Every day, the earth’s oceans are being destroyed. Pollution, fishing, sonar, and many other man-made factors have caused detrimental effects to the most crucial of the ocean’s ecosystems. While more individuals are becoming aware of these problems, additional support is needed to help protect the ocean’s many unique creatures. The purpose of this honors thesis exhibition is to continue to shine light on human negligence towards threatened ocean creatures. The three artworks in this thesis show the descent of diversity and life of these marine creatures over time. By showcasing the different ways in which whales, rays, and corals have been affected by human impact, this thesis and subsequent art pieces will help to continue to enhance one’s understanding of the importance of marine conservation.

Insects are able to navigate their environments because they can detect hydrocarbons and volatile odors, but it is not clear which one has the fastest reaction when detected, or how much of a response can be produced due to either one. In order to determine which category of odorant is detected first as well as which one causes the highest response rate, data on electrophysiological responses from ants was analyzed. While the statistical tests can be done to understand and answer the questions raised by the study, there are various hydrocarbons and volatile odors that were not used in the data. Conclusive evidence only applies to the odorants used in the experiments.

The objective of this thesis is to address, study and evaluate the current Veteran suicide epidemic and discuss current initiatives and recommended reforms to decrease Veteran suicide rates across the nation. This thesis holistically demonstrates the significance of this issue with presenting and analyzing extensive recent data and information gathered from military reports. Next, this thesis assesses federal policies and programs along with statewide suicide prevention efforts created to mitigate this issue, including unique anecdotal evidence and observed data. In order to illustrate the nature and efficacy of current suicide prevention measures, this thesis carefully relies on information from diverse primary sources, examining stories, claims, and perspectives from state Veterans-affiliated leadership, some of whom are former service-members themselves. To comprehensively unite these various state profiles and perspectives, this thesis conducts careful theme-based analysis, studying and dissecting each state using a uniform set of themes. Finally, this thesis proposes thoughtful and evidence-based recommendations for future efforts to further decrease Veteran suicides, offering insights for key changes to important processes and federal reporting as well as suggestions for the implementation of specialized prevention efforts on a nationwide scale with the goal of promoting the welfare of our nation’s former service members.

In order to determine whether the spatial organization of FRCs and their expression of maturation markers (such as Ltbr) are altered with age, I performed immunofluorescence on frozen and cryosectioned whole lymph nodes from young and aged mice. My second aim was to perform RT-qPCR and flow cytometry in order to determine whether FRCs from aged mice have altered expression of maturation markers when compared to young mice. Thus, the goal of the honors thesis research was to determine whether lymph node FRCs in the aged mouse exhibit signs of impaired maturation in their protein and gene expression. As the immune system is profoundly impacted by aging, my project supports a cellular mechanism by which defects in aged tissues disrupt immune cell function. Therefore, understanding the age-associated decline in host defense could provide new avenues for the treatment of many diseases of which the elderly are most vulnerable, in particular re-emerging and novel pathological agents such as COVID-19.