Digital Commons Network^™

The Presence Of Photoreceptor Sensilla In The Posterior Sucker Of Medicinal Leeches Inferred Through Functional Visual Response., Claire Spivey

Honors Theses

Medicinal leeches gather visual input from both its eyecups and photoreceptors across its body surface; each of its 21 midbody segments possesses 14 photoreceptive sensilla. It has been previously established that the posterior sucker is composed of seven body segments that are fused during embryogenesis. Similarly, four body segments fuse to create the anterior brain. There are five bilateral pairs of eyes located on the dorsal surface of the leech’s head and seven bilateral pairs of sensilla distributed over the surface of each midbody segment (Kretz et al., 1975). If no sensilla were lost during the fusion of the seven …

The Effects Of Qr Code Prompts Posted To A Solar Charging Bench On Website Visibility, Sage Campbell

Honors Theses

This study will investigate the effects of graphic prompts with integrated quick response (QR) codes posted to a solar charging bench. The hypothesis is that posted prompts and the bench itself will increase website traffic and visibility of sustainable actions at Western Michigan University. Website traffic will be monitored using Google Analytics software which will allow for tracking of website visits specifically from scanning the QR code. Thus, data from bench installation and from bench installation with prompts will be compared with baseline data from before installation of the bench and before installation graphic prompts. Data that supports the hypothesis, …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of The Collegiate Aviation Safety Reporting System (Casrs) At Western Michigan University's College Of Aviation, Logan Brown

Honors Theses

Aviation is a safety focused industry that intends to continually improve safety. Many safety models have been created, but right now the most prominent model is the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Safety Management System (SMS). It has four components: safety policy, safety risk management, safety assurance, and safety promotion. NASA’s nationwide reporting system, the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) incorporates these four components, as does the program created by Western Michigan University’s College of Aviation. Termed the Collegiate Aviation Safety Reporting System (CASRS), it was created to bring NASA’s program to a local scale. This paper examines international safety …

Comparing Prompting Methods For Teaching Receptive Identification, Laurel Jungblut

Honors Theses

Receptive language is the occurrence of an appropriate response to the spoken language of another individual. This is a key element of development, especially in regard to the acquisition of spoken language (Grow & LeBlanc, 2013). While this appropriate responding is a skill generally acquired by typically developing children via interactions with their caregivers, in most situations it must be explicitly taught to children with developmental delays (Charlotte L. Carp, Sean P. Peterson, Amber J. Arkel, & Anna I. Petursdottir, 2012). An absence or delay of this skill will result in a child missing many important learning opportunities, leading to …

Screaming, Humming: A Look Into Student Theatrical Direction And The Importance Of Queer Narratives On Stage And In The Rehearsal Room, Kropveld Danielle

Honors Theses

There is a large lack of discussion and writing concerning the intersections of queer theory, theatre as an art form, and student direction. My thesis attempts to add to this small amount of work. Using historical evidence, I define radical queer theory and its implications for art. I contextualize my own work in the rehearsal room with the piece Screaming, Humming by Hannah Manikowski with this framework, and speak to my experience of casting and rehearsal.

As a student director whose acting collaborators are also students, there are additional considerations to be taken into account. This experience also serves as …

Cloud Tectonics: A Footlight 2 Production, Cal Kreiner

Honors Theses

The purpose of “Cloud Tectonics: A Footlight 2 Production,” was to produce a full length, professional production of Jose Rivera’s one-act play, Cloud Tectonics, part of which includes the creation of a professional grade directorial book detailing the process and thought that went into the staging of the show. Because of copyright and other legalities, the directorial book without the annotated script is all that can be included in Scholarworks; however, in the book you’ll find a thorough analytical examination of the playwright’s dramaturgical choices, their intended impact, and how the director interpreted and expressed those concepts in the …

Determining The Depositional Environment Of Amherstburg Formation, Elizabeth Gaines

Honors Theses

The Amherstburg Formation is a unit that stretches from Ontario to Michigan and was deposited during the Devonian Period. The goal of this project was to determine the depositional environment of the Amherstburg Formation. Facies associations were defined based on observations from three cores in northern and southeastern Michigan and later grouped into facies associations. The four facies associations were reef rubble, lagoonal, lagoonal and reef-rubble, and lagoonal and peritidal environments. These environments were deposited as laterally adjacent environments along a ramp shelf in a humid tropical climate. Sea level was relatively high during the deposition of the Amherstburg Formation. …

Interstellar Travel And Tourism: The Possibilities In The Dawn Of The New Face Of Business And Its Structure, Haley Barber

Honors Theses

Interstellar Travel and Tourism: The Possibilities in the Dawn of the New Face of Business and its Structure

By Haley Barber

Mentor Dr. Lana Carnes

Professor of Corporate Communication & Technology

Business faces a new frontier, and it is my argument that there is a possibility that business will develop an entirely new structure to face the space age. I will be investigating the scientific, legal, and business structure currently in place and how these structures intend to adapt or may be abandoned in this quickly developing age. This new frontier will affect everyone on this planet, in the environment, …

The Laureate, Hannah Ryder

Honors Theses

In its eighteenth edition, the only undergraduate literary journal on Western Michigan University’s campus returns with more phenomenal student creations. The Laureate, led this year by senior Hannah Ryder, compiles fiction, non-fiction, plays, poetry, art, and photographs to provide a yearly snapshot of the best work from the university’s brightest individuals. Inside, the pieces explore not only what it means to be an individual, but how different surroundings and influences shape characters and experiences. The journal kicks off with a photograph staring up at a golden-leafed tree, representing both hopefulness and light. It then moves quickly and seamlessly through a …

Efficacy Of A Three-Week Intervention Program For Children In The Areas Of Language, Articulation, Phonological Awareness, And Auditory Processing, Zoey Caballero

Honors Theses

Competency in the areas of language, articulation, phonological awareness, and auditory processing are essential for children to succeed academically. For the past four summers, select professors and graduate student clinicians in the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Department at Andrews University have conducted an intensive three-week therapy program for school aged children to target these areas. By comparing pre/post-test scores, the purpose of the study is to obtain statistical evidence for specific therapy interventions in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the intensive therapy program.

Parental Influence On The Communicative Behaviors Of Black Young Adults, Sarah R. Brockett

Honors Theses

This study examined communicative behaviors of Black young adults and how they were impacted by the relational dynamics of their parents. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 73 Black young adults 18-35 years of age. The survey instrument measured the students' argumentative approach and avoidance behavior in interpersonal relationships. There were three directional hypotheses, but the data collected did not prove or disprove them. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents had parents that were still married. The results showed there to be no significant difference in argumentativeness between the "together " and "strained" groups. Verbal and …

The Impact Of Male-Exposure In The Neuronal Response Of The L3 Auditory Intemeuron To Model Calls, Shekinah Dosunmu

Honors Theses

The L3 auditory neuron in female cricket Acheta domesticus responds to phonotactically attractive calls with decrement: a reduction in the number of action potentials in response to consecutive sound pulses within a chirp. Such unique response has been reported only in virgin females. This study evaluates the response of the L3 in male-exposed females to determine whether they respond to auditory stimuli differently from those exhibited by virgin female crickets.

Preliminary data indicate that L3 in young exposed female crickets responds with different decrement patterns as those reported for virgin females. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Neuronal And Behavioral Response Relationships In Virgin Females Of Acheta Domesticus, Brandon Shin

Honors Theses

Animals that communicate acoustically serve as models for investigating how organisms respond to sound. For instance, in field crickets, females exhibit phonotaxis (directed movement towards the sound's source) to calls with a specific frequency, intensity, and syllable period (SP) - the time between the beginning of one sound pulse and the beginning of another within the same chirp. Additionally, auditory neurons in females produce action potentials in direct response to the sound pulses of a male 's call. A previous study on the species Gryllus bimaculatus demonstrated a relationship between an individual female's behavioral and neuronal responses; however, no such …

Acoustic Reflex And Extended High-Frequency Testing In Relation To Tinnitus, Deborah Kim

Honors Theses

Tinnitus, a growing concern among adults, is the perception of sound without an external acoustic source. Tinnitus can sound like ringing, buzzing, and clicking and is typically caused by noise-induced hearing loss. Noise-induced hearing loss is caused by prolonged exposure to high levels of noise, which damages the cochlea, and can be temporary or permanent. The purpose of this study is to determine if there are any common factors or characteristics in Acoustic Reflex, standard pure tone and/or Extended High-Frequency testing results between two groups: people who report and do not report tinnitus. This study explores whether Acoustic Reflex testing …

Reality Versus Fantasy: An Analysis Of Emergency Management Practices Portrayed In Disaster Movies, Lisa Wier

Honors Theses

In Hollywood, disaster films are often highly fictionalized for entertainment purposes. They often misrepresent disaster protection, mitigation, response, and overall preparedness. The films Jurassic World (2015), San Andreas (2015), and Your Name (2016) misrepresent mass island evacuation and response, earthquake preparedness and mitigation, and near-Earth impacts (NEOs) and protection respectfully. However, the disasters exaggerated are based upon real hazards that emergency management officials must plan for. The disasters portrayed are analyzed with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Goal and its core capabilities to demonstrate effective strategies for the incidents, and proper identification of the discrepancies between disaster …

Rhythms And Reading: Applying Literacy To The Music Classroom, Makenzie M. Davis

Honors Theses

This research project seeks to demonstrate how literacy pedagogy can be used to teach music in the context of a music classroom. Born of the increased emphasis on literacy-based instruction in public schools, all teachers, regardless of primary content area, are expected to aid in the mission of teaching reading skills to all students. Oftentimes, teachers will forego their content area lessons in order to strictly teach a lesson on reading skills. Music teachers must be equipped to teach literacy within their music classroom without damaging the integrity of their music content lessons. Through comparative research, the project will parallel …

Manipulating Light: Creating A Biomimetic Photonic Crystal Material Inspired By The Chameleon, Love L. Richburg

Honors Theses

The purpose of this project is to create a chameleon-inspired biomimetic material using guanine crystals and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to form a tunable photonic crystal and then characterize the material. The method for developing this material is to first synthesize a photonic crystal made of a guanine microsphere lattice. Then embed the guanine lattice in PDMS. Since PDMS is an elastomer, it can be stretched to adjust the spacing between the guanine crystals. This should allow for the photonic crystal to be adjusted similarly to the way that the chameleon adjusts the photonic crystal in its skin by changing the spacing …

More Than A Lady: How Jane Austen’S Works Impacted The Role Of Women In English Society In The Late 18th And Early 19th Centuries, Chloe E. Rojas Ms.

Honors Theses

In Jane Austen’s works, the role and expectations of women in the 18th and 19th centuries are both reflected and questioned. My thesis outlines how Austen used her novels to represent the society in which she lived and how that society placed a sense of duty on women, specifically in terms of family, education, and marriage. Along with the representation of these duties, I also focus upon on how Austen uses her protagonists, primarily in the novels Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park, to question those standards and provide for her readers examples of women whom they …

Propionate Enhances The Antimicrobial Defenses In Macrophages Against Listeria Monocytogenes, John Weis

Honors Theses

Propionate is a short chain fatty acid produced by the bacteria in the human gut. It has a wide range of nutritional functions in the human body. Several studies have also reported the effects of propionate on immune cell activation. In this study, we used Listeria monocytogenes as a model pathogen to determine how and what the effects of propionate on immune cells influence cell susceptibility to infections. Listeria is a dangerous intracellular pathogen that can replicate inside immune cells such as macrophages. Therefore, we can assess the impact of propionate on infection susceptibility by performing cell culture infections. We …

The Cinderella Tale: Oral, Literary, And Film Traditions, Olivia Camille Williams

Honors Theses

Folk and fairy tales have been told for centuries. The most prevalent medium of dispersing popular tales changed with technological advancements. Printed word superseded oral storytelling, to be succeeded by film. Some communal aspects of the tales were lost as print emerged, but with print came illustrations to describe the text. Film reimbued the tales with some of the theatrical elements of the oral tale while keeping, and heightening, the visual elements of the illustrated texts. The tale Cinderella has been, and still is, remarkably poplar. As such, it has received attention in academic circles and popular culture. The tale, …

The Effects Of Marine Natural Products On The Microenvironment Of Pancreatic Cancer, Whitney D. Davis, Esther Guzman

Honors Theses

Pancreatic cancer is the 4th leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, with that number increasing each year. New drugs need to be developed to treat this disease. One source of new drugs is marine natural products. Two compounds—HB-131 and HB-018—were tested for potential anti-cancer properties. Pancreatic cancer cells were exposed to these compounds for six hours and the conditioned media from this treatment was used to further our understanding of the effects of these compounds. A western blot was used to determine matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression, while a zymogram was used to determine MMP activity. A sandwich …

Where Do We Put Our Flesh? Intersecting Feminism With Art And Contemporary Printmaking, Claire Bowman

Honors Theses

My work is concerned with the correlation of society’s standards for women, their bodies, and the resulting effects on their perception of themselves. Due in part to society’s obsession with a universal female beauty and the treatment of the body as an object to be controlled by the mind, many women experience a form self-objectification, putting their body through rigorous self-analysis in an attempt to target their perceived flaws. Through my chosen medium of relief printing, I endeavor to represent this objectification of the self and the detrimental effects it can have on the female presence in the world. In …

Perceiving Place: A Social Design Case Study, Mary Anne Brinkman

Honors Theses

Space is one of the most basic foundational systems for living things. No matter what happens in the world, it happens in a spatial setting. The specific design of that setting or place plays a large role in the lives of those within it.1 Other factors within place—factors that might inform design choices—also affect perception of place. Broad consensus exists in scholarly literature about the general role that history, culture, environment and social factors play into the perception of place. Past studies have supported that our perception of reality before actually observing it, actively affects the reality we then observe.2 …

Intentionally So: Morality In Children’S Literature, Anna Edwards

Honors Theses

There are tales that follow us from childhood and into adult life: they take the shape of children’s stories. Within these books there are moral lessons to be learned; often times these lessons are communicated through enchanting characters and strange settings. However, in addition to the morality that can be found in the pages of these texts, I believe there is also a morality surrounding their creation. More specifically, the way their authors approach their writing. By looking at the two works The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, a …

Poverty Redemption: Why Those Affected Stay Affected, Claudia M. Hampel

Honors Theses

This paper looks at why those in poverty have not taken advantage of self-sufficiency programs that are offered through Miami Valley Works along with other self-sufficiency programs offered. This paper looks at the general reasons why those in poverty do not go through self-sufficiency programs, whether they chose not to participate or leave a program prior to completion. This paper delves into multiple factors that could contribute to why an individual would forgo to participate in the program or would choose to leave the program before completing it. The study examines how governmental policies, the culture of poverty, race, housing, …

Misreading The Hybrid Face: The Alienation Of Performed And Authentic Self In Danzy Senna’S Caucasia And Chang-Rae Lee’S Native Speaker, William E. Landers

Honors Theses

Race is epistemological. It shapes worldviews, conceptions of self, and interactions with society. It defines who belongs in the national community and who counts as fully human. The myth of whiteness as a homogenizing and nativist identity creates false personas around and within racialized others. These personas define non-white populations according to exclusionary stereotypes. These stereotypes, in turn, separate populations based on appearance and cultural practice. This thesis applies Critical Race Theory and comparative racialization tools to examine the historical implications of race on the conception of an authentic, or internally true, identity. These implications are illustrated by the dynamics …

Analysis And Review Of The Effects Of Bacterial Competition On Efflux Pump Inhibition, Robert Leszcynski

Honors Theses

Multidrug resistant antibacterial strains are a dangerous problem for modern medical professionals. When cells of two different strains are grown together, they must compete with each other for nutrients. This competition can lead to the production of harmful compounds that are toxic to the competing strain. One such compound may be a compound that inhibits the efflux of antibiotics from the cell. When the cells compete with one another, one or both of the cells will produce compounds that are harmful to the competing strain.

Flourishing The Urban Environment: How Urban Gardens Affect Pollinators, Emily Ann Rickert

Honors Theses

The order of Hymenoptera is classified as bees, wasps, and ants and are widely recognized as pollinators. Some species of bees (family Apoidea) and hoverflies tend to focus on certain types of flowers and are attracted to patterns and colors. Native plants and crops that are specifically bee-friendly can encourage bees and other pollinators that are decreasing in biodiversity and population to come back. Urban gardens work to provide vegetables and organic produce to its communities and subsequently are also growing pollinator-friendly food. This study focuses on whether the biodiversity of Hymenoptera, hoverflies, and other significant pollinators are affected by …

Effect Of Activated Carbon On The Performance Of A Solar Thermal Adsorptive Refrigerator (Star) Using Activated Carbon-Ethanol, Joshua Romo

Honors Theses

The Solar Thermal Adsorptive Refrigerator (STAR) project at the University of Dayton seeks to bridge sustainability and the need for reliable refrigeration in developing communities. Cost-effective construction, operation, and maintenance as well as the use of a sustainable adsorption pair, activated carbon-ethanol, give STAR great potential in the realm of humanitarian engineering. This project explores the effect of using two activated carbon brands, 8x16 and CocoPlus, on the cyclic performance of the STAR system. Although both brands have similar specifications given by the manufacturer, one (8x16) inhibited successful performance while the other (CocoPlus) enabled it. This project highlights both the …

The Effects Of L. Rhamnosus Consumption On Male Long Evans Rat Anxiety-Like Behavior, Amanda Marie Schleper

Honors Theses

Adolescent stress in humans has been correlated with an increased likelihood of an individual to develop an alcohol use disorder later in life. Literature has demonstrated that rats subjected to adolescent stress tend to show an increased preference and consumption of ethanol. Adolescence is a critical time of development. The link between adolescent stressors and alcohol use disorders is not fully understood yet. This study examined the relationship between adolescent stress and alcohol consumption and preference in rats. Probiotics are bacteria with potential health benefits and have been well accepted as a dietary supplement. Literature shows that probiotics could decrease …