The Honors College

The problem of resistance to β-lactam antibiotics has become widespread. When the antibiotics were first developed, most strains of bacteria were susceptible, but, due to over- prescription, many strains today have developed resistance. The aim of this project is to create sensing systems to monitor the hydrolysis of β-lactam antibiotics. These systems will utilize β-lactamase, a gene responsible for antibiotic resistance, and enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), a pH sensitive fluorescent protein.

This thesis examines the relatively new topic of biophilic design and its applications in modern urban environments with emphasis on street art. Through mass urbanization populations have been removed from the natural systems that humanity developed and evolved in; which creates a sense of placelessness. Biophilic design seeks to correct this problem by reconnecting those populations through reintroducing nature back into urban environments through cross-disciplinary applications.

Genschow, Reutner, and Wanke (2012) hypothesized that that the color red acts a situational cue, signaling “stop”, and would interfere with snack consumption when compared with other colors. Genschow et al. (2012) reported that participants ate fewer pretzels on red plates than on blue or white plates. This experiment was a replication of Genschow et al. (2012). Participants were told they were to engage in a taste discrimination task and sampled pretzels from either red, white, or blue plates.

Hagfishes are considered the most ancient of the extant jawless fishes, they are exclusively osmoconforming marine animals with most living at considerable depths, and are the only living vertebrates to maintain their plasma NaCl concentration almost iso-osmotic to that of seawater. Hagfishes feed on dead and decaying carcasses located on the sea floor, often invading the carcass via an orifice and eating their way out. In such circumstances hagfish can be exposed to extreme conditions including elevated ammonia concentrations.

Sugar, fat, and salt are the main ingredients the processed food industry relies on for appeal of their products, and the three main ingredients largely blamed for the rapidly declining health of Americans. The history of how these products evolved into what they are today, from the controversy and through the legal battles, is intriguing and provides the ever-changing perspectives of the American public. The characteristics of these chief components that make up processed foods seem irreplaceable and irresistible, much to the dismay of health advocates across the country.

The Appalachian region has a rich history of collaborative and community-based agricultural practices. This paper seeks to investigate the history of collaborative practices in agriculture in Southern Appalachia, in general, and more specifically in the High Country of North Carolina with an emphasis on Watauga County. I choose to focus on the High Country and Southern Appalachia, because of its agricultural economic history: coal mining and related heavy industries that continue to be important in Central Appalachia were never prominent in Southern Appalachia.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the relationship between ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) scales to intensity and fatigue as well as blood lactate concentrations during resistance exercise. Twelve male subjects (age: 21.4 ± 1.7 years, body mass: 77.6 ± 10.3 kg, height: 176.8 ± 4.8 cm, 1RM: 119.8 ± 22.7 kg) knowledgeable in resistance exercise performed 6 sets of traditional back squats at 3 different loads of their one-repetition max (1RM) (50%, 70%, and 90%) to volitional failure and to a predetermined number of repetitions (3).

This paper explores the current sustainability reporting and assurance practices in the United States, to provide recommendations for the future. The current reporting environment has many flaws, namely a lack of comparability and high information risk associated with sustainability reports resulting in reduced usefulness to company stakeholders. Nordic countries have had government regulation requiring sustainability reporting for several years and can be used as a basis for recommendations for the United States.

In Japan there is a conceptual split in the minds of the Japanese when it comes to nuclear energy. It is a country that experienced the devastation of nuclear weaponry in 1945, yet in 1966 Japan adopted nuclear power. Since then the country has depended on nuclear power to generate a significant portion of the country’s electricity. It is viewed as a sustainable energy source for a country with such an immense energy demand, since they lack in other natural energy resources.

The debate about tax fairness has a long and interesting history.  However, there has not been any effort to objectively quantify tax fairness from a comprehensive perspective.  This thesis will use the seven dimensions of tax equity and fairness established by the AICPA to analyze a comprehensive view of tax fairness in an effort to better understand the issues involved.  Additionally, it will seek to use this perspective to construct a measurement framework that can be applied to different tax systems.  For each dimension, a conceptual model for quantitatively evaluat