Digital Commons Network^™

Can We Learn To Heal Ourselves? The Promise, Perils, And Insights Behind Medicalizing Psychedelics, Brielle Seidel

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Before they were criminalized, psychedelics were once used in mental health research. Today, they are making a resurgence in the medical field following a long hiatus. Current clinical trials for psychedelic-assisted therapy reveal their potential to treat a variety of mental health conditions. While this novel treatment provides promise, there are many implications to consider regarding its integration into the Western medical model. This paper includes a literature review of the past and current use of psychedelics for healing purposes and mental health research. The literature review provides background for understanding the resurgence of psychedelics within a larger context. Additionally, …

Sexually Dimorphic Alterations In Brain Morphology Of Astrocyte Conditional System Xc- Knockout Mice, Gabrielle Emily Samulewicz

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Astrocytes play a vital role in orchestrating the precise brain wiring that occurs during development and are essential for maintaining homeostasis into adulthood. The cystine/glutamate antiporter, system xc-, in the central nervous system is especially abundant in astrocytes and itself is known to contribute importantly to the basal extracellular glutamate concentration as well as the intracellular and extracellular glutathione levels, either of which, if perturbed, could alter brain development and/or contribute to degeneration. Thus, to determine whether loss of astrocyte system xc- might alter brain morphology, I studied a conditional astrocyte system xc- knockout mouse (AcKO). Tissue was harvested from …

Stolen Toilet Paper, Danielle Schaf

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Stolen Toilet Paper is an argumentative creative nonfiction piece, that illuminates and illustrates an invisible narrative on this campus: that of being a low-income, first-generation college student. This thesis is composed of three vignettes—The Bridge to Academia, Falling between the Ivy, and Three Naked Mattresses—that articulate struggles that low-income, first-generation undergraduates encounter. The Bridge to Academia, exhibits the literacy needed to successfully navigate the terrain of academia. Falling Between the Ivy, highlights the stress of providing for one’s family, the lack of institutional support and resources for low-income students’ needs, and the impact that class has on academic performance. Three …

Traduttore Traditore: All Translators Are Traitors. Except, Maybe, For Chaucer., Karen Miranda

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The aim of this project is to analyse plot elements and word choices in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Reeve’s Tale” from his greater work, The Canterbury Tales, and compare them to those used in a similar story from Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, Day 9, Story 6 in order to determine if there are enough similar elements between the two stories to infer that Chaucer could have been familiar with Boccaccio’s version of the tale when writing “The Reeve’s Tale". The paper also addresses the question of whether or not Chaucer “merely translated” his source text into English and, if so, what …

Endometriosis: The Psychosocial And Emotional Lived Experience Of College-Aged Women, Brianna Graffia

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Endometriosis is a condition thought to affect as many as one in ten women. It is most commonly associated with infertility, intense abdominal pain, which may affect a woman’s ability to work and maintain social relationships; and pain during sex, which may prevent or challenge her in maintaining a sexually active relationship. On top of the ways in which women’s daily lives are affected by this condition, the women who experience endometriosis are also subject to having their symptoms dismissed by their doctors as either “catastrophizing” or psychosomatic

This two-part project explores the real-life experiences of women who suffer from …

Molecular Investigation Of The Intestinal Barrier In Health And Disease, Santita Ebangwese

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The intestinal epithelial barrier contributes to the absorption of nutrients and in maintaining homeostasis. Several intestinal disorders such as Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis show common pathological features corresponding to a decreased intestinal epithelial barrier function, which makes it imperative to investigate the functional units of the intestinal barriers formed by complex protein interfaces called the tight junctions. Among the diverse set of transmembrane proteins involved in the formation of tight junctions, the mal-distribution of claudin family of proteins show direct correlation to compromised barrier functioning. Interestingly, claudin-3 expression reduces drastically in compromised barriers, while an increased expression of claudin-23 …

Mottos: Learned Through Life, David Edelstein

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Mottos: Learned Through Life is a is a seven-part video series, investigating leadership and life lessons in multiple forms as experienced and told by people from a diverse set of ages, backgrounds and professions. Through the telling of the story of a defining experience from his or her life, each interviewee relates the lessons he or she learned to a broader set of life mottos that any viewer can utilize. Each story of the series is designed to inspire the viewer and let the viewer feel like he or she is having a personal conversation with the interviewee. This allows …

How Will The Restoration Of Ex-Felons’ Voting Rights In Florida Affect Their Citizenship?, Rebecca Spraggins

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Definitions of citizenship in the United States require discussions about political, civil, and social rights. In Florida, over 1.5 million ex-felons experience challenges in defining their citizenship because they have been stripped of their right to vote. However, Florida’s Amendment 4 could positively impact ex-felon citizenship by automatically restoring ex-felons’ voting rights after completing their sentences. Survey data showing approval of ex-felon enfranchisement and interviews of ex-felons barred from voting provide the information used to make claims about how voting rights will affect ex-felons’ citizenship. In this paper, theoretical analyses of the data presented to suggest that public opinion supports …

Commodification Of Blackness In Spike Lee’S Do The Right Thing And Jordan Peele’S Get Out, Nicholas Blauner

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This paper examines the commodification of blackness in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (2017) and Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017). The paper traces the differences in representation of a commodified blackness; whereas Lee created a commodification of blackness that celebrated black culture and represented it positively, Jordan Peele used the commodification of blackness as the source of his film’s horror. D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation (1915) helped propagate the trend of American cinema to exploit blackness and commodify it for a source of filmic entertainment and marketing. The blaxploitation era shifted this method towards a representation of blackness …

Materiality And Minority Representation In Timothy Mcsweeney’S Quarterly Concern, Julia Leyden

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Founded in San Francisco in 1998, Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern was launched by Dave Eggers in tandem with McSweeney’s publishing house in an attempt to create a platform for up-and-coming writers, experimental literature, and other forms of writing that would be difficult to publish in a traditional magazine. Two representative examples of how McSweeney’s attention to physical design, unfixed format, and interest in global literature overlap are McSweeney’s 36 and McSweeney’s 43. McSweeney’s 36 includes an oral history of governmental oppression titled “Ma Su Mon,” an excerpt from Nowhere to be Home, a text in the McSweeney’s …

Call Me Maybe: An Analysis Of The Effect Of The Celebrity Persona On The American Telethon, Kyra Meister

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This study examines the relationship between the celebrity persona and the American telethon. Today, it is rare to find a celebrity that is not connected to a specific, charitable or social cause, making apparent strides in the charity industry because of their ability to influence the general public. In the last 70 years, telethons have evolved in a myriad of ways because celebrities and charity are intertwined. Most significantly, the seriousness and sacredness of the American telethon has decreased because of how many telethons are currently in existence. Additionally, an increase in the number of celebrities involved in telethons has …

Healthcare’S Responsibility To Care: The Call To Support Both Patients And Their Families Through Illness, Madeline Merwin

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The contemporary healthcare institution operates on the philosophy of patient-centered care [PCC], growing from the medical culture of the past: care centered around an omniscient provider, defining the patient by their illness versus their identities. While this widely practiced philosophy succeeds in meeting the chief complaint and needs of a patient, it neglects to care for the patient in the context of his or her broader life constituents: the family and loved ones. Health care providers and their institutions are stopping short of adequate, all-encompassing healthcare when the family is not regarded as an equal member of the care team. …

#Pawnderadoption Creating A Public Relations Campaign To Increase Adoption Rates Among Shelters In The United States, Hannah Allison

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Pet overpopulation has been a national issue for years. With thousands of unwanted stray cats and dogs found on the streets annually, local shelters are doing their best to rehabilitate and rehome animals. However, funds and resources are limited, and communication efforts are poor. Animal shelters need to begin to focus on public relations efforts in order to boost identity within their local communities. The purpose of this research was to discover what inherently goes into developing a comprehensive, successful public relations campaign. This study specifically focused on the following research questions (a) what makes a public relations campaign successful? …

Creating Sustainable Brands: How The Green 4 Ps Influence Consumers' Attitudes Toward Brands, Julia Dipersio

Honors Capstone Projects - All

I study the important brand-building relationship between consumer characteristics and the green 4 Ps that has been neglected in the literature: how the green marketing mix can work simultaneously to influence a consumer’s attitude toward a green brand with the goal of understanding how a green brand image is created. This study considers Information Integration Theory and Social Judgment Theory to assess how attitudes can be formed through the green 4 Ps. I collected data through a Qualtrics online survey from 185 respondents. Subsequent regression analyses in SPSS revealed certain strong relationships between select consumer characteristics and a positive attitudinal …

Petals Of Remembrance: An Applied Pr Campaign For The Syracuse Abroad Centers In Relation To The 30th Anniversary Of The Lockerbie Air Disaster, Hannah Butler

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This thesis uses applied public relations research and tactics to develop, coordinate, and implement a global campaign in partnership with Syracuse University Abroad and the 30th Anniversary Committee to remember the lives of the 270 victims lost in the Lockerbie Air Disaster during the 30th anniversary year. In addition to outreach, promotion, and evaluation, this campaign primarily took the form of a global rose-laying ceremony that occurred across the world during the week of October 27-November 3, 2018 at various Syracuse University Abroad Centers. Using global public relations tactics, strategic planning, and event management, this project explored the strengths, weaknesses, …

An Auto-Ethnographical View Of The Growth In A Pre-Service Teacher, Nicole Evans

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This thesis is an auto-ethnography that examines how field experiences in diverse classrooms can grow and deepen a pre-service teacher's understanding of complex pedagogical ideas. It examines how experiences changed the subject’s view on the role of classroom culture in classroom management, and how the intersection of those two important aspects of teaching can increase positive classroom space. Also examined are the similarities and differences between hands-on learning and inquiry-based learning, as well as how using those together results in greater understanding, deeper comprehension, and a higher level of enjoyment in the students. Lastly, this auto-ethnography shows how interacting with …

The Investment Potential Of Modern Hip Hop Artists, Kyle Garuccio

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Popular modern hip-hop artists are often seen flaunting custom jewelry, pricey cars, expensive personal collections, and other highly-depreciative luxury items. The influence of hip hop culture on the spending habits of its members is responsible for these traditional portrayals. Members of the hip hop community feel the need to mold to the norms established by its history and momentous idols. If those who identify themselves as members of the hip hop community invested their money in the financial markets and instruments, they may have the opportunity to grow their income at a much larger rate. I propose possible market investment …

Ai In Journalism: Creating An Ethical Framework, Haley Kim

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This thesis is an examination of the ethical use of artificial intelligence in journalism. Artificial intelligence is currently being used in all steps of the news production process: story discovery, story production and story distribution. Newsrooms utilize machine learning to analyze massive quantities of data and discover patterns that humans would normally never be able to pick up. Additionally, journalists also create templates so computers can write stories that are data-based, such as earning reports and game (sports) stories, and free them up to be able to work on other projects. Newsrooms can also use AI to personalize story recommendations …

The Rhetoric Of Blockchain Technology, Mira Kohli

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The purpose of this honor’s thesis is to consider the rhetoric about blockchain technology. It is recognizable that blockchain technology does not share a common definition, method, or general understanding; this absence or opacity influences its use in institutions and industries. To advance my thesis about the rhetoric of blockchain, I developed a framework to analyze and critique blockchain technology use. Then, I applied this framework to two articles that discuss the adaptation of blockchain in the financial industry. My findings were that advocates for the technology are influencing its intended use. The rhetoric surrounding the technology is why the …

A Bystander's Dilemma: Participatory Design Study Of Privacy Expectations For Smart Home Devices, Oriana Mcdonough

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Traditional homes have become increasingly filled with Internet-connected devices, turning them into “smart homes.” Currently, research around privacy concerns with smart home devices has focused on the end users. The goal for our research is to understand the perceptions and desired privacy mechanisms from the perspective of a different stakeholder, i.e., the bystanders. Bystanders in this context are individuals who are not the owner or primary user of smart home devices but are potentially affected by the device usage, such as house guests or family members. In order to understand this, we conducted a focus group study with co-design activities …

An Analysis Of Citizen Science And Its Effect On Marine Plastic Pollution, Kathryn Munster

Honors Capstone Projects - All

My Honors thesis is an analysis of pollution data to gain more insight about the growing problem of marine plastic pollution. I retrieved online datasets collected by the Clean Swell trash collection mobile application and then analyzed this data using the Python programming language. After my Python analysis, I used Tableau to create data visualizations. This paper analyzes the effect that citizen science has on plastic pollution. Syracuse University’s recycling and trash figures, provided by Syracuse Haulers, are also analyzed. The purpose of including Syracuse University’s data is to bring a local point of view to this project and possibly …

Humanitarian Aid Logistics: Response Strategies In The 2015 Refugee Crisis, Molly O'Connell

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Humanitarian aid logistics is an emerging field that applies principles of supply chain management and logistics to the humanitarian relief sector. This thesis explores humanitarian aid logistics strategies in the context of the 2015 Refugee Crisis. An unprecedented number of refugees sought asylum in Europe beginning in 2015, where European officials and humanitarian organizations were largely unprepared to provide for them. The 2015 Refugee Crisis offers a unique perspective on humanitarian aid logistics because it requires both short-term and long-term response strategies. Through the framework of management science, a subfield of supply chain management, and logistics, this thesis creates a …

Student Journalists Fight To Protect First Amendment Rights On College Campuses, Joanna Orland

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This body of work sheds light on the obstacles student newspapers at public universities face while attempting to function as free presses. Public universities are protected by the First Amendment but some administrations take action to suppress those rights in their student journalists. Unfortunately, this trend has existed on college campuses for many years but the attitudes exhibited are increasingly paralleled by the relationship between the mainstream media and the current administration.

Universities will take measures such as cutting budgets, firing faculty advisers, denying open records requests and occasionally taking lawsuits against student publications to keep the truth from circulating. …

The Golden Ticket: How Blockchain Technology Can Be Implemented Into Event Ticketing, Jack Singer

Honors Capstone Projects - All

When the group/individual named Satoshi Nakamoto first conceptualized blockchain in 2008, it served as the underlying foundation to the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. In the years following, cryptocurrencies alike experiences massive gains in profitability; however, after the bubble had burst organizations began to look at the technology from a more academic standpoint. It was quickly found out that there is a massive application for blockchain in almost all sectors of industry from bulk stores (Walmart) to banking (IBM). This paper will explore how blockchain technology can be implemented into event ticketing, more specifically concerts. The current landscape of the industry is under …

Help Wanted: Inside The Role Of A Community Development Lending Policy Editor, Robert Spichiger

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Students receiving professional degrees are often less motivated than their peers to graduate from the Renée Crown University Honors Program at Syracuse University. One possible explanation for this is that these students are discouraged by the requirement of writing an academic thesis. To remedy this issue and motivate more students from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management to graduate from the Honors Program, this project aims to serve as an example to future business students of one possible way to structure a professional thesis.

This paper is a critical reflection of the skills one develops while working at a …

The Future Of The Renewable Fuel Standard, Jacob Urban

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Persistent uncertainty about the future of the Renewable Fuel Standard led to an analysis of the policy’s language and the varying degrees of political support for the program in the Senate. Applying probabilities to the various conceived scenarios resulted in a 40% change that the program continues in its current form in perpetuity. The report finds that a Democratic Congress would implement legislation that focuses on the policy’s missed environmental goals. Conversely, a Republican Congress would lead to the most uncertainty in the market due to competing views of the RFS within the program. With a narrow Republican majority, legislation …

Quieter Hour – A Friendlier Shopping Experience For People With Autism, Rachel Brachman

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This thesis centers on autism and the exclusionary effects of it. While there is a wealth of new research on this diagnosis indicating that while there is an entire spectrum of autism, many people are fully functional in society. Many of these people simply have limitations. If these limitations were attended to by society, there would be no need for exclusion of people with these types disabilities. Many of the changes needed to promote an environment of inclusion instead of exclusion are not incredibly difficult to make, yet they have not been made.

While people on the spectrum are excluded …

A Comparison Of Anxiety-Related Behavior On The Elevated Plus Task Following Environmental Enrichment In Two Mouse Models For Autism, Khemiah Burke

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This study pertained to the effects of environmental enrichment, which is a physical post-weaning treatment that has been shown to induce beneficial changes in behavior, in two mouse models. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts social behavior and communication. It has been found to develop due to both genetic and environmental influences, and to be comorbid with anxiety disorders. The present study assessed anxious behavior, as measured by the elevated plus task, as an indirect symptom of Autism. Maternally separated CD-1 mice were used as a model of environmentally influenced autism and BTBR mice were used as a model …

Roads To Resettlement: A Global Analysis Of Refugee And Migrant Integration Policies Through Education-Based Non-Profits, Dina Eldawy

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This project is an international comparative study of migration patterns and integration models, spanning global case studies of refugee and migrant communities in Latin America, the United States, and the Middle East through personal research and experience. Using participant observation and interviews, I observed and worked with three different nonprofit ecosystems in Syracuse, NY; Santiago, Chile; and Tyre, Lebanon. This paper situates all three cities in the context of our globalizing world, where global conflicts or economic conditions that affect one country have an extremely crucial impact on other countries surrounding it and beyond. I observed three host countries that, …

Food Culture And National Identity: Japan And The International Whaling Commission, Emma Fahey

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This research project focuses on the contentious issue of whaling in the 21^st century and attempts to make sense of Japan’s whaling policy in terms of food culture and national identity. Using a constructivist theoretical framework, I analyze the impact of the whaling issue on Japan’s bilateral relations with other nations, in both the East Asian subregion and the larger global community. The results of this paper indicate that whale meat carries a deep symbolism in Japanese national identity and that the general issue of whaling has little effect of Japan’s bilateral relations with other nations. Much of the …