Class Projects

Kellie Kloha , "Dichlorvos: Nerve Agent to Insecticide "

Dichlorvos, or 2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate, is a type A organophosphate that was originally created as a nerve agent. Since then, it has become an insecticide that is commercially available and used mostly in domestic settings. These days, there is controversy around it as it has become present in waterways and has been found to be toxic to more than just insects. Like other organophosphates, Dichlorvos acts on acetylcholinesterase in insects which disrupts their nervous system. Other mechanisms have also been studied relating to higher order animals including fish and humans. This chemical has also been reported to have an impact on DNA synthesis. This presentation will discuss the historical background of Dichlorvos, the chemical characteristics it possess, the generic features of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, the mechanism of action for acetylcholinesterase and of inhibition, its metabolic degradation, the effects it has on DNA, and its toxicity to fish.

Hannah Harvey , "The Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation "

The Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation was created in honor of the founders’ 6 year old son named Michael who lost his battle to Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) brain cancer in 2015. DIPG is a terminal brain cancer found in children generally between the ages of 4 to 11 years old. The tumor is located in the pons of the brain which is right above the spinal cord. The pons controls essential body functions including the regulation of heartbeat, breathing, eye movement, eye sight, balance and swallowing. Because all of the functions are essential to life, operating on the tumor is impossible and the only course of treatment is radiation and clinical trials that are able to temporarily prolong life and come with harsh side effects. Ninety percent of children diagnosed with DIPG will die within two years of diagnosis and no significant advances in treatments have been made in the last 3o years. For my project, I worked with The Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Foundation to create materials to help spread awareness of the cancer and help raise funds to find a cure. I created a one-sheet that is handed out at events and mailed as well as a set of 6 square infographics about DIPG that can be used as social media posts or print handouts.

Ahmet Demirkan , "Factors Determining Home Prices in Swedish Municipalities: A Regression Analysis "

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between house prices and variables such as crime rate, immigration rate and school quality in Swedish municipalities. Many studies examine factors behind house prices in prominent developed countries like US, Australia, and the UK. However, this paper analyzes the Swedish house market in particular and compares it to the other developed countries.

It finds some unique characteristics that exist in Sweden compared to other developed countries. For instance, Sweden’s education system is different in the way that education is free. This fact should, at least in theory, produce an equal quality of schools throughout the country and therefore, in practice, it eliminates the need for families to move for school-related reasons. One of the goals of this study is to test this theoretical foundation empirically.

Furthermore, immigration has been a highly debated topic in Sweden especially since the European immigration crisis starting from early of 2015. It would, therefore, be interesting to see if this has any impact on the Swedish housing market, and if so, how the market and the population reacts to it.

Lastly, the relationship between the crime rate and house prices has been a widely popular topic among researchers with mixed empirical results among countries. Researching in these areas can potentially help to understand consumer’s psychology and the Swedish population’s stance on different political agendas. It can also be useful in predicting future house prices and future economic stability. Moreover, it may assist politicians in their decisions regarding immigration, education reforms, and crime prevention issues.

Lucy Martinez, "Personality Theories Case Study "

This was a case study conducted to assess our subject's personality. We applied what we had learned in class and chose 4 tests/measures for subject X to take. Then we analyzed the results and drew our conclusions. This was a research project we were assigned which helped deepen our knowledge of personality and learn more about how it is developed.

Averi Laughlin, "Interpreting Homer's, The Odyssey, through the lens of Psychology "

The ultimate goal of this class assignment was to somehow incorporate our major or fields of study into our interpretations of poetry. I chose to do a closer reading of Homer’s, The Odyssey. My overall objective for crafting this project was to use my knowledge of Psychology (so far) to better understand the character dynamics at play within the Odyssey. Knowing the context of the poem and that Odysseus was missing for twenty years made me wonder how his family might have hypothetically adjusted to him being back in their lives once more. I constructed a series of questions designed to simulate a marriage and family counseling setting, in which I was the psychologist to Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus. My research was rooted in several theories I study in my psych classes, primarily Interpersonal therapy, as well as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Then, I imagined what each of the characters might have responded with and found scenes from the poem that either backed up how they felt or maybe hinted at how they might feel later on. In addition to the questions and methods of therapy used, I found several scholarly articles that helped broaden my perceptions of how The Odyssey can be interpreted. Overall, the research and creation of this project provided me with an interesting way of seeing the characters in the light of real people who symbolize real emotions seen in every day life.

Kymbreia Henderson, Jack Chellberg, Kennedi Goff, "Normal and Therapeutic Nutrition, Spring 2019: Tuberculosis"

TB (Tuberculosis) is a disease that mainly affects the lungs. This disease can be spread via airborne droplets. Normally, medications are used to treat this disease along with proper diet therapy. For example, if the disease is in the latent stage usually only one or two medications need to be taken. However, if the disease is in the active stage, more medication may be required. These medications should be taken with caution as they can cause serious side effects such as nausea or fever. Along with taking medications, the patient should also maintain an adequate diet of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins (A,C,D, B), and fats. In conclusion, treatment is necessary for individuals with TB, as it can be fatal.

Tyler Moore, "One Belt Initiative: Buying Africa-One Port at a Time"

In 2013, Xi Jinping outlined his plan, The Belt Road Initiative or BRI, to reshape global trade and reinvent China’s presence as a leader in global trade. Thus far, BRI has been seen as the biggest investment into true globalism by any nation in the 21st Century. I intend to show how through Xi Jinping’s Belt Road Initiative, China has or will have effective control over nearly all major African ports and key shipping lanes by 2020. As the One Belt, One Road initiative comes into effect, I intend to show why US policy responses thus far are not enough to counter China regionally and what options the US has going forward.

Emilee Sprinkle, Elizabeth Romanick, "Nutrition For Alzheimer's Disease Patients"

This presentation is a look into older adults who have Alzheimer’s Disease. We proceeded to do research to see how their diets need to be adjusted to accommodate the disease and help them live an independent life as long as possible. We also developed some research on neurological and medical information on the disease and presented our findings. We learned several tips and eating behaviors to assist the affected with eating and keeping independence, and they will be included in this as well.

Julianne Kerr, Nora Brooks, Abby Cain, Brenda Carrada, Laura Delgado, Joanna Dembowski, Hannah Fogt, Lucy Hart, Maria Marchetti, Jaelen Matthews, Mikayla Ott, Spencer Underwood, "Graphic Design History "

Studying the history of Graphic Design is essential for the development of students learning design. Through extensive research and careful planning, the students of Graphic Design II (ART320) have created a series of posters discussing different points in design history, from individual artists to entire movements that impacted the Graphic Design world. The posters each seek to reflect the research done by the students and show how that research can be represented visually by embodying the style of the designer or design movement within the poster’s layout. Each poster announces a different fictional event in which a designated speaker, particularly one who is or was affiliated with the movement or designer that has been researched by the student, is invited to Spring Hill College to give a lecture, lecture series, or to put on an art show for the style or movement represented by that student’s poster.

Alaye de Brito, "Urbanization and Urban Poverty: Impacts of Globalization in Peripheries of Global Cities"

Beyond the effects of capitalism, globalization forced a rapid and unplanned urban growth in those spaces that had to urbanize “to be part of the world”. This rapid and unplanned urban growth led to an expansion of urban slums, therefore, exacerbating poverty and inequality. Coming from this idea of global cities in a time that cities are becoming more important than states in the developing world, my work analyzes the consequences of a forced and unplanned urbanization in cities that are facing the same dilemma of many other developing countries once they started to urbanize their cities in this globalized world.

Jasmine Huynh, Devin Fry, "Renal Failure"

Our Nutrition Project is focused on the subject of Renal Failure. We will touch on the topics of the anatomy, pathophysiology, treatment, and diet of people dealing with renal failure. Our project is heavily centered around diet and nutrition for clients with failing renal capabilities. For example, we will be presenting about certain recipes and meal plans for renal failure clients. Come see us!

Heather Nye, "Poe and His Characters: A Misdiagnosis?"

Characters in Edgar Allan Poe's short stories are different to say the least. In my senior seminar paper, I argue that two characters, Auguste Dupin and Roderick Usher suffer from Autism Spectrum Disorder, also known as ASD, before it was a relevant diagnosis. To properly do this I found what they would have been diagnosed with in the early nineteenth century and apply characteristics of today's diagnosis, of ASD, to their symptoms in the stories.

Lianne Moguel, Victoria Marlow, Sidney Spivey, "Coronary Artery Disease"

For our project, we will be presenting coronary artery disease in a middle-aged man who is obese with diabetes and is a smoker. Coronary artery disease occurs when there is plaque build up in the heart, as a result, not enough oxygen-rich blood is able to reach the heart. This increases the patients chance of heart attack or a stroke. Adequate nutrition plays a key role in preventing these risks. Patients with coronary artery disease need to be on a low-fat plant-based diet. In our presentation, we will include an example of a one-day meal plan that patients should follow. We will youth on many topics including the anatomy, pathology, treatment, and diet in great detail. Come see us to learn more and help gain knowledge about how to prevent coronary artery disease.

Ryan Glynn, Kayla Hardy, "Type 2 Diabetes"

The purpose of our presentation is to educate others on Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is is a condition that affects the way one’s body processes glucose. The body either does not produce enough insulin or it resists insulin. It affects many vital organs in many ways. It can be cause by factors such as environment, lifestyle, and genetics. Although, prevention is possible by means of exercise and diet. With those with type 2 diabetes, changing one’s eating habits to improve metabolic control is a good diet therapy, as well as exercise and not over eating. Creating a meal plan is a way for diabetic patients to control their carbohydrate intake. Hypoglycemia in diabetes is when a person’s blood glucose level measures to be under 70 ml/dL. It is important for the diabetic person to recognize the signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia because of how much danger it can put one’s body in.

Brooke Koger, Caroline Cusick, Madeline Johnson, AJ Jones, and Julia Gielniak, "The Wounded Heart Project"

The Wounded Heart Project is an art workshop and exhibit for survivors, families of survivors, and advocates for survivors that offers visual testimony to the impact of sexual violence and other traumas in our lives. This exhibit invites everyone to use wooden hearts as vehicles of expression and healing, and to bear witness and honor the healing power of the human heart. All are given wooden hearts and told to express their feelings artistically and creatively to help release feelings of sadness, frustration, anger, or any other feelings that may be surrounding their assault. This project is intended to work as an artistic method of therapeutic healing. At this time, the project is not entirely completed, but we are expecting to find this to be a successful workshop that provides a positive experience for the people of the non-profit we are working with. The research we have done to this point has shown that when victims receive advocate assisted services following assaults, they receive more helpful information, referrals, and services and experience less secondary trauma or re-victimization by medical and legal systems (Campbell, 2006). It has also been shown that rape survivors with advocates were 59% more likely to have police reports taken than survivors without advocates, whose reports were only taken 41% of the time (Campbell, 2006). Having an advocate can be very beneficial in the healing and legal processes of being a victim of any sort of trauma. We expect this workshop to be beneficial to both the survivors and the advocates because secondary trauma is very prevalent in the social work industry and creating a safe space for this art therapy will help them all better understand their feelings and where they are in the healing process. References Campbell, R. (2006). Rape Survivors’ Experiences With the Legal and Medical Systems: Do Rape Victim Advocates Make a Difference? Violence Against Women, 12(1), 30–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801205277539

Natalie Akin, "Sweatshop Labor: A Kantian Analysis of Power Inequities"

My presentation focuses on the moral permissibility of sweatshop labor. Drawing on the arguments of Matt Zwolinski and Onora O’Neill, I will argue that the moral permissibility of sweatshop labor can vary depending on the power dynamics at play between the workers and the owners. Specifically, I will argue that sweatshop labor occurring under the supervision of wealthy MNE’s is less morally permissible than sweatshop labor conducted by independent,local owners who do not have the power to improve conditions. I will also touch on the limited moral transformativeness of workers’ choice which plays a significant part in Zwolinski’s argument and instead emphasize the importance of the owners’ choices.

John Jennings, "An Analysis of Curling"

Using data from the 2018 and 2019 Canadian World Women’s Championship Curling Matches, with a total of 158 matches recorded, the empirical results from both tournaments, will be compared with a three dimensional Markov model to see the ability to predict accurate results for future matches. This will be done with homogeneous and heterogeneous Markov models which take in three variables: the score differential, the ends, and the hammer advantage. The score differential, x, is between -11 and 10. The ends, e, is between 1 and 11, and the hammer advantage, h, is binary, either 0 or 1. Using these variables, we believe we will be able to use a multidimensional regression analysis to predict the win percentage of a team, in a specific state.

Katelyn Rasp, "Celebrating 50 years of Spring Hill College Rugby: Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Targeted Online Fundraising Campaign"

This study aimed to further investigate the effectiveness of an online fundraising campaign in increasing alumni involvement and alumni giving. The work presented in this paper was influenced by the work of scholars and researchers, all seeking to understand what influences alumni donations. A social media campaign was implemented on the SHC Rugby Club’s Facebook and Instagram in order to engage with alumni. The strategy behind this campaign was to have frequent interaction with alumni with the hopes of increased engagements leading to monetary donations. The theory of planned behavior supported this by providing insight into reasons as to why alumni make the decision to donate. At the conclusion of the campaign, analytics were gathered from the two social media sites as well as the online giving platform. The findings of this study highlight the connection between the components needed to successfully engage alumni on social media and translate alumni engagement into alumni giving.

Kayleigh Harrison, Kavonna Smith, Christina Pace, "Diet Therapy for Patients with Colorectal Cancer"

Colorectal cancer is cancer of the large intestine, or colon and is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. Our research explores the anatomy of the colon, the pathophysiology of colorectal cancer, and other important aspects of the disease to take into consideration when providing nutritional treatments. The diet therapy of a colon cancer patient is pertinent in ensuring an efficient and successful treatment. Sometimes, just by adjusting an colon cancer patient’s diet, some symptoms are alleviated. A well-balanced diet also strengthens the immune system in combating the disease. Not only is food intake important but also the methods used to prepare these foods. With the study, we were able to create a healthy diet plan to ensure that our 65 year old colon cancer patient was receiving the right amount of nutrients daily.

Shadamien Rankins, Zachary Paulene, "Nutrional Needs of the Elderly"

An elderly male patient was evaluated and found to have high cholesterol and high blood pressure. His cholesterol level was 240 mg/dL. His blood pressure was 175/95, but continued to fluctuate from this reading to higher and back again. High cholesterol is when there is excess cholesterol in the blood, thus causing it build up and block blood flow. This can cause many heart issues by increasing a person’s risk for strokes and heart attacks. High blood pressure is when the force of the blood against the artery walls is too high. This can also increase a person’s chance of having a heart attack or heart disease. Both of these issues can be helped with medication, but a proper diet can help each of these problems. Therapeutic Lifestyle Change is a diet that can help elderly people with high cholesterol. This diet puts a limit on the amount of fats and cholesterol consumed by the person. The Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet is a key to lowering one’s blood pressure. This diet suggests the patient cut back on the amount of sodium consumed in a day because high amounts of sodium in the blood stream can increase a person's blood pressure.

Nyla McCoy, Isabella Kotval, Landen Lake, "Celiac Disease "

On this research project we will be giving a complete overview of celiac disease. Celiac disease is the disease in which the small intestine is damaged by eating gluten. Gluten, wheat, is the protein that causes the auto-immune response and attacks the villi. If a patient with celiac disease intakes wheat and is not treated in time it can cause permanent damage to the small intestine. We have created a “project” patient so that you can visualize this in a real-life person/situation and be able to point it out. Our project patient is a five-year-old girl named Emma and from our observations we have diagnosed her with celiac disease. She explained to her mom that she has abdominal pain and has been vomiting, nausea and diarrhea. From this we have found that it is the gluten in her diet that is causing this autoimmune response. In Emma’s diet she has to eat gluten-free products with lots of protein in order to avoid this autoimmune response. We have also created a couple of questions at the end of the presentation to help with understanding the project.

Nathan Manning, Malia Williams, Lauren Hahn, "Cirrhosis"

Cirrhosis is the result of the liver being scarred and permanently damaged. This scar tissue replaces healthy tissue and will prevent the liver from functioning normally by partially blocking flow of blood through the liver. People with this disease may not know they have it until the liver fails causing complications. Complications of this disease are portal hypertension, infections, liver cancer, and/or liver failure. In addition to medication to treat cirrhosis there are nutritional guidelines for clients with this disease. It is recommended that those with this disease completely stop drinking because this itself is a cause of the disease. A reduction of high- fat foods is recommended because they can cause digestion problems due to the lack of bile in their liver. Bile breaks down body fats and their damaged liver is likely to affect the production of bile. Raw or partially cooked shellfish need to be avoided because it could contain Vibrio vulnificus that is able to cause infection from their reduced immune function caused by cirrhosis. A healthy body weight should be maintained by watching protein and calorie intake. Proteins should come from plant sources because meat sources are hard for the liver to filter. Following the proper diet therapy as well as taking prescribed medications people with cirrhosis will be able to manage their disease.

Hope Lovvorn, Carolina Taquechel and Cassidy Mehr, "Diverticular Disease"

Diverticular disease consists of three conditions: diverticulosis, diverticular bleeding, and diverticulitis. Diverticulosis is the formation of numerous tiny pockets (diverticula) in the lining of the bowel. The diverticula are most common in the lower portion of the large intestine (sigmoid colon). Diverticular bleeding occurs when small blood vessels adjacent to the diverticula are injured. Diverticulitis occurs when there is inflammation and infection in one or more diverticula. The pathophysiology of diverticular disease is multi-factorial because this disease includes genetics and environmental factors. It is considered to be a fiber deficiency, and typically patients do not experience symptoms. Serious complications can lead to peritonitis, which may be fatal. A high fiber diet is will be recommended as a preventative factor and typical diet therapy for a patient. A meal that will be recommended for a patient consists of high fiber, while avoiding red meats as a source of protein. Additional factors that may affect the disease and its severity include vitamin D levels, obesity, physical activity, and genetics. More research is needed to see exactly how these factors affect the disease. With proper nutritional management, colonoscopy check-ups, the use of antibiotics, and surgery, patients can prevent and even recover from diverticular disease.