Georgic Rhetoric, Virtue And The Commercialization Of Agriculture In Pennsylvania From 1785 To 1870, Naomi Ulmer

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This research examines how farmers in Pennsylvania between 1785 and 1870 were persuaded by georgic agrarianism to take social, economic and even moral risks to abandon a semi-subsistence mode of production in favor of commercial production. The georgic rhetoric is derived from Virgil’s poem “The Georgics.” It discusses agriculture and man’s labor in nature. Virgil discusses the relationship between man, nature and his ability, or inability, to control nature to ensure his own survival. Beginning in the late 18^th century, supporters of improved agriculture, mostly wealthy and upper-class gentlemen, tried to persuade common yeomen farmers to produce for the …

Beethoven Symphony No.5 In C Minor, Op.67: Connecting Tonality To Tempo, Character, And Interpretation, Chyh Shen Low

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Abstract

Beethoven’s metronome markings aroused much controversy among musicologists and performing musicians. For Beethoven, tempo is a fundamental element of the music’s character. Beethoven included metronome markings in his music to communicate his ideas concerning tempi in a more specific manner. Ironically, his metronome markings are often ignored by many performers and conductors, as evidenced in the recordings and live performance reviews. There is a group of scholars and performers who tend to disregard Beethoven’s metronome markings, while another group believes they are sensible and workable.

This paper discusses the metronome markings and the Affective Key Characteristics in the music …

Leading From The Field: Funded International Nongovernmental Organizations And The Participatory Development Of Long-Term Impact Assessments, Geary A. Cox Ii

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Leaders of international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) must contend with multiple accountability regimes while balancing responsibilities to stakeholders. While many accountability mechanisms are donor-led, this study sought to understand the capacity that NGOs have as agents of change to influence measurement and evaluations activities. The study focused on NGO applications submitted to a donor-government during competitive award announcements for conventional weapons destruction activities.

Using a parallel convergent mixed methods approach, this study examined the ways in which NGO leaders develop their organizations’ capacity to implement long-term impact assessments. A direct entry logistic regression of applications showed evidence of organizational characteristics influencing …

Bridging The Gap: The Collaboration Of Mental Health Services And The Juvenile Justice System, Gregory Medley

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Abstract

This paper explore the mental health needs of juveniles in the juvenile justice system. The need for mental health services in detention centers has been identified consistently throughout the United States. It is clearly noted in research that meeting the needs of youth in local community detentions centers are inadequate. With 65% to 70% of youth in contact with juvenile justice system having a diagnosable mental health disorder; over 60% of youth with a mental health disorder also having a substance abuse disorder (Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Collaborative for Change, 2015). As a result, I have created a …

Analyzing Discourse Surrounding The George Morris Ban: An Ideological Critique Of Sexual Assault Culture In Sports, Megan Mcloughlin

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

On August 6^th, 2019 one of the biggest names in the equestrian community, George Morris, was barred from the sport for life based on sexual assault allegations. I have conducted a Social Constructionist discourse analysis of the online responses to this case. Overarching themes exposed flaws in the hegemonic ideals of both the sports world and American culture in its entirety. As the case continues to develop every day, I have adapted my research to reflect new findings and have found that Deflection, Bolstering, and Reflection have emerged as the major themes of this discourse. This method allowed …

Theatre As An Intervention For Empathy Development Among Undergraduate Students, Jonathan Stewart

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Empathy is the ability feel into, or put oneself in the place of another. It is the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes. Studies have shown that this ability is decreasing among today’s college students and on the rise as a desired trait for today’s leaders. This dilemma provides an interesting opportunity to explore how institutions of higher education can help develop the leaders of tomorrow by increasing empathy among students. Specifically, this research explores theatre as an intervention for empathy development among college students.

Theatre, as a program of study, is unique within the college experience in that …

Assessment Of Structural Competency In Baccalaureate Nursing Students: A Descriptive Study, Elle J. Del Gallo

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Cultural competence has been investigated extensively in nursing education to better prepare nurses to care for individuals of diverse backgrounds. While developing cultural competence is important to address individual care needs, it may not address the social and structural factors that influence health. Structural competency describes the ability to assess not only cultural factors that affect health disparities, but also structural inequalities and stigmas that can alter a patient’s presenting symptoms and risk for certain diseases.

Quantification Of Neuronal Specific Responses To Depletion Of The Nascent Polypeptide-Associated Complex In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Harrison Hall

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Cells experiencing misfolded protein stress can become debilitated and die, consistent with this stress being linked to numerous diseases. When misfolded proteins accumulate in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the unfolded protein response (UPR) initiates mechanisms that resolve this stress or trigger apoptosis, dependent on the severity and/or duration of the stress. The nascent polypeptide-associated complex (NAC) is a heterodimeric chaperone that mediates proper protein folding and localization during translation; depletion of the NAC promotes misfolded protein stress in the ER, resulting in the initiation of the UPR in affected cells. The relationship between the NAC and the UPR is not …

Do Faces Facilitate Or Distract Children From Attending To Threats?, Sarah A. Skidmore

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Threatening stimuli may produce an attentional bias in humans, capturing and holding attention to a greater extent than other types of stimuli. Humans rely on others to alert their attention to threats in their environment, and social stimuli, such as faces, have privileged processing compared to nonsocial stimuli. We wanted to explore whether task-irrelevant fearful or neutral faces facilitate, distract, or have no effect on the detection of threatening or neutral images (spiders and frogs, respectively). Three- to-five-year-old children (N=37) completed a visual search task in which they searched for threatening or neutral animals. Consistent with previous literature, we found …

Perceived Helicopter Parenting And Self-Determination Theory In Emerging Adulthood, Emily Hivick

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Self-determination theory encompasses three different elements, competence, autonomy and social belongingness (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Helicopter parenting is defined as extreme involvement in a child’s life to the point of making decisions for them while also being associated with high levels of parental support and high feelings of parental-child closeness (Padilla-Walker & Nelson, 2012). Research has shown that helicopter parenting has been associated with psychological and behavioral problems in young adults, (Odenweller, Booth-Butterfield, & Weber, 2014). The current study investigated the association between perceived helicopter parenting and self-determination theory components along with intrinsic motivation and academic and extracurricular engagement in …

A Bridge Between Earth & Sky: How The Natural World Shaped The Civilizations Of Ancient And Early-Modern Persia, Sophia Cabana

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This project seeks to investigate the ways in which nature shaped the culture of ancient Persia through technology, architecture, agriculture, and art. Furthermore, this project investigates how the symbols and mentalities of ancient Persia were carried forward into the early-modern period. Achaemenid Persia and Babylon are studied as societies which influenced one another and combined to create the foundation of Persian culture as it is currently understood, which then combined in later centuries with other Middle Eastern and Central Asian cultural movements to produce the Safavid and Mughal Empires. The Safavids and Mughals imitated and revived Persian culture in order …

How Does Access To Healthcare Affect Life Expectancy?, Yara Mahmoud

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Access to health care is a pressing issue in the United States, whether it be the cost of care or not having enough of it. To emphasize the importance of this topic, this paper assesses the impact of access to health services on life expectancy. A comparison is made between the universal health systems in France and Spain and the mixed system in the United States. Even though the United States spends the most on health care in the world, its statistics fall below those of other developed countries. After addressing other risk factors, it was found that individuals under …

The Effect Of An Acute Bout Of Exercise On Postprandial Metabolic Responses In Younger And Older Adults, Hannah Frick

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Over 370,000 Americans, primarily between the ages of 60 and 79, die annually as a result of cardiovascular disease caused by physical inactivity and a diet that is calorically dense and high in fat. Current findings in young and middle-aged adults suggest that acute exercise with energy expenditure in excess of 500 kcals, may attenuate the deleterious health effects caused by consuming the typical American meal. Purpose:The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of acute exercise and aging on postprandial lipemia (PPL) and postprandial glycemia (PPG). We hypothesized that aerobic exercise performed prior to the consumption …

Effects Of A 12-Week Vigorous Interval Training Intervention On Pro-Inflammatory Markers In Post-Operative Bariatric And Obese Participants, Brittany Rood

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Increase prevalence of cardiovascular and other chronic diseases linked to inflammation has led to research on pro-inflammatory cytokines, like tumor necrosis factor - alpha (TNF-α) and lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A₂ (Lp-PLA₂), in attempt to define the relationship between chronic disease, inflammation, and obesity. PURPOSE: Examine the effect of twelve weeks of vigorous intensity interval training on pro-inflammatory markers in post-operative bariatric and obese participants. METHODS: 9 post-operative bariatric individuals [1 man, 8 women; Body mass index (BMI) = 34.23 ± 2.54 kg/m²], 12 obese individuals [5 men, 7 women; BMI=35.77 ± 1.67 kg/m^{2 …}

Prohibition In Rockingham County: Exploring A Digital Archive, Craig Schaefer

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Prohibition in Rockingham County: Exploring a Digital Archive, is a digital prehistory thesis project that preserved and made select Prohibition-era records publicly available from the Rockingham County Courthouse. The records are now part of Exploring Rockingham’s Past (ERP), an ongoing collaboration between James Madison University’s (JMU) History Department, JMU Libraries, and the Rockingham County Circuit Court. These digital documents have been released into the public domain as keyword searchable and fully described PDFs at https://omeka.lib.jmu.edu/erp/. A digital exhibit is used to showcase the records: https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/prohibition/. The website introduces the reader to Prohibition but mainly strives to put the records …

Do Emg Monitoring And Amplitude Normalization Reduce Cvemp Variability In A Pediatric Population?, Brenna Murray

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Untreated balance disorders can cause anxiety, social withdrawal, and even slow motor development in children, making early and accurate diagnosis crucial to patient care. One of the leading tests for the diagnosis of balance disorders is known as the cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) test. The cVEMP test is the only clinically available tool that assesses the integrity of the organ of balance known as the saccule and its afferent pathway through the inferior vestibular nerve. The test is noninvasive and easy to administer, making patient diagnosis quick and effective rendering it crucial in the assessment of vestibular function …

Rhetoric And Ethics: A Burkean Analysis Of Modern Cult (And Anti-Cult) Tactics, Lydia Erickson

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Cults are a unique aspect of modern and past society, and their study is driven by questions of persuasion and communication. One of the key critiques against cults is their use of coercion and persuasive messaging to recruit new members. This study examines the rhetorical methods used by two groups labeled as cults, the Twelve Tribes and Full Circle, and the Cult Information Centre, an anti-cult group, on their public website domains. These specific groups were chosen because they are understudied and lesser-known with few publications about their practices. This study uses a traditional Burkean analysis of rhetorical methods through …

Jmu Campus Inclusivity Video Project, Meredith Grace Browder

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

After experiencing a general lack of knowledge at James Madison University (JMU) regarding inclusivity of students with varying abilities, I decided to find the best way to educate the JMU community on how to be more accommodating on campus. I surveyed students served by the Office of Disability Services in order to assess their concerns and needs. My survey data indicated that the students on campus with disabilities have felt isolated at JMU because of multiple factors including both student and faculty ignorance. After researching the significant role played by videos and social media in shaping public opinion, I used …

American And British Speech Differences In Low Socioeconomic Status Homes, Jennifer Markfeld

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Background: Infants living in low socioeconomic status (SES) homes display lower developmental functioning by 12 months than mid- and high-SES infants, and speak fewer words on average as they grow older. Maternal speech is especially important for language development and has been found to be the largest predictor of SES-related differences in children’s vocabulary. Although there are documented differences between British and American infant language development, for example American infant lexicons are typically larger than age matched British infants, there is little research looking at caregiver speech across these countries in low SES groups.

Method: This retrospective study compared 10 …

Environmental Monitoring Using A Drone-Enabled Wireless Sensor Network, Gina Valentino, Laura Yates, Brooke Potter

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Water quality monitoring traditionally occurs via resource intensive field surveys, such as when a researcher manually collects data in a stream. Limiting factors such as time, money, and accessibility often result in less oversight of impaired water bodies, significantly threatening ecosystemic health and related ecosystem services. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 84% of rivers and streams within the United States remain unassessed, resulting in significant lapses in available data. Such lapses prohibit efficient and effective monitoring, restoration, and conservation efforts throughout the United States. The objective of this project was to employ an unmanned aerial vehicle to …

The Effects Of Post-Exercise Nutrient Intake On Hydration Status And Muscle Soreness Ratings In Youth Cyclists, Allison Cadematori

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

PURPOSE:Muscle soreness levels and hydration status are important indicators of recovery from high intensity endurance exercise, and can be influenced by post-exercise nutrient intake. Chocolate milk has been reported to be an effective recovery beverage in adults, as it contains carbohydrate, protein, and water/electrolytes at levels that are appropriate for refueling, muscle repair, and rehydration. However, few studies have tested the efficacy of chocolate milk for post-exercise recovery in adolescents. METHODS:Eight competitive teenage cyclists (5 male, 3 female; 16.1 ±1.1 y; 174.0 ±10.7 cm; 138.4 ±5.6 lbs; 61.8 ±8.2 ml/kg/min) completed three experimental trials, in randomly counterbalanced order. …

Decrypting Female Attractivity In Garter Snakes, Holly Rucker

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Pheromones are utilized by many species as sexual signals driving mate choice, and pheromone production in vertebrates hinges on sex hormone action. Female red-sided garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) produce a skin-based sex pheromone used by males for mate detection and selection. Estradiol is necessary for pheromone production, yet the specific mechanisms within the skin are unknown. Central to this is the metabolism of testosterone to estradiol via the enzyme aromatase. It is hypothesized that female garter snakes synthesize estradiol locally in the skin and maintain pheromone production via tissue-specific regulation of aromatase. Further, I hypothesize that female …

Intimacy Idolization And Ego Development In Adolescence: Links To Social Relationships And Wellness In Early Adulthood, Rachel Brown

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This study aims to examine the interplay between ego development and intimacy development as predictive of later friendship and romantic relationship quality. It subsequently seeks to understand how balance and imbalances in friendship and romantic relationship quality, predicted by ego and intimacy development, are indicative of later markers for overall wellness. As such, adolescent reports of ego development and romantic intimacy were examined in relation to later reports of reliable alliance in both a close friendship and a romantic relationship. Ego development was predicted to be associated with higher levels of close friendship stability and lower levels of romantic stability; …

Lead Contamination Of Soils In An Abandoned Rifle Range, Augusta County, Virginia, Logan Mahoney

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Presence of high concentrations of Lead within the soil and water could lead to various health related impacts on humans and wildlife. Exposure to Lead short termly or long termly could lead to many detrimental impacts due to Lead poisoning. The overall concentration of Lead in a soil can be measured using an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICPMS) under laboratory conditions. The present study investigates the Lead concentration of contaminated abandoned riffle range located in Augusta County, Virginia. Soil samples were obtained using soil augurs from three locations randomly based on the severity of contamination. Location three, which was …

Group Culture In Successful Organizations, Courtney Cybert

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Eta Delta chapter of Beta Alpha Psi and determine whether its group culture is enhancing or diminishing its success. Daniel Coyle, in his book, The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups, examined several successful organizations including the U.S. Navy’s Seal Team Six, IDEO, the San Antonio Spurs, and Google. From his observations, he classified the characteristics of successful group culture into three traits: build safety, share vulnerability, and establish purpose. Through these traits, he places an emphasis on the idea that the interaction of group members, rather than …

Detecting The Cold: Do Innexins Function In Cold Nociception?, Rachel Barborek

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Nociception is the perception of and response to harmful stimuli. Nociception is essential for minimizing tissue damage, but aberrant nociceptive pathways can result in chronic pain. Chronic pain in the U.S. is commonly managed with wide-acting opioids, and precisely defining the components of nociceptive pathways could uncover novel targets for pain therapies. I hypothesize that the vitally quick process of nociception would utilize electrical synapses because they transmit signals between neurons more quickly than chemical synapses do. This study, therefore, aims to uncover the potential role of the eight Drosophila melanogaster gap junction proteins, the Innexins, in cold nociception. Wild …

A Feasibility Study Of Industrial Hemp On Virginia Commercial Poultry Production, Aaron Sloss

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This project sought to characterize industrial hemp as a potential competitive agricultural commodity for the state of Virginia. Specifically, industrial hempseed was evaluated as a feedstock for the commercial broiler (meat-chickens) industry in Virginia.

Data were gathered to identify both the advantages and disadvantages of industrial hempseed as a nutritional resource for broilers. Key nutritional compositions were identified, quantified, and compared to several common feed ingredients, such as soybean, wheat, corn, and sorghum. Hempseed (whole seed) was found to have a considerably high amino acid content, protein, fiber, and metabolizable energy – making it an attractive alternative to conventional feedstuffs. …

Modeling A Chaotic Billiard: The Bunimovich Stadium, Randal Shoemaker

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The Bunimovich stadium is a chaotic dynamical system in which a single particle, known as a billiard, moves indefinitely within a barrier without loss of momentum. Mathematicians and physicists have been interested in its properties since it was discovered to be chaotic in the 1970’s [5] [3] [4]. The Bunimovich stadium is actively researched [9]. This thesis and its accompanying software, the Bunimovich Stadia Evolution Viewer (BSEV), present a novel visual representation of the the chaotic dynamical system. The goal for the software is to provide insights into the stadium’s properties to aid researchers. This tool allows one to visualize …

A Critical Analysis Of The Metaphysics Of Limit And Unlimited In Plato's Philebus, Ashley Lascano

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper examines several key passages within Plato’s Philebus and analyses the underlying metaphysics that exists at the heart of the dialogue. Plato implements the metaphysics in the dialogue by utilizing the terminology of “the limit” and “the unlimited”. This paper examines the Pythagorean origins of the limit and unlimited and depicts how Plato has adapted the terms from their original intent. The Philebus is examined to show the metaphysical importance of the limit and unlimited. The dialogue displays an example of the metaphysics of the limit and the unlimited through the debate between pleasure and intelligence, which is a …

The History Of Lizzie Borden: Burying The Axe, Christian Ford

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

In 1892, a wealthy Massachusetts couple, Andrew and Abby Borden, were hacked to death during broad daylight in the comfort of their own home. A few weeks later Lizzie Borden, Andrew’s daughter from his first marriage, was arrested for double homicide. Newspapers across the country took hold of the story from the very first day; a wealthy, white, woman being accused of murder was no ordinary affair. For the next year, the nation was gripped to the news as the case revealed an everlasting list of strange characters and showed the dark underbelly of the small industrial city of Fall …