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Aristotle And Mencius, Comparisons Of The Good Life, Cormac I. O'Brien

Undergraduate Theses

Aristotle and Mencius are both renown philosophers in the field of ethics and moral teaching. Using the Nicomachean Ethics and The Works of Mencius, we can analyze their respective theories to come to a better understanding of what the good life is in the eyes of these two great philosophers, as well as how an individual can work towards achieving a fulfilling life.

Diversity And Habitat Use Of Bats In Modified Suburban Landscapes, Brittany Morgera

Biology Presentations

Bats occupy critical ecological niches and perform important ecosystem services like controlling insect populations. However, humans have altered bat habitat substantially, resulting in the reduction of bat populations. The goals of this research are to assess bat diversity and habitat use across different levels of suburban habitat modification. To accomplish this, we deployed passive acoustic recorders at twelve locations with varying human impact in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. In accordance with The North American Bat Monitoring Program’s standards, acoustic analysis software was used to identify bat species. Manual identification methods from The Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative were used to verify these …

Dosage-Dependent, Carboplatin And Ng52 Show Synergistic Effect On Inhibiting Cell Proliferation In Breast Cancer Cell Line, Ben Couture, Ryan Zhuge

Biology Presentations

BT-549 (Breast Cancer), a highly invasive epithelial breast cancer cell line, was used to investigate the effects of two drugs: NG52, a selective kinase inhibitor and Carboplatin, a platinum-based DNA-alkylating agent. Using cell counting assays and calculating IC50 values, we examined their combined impact on cell proliferation. Results revealed both an antagonistic and synergistic effect dependent on concentration. Where the individual agents inhibited cell proliferation less effectively than expected. These findings show the complexity of drug interactions and provide insights into optimizing therapeutic strategies for highly invasive cancer types.

Fighting Modern Battles, Brawling A Breast Cancer From The Past: A New Combination Therapy Technique Combining A Platinum-Based Agent And Hdac Inhibition Agent, Matthew I. Hyder, Jackson D. Southern

Biology Presentations

Carboplatin and tucidinostat are two often-used chemotherapeutic drugs in combating cancers. After seeding BT-549 cells in vitro and single-drug treatments were completed, IC50 values and treatment curves were determined for both drugs with CompuSyn software. The Tucidinostat IC50 value of 0.28614 µM indicates effective 50% inhibitory activity at less than one micromolar. Carboplatin treatment revealed an IC50 value of 273.792 µM, indicating ineffective treatment. Combination therapy revealed an antagonistic effect with a CI50 value of 210.406. This may be due to experimental errors with pipetting or cell seeding, or drug-ailment mismatch.

An Investigation Of Electrical Surface Impact As A Three-Dimensional Low-Energy Defibrillation Method, Rhiannan Ruef

Theses

Ventricular fibrillation is a medical emergency that leaves the heart unable to beat properly, and is fatal within minutes if left untreated. Furthermore, it’s the leading cause of sudden cardiac arrest according to the NIH, killing over 400,000 Americans every year. Previously, we’ve proposed a new low-energy defibrillation method to restore the heart to its normal rhythm during fibrillation. Our method required further investigation due to the presence of several important dynamical processes. In this dissertation, we report the results of these investigations. First, we will present our results related to a novel behavior called “flopping,” which occurs when a …

Resource Toolkit Development For Mental Health Awareness In School-Aged Children, Jessica L. Newton

Post-Professional Occupational Therapy Doctorate - Innovations in OT Symposium: Transforming Possibilities into Practice

Introduction: Mental health challenges are on the rise, and school-aged children often lack mental health services and education at an early age, which can lead to mental illness. Therefore, it is important to increase awareness of mental health challenges in school-aged children by educating individuals to reduce the stigma. Providing school and community-based resources to improve overall health and well-being is essential to combat the rise in mental illness in our communities.

Methods: A quality improvement (QI) design for product development and education was aimed at addressing this rising problem. The needs assessment results, current literature, evidence-based practices, and conceptual …

Pick Your Precedent: Bostock, Dobbs, And The Uncertain Reach Of Intermediate Scrutiny In United States V. Skrmetti, Molly Pines

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

The Supreme Court will yet again wade into highly politically charged waters this term when it decides United States v. Skrmetti, a case about gender-affirming healthcare for minors. More specifically, Skrmetti will decide whether SB1, a 2023 Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for individuals below age 18, violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The Tennessee Plaintiffs and the Biden administration, which intervened on their behalf, have argued that SB1 unconstitutionally discriminates on the basis of sex and transgender status. In response, Tennessee has argued that SB1 only uses age and medical purpose—not sex or transgender status—to delineate …

Autonomic Recovery Following Post-Exercise Cold Water Immersion, Katherine Gurley

Health Sciences Student Scholarship

Katherine Gurley ’25, Biology and Health Policy Management major

Faculty mentor: Dr. Brett Romano Ely, Health Sciences

Evaluating Crop Response From Quizalofop And Fluridone Application In Louisiana Rice (Oryza Sativa L.), Wesley Carr

LSU Master's Theses

A field study was conducted at the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station (RRS) in 2023 and 2024 to evaluate crop safety when quizalofop applications were made on ‘PVL03’ before and after overcast growing conditions. Factor A (main plot) consisted of no shade, shade for a period of 7 days prior to quizalofop application, or shade for a period of 7 days after quizalofop application. Factor B (sub plot) consisted of shade coverage representing simulated overcast weather at 0, 30, 60, or 90%. Factor C (sub-sub plot) consisted of no quizalofop, quizalofop at 120 g ha^-1, or quizalofop …

The Semantics Of Quedar And Quedarse When Used With Adjectives Or Participles To Express A State, Charlotte Joy Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on quedar and quedarse in Spanish when used with adjectives or participles to express a state. There are four main verbs of becoming in Spanish, namely hacerse, volverse, ponerse, and quedar(se), but quedar(se) is the only verb of becoming that can be used both intransitively and pronominally to express a state. This thesis seeks to understand the relationship between adjectives and participles when used in conjunction with quedar intransitively or pronominally, and how the semantics may change based on which form is preferred. There are two largely supported claims in the literature as to when one form …

Navigating Light And Darkness: The Intersection Of Space, Faith And The Psyche In Ana Plácido’S Luz Coada Por Ferros, Alondra V. Ramirez Herrera

Theses and Dissertations

Ana Plácido (1831-1895) was a Portuguese writer whose literary contributions remain largely overshadowed by her infamous trial for adultery and her relationship with Camilo Castelo Branco. Despite societal constraints on female authorship in the nineteenth century, Plácido used literature as a means of self-expression, autonomy, and intellectual freedom. This thesis employs spatial theory to analyze her collection of texts Luz Coada por Ferros (1863), written during her imprisonment, to explore the interplay between physical confinement and artistic freedom. By examining the symbolic and psychological dimensions of space in her work, this study highlights how Plácido navigated themes of female agency, …

Non-Destructive Testing Of Stressed Materials Using X-Ray Diffraction And Second-Harmonic Generation, Melissa Nguyen Lumogdang

Theses and Dissertations

A material in use, anywhere from a plastic bag to common infrastructure, will eventually fail from deformation. When strained, the material chemical structure can change, and that change is dependent on many factors, including the amount of strain and strain rate. Understanding the relationship between physical properties and structural changes due to deformation can allow structural manipulation to achieve the desired physical properties. Additionally, research into non-destructive testing (NDT) methods can be used as supporting evidence for replacing destructive testing methods and possible infield stress monitoring. In this dissertation, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and second-harmonic generation (SHG) are the main NDT …

Finding Patterns In Disturbance: Modeling Ecosystem Recovery Using A Machine Learning Approach, Paden D. Allsup

Theses and Dissertations

Some of the most visible effects of Anthropogenic climate change are shifts in resource (water) availability, and disturbance regimes across the world. Ecosystems across the world are now being forced to adapt to amplified disturbances, or in some cases, completely new disturbance types. These shifts have major implications for ecosystem stability and functioning, and more broadly for nutrient cycling across the world. In the western USA, wildfire is playing a larger and more dramatic role than before, altering vegetation communities, landscape stability, and soil and stream chemistry. While fire has always played an important role in semi-arid ecosystems, the scale …

Vol 24.2 Intro Pages

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Balancing Rights In The Classroom: The Constitutional Imperative For Lgbtq-Inclusive Curricula Amidst The Weaponization Of Parental “Hybrid-Rights” Claims, Lauren Byrne

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Homomorphisms Of Peano Continua To Berbered Peano Continua, Logan Kennedy

Theses and Dissertations

The study of wild spaces, Peano continua that contain points that are not semi-locally simply connected, has been of integral importance in the study of low-dimensional wild topology. Mainly investigated from the view point of algebraic topology, the fundamental group has been found to be an indespensible tool in describing these spaces, and their local behavior. In particular, using methods developed by Cannon, Conner, Eda, and Kent demonstrated that all maps from Peano continua to planar or one-dimensional Peano continua are determined uniquely up to homotopy class by their induced homomorphisms on fundamental groups, and that fundamental groups are a …

Aliases And Archetypes: A Spy's Dilemma In Tomás Nevinson, Silke Mckay Schnebly

Theses and Dissertations

Tomás Nevinson is the last novel by Javier Marías. The themes of betrayal, deceit, and doubt that are apparent in his other works continue here as well. The meandering and philosophical narration guides the reader through Tomás' quest for self-discovery. This article uses literary onomastics (the study of names, their meanings and origins) to peel back the layers of the various characters in order to reveal the archetypes they represent. Through analyzing the names in Tomás Nevinson, the reader may come to recognize the archetypes associated with the novel's characters while also recognizing how Tomás interacts with archetypal others in …

Assessing Innovations In Wildlife Monitoring: Estimating Abundance And Inferring Parturition Of Ungulates With Technology, Elicia Cotcher

Theses and Dissertations

Enhancements in technology are creating opportunities for novel methods of wildlife monitoring. Traditional methods of wildlife monitoring are often costly or time-consuming, and new technological advancements such as remote cameras and GPS collars are creating opportunities for exploration as these technologies become more accessible and reliable. We sought to assess the efficacy of two novel methods of ungulate monitoring. The first is an abundance estimation method using remote cameras termed Instantaneous Sampling (IS). IS seeks to estimate abundance using time lapsed remote cameras on a population of unmarked individuals. Our goal was to compare IS estimations against the true observed …

I Do, And I Will: Effectual Religiosity May Strengthen The Triad Chord Of Commitment To Promote Marital Flourishing For Women Of Faith, Tamara M. Chamberlain

Theses and Dissertations

Although religiosity often associates with marital satisfaction in sociological studies, very few studies have examined religiosity strengthening marital commitment for women of faith. This study used an exemplary sample to explore how religious, heterosexual married women view religion strengthening their marital commitment. Interviews from 196 highly religious couples provided insight into the following themes and subthemes (1) personal commitment, (a) decision to marry, (b) religious beliefs and practices, and (c) requires effort and sacrifice; (2) moral commitment, (a) sexual relations before marriage, (b) promises made before God, friends, and family, and (c) fidelity and feelings about divorce; and (3) structural …

The Effects Of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (Pcos) On Pregnancy From A Nursing Perspective, Haylee F. Schultz

Honors Capstones

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome on pregnancy from a nursing standpoint. Nearly 5-10% of women in the United States are affected by polycystic ovarian syndrome during the reproductive years. This research aims to investigate how this condition impacts fertility and pregnancy risks. This initial research was completed through a review of existing literature accessed through databases such as CINNAHL and PubMed. Once all data is collected, the goal is to seek nursing interventions to lessen the effects of polycystic ovarian syndrome and increase positive pregnancy outcomes. This research is critical as …

061 - Leaf Litter Compost Soil Amendments In Created Wetlands May Drive Soil Microbial Succession Toward An Alternative Community Structure., Michelle Apodaca, Solangel Almonte

GREAT Day Posters

The loss of wetlands due to human activity has led to increased efforts in their creation and restoration. This study evaluates a created freshwater wetland and a natural forested wetland at the Mill Seat Wetland Restoration Area in Riga, New York. Since 2019, these wetlands have been subjected to experimental conditions involving leaf litter compost as a soil amendment. Previous research suggests that compost amendments enhance plant diversity, floristic quality, and nutrient availability while supporting key biogeochemical processes. However, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing indicates that the microbial community structure in amended wetlands may be diverging from that of reference wetlands. …

Dna And Bioinformatics Tools For Estimating Biodiversity In The Narragansett Bay, Emma Barry

Biology Student Scholarship

Emma Barry ’25, Environmental Biology major

Faculty mentor: Dr. Jeffrey Markert, Biology

103 - Targeting G-Quadruplex Dna Using Groove Binding Compounds As An Anticancer Study, Anasophia Lee, Gadeer Al-Abdely

GREAT Day Posters

This research project investigates the effectiveness of groove binding compounds in binding to G-quadruplex DNA. Previous work by researchers within the field have shown that G-quadruplex (G4) DNA is a viable anticancer therapeutic target. Compounds that stabilize G4 have shown promising antitumor effects in preclinical cancer models. This project seeks to study drug-G4 interactions using fluorescence displacement assays and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. Thioflavin-T (ThT) fluorescence displacement data have shown significant displacement of ThT bound to G4 DNA with certain groove binders, indicating G4 binding and stabilization. Circular dichroism spectroscopy displays the differential absorption of circular polarized light in the …

124 - Movie Preferences And Emotional Desensitization, Riley Bowersox, Ashley Ilarraza, Peyton Cartwright

GREAT Day Posters

The purpose of this study was to assess the association between the enjoyment of different movie genres (i.e., thriller, horror, sports-themed, and romantic-comedy) and emotional desensitization to violent and gory stimuli. Ninety-three participants rated how much they liked the aforementioned movie genres. Next, they watched two video clips from two different horror movies (e.g., Saw X, Talk To Me, Final Destination 2, Final Destination 5, and Evil Dead Rise) for a total of seven minutes. Afterwards, participants reported their current positive and negative mood states. Results indicated that only participants who liked horror showed a reduction of fear and an …

153 - The Role Of Black Seed Oil (Thymoquinone) On Repetitive Behavior And Neuroinflammation In Spinning Mice, Ashley Biondi

GREAT Day Posters

Repetitive behavior is characterized as repetitive actions with no purpose, which is a common feature in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). What we are trying to see is if environmental interventions can reduce repetitive behaviors in mice. In prior studies in mice, a ketogenic diet (KD) successfully decreased repetitive behaviors. One hypothesis is the reduced spinning is due to the KD being an anti-inflammatory. Neuroinflammation, which refers to inflammation in the central nervous system, may offer a link between diet and ASD, and other disorders. In a convergent approach, this study uses another known anti-inflammatory, Thymoquinone (TQ), to try and reduce …

162 - Examining The Involvement Of P27 And P57 In Clobetasol Induced Quiescence In The Vulvar Cancer Cell Line, Umscv-4., Claudia Marsello

GREAT Day Posters

Quiescence is a reversible cellular state where a cell exits the cell cycle and ceases replication in response to stress. Cells can re-enter the cycle once the stress is alleviated. Emerging evidence suggests that cells in a quiescent state may contribute to the long-term dormancy of cancer cells. Vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC) is a rare form of female genital cancer, and while its treatment and diagnosis remain poorly understood, ultrapotent topical corticosteroids like clobetasol are commonly used to treat vulvar lichen sclerosus (VLS), a skin condition that can precede vulvar cancer development. Our studies show that a subpopulation of …

179 - Chromosome Assembly Factor 1b In Zebrafish Retinal Development, Stephen Welsch, Dan Coffee, Zachary Gilly, Thadar Noe, Olivia Gibeault

GREAT Day Posters

Zebrafish possess the ability to regenerate body parts such as the heart, fins, pancreas, brain, spinal cord, kidneys, and retina. When zebrafish retinal damage occurs, Müller glia divide and create neuronal precursor cells, which go on to become replacement retinal neurons. This allows zebrafish to recover from retinal damage. However, mutant zebrafish cannot fully develop and regenerate retinal cells. In particular, the good effort (gef) mutant allele of the chaf1b gene is characterized by a period of normal development, followed by cell death in highly proliferative developing tissues, including the retina, brain, and pectoral fins. The gef mutant retinal cells …

181 - Investigating The Role Of Flexible Loop Mutations In Malate Dehydrogenase: Structural And Kinetic Impacts On Enzyme Catalysis, Jay Glass, Andrew Mcfadden, Harshdeep Singh

GREAT Day Posters

Malate dehydrogenase (MDH) plays an essential role in metabolism by catalyzing the reversible conversion of malate to oxaloacetate in the tricarboxylic acid cycle. This reaction, which also generates NADH, is critical to metabolic homeostasis across species. Although the general structure and function of MDH are well-characterized, the contribution of its conserved “flexible loop” region to substrate binding and catalysis remains insufficiently understood. In this project, we investigated how point mutations within this loop affect enzymatic activity in Citrullus lanatus (watermelon) glycosomal MDH (wgMDH), a model system with a well-characterized expression protocol and sequence. We introduced four site-directed mutations—R130A, R130E, R124K, …

198 - Genetic Variation And Endosymbiont Incidence In The Introduced Ant-Mimicking Spider, Myrmarachne Formicaria, Milo Miller, Brooke Sikora, Brenna Dunn

GREAT Day Posters

We examined the genetic and endosymbiotic diversity of the ant-mimicking jumping spider Myrmarachne formicaria, a spider native to Eurasia whose presence in North America has expanded over the past several decades. Non-native populations often exhibit reduced genetic diversity, so patterns in genetic diversity may help demystify their number of and source of introduction events. Prior sequence analysis of several mitochondrial genes revealed little genetic variation within M. formicaria across most European and North American populations. One of this study’s aims was to sequence two nuclear genes, 28S rRNA and Histone H3, to expand the number of genetic loci available for …

204 - Examining The Relationship Between Emotion Regulation Ability And Cannabis Use Frequency, Nicolette Faller

GREAT Day Posters

Emotion regulation is known to play a role in substance use behavior (Weiss, et. al., 2022), but the relationships with cannabis are not yet widely studied. This analysis examines how emotion regulation (ER) ability, measured by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) 18 (DERS-18; Victor & Klonsky, 2016) is related to cannabis use frequency, measured by the Drug and Alcohol Frequency Questionnaire - Cannabis Use (DFAQ-CU) (DFAQ-CU; Cutler & Spradlin 2017). The hypothesis stated lower ER ability is a predictor of higher cannabis use frequency. 153 participants completed an online questionnaire including these measures, and the data were analyzed …