Digital Commons Network^™

Outcomes Of Speech And Language Pilot Program For International Students, Kelly Fussman

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Universities in the United States host a substantial number of international students every academic year. As of the 2015-2016 academic year, Western Kentucky University, located in south-central Kentucky, alone hosts over 1,400 international students. These students often face a number of challenges upon arrival in the United States, especially when it comes to language and cultural differences. A considerable body of research indicates that international students’ educational performance and outcomes are significantly impacted by their cultural identities, psychological and sociocultural experiences, and attitudes in relation to English-speaking societies. Many international students attribute academic and social difficulties to a lack of …

Immigration After Mckinley: How A President’S Death Breathed Life Into Immigration Policy, Carolyn Evans

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The assassination of William McKinley in 1901 was a national tragedy. However, McKinley’s death was neither a spontaneous coincidence nor the first of its kind. The President’s assassination was one of several international anarchist attacks that resulted in the death of a world leader. Facing widespread fear regarding anarchy, the 57th Congress responded with harsh legislation that targeted some of America’s most vulnerable groups: immigrants. Faced with a rapidly changing new world, at the beginning of the 20th century, Congress began passing harsh legislation they felt necessary to protect the American public. This new legislation, unfortunately, also shook America’s core …

Tragedy And The Vicious: Moral Education In Aristotle’S Poetics And Future Applications To Contemporary Art, Erika Brown

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This project interprets Aristotle’s Poetics through a morally educative approach. More specifically, expanding on past research of Poetics by individuals such as Isaiah Smithson, this project will examine the affective influence of tragedy on morally unknowing audience members of vicious character types. Through the associations between the sensory experiences incorporated in a tragedy and moral messages portrayed in the plot, the vicious character can begin a process of becoming morally knowing subjects. In others words, this experience with morally charged tragedies can teach vicious characters what is morally good. Moreover, the vicious audience members can learn how what is morally …

Stigmatization Fo Hiv/Aids: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, Jamie Doctrow

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the cause of a public health epidemic that has impacted millions of individuals worldwide. Though medical advances have decreased the number of AIDS related deaths by 42% since the peak year of 2004 (UNAIDS, 2015), many individuals with HIV/AIDS are unaware of their status and are not currently receiving antiretroviral treatment. Many experts have suggested that a significant barrier to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment is the social stigma that has become attached to the disease. No single cause of this stigmatization has been identified, but a variety of influences may play a role. To …

Sound Data Collection And Transmission Noise Reduction, Bradley Cockrel

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The WKU Engineering Department Senior Student Team, The Synchronizers, has been contracted to modify a MTD transmission’s sound characteristics. This project entails developing a sound data acquisition apparatus and method, developing a sound test stand which will fully load the transmission and load characteristics, and suggesting modes of sound modification. The Sound Data Acquisition method entails using a specialized microphone calibrated to operate on IOS devices to measure Sound Intensity. The sound intensity will be found over a collective area, in order to evaluate to the sound power generated. The sound test stand will consist of a system designed to …

Toward Autonomous Multi-Rotor Indoor Aerial Vehicles, Connor Brooks

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In this project, we worked to create an indoor autonomous micro aerial vehicle (MAV) using a multi-layer architecture with modular hardware and software components. We required that all computing was done onboard the vehicle during time of flight so that no remote connection of any kind was necessary for successful control of the vehicle, even when flying autonomously. We utilized environmental sensors including ultrasonic sensors, light detection and ranging modules, and inertial measurement units to acquire necessary environment information for autonomous flight. We used a three-layered system that combined a modular control architecture with distributed on-board computing to allow for …

The Lagging State Of Renewable Energy In Kentucky, John Evans

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

It is evident that Kentucky's energy landscape is characterized primarily by coal and, to a lesser degree, natural gas and oil. It seems there's almost no room for renewable energy sources in Kentucky’s energy sector despite plentiful evidence of global climate change caused largely by carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. Other states are paving the way in the renewable energy industry by investing in solar, wind and geothermal energy among other forms while Kentucky continues to sit back seemingly content with utilizing energy practices that are several decades old. In this project, I will be addressing reasons for the …

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury, Suicidal Behaviors, And Body Investment In Heterosexual And Sexual Minority Young Adults, Emily Cox

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

College-aged individuals who identify with a sexual minority orientation are at high risk for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal behaviors. Research is lacking on identification of factors contributing to increased risk for this population. This study examined two facets of body investment, body protection and body feelings, as they relate to NSSI, individual and total suicidal behaviors, and sexual orientation. It was hypothesized that NSSI and individual suicidal behaviors would be more frequent in the sexual minority sample compared to the heterosexual sample, body protection and body feelings would be poorer in sexual minorities compared to the heterosexual sample, and …

An Assessment Of Scholastic Basketball Programs: Administration, Facilities, And Support, Leah Cannady

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The main purpose of this study was to validate the survey insturement created to evaluate various aspects of scholastic basketball programs—including but not limited to administration, facilities, and support. All boys and girls head basketball coaches in South Dakota were administered an electronic survey created for the study. To incentivize participation, respondents could choose to be entered to win a monetary donation of $250 to their basketball program. Descriptive statstics were used to summarize respondent demographics and other statistical measures were used to indicate reliability and validity of the survey instrument. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated at .711 and Pearson’s correlation …

Tipping The Scales: Is Right-To-Work Legislation On The Path To Prosperity?, Jessica Canada

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

With West Virginia having just become the twenty-sixth state to pass right-to-work (RTW) legislation, the U.S. labor relations movement is at a tipping point. Other policy makers are closely watching the recent revival of RTW laws that has occurred over the last five years and are analyzing relevant studies to determine whether passing legislation that would outlaw union shops in their states might be worth a second look.

With this paper I intend to examine one of the dominant arguments against enacting RTW legislation in a state, which is that this legislation results in a greater degree of state-level income …

Maternal Sleep Loss During Fetal Development Alters Offspring Endocrine Responses To Stress Throughout Life, Audrey Brown

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis releases glucocorticoids, including corticosterone (CORT), in response to stress. CORT then negatively feeds back to inhibit its own production by binding to glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland. The HPA axis is subject to “programming” by abnormal stimuli during early development, which may permanently alter how the HPA axis responds to stress. These altered responses have been linked to an increased risk for human psychiatric and metabolic disorders in later life, but the mechanism by which this happens is not fully understood. This study tests the hypothesis that changes to GR expression patterns …

Cultural Diversity And The Impact Of Acculturation And Personal Experience On Perceptions Of Suicide, Susan Breidenich

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Many factors influence cross-cultural differences in suicide rates and behaviors. One potential explanation is that attitudes and values influence the way individuals perceive suicide. In addition, previous literature indicates that attitudes can change in response to individual experiences. Further research on cultural attitudes toward suicide and individual experiences that influence them could inform prevention and treatment efforts targeted toward multicultural populations. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of culture, acculturation, and personal experience (i.e., exposure to suicidal behavior through close relationship) on suicide attitudes. The hypotheses were (1) that significant differences in attitudes towards suicide will …

The Rise Of Nuclear Energy In Arab States: Future Impacts, Brittany Broder

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The signing of the Iranian nuclear deal during the Summer of 2015 highlighted the threat of nuclear proliferation from foreign powers, but largely overlooked the rise of nuclear energy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). With growing energy demands and heightened environmental regulations, countries in this region are turning to nuclear power to fuel their next generation. However, the rise of nuclear power in the MENA region holds serious implications for the future of the area’s energy, economic, and social reforms that have largely gone unexplored as a whole thus far. The purpose of this thesis is to …

Language Proficiency Benefits Of An Arabic Language Immersion House, John Bailey

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This study analyzed the language proficiencies of 25 students using the ACTFL “Can-Do Statements” and Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPI), examined responses of 33 language students throughout the US from a questionnaire to find behaviors they use in their language studies, and also studied results from questionnaires directed to 6 WKU language faculty and a faculty member for Denison University. The goal of this analysis was to find links between those behaviors exhibited by the students and their level of language proficiency to uncover what methods are most conducive to increasing second language (L2) proficiency and to find L2 proficiency benefits …

Implementation Of The Affordable Care Act In Physical Therapy, Greg Austin

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Introduction: With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, many medical specialties prepared to see reimbursement rates altered. Not impervious to this trend was the field of physical therapy (PT). This change in reimbursement structure could impact the effectiveness of PT treatment. Under this model, a patient may not be able to receive the appropriate number of visits to a physical therapist, resulting in a loss of utilization in the injured area and, possibly, a loss of independence. Methods: A literature review was performed to determine reimbursement rate impact on PT. A seven-item open-ended survey regarding various …

A Classification Of The Intersections Between Regions And Their Topical Transitions, Kathleen Bell

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

As two topological regions are morphed and translated, how does their intersection change? Previous research has been done on static configurations with planar spatial regions. I expand upon this research to include dynamically changing regions and intersections. I examine what forms of intersection are possible, and what transitions are directly possible, while considering such variables as the connectedness of the regions.

The Great Divide: The Political Implications Of Southern Regional Identification In Kentucky, Erika Binnix

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Kentucky occupies a unique place on the American political landscape. The Commonwealth has never been fully embraced as Southern by most observers, but at the same time it is not necessarily a Northern state. As the intersection of North and South in the United States, Kentucky presents a unique opportunity to study the impact of regional identity on public opinion. Utilizing data from a 2014 survey of a random sample of Kentucky residents, we are able to demonstrate that Southern regional identification is fairly high in Kentucky, and that this identification has a significant influence on opinion regard politicians and …

Kentucky Warbler (Vol. 92, No. 3), Kentucky Library Research Collections

The Kentucky Warbler

No abstract provided.

Yancey, Clara Louise (Robertson) Keech), 1908-2004 (Mss 579), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 579. Correspondence, photographs, interviews and papers of Louisville, Kentucky native Clara Louise (Robertson) Keech Yancey. Includes papers and correspondence of her parents, Eugene and Clara Mae Robertson, brother James Thomas Robertson, husband William J. Keech, son William Robertson Keech, and family data.

Tillinghast, Joseph Leonard, 1790-1844 (Sc 3029), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3029. Letter, 14 October 1842, of Joseph L. Tillinghast, Providence, Rhode Island, to a Kentucky political committee. While declining their invitation to visit Frankfort for an event on 26 October, Tillinghast, a Whig and U.S. Representative, offers lengthy praise for the party’s work in the 27th U.S. Congress and pays homage to Henry Clay and Kentucky.

Warren County, Kentucky - Guardian's Bond Books (Mss 587), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 587. Guardian’s bond books for Warren County, Kentucky, from 1882 to 1890. Each bond includes the name of the appointed guardian, the name of the minor ward(s), those providing surety for the guardian, the date of the bond, the signatures of the guardian, those providing surety, and the court clerk and/or the deputy clerk. The relationship of guardian to ward is not noted. A complete list of guardians and wards is included.

A Bayesian Inference Comparing Collegiate Female Cyclists To Elite Female Cyclists From A Meta-Analysis, Frank B. Wyatt, Mihir Dhimar, Yesha Shah

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 9(3): 368-375, 2016. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physiological characteristics of competitive, collegiate female cyclists (CFC) to data of elite female cyclists (EFC) obtained from a meta-analytic review. Eleven (n=11) CFC volunteered as subjects. Subjects signed a university approved informed consent. Means and standard deviation (+ SD) were obtained from the following measurements: age (y), 22.5± 5.1; height (cm) 167.22 ± 6.2; body mass (kg) 63.78 ± 9.71; body fat (%) 22.9 ± 3.6. Subjects performed a maximal cycling ergometer test to volitional fatigue. Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max, mL*kg1*min.-1) …

Power Training And Functional Performance In Middle Aged Women: A Pilot Study, Mitchel A. Magrini, J. Jay Dawes, Craig Elder, Mary Ann Kluge

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 9(3): 327-335, 2016. Muscular power is a key component of functional performance (FP) and fall risk reduction. The present study investigated the effect that power training with medicine balls had on body composition and FP in middle-age females. 10 women were divided into a control group (n=4, age=59.8+3.6) and an intervention group (n=6, age=59.5+3.6) in this 6-week study. The intervention group completed a medicine ball training program two times a week. Body composition and FP tests were administered prepost. Data was analyzed using a series of Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test and Cohen’s d test for …

Do Girls With Excess Adiposity Perform Poorer Motor Skills Than Their Leaner Peers?, Daniel V. Chagas, Joyce F. Carvalho, Luiz A. Batista

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 9(3): 318-326, 2016. The main aim of this study was to analyze the joint association of body fat percentage and physical activity levels on motor coordination scores in girls with different adiposity status. Sixty-eight school-aged children between 12 and 14 years participated in the study. Skinfold thickness was measured and the Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder test was administered. Participants completed a selfreporting questionnaire on physical activity. Children’s adiposity status was attributed in according to age-specific cutoff points of a Brazilian database. Analysis of Variance was used to compare motor coordination scores among groups with different status …

Perceptions Of Motivational Climate, Goal Orientations, And Light- To Vigorous-Intensity Physical Activity Engagement Of A Sample Of Finnish Grade 5 To 9 Students, Arto Gråstén, Anthony P. Watt

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 9(3): 291-305, 2016. The aim of this study was the examination of relationships between children’s perceptions of motivational climate, goal orientation, and their engagement in light- to vigorous-intensity physical activity. The sample comprised 585 school children at age of 11 to 16-year-old from three small cities located in Northeast-Finland. The cross-sectional data was collected using online questionnaires in April 2014. The findings indicated that the higher task-involving motivational climate in physical education the children reported, the higher total light- and moderate-intensity levels they accumulated. Task-involving climate also indicated higher task orientation and ego-involving climate higher …

Physiological Characteristics Of Youth Synchronized Skaters, Laura E. Fischer M.Ed., Lynn A. Darby Ph.D., Amy L. Morgan Ph.D., David A. Tobar Ph.D.

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 9(3): 270-282, 2016. Figure skating is a lifelong sport with participation rates increasing for skaters of all ages. Development within the five disciplines of figure skating (individual skating, synchronized skating, pairs skating, ice dancing, and theater on ice) has led to increased physical demands placed on skaters’ bodies. As a result, focus on sport performance testing, training, and injury prevention specific to figure skating is increasing. The purpose of this study was to use field tests to describe the physical characteristics of synchronized skaters and to determine the relationships between these physiological characteristics and skating …

Evaluation Of The Basis Band Fitness Tracker, Pier-Alexandre Desilets, Matthew T. Mahar

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 9(3): 258-269, 2016. Self-monitoring is a widely recommended behavioral strategy to promote regular physical activity. Commercially available activity monitors are becoming increasingly popular and provide users with the opportunity to self-monitor physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of the Basis Band Fitness Tracker to measure heart rate and movement compared to research-grade activity monitors. Twenty participants (14 females and 6 males) aged 18-23 yrs (mean = 20.0 ± 1.1 yrs) wore a Basis Band, an NL-1000 pedometer, an ANT+ Motorola HRM1G chest strap heart rate monitor, and an …

Student Dropout Indicators In Kentucky Kid-Friendly Race-To-The-Top Schools, Candace M. Elliott

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examined the trend of ten dropout indicators between various grade levels and focused on those indicators that can be changed, such as attendance or grades, versus those factors that cannot be changed by the student (i.e., their socioeconomic status). The study consisted of 111 Race-to-the-Top Schools from 22 districts in the Green River Regional Educational Cooperative (GRREC) and the Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative (OVEC) in Kentucky. A total of 18,072 students in fourth, sixth, eighth, ninth, and eleventh grades completed the 10-item dropout indicator survey. Results of the Chi-square analysis indicate that percentages of agreement on most of …

Duration Of Time Spent Playing Online Video Games, Interpersonal Skills, And Introversion Personality Traits As Predictors For Social Anxiety Symptoms, James D. Bender

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study sought to determine if time spent engaging in online gaming, interpersonal communication skills, and introvert personality traits are predictors of an individual’s likelihood of experiencing symptoms of social anxiety. A sample of 128 participants (82 males and 46 females) completed measures of demographics, interpersonal communication skills, problematic online gaming, social anxiety, and introversion. Participants were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. There were significant correlations among social anxiety and interpersonal communication skills, problematic online gaming, and introversion. There was no significant correlation among social anxiety and time spent playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG), a specific form of …

Devonian Hydrocarbon Production In South Central Kentucky: A Gis Study, Andrew David Reeder

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Historically, Devonian Corniferous hydrocarbon production in south-central Kentucky has been a major contributor to the total hydrocarbon resources within Butler, Edmonson, and Warren counties. The Corniferous adds to the already large hydrocarbon totals produced from the Illinois Basin; however, this hydrocarbon contribution does not come without major pitfalls and inconsistencies. The south-central Kentucky Devonian Corniferous rocks comprise a diverse and complex hydrocarbon system made up of multiple migration pathways, trapping mechanisms, and seals. The multiple Corniferous units all derive production from the same source rock: the New Albany Shale.

A Geographic Information System (GIS) containing data on surface elevations, structure …