Digital Commons Network^™

Development And Authoritarianism In China, Steven Mccreery

Capstone Showcase

The traditional view held by development theorists, which tends to be based on Western Liberal Democracies, is that authoritarianism operates in direct opposition to development. This project seeks to reassess the relationship between development and authoritarianism by studying the case of China. China has been under the authoritarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1949. Since then, China has seen explosive growth and made progress on the path towards development. This was made possible by modern changes to authoritarianism, such as increased discourse and the launching of development programs, which are collectively referred to as New Authoritarianism. Through …

Zoning Policy Reform In The U.S.: The West Versus The Rest, Eve Plotka

Capstone Showcase

Land-use zoning policies are vastly important to how society works, in that they determine what goes where. According to the literature around this topic, zoning policies have implications for the environment, economy, and concerning discrimination. Therefore, as zoning policies evolve, they should try to adjust for these three factors. Theoretically, zoning policies should evolve in the same way throughout all 50 states, but this is not the case. The zoning policies on the West coast of the United States have evolved to compensate for these factors, while the rest of the U.S. has not. In this paper, I use the …

International Policy And Climate Change-Induced Displacement Of South Pacific Island Nation Populations, Karissa Noragon

Capstone Showcase

Climate change has advanced significantly in the last few decades resulting in some of the predicted effects, such as sea level rise, to start to appear and to cause displacement, especially in more vulnerable, developing nations. Though current estimates have found that the majority of the displaced populations will be able to relocate within their country’s borders, there are some nations, such as many of the small island nations in the South Pacific, where internal relocation will not always be an option. The question that will be explored in this paper is, what are the limits to current international policy …

Physical Therapy Adherence: An Exploration Into Motivation, Keith Rader

Capstone Showcase

A major problem in the field of physical therapy is the lack of patient adherence to home exercise program prescriptions. Non-adherence to these exercise programs is as high as 70% according to the research. There must be an underlying mechanism because the type of non-adherent patients is not exclusively based on condition or injury. Past research has centered around two fields of thought for motivation, self-determination and self-efficacy, as well as practitioner intervention to increase these psychological principles in patients. Self-determination is present because while doing physical therapy exercises is not intrinsically enjoyable, patients can be extrinsically motivated by their …

The Effect Of Emphasizing Strengths On Readiness To Change, Taylor Dunn

Capstone Showcase

TAYLOR DUNN

The Effect of Emphasizing Strengths on Readiness to Change

Research Mentor: Dr. Steven Robbins

Researchers have called for the examination of what kind of discussion in therapy is the most beneficial. Although past literature calls for an emphasis on restructuring a client’s negative thoughts and behaviors, there has been an increasing amount of research on the benefits of using positive psychology interventions. “Strength-based approaches” in particular have shown to lead to an attainment of various clinical outcomes. This study attempts to analyze how an emphasis on character strengths influences a person’s readiness to change in comparison to a …

The Factors Behind High Rates Of Ptsd And Aud Comorbidity Among Military Veterans, Maeghan Myers

Capstone Showcase

MAEGHAN MYERS

The Factors Behind High Rates of PTSD and AUD Comorbidity Among Military Veterans

Why is alcohol used by military veterans as a coping mechanism for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? PTSD has quickly become the third most prevalent health diagnosis for returning veterans in the U.S. However, the high rates of PTSD diagnoses are undertreated among veterans experiencing symptoms. The military culture, lack of knowledge, difficulty accessing care, and mistrust of others all impact a veteran’s help-seeking behaviors. The effects of these factors make a veteran unlikely to seek out treatment for their symptoms. However, as symptoms remain untreated …

Jc Drain And Sewer Website, Jarod Pichler, Nathan Houman

Capstone Showcase

1. A website for a small plumbing business in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The website includes a Home, About Us, Services, Contact Us, and Testimonials page. The home page introduces the company to the website viewer. The About Us page provides information about the company and owner, to the website viewer. The Services page provides the website viewer with all of the services that the company can provide. The Contact Us page allows the website viewer to send the company an email. Finally, the Testimonials page will allow the website viewer to leave a comment about the company’s services. The website also includes …

   ---

   Go to article

Transfer Equivalency Site For The Registrar, Janelle N. Rohrbach, Alissa C. Cielecki, Jules A. Turner

Capstone Showcase

The website, arcadia-transfer-equiv.com, was drafted and created for Bill Enick, Registrar at Arcadia University. This was an expansion of a preliminary version of the website created by Caleigh Diefenthaler, Christian Charney, and Dylan Power. The site includes two transfer equivalency tools which can be used to search for course equivalencies by academic institution or by a given Arcadia course. The tools, which pull from a database maintained by the Registrar, will display courses that have transferred to the University successfully. The website also hosts two interactive forms. These forms allow Arcadia students to request approval for courses that have or …

Murder,Mayhem,Manson, Jack Shoplock

Capstone Showcase

Charles Manson was one of the most horrifying, yet alluring figures to emerge in recent history, in part due to his crimes and their nature, and his strange behavior displayed during his famous trials in the early 1970s. Born in a small town in 1934 Charlie took to criminality from a young age, being institutionalized for over half his life before he was finally released in 1967 during the heyday of the summer of love in San Francisco. Once back on his feet, he began a quest for musical superstardom, gathering a harem of unstable, broken and misused runaway teens …

A Treacherous Transformation: 1968 And The Collapse Of The Liberal Consensus, Michael J. Costigan

Capstone Showcase

1968 was a year of upheaval in America--especially in politics. The year featured a presidential election between Richard Nixon (R), Hubert Humphrey (D), and third-party candidate George Wallace. This election was one of the closest in American history. It marks a significant transition, coming four years after a Democratic landslide, and four years before Richard Nixon's landslide re-election. The 1968 election uniquely captures four important trends in U.S. Politics. The American public had grown increasingly dissatisfied with President Johnson and the war in Vietnam, illustrated by Eugene McCarthy’s campaign. The South, a longtime bastion of Democratic support, accelerated its transition …

Chernobyl, 1986, Morgan Keller

Capstone Showcase

Nuclear energy became an important part of the Soviet Union’s history with the creation of the first every nuclear plant to generate electricity in 1954: Obninsk. With its massive success, the Soviet Union had determined that nuclear energy would be an effective resource to power the nation. Due to this belief, the creation of a plant called Chernobyl was established. This plant was intended to be the largest source of power to date and was believed to put the Soviet Union back on the map, as they were afraid to appear as though they were falling behind the rest of …

Mind The Gap: The Metropolitan Railway, Metro-Land, And The Birth Of The Modern Metropolis, Amanda Dombroski

Capstone Showcase

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the role of the Metropolitan Railway Company and Metro-Land in the creation of the modern metropolis London that we are familiar with today. To do this, I will trace the history of the push for railway networks within London, the early efforts to create them, the eventual implementation of the London Underground, and the effects that this network had on the city and its expansion. Furthermore, I will be looking specifically at the Metropolitan Railway Company and its suburbs, affectionately known as Metro-Land, on account of the fact that …

Rational Creatures: Examining The Cat-Dog Divide In The Medieval World, Emily Price

Capstone Showcase

The spiritual chasm of status that exists between man and beast is daily put to the test by the very beasts kept in our homes. Human beings have a long history of keeping animals for one reason or another, but it has only been recently that the concept of animals purely maintained for companionship has taken center stage. The Middle Ages in particular served as a transformative moment in the history of the “pet,” where not only was the role of the animal within man’s existence re-examined, but so, too, were the specific animals preferred by different cultures more solidly …

Criminals In Action: The Cia And The Crack Epidemic, Krystine O'Connor

Capstone Showcase

The Crack Epidemic hit the United States in the early years of the 1980’s. Crack was cheaper to produce and therefore cheaper to distribute. The Crack Epidemic disproportionately affected black communities and created long lasting issues that crippled many communities for decades to come. Incarceration rates, death rates, gang violence, fetal death rates and long term health effects rose dramatically between 1980- 1995. With the epidemic reaching its peak and its effects becoming unavoidable, communities struggled to find a reason as to how crack had gotten into the country and into their cities. In 1996 a small town journalist from …

The Cyprus "Problem": How Civil Society Has Found A Path To Peace In A Decades Old Conflict, Marisa Gonzalez

Capstone Showcase

Cyprus, at a crossroads of civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean, has been heavily shaped and formed around third-party influences. The divisions that today have resulted in a de facto partition of the island with seemingly no solution, the “Cyprus problem,” can be traced back to not only the deep-rooted ethnic conflicts between the majority Greek Cypriots and the minority Turkish Cypriots, but to the various conflicting international influences fueling them. Since its 1960 independence, Cyprus has been framed in the context of unresolvable ethnic differences that foreign powers have capitalized on. As the conflict developed around the threat of making …

Efficacy Of Onabotulinumtoxina (Botox) Injections Compared To Oral Topiramate In Reduction Of Migraines Suffered In Adults, Stephanie Blaha

Capstone Showcase

Abstract

Introduction: Migraines are a leading cause of disability in many people worldwide. There are numerous postulations as to their etiology and various medications that treat them. As crippling as migraines are, it is critical that there are therapies to prevent them rather than just treat them acutely. Both OnabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) and Topiramate have been shown to be beneficial as prophylaxis for migraines. This review aims to determine if, in adults who suffer from chronic migraines [P], OnabotulinumtoxinA injections [I] are more effective than oral Topiramate [C] in reduction of the amount of migraines suffered [O].

Methods: A literature search …

Effect Of Epinephrine On Outcomes In Out-Of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest, Ian Lumsden

Capstone Showcase

Abstract

Introduction

Epinephrine administration during cardiac arrest has been the standard of care for decades. In the United States, epinephrine administration has been recommended by the American Heart Association since the first cardiac arrest guidelines were published in 1974. However, epinephrine use became the standard of care with strong medical rational but with limited data on outcomes. The intent of this research is to review available literature and determine if in (P) an adult population in non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (I) treatment with epinephrine administration (C) compared to cardiac care without the administration of epinephrine (O) results in improved survival …

Renoprotective Effect Of Sglt-2 Inhibitors Vs ​ Ace Inhibitors In Type 2 Diabetes, Duncan Pickett

Capstone Showcase

Abstract

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) is one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide today, and consistently growing over the years. The illness is marked by progressively increased insulin resistance in the body’s cells, leading to glucose overload, and eventually cell and organ damage and death. One end result of DM2 is nephropathy. The current first-line treatment for DM2 is a class of drugs called angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors). ACE inhibitors are considered reno-protective, but eventually nephropathy occurs in patients taking the drug regardless. This paper will address the efficacy of a new alternative diabetes drug, sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors …

Efficacy Of Adjunct Acupuncture (Insertive And Non-Insertive) In The Treatment Of Neonates With Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Kali Thibault

Capstone Showcase

Introduction: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is a condition that affects newborn infants exposed to opioids in utero. NAS is becoming increasingly more prevalent due to the ongoing opioid epidemic. Current treatment for NAS is primarily morphine or buprenorphine. Even on these treatments, infants with NAS often still have symptoms of withdrawal, requiring high doses of medication and extended hospital stays. Acupuncture therapy has been shown to decrease withdrawal symptoms in adults, so researchers are now looking to use this non-pharmacological treatment on infants with NAS.

Methods: A literature search was performed using Google Scholar, PubMed, and EBSCOhost in November of …

Do Hormonal Contraceptive Affect Carbohydrate Metabolism?, Rachel Chung

Capstone Showcase

This review aims to see whether hormonal contraceptive use (I) in women of reproductive age between 18 and 45 years old (P) improves carbohydrate metabolism (O) compared to patients who are not using hormonal contraceptive (C).

Is There An Association Between Animals And Inmate Mental Health?, Cole Benko

Capstone Showcase

The idea of using animals and, in some cases, service animals, for therapeutic services has been becoming more popular recently. The definition of a service animal states that any dog who is trained to complete tasks in order to benefit a person who has a disability, however, all kinds of animals such as dogs, cats, and even horses have been used in therapeutic settings to help patients with different mental illnesses such as PTSD, and also have been known to improve the mood of certain people. Another therapeutic usage for animals that has much more room for research is using …

The Effects Of Color Constancy And Memory Color On Afterimage Hue, Kimberly Sudlow, Katherine Moore

Capstone Showcase

Afterimages provide unique insight into the visual pathway since they are to an extent independent from external stimuli. The present study investigates the effect of memory color and color constancy on the perceived hue of afterimages. Memory color refers to the hue imagined when thinking of a specific object. For instance, bananas universally evoke a yellow color, whereas other objects, like a ball, do not elicit one specific color. Color constancy is when the color of an object appears the same despite changing lighting conditions. For example, a strawberry may still be perceived as red under a blue light, even …

Improving Peer Relationships In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Heather A. Bounds

Capstone Showcase

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often struggle to form lasting relationships with peers. This occurs largely for two reasons: Children with ASD experience different social needs and expectations, and typically developing peers (TYPs) tend to hold negative views of children with ASD. These negative attitudes can limit children with ASD’s access to peer interaction, increase their risk of victimization, and increase their likelihood of perpetrating physical aggression despite a lack of intent to bully. Educators often struggle with determining the best plan of action towards overcoming such conflicts and imbalance in these relationships between students with ASD and their …

Weight Stigma In Different Aspects Of Life, Emanuel Noyola

Capstone Showcase

Weight stigma is discrimination or bias against any individual who is perceived to be overweight or obese. It has recently been recorded that the effects of weight discrimination have an influence on three major areas of life which include schools, the workplace, and personal relationships. This is important as weight discrimination was found to mostly have negative effects in all these areas but was also found to be sometimes beneficial in others, such as retail. Past research has also shown that the effects of weight discrimination are 37 times worse among obese females compared to obese males. One alarming setting …

"It's All In Your Head": Diagnostic Overshadowing And Mental Illness, Katya Monarski

Capstone Showcase

Diagnostic overshadowing in mentally ill patients is the misattribution of physical illness to a preexisting mental health condition. This phenomenon contributes to the fact that patients with mental illness to receive diagnoses later, receive less treatment, and live with untreated chronic conditions. The societal attitudes on mental illness associate sufferers with negativity, danger, fear, and strangeness. This stigma could affect the formation of a realistic schema for mentally ill patients, even in a medical context. Doctors who view mental illness with the misinformed stereotypes may only see the patient for that stereotype and not as a whole. A detriment to …

Is It Yanny Or Laurel: How Executive Function Capacity Impacts The Perception Of An Ambiguous Stimulus, Emily Schneider

Capstone Showcase

Yanny vs. laurel took the nation by storm in May 2018 due to its divisive nature of a simple sound. This audio clip was recorded by a high school student listening to a human voice on a dictionary website saying the word laurel, but many people could only hear yanny..The present study was conducted to investigate if one’s executive function capacity, specifically their task switching ability, would explain why people interpret an ambiguous stimulus, such as yanny vs. laurel, the way that they do. while also looking at other optical and auditory illusions of the same nature. To do this, …

Faith-Based Intervention: Bridging The Religiosity Gap, Mariah Williams

Capstone Showcase

MARIAH WILLIAMS

Faith-Based Intervention: Bridging the Religiosity Gap

Religion and Spirituality (RS) has been suggested to play a positive role in the recovery process for severe mental illness. Although there is still a lot of controversy with the relationship of RS in the mental health field, previous research shows that RS promotes a healthier lifestyle, fosters a personal sense of community, and provides unique coping mechanisms for those who are in the recovery process. These findings further suggest that the need for faith-based intervention into recovery has become crucial for patients who have an intrinsic belief system. However, because there …

Effect Of Motivational And Imagery Priming On Accuracy Motor Performance, Megan Mejia

Capstone Showcase

Across two studies a total of 88 participants (40 in study 1, 48 in study 2), we investigated the effects of motivational priming and imagery direction (facilitative: 'try to hit the target' versus debilitative: 'try not to miss' imagery) on accuracy motor tasks. The first experiment consisted of a motivational paragraph as the prime and a fine motor tracing task as the dependent measure. In the second experiment, motivational imagery, as well as an image at the top of the instructions handed out, were used as the primes for effect on performance in a dart-throwing task. There were no significant …

Therapist Self-Disclosure And Recall Of Therapy Content, Shivani Mansharamani, Steven Robbins

Capstone Showcase

SHIVANI MANSHARAMANI

Therapist Self-Disclosure and Recall of Therapy Content

Research Mentor: Dr. Steven Robbins

Patients’ faulty memory of what they learned in therapy is often associated with poor outcomes. One way to improve therapeutic outcome is to improve patients’ memory of therapy content. Therapist Self-Disclosure (TSD) refers to a therapist’s disclosure of personal information to facilitate the client-therapist relationship. It has been employed as a tool to improve alliance and overall treatment outcome, and has often been used to prime more client disclosure. Past research on a memory support system has been unsuccessful at significantly improving client memory. In this …

The Social Aspects Of Depression Throughout The Lifespan As A Means For Prevention, Gabrielle Moyer

Capstone Showcase

Incidence of depression diagnosis has increased across child and adult populations in recent years. The role of both genetic and environmental factors involved in depression development are discussed in the current research. Specifically, the role of social experience in childhood’s ability to influence experienced depression is explored. Linking these factors in childhood to depression continuation in adulthood is of importance due to the high mortality rate associated with depressive diagnoses as a result of suicidality. The current research offers insight into necessary preventative and intervention methods in childhood to be considered. Specifically, the need for selective prevention for at risk …