Digital Commons Network^™

Synthesis Of A Phenyl Substituted Zinc Dipyrrin Complex For The Purpose Of Analyzing Aromatic Substitutions On The Characteristics Of Compounds Of This Class, Kole Owen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The field of photochemistry is as innovative in development as it is broad in application. However, utilization of energy from the sun’s electromagnetic radiation remains secondary to the combustion of fossil fuels for the global energy consumption. This is neither a sustainable nor renewable system, and it has contributed to a major decline in the health of our global environment as the greenhouse gases emission has led to an incline in global temperatures and ocean acidity. To develop effective ways to utilize solar energy, experimental effort is being directed towards the understanding of photosensitizers, molecules which absorb solar radiation and …

You Don't Know What You Don't Know: A Collection Of Challenge And Acceptance From Women Owned Small Businesses In Johnson City, Tennessee, Nikki Vandusen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

With over 11.6 million establishments, women owned small businesses hold a crucial part in supporting the US economy’s wellbeing. However, owning a small business comes with numerous challenges that not all can overcome. This study investigates the challenges of ten women-owned small businesses in Johnson City, Tennessee. The interview results display that women struggle with similar challenges as men; however, they have more difficulty balancing gender roles and societal expectations with owning a small business. This research concludes that men and women do not have equal opportunities when it comes to owning a small business and women are at a …

Market Analysis And Strategy Formulation For Appalachian Cast Iron, Perry Kate Chumbley

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Marketing as a revenue generator for businesses seeks to entice consumers into making a final purchase. How this is achieved varies greatly depending on the size of firm, the goods or services being advertised, distribution channels, and other factors. This manuscript includes the creation of a marketing strategy for a small, online business, Appalachian Cast Iron, through the investigation of current literature, and analyses of the external and internal environments. The results provide strategies for areas in which the firm has opportunities to improve.

Nicotinamide Riboside And Beta-Hydroxybutyrate Activate Parallel Pathways For C. Elegans Lifespan Extension, Mckenzie Peters

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Supplementation with nicotinamide riboside (NR), a form of vitamin B3 and a precursor of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺) extends lifespan in the nematode C. elegans and delays aging-related pathologies in mammals. During aging, levels of NAD⁺ decline causing metabolic dysfunction and oxidative damage. Studies in C. elegans found that when NR was administered during larval development it induced the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR^mt), which is frequently associated with lifespan extension. Both calorie restriction (CR) and ketogenic diets (KD) have been shown to extend lifespan, in part through increasing NAD⁺ and through increasing levels …

Mechanisms Of Formation Of Novel Guanine-Guanine Cross-Links As Major End Products During One-Electron Oxidation Of Guanine Derivatives, Evan Dunn

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Guanine (G), as the most oxidizable base in DNA, is the major focus of studies of oxidation damage to DNA. The present thesis reports the first detailed characterization of G dimerization products potentially resulting from recombination of neutral G• radicals. Previous research has discovered a novel type of products of G• dimerization, D1 and D2, formed from one-electron oxidation of G derivatives. However, the mechanism of this dimerization remains elusive. While there appears to be a tautomeric equilibrium between two forms of G•, G(N₁-H)• or G(N₂-H)•, it remains unclear which intermediate participates in the formation of …

Multilingual Schoolscapes Of Elementary Schools In East Tennessee, Olivia Campbell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study investigates how three elementary schools in East Tennessee align their schoolscapes with their multilingual populations. The study involved taking pictures of signage in these elementary schools and analyzing them for multilingualism. The findings indicate that there is limited presence of multilingual signage in the schools despite the presence of diverse students. While the schools are making efforts to be inclusive with their signage, there is clearly more room for improvement.

Radic Voice Authentication: Replay Attack Detection Using Image Classification For Voice Authentication Systems, Hannah Taylor

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Systems like Google Home, Alexa, and Siri that use voice-based authentication to verify their users’ identities are vulnerable to voice replay attacks. These attacks gain unauthorized access to voice-controlled devices or systems by replaying recordings of passphrases and voice commands. This shows the necessity to develop more resilient voice-based authentication systems that can detect voice replay attacks.

This thesis implements a system that detects voice-based replay attacks by using deep learning and image classification of voice spectrograms to differentiate between live and recorded speech. Tests of this system indicate that the approach represents a promising direction for detecting voice-based replay …

The Role Of Storytelling In Digital Brand Marketing: A Case Study Of Tennessee Hills Distillery And Brewstillery, Cassidy Blackwell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study evaluates the impacts of brand storytelling on customers of a craft brewery and distillery in East Tennessee. Brand storytelling is well researched, but has not been applied to niche sectors and customer response. The study consisted of a 15-question survey distributed to customers of Tennessee Hills Distillery and Brewstillery (TN Hills), and received 139 responses. The results were that despite a seeming trend of lack of engagement with the business, respondents value brand stories and can identify unique brand characteristics. Respondents’ answers reflected a personal connection with TN Hills, and connected the brand to grander ideals like the …

Rbac Attack Exposure Auditor. Tracking User Risk Exposure Per Role-Based Access Control Permissions, Adelaide Damrau

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Access control models and implementation guidelines for determining, provisioning, and de-provisioning user permissions are challenging due to the differing approaches, unique for each organization, the lack of information provided by case studies concerning the organization’s security policies, and no standard means of implementation procedures or best practices. Although there are multiple access control models, one stands out, role-based access control (RBAC). RBAC simplifies maintenance by enabling administrators to group users with similar permissions. This approach to managing user permissions supports the principle of least privilege and separation of duties, which are needed to ensure an organization maintains acceptable user access …

Social Media Marketing Strategies For Small Businesses: A Comprehensive Guide To Success And Growth, Isaac Deel

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses: A Comprehensive Guide to Success and Growth, explores the use of social media marketing strategies for small businesses.The purpose of this study is to identify specific strategies, techniques, and best practices for successful social media marketing. Social media has become a powerful marketing tool for businesses to promote their products and services. However, small businesses face unique challenges in the marketing landscape, including limited resources and low marketing budgets. Social media provides a low-cost, highly effective way for small businesses to reach new audiences and communicate with potential customers. With the right strategies, …

Parents’ Adverse Childhood Experiences In Relation To Parent-Child Emotion Socialization, Emily Thompson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Parents’ adverse childhood experiences in relation to parent-child emotion socialization

Objective: Parents have an integral role in a child’s development of important emotional and psychosocial processes through emotion socialization. The goal of this paper is to examine the presence of adverse childhood experiences during the parents’ childhood and adolescence alongside the parents’ responses to their child’s emotional expression. The impact of adverse childhood experiences on a parent’s ability to socialize their child’s emotions is a key factor in the continued objective of cultivating positive parent-child interaction and improving adolescent mental health.

Methods: Participants were 165 adolescents and their parents. Adolescent …

Branding Strategies In Non-Profit Organizations, Bryson Senter, Bryson Elliott Senter

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Branding through children is a marketing tactic that many organizations and businesses utilize today; but what marketing strategy best carries out a message to the children and their guardians themselves? This thesis examines the different strategies used by for-profit and not-for-profit companies in order to better understand branding through children. It dives into an experiment testing the effectiveness of various marketing approaches and their success of gaining further children at events. The strategies are then dissected into which worked best in order to answer the question, “What branding strategies are most effective for non-profits which focus on children?”

A Literature Review On Teaching Text Comprehension To Students With Intellectual Disabilities, Abigail Combs

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this review is to determine if particular instructional strategies, from a sufficient number of studies, are qualified as an evidence-based practice (EBP) for teaching text-based comprehension skills across content areas for students with intellectual disabilities (ID). This focused review will be added on to the previous review conducted by Mims et al. (in submission) where the search ended in 2018. Due to the time gap in the searched literature, the studies included within the Mims et al. study is no longer comprehensive. Therefore, this focused review of the literature will fill the gap of literature that was …

Comparing The Use Of American Sign Language And Speech Generating Devices For Children With Developmental Disabilities, Joseph Hendrick

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study compared the acquisition and maintenance of an Augmentative and Alternative device (iPad application, LAMP), and American Sign Language when teaching a 6^th-grade student with an intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) and limited functional vocal verbal speech to make a request. A single-case alternating treatment design was applied to compare the acquisition rate between the two strategies. The system of least prompts was used to teach the student how to perform the request using the AAC device and ASL (American Sign Language). Results showed the student required fewer sessions to reach mastery when making a request using …

A Tri-Culture Model For Examining Polymicrobial Interactions, Mason Stanley

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Candida albicans is a fungal microbe that is often present inside of humans in the mouth and gastrointestinal tract. It shares a mostly commensal relationship with its hosts but can develop into an opportunistic pathogenic infection under conditions of immune suppression. Oral thrush or candidiasis is an uncomfortable condition resulting from excessive growth of Candida albicans in the oral cavity. Candidiasis is prone to progressing into more threatening symptoms without proper treatment. There are few effective antifungal medicines used for treatment and the problem of antimicrobial resistance is growing. Alcaligenes faecalis is a bacterial microbe that does not pose a …

Nutrition Needs Assessment For Women Of Childbearing Age With Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Callie Coleman, Whitney Bignell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder that affects women’s menstrual cycles, androgen (male hormones) levels, and cysts on the ovaries. This endocrine disorder has various symptoms, with insulin resistance as a hallmark symptom. Approximately 65-70% of women with PCOS have insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia, whether or not they are overweight, obese, or lean (Marshall & Dunaif, 2012). Many women with PCOS struggle to lose weight because their excess weight is related to nutrition, lifestyle factors, and imbalanced hormones. Understanding PCOS as a metabolic disorder with nutritional implications led to investigating the potential benefit of having registered dietitian nutritionists …

Justification And Compliance: Public Health Ethics In A Post-Covid America, Nathan Alan Turner

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and the high-profile nature of the public health response make it a natural context for exploring the current state of public health ethics. This paper explores this topic from two perspectives: justification and compliance. Libertarianism and utilitarianism are two frameworks that dominate the question of how public health interventions are justified. Consequently, this paper analyzes the events of the pandemic to determine how these frameworks fared in terms of offering reliable means of justifying the interventions needed to curb the spread of COVID-19. Consideration of these events suggests that a framework centered around actionable …

An Examination Of The Impact Of Covid-19 On The Job Satisfaction And Emotional Well-Being Of Icu Nurses, Laura Ruth Daffron

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Healthcare systems have been demonstrably altered because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Resources were stretched and patient conditions deteriorated on a scale previously unseen, leaving nurses at the forefront to face the adversities brought about by the pandemic. In this study, a questionnaire was utilized to better understand how COVID-19 has impacted the stress level, resilience/well-being, moral distress, job satisfaction/enjoyment, practice environment, and intent to remain in the nursing profession of nursing alums from East Tennessee State University. This study focused on a subset of nurses working in critical care, to consider the impact that the pandemic had on ICU nurses’ …

Libby In Limbo, Moriah Claire Hall

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Libby in Limbo is a scripted narrative podcast that follows Libby as she moves back to her small hometown, gets a job as a librarian, and learns to navigate life in a small, tight-knit community. This podcast serves two main purposes: to create entertainment media about a library that does not promote harmful stereotypes about libraries and to create awareness and accessibility of scripted podcasts.

Do College Students Have A Lack Of Awareness Around Human Trafficking?, Tessa Cavender

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Human Trafficking is an epidemic around the world, but if you ask the average person, they know little more than what is shown in media. To try to understand this, we asked the questions of whether college students also have a lack of awareness around trafficking, and if so, is education the best way to fix this? Our literature review found many professions, such as healthcare and K-12 education, are pushing for human trafficking curriculums to be implemented in their fields. To determine if this method would be effective on a college campus, five college students were interviewed to determine …

Sexual Dimorphism Of Glomerular Capillary Morphology In Rats, Zackarias Coker

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) progresses faster in males than females; however, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Sex differences in glomerular capillary morphology has been hypothesized to contribute, in part, to the increased susceptibility to hypertension-induced renal injury and CKD progression in males, but this has not been investigated. The goal of the present study was to assess glomerular capillary morphology in male vs. female rats with intact kidneys and after uninephrectomy (UNX). We hypothesized that glomerular capillary radii (R_CAP) and length (L_CAP) would be greater in male rats.

Male (n=4) and female (n=4) with intact …

Diversity Of Programming By Race And Gender In College And University Band Concerts, Liz Liss

Undergraduate Honors Theses

While there are many women (and others of non-male genders) as well as people of color who compose for concert bands, they are often not given equitable recognition or representation. Over the past several decades, pushes for diversity within the classical music realm and higher education have sparked numerous discussions surrounding current practices (Bond 2017, 154; Bowman 2020, 10; Cumberledge and Williams 2022, 4; Peters 2016, 22): who are we inviting into our programs, whose music are we playing, and who are we representing? Despite these concerns, there has been very little research to provide answers to these questions within …

Visual Development Of The Night Sky Circus, Rebeca Ortiz

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This creative thesis explores the process of visual development and how one can apply it to their own body of work. Visual Development encompasses the entire concept design process, from the idea to the final design. Vis Dev artists document their journey to depict how an idea becomes a fully refined and polished concept. They illustrate a wide variety of elements, such as characters, costuming, props, and environments. The development of all of these factors then allows the artist to cultivate an imaginative and creative world that could be used for multiple forms of entertainment, such as animated films, video …

The Continuing Rise Of The Opioid Epidemic In Appalachian Regions: A Public Health Analysis Of Regional Programs And Potential Solutions, Holly Frye

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to closely analyze opioid overdose response efforts on county, state, and federal levels in designated Appalachian regions in order to better understand program methodology standards that ensure success in combating the opioid epidemic in Appalachia. All data sources used are publicly available and contain de-identifiable population health information. During research on this topic, how to define the opioid epidemic, identification of root causes, and existing response effort methodology were addressed. The existing response methods of county, state, and federal programs are expensive and hard to implement with limited success. While the complexity of response …

Narrative Insight Into How Rural, First-Generation College Students And Their Families Establish Non-Deficit, Multi-Sited Identities, Sarah Jusseaume

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores the ways in which rural, first-generation college (RFGC) students position themselves in relation to dominant cultural master narratives and potentially competing alternative narratives related to community and family processes, norms, life pathways, and choices after college. Evidence is drawn from in-depth narrative interviews with 15 RFGC students conducted both at school and in students’ home communities. The study contributes to an anti-deficit understanding of rural first-generation college students’ college experiences and identity by focusing not on challenges and barriers but on the ways individuals both align and agentically reject dominant cultural narratives as well as the ways …

Interferometric Imaging Of Lightning Initiation Through Lofar: Uncovering The Spontaneous And Not-So-Spontaneous Nature Of Lightning Initiation In 3d, Christopher Sterpka

Doctoral Dissertations

With recent advances in instrumentation and the continued development and refinement of analytical methods, the hindrances that previously existed in uncovering the physical processes governing the behavior of lightning are diminishing. The focus of this dissertation research, interferometric imaging of lightning initiation through beamforming via the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), will describe in detail how both the instrumentation and methods cooperate to enable the detection of lightning processes in which are below the level of the galactic and thermal very high frequency (VHF) background on individual antennas within the array. These conditions have proven to be integral in uncovering of …

Anti-Racist Resource Guide, Bank Street College Of Education

The Center for Children's Literature

An annotated list of anti-racist children's literature that meets the criteria of having a BIPOC protagonist, the experience of self discovery, self-advocacy, and realizations on the part of the main character and/or a joy or celebration of one's cultural or ethnic identity.

For further information and updates, see the Library Research Guide

Obstetric Outcomes Assessment For New Mainers, Brendan Prast, Christina T. Holt, Amy Haskins, Debra Rothenberg

Costas T. Lambrew Research Retreat 2023

Introduction

• 13% of Portland’s population in 2019 was recent immigrants

• Numbers have increased, with >350 asylum-seeking families (1500 individuals) in 2022 in Portland alone

• Maine Medical Center (MMC) provides obstetrical care for more newly arrived, non-English speaking patients

• Total deliveries in 2020, 2021 (6192) broke records at MMC

• New Mainers at Increased risk for health disparities due to: language barriers, low socioeconomic status and stressors from a history of trauma

Shortening The Postoperative Length Of Stay Following Total Knee Arthroplasty Does Not Negatively Impact Short-Term Patient Outcomes; A Retrospective Review Of The Response To The Covid-19 Pandemic, Bailey Shevenell, Johanna Mackenzie, Cassandra Lieblein, Brian J. Mcgrory, Michael Becker, Nicholas Colacchio, Adam Rana

Costas T. Lambrew Research Retreat 2023

Safely Decreasing Postoperative Length of Stay for Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) Patients Following the COVID-19 Pandemic

Food Insecurity Screening In People With Cystic Fibrosis, Rebecca Edwards, Lauren Tate, Ana Cairns, Cheryl Coyne, Kathleen Walker, Kim Violette, Ann Ladner, Jessica D'Amico

Costas T. Lambrew Research Retreat 2023

Background: Adequate nutrition is a cornerstone in the management of cystic fibrosis (CF). Malabsorption secondary to pancreatic insufficiency and increased energy demands related to lung disease can increase energy requirements over twofold for a person with CF. Food insecurity (FI) affects approximately 10% of Mainers (1). Per the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, there may be up to a threefold increase in the prevalence of FI in the CF population (2). To address this issue, we implemented FI screening in the adult and pediatric CF programs to identify the prevalence of FI within our population and to offer immediate interventions.