Honors Theses

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are commonly found in many types of personal care products and may cause a variety of problems during a child's development. Since parents and/or guardians typically buy personal care products for their children, they ultimately decide what kinds of ingredients their children are exposed to from these types of products. The researcher designed a survey to examine parents’ awareness and perceptions of these chemicals and explore the factors parents consider when purchasing consumer products for their children. The results show that parents value purchasing consumer products with good ingredients for their children, but the participants had a limited understanding of EDCs and their effects.

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivs

A Study of Consumer Perceptions of the Possible Effects of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals on Prepubescent Development

Hispanics are the largest minority population in the United States today, and the numbers are rising. However, so is the amount of discrimination toward the Hispanic population, and this discrimination often takes a toll on minorities. The present study examined the levels of acculturative stress and its effect on internalizing symptoms (anxiety and depression) and academic engagement. Participants included 209 rural area college students, which were comprised of 140 Caucasian Americans, 50 Hispanics, and 19 students from other racial backgrounds (African American, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian, Other). We compiled various scales measuring academic engagement, depression, anxiety, and academic engagement into an online survey. Results indicated that Hispanics experience significant amounts of acculturative stress, and this acculturative stress was a significant predictor of anxiety and depression for these students. Additionally, Hispanic students showed a significantly higher level of depression than their Caucasian counterparts. Lastly, the study found that academic engagement was significantly predicted by depression for Hispanic and Caucasian students and acculturative stress for all students overall. These findings suggest that Hispanic immigrant students in rural areas are vulnerable to mental health problems and would benefit from institutional efforts to support wellness and academic engagement.

Acculturative Stress, Mental Health, and Academic Engagement of Rural Young Adult Hispanic Immigrants

Creations Café & Dessertery will be a small bakery/café serving a variety of baked goods and desserts as well as coffee, other beverages, and a limited menu of light meals. It will also serve as a venue for local art, showcasing art regularly in the establishment and during events. The café will strive to be a third-place (a location where people spend their time outside of home and work) where people can hang out, study, meet, view art, and participate in events while enjoying quality sweets in a homey environment.
This business is in the Coffee & Snack Shops industry (NAICS 722513). The industry has grown 5.8% in the last five years and major trends include innovation, health, and convenience. The café will create innovative products to meet customer needs and interests.
Marketing will be done mostly through social media and by word-of-mouth. The café will be marketed as a third-place for those who enjoy sweets and art. The primary target will be 18-34 year-olds with disposable income.
The café will be proactive to prevent any foreseeable issues that may arise and emphasize the continuing improvement of internal processes. An enjoyable and well-functioning work environment will be sustained by organization and transparency. Suitable people will be hired initially and trained consistently. The staff will comprise of barista/cashiers, bakers, and managers. All employees will be encouraged to share concerns and ideas.
An ideal location for the business will be in a relatively affluent and densely-populated area. The building will need to be in a convenient location and be large enough to comfortably house a kitchen, service area, dining area, bathrooms, office area, and storage area.
Rachel Rockas will be the owner and serve as one of the managers. The owner will contribute $20,000 to the initial capital and a bank loan of $50,000 is desired to cover the start-up expenses. Initial start-up costs come mainly from the equipment and furniture needed to produce and sell products. Revenue will be generated from food and beverage 5 sales, and expenses will mainly arise from building operations, inventory, labor, depreciation, and loan payments. The café is projected to make a profit of about $86,000 in its first year operating.

Strategies for Success in Small Business Bakeries: A Business Plan

This project stems from the desire to explore and eventually harness the enzymatic mechanism of 4-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furan-carboxaldehyde-phosphate synthase (MfnB). The enzyme of interest, MfnB, is found most prominently in methanogens and some bacteria and can catalyze five or more separate chemical transformations in a single active site. This singular enzyme takes two molecules of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate and creates a furan-containing compound, 4- (hydroxymethyl)-2-furan-carboxaldehyde-phosphate (4-HMF-P). Furan-containing compounds have been highlighted for their high potential in the production of biofuels and biomaterial compounds; thus, research efforts seek to create a more efficient synthesis process for furan compounds. The broad industrial applications of MfnB could usher in a new era for the synthesis of furan compounds to be used in the generation of liquid fuel or other valuable biomaterials via enzyme-catalyzed reactions. Despite the initial characterization of MfnB and the identification of Schiff base-forming lysine, the detailed mechanism of MfnB remains speculative. Our team seeks to understand the details of the catalytic mechanism utilizing a site-directed mutagenesis, comprehensive kinetic evaluation, and structural study.

The Mechanism of the Enzymatic Synthesis of 2,4-hydroxymethfufural phosphate

The mycobacteriophage Donny was discovered in Dahlonega, GA in 2016 as part of the SEA-PHAGES Program and is currently only one of seven verified phages in subcluster B5. Through various protocols for phage DNA purification and amplification, gene expression can be observed during lysis of its host, Mycobacterium smegmatis using real time PCR. Bacteriophages provide inherently novel subjects for genetic analyses as they are a highly diverse and ubiquitous group. There is little published research on phage from Cluster B which are a large yet genetically distinct group compared to other clusters or singletons. In order to begin analyzing gene expression during the phage life cycle, observation of Donny’s unique burst time is required so that optimal time frames can be selected for RNA extraction. Using absorbance data obtained from Optical Density (OD) measurements at a wavelength of 600nm, a potential time frame for RNA extraction during early, middle, and late infection was determined. This project contributes to the overall goal of characterizing the genes expressed during Donny's lytic cycle using primers designed from sequence analysis of all 96 genes.

Characterization of Growth for the Subcluster B5 Mycobacteriophage Donny Using  Optical Density Measurements

Mental health is a prevalent and significant issue in college athletics today. In today’s society, there is a great deal demanded from college student-athletes and they may feel pressured to cover up any mental health issues that they may be suffering. The purpose of this study is to examine different risk management strategies that an athletic department can implement to help prevent mental health issues. This study will survey college student-athletes at the University of North Georgia and examine how comfortable they are with completing these risk management strategies and if they believe that the strategies will be effective. If the student-athletes buy into the strategies implemented by the athletic department, then they will participate in them honestly and carefully. Thus, if the student-athletes honestly and carefully participate in the strategies, then the strategies will be able to reduce and prevent mental health issues.

Risk Management of Mental Health of College Athletes

World War II carried profound sociopolitical and moral weight. At a time when so many lost their hope in humanity, some family members and soldiers wrote about their beliefs and continued to believe in something bigger than themselves. They corresponded with one another throughout the war, reminding each other of the fundamental truths that bound them together and enabled them to keep going. I sought to find how the Bible might have been used as a rhetorical device in these particular World War II letters. Four questions guided my research process: (1) Who wrote the letter? (2) What was their relationship with Christianity? (3) What external circumstances might have prompted the use of a particular passage? (4) What effect did the selected scripture have for the reader and writer? As I began compiling notes and research, it appeared as though some of the letters appeared to be similar in rhetorical purpose, which led to the development of five organizational categories in order to explain what the primary result might have been. The grouping of letters was intended to create a broad spectrum of potential rhetorical purposes the use of the Bible might have. The letters were found in online archives, like the BBC WW2 People’s War archive, and also from individuals who, with the help of scholars and family members, published their letters into book format. After research, the five purposes that World War II letters referencing the Bible might have are as follows: (1) To establish peace in chaos, (2) To provide comfort though familiarity, (3) To create confidence in morality, (4) To unite family from afar, and (5) To remember the character of God. It is hoped that this thesis might provide structure to additional research about the Bible as a rhetorical device, as well as a precedent for analyzing letters in academic writing, by telling the stories of the Great War’s lesser-known actors.

Pressed but not Crushed: How World War II Letter Writers Use the Bible as a Rhetorical Device

Type 2 diabetes is a disease that is chronic and difficult to manage that millions of Americans must learn to live with each day. Many people with type 2 diabetes have limited knowledge of the pathophysiology of the disease and factors that affect its progression. Guidance from healthcare in choosing the right diet and amount of exercise would be beneficial to improving the quality of life of patients living with this chronic disease. Education materials and opportunities are less effective in underserved populations due to factors such as the cost of transportation and fuel to clinics, the absence of Internet access to helpful educational websites, and the cost of food (Jessee & Rutledge, 2012). Communityinvolved clinics such as the Community Helping Place (CHP) Free Clinic in Dahlonega, GA have noticed this gap in knowledge and education and have implemented changes to benefit the population of underserved patients with diabetes in Dahlonega.

Prescription Boxes

The health benefits of breastfeeding infants for at least the first six months of life are widely known, but the majority of women begin supplementing breast milk with formula within three months after birth. In 1991, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) to increase breastfeeding rates worldwide. This initiative focuses on providing evidence-based, maternity care with an emphasis on improving breastfeeding rates. There are ten steps that hospitals must implement to some degree in order to become a Baby-Friendly hospital; these steps focus on educating the staff and the mothers on breastfeeding techniques, encouraging exclusive breastfeeding to include the first night after labor, and providing continuing support for breastfeeding mothers after they leave the hospital. Nurses play a large role in the success of the BFHI because they work so closely with the mothers. Nurses should be able to provide care without their personal attitudes toward breastfeeding affecting the quality of care, but a positive attitude toward breastfeeding would be beneficial to implementing the BFHI effectively. The BFHI is mentioned in several newer editions of maternal nursing care textbooks, exposing nursing students to the idea and goal of the BFHI earlier than in the past.

Attitudes Among Senior BSN Nursing Students Toward Breastfeeding

The study of misinformation blossomed with the work of Elizabeth Loftus in the 1970s, looking, for example, at how the presence of information in leading questions overshadowed the existing memory of a car crash. Loftus and Palmer (1974) first used the term misinformation effect and found a connection between language and episodic memory. At first, this term only referred to when participants were asked to recall an event when prompted by a biased question, and their memory of the misinformation was measured. Quickly there grew two types of misinformation effect, one in which the misleading information is presented before the event occurs as ‘priming’ the individual ((Lewandowsky, Ecker, Seifert, Schwarz & Cook, 2012), and one in which the biasing information is presented afterwards, as in the original study. More recently, Dalal, Diab and Tinsdale (2015) applied misinformation to hiring decisions in the use of rumors by employers, a specific type of misinformation. This study was groundbreaking for misinformation research as it showed the effect could impact not just declarative memory but person judgements as well. While many variables have been studied with respect to misinformation effects on memory, there has been very little work focused on the influence of misinformation on personal judgements and feelings.