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Vitamin D Clinical Relevance In The Recovery From Traumatic Brain Injury Among The Military Population, Yuisa M. Colón

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) still remains a difficult disorder to treat. TBI has been associated to chronic neuroinflammation and a high risk for neurodegenerative disorders. Since 2001 between ten to twenty percent of all deployed military members have suffered a combat-related TBI. Nearly twenty to thirty percent of those will experience chronic cognitive, behavioral and somatic symptoms after suffering a TBI.
Methods: The objective of this review is to evaluate current literature examining vitamin D as a neurosteroid with protective properties and its clinical relevance after traumatic brain injury. Vitamin D is known to participate in neurobiological …

Case-Specific Counterterrorism Policies For Islamic Fundamentalist Groups, Jessica L. Shoemaker

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Since 9/11, counterterrorism policies have been one of the crucial policy issues facing the United States. After the attacks on the United States, counterterrorism in this country transformed. Fifteen years later, counterterrorism is typically organized as a one-size fits all approach. This approach generalizes all terrorist threats, trying to target terrorism as a whole. This thesis explains how this is an improper approach to counterterrorism. Instead, policies should be case-specific and created in regards to the specific characteristics embodied by each terrorist organization. These characteristics include history and ideology, organizational and leadership structure, finances, and tactics and targets. These characteristics …

Forced Motherhood? An Ethnographic Study On State Gender Expectations In Nicaragua, Mikaela M. Mendoza-Cardenal

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The dominant Sandinista party discourse of Nicaragua designates the family as the country’s base social institution, but the prevailing machismo threatens the family’s structure. Men - fathers - leave, either literally as migrant laborers or in the abandonment of their family responsibilities. In order to counteract the men’s socially sanctioned absence, the state deploys a hegemonic expectation of motherhood in the passage of its complete abortion ban, one of the strictest in the world. All forms of abortion, including saving the life of the mother, are banned in Nicaragua and both doctors and women are heavily penalized if an abortion …

Regional Political Power In Florida, Bradley J. Caouette

Honors Undergraduate Theses

According to well-known political science professors in Florida universities, the only constitutional mandate to which the Florida Legislature must adhere is to pass a balanced budget (MacManus, Jewett, Bonanza, & Dye, 2015, p. 184). The process begins with each of Florida’s state agencies crafting their individual budgets almost as soon as the new budget year takes effect (July 1). These budgets are submitted to the Governor’s office where they are reviewed by staff and then ultimately submitted to the legislature (p. 243). During the budget process, legislators are careful to ensure that they procure state dollars, oftentimes referred to as …

Individual Differences In Eyewitness Testimony, Noel A. Cal

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Eyewitness testimony plays a crucial role in the justice system. Misidentification from eyewitnesses was reported in 70% of 300 DNA exonerations of wrongfully convicted individuals (Wixted et al., 2015). Similarly, many convicts can also be set free because of juror’s faulty eyewitness recall during examination. Previous research indicated that females are more reliable in recall than men. However, these findings were not extensively examined with regards to time delay prior to the trial. Thus, it is important to systematically examine the various factors that influence eyewitness testimony.

The present study was designed to empirically examine the effects of gender, interview …

Is The Doctor In? The Effects Of Emigration On The Health Care Systems In Poland And Romania, Gabriela B. Wolk

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The “brain drain” phenomenon encompasses the mass movement of highly educated individuals. Highly-skilled and well-educated migrants are moving to more developed and urban settings, often in search of a higher standard of living and better wages. Since joining the European Union and the Schengen Agreement, Poland and Romania have experienced significant emigration which has subsequently affected their health care systems. Motivations for emigrating from these two countries and the effects emigration has had on patients and other doctors will be considered. The paper also seeks to compare policy responses to the mass medical emigration phenomenon in both countries, as well …

Early Intervention Systems: An Evaluative Review Of Their History And Use, Matthew A. Ceriale

Honors Undergraduate Theses

It is the intention of this thesis to effectively describe what is known about EI systems to date. Many sources of information are used, beginning with peer reviewed journals such as Justice Quarterly, Police Quarterly, Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Police and Society and The American Journal of Criminal Justice. Also reports from criminal justice research affiliates will be used like the National Institute of Justice and the National Criminal Justice Reference Service. This thesis will work towards creating a comprehensive outline of the history of EI and future possibilities. With the …

American Agribusiness & Biotechnology: A New Era Of Farming, Nicole M. Ryan

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In the past fifty years there has been an incredible amount of change made to the agrarian system of the United States. New discoveries in the realm of biotechnology led to the adoption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture, and transformed the industry. Due to regulatory policies set during the nineteen-eighties this technology was able to benefit from widespread commercialization.

Today, we see the effects of this approach and are entering into a highly volatile political climate in regard to GMOs. This paper aims to provide an analysis of the regulatory system in place and the discrepancies that exist …