Digital Commons Network^™

Intensified Push-Pull Technology Enhances Above-Ground Arthropod Assemblages And Ecological Balance, Evanson R. Omuse, Honest Machekano, Daniel M. Mutyambai, Bonoukpoe M. Sokame, Chrysantus M. Tanga, Johnson O. Nyasani, Sevgan Subramanian, Frank Chidawanyika

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Agroecological intensification aims to increase farm productivity, reduce dependency on external inputs, and enhance biodiversity conservation. However, the contribution of recent sustainable agricultural practices to arthropod assemblages and their ecosystem services remains underexplored. Through a 2-year multilocation trial, we investigated the response of above-ground arthropod assemblages and their ecological functions in cowpea and maize grown under monocropping systems and diversified systems (pure and intensified push-pull technologies). Using three sampling methods (visual observations, pitfall traps, sticky traps), a total of 65, 307 arthropod specimens were collected. The most dominant arthropod taxa were Hemiptera (true bugs; 47%), followed by Thysanoptera (thrips; 17%), …

Impacts Of Multitrophic Interactions In Diversified Cropping Systems For Sustainable Management Of Spodoptera Frugiperda, Abdul A. Jalloh, Abdullahi Ahmed Yusuf, Fathiya M. Khamis, Subramanian Sevgan, Daniel Munyao Mutyambai

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Background: Rapid population growth has made the sustainable intensification of agricultural productivity essential for meeting global food demands while maintaining environmental integrity and biodiversity. Diversified cropping systems, such as intercropping, push-pull systems, and cover cropping, are recognized as agroecological strategies to enhance plant growth and protection, and suppress major pests, including the fall armyworm (FAW, Spodoptera frugiperda). These systems influence complex above-and-below ground interactions among herbivorous pests, plants, soil microbes, and their natural enemies. Aims: This review synthesizes current knowledge on how diversified cropping systems shape multitrophic interactions that affect soil health, plant performance, S. frugiperda suppression, and biocontrol within …

Too Much Of A Good Thing? Generic Entry, Drug Prices, And The Innovation Tradeoff, Kiara Jacob

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines how the number of generic competitors affects generic drug prices and whether generic markets exhibit a competition threshold beyond which additional entry produces little further price reduction. Using monthly NADAC price data and FDA Orange Book manufacturer records, I construct a molecule-month panel of 17 molecules across four therapeutic classes from 2013 to 2023, restricted to generic price observations. Fixed-effects regressions show that generic competition is associated with substantial price declines: each additional generic manufacturer is associated with a 7.2 log-point reduction in average acquisition price. The main threshold specification shows that prices are approximately 49 percent …

Intermittent High-Fat, High-Sugar Access During Adolescence Drives Binge-Restriction Feeding And Reduced Weight Gain In A Food Unpredictability Model, Calvin G. Miller

CMC Senior Theses

Food insecurity affects nearly 48 million Americans and 318 million people worldwide, with very low food security disrupting normal eating habits through “feast-or-famine” episodes characterized by cycles of food overconsumption followed by restriction. This dietary pattern alters dopamine signaling within the mesocorticolimbic system — brain circuitry intimately linked to reward processing. This system includes the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Overstimulation can be promoted through sporadic high-fat, high-sugar diet (HFHSD) exposure, promoting dopamine neuron architecture alterations and binge-eating behavior. Adolescence represents a vulnerable window, as mesocorticolimbic dopamine projections undergo maturation during this period. Though evidence links food …

Adolescent Binge-Like Feeding And Neuroinflammation: Effects Of Intermittent Palatable Diet Access On Microglial Activation In The Brain In Adolescents, Jaimie T. Yu

CMC Senior Theses

Binge eating disorder (BED), one of the most common eating disorders in the United States (Definition & Facts for Binge Eating Disorder - NIDDK, n.d.), is characterized by recurrent episodes of consuming large quantities of food in a short period of time accompanied by a sense of loss of control. The intermittent access (INT) model reliably produces binge-like eating in adult rodents, with animals showing episodic hyperphagia upon time-limited access to a high-fat, high-sugar (HFHS) diet. In adult female rats, INT access produces elevated meal size and reduced satiety ratio relative to controls (Maske et al., 2020), and promotes microglial …

Cultural Dissonance: Western Hierarchical Structures In Unesco’S Representative List Of The Intangible Cultural Heritage Of Humanity, Chumnan J. Sangsvang Iii

CMC Senior Theses

This paper explores how the heritage ideologies of the academic and legal traditions of the “West” have exerted influence over the modern conception of heritage in order to fulfill their own ideas of value. It uses a combination of anthropological theory, ethnographic research, and international law to analyze this phenomenon, first identifying the theory and history behind culture, heritage, and civilization in international law. The paper then goes on to analyze UNESCO’s ICH designation and the consequences of Western heritage construction from 4 case studies, each variably removed from the West: Cases from Greece, Uruguay, Malawi, and Tonga will identify …

Microbial Community Structure In Global Soils, Matthew Jabro

CMC Senior Theses

Soil harbors the most diverse microbial communities on Earth, yet whether predictable community types exist across biomes and whether taxonomic composition encodes habitat of origin remain open questions at global scale. This thesis addresses both questions by applying unsupervised clustering and supervised classification to transformed 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) amplicon profiles from two independent datasets: the global topsoil survey of Bahram et al. (193 samples) and the Earth Microbiome Project (EMP) soil subset of Thompson et al. (2,209 samples). Application of a sample clustering method based on a mixture of Gaussian Graphical Models (MixGGM) identified 19 clusters in the topsoil …

From Statute To Classroom: The Implementation Gap In California's Queer-Relevant Sex Education Policy, Alejandro Quiroz-Novela

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines why strong sex education laws do not reliably translate into consistent classroom experiences for LGBTQ+ students. Using a qualitative single-case study of California, it traces the evolution from SB 71 (2003) to the California Healthy Youth Act (CHYA) (2016) and analyzes how mandates move through a decentralized governance chain. Drawing on statutes, legislative records, state guidance, curriculum review tools, advocacy reports, media accounts, and public indicators, the study focuses on implementation mechanisms rather than estimating causal health effects. Three findings emerge: CHYA sets a clear legal floor but is difficult to verify at scale; district discretion and …

Analysis Of Δ¹¹B As A Seawater Ph Proxy: Comparing Ocean Circulation Inverse Model Output With Marine Calcifier Geochemistry, Jesse I. Dong

CMC Senior Theses

Increasing anthropogenic carbon flux into the oceans decreases seawater pH, alters dissolved inorganic carbon speciation, and reduces biogenic calcification. The marine calcifiers— specifically corals and coralline algae—incorporate elements from surrounding seawater into their carbonate structures, which preserve past records of ocean carbon chemistry. In particular, boron in biogenic carbonate is a potentially valuable proxy for historical ocean pH across human timescales. Within seawater, boron primarily exists as boric acid B(OH)3 and borate ions B(OH)4 - , where higher pH favors the formation of borate ions. Borate ions preferentially incorporate the heavier ¹¹B isotope over 10B. On the other hand, if …

Neuroimaging Correlates Of Differences In Learning From Repeated Probabilistic Outcomes, Allison E. Rudolph

CMC Senior Theses

Learning from experience requires integrating feedback over time, yet individuals vary widely in how effectively they extract structure from probabilistic environments. This study examined how such variability relates to neural responses in the ventral striatum (vStr), caudate nucleus, hippocampus, and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Seventy-four participants across childhood, adolescence, and adulthood completed a modified Iowa Gambling Task during fMRI scanning, choosing whether to play or pass on four machines differing in expected value and variance. Behavioral learning slopes, calculated across six runs for each machine, were used to classify participants as learners or non-learners. Learners showed clearer improvement over time …

From Imbalance To Phenotype: Neurodevelopmental Alterations In Trisomy 21, Andrew Yuan

CMC Senior Theses

Down syndrome (DS), caused by Trisomy 21, is the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability. Individuals with DS consistently show reduced brain volume, decreased cortical thickness, and lasting impairments in learning, memory, and executive functioning. These neuroanatomical changes emerge during fetal development and are accompanied by chronic immune dysregulation due to the triplication of four interferon receptor genes on chromosome 21. Although decreased neuron progenitor proliferation has been known to contribute to these phenotypes, the precise timing and cellular mechanisms underlying disruptions in neurogenesis remain not fully understood. This study used immunohistochemistry to examine human fetal cortical tissue from …

Policy Recommendations To Reduce False Confessions By Juveniles In Wrongful Conviction Cases, Rohit R. Iyer

CMC Senior Theses

This research focuses on false confessions by juveniles in the United States justice system. False confessions are statements made by suspects during investigations in which individuals provide statements to investigators admitting to a crime in which they had no part. In these cases, individuals often spend years, if not the entirety, of their lives behind bars for crimes they did not commit. False confessions are the result of a number of systemic factors that will be discussed in this paper. While relatively rare, they are one of the largest blemishes in the U.S. justice system. Juveniles – individuals below the …

The Influence Of Injury Stimuli On Stress Levels In Female Rugby Players Post Injury., Hannah L. Maycock Miss

CMC Senior Theses

This article is a proposal of a study which explores the relationship between female rugby injuries and stress levels through measuring stress between different stimuli. I will recruit 195 participants from across the country to take part in the study. They will be assigned to one of three groups: no injury, ACL injury, and head injury based on their past injury experience. Their stress levels will be measured using the galvanic skin response measure, which will be used to compare the results of each group's stress throughout the study. The participants will all complete two measures of stress, one comparing …

Beyond Bans: A Travel Distance-Based Approach To Estimating The Effects Of Dobbs V. Jackson Women’S Health Organization On Fertility And Labor Supply, Enya Kamadolli

CMC Senior Theses

The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision had highly heterogeneous effects on abortion access across U.S. states, variation I exploit to identify causal effects on fertility and labor supply. Rather than a binary “total ban” indicator, I construct a continuous treatment measure based on changes in distance to the nearest legal abortion provider between 2021 and 2023, and apply a difference-in-differences design to state-level panel data. Effects are attenuated and imprecise in the South, consistent with diminishing marginal effects at large distances. In non-Southern states, I find that a 100 km increase in distance raises total births by about …

The Economics Of The U.S. Student Loan Market And The Case For The Education Development Financial Institution, Ian Akers

CMC Senior Theses

The United States student loan market is shaped by a variety of market failures–credit constraints, positive externalities, behavioral frictions including myopia, debt aversion, and misperception–that together justify government intervention in the market. Yet the design of federal intervention is just as important as its existence. This thesis details the economic theory underpinning the market for student loans, evaluates three historical federal student loan programs (the Perkins Loan Program, the Federal Family Education Loan Program, and the Federal Direct Loan Program) through the lens of that theory. The thesis then proposes a novel institutional model as a targeted response to the …

Revenge Of The Interceptors? The Dod, Congress, And The Return Of Space-Based Missile Defense During Trump 45, Chad Mcelroy

CMC Senior Theses

The initiation of the Golden Dome for America program has brought space-based missile defense (SBMD) to the forefront of American national security policy and rekindled debates that had laid dormant since the administration of President Ronald Reagan. How, forty-two years after President Reagan first proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative, did SBMD return as a national priority? In lieu of public information about the ongoing Golden Dome initiative, this thesis explores the first Trump administration, otherwise known as Trump 45, in order to analyze the development of SBMD proposals by its proponents in Congress and the Department of Defense. I used …

Goods, Practices, Excellence, And The Law: Steps To An Internal Theory Of Value, Rowan Gray

CMC Senior Theses

Practices are the coherent and complex social activities we spend much of our lives engaging in. This category encompasses everything from figure skating to wine-tasting to friend relationships. We gain immense value from participating in practices, and philosophers have articulated a number of accounts for where the value emerges from and how we can best experience it. Many of these theories are ‘externalist’, because they posit that value is incidental to practices and emerges from outside of them.

In contrast, this thesis will argue that the value in practices is internal to each practice. The value comes from each practice’s …

Psr Impacts Chromatin Condensation During Spermatogenesis In Nasonia Vitripennis, Jacqueline R. Solomon

CMC Senior Theses

Paternal Sex Ratio (PSR) is a supernumerary, selfish B chromosome found in the jewel wasp (Nasonia vitripennis). PSR is transmitted strictly paternally to progeny, and when present, it causes paternal genome elimination (PGE) just after fertilization. Due to the haplo-diploid reproduction of N. vitripennis, this PGE event results in all-male broods of progeny, ~90% of which carry and transmit PSR. Thus, PGE is beneficial for PSR’s transmission.  A previous study showed that PSR induces PGE by expressing a gene called haploidizer during spermatogenesis. Although how haploidizer functions in PGE is unknown, this finding suggests two basic models: that (i) the …

Mapping Ubiquitin-Cavitand Binding Interactions Using Ccpnmr Analysis, Mia J. Rhee

CMC Senior Theses

Ubiquitin is a highly conserved 76-residue protein central to proteasomal degradation, DNA repair, and immune regulation. Its dysfunction underlies neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, so it is important to understand how synthetic molecules recognize ubiquitin’s surface at residue level as it has implications for biosensor design and therapeutic targeting. This study performs a quantitative analysis of ubiquitin-cavitand binding interacting using four 1H-15N HSQC NMR titration spectra collected across increasing tetracarboxylate cavitand concentrations (apo, 1:15, 1:2, and 1:3 cavitand:ubiquitin). Using CCPNMR AnalysisAssign, all 73 non-proline backbone amide resonances were assigned against published BMRB reference shifts.The chemical shift perturbations (CSPs) were calculated at …

Exploration Of The Use Of Radiocarbon Time-Series Records As Indicators Of Upwelling Areas, Rena Reshmi Mukherjee

CMC Senior Theses

The Earth’s oceans buffer climate change, regulate weather patterns, sustain global food security, and support biomedical research. Ocean currents redistribute heat and nutrients while promoting genetic diversity, which can serve as a source of novel compounds for biomedical research. Understanding ocean circulation is essential for maintaining these ecosystem services as the climate continues to change. Upwelling, a form of vertical water movement that transports nutrient-rich deep water to the surface, plays a key role in marine productivity and carbon cycling. However, global upwelling patterns remain incompletely mapped. Radiocarbon (14C), a radioactive isotope of carbon, provides a useful tracer of ocean …

Modulating Oran Nitrate-Reducing Bacteria To Enhance Nitric Oxide Bioavailability As A Therapeutic Target For Atherosclerosis, Donovan C. Davidson

CMC Senior Theses

Atherosclerosis remains the primary driver of global cardiovascular disease, yet clinical interventions are largely restricted to high-cost, invasive procedures only after it has reached a critical stage. Recent research has identified a connection between the oral microbiome and vascular health via the enterosalivary nitrate-nitrite-nitic oxide (NO) pathway. Oral nitrate-reducing bacteria (ONRB) drive the synthesization of NO by reducing dietary nitrate into nitrite, which is then converted into bioavailable NO. NO is a potent vasodilator that maintains endothelial health by suppressing inflammation through inhibiting the expression of adhesion molecules VCAM-1 and ICAM-1. However, this pathway is easily compromised by dysbiotic oral …

Not Biological, But Built: Structural And Metabolic Pathways Driving Black Maternal Health Disparities In The United States, Alexandra I. Umegboh

CMC Senior Theses

Black infants in the United States are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday than white infants, a disparity often attributed to genetics, behavior, or individual health choices. However, this idea is challenged by a key contradiction: African immigrant women consistently experience better birth outcomes than U.S.-born Black women despite being similarly racialized. This thesis investigates the origins of this reproductive advantage and the factors contributing to its decline over time. By drawing on epidemiological data, metabolic health research, and literature on African diasporic healing traditions, it argues that the “healthy immigrant effect” is not biological, …

Politics Of A Silent Pandemic: Antimicrobial Resistance And State Capacity In India And Nigeria, Mia Kelly

CMC Senior Theses

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) has emerged as one of the most pressing yet widely underestimated health threats of the 21st century; this thesis explores the potentially devastating global impact of this “silent pandemic”, exposing how deeply health outcomes depend on political choices, regulatory capacity, and economic constraints. Although the danger of spreading drug-resistant pathogens is now widely acknowledged in both the scientific and political communities, states differ in their abilities to contain the issue, with low- and middle-income countries facing the greatest obstacles to national action plan implementation. This thesis investigates these disparities through a comparison of India and Nigeria, two …

Criminalizing Motherhood: Abortion, Obstetric Emergencies, And State Power In Post-1998 El Salvador, Valery M. Reyes

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how a series of regressive legal reforms in El Salvador–the 1997 Penal Code’s expansion of abortion-related punishments and the 1999 constitutional amendment defining life as beginning at conception–eliminated all exceptions to abortion and transformed a woman’s reproductive body into a site of surveillance. Rather than expanding rights, these reforms rolled back on existing protections by not recognizing obstetric emergencies, miscarriages, or cases of rape as legitimate grounds for abortion. Prosecutors and judges could treat such medical emergencies as convictions for “fetal homicide,” carrying sentences of 30-50 years in prison.

Court documents, reports from non-government organizations …

Loan-Heavy Aid: Consequences On Academic And Early-Career Outcomes, April Zhang

CMC Senior Theses

This study examines how the composition of financial aid, specifically the balance between loans and grants, shapes students’ academic performance, major selection, and early career outcomes. Using administrative data from the University of California system (2007-2019) and post-graduation records from UC Irvine, I analyze how loan reliance influences both educational trajectories and labor-market results. The key measure, loanshare, captures the fraction of total aid financed through loans rather than grants. This allows for comparisons among students with similar financial need, expected family contribution, and total aid levels. Results show that students with more loan-heavy aid packages earn significantly lower …

Overview Of The Ergonomic Model Of Soccer And The Training Process, James J. Collins, Shane Malone, Kieran D. Collins

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Soccer is a complex sport with significant physical, physiological, psychological, technical, and tactical demands on players. This review presents an ergonomics-based model of soccer performance, emphasizing that no single component operates in isolation. Building on the foundational ergonomic framework, this review integrates contemporary evidence on training load monitoring, ecological dynamics, and cognitive-perceptual performance dimensions not systematically addressed in prior frameworks. Elite outfield players cover 9–14 km·h⁻¹ per match, with high-speed running (19.8–24.8 km·h⁻¹) making up about 20% of total distance and sprinting (>25 km·h⁻¹) around 2%. These outputs vary by playing position, tactical formation, …

Am I Top Of The Pops? Does Feedback Of Live Gps Between Sets Of Hurling-Specific Small-Sided Games Improve Subsequent Running And Physiological Performance?, Shane Malone, John Keane, Tom Hargroves, Conor P. Clancy, John David Duggan, Damien Young, Kieran D. Collins

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

The investigation aimed to determine if live feedback of team- and player-specific global positioning system (GPS) running performance data between bouts of hurling small-sided games (SSGs) altered the physical and physiological responses during subsequent bouts of SSGs during a 6-week hurling pre-season period. Twenty-four (n = 24) hurling players (age 25.5 ± 3.2 years; height 177.9 ± 3.2 cm; body mass 83.5 ± 4.5 kg) received either feedback or no feedback during hurling-specific SSGs across a 6-week pre-season period. Teams were assigned to two specific groups, a) GPS live feedback or b) no GPS live feedback (control) for each session, …

Efficacious Anti-Cancer Drugs Targeting Nicotinamide N-Methyltransferase (Nnmt) In Cultured Human Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (Oscc), Brian Maloney, Martyna Kubisztal, Ziqian Ge, Yin Lu, Lisa Strotmann, Adrianna Budziňska, Mary F. Rooney, Marilena Karavyraki, Andrew Knox, Richard K. Porter

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Background/Objectives: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a major cause of human cancer. The enzyme, nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT), is overexpressed in a variety of human cancers, including OSCC. Our objective was to target NNMT with novel inhibitors and determine their anti-cancer efficacy while shedding light on their possible mechanism of action. Methods: We identified two small molecule inhibitors of NNMT (AG-670 and AO-022) based on a pharmacophore of the in silico nicotinamide binding site. These inhibitors were investigated for (i) potency to inhibit the activity of the isolated NNMT enzyme (EC₅₀ values), (ii) cytotoxicity (IC₅₀ values) against the …

Alignment Of The Planetary Health Diet With Pregnancy Dietary Guidelines: Insights From Two Cohorts, Aoife Davis, Sophie Callanan, Gillian A. Corbett, Eileen C. O’Brien, Alexander Douglass, Fionnuala M. Mcauliffe

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

The Planetary Health Diet (PHD) is a mostly plant-based diet that aims to optimise human health whilst minimising the environmental impact of food production. Limited data exists on whether the PHD fulfils key nutritional requirements during pregnancy. This research aimed to examine the PHD in early pregnancy and how it aligns with daily nutrient intake and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) dietary guidelines. Pregnant women (n=678) from two Irish cohorts (ROLO and MicrobeMom) were analysed. Dietary intakes in early pregnancy were determined using a 3-day food diary and used to calculate PHD Index (PHDI) scores. Women were dichotomised by the …

Physique Development And Management Shape Experiences Of Low Energy Availability Risk In Elite Professional Male Rugby Union Players, Gary Sweeney, Siobhain Mcardle, Nessan Costello, Kieran Collins

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

This study aimed to explore elite male rugby union players’ perceptions and lived experiences of physique development and management in relation to low energy availability risk. Semi-structured interviews (29 ± 8 min) were conducted with 18 players (senior: n = 9; academy: n = 9; mean age: 23 ± 3) across four professional rugby union clubs in Ireland. Through reflexive thematic analysis, the following themes were constructed. Players had limited awareness of low energy availability, yet described experiences consistent with symptoms, including fatigue, low mood and reduced libido. A pervasive physique culture, characterised by body composition ‘ideals’ and weight or …