Organizational Resilience: Three Science Museums’ Responses to COVID-19

When faced with unexpected challenges, nonprofit organizations must demonstrate organizational resilience, which refers to an organization’s ability to respond and adapt to disruptive change while maintaining its identity and functionality. While the study of nonprofit resiliency tactics and their effectiveness is increasingly popular, there is a gap in the literature about the ways museums specifically react in times of crisis. Using the nonprofit framework given by Searing et al., this study aims to identify the resiliency tactics used by three science museums during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings suggest that museums should exercise careful financial and strategic planning, develop cohesive teams through communication and transparent conversations, and embrace innovation and collaboration

Reluctant Father of the Bill of Rights: The Evolution of James Madison's Stance on Amendments to the Constitution

The United States Bill of Rights serves as the foundation of freedom and liberty in American society today, and it has remained a highly respected standard throughout the nation’s history. When examining its origin, James Madison was the strongest advocate who ensured these protections would be enshrined in the Constitution to safeguard the civil liberties of the American people. Initially, Madison was not in favor of adding these amendments to the Constitution, but with time, he became not only the Father of the Constitution, but also the chief architect of the Bill of Rights. Regardless of the true motive for his mind change, without Madison’s dedication to drafting and introducing the amendments to his fellow members of the House of Representatives, the Bill of Rights may have never made it past the First Session of Congress. This thesis will explore Madison’s changing opinion on amendments, and it will also discuss the many challenges he faced to get these additions incorporated into the United States Constitution

Violence Against Native American Women and Jurisdictional Barriers to Justice

Native American women are twice as likely to be sexually assaulted than women of other racial groups. This paper explores how America’s history of colonization and a series of United States legislative and judicial decisions allowed for this atrocity. Indian Country has been particularly affected by a stripping of tribal sovereignty and an inability to try non-tribal members for major crimes, of which sexual assault is included. The discussion then turns to recent legislative attempts to close jurisdictional gaps and restore tribal justice. These policies represent an important step forward but fail to eradicate the issue. Suggestions for future congressional responses to violence against women are offered at the conclusion of this thesis. Additionally, alternative methods of justice which may be employed by tribes that lack jurisdiction are presented

Defining Our Enemies: Hollywood's Response to the Cold War and 9/11

At some point in our lives, we have all experienced the “magic of the movies.” Films have a unique power to tell stories that take their audience far beyond reality. However, storytelling also has the power to convey thoughts and feelings about the world in which we live. History and film are inextricably linked in forming our culture. Films provide a forum for discussing ideas while also creating a legacy that will shape the collective memory of future generations. In this thesis, I evaluate two critical periods of United States history and some of the popular films that provided commentary on these events. During the end of the Cold War and after 9/11, conversations surrounding the nature of patriotism, militarism, and sources of fear permeated America. I recount the historical context of two decades, the 1980s and 2000s, in order to contextualize these conversations. With this backdrop, I identify major themes in science fiction, action, and adventure films that provide insight into Hollywood’s perceptions of the greatest threats facing American society. Ultimately, I present the thematic differences between a focus in the 1980s on external threats to the American way of life and a focus in the 2000s on internal threats reflecting corruption in the American way of life

Characterization of electronic cigarette liquid ingredients using combinatorial techniques: Solubility of chemicals used in formulations is critical to the study of health effects

The use of electronic cigarettes (a.k.a. the act of ‘vaping’) is considered an alternative method for nicotine uptake compared to traditional cigarettes. ‘E-cigarettes’ are battery powered devices that allow users to heat an ‘e-liquid’ into an aerosol, which is then inhaled. E-liquids or ‘e-juices’ are composed of an active ingredient (e.g., nicotine), solvents, water, and flavoring additives. Due to the variety among composition, it is difficult to study the physicochemical characteristics of all ingredients present in the native e-liquid as well as emissions formed in the heating processes. It is hypothesized that some ingredients, as well as degradants of vaped e-liquids, are cytotoxic. Before cytotoxicity can be measured, however, the solubility of each ingredient and ingredient mixtures ought to be systematically assessed to aid in health effects testing and used to predict potency. The purpose of this project is to provide solubility assessments of e-liquid binary mixtures containing prevalent diluents and flavoring additives. The following three steps were used in the experimental design: (1) literature review of the current knowledge of e-liquid toxicity, (2) miscibility assessment of binary mixtures of three common flavoring additives, and (3) preliminary characterization of e-liquid formulations with recommendations for future work. Results indicated that binary mixtures dissolved more readily in reverse osmosis (RO) water than in cell culture media. Miscibility decreased as a result of increasing flavoring additive concentration regardless of dilution in RO water or cell culture media. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)spectroscopy showed minor spectral changes indicating possible degradant formation when comparing native versus heated samples. In the near future, aerosolized samples should be collected and analyzed via mass spectrometry

Christian Physicalism: A Theological Examination of the Mind-Body Problem

The mind-body problem is a puzzle that philosophers, theologians, and scientists have debated for years, leading to various different ontological doctrines. Two of these doctrines, Physicalism and Dualism, have been at the forefront of Christian thought for the past century. Despite centuries of dualistic influence on Western culture, new discoveries in the field of neuroscience have led to a shift towards Physicalism. Christians now must critically evaluate whether Physicalism is compatible with a Christian worldview. By examining the evidence for Physicalism and Dualism, this thesis determines that it is possible for a Christian to be either a Physicalist or a Dualist, while also providing an additional tool to examine these philosophies: Christological anthropology. Using the writings of Vladimir Lossky, supplemented by Rowan Williams, this thesis examines the tools provided by this comprehensive Christological anthropology in order to help Christians take an informed position on the mind-body problem

Fine-Tuning in Light of Multiverse Confirmation

Fine-tuning for life is extraordinarily unlikely given random chance but substantially more likely given the existence of a God. The fine-tuning argument framed in Bayesian probability, claims that because fine-tuning for life is more likely given the existence of God, the existence of God receives relative confirmation over atheism. The multiverse theory decreases the strength of the fine-tuning argument for the existence of God by explaining the unlikely evidence of fine-tuning. Hacking (1987) and White (2000) responded to the multiverse objection by claiming that confirmation for the multiverse theory was an inverse gambler’s fallacy. Isaacs, Hawthorne, and Russell (2022) respond to Hacking and White and offer a compelling argument that fine-tuning for life provides relative confirmation for a multiverse given any standard method for updating priors on self-locating evidence. In this paper, I show that fine-tuning still provides relative confirmation for theism over single universe atheism. Furthermore, I show that under at least one of the leading theories of self-locating epistemology, fine- tuning in multiple universe atheism also confirms a massive sprawling multiverse that introduces skeptical concerns for atheism

Ca2+ Dysregulation Affects Mitochondrial Morphology in Outer Hair Cells

      The normal function of outer hair cells (OHCs) of the cochlea requires a delicate regulation of calcium (Ca2+). Prolonged excessive noise and aging can disrupt this regulation and result in oxidative stress. Oncomodulin (OCM) is the prevalent calcium-binding protein in mammalian cochleae and its presence may moderate the damage caused by injurious stimuli, such as noise. Mitochondria play a central role in oxidative stress and can show signs of stress through changes in their dynamic morphology (size and shape). We hypothesize that a lack of OCM or noise exposure results in distinct changes to the mitochondrial networks of OHCs which may contribute to their dysfunction prior to cell death. To test this, distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) assays on wildtype mice and mice lacking OCM were performed to assess hearing ability. Immunofluorescence was performed on cochlear sections to label mitochondria and OHCs for morphology analysis using the Imaris program. Results from these preliminary experiments show that OHCs from mice exposed to noise or lacking OCM exhibit increased hearing thresholds and distinct changes in the mitochondrial morphology of their outer hair cells

An Analysis of Patient Satisfaction in Religiously-affiliated Versus Non-Religiously-affiliated Hospitals

Despite a decline in funding there has been an increase in the percentage of hospitals with religious affiliation in the United States. However, there have been no studies to investigate the relationship between religious affiliation and patient satisfaction. The intent of this paper is to analyze patient satisfaction scores of various ownership groups to discern what implications might exist for healthcare professionals. To answer this question, I looked at four different ownership groups: Religious Non-Profit, Governmental, Proprietary (for-profit), and Non-Profit Other. This study utilizes data from the Definitive Healthcare data set which includes nine different Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores. Because of the possibility of covariates impacting these HCAHPS scores it was necessary to isolate the impact of the ownership variable on the dependent variables, so we utilized the statistical method of propensity score weighting. Following the propensity score weighting, a linear regression was run to determine the influence of the ownership variable on HCAHPS scores. We found that Proprietary hospitals performed worse on average in the HCAHPS summary scores in both a statistically significant and meaningfully large way. These findings suggest that on average Religious Non-Profit hospitals showed higher patient satisfaction than Proprietary hospitals

The United States Opioid Crisis: A Bioethical Review of Policy from Two Perspectives with a Consideration of Opioid Use Among Pregnant Women

The United States has experienced a public health crisis in which opioid use, dependency, and overdoses have led to social strain and economic loss, leading to a developing body of research that looks into how to address the issue. In this response, there have been developments in treatment methodology as well as policies enacted in attempts to ameliorate the effects of the crisis. This thesis provides a history of the opioid crisis and pain management perspectives, taking a particular look at the intersection of opioid use among pregnant women. What follows is a bioethical review of policy from two frameworks: principlism and Catholic bioethics. Principlism appeals to the bioethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and respect for autonomy. The Catholic bioethics framework uses concepts of participation in change and common good bioethics, as described by Catholic ethicist Lisa Sowle Cahill. The final part of this work weaves together considerations from both frameworks to set out ethical criteria that could shape future policy and research on opioids and pregnancy. These evaluative criteria are aimed at offering a positive proposal for future change, with special consideration of how to protect pregnant women experiencing opioid dependence