Digital Commons Network^™

Inertial Navigation System, Michael Calabrese Jr., David Engblom, Aaron Fleckenstein

Honors Theses

Accelerometer-based inertial navigation systems present an inexpensive alternative to gyroscope and global positioning navigation systems. An array of accelerometers comprises the basic design of the inertial navigation system. The position of the device can be continuously updated based on the previous device location and measurements of the device acceleration. There are fewer moving parts in an accelerometer-based system than in a gyroscopic device, and it is free of the earth bound constraints of a global positioning system. The prototype wirelessly interfaces with a data-collection system, which processes the data and provides a graphical display of the trajectory traveled.

Two accelerometer …

Fahrenheit 451: A Teacher's Guide, Jaclyn Shurmack

Honors Theses

This website is a resource for teachers to reference in order to help them understand and teach various aspects of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. First, Fahrenheit 451'is a great book to teach in the classroom. It presents many ideas that will cause students to think about the world around them. Some of these ideas include thinking on one's own and also questioning information that is presented to students. One aspect of Ray Brabury's Fahrenheit 451 looks at the idea of censorship in the world- In this futuristic tale, boob are burned rather than read and the censorship of various …

An Interview With Wendell Berry, Birkin Gilmore

Honors Theses

In choosing which questions to ask of Mr. Berry, I was interested in the environment, physical and spiritual, that gives rise to the poems. The Sabbath poems, for instance, come from the author's meditations as he passes through places and spaces of time where, as Mr. Berry has written, "the heart and mind are open and aware." As Mr. Berry is intimately concerned with cultivating land, so these are moments to be cultivated whose fruits are poems. I am interested in how the place in which the poems are written participates in their creation. If we are to keep alive …

Intersecting Segments Of The Participatory Puzzle, Danielle Diers

Honors Theses

An engaged and active citizenry is integral to the American democracy. Normally when political participation is discussed, a heavy emphasis is placed on voting in national elections. While this is an important element of politics, it is but one ingredient. It is important to view participation also at the community level, for localities comprise the fabric of America. The late philosopher and educator, John Dewey, believed that democracy not only began at home, but that its home was in the neighborly community (Putnam, 2000). This exemplifies the American political system in that there exist numerous forms of participation that have …

The Influence Of J.R.R. Tolkien On Popular Culture, Michael A. Hall

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Spectacle And Distortion: The Anti-Globalization Movement On Television News, Raphi Rechitsky

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Tracking And Racialization In Undergraduate Multicultural Requirements, Karan Hustedt

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Mechanical Manipulation Of Facial Expressions As Means Of Inducement, Suppression, And Feedback Of Emotional States, Phillip D. Magerkurth

Honors Theses

This paper hypothesizes that tape placed strategically upon the face will provide feedback to the users emotional state by giving feedback to muscle tension. It is also hypothesized that females will greater utilize the feedback than males. Participants in the experiment were 30 college students (18 males and 12 females). Participants were randomly selected to either the experimental or control group. The experimental group had a Band-Aid placed at the outer eyebrow toward the upper ear, while the control group had a Band-Aid placed at a neural location on the upper forehead. Although there was no statistical significance between groups …

Macrofungi Of The Tennessee River Gorge, William D. Starrett

Honors Theses

Representative macro fungi of the Tennessee River Gorge were collected on the Tennessee River Gorge Trust (TRGT) property during 18 forays I conducted fom May to November 2004. This dramatically added to the baseline data on the macrofungi of the TRGT by adding 15 orders, 34 families, and 138 species to the existing list. These data were recorded in the herbarium of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga database. I converted the University's File Maker Pro fungi database into Microsoft Excel and Access, which allows it to be processed for introduction into the National Biological Information Infrastructure and onto the …

Running Out Of Options: An Investigation Of Stock-Based Compensation, Mark A. Powell

Honors Theses

One of the most heated debates witnessed by the accounting industry was rekindled at the dawn of the new millennium, a resurgence of an issue discussed from the early 1990s. Brought to new light, in part by the corporate debacles of Enron and WorldCom (among others), the concern of expensing employee stock options has taken a forefront in the halls of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Not only is the accounting profession facing a difficult polarization of ideas as to how to appropriately account for stock options, but Congress has also joined in the discussion and has threatened intervention …

Marketing Research For Western's Panhellenic Council, Julia Renee Williams

Honors Theses

The Greek system began at Western Michigan University in 1916 with debate societies. These organizations were recognized as national organizations in the 1950s. In recent years, the Greek system at Western Michigan University has seen a decline in its membership, as well as in the number of students participating in the recruitment process. In 1997 there were 28 social Greek organizations, but as of spring 2005, there are 23. With interest diminishing, a marketing research project was conducted to determine why people are no longer interested in women's fraternities and what might draw people to them. A series of 70 …

Art Is Dead?: A Criticial Analysis Of Arthur Danto's End Of Art Theory, Laura M. Ginn

Honors Theses

The idea of art as a reductive process is not new within the art world. In 1953, Robert Rauschenberg created the piece "Erased DeKooning" for which he erased a painting by DeKooning and displayed the end product (a blank canvas). The author found herself considering the way in which art has changed over the course of the twentieth century. The 20th century could be viewed as a time in which the main purpose of art was to destroy all artistic conventions and redefine art. Some would say art has come out unfocused and without a purpose. The author explores the …

Image Restoration And The "Black Sox" Scandal Of 1919: Corrective Action As An Ideal Image Restoration Model For Professional Baseball, Zachary J. Walsh

Honors Theses

After the previously indomitable Chicago White Sox lost the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, speculations of foul play abounded. With each suspicious game, the notion of a possible conspiracy to throw the Series became more widespread, reaching its pinnacle when the impossible happened and the Chicago defeat became official (Asinof, 1963). Finding it necessary to address the concerns of the public, Chicago White Sox President Charles A. Comiskey promptly positioned himself as spokesperson for his club. He immediately began to manage the pending crisis through public statements made via media outlets, primarily newspapers. At this point, the allegations …

American Prisoners Of War In Vietnam Tell Their Stories, Ryan Frost

Honors Theses

This paper seeks to examine the experiences of Vietnam POWs, both those held in thejungles of South Vietnam and those in the Hanoi prison camps of North Vietnam based on POW narratives consisting of memoirs, autobiographies, and interviews. Early POW history depicts great differences between the two groups of POWs, giving the impression that Pilot POWS, who comprised the majority of prisoners in Hanoi camps, acted more honorably while interned in comparison to enlisted army POWS, who spent the majority of their captivity in the jungles of South Vietnam. This paper demonstrates the similarities in their experiences through these narrative …

From Opposing Sides : The Duality Of Citizens' And Their Government's Views On Town Squares, Zachary Powell

Honors Theses

The purpose of my paper is to explore how the State's and the people's views concerning town squares come together. I will focus mainly on the duality between these two views: one the one hand, the State uses these spaces to display its power and for physical security. On the other side, the populace sees these spaces as theirs, as central to their community as citizens. Furthermore, they see it as a place to confront their government. Where else would be better than the place where the government seems to take on physical form?

I will explore this duality in …

Postcolonial Melodrama : The Satanic Verses, The Mimic Men, The Namesake, Jason Przybylski

Honors Theses

The goal of this project is to explain the appropriateness of the genre of melodrama for understanding postcolonial literature. Throughout this paper I examine how reading postcolonial fiction as melodrama may help us both to understand postcolonial issues in new ways and, at the same time, to grasp how postcolonial literature changes and enhances the notion of melodrama.

A Comparison In Osteological Measurements Of Two Populations From East Tennessee, Corrine Vitek

Honors Theses

Forensic anthropology is the identification of skeletal remams in medicolegal death investigations. The foundation of forensic anthropology rests on "documented" skeletal collections, which provide a crucial repository of information from which experts can rely upon to make determinations about human skeletal remains. A "documented" skeletal collection is one in which the demographics (e.g., ancestry, sex, age, height) of each individual are supported by known facts about the decedent at the time of his/her death. A quantitative comparison between the Hamilton County Forensic Center's(HCFC) skeletal collection to the William M. Bass collection housed at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK) …

An Analysis Of Service-Learning And Applied Anthropology, Danielle Nordbrock

Honors Theses

People think of others in comparison to themselves, and what they know. Anthropologists study a wide variety of things, this includes all different societies: simple and complex, ancient and modern, and in different locales. The perspective of an anthropologist tends to take on a unique cross-cultural nature, with comparisons oftentimes being central to the research. When anthropologists become engaged in a project and begin their fieldwork they experience a unique sense of understanding from living in such close proximity to another culture.

The Continuous Struggle For Representation In The Venezuelan State, Gabriel Reyes

Honors Theses

One definition of democratic participation is a process whereby citizens influence or control those who make major decisions affecting them. Throughout Venezuela’s history, citizens have suffered under governments that aimed to limit their participation in the state. This research argues that the current Chávez regime, though seeking to concentrate power for itself in the executive branch, has also forged a space for democratic participation through its Barrio Adentro program.

In its introductory chapter, this paper examines Venezuela’s political development through a comparative lens and aims to situate Barrio Adentro within the country’s unique history. First, it shows how the political …

Liberalization Of Village Banking In Guatemala: Structural Differences In Village Banking Institutions, Erica L. Hill

Honors Theses

The International Year of Microcredit in 2005 facilitates public awareness campaigns of microfinance initiatives. Village banking allows microfinance services to reach a wider geographic region, with particular emphasis on rural regions and the poorest sector of society. It attends to those marginalized by a history of repression and conflict. In Guatemala, ethnic diversity and its accompanying social divisions have deep roots. Guatemala is an important case for village banking because of its economic reliance on village banking, the size of the country, and the large number (9) of VBIs in the country. Recent literature calls for an increase in flexibility …

"I Respectfully Dissent" : Intellectual Leadership In The Nation's Highest Court, Alison M. Smith

Honors Theses

The right of an individual to dissent from the ideas of his or her peers, or even his or her government, has been one of the defining characteristics of American civil society. The United States itself was founded as a result of American colonists' dissenting from the British government, and our Constitution established a governmental system that would not only accommodate, but encourage a process of deliberative democracy in which the views of both the many and the few would be taken into account and considered thoroughly. A system of internal checks and balances between the legislative, judicial and executive …

Collegiate Athletics Recruiting: Marketing A New Game Plan, Emily Douglas Evans

Honors Theses

For my thesis, I took an in-depth look at the collegiate recruiting process, in light of recent scandals and rule changes that, if implemented, could prevent confusion and future scandals. I conducted interviews containing open-ended questions with 18 college coaches, 15 Ole Miss supporters (alumni and non-alumni), and 15 current In addition, a quantitative survey was student-athletes, representing interviewed and student-athletes. given to 80 current Ole Miss both men's and women's sports, surveyed cited gray areas that still exist in NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) rules and gave suggestions for how the recruiting process could be To prevent future scandals, …

Picric Acid Degradation In Sterilized Sediments From The Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant, Minden, Louisiana, Stephanie Kimberly Rice

Honors Theses

Picric acid is an explosive historically produced and disposed of at the Louisiana Army Ammunitions Plant (LAAP). The potential for natural degradation was investigated in two studies by creating picric acid slurries with four LAAP samples of sediment of variable composition. While the first study combined the sediment with picric acid without alteration to the sediment, the second study sterilized the sediment before the slurries were created. The purpose of the soil sterilization was to quantify the role of microbes in the degradation process. In the first study, picric acid concentrations decreased 10 to 18% the first day, attributed to …

News Media Consumption And Perceptions Of Poverty Within A Sample At The University Of Mississippi, Erin M. Smith

Honors Theses

The American news media are the cultural shapers of today’s society. Their many stories create a visual sense of reality for the consuming public, and many media critics have begun to call foul for their many misrepresentations of minorities, in particular their over-representation of black poverty. These representations have been shown to have substantial influence on the public’s perception of poverty, which may shape the attitudes and beliefs toward certain policy implementation. To test the validity of such claims, a quantitative instrument was distributed over the course of two days at the University of Mississippi. Also, the survey was designed …

New Methods Of Marketing And Manufacturing For A Startup Optical Internet Retailer, William Sharp Whitaker

Honors Theses

The internet has allowed commerce to become more efficient and more profitable for companies involved in retail. The retail optical industry has failed to capitalize this opportunity and this thesis explains how it can be done. The opportunity to increase profits exists for optical labs in the form of inexpensive Mexican labor. By committing investment into a lab south of the Mexican- American border, business owners have a great deal to gain. This thesis explains how to operate manufacturing in Mexico and how to conduct operations more efficiently than American competitors. By following some industry standards of marketing and evaluating …

Investigation Of Iron (Iii) Desferrioxamine B Oxalate Ligand Exchange By Uv-Vis Spectroscopy: The Next Step In Developing A Quantitative Analytical Method For Measuring Bioavailable Iron In Marine Ecosystems, Ken L. Pitter

Honors Theses

To date there are no analytical techniques designed to exclusively measure bioavailable iron in marine environments. The goal of this research is to develop such a technique by isolating the bioavailable iron using the terrestrial siderophore desferrioxamine B (DFB). This project contained many challenging aspects, but the specific goal of this study was to develop a robust analytical technique for quantification of Fe(III)-DFB complexes at nanomolar concentrations. Past work showed that oxalate (Ox) promotes photodissociation of Fe(III)-DFB to Fe(Il), and we are specifically interested in the mechanism of this process. A model was developed using known thermodynamic constants for Fe(III)-DFB …

The Relationship Between Religion/Spirituality And Healing As Demonstrated By Falun Gong And Christian Science, Maribeth Porter

Honors Theses

This paper provides an objective overview of the tradition and religion of Falun Gong and Christian Science in order to better evaluate their respective methods of healing. Each religion, as well as its primary texts, was thoroughly researched to provide the reader with information regarding the basic doctrines practitioners, foundation, healing methods, and opponents. Based on the research, it appears that religion can be beneficial to a practitioner s health as ion i-iu.i as conventional health care is not ignored on the premise that toe rei i alone can heal it seems as though current health care couia benefit rrom …

The Impact Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act Of 2002 On The Auditing Profession, Samantha Marie Rayburn

Honors Theses

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was passed in order to restore investor confidence to the market after a series of accounting fiascos. Congress included in this act legislation creating the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to monitor audits conducted on publicly traded companies and made many provisions concerning auditor independence. However, the most controversial part of the legislation was Section 404 which requires an audit of internal controls. The intent of this study was to determine how Sarbanes-Oxley will impact the auditing profession. This was determined through an intense review of the most current articles available on the subject. It …

Engineering Genetic Networks To Measure Real Time Repression By Λ Cro In Vivo, Zachary Louis Leblanc

Honors Theses

The field of systems biology seeks to engineer systems in order to explore specific dynamic properties as they act in vivo. Cellular activities have been proven to be regulated by a range of DNA binding proteins that bind to specific sequences that activate or repress transcription. Certain phage and bacterial repressor proteins were among the first of these DNA binding proteins to be characterized structurally and functionally. The demand for study of key steps in regulation of protein expression, folding, and repression has created multiple studies into systems of varying complexity. The data in this report explores the lambda system, …

Perfect Order: A Collection Of Short Stories, Virginia Lyons Shields

Honors Theses

The stories in this collection have been written over the course of the past school year. I participated in a writing workshop in the fall semester that was instructed by Tom Franklin, and in which I was able to learn the importance of peer revision in the writing process. Over the spring semester, I have worked on several new stories, which are included here, as well as the stories from the writing workshop. My purpose in writing this thesis is to explore the creative process of writing and to produce original works of fiction.