Digital Commons Network^™

The Virtual Classroom: What Can Be Learned From The Covid-19 Lockdown, James L. Nations

Senior Theses

This paper seeks to examine the teaching practices utilized during the initial COVID-19 lockdown in higher education. This forced switch to the virtual classroom forced many professors to make innovative changes to adapt to this change in teaching modality. These changes can now be examined and evaluated for potential future application. By reviewing the current literature, performing an analysis of grades from Fall 2017 through Summer 2022, and interviewing select professors at the University of South Carolina, this paper seeks to illuminate some of the potential issues that arise when adapting in-person curriculums to the virtual classroom as well as …

Fixing The System: A Comparative Review Of The United Kingdom, Germany, And United States’ Healthcare Systems And Lessons Learned For Potential Improvements In The United States, Jessica Goddard

Senior Theses

In an effort to provide recommendations to the United States’ considerations of a universal healthcare system, this thesis analyzes the United States healthcare system alongside the sophisticated systems of the United Kingdom and Germany. Literature review and an analysis of 10 health outcomes and indicators guided the framework for a set of interview questions to be asked of healthcare professionals in all three countries. The interview response data was then organized and used to guide the suggested recommendations to the United States in its path towards universal healthcare. While a limited number of solutions could be provided given the time …

The Benefits And Implementation Of Open Science Practices In Exercise Science Research, Brendan Moore

Senior Theses

This article has the purpose of addressing the need for open science practices in the field of exercise science research. Open science is best defined as the call for greater accessibility and transparency in research (Chakravorty et al., 2022). With more accessible and transparent research, research can be conducted more thoroughly and efficiently. Additionally, the implementation of these practices would discourage many shady and unethical practices. The idea of open science is not without debate however. There are many concerns over the theft of scientific data and ideas, as well as the increased time and monetary costs associated with many …

Girls Just Want To Be Safe: An Analysis Of Drugged Drinking And Prevention Amongst Students At The University Of South Carolina, C. Gray Forsberg

Senior Theses

Drink-spiking has become a well-known phenomenon since the turn of the century, especially on college campuses in the United States. Drink-spiking or drugging can be defined as “adding alcohol or drugs into someone’s drink without their knowledge or permission” (Alcohol and Drug Foundation, 2006). Drink-spiking is not just relevant to the concern of an illicit substance being placed into an alcoholic drink, but adding additional alcohol to drinks or adding alcohol or drugs to non-alcoholic drinks is considered drugging as well. This study collected data through a survey sent to 250 current students at the University of South Carolina regarding …

Role Of Nucleus Accumbens Dopamine Receptor Signaling In The Suppression Of Punished Reward Seeking, Grace M. Joyner, Anna Caroline Toburen

Senior Theses

Previous studies have shown that within the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a brain region associated with motivation and reinforcement learning, activity of neurons expressing the dopamine D2 receptor (D2R neurons) act as a “break” on risky behavior associated with negative outcomes. Moreover, when these neurons are stimulated, rats were found to become more risk averse. However, the impact of dopamine signaling through NAc D2R neurons in risk avoidance is still unclear. To further explore the role of NAc dopamine signaling in punished reward-seeking, we tested rats in a novel punished food-seeking paradigm in which subjects are trained to choose between a …

Mutating Tetur02g09850 Originated From Spider Mites To Enhance Crystallization, Hayley Cash

Senior Theses

This study aimed to explain and adequately utilize several common biochemical laboratory techniques to mutate a portion of the nucleic acid sequence within a specific protein. This protein, referred to as Tetur02g09850 is originated from Tetranychus Urticae, or the Two-Spotted Spider Mite. This mite causes excessive damage to crops and is known to be extremely resistant to most common pesticides. For this reason, understanding the protein structure could be used to explain this acaricide resistance and aid in the development of more effective pesticides. Some of the testing utilized was site-directed mutagenesis, IMAC and gel filtration for protein purification, gel …

Undergraduate Major And Covid-19 Vaccination Rates Among University Of South Carolina Students, Rebecca Stoltz

Senior Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic brought new vaccines to the forefront of public attention, and with it came a wide array of different opinions. The University of South Carolina did not require students to receive a COVID vaccine, so the decision was left entirely to the individual. Many of my peers have shown support or voiced opposition to the vaccine, and I noticed that those who opposed tended to fall within certain major categories. This study seeks to determine whether a correlation exists between undergraduate major groups and vaccination status, and to gather student attitudes and concerns surrounding vaccines. Among 172 survey …

Institutional Intervention In Dat Preparation Among Undergraduate Pre-Dental Students, Remi Brebion

Senior Theses

The objectives of this project were to study the Dental Admission Test (DAT) preparation experience of undergraduate pre-dental students (UPDS) at the University of South Carolina (USC) and to determine actionable steps to raise DAT scores, increase diversity among pre-dental students, reduce financial burdens associated with the DAT, and improve wellbeing in this population.

A quantitative survey was distributed to characterize and create figures about UPDS demographics, use of advising services, preparation experience, and support for university- sponsored preparation resources. Ten phenomenological interviews were conducted to gain insights about the needs of UPDS. Thematic analysis was performed to identify unifying …

Racial Differences In Hormonal Contraception Use And Accessibility Among University Of South Carolina-Columbia Undergraduate Women, Ian L. Mencken

Senior Theses

The objective of this study is to see if there are racial disparities in hormonal contraception use amongst USC Columbia undergraduate women, similar to nationwide trends noted in previous studies. This research is important as undesired pregnancies are more prevalent for Black and Hispanic women, and recent legislative changes throughout the nation - and specifically in South Carolina - are challenging abortion rights, thereby increasing the importance of birth control in preventing an undesired pregnancy. Increasing access to hormonal birth control serves to increase body autonomy and a woman’s agency over reproduction, specifically in the face of these current challenges …

The Ethical Challenges Of Newborn Screening Programs In The United States, Devin Donovan

Senior Theses

Newborn screening programs have been mandated throughout the United States since the 1960s, and technological advancements have allowed for their evolution into the essential public health entities they are today (Arnold 558). These programs screen newborns for a variety of congenital and genetic conditions in all states, but each state varies in conditions screened and policies for collecting and using samples. Residual blood spots are a key component of these programs because they are often used for secondary purposes, such as for quality assurance and public health or biomedical research (Botkin et al. 121). Ethical challenges have arisen related to …

Bad Blood: Octavia E. Butler Takes A Bite Out Of Gender And Racial Stereotypes In Fledgling, Abigail Cole

Senior Theses

For contemporary audiences the word “vampire” typically conjures two figures: a Damon Salvatore-esque[1] man with devil may care eyes, dark hair and an equally dark past. Dripping with sex and charm, he struggles with an internal dilemma, his animalistic urge to kill constantly at war with his human morality. On the other hand, we have the sexy, scantily clad white female vampire who uses her feminine wiles and socially “perfect” body to prey upon poor, unsuspecting men, until she is eventually corralled into domestic submission, or killed. While this description fits the broader scale of what the vampiric figure …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Pediatric Emergency Department Visits For Asthma: A Scoping Review, Peyton Law, Robin Dawson

Senior Theses

Background & Objective: Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the most common reasons for ED visits among children ages 0-18 were acute upper respiratory infections and asthma, a chronic disease that causes narrowing and swelling in the airways of the lungs. Asthma has various triggers, one of the most common being respiratory tract infections that further impair the airways (Busse et al., 2010). Caused by SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 infection is associated with respiratory symptoms including shortness of breath, congestion, coughing, and sore throat. While there was a sharp decline in the number of total pediatric ED after the …

Analyzing The Impact Of Salary Discrepancies Between Professional Sports Organizations, Benjamin R. Garner

Senior Theses

While it has long been theorized by sports fans that an organization’s salary influences the success of the team, this thesis will look to examine if the supposed correlation is accurate. This thesis compiles existing research regarding current salary cap systems in American professional sports leagues and examines league-wide methods employed to maintain competitive balance. The discussion then shifts to consider the additional governing factors that determine organizational success, such as team cohesion, the rise in international players, and the increased player movement via free agency. The research then shifts to examine two specific professional sports leagues: Major League Baseball …

A Comparative Investigation Of Tonal Memory Improvements With Electronic And Vocal Pitch Stimulus Training, Grayson M. Fletcher

Senior Theses

The study described herein compares improvements in tonal memory for young adults (age 19- 22), specifically retention of pitches, between two groups (n1=8, n2=8) with nearly identical training programs. One group was provided electronic pitch stimuli for the training program, while the other group was given human vocal stimuli. Self-paced computerized training sessions were conducted in a soundproofed testing room and interposed between pre-test and post-test measurements. A pre-test—post-test randomized experimental design allowed for assessment of whether the training was effective for each group in addition to comparing effectiveness of training between groups. Analyses with demographic factors, particularly previous musical …

Understanding Pressures College Women Feel To Have Sex, Hannah L. Mccrone

Senior Theses

On college campuses, there is a culture that revolves around sex. This culture can be referred to as “hookup culture” and is a popular aspect of the college experience. “Hookup culture” can be defined as a culture revolving around casual-sex or short term sexual encounters that are called “hookups”. With more and more exposure to sex, students are also being victimized at even greater rates on college campuses. Understanding this victimization can help us to understand how to stop it. This thesis seeks to understand who is being pressured to have sex they don’t want and how those who are …

Trauma-Informed Workplace Climate, Leadership Style, And Employee Outcomes, Patricia Mowry-Cavanaugh

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

Social service organizations face complex challenges in delivering quality care to their clients. In meeting these challenges, organizational culture, leadership style, and agency policies are crucial. Trauma-informed care is an approach to human service that acknowledges the prevalence of trauma and widespread effects of trauma on service users, providers, and organizations. The tenets of trauma-informed care include trauma awareness, safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, a strengths-based approach, and respect for culture and gender. This study is a comparative analysis of servant leadership, trauma-informed workplace climate, and employee factors of compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. Results of the quantitative research indicate that …

Mirna-489 Induces Immunogenic Cell Death In Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells, Ryan P. Titus

Senior Theses

It has been well established that microRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in the regulation of gene expression and consequently promoting or downregulating molecular pathways. When dysregulated, miRNAs have been found to serve as important biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and influence tumor initiation and progression. It has been previously established that miRNA-489 is a tumor suppressor microRNA, and it directly targets cell proliferative pathways like the HER2-SHP2-MAPK pathway. In this study, we focus on the role of miRNA-489, in the induction of immunogenic cell death (ICD) in triple-negative breast cancer cell lines. We first examined the effects of miRNA-489 on …

An Analysis Of Juvenile Gun Violence Mitigation In Columbia, South Carolina, Amelia Shook

Senior Theses

Over the past ten years, the United States has been impacted by the increasing frequency of homicides due to gun violence. Juvenile homicides via firearms are examined on a national, state, and county level by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and analyzed to showcase adjusted age and years of potential life lost due to gun violence. Data obtained through a CDC database depicts the geographic areas being examined: United States, South Carolina, and Richland County. South Carolina will be singled out and examined individually as it ranks eighth highest in the United States for gun violence. Richland …

Free Money: The Feasibility Of Implementing A Universal Basic Income In The United States, Chase H. Dorn

Senior Theses

The objective of this thesis is to explore whether a universal basic income paid to all United States citizens is both economically possible and advantageous. A recent surge in popularity of the idea has led to a plethora of universal basic income experiments that have been or are being performed across the world, however there has yet to be a UBI implemented on a national level. Using data from these experiments and existing academic research into the policy, the first part of the thesis details the necessary components of a UBI, documents the history of the idea, notes the justifications …

The Associations Of Built Environments On College Students' Physical Activity Levels, Catherine M. Neel

Senior Theses

The issues with American physical activity infrastructure have been causing The United States to have lower levels of physical activity compared to other developed countries. The social and physical built environments of college students typically provide more access for students to be able to be active; however most students still do not meet the recommended amount of physical activity. The purpose of this study was to determine what in their physical and social environment that students utilize in order to participate in physical activity and what aspects of their environment discourage physical activity or limit access to being active. This …

The Fate Of The Language Is The Fate Of The People: A Cultural Analysis Of Language Education Policy In Central Asia, Bethany A. Reeve

Senior Theses

With a shared history under the Soviet Union, the five Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have spent the past one hundred years dealing with quickly changing language policy and ethnic relations. Under the policy of the USSR, native languages of Central Asia were repressed, and Russian was introduced as the main language of interethnic communication. After they gained independence in 1991, however, each of the five countries embarked on missions to restore the strength of each of their national languages and de-Russify their political, economic, and educational systems. Throughout the region, one of the main …

A Comparison Of The Ways In Which The United States And European Nations Treat Chronic Kidney Disease, Robert W. Pokora Iii

Senior Theses

European nations and the United States of America have vastly different outcomes in their treatment of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients, specifically when considering survival rate and patient satisfaction level. Unfortunately, no study has ever detailed the reasons why this is the case. This thesis explores and compares the methods by which the United States and European nations treat chronic kidney disease (CKD) and ESRD patients. A literature review aimed to determine factors contributing to the varying outcomes between the two nations, and a Healthcare Provider Survey was crafted and administered to United States healthcare providers in order to determine …

That’S My Deity: An Examination Of Online Lokean Cultures Through Log-Linear Modeling, Mary Bernstein

Senior Theses

A rise in online religious communities and the growth of so-called ‘Old World’ religions are reflected in the internet’s subcultures of Neopaganism, a growing religious movement that has been documented in America since the 1960s. The religions under this umbrella movement vary drastically and include belief systems such as Wicca, Druidry, and deity worship. Belief systems under this movement lack the traditional hierarchy found in structured religion and lack a singular sacred text. As such, believers usually find and support one another not through a physical sacred place of meeting, but through an online community that acts as sacred space. …

Moral Injury To Inform Analysis Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Amanda Julia Manea

Senior Theses

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that almost one out of ten veterans struggle with. Although the National Center for PTSD has made extensive progress in characterizing and developing new treatments for PTSD, most veterans still experience symptoms of PTSD following treatment. Novel avenues of investigation, such as developing algorithms to review electronic health record (EHR) data and better understanding moral injury, are being pursued to address the gap that still exists when it comes to treating veterans. Moral injury is the individual evaluation of exposure to a potentially morally injurious event (PMIE) and can lead to …

Reframing The Federal Election Commission: A Nonpartisan Solution, Abby Evans

Public Administration & Policy

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is known for its dysfunction: political gridlock, insufficient funding, and vacancies that hinder enforcement of campaign finance law. This study suggests the root of the problem lies in the agency’s character as a bipartisan institution, and proposes a nonpartisan reframing. This research offers statistical analysis of Supreme Court justice confirmation votes to inform a theory-based restructure of the FEC. The Court’s confirmation process has historically utilized a supermajority cloture vote, however, that threshold was lowered to a simple majority in 2017. The result was an immediate spike of political polarization in the Court. Raising the …

Behavioral And Neural Mechanisms Of Serotonin Modulation Of Impulsivity And Reward, Stephanie S. Desrochers

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Despite its prevalence in many psychiatric disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, suicidal depression, schizophrenia, and aggression and motivational disorders, impulsivity and its biological bases remain poorly understood. Subdivisions of impulsivity, including impulsive action (reduced response inhibition) and impulsive choice (reduced delay of gratification), sometimes present in an uncorrelated manner. This complexity renders pathological impulsivity difficult to treat, as different underlying causes likely result in different phenotypic presentations, despite being placed under one umbrella term. In order to study the behavior and biology of one particular facet of impulsivity, this dissertation utilizes the serotonin 1B receptor (5-HT1BR; an inhibitory …

Intravenous Acetaminophen May Reduce Opioid Use For Pain In The Emergency Department, John Delbianco Md, Aaron B Deutsch Do, Kimberly Sharpe Pharmd, Jason Laskosky Pharmd, Bcps, Laura Koons Pharmd, Msp, Bcccp, Gillian A. Beauchamp Md, Kenneth D. Katz Md

Toxicology Division

No abstract provided.

Experiences Of Female Muslim International Graduate Students With Children In The U.S.: Strategies To Cope With Academics And Family Life, Nizoramo M. Haitova

Dissertations

The literature on adult students, and in particular, graduate students with children, reveals that female students often struggle to balance their studies and home life due to juggling multiple roles. To date, research on student mothers has primarily focused on domestic students, with few studies examining the experiences of international student mothers, and even fewer studying Muslim international student mothers. The purpose of this study was to understand the lived experiences of female Muslim international graduate students with children in the U.S., as well as to explore the coping strategies they employ in both academia and family life. Thus, the …

Masthead, University Of The Pacific, Mcgeorge School Of Law

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Note From The Chief Legislation Editor, Tom Salazar

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.