Wentz Research Scholars
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Item Investigating the relation between INI-1 and mononucleosome movement(Oklahoma State University, 2024) Maguire, Brianna; Sweeney, Bailey; Henry, Kayla; Rogers, LandonItem Wild whiches in Oklahoma! The use of connective which in Oklahoma English(Oklahoma State University, 2024) Dean, ChandlerHistorically, which is a relative pronoun; it not only connects two clauses, but also creates a gap that refers back to something in the main clause. However, speakers of British, Australian, and northeastern American English can use which forms that are only connective– they have no gap (Burke, 2015; Loock, 2007a; Loss & Wicklund, 2022; Loss, n.d.). For example, in the sentence from Loock’s (2007a: 75) work, “And she decided to move out which I think she’s crazy,” which has neither an antecedent nor a gap. Broader claims about the use of which in American English require data from other dialect regions. Oklahoma is a perfect candidate because it contains both Midland and Southern dialects. My research explores the use of which in Oklahoma English and compares it to Loss’s work on northeastern American English. To capture conversational Oklahoma English, I created an automated transcription of The Oklahoma Today Podcast and categorized each use of which as a relative pronoun or connective which. The corpus contains 85,431 words, and 156 instances of which. Of these, 15 (10%) are connective. This is comparable to Loss’s corpus in which 53 (15%) which are connective X2 (2, N = 474) = 2.7217, p = 0.098. The subdivision of the types of connective which in each corpus are also strikingly comparable, X2 (2, N = 67) = 1.6314, p = 0.44. This study suggest that Oklahoma podcast use of connective which is similar to NE American English podcast use of connective which and therefore could be a feature of general American English. We must study this construction in other American dialects.Item Children appear to influence TA eating habits, especially dietary quality(Oklahoma State University, 2024) Sampson, AnnaBeth; Sanchez Gonzalez, Pamela; Tuttle, BrookeBackground: Chronic diseases occur at higher rates among tactical athletes (TAs) than US averages. Chronic disease prevalence continues to rise despite existing nutrition interventions. Children have emerged as a possible influence on TA nutrition. Civilian studies reveal a bidirectional relationship such that parents and children influence one another’s eating habits. Because TAs have a rigorous schedule, it is suspected that they cater to children’s food preferences as compensation. Thus, the purpose was to determine whether children act as gatekeepers to TA eating habits and nutrition.Item Critical actors in subnational legislatures: A new frontier in women’s representation?(Oklahoma State University, 2023-04-27) Pritzlaff, RileyThis study examines women’s issues and critical actors in Republican-controlled and Democrat-controlled U.S. state legislatures by examining publicly available legislative data. I study individual authors as potential critical actors. Existing work in comparative politics finds that men are more likely to advocate for women’s issues as women’s presence increases, though there is less consensus regarding subnational critical actors. I contribute to this gap using 2020 legislative data from Oklahoma and Maryland. Oklahoma and Maryland are different in two key regards: Oklahoma’s legislature was made up of approximately 21.5% women as of 2020 and continues to be controlled by a Republican supermajority in both legislative chambers (as well as a Republican trifecta). Maryland, on the other hand, was made up of 38.8% women as of 2020 and was controlled by Democratic supermajorities in both legislative chambers (though Republicans controlled the governorship). Legislative data is gathered with Legiscan and analyzed using binary logistic regression. I propose two main hypotheses: H1: Women are more likely to introduce women’s issue legislation, but successful legislation is more likely to have a male author both in Oklahoma and Maryland. H2: Women’s issue bills are more likely to be authored by Democrats overall, but partisan patterns in success will arise in single-state analysis. I find that bill success largely depends on author party for the 2020 legislative session.Item Mother or womb? The portrayal of women as mothers in ancient near eastern texts(Oklahoma State University, 2023-04-27) Dean, ChandlerMany assumptions are made about the portrayal of women in the Bible, but what does the text actually portray them as, and how does this portrayal compare to the portrayal of women in other contemporary texts? This project shows that women in Ancient Near Eastern texts do not have personage until they bear a child, and even when they have borne a child, they don’t have any characteristics besides “wife” or “mother” and have no agency. In contrast, women in the Bible are portrayed as fully developed characters even before they have a child, and they have emotions, goals, and agency.