Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Competitive Balance In Division 1 College Hockey: An Economic Analysis, Christopher Decarlo

Honors Theses

This paper seeks to determine the levels of competitive balance in Division I college hockey using several well known measures of competitive balance. It focuses on the five hockey conferences, specifically on win percentages and concentration of conference and national championships. This paper also seeks to determine any correlation between university actions, specifically athletic spending, and successful hockey programs. Finally, it suggests possible areas of future research and ways to improve on the current research.

The Evolution Of Brassiere In The 20th Century, Jolene Khor

Honors Theses

It is common knowledge that a brassiere, more widely known as a bra, is an important if not a vital part of a modern woman’s wardrobe today. In the 21^st century, a brassiere is no more worn for function as it is for fashion. In order to understand the evolution of function to fashion of a brassiere, it is necessary to account for its historical journey from the beginning to where it is today. This thesis paper, titled The Evolution of Brassiere in the 20^th Century will explore the history of brassiere in the last 100 years. While …

The Roof With No Ceiling: Couch Surfing And The New Vagabond's Trek Through Nation-States, Cyberspace, And Global Consciousness, Kathryn Giroux

Honors Theses

In an era of "stranger danger" where society indoctrinates fear of "the other," hospitality exchange and social networking website www.couchsurfing.org offers an alternative movement to these trends. Couchsurfing.org connects travelers with locals offering free accommodation in exchange for meaningful connection, cultural exchange, and the opportunity to "create inspiring experiences" within a rapidly growing, transnational community encompassing over 5 million members. This thesis takes a creative journalism approach to uncovering CouchSurfing's inner workings and impacts, understanding its historical context within globalization and the growth of hospitality exchange networks, and discovering its implications for the global community and global consciousness of vagabonds …

Salary Determination In The National Hockey League: Restricted, Unrestricted, Forwards, And Defensemen, Kevin Peck

Honors Theses

This thesis will attempt to estimate the relationships between salary and measures of the marginal productivity of hockey players, or performance indicators. Salary determination, as in most other sports leagues, is determined in a labor market. Each player has a marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL) and this MRPL varies from player to player, and from team to team. Firms, in this case teams, seek to add players with a high MRPLin order to increase the quantity and quality of product they sell, in this case wins. Among other things, a player has a MRPLthat will equate to the additional …

Can Public Education Be Saved? An Argument For Educational Reform, Kathrine Hyatt

Honors Theses

Education, a key to later success, needs to be the number one priority. However, the American of public education has many systemic problems that are inhibiting children from reaching their full potential. This literature review first examines the colonial roots of American education and briefly tracks the development. Then, four major systemic problems are addressed: the over reliance on standardized testing, teaching methods and curriculum, lack of creativity, and how the cycle of poverty impacts learning. Finally solutions are discussed, with the ultimate recommendation being to adapt the Montessori Method.

The Effects Of Formatting On Card Fluency For Say-All-Fast-Minute-Each-Day-Shuffled (Safmeds), Tory Roti

Honors Theses

SAFMEDS is a precision teaching technique that promotes fluent responding (Bower & Orgel, 1981; Eshleman, 1985; Korinek & Wolking, 1984). Limited research has been conducted regarding SAFMEDS and stimulus control, but available research suggests irrelevant stimuli affect students responding during a SAFMEDS timing (Meindl, Ivy, Miller, & Neef, 2011). Meindl et al. (2011) questioned whether fluency of SAFMEDS cards couId be affected by altering stimulus features on the card (i.e., location of the words on the card). Results indicated that on testing days, accuracy and fluency of responding decreased when identical terms were presented with the only difference being the …

College Admissions Use Of Social Media In Recruitment Marketing: A Literature Review & Strategic Plan For Western Michigan University's Office Of Admissions, Natalie Faculak

Honors Theses

Social media technology is a rapidly growing communication phenomenon that digital natives, the generation of current 18-29 years old have embraced and revolutionized daily interactions. Social media technology is defined as “web-based and mobile applications that allow individuals and organizations to create, engage, and share new user-generated or existing content, in digital environment through multi-way communication” (Davis, Deil-Amen, Rios-Aguilar, & Gonzalez Canche, 2011). Emerging social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter allow users to create and maintain relationships with family, friends, coworkers, and organizations. The “always connected” generation of digital natives expects constant communication and instantaneous access to information …

Community Involvement As A Tool For International Policy: Realizing The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, Michael D. Eriksen Jr.

Honors Theses

Whether present in abundance or known for its scarcity, water defines the regional and geographical identities of people. It defines political and ecological boundaries globally. Water paucity and quality in burgeoning populations has been a catalyst for creative resource management policies. Conservation of water resources, in practice, has still not improved however. As a result, the health and stability of the Great Lakes as a natural resource is threatened. The Great Lakes region includes two countries, eight states, two provinces, and over 200 tribal and native influences. International agreements, such as the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 (BWT) and the …

Differential Reinforcement Of Alternative Behavior In A Child With Autism, Mackenzie M. Sullivan

Honors Theses

Some children diagnosed with autism engage in aggressive behavior with different functions. There is a great need to find ways to reduce these behaviors to protect these children and make them more suitable to interact with other child in classroom settings. A Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior intervention was designed in an effort to decrease aggressive behavior in child with autism. The goal of the intervention was to train Brian, the single participant, to engage in more appropriate behaviors instead of aggressing toward other children. The participant was placed in a room with another child and instances were created where …

The Health Care Debate And Health Care Coverage In The U.S. A. Today, Antonio Giraldi

Honors Theses

The health care system in the United State has struggled during the past few decades. This has been accompanied by many controversies and debates among U.S. policy makers and health insurance providers. Dissatisfaction with health care in the United States today can be divided into three main aspects of health care; coverage, cost, and quality. The first problem, coverage, is a major issue because about 15 percent of the population of the U.S. (45 million) is uninsured today. The first and second problems, coverage and cost, are somewhat related since the rising cost of obtaining health services is one of …

Using A Reinforcer Hierarchy To Increase Compliance And Skill Acquisition, Bertilde U. Kamana

Honors Theses

The purpose of this intervention is to increase compliant behavior and skill acquisition in a child who has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) with the use of a reinforcer hierarchy. This hierarchy will be determined by conducting preference assessments. These assessments are established by allowing the child to choose the most preferred object of at least two objects which are presented to him by his tutor—a preference assessment can also be conducted by observing which objects or toys the child chooses to interact with the most in his environment. When the preference assessment is established, a reinforcer matrix …

Quantifying Urbanization In Grand Traverse County, Mi, Benjamin T. Roush

Honors Theses

Grand Traverse County, MI has witnessed population growth in the past thirty years, largely because of its popularity as a tourist destination and “wilderness” area in Michigan and around the Great Lakes basin in general. Accordingly, there has been human development and urbanization in the county, particularly around its major community, Traverse City. This paper seeks to quantify that urbanization. This will be done by classification of Landsat 5 – TM imagery collected in 1984 and 2010, utilizing the Gaussian maximum likelihood supervised classification method. After this process, changes in proportions of the various land use types in the county …

Theatre And Eating Disorders, Jeniece K. Salness

Honors Theses

Theatre is an excellent tool for education and instilling the will and ideas to make societal changes. Using the techniques and theories of Augusto Boal, Dr. Christine Iaderosa at Western Michigan University created musical titled “Food Prisons” to address the social stigmas and issue involved with eating disorders and disordered eating. These techniques positively model the actions and effects involved in eating disorders to show alternative routes to eating disorders and the effects eating disorders have on the person and those around them. The show was positively received when it was performed in 2012 when the audience and cast were …

Deriving Significance From The Capstone Experience, Christina G. Clark

Honors Theses

This thesis is a cumulation of my experience as a participant of Western Michigan University's COM 4500: Public Relations Program Development and an observer after completion of the course. I took the course in the fall of 2011 and in the spring of 2012 interviewed previous clients. I was most curious with what the process of the course was like for the clients and what recommendations they had for the future. The biggest take-away from my interviews is the notion that the capstone course is essentially the finish line for the students and the starting point for the clients.

This …

A Literary Review Of Adhd Treatments: An Advocate For Neurofeedback, Jessica A. Steele

Honors Theses

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common behavioral disorder affecting a tremendous portion of children in the United States. Medication and traditional Behavioral interventions have remained the primary forms of treatment. Research has demonstrated that brain wave frequencies are directly associated with behavior. Children diagnosed with ADHD have abnormal EEG profiles compared to their peers. EEG Neurofeedback developed as an operant conditioning treatment for brain waves to influence behavior. Neurofeedback has been found as effective as medication without the negative side effects or high percent of non-responders. Unlike medication and Behavioral Treatments, Neurofeedback offers long-term effects following the conclusion of …

Disability Determination Services And The State Of Michigan Media Project, Eric Hartstein

Honors Theses

I designed two informational brochures as part of a media project for both the State of Michigan Internship Program (SoMIP) and Disability Determination Services (DDS), which were both host agencies for my student internship during the spring 2012 semester. The purpose of the project is to raise awareness about the programs among college students, as well as to recruit talented students to become future interns for either of the programs. I chose this project because I felt that brochures would be a simple and effective way to distribute information regarding the programs across campuses statewide. I corresponded with both WMU …

The National Hockey League: An Econometric Analysis Of Attendance, Kendrick A. Hotte

Honors Theses

The National Hockey League (NHL) and professional sports as a whole are interesting to study when econometric models are applied. First, a thorough examination of current literature concerning both professional sports and econometrics will be reviewed. In addition, a full description of the data and its accompanying sources are discussed. Then, through the use of an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and hypothesis testing, the role of attendance throughout the NHL as a function of win percentage is empirically tested. Using a demand equation for the attendance of hockey games over the past 15 years, this paper will focus on …

Revolution And Democratization: Can Egypt Transition To A Modern Day Democracy?, Kristin M. Horitski

Honors Theses

On January 25, 2011, demonstrations began in Egypt against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. These demonstrations were the culmination of decades of abuses by the government such as police brutality, corruption, and the provisions of the emergency law that restricted the freedoms of the people and limited the opposition to the regime. The protests grew into a revolution that toppled the Mubarak government and put the military temporarily in charge of the country. The popular uprising and resignation of President Mubarak left the country in a state of euphoria and hope, yet there are uncertainties about the future. This …