Digital Commons Network^™

Reshaping The United States' Anti-Trafficking Legislation: The Need For Uniform Reporting And Victim Rehabilitation, Bryant Cross

Honors Theses

Trafficking in persons—or “human trafficking”—is a prevalent issue in the United States in the twenty-first century. Since the turn of the century, awareness surrounding the national and international problem of human trafficking has gradually risen. This rise in awareness came hand-in-hand with Congressional efforts to combat the trafficking of human beings through federal law—namely, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 and its subsequent reauthorizations. Unfortunately, federal legislators’ initial framing of the trafficking in persons problem as an international issue—rather than a national issue—led to the creation of a weak legislative foundation for anti-trafficking efforts in the United States. …

Electrodermal Activity During Dissonant Music In Musicians And Non-Musicians, Joshua Chapin

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the subjective emotional and physiological responses to consonant and dissonant music excerpts in musicians and non-musicians. Participants were assigned to one of two groups, high experience (HE) or low experience (LE) based on their level of music experience and education. Participants from both groups listened to the same set of randomized musical excerpts half of which were consonant and half of which were dissonant. Participants self-reported ratings of perceived pleasantness, as well as Electromyography (EMG) and Electrodermal Activity (EDA) data were collected. Average Skin Conductance Responses (SCR) were averaged over all trials …

The Use Of Music Therapy Towards Social Development In Children With Disabilities: A Rapid Review, Yuanyuan Bai

Masters Theses

Across the world, many music therapists serve children with disabilities in private practice and school settings. Although some clinical research for music therapy as a validated approach to facilitate social deficits is available, it is still limited. This study is focused on a rapid review of using music therapy towards social development in children with disabilities. Also explored is the researcher’s self-awareness of what was learned from the study and how these lessons may be transferred to future clinical work. The study's findings may also help music therapy professionals better understand (a) what aspects of social behavior music therapists tend …

Potential Implications For Music Therapy On Nursing Assessment Of Patients With Dementia In Hospice, Kamilla Akmuradova

Masters Theses

Patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) display symptoms that cause disturbances in memory, learning, language, motor ability, and behavior. Hospice medical professionals frequently experience difficulty when performing any treatment physical in nature, such as conducting a physical assessment, changing a wound dressing and wound care, and administering medications, since patients with (AD) often exhibit symptoms of agitation, anxiety, and combative behaviors before and during procedures. In addition, complex communication and cognitive impairments cause challenges with assessment and intervention planning. Music as a complex auditory modality can enhance state of alertness, physical movement, facial expressions, physiological responses (e.g., heart rate), and communication …

Reconsidering ‘Soul And Body Ii’: Who Is Culpable For Their Combined Fate?, Sarah Jaran

Masters Theses

Soul and Body II has been considered for many years by scholars to be a less doctrinally complex poem compared to later versions of the topos. Superficially, the poem seems to blame the body fully for the shared doomed fate of the body and soul because the majority of the poem is a speech by the soul claiming that much. I propose in this study, however, that the poet created a dual message for the audience of Soul and Body II. While the easy and more superficial message is that the body is at fault for the damnation of …

“Called Forth By Imminent Dangers”: The American Gothic In Mysteries Of Detection And Detective Fiction (1799-1929), Keli Masten

Dissertations

The period from 1799 through 1929 marks a remarkable era of development for gothic themes in American mystery and investigative fiction. From early “mysteries of detection” through more structurally formalized detective stories, this project examines the differences in the gothic modes and devices employed by Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Allan Poe, Anna Katharine Green, Mark Twain, and Dashiell Hammett, and their significant contributions to the progression of the popular gothic detective genre. Through the study of each author’s specific style and focus, there is much to learn about literary development and cultural influence. All of the authors mentioned here address …

Karczma/Taberna: Public Houses In Cracow During The Jagiellonian Dynasty, Peter Paul Dobek

Dissertations

Public houses—inns, taverns, and alehouses—during the Jagiellonian Dynasty (1385-1572) in the city of Cracow and its immediate surroundings functioned as important establishments in the everyday life of the city. While the city continued to grow and prosper as the preferred residence of the dynasty, inhabitants, travelers, and migrants increasingly relied on the public houses of the conurbation to meet their many needs and desires. Although scholars have studied these establishments throughout Europe during various epochs, they have neglected to analyze the public houses in Cracow during the Jagiellonian era.

This study provides a comprehensive examination of a multitude of sources, …

Monkey Mind: Everyday Observations Of Mental Illness, Mikhayla Dunaj

Honors Theses

When I first was able to identify that I dealt with anxiety, I was 18 years old. At the time, I didn’t know how to explain it, and assumed it was only because I was in an unhealthy relationship, after already having been in an abusive one. At the end of my third year at Western Michigan University, I suffered a mental breakdown and started counseling.

The process of counseling was difficult, because as I opened up more, I realized that I had spent a majority of my life stuffing down things that were actually anxiety symptoms, assuming that it …

A Performance Of Classical Trombone, Benjamin Hahn

Honors Theses

No abstract available

The Meaning Of The Civil War In Northern Religious Periodicals, 1865-1877, Jeffrey Mark Charles Joslin

Masters Theses

The American Civil War had a profound effect on the minds of religious northerners during the Reconstruction Era that followed the war. Through church periodicals, members of the Methodist, African Methodist Episcopal, and Seventh-day Adventist churches demonstrated and expounded the various meanings they understood the war to contain. This thesis examines each denomination‘s flagship newspaper in order to categorize, describe, and contextualize the major themes of meaning attributed to the war within each church. The major themes that emerge closely reflect each church‘s sense of identity and purpose, such as viewing the war as punishment from God, purification in creating …

A Kingdom Of Co-Inherence: Christian Theology And The Laws Of King Magnus The Lawmender Of Norway, 1261-1281, Dillon Richard Frank Knackstedt

Masters Theses

This thesis explains a new interpretation of the law books written during the reign of King Magnus the Lawmender of Norway (1239-1280, crowned 1261, r.1263-1280). In the process it also teases out common themes in Norway’s early histories, Iceland’s early laws, and biblical exegesis and re-writes much of what is assumed about “church” and “state” in this era, beginning at Magnus’ coronation and ending with the fraught year following his death, 1281.

According to the new interpretation explored in these four chapters, the laws of Magnus the Lawmender were not an attempt at royal legitimization of the king’s exclusive right …

The Boundaries Of Modern Jazz Composition: Interaction Between Tango And Jazz Music, Evgeniya Kozhevnikova

Masters Theses

The history of jazz music is not very long in comparison to the history of music in general – from the end of the 19th century until present. This period, however, is very dense in terms of musical influences and became especially denser recently because of globalization.

Several researchers explored the jazz influences in the music of Astor Piazzolla, whom renovated traditional tango. While Piazzolla is considered a tango composer, some jazz bands use Piazzolla’s music as jazz standards and create compositions with traditional elements of jazz, such as improvisation. There are also composers influenced by tango music who write …

Deep Imprints 20th-Century Media Stereotypes Towards East Asian Immigrants And The Development Of A Pan-Ethnic East-Asian-American Identity, Christopher Maiytt

Masters Theses

Existing scholarship on ethnic representation in the American film industry most prominently features Black and Latinx subject matters, with little attention devoted to Asian American depictions. In contrast, this study tracks the use of persistent stereotypes in the American film industry directed at East-Asian immigrants and the influence American racism in popular media has on the emergence of a Pan-ethnic East-Asian American identity. The first appearance of a cooperative Pan-ethnic minority group materializes during the Yellow Power Movement of the 1960s, which is followed by the emergence of East-Asian film direction en force. Analysis of these films and in the …

Aristocratic Women’S Kinship Ties In Twelfth- And Thirteenth-Century Flanders And Champagne, Sydne Reid Johnson

Masters Theses

Georges Duby pioneered the study of family and marriage in medieval France, but his models for family and marriage have since either been accepted or rejected. I take a middle approach in that some models still are applicable to describing marriage and family, while others require reevaluation. Duby argued that during this period women were treated with suspicion in their husband’s households, marriage was essential for the future of both families, and that family connections were deteriorating. In this thesis, I will explore family ties within the kinship network of the aristocracy of Flanders and Champagne in the twelfth and …

Repression And Resistance: A Social History Of The Gay Social Movement Of Tijuana, México 1980-1993, Jesse Anguiano

Dissertations

Social movements are shaped by the historical context in which they emerge and provide a window to understand how collective action develops. The literature on social movements suggests that macro factors such as political climate and dominant social scripts affect the direction of a social movement. However, examining solely the macro perspectives on a movement reveals only part of how and why groups mobilize. This dissertation uses historical and archival resources to document the social history of Gay men living in Tijuana, México. This research is guided by a main research question: What explains the successful and ongoing mobilization of …

Curtis Otto Bismarck Curtis-Smith, Hollis Claire Wittman

Masters Theses

Curtis Otto Bismarck Curtis-Smith, composer and pianist, spent the majority of his career serving the community at Western Michigan University. His development of the bowed piano technique contributed significantly to the course of music in the late twentieth century; his prolific compositions stand on their own artistic merit. This document attempts to provide a summation of the composer’s life, particularly in regard to his compositional activity. The first section, a biography, discusses Curtis-Smith’s life and the changes to his compositional style over his lifetime. Next, a catalog of works details the available information about the many pieces written by the …

The Relationship Of An Ipad, A Video Magnifier, And Large Print Text With Oral Reading Outcomes For Children With Low Vision, Rosemary L. Nave Stawasz

Dissertations

Low vision may cause a decrease in visual performance and interfere with daily functioning, especially reading print or text materials. Reading standard text can be particularly challenging for students with low vision in an educational setting and can reduce oral reading rates. Students with low vision may use large print or low vision devices for reading. Limited evidence currently exists to compare oral reading outcomes across various reading media for children with low vision.

The purpose of this exploratory project was to examine oral reading rate, fluency, and comprehension among children with low vision when using an iPad, a video …

Playing Merlin: Authorship From Geoffrey Of Monmouth To Neomedievalisms, Keith Russo

Dissertations

The twenty-first century is the age of new media for old stories. Just as film, television, and print have adapted medieval literature into movies like Excalibur and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, video games have produced new versions of Arthurian tales whose mysterious origins blur the distinction between history and myth. Many academics are concerned with the authenticity of the various representations of the Middle Ages and the “historical” Arthur and Merlin and label any postmedieval adaptation as an “anachronistic” medievalism. However, electronic texts have provided a different focus: studying the multiplicity of rewritings of those names through …

Poster, Expanded, Lynnae Strait

Honors Theses

The poster is a fundamental part of graphic design that has existed since the 1800s. Throughout the years, its purposes and aesthetics have changed, but its format has adapted very little. This thesis project sought to define the traditional format of the poster, and then challenge the definition to expand the audience’s understanding of what a poster is and isn’t. This project’s primary goal was not to create aesthetically unique poster, but to create a poster that redefined the format—which would likely result in the achievement of the former goal as well.

The definition was derived by viewing and understanding …

United Families Through Interior Design, Marissa Heintz

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the current problems and support systems within the foster care system and how it could be improved upon. It studies the removal process of children from a hurtful home, the common reasons for placement within foster care, what some of the major problems within foster care are based surveys and existing research. Furthermore, this study seeks to understand the different perspectives of those involved in foster care including; biological parents, foster parents, children and social care workers. In order to better understand what would be best for all of the people involved, research also explores the effects …

Re-Purposing A Dead Mall Into An Art And Innovation Center, Veronika Gaska

Honors Theses

Many years ago, when the shopping industry was booming, shopping malls were being built one after another—more than were needed to support the population. They served as a hub for all kinds of people. But with time, the focus of the retail industry shifted to the convenience of online buying instead of in-store, which contributed in the lack of demand for retail stores, running them into the ground, and leaving the malls empty. Approximately 1/3 of the 1,200 malls in America are dead or dying. With malls emptying out, the future of these buildings comes into question. Either they need …

Benefits Of Doodling, Olivia Bevacqua

Honors Theses

Hello, my name is Olivia Bevacqua and my thesis is on the benefits of doodling. Doodling is something that’s really important to me as an artist and a human. I doodled growing up at lot, especially in high school. It’s something that I often do when I’m bored or when I need something to ground myself during lectures.

Growing up and into adulthood, doodling is seen as a frivolous act. Multiple studies have proven that doodling can be beneficial in many ways including relaxation, focus, and information retention. For these reasons among others, discouraging doodling during development and into adulthood …

Screaming, Humming: A Look Into Student Theatrical Direction And The Importance Of Queer Narratives On Stage And In The Rehearsal Room, Kropveld Danielle

Honors Theses

There is a large lack of discussion and writing concerning the intersections of queer theory, theatre as an art form, and student direction. My thesis attempts to add to this small amount of work. Using historical evidence, I define radical queer theory and its implications for art. I contextualize my own work in the rehearsal room with the piece Screaming, Humming by Hannah Manikowski with this framework, and speak to my experience of casting and rehearsal.

As a student director whose acting collaborators are also students, there are additional considerations to be taken into account. This experience also serves as …

Cloud Tectonics: A Footlight 2 Production, Cal Kreiner

Honors Theses

The purpose of “Cloud Tectonics: A Footlight 2 Production,” was to produce a full length, professional production of Jose Rivera’s one-act play, Cloud Tectonics, part of which includes the creation of a professional grade directorial book detailing the process and thought that went into the staging of the show. Because of copyright and other legalities, the directorial book without the annotated script is all that can be included in Scholarworks; however, in the book you’ll find a thorough analytical examination of the playwright’s dramaturgical choices, their intended impact, and how the director interpreted and expressed those concepts in the …

The Laureate, Hannah Ryder

Honors Theses

In its eighteenth edition, the only undergraduate literary journal on Western Michigan University’s campus returns with more phenomenal student creations. The Laureate, led this year by senior Hannah Ryder, compiles fiction, non-fiction, plays, poetry, art, and photographs to provide a yearly snapshot of the best work from the university’s brightest individuals. Inside, the pieces explore not only what it means to be an individual, but how different surroundings and influences shape characters and experiences. The journal kicks off with a photograph staring up at a golden-leafed tree, representing both hopefulness and light. It then moves quickly and seamlessly through a …

Mal_Functions For String Quartet And Live Electronics, Elliott Andrew Lupp

Masters Theses

Mal_Functions is a four-movement work for string quartet and live electronic that takes as its subject the timbrally rich and expansive acoustic capabilities of a string quartet and twists, warps, and expands upon them with the addition of the live electronic processing. The addition of electronics acts as only an extension of the performer, and therefore, appears to be generated by the performers themselves - as opposed to the computer. The overall goal of this piece is to take a well-established object of the musical past (the string quartet) and add to it something from the present day (live electronic …

Bones, Holly Palmer

Honors Theses

For my thesis I am using all of the technique I acquired in my oil painting class, as well as my past three life drawing classes. Working with oils allows me to achieve smooth color gradients and rich pigments. Life drawing taught me to understand ratios between different parts of a subject as well as the relationship between it and its negative space. By using all of these techniques I am working to create the most accurate representation of the pieces as possible. I am painting a series of bones floating on the canvases over different tones, allowing each one …

The Caregiver: A Play Script To Raise Awareness Of The Caregivers Of Alzheimer's Patients, Sarah Stiner

Honors Theses

Inspired by true events that are happening every day, The Caregiver shows glimpses into the life a woman who is caring for her husband, who has been diagnosed with Early-Onset Alzheimer’s. Follow the woman, her husband, and her daughter as they search for answers and experience the emotional rollercoaster of living with this disease. There is sadness, confusion, frustration, but also joy, hope, and love in a story which explores how much care we all truly need, wherever we are in life.

Stigma Mitigation Through Fine Arts, Kendall Owens

Honors Theses

Social stigma has plagued our society for centuries. It isolates groups of people based on erroneously defined characteristics causing stigmatized persons to be viewed as socially “abnormal”. This debarment from full social acceptance results in poor population health and well-being. Fine arts have been an integral component of society since the beginning of civilization; current and past research have found involvement in fine arts to improve health and well-being in many ways. In this project, relevant studies related to stigma, fine arts, and population health will be reviewed to support the argument that “fine arts combat and mitigate the …

Point Of Contact, Melina Wilcox

Honors Theses

Dance exists as an expression which originates in the body. This work derives from contact improvisation: a nonverbal conversation wherein each partner concentrates completely on the other, dialoging through touch. At this point of contact, a mark is made.

In life, scars blemish our skin and serve as indications of previous touch. Here, pigments interrupt skin—performer, sculpture, gallery wall, or otherwise—and document the interaction between two bodies.

Our bodies are vehicles for communication. Through tactile interaction and spatial relationships, we understand each other in ways beyond words. Our innate intelligence and intuition arise from a lifetime of moving through space …