Honors Papers

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https://hdl.handle.net/10267/30651

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The Legal Status of Jerusalem
(Memphis, Tenn. : Rhodes College, 1988-03-01) Clark, Frank Colden Jr.
The Priority Argument
(Memphis, Tenn. : Rhodes College, 1971-05-15) Brasington, Leigh Norman
The Pragmaitic Value of Philosophical Suicide
(Memphis, Tenn. : Rhodes College, 1991-03-27) Pope, Kristen
Skirting the Patients: Women and Health Care in Morocco and Egypt
(2016-05) Lipman, Monali Shaina
Over the last few decades, women’s health care worldwide has improved dramatically, yet disproportionately, between and within countries. This thesis explores the reasons for these variations in women’s access to health care between and within Morocco and Egypt from the 1980s to 2000s. I argue that political and economic structures shape women’s health, in terms of sexual and reproductive rights. In particular, I argue that at the national level, women’s incorporation into political and formal economic spaces affords them a stronger voice and more opportunities to be financially independent, which increases their access to health services. At the sub-national level, I propose that women’s location as urban or rural and their socioeconomic class has led to differential outcomes for access to health care in Morocco and Egypt. Both at the national and sub-national levels, this study finds state capacity, the ability of the government to deliver on its policies, to be the most important explanation for women’s access to health care as the governments of Morocco and Egypt have historically been unable to meet their promises. This paper contributes to extant research using the theory of female autonomy and intersectionality framework in the Middle East. My evidence comes from a wide variety of databases like the United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, and Demographic and Health Surveys.
Mujeres inmigrantes en narrativas fronterizas: La doble subyugación y la maternidad en cuatro obras
(2016-05) Poston, Elizabeth Sarah
In the year leading up to a presidential election, immigration issues become one of the more popular topics for debate, especially this year in the wake of Donald Trump. This paper studies fictional representations of undocumented, Hispanic immigration to the US in the novel La fila india by Antonio Ortuño and in the films Sin nombre, La misma luna, and María llena eres de gracia. These four pieces were produced in the last twelve years and represent a select but varied group of immigration stories that all feature female protagonists. Through the study of social realism and melodrama genres, these works reveal a double subjugation of women by both their gender and immigrant status, a situation further exacerbated by their role as mothers. I argue that the two forms of marginalization are inextricably bound and present one of the biggest obstacles to achieving a better life in these pieces. Additionally, the protagonists must reconfigure their conception of utopia in order to overcome dystopian realities. In a psychological journey that mirrors the geographical one, overcoming double subjugation leads to surprisingly hopeful endings where the newly-independent female protagonists can create a safe place for their family in the US, free from male dominance. While the pieces suggest that a better future is possible, it comes at a very high price.
Characterizing the functional differences between EZH1 and EZH2 in human embryonic stem cells
(2016-05) Patel, Arishna Cheta
Stem cells are specialized cells that can self-renew and differentiate into multiple cell types during development and regeneration through gene expression changes. These changes in stem cells are achieved, in part, via chromatin modifications, which include histone methylation, phosphorylation, and acetylation. Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) is a protein complex that methylates lysine 27 in histone H3—a histone modification associated with global silencing of gene expression, especially during stem cell development and differentiation. The PRC2 contains an enzymatic subunit, which can be enhancer of zeste homolog 1 or 2 (EZH1 or EZH2). Previous findings suggest that EZH1 and EZH2 serve different roles in embryonic stem cell (ESC) development and differentiation, despite both of them having EED-dependent (another protein subunit of the PRC2 complex) histone methyltransferase activity. Here, I report my investigation of the distinct roles of EZH1 and EZH2 by generating gene mutations separately in human embryonic stem cells by using the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology. The effect of EZH1 and EZH2 mutations on the expression of pluripotency (e.g. OCT4 and NANOG) and differentiation genes (e.g. NESTIN, Brachyury, and GATA4) was assayed by RT-qPCR. I found that neither EZH1 nor EZH2 mutations affect cell pluripotency; however, EZH2 mutations markedly up-regulate GATA4 expression, while EZH1 mutations up-regulate SOX1 and SOX9 expression.
The Art of the New Woman: The Arts as Professionalism and Mobilization in Twentieth-Century Memphis
(2016-05) Catanzaro, Sarah
Women in early twentieth-century Memphis stood on precarious ground, forging new paths with social reform efforts and progressivist ideals while prudently abiding antiquated notions of southern womanhood institutionalized in southern society long before the Civil War. Rich, white women of Memphis closely interacted with this convergence of traditionalism and liberalism in their club activity and social reform efforts, which began as early as the 1890s when the Nineteenth Century Club and the Beethoven Club were founded and elements of New Womanhood began to disseminate from northeastern, metropolitan areas into southern urban centers. An investigation of women’s social reform and political mobilization thus requires not only an understanding of the precedents set by New Womanhood and traditional southern womanhood, but a careful analysis of intersections of progressivism and southern convention that recurred in elite Memphis women’s daily routines and social activity. Women’s communal and individual music making in Memphis provides the most compelling example of subtle and socially-conscious twentieth-century southern feminine liberalism. Individual efforts by Memphis composer Julia Raine, Beethoven Club founder Martha Trudeau, and influential club women like Fannie Trezevant to instill a love of classical music into the larger Memphis community and to use music making to cultivate for themselves a position of political, professional, and even social autonomy in a highly stratified Memphis illuminate how music was a popular past-time, a common field for women with professional ambitions, a common language among the powerful white women in Memphis, and a vehicle for women’s critiques of southern patriarchal culture.
Automorphism Groups of k-star n-path Saturated Graphs
(2016-05) Li, Shushangxuan
In combinatorics, graph theory and Ramsey theory are two rich subjects of study. There are many directions and problems to pursue. The automorphism groups of graphs provide a connection between graph theory and group theory. In this project, we will study a Ramsey-theoretic aspect of graph theory. The main question is: how many edges must a tree contain in order to guarantee the presence of a k-star or an n-path? Another way to think about this problem is: what is the maximum number of edges that a tree with no k-star or n-path contain? We will establish a general formula for the number of edges using induction and classify the trees that achieve this maximum. In addition, we will describe the automorphism group of these saturated trees. The same questions will be studied for connected graphs following a similar procedure. We will show that the number of edges for connected graphs has a close relation with the one for trees.
Design, synthesis and analysis of novel dopaminergic and catecholic ligands as inhibitors of catechol-O-methyltransferase
(2016-05) Hatstat, Anna Katherine
L-DOPA, a dopamine precursor, is commonly used as a pharmacological treatment for patients with conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. Therapeutic L-DOPA, as well as the dopamine derived from L-DOPA, can be deactivated via metabolism by catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT). The targeted inhibition of the COMT enzyme prolongs the effectiveness of L-DOPA and dopamine, resulting in a net increase in pharmacological efficiency of the treatment strategy. Two classes of novel derivatives have been proposed and analyzed through in silico models that apply density functional theory and Møller–Plesset perturbation theory methods. The inhibitory capacities of the ligands were determined by the relative binding affinity of each ligand in the active site model. Three active site models were analyzed in order to compare computational methods and simulate physiological conditions. The lipophilicity of the proposed ligands was determined computationally as well. Following the completion of the computational analysis, several of the proposed catecholic ligands, namely 3,4-dihydroxybenzonitrile, 2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)acetonitrile and 3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)propanenitrile, were synthesized and analyzed experimentally to confirm structure and purity and to determine lipophilicity.
The Essentials of Forgiveness: A Virtue-Focused Philosophical Analysis
(2016-05) Leverett, John
In this project I offer a philosophical exploration of human forgiveness based in virtue theory that pays special attention to the development of the self in relation to others. I argue that humans are fundamentally social beings, and that maintaining healthy relationships with others is therefore essential to our realization as flourishing individuals. Thus, so long as we harm one another in ways that threaten our relationships, we will have need of a faculty that reverses the damage we inflict: forgiveness. Characteristic of this faculty, I argue, is its ability to revive dead or dying relationships by transforming the dispositions of forgiver and forgiven. In the best cases, offender and offended become friends, though it is only strictly necessary that they both commit to virtuous self-improvement and develop a general sense of goodwill for one another. How does forgiveness work? I argue that the concept is best analyzed in terms of three component virtues: humility, faith, and care, each of which requires repeated, real-world practice to develop. Without these components, I argue, forgiveness is incomplete, and therefore cannot heal our relationships or bring us closer to flourishing. My discussions of virtue and the self draw on the philosophies of Aristotle, William James, Julia Annas, and others. I illustrate my theory with examples drawn from fiction, such as Les Miserables, historical non-fiction, such as Wiesenthal's The Sunflower, and current events, such as the forgiveness exhibited in the wake of the Charleston shooting.
Compassionate Complexity: Narrative practice and school culture in middle childhood
(2016-05) Alexander, Brittany Lee
Recent movements, such as the whole child initiative and the collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning (CASEL), have pushed schools and educators to take social and emotional learning into consideration as a critical component of healthy development. Compassion- the genuine desire to alleviate another’s suffering- is a critical component of social and emotional education (Seppala, 2013). The aim of the current study was to gain a better understanding of how children understand, express, and experience compassion in their own words through story sharing. A story sharing intervention, known as KidsTalk, was implemented in an elementary charter school in large metropolitan area in the southern United States. Seventeen third through fifth grade students participated in the program once per week for five weeks. This exploratory and descriptive study revealed that although the children never used the word compassion in their stories, they have a very sophisticated understanding of the role compassion plays in their daily lives. The children asserted the complexity of implementing compassionate behavior and challenged the notion of compassion as a stagnant construct. KidsTalk provided the children with the time and space to reflect and engage in the formation of a compassionate community, which has serious implications for future efforts in educational settings and for further research in this area.
Fr echet Di erentiability in the Optimal Control of Parabolic Free Boundary Problems - An Alternative Approach
(2016-05) Pillow, Jessica
We consider an optimal control of the Stefan type free boundary problem for the following general second order linear parabolic PDE: (a(x; t)ux)x + b(x; t)ux + c(x; t)u 􀀀 ut = f(x; t) where u(x; t) is the temperature function. The density of heat sources f, unknown free boundary s, and boundary heat ux g are components of the control vector, and the cost functional consists of the L2-declination of the trace of the temperature at the nal moment, the temperature at the free boundary, and the nal position of the free boundary from available measurements. We follow a new variational formulation developed in U. G. Abdulla, Inverse Problems and Imaging, 7,2(2013),307- 340. Fr echet di erentiability of the optimal control problem has been proven. In this project, we consider an alternative approach in proving Fr echet di erentiability. The idea of the alternative approach is the following: changing the space variable as y = x=s(t) and keeping the time variable as it is, one can transform the problem to a new optimal control problem of the system described by the parabolic PDE in a xed region, with the control parameters distributed in the coe cients of the PDE. In this paper, we derive the expression for the Fr echet di erential of the transformed cost functional.
Comparing Various Locomotion Methods within Virtual Environments
(2016-05) Wilson, Preston Tunnell
Two inexpensive methods of exploring a virtual environment are walking in place (WIP) and arm swinging. These techniques are compelling because they strike a balance between space requirements, cost, and proprioceptive cues. They seem to provide better spatial awareness of a virtual environment than other inexpensive virtual navigation techniques such as joysticks or controllers. On the other hand, they are much cheaper and require less space than tracking systems. In our prior work, we had success in implementing a WIP method using an inexpensive Nintendo Wii Balance Board. We showed that participants' spatial orientation was the same as normal walking and superior to joystick navigation. We seek to extend our previous work utilizing the Myo armband{ an inexpensive wearable device (199 USD) with electromyography sensors, gyroscopes, and accelerometers. We previously found that our arm swinging method outperforms a simple joystick and that spatial orientation is comparable to physically walking on foot. In this work, we compare physical locomotion to both arm swinging and WIP. We implement these methods with Myo armbands. Both algorithms let users freely explore an HMD-based virtual environment. We tested users' spatial orientation and distance estimation. Interestingly, our mean turning angle errors were higher than those in our previous studies. Also notable is that users performed better at blind walking in the WIP condition than in physical locomotion.
Medea and New Media: Analyzing Euripides’ Tragedy through the Medium of Video Games
(2016-05) Murphy, Ashton Lacy
Women play an astonishingly prominent role as characters in ancient Athenian tragedy; we have only one extant tragedy—Philoctetes—which does not feature at least one female character. The number, and perhaps more importantly the depiction, of these characters has given rise to a search for proto-feminism in tragedy, with Euripides as an especially prominent target. As our understanding of the history of the Medea myth stands, it appears that Euripides was the first to write a Medea who murders her own children. Therein lies the ambiguity behind the of the play: for Euripides portrays a strong, intelligent woman challenged by unjust forces beyond her control; and he has this same woman commit one of the worst offenses in the Hellenic world—the murder of one’s own blood. Can the classic be enjoyed by modern women, or does the misogyny of Euripides' Athens imbed its patriarchal values too deeply into the text? In my research I analyze Euripides’ Medea through a new lens: comparing and contrasting Medea’s depiction to those of female characters in modern entertainment, specifically, video games.
China’s Alternative: Kang Youwei’s Confucian Reforms in the Late Qing Dynasty
(2018-05) Li, ZongFang
My thesis draws heavily on existing literatures in the field of Chinese history, and many of my debts will be evident from my bibliography. To some I owe thanksin particular. I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Seok-Won Lee in the History department of Rhodes College. This thesis would not be finished without his challenging and informational instructions on the intellectual history. I cannot emphasize the role of Professor Michael Drompp in this project. His teachings on traditional China gave me a comprehensive understanding of the overall historical contexts, and his resourcefulness with secondary sources contributed as a vital part of my project. I would also like to thank Professor Wu Chia-rong for serving as part of the committee and reading my thesis. Thanks Bailey Choudbury (Class of 2018) for editing my work and correcting errors and mistakes. In the end, I thank all the faculty of the History department with their dedications on teaching history, which set the foundations for me and my current research.Finally, I want to say thanksto my peer students from China,Yu Nancun, Zhao Zhiyu, Zhou Jiaquan, Shi Yuxin, for constantly supporting, inspiring, and challenging me during this project.
Design and Synthesis of Novel LpxC Inhibitors to Impede Outer Membrane Formation in Gram-Negative Bacteria
(2018-05) Pajarillo, Andrea Olivia
The increasing global incidence of antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria necessitates the discovery of new treatment mechanisms to combat such untreatable and deadly infections. One promising target is LpxC, a highly conserved Gram-negative enzyme which performs a crucial step in the lipid A biosynthetic pathway. Lipid A serves as the anchor for lipopolysaccharides on the Gram-negative outer membrane and is essential to the structural integrity and viability of the bacterium. The LpxC active site is comprised of a zinc ion, a polar region, and a hydrophobic passage. A library of analogs with varying hydrophobic tails similar in structure to the natural substrate were designed and synthesized with the goal of optimizing binding within the active site. Two new analogs (DP-001 and DP-002) were added to the existing LpxC inhibitor library which contain a phenyl propargyl ethertail as a hydrophobic moiety. The phenyl propargyl ether tail was synthesized and a new approach was developed to achieve hydroxamic acid conversion. Both DP-001 and DP-002 will be tested alongside the rest of the Peterson library against various strains of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria for antimicrobial activity.
Forma e ideología en el cine propagandístico sobre la guerra civil española
(2018-05) Rich, Barry Evan
La guerra civil española fue la ocasión de un notable aumento en la producción de propaganda de guerra, particularmente en forma de cine. Los republicanos, los nacionales y sus respectivos aliados produjeron cientos de películas para buscar apoyos tanto enEspaña como internacionalmente. Después de la guerra, los regímenes fascistas de España, Italia y Alemania continuaron produciendo propaganda sobre la guerra civil para imponer su versión del conflicto. La mayoría de la crítica actual que ha estudiado estas películas (y que se ha centrado en las películas fascistas producidas en España) se ha interesado por su ideología sin tener en cuenta sus características cinematográficas y, por esa razón, nuestra comprensión de estas películas es incompleta. En esta tesis, estudio la interacción de forma e ideología en seis películas propagandísticas creadas entre 1936 y 1945, representativas de los diferentes orígenes nacionales y géneros del corpus disponible: ¡Nosotros somos así!(1937), Blockade(1938), TheSpanishEarth(1938), Romanceromarroquí(1939), SinnovedadenelAlcázar(1940) y Raza(1942). Identifico seis técnicas cinematográficas que dan forma a la retórica visual propagandística en este corpus: primer plano, travelling frontal, sobreimpresión, planos detalle de periódicos e inserción de metraje de archivo. Argumento que el uso de cada una de estas técnicas está más relacionado con el género cinematográfico, país de origen y objetivos específicos de cada película que con su ideología. The Spanish Civil War saw a marked growth in the production of war propaganda, in particular in cinematic form. The republicanos, nacionales, and their respective allies produced hundreds of films in order to rally support both within Spain and internationally.After the war, the fascist regimes of Spain, Italy, and Germany continued to produce propaganda about the civil war to enforce their version of the conflict. Most current scholarship on these films (which focuses on fascist productions from Spain) concentrates on their ideology without accounting for their cinematic features, and therefore our understanding of these works remains incomplete. In this thesis, I study the interplay between form and ideology in six propaganda films from 1936 to 1945, representative of the different national origins and genres of the available body of works: ¡Nosotros somos así!(1937), Blockade(1938), TheSpanishEarth(1938), Romanceromarroquí(1939), SinnovedadenelAlcázar(1940), and Raza(1942). I identify five cinematic techniques that shape the visual rhetoric of propaganda in this corpus: close-ups, forward tracking shots, superimposition, extreme close ups of newspapers, and insertion of archival footage. I argue that the use of each of these techniques is more closely related to cinematic genre, country of origin, and the specific aims of each film than to ideology.
Indigenismo, Indianismo, and Incaísmo in Peru: Negotiating narratives of identity and class in a neoliberal hegemony
(2018-05) Sanchez, Merare
A survey of contemporary Peruvian life reveals the failures of the nation-state model in its attempt to assimilate the indigenous worlds and peoples into the project of Modernity. Through the political ideologies and discourses of Indigenismo, Incaísmo, and Indianismo, intellectuals and politicians negotiated the place of pre-Hispanic collectivities and their descendants within imposed Western models, attempting to claim a space for indigenous groups within the body politic. Under Neoliberal narratives of progress, formal education was identified as the solution for poverty and inequality. Nevertheless, economic inequality and discrimination persist and are often masked within the academic realm. This study explores Indigenismo and Incaísmo as political projects that have contributed to the reification of hierarchical and exploitative practices supporting the artifice of Modern nation-states. These failed Western models are contested by more recent political movements spearheaded by Indianismo, under its banner of resistance. The very existence of these contestatory spaces reveals the incomplete nature of the project of Modernity.
What Are You Laughing At? An Analysis of Humor in Terence's Eunuchus
(2017-05) Schott, Henry John
This paper seeks to show how Terence crafted humor in the Eunuchus and how similar the mechanisms are between ancient and modern joke-telling. I focus on four consecutive scenes starting with Act 2 scene 1 to explore the roles of the main slave characters, Parmeno and Gnatho, as well as their relationships to their masters. Additionally, I draw reference to modern scholarship on humor, most notably from Raskin and Attardo's General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH). I also explore the construction of a joke and different readings of the original text which can alter the reception of the joke. I conclude by showing that Terence used many of the same tropes and styles of humor that modern comedians still employ. In this exercise, I hope to open the door for modern adaptations of Terence to be produced alongside other great hits from antiquity by Plautus and the Greek tragedians
British Images of West Africa
(2017-05) Plemons, Nathaniel Anson
The historiography of British-West African relations between the eighteenth and nineteenth century is typically characterized by narratives that center on the imposition of power by British colonizers onto West African colonized. These histories tend to neglect the dynamic nature of British-West African interaction as well as the importance of West African social, political, and economic history in dictating how and when such power was exercised. Because of this neglect, such histories also tend to frame British-West African relations through the anachronistic application of modern conceptions of race and racism. Rather than understand British-West African relations from the mid-eighteenth to the late-nineteenth century as a one-sided imposition of an increasingly virulent racism, there was instead a marked transition from a culturalist mindset to what now resembles modern conceptions of race and racism. This transition from one mindset to another was heavily influenced by important economic and political changes in both Britain and West Africa throughout this period. Contrasting two sets of case studies elucidates this shift. The first is of British-Fante relations in the slave town of Annamaboe on the Gold coast and the life of Ignatius Sancho in the late eighteenth century. The second, of the life and experiences of West African physicians James “Africanus” Beale Horton and John Farrell Easmon in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Analyzing and contrasting these case studies enables readers to challenge and problematize a popular historical narrative that currently fails to accurately depict these complex dynamics or acknowledge their change over time.

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