefore featured …