Digital Commons Network^™

Software Improvements To Parint, A Parallel Integration Software Package, Lawrence Cuneaz

Honors Theses

The best software is easy to configure and compile, is expandable and is well tested. Development of the ParInt software package for parallel integration stopped a number of years ago. When handed the software, parts of the package no longer configured or compiled consistently. Furthermore it relied on one random number generator and had no functional testing. The team tuned the auto configuration so that the program would configure and build on current systems, created expandable functionality to add new random number generators and created two functional test packs. Now ParInt can be developed with confidence knowing that it compiles …

An Accessibility Analysis Of 8th Grade Math Textbooks: Implications For Diverse Learners, Emily Waddle

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Memory Support For Adults With Alzheimer’S Disease: Applications For Speech-Language Pathologists, Laura Dober

Honors Theses

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and is known to cause progressive and severely debilitating impairments in cognition, especially in memory. Deficits in memory and cognition are clearly reflected in the communication of people diagnosed with this progressive, degenerative, incurable disease, placing speech-language pathologists as important members of a care team for adults with AD. Speech-language pathologists provide treatment to support memory, and therefore communication, in people with AD through direct and indirect methods. Some examples of memory supportive strategies include spaced-retrieval learning, the use of external memory aids and assistive technology, Montessori methods, and manipulations …

Recurring Ankle Injuries In Dancers, Alexis Jawny

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research, obtained from various Journals of Dance Medicine and Science, is to identify the cause of recurring ankle injuries in the dance community. Ankle injuries are the most common type of injury making up 50% of injuries in dancers. The main cause of recurring ankle injuries is improper diagnosing and then leading to the wrong treatment plan. The research focusses on how to prevent these improper diagnoses and what the dancer and specialty care professional (orthopedics, physical therapists, and rehabilitative medicine) can do to decrease the number of ankle injuries occurring and reoccurring in the dance …

An Actress, A Knight, And A Woodcutter Walk Into A Postwar Society: Memory And The International Postwar Art Film In Hiroshima Mon Amour, The Seventh Seal, And Rashomon, Austin King

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Athlete And Team Responses To Injury, Laura Heron

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Editor-In-Chief Of The Laureate, Michael Bodinger

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

Gronwall’S Inequality And Systems Of Integral Equations, Bradford Garcia

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Study In The States: Making An Impact On Honors Education, Hayley Weston

Honors Theses

Today, professionals around the world recognize the need for experiential learning in education. Many schools have adopted programs that allow for this type of learning, including The Carl and Winifred Lee Honors College at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The current Dean of the Lee Honors College, Dr. Carla Koretsky, states that, “The benefits of experiential learning are numerous. In a lecture it is easy for the mind to wander, while in experiential learning the students are constantly engaged. They learn more thoroughly and retain more information” (C, Koretsky, personal communication, March 2016). In a separate interview, the Director …

Corporate Social Reponsibility Reporting: Industry Comparisons, Yu Cao

Honors Theses

According to the shareholder theory, the sole social responsibility of a company is to increase its profits and shareholders’ value (Friedman, 1970). However, the stakeholder theory states that a company owes the social responsibility to a wider group of stakeholders (Donaldson & Preston, 1995). Stakeholders refer to any person or group which can affect or be affected by the actions of a business, such as employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, competitors and the wider community. Around the world, more and more firms are increasing their engagement in corporate social responsibility (hereafter, CSR) and exploit CSR as the center of their corporate …

The Effect Of Bedside Handoffs On Patients’ Perceived Fears, Maija Paldan

Honors Theses

Background and Significance: Fear, anxiety, and apprehension can have a profound effect upon patient outcomes, possibly leading to a worsened health condition or delay in recovery. Current literature finds that communication and social support by the nursing staff may foster patients’ understanding of their care and their experiences of feeling safe. The bedside handoff is one way of enhancing communication and providing support within nurse patient interactions. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of bedside handoffs on patients’ perceived fear, anxiety, and apprehension.

Methods: A secondary analysis was performed upon a larger quantitative data set from …

Characteristics Of Patients Who Experience Fear During Hospitalization, Marlena Vande Streek

Honors Theses

Purpose/Background The purpose of this study is to describe individuals likely to experience fear, apprehension, or anxiety during hospitalization. Supporting literature has much to say about intervening once these feelings occur, but little on the description or characteristics of patients exhibiting these feelings during hospitalization. The intent of this exploration is to allow nurses to identify these patients sooner and prevent unnecessary stress and delays in care.

Theoretical Framework When a patient experiences fear, they respond through the stress response cycle commonly observed as delays in wound healing and immunosuppression when feelings are prolonged. Identifying individuals likely to experience fear …

The Barriers And Facilitators To Becoming A Baby-Friendly Hospital, Bohn Emily

Honors Theses

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative is a designation hospitals can achieve that states the facility encourages breastfeeding and mother-baby bonding. The Initiative involves changing over hospital protocols, employee training, and implementing the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. Although the designation is positive, there have been identified facilitators and barriers that influence the implementation process which can influence whether a hospital will choose to or not to achieve designation. A literature review was performed. Facilitators included: certificate as a marketing tool, project management involvement, the 4-D Pathway, and support. Barriers included: adherence, staffing insufficiencies, provider-level issues, and financial and facility support. Interviews …

Looking Anew At The Rothko Chapel: The Future Of Interfaith Space On The Catholic Campus, Krista Bondi

Honors Theses

The University of Dayton is among many Catholic institutions that are experiencing the need for multi-faith accommodation as its student body becomes more diverse in the 21st century. While the majority of the University’s population is Catholic, there are growing numbers of Muslim, Jewish, and Protestant students as well as others of undeclared faiths or of no faith traditions who must interact on campus. In view of the history of Catholic higher education and the current practice and philosophy of interfaith dialogue, how should the University of Dayton approach this new multi-cultural reality in terms of dedicating space and designing …

Chronicling The Developments Of The Double Reed, Jenna Sehmann

Honors Theses

This study examines scholarly articles in thirty-eight years of periodical journals, The Double Reed, published by the International Double Reed Society. Research articles were coded to fit into twelve prominent categories: career-related, composition, extended techniques/modern practices, health, historical, instrument, interview, pedagogy, performance practice, performer profile, reeds, and other. After an analysis of journal articles (N =935) from The Double Reed, results indicated historical articles, interviews, and composition-related articles were the most prominent categories. There was a fairly even dispersion between oboe and bassoon articles, while the majority of published material was generated from American authors. Additional trends are …

Academic Mentorship In Honors, Victoria L. Abbott

Honors Theses

A recently developed program at Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) uses course-embedded tutors called Writing Fellows to provide first-year students with an academic peer mentor. Writing Fellows are assigned to an English 101 class which they attend, and outside of the class, they meet individually with students in consultations concerning their academic projects or papers. Since the Honors Program at EKU currently lacks a sustainable peer mentorship program, the author Tori Abbott attempted to combine elements of the Writing Fellow program with the needs of Honors students. The mentor for this Honors thesis, Katie Patton, taught two sections of the Honors …

Shared Book Reading Practices In The Daycare Setting, Sarah Oliver

Honors Theses

This study reviews emergent literacy, instructional techniques (specifically dialogic reading), and how involved different professionals are with literacy instruction with young children. Because little research has been done regarding shared book reading practices in the daycare setting, a mixed methods research design was utilized in order to determine the scale dialogic reading prompts are used during shared book reading by daycare instructors and their beliefs about early literacy. Analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data collected revealed three key themes: narrow view of literacy, limited understanding of early literacy instruction, and value of literacy. In other words, the participants believe …

The Future Of Journalism, Alexia S. Walters

Honors Theses

This thesis is a collection of interviews conducted with professionals in the field of journalism on the topic of the future of journalism as it relates to the print version of local newspapers and its competitors.

“Instafamous” Women And The Question Of Empowerment: Feminist Reading Of Popular Constructions Of Female Bodies On Instagram, Sarah Spech

Honors Theses

Instagram has skyrocketed in popularity over the last few years, catapulting some of its users into a new type of fame--"Instafame." Female users who achieve "Instafame" do so in large measure by carefully constructing an identity that articulates a popular ideal of the female body. Many commentators see this presentation of self as a new means of empowerment. But others argue that these "Instafamous" women are pressured to objectify themselves in order to accumulate thousands of “likes” to create and sustain their celebrity status. In this presentation, I analyze the images on some popular fitness Instagram accounts using the feminist …

Typology, Tabernacle And Tradition: A History Of Interpretation Of Hebrews 9:11-14, Samuel A. Mullins

Honors Theses

The texts of the Bible have been used and interpreted in various ways across different time periods and different cultures, and there is much to be gained by studying these changes. Changing attitudes about and uses of Scripture tell us something about other changes taking place in society. They reflect new ideas about religion, knowledge, and authority. Most of all, they demonstrate the techniques used by pastors, theologians, and other authors to make texts written long ago relevant to contemporary problems. The purpose of my study is to use Hebrews 9:11-14 to look at the ways in which the interpretation …

Human Rights And Healthy Societies: Opening Social And Cultural Spaces For Peacebuilding, Margaret A. Maloney

Honors Theses

Exploring peace demands rethinking many of the assumptions that have driven the field of peacebuilding. Previously, scholars have investigated the content of peace agreements in relation to the promotion of sectors that include security, justice, and democracy. However, I hypothesize that by focusing narrowly on these areas, scholars and peacemakers overlook crucial ingredients that create stable post-conflict societies. This senior thesis examines the inclusion of social and cultural rights in peace agreements and aims to contribute to a more robust understanding of whether traditionally “soft” issues like education, art, and women’s participation may have significant impacts on the long-term health …

Love Of The Law: The Ethical Christology Of Southern Baptist Rhetoric And Language Concerning The Lgbtq Community, Alexander James Ward

Honors Theses

The connection between society and a group is a complex and often tangled relationship. The division between the two can be blurred in many cases and therefore the movement of individuals within a particular group within a larger society is something that cannot always be immediately apparent. However, group identity and personal identity play an integral role in understanding how movement and action occur by individuals as they attempt to make sense of culture and its connection to their personal identity. The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and its members are no different. This Protestant denomination is one of the most …

Preachers, Politics And The Pulpit: The Influence Of Church Structure On How Clergy Approach Political Topics And How Congregations Receive Their Messages, Michael Bender

Honors Theses

Inspired by the Catholic Church’s nationwide resistance to President Obama’s contraceptive mandate in the summer of 2012, this honors thesis paper attempts to discover a link between church polity (or church structure) and whether political messages are more or less likely to be preached by clergy from the pulpit and accepted by their congregants. Given that churches are places where attendees are exposed to political messages, this paper hypothesizes that structurally centralized Christian denominations are more likely to have preached on the contraceptive mandate than decentralized denominations. Accordingly, it is assumed that Catholics are more likely to have heard about …

Model Behavior: An Assessment Of Role Model Attachment, Patrick C. Doyle

Honors Theses

Despite the term existing since the early part of the 20th century, little is known about role models and relationships that individuals develop with them. Using attachment theory, a cornerstone of interpersonal theory, relationships between individuals and their role models are compared to relationships between those individuals and their parents in the present study. While data did not support the hypothesis (those with anxious attachment to their parents will experience more secure attachment to their role model) promising opportunities for future research were suggested by the qualitative and quantitative data that were collected. For example, the experience of many participants …

Design And Fabrication Of Passive Barium Strontium Titanate (Bst) Thin Film Varactor Based Phase Shifters For Operation Within A 5-15 Ghz Bandwidth, Devin William Spatz

Honors Theses

Two passive, analog phase control circuit designs utilizing ferroelectric varactors are presented. The tuning capabilities of single layer and parallel plate varactors deposited on a Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 (BST) thin film are characterized. Phase control is demonstrated through cascading multiple shunt varactors along a coplanar waveguide (CPW) structure. Through the application of a 0V – 8V DC bias, the capacitance in the circuit is tuned to control the transmission phase shift (angle of S21). Simulations of both phase control device structures are performed in AWR Microwave Office and compared with measurement data. Both circuit and mathematical models are developed and compared to …

Synthesis Of Research On The Common Core State Standards And Dyscalculia, Melissa Siegel

Honors Theses

This thesis analyzed the implications for instruction under the newly adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the effects they have on students with dyscalculia. The CCSS is an educational initiative created for students to succeed in their academic endeavors through college and their professional careers. Correlations were found in the research between the instructional implications under the CCSS and intervention strategies for students with dyscalculia. Parents, teachers and students were interviewed as evidence to verify this correlation.

Nonlinear Analysis Of Balance Data In The Easter Seals Adult Day Services Population, Taylor Marie Schemmel

Honors Theses

81.1 million adults are expected to be affected by dementia in 2040. Individuals with dementia are twice as likely to fall as healthy individuals and three times as likely to sustain an injury during a fall. Unfortunately, current fall prevention techniques in place for cognitively healthy older adults are not as effective for those with dementia. The objective of this study was to examine balance differences between individuals of varying cognitive ability utilizing Easter Seals Adult Day Services. All study participants completed the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Clinical assessments were done in conjunction with static posturography data collection on a …

The Implementation Of Two-Way Immersion Programs, Kara Jankowski

Honors Theses

As society becomes more global, educators are searching for models of education that provide students with the ability to be competitive in the global marketplace. Bilingual education offers students the opportunity to learn two languages while maintaining student achievement in other content areas. One option of bilingual education is called two-way immersion (TWI) programs. TWI classrooms are comprised of students who are native speakers of two different languages. Together, these students communicate in both languages, while receiving instruction in both languages as well. These programs have been shown to be effective in teaching two languages without lowering student achievement. Bilingual …

First Person Accounts Of The Proyecta 100,000 Program, Adolfo Diaz

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

'Letters Full Of Love': Wayne Booth's Theories Of The Implied Author And Reader In Brad Marsh's Wwii Correspondence, Josephine A. Just

Honors Theses

This project consists of a qualitative study of the WWII correspondence of Captain Brad Marsh from the collection of letters donated by his daughter on April 26, 2013. I draw from the narrative theory and works of Wayne Booth to examine Marsh’s construction of self as an implied author by examining how he presents his experiences and portrays his emotions. I also examine how Marsh constructs his implied self by paying attention to details such as the information he shares with Lynn and how he presents it. I explore the nature of the implied author and reader in the correspondence …