Digital Commons Network^™

Networks Of Resistance : Black Virginians Remember Civil War Loyalties, Amanda Kleintop

Honors Theses

On June 22, 1877, William Charity explained his neighborhood’s Civil War loyalties to special commissioner Isaac Baldwin of the Southern Claims Commission (SCC): “The colored people were mostly all for the union.” Charity, a free black Virginian, recognized that “mostly” did not mean all. He went on to suggest: “some of them were blind.” As a self-identified Unionist, Charity had difficulty envisioning a black man who was not loyal to the Union cause and emancipation during the Civil War. Current debates, however, have seized on those black Virginians Charity called “blind,” taking the “mostly” Unionist majority for granted. Like Charity, …

Owl Pellet Dissection: An Opportunity For Discovery, Brenna N. Towery

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Tegument Protein Subcellular Localization Of Human Cytomegalovirus, John Paul Tomtishen Iii

Honors Theses

To determine the subcellular localization of the tegument proteins pp65, pp71, pp150, and pp28 as fusions to one of several fluorescent proteins. Since these tegument proteins play pivotal roles in several stages of the viral life cycle, knowledge of where and the mechanism of how these proteins localize upon release could result in a better understanding of their function during a lytic infection as well as assist in the development of an effective, novel antiviral treatment.

We The Peoples Of The United States Of America: Constituting American Identities Through Pluralism And Narrative, Michael .. Yohai

Honors Theses

W. E. B. DuBois writes in his 1897 essay, “The Conservation of Races,” that every black person living in America must, sooner or later, ask herself the following question: “What , after all, am I? Am I an American or am I a Negro? Can I be both? Or is it my duty to cease to be a Negro as soon as possible and be an American?”1 DuBois’ question, “Can I be both?” still lingers for blacks and other non‐white groups in America. However, the racial demographic reality of the America is changing and with it, the connotations of the …

Do Male Physiological Condition And Territory Quality Affect Female Choice In The Brown Anole, Anolis Sagrei?, Sarah P. Flanagan

Honors Theses

Female mate choice is an important component of sexual selection because traits that influence male mate preference, such as physiology, and proficiency in acquiring resources, are favored. In lizards, the importance of mate choice remains unclear as reported results from experiments are contradictory. In this study, I investigated whether male physiology and territory quality are important to female mate choice for male Brown Anoles, Anolis sagrei. I tested the hypotheses that female A. sagrei prefer males with greater physiological capacities, and prefer higher quality territories, regardless of male phenotype. To test these, male A. sagrei were first rated for …

Optimization And Analysis Of A Model Of The Mammalian Circadian Clock, Andrew M. Cox

Honors Theses

Circadian rhythms are found in plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria and are responsible for the regulation of many biological, physiological, behavioral, and metabolic activities. In mammals, the “master” clock is embedded in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the anterior hypothalamus. It is composed of thousands of cells signaling each other to synchronize and produce a unified rhythm. It is hypothesized that this communication enables the clock to rescue rhythms in gene knockout experiments that destroy oscillations at the single cell level. Henry Mirsky developed a model of this gene regulatory network within a single cell in 2009, but the published …

The Effect Of Identification Style On Confidence Inflation In Eyewitness Testimony, Kelsey L. Stratton

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine whether confidence inflation in eyewitness testimony can be altered by the effects of self-perception and public commitment, as manipulated by identification style. In order to investigate these specific effects, identifications and confidence reports were made using both private and public methods. Additionally, target-present and target-absent lineups were used in order to assess their relative effects and to control participant accuracy.

Results revealed that the best confidence-accuracy correlations, as determined by a comparison from pre-lineup measures, were a result of post-lineup, private identifications. This indicates that self-perception may be more responsible for confidence …

State Leadership For Safer Chemicals Policy Reform: Lessons From California, Maine, Minnesota And Washington, Michelle A. Russell

Honors Theses

Chemicals regulation under the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 fails to protect human health. In the absence of federal protection, safer chemicals legislation and implementation is moving forward in four states: Maine, Minnesota, California and Washington. Working in response to a loud public cry of concern and persistent grassroots organizing, these four states have enacted laws that regulate chemicals in consumer products. Maine, Minnesota and Washington chose to focus on regulating the chemicals used in children’s products, taking into consideration greater vulnerability in early development and the compelling public priority to protect children’s health. The most important factors …

Communicating Health Care Options: Dominican Herbal Remedies In The Dominican Republic And New York City, Marisa K. Crommett

Honors Theses

As the second largest minority group in New York City (NYC), the population of Dominican immigrants continues to increase. Their participation in the conventional health care system, however, remains low. Many barriers exist that discourage Dominicans from seeking conventional biomedical treatment and encourage their reliance on traditional healing practices. Dominican traditional medicine has potential to contribute to the urban health care system in NYC, but more research is needed on the safety and toxicity of ethnomedical remedies and practices. Without efforts to recognize immigrant-healing traditions in the urban setting, tensions between the conventional and alternative medical systems will persist. It …

Hastening The Wheels Of Change: International Cold War Pressure And Civil Rights Reform During The Truman Presidency, Caley A. Robertson

Honors Theses

In the early Cold War arena, international pressure on the United States to live according to its ideological rhetoric enabled the Truman Administration to set a precedent for federal engagement in domestic civil rights reform. As the United States led the march to institutionalise human rights as the standard of moral legitimacy in the global arena, the country’s grisly record of racial oppression and violence invited foreign and domestic criticism alike. This paper intends to prove five discrete points. First: Cold War tensions brought questions of moral legitimacy to the forefront of the U.S. national agenda. Second: during the Truman …

Buffernomics: Assessing Willingness To Pay For Lake Conservation On North Pond And East Pond, Sophie D. Sarkar

Honors Theses

Hedonic property valuations in Maine have estimated that a one-meter decrease in water clarity can reduce shoreline property values by 4 to 16%. To avoid a loss on their lakefront investment, shoreline property owners have a particularly large incentive to conserve lake water quality. Nevertheless, while some shoreline residents voluntarily install vegetated buffers and actively participate in lake stewardship, others continue to ignore shoreline zoning laws at the expense of lake health. In this thesis, I examine the dichotomy of active and indifferent shoreline residents by analyzing the motivations that distinguish residents who are willing to pay (WTP) for and …

Zooplankton Of The Belgrade Lakes: The Influence Of Top-Down And Bottom-Up Forces In Family Abundance, Kimberly M. Bittler

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess the abundance and family diversity of zooplankton communities in the Belgrade Lakes, and to identify the broad scale and local variables that structure zooplankton communities in this region. The local effects of shoreline development and the presence of macrophyte patches were compared to larger scale variables, such as watershed wide residential development. Zooplankton are an intermediate link in the freshwater food web, and communities respond both to predation pressures as well as nutrient inputs. Shoreline development was expected to influence zooplankton densities by the increased nutrient inputs via erosion off developed sites …

The One That Carries You Away: Essays, Blair S. Braverman

Honors Theses

What is environmental writing? Phil Condon, author and professor at the University of Montana's Environmental Writing Institute, defines it as any piece of writing in which an important factor is nonhuman—be it animal, place, weather, et cetera. At the same time, he acknowledges that the primary limitation of this definition is its lack of limitations; because humans are constantly interacting with—and affected by—the nonhuman, virtually any piece of writing could be considered environmental. The Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE), the nation's predominant organization for the academic study of environmental writing, defines itself through its focus …

Computer Mediated Discourse: Applying Defamation Laws Of Slander And Libel In The 21st Century, Derreck Langwith

Honors Theses

With the integration of technology into society computer mediated discourse (CMD) has become a standard form of communication. E-mail, chat rooms, and social networking websites are used daily to discuss a variety of informal and formal topics. The ability to communicate with millions of people across the world instantaneously has not come without legal repercussions and court cases involving online defamation have started to appear. Traditional law separates defamation into two categories: slander encompassing oral defamation and requiring greater proof of injury, and libel including written texts without need of definitive proof to collect compensation. Current lawsuits involving online defamation …

A Vegetation Reconstruction Of Union County, Pennsylvania During The Early Historical Period (1755-1855), Nick Gonsalves

Honors Theses

This thesis assesses relationships between vegetation and topography and the impact of human tree-cutting on the vegetation of Union County during the early historical era (1755-1855). I use early warrant maps and forestry maps from the Pennsylvania historical archives and a warrantee map from the Union County courthouse depicting the distribution of witness trees and non-tree surveyed markers (posts and stones) in early European settlement land surveys to reconstruct the vegetation and compare vegetation by broad scale (mountains and valleys) and local scale (topographic classes with mountains and valleys) topography. I calculated marker density based on 2 km x 2 …

Identifying The Negative Stigma Associated With Having A Learning Disability, Kelsey Lisle

Honors Theses

Those with learning disabilities (LDs) can be characterized as a minority group, and like most groups of minorities they face a distinct stigma by the larger population. While there iscurrently a lack of research in understanding LD stigma, it has become increasingly important given the push for inclusive classrooms settings. In this study it was hypothesized that regardlessof a participants’ gender, when participants were given a hypothetical description of a person that included information indicating that the individual has a LD, the participants would rate that individual less favorably. Results were consistent with the hypothesis. Participants perceived the hypothetical LD …

An Ethical History Of Photography In Combat And Of Combat Photography In The United States During World War Ii, Molly Shoener

Honors Theses

With the United States‘ entry into the Second World War, the word ?censorship? was seen largely as antithetical to, rather than a necessary counterpart to, victory among Americans. People did not want to be censored in their writing, photographs or speech,but it proved to be necessary even before the war began, in order to protect government secrets and the people on the home-front from scenes that were too disturbing. Even before the war had officially begun, there were problems with censorship among journalists and newspapers. The initial response of outrage in reference to censorship in the United States was common …

What Lies Beneath, Mary Hood

Honors Theses

With “What Lies Beneath,” I attempt to illustrate, through a series of poems, an exploration of the subjects, images, and emotions that have colored my experience both at Bucknell and my home in North Carolina for the past four years. A large portion of the collection, however, does not address the more tangible elements of my life but rather the corners of my imagination, my dreamscape, and the absences that influence them.

Lexical Development In Adult Beginning Second Language Learners, Angela Chouinard

Honors Theses

This research tests the hypothesis that knowledge of derivational morphology facilitates vocabulary acquisition in beginning adult second language learners. Participants were mono-lingual English-speaking college students aged 18 years and older enrolled inintroductory Spanish courses. Knowledge of Spanish derivational morphology was tested through the use of a forced-choice translation task. Spanish lexical knowledge was measured by a translation task using direct translation (English word) primes and conceptual (picture) primes. A 2x2x2 mixed factor ANOVA examined the relationships between morphological knowledge (strong, moderate), error type (form-based, conceptual), and prime type (direct translation, picture). The results are consistent with the existence of a …

Mobile Goes Global: The Effect Of Cell Phones On Economic Growth And Development, Tracy Lum

Honors Theses

This study investigates the effect of cell phones on economic development and growth by performing an econometric analysis using data from the International Telecommunications Union and the Penn World Table. It discusses the various ways cell phones can make markets more efficient and how the diffusion of information andknowledge plays into development. Several approaches (OLS, Fixed Effects, 2SLS) were used to test over 20 econometric models. Overall, the mobile cellular subscriptions rate was found to have a positive and significant impact on countries’ level of real per capitaGDP and GDP growth rate. Furthermore, the study provides policy implications for the …

Self-Perceived Attractiveness And Its Influence On The Halo Effect And The Similar-To Me Effect, Lauren Cotter

Honors Theses

The present research examined the influences of the halo effect and the similar-tome effect on physical and sexual attractiveness for hiring decisions. It was hypothesized that the halo effect would cause applicants rated highly in physical and sexual attractiveness to receive higher ratings of hireability than unattractive applicants.However, if the similar-to-me effect is influential for levels of attractiveness in hiring situations, participants who rated themselves as less attractive should favor unattractive applicants. The results did not show an interaction between participant self-ratings and ratings of hireability, indicating the similar-to-me effect does not apply to physical or sexual attractiveness. There was …

Gender Differences In Emotional Responses To Hooking Up, Kelsey Malone

Honors Theses

The present research looked to explore the relationship between the emotional responses of college students to different hooking up behaviors. Seven hundred and nine undergraduates participated in a web-based survey that included a demographic questionnaire, SDS, PANAS, AUDIT, and a measure of hooking up. This measure examined the frequency with which they participated in eight different types of hooking up varying by degree of familiarity to their hook partner and whether or not the hook up was coital or non-coital, as well as their emotional responses to the behavior and their perception of the emotional responses of their partner. Results …

The Design Of Xml-Based Model And Experiment Description Languages For Network Simulation, Andy Hallagan

Honors Theses

The Simulation Automation Framework for Experiments (SAFE) is a project created to raise the level of abstraction in network simulation tools and thereby address issues that undermine credibility. SAFE incorporates best practices in network simulationto automate the experimental process and to guide users in the development of sound scientific studies using the popular ns-3 network simulator. My contributions to the SAFE project: the design of two XML-based languages called NEDL (ns-3 Experiment Description Language) and NSTL (ns-3 Script Templating Language), which facilitate the description of experiments and network simulationmodels, respectively. The languages provide a foundation for the construction of better …

A Framework For The Automation Of Discrete-Event Simulation Experiments, Bryan Ward

Honors Theses

Simulation is an important resource for researchers in diverse fields. However, many researchers have found flaws in the methodology of published simulation studies and have described the state of the simulation community as being in a crisis of credibility. This work describes the project of the Simulation Automation Framework for Experiments (SAFE), which addresses the issues that undermine credibility by automating the workflow in the execution of simulation studies. Automation reduces the number of opportunities for users to introduce error in the scientific process thereby improvingthe credibility of the final results. Automation also eases the job of simulation users and …

Rosie The Riveter Vs. Helen The Homemaker : Advertising And The Role Of Women In America After World War Ii, Christina Pfaff

Honors Theses

At the outbreak of World War II millions of servicemen left the United States to fight overseas, creating a great demand for workers in the production industries. Although the government identified women as the ideal source to fill the labor gap, a harsh stigma against the female worker existed from the Depression era. The United States government launched a recruitment campaign in collaboration with major advertising agencies and well-known artists in an effort to overcome this stigma and persuade women to join the industrial workforce. This recruitment campaign centered on the image of "Rosie the Riveter." This paper discusses the …

Hydrogeologic Analyses For An Earthen Dam Proposal At The University Field Station, Maria Theresa Brown

Honors Theses

In response to a request for a new dam at the University of Mississippi Field Station (UMFS), BTJM Engineering prepared an initial feasibility assessment and continued investigations until a full construction plan was completed. This report details the hydrogeologic analyses involed in this process. Initial site investigations included mapping surficial geology, creating a generalized stratigraphic column, mapping the potentiometric surface, and developing a conceptual and quantitative understanding of the local hydrolgic budget. This data informed decisions regarding the location of a new dam, which was finally designed with full considerations of the local hydrogeology. After the dam was designed, analysis …

An Exploration Of Process Observation And Practical Application In Devised Theatre, Anna Elizabeth Donnell

Honors Theses

In my research, I encountered a particular methodology of creating plays known as devised or collaborative theatre. In this form, the ensemble collaboratively contributes to all aspects of the production, including the processes of writing. production, direction and performance. Therefore, working with such a method would provide the most desirable test culture for me to examine the development of a play from initial inspiration to eventual materialization. In this way, I theorized that I would gain a better understanding of the creative roots of theatrical expression as well as of the mechanisms of devised theatre as a means to that …

Die(A-Lect) Another Day: The Role Of Luxembourgish As It Compares To French And German In Luxembourg Today, Devon Leigh Emig

Honors Theses

This paper examines the use of Luxembourgish in both oral and witten communication. It explores the use or Luxembourgish in newspaper announcements,and the ways in which individuals use language to communicate with others. Data was collected over a period of time from a Luxembourgish newspaper that accepts announcements in all three of the nation's official languages. Language choice in television programming and book publications were then considered in examination of language choice and audience. Book publication lists were obtained from the National Library of Luxembourg catalogue, and were sorted by city of publication and by year. Television programming was available …

But Is It Art?: The Significance Of Graphic Design In The Modern Era, Johnny Franklin Miles Iii

Honors Theses

The subject of this thesis is graphic design: specifically, the history of graphic design from the Victorian Period in the late nineteenth century until the end of the Modernist Era around the mid-twentieth century. This time period encompasses perhaps the most important developments in the brief history of graphic design, therefore it is a good place to start when considering the central question this thesis process of whether graphic design is art. The terminology used to disucss the hsitory of graphic design in this thesis--the Romantic Era, the Modernist Era, the Postmoderinist Era--is the same terminology used to describe the …

And Justice For All: Non-Native English Speakers In The American Legal System, Leah Michelle Nodar

Honors Theses

One of the most important rights enshrined in the American Constitution is the right to due process of law. However, the execution of this right has been sporadic, and some groups have been consistently disadvantaged. Speakers of English as a second language make up one such group, especially limited English proficiency (LEP) speakers. LEP speakers' access to due process took a step forward with the 1978 Court Interpreters Act, which guaranteed interpreters for anyone who ‘‘speaks only or primarily a language other than the English language." However, decisions as to who speaks “primarily” a foreign language and who speaks English …