Digital Commons Network^™

Creating A Video Device Application, Kevin Septor

Honors Theses

A video device, such as a webcam, has the capability to be used in many ways, including recording video and behaving like a security camera. A TV tuner card can also record video, and in addition be used for watching television. However, the video hardware and device driver the operating system uses to access it are only capable of delivering raw frames of video. A user space application is necessary for exploiting the capabilities of such a device beyond reading sequential frames of video. This research explores the desiderata in a powerful video device application, and introduces a program that …

Building Morocco Through Literacy: Women's Participation In Development, Elizabeth L. Holmes

Honors Theses

This thesis examines what factors are important for successful literacy provision in the case of urban Moroccan women. Literacy programs should teach participants not only to decipher symbols on paper, but should provide information relevant to the everyday context of learners' lives. As a result, newly literate individuals should perceive changes in their levels of self-esteem, empowerment, economic status, and health conditions. In Morocco, the government launched a large-scale literacy campaign in May 2003 to lower illiteracy, which currently affects about half of the population. In conjunction with this campaign, the Moroccan government is increasingly cooperating with NGOs, the principal …

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind? : American Citizens And The Genocide In Rwanda, Colette T. Connor

Honors Theses

As citizens of the most powerful country in today's global world, Americans can no longer make the excuse, "out of sight, out of mind." Ten years ago Americans betrayed Rwandans. Their betrayal was mild yet widespread, but had repercussions of tremendous human cost. Each individual American most likely did not feel responsible for the genocide, but the collective outcome of their bystander behavior contributed to the world's inaction. This sad truth can serve as an inspiration: this does not have to happen next time, as American citizens have the agency to influence U.S. foreign policy decisions.

Valuing Servants Ends : A New Theory Of Ethical Service, Patricia Grace Devlin

Honors Theses

Many of today's universities encourage students to develop an ethic of service. Administrators, faculty, and staff members accompany students in campus-wide service activities; a number of collegiate honor societies reward students who engage in community service; and some academic programs require students to volunteer with local non-profit organizations. At its best, service learning inspires students to make a general commitment to service. The current emphasis placed on service learning in today's educational system reveals an emerging academic perspective not only on the value service has as an educational device but also on the significant role service plays in society. For …

Women Leaders Combining A Career In Higher Education With Raising A Family : A Study Of Leadership, Anne Simmons Williamson

Honors Theses

Much of the research within the field of Leadership Studies focuses on whether men and women lead differently and whether women can break "the glass ceiling." This study will examine women leaders in higher education administration who have children and have already broken the glass ceiling, focusing on their work-life challenges and analyzing the structural and attitudinal issues in their organization and society that impact their leadership.

Virginia Schein (1995) identified the larger challenge for society by asking,

How can we restructure work in a society in which work and family no longer are separate, but interface?...It is when this …

Magic Hour's Niche In The Marketplace: The Process Of Launching A Photography Magazine, Summer Anne Hill

Honors Theses

This thesis is the result of research completed in the Journalism 401 and Journalism 501 courses. In Journalism 401 I came up with my own magazine concept, researched its potential in the marketplace, and formulated a business plan. This plan includes information about my magazine concept, its potential competition, a wish list of advertisers, and a circulation plan. In 501,1 spent months designing a 68-page prototype of Magic Hour, my photography magazine. I created a logo, a cover page, a table of contents, ten departments, two columns, and four feature stories for the magazine. The goal of this project was …

Institutionalized Hypocrisy: Divorce And Politics In Chile, 1884-2004, Amanda Faye Mitchell

Honors Theses

Chile is a country of many contradictions, and these contradictions lead to a great chasm between the needs of the people and the way in which the government tries to provide for those needs. Many of the policies and laws are in line with the doctrines of the Catholic Church, and these policies play an interesting role in the social landscape of the country. They create an environment in which the general population does not live in a manner that corresponds to the way that the Church claims they do. Therefore, the law based on Catholic doctrine often creates a …

Feeding Behaviour And Niche Overlap Of Two Species Of Wolf Spiders, Winter Lee Williams

Honors Theses

The diets of two species of spiders in the genus Rabidosa, Rabidosa punctulata and R. rabida, were intensively studied. These two species generally inhabit the same fields, but display very different life histories. This study has three major objectives. (1) Quantitatively address the commonly held belief that these spiders are opportunistic predators (Le., predators that take prey in the abundances in which they occur in the environment). (2) Measure the degree of niche overlap in diet for the two species (as a measure of the potential for competition). (3) Speculate on whether the overlap in diet or other factors may …

The Emergence Of A Middle Class Among Turks In Germany: A Move Toward Cultural Pluralism, Eden Blythe Hegwood

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the recent development of a middle class among the current Turkish community in Gemiany. By following the generations of individuals of Turkish descent from the original guest-workers arriving in Germany in the early 1960s on to the third and fourth generations of German Turks, the process of middle class establishment over time becomes apparent. Paralleling the emergence of Turkish middle class, increased acculturation or cultural assimilation has occurred, which is also described herein in terms of generational accomplishment. Finally, this work seeks to determine the relationship between middle class status and integration among this migrant group in …

Designing And Implementing A User-Focused Web-Based Database System, Rachel Noiseux

Honors Theses

The goal of this project was to combine two different fields within computer science to produce a system that would be beneficial to a wide variety of people. The first area, user-centered design, studies how users interact with an interface and the motivation behind the decisions they make when interacting with the interface. The second area, databases, explores different techniques for storing and retrieving large amounts of data.

Networking Is Not Everything: The Factors That Led To The Eventual Decline Of The Brigate Rosse, Courtney Janos Geraci

Honors Theses

This thesis concerns the Brigate Rosse, an Italian terrorist organization that was active from the late-1960s to the mid-1980s, the networks through which the Brigate Rosse chose to work, how these networks helped/hindered the success of the Brigate Rosse, and how the murder of Aldo Moro marked the turning point in the BR s success. To gather data, T looked at primary sources, such as communications that were sent by the BR and government documents, as well as secondary sources which examined the actions of the Brigate Rosse, the networks they maintained, and the social and political circumstances of Italy …

European Lingua Franca? Germany's Relationship With English In The Late Twentieth Century, Anna Elise Fleming

Honors Theses

The following thesis analyses the maintenance of national education, business, and social infrastructures (such as popular media and advertisement) for the English language within German borders. This linguistic situation in Germany, combined with the pressure of English as a global language, signifies the possibility of English becoming the lingua franca (common language) for Europe (both European Union and non-European Union countries), especially in the areas of higher education, business, and media.

A Number Theoretical Approach To Public Key Cryptography, Nathan Morley Holt

Honors Theses

My journey with design cannot be adequately studied without a deeper understanding of my passion for freedom. Through this paper, my use of the word “freedom ’ represents breaking free from bondage. Poverty is bondage. Homelessness is bondage. Slavery is bondage. Radically, I also choose to consider apathy a bondage. During my time at The University of Mississippi, one of the ways I have grown as a graphic artist is through my pursuit to make a difference. Pairing artistic techniques with help others, I have discovered design’s unique ability to initiate action. Speaking louder than words, design can convey messages …

Ecological Encouragement: The Role Of Agricultural Knowledge In Southern Illinois, Natalie Faris

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Understanding How The Underlying Principles Of Decompression Theory Apply Differently To Dive Computers Than To Dive Tables, Matthew R. Taitt

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

An Interdisciplinary Approach To Teaching Contemporary U.S. History: Music As A Voice For Civil Rights Protest 1950-Present, Robert D. Kuban

Honors Theses

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Teaching Contemporary U.S.History: Music as a Voice for Civil Rights Protest,1950-Present. This departmental honors project was created to take an in-depth look into popular music's voice as a medium for Civil Rights protest. This unit composed of eight lesson plans is to serve as a resource for teachers to create a real and tangible interdisciplinary approach to teaching contemporary U. S. history. The material covered is derived from popular music of its time, yet based strongly on research ofactual events. These lessons cover a narrow yet vital and significant scope of civil rights protest, action, and …

The Epistemological Questions In Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway And To The Lighthouse, Heather Burton

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Truman Doctrine Vs. The Bush Doctrine: Justifying War With Iraq, Lindsay St. Germain

Honors Theses

It is commonly thought that presidential doctrines set a precedent for the country to follow. These doctrines are intended to reflect the attitudes, and values of not only the president in power, but the best interests of the United States in general. Using public opinion surveys, historical documents, and current news articles and books, I will analyze the Truman Doctrine, enunciated in 1947, and the Bush Doctrine, put forth in 2001. In doing so, I hope to compare military actions justified using both doctrines, and point out what I see to be the flaws and triumphs of the Bush Doctrine; …

Affiliation Of Authors In Production And Operations Management Journals, Steven M. Yager

Honors Theses

This paper will represent an update of the first two POM research productivity rankings published seven years ago (Young, Baird, Pullman, 1996; Malhotra, Kher, 1996). This study will seek to rank business schools and other organizations, both internationally and within the domestic United States. Researchers in the POM field can also view the results to determine who's who and what universities or organizations are demonstrating an increased focus on POM.

Extending Csp To Disambiguate Linda Predicate Operations, Kyle Burke

Honors Theses

The Tuple Space communication environment is plagued by the apparent ambiguity present in the predicate operations of Linda, the programming extension used to implement Tuple Space. It bas been shown that by using a method of reasoning which describes only sequentialized traces of events, it is unclear what a failed predicate operation actually means. Using an operational semantics model of Tuple Space, an analysis of the predicate operations using a description of events occurring simultaneously has disambiguated the meanings of the failure cases. Here an algebraic model is provided, using the Communicating Sequential Process (CSP) process algebra as a base. …

Coolest Mud Ever, Kevin Radloff

Honors Theses

MUDs, or Multi-User Dungeons, are text-based online multiplayer roleplaying games. Players type commands that allow them to interact with other players in a virtual world, and also interact with the world itself, for example, picking up objects or casting spells. The goal of The Coolest MUD Ever (CME) was to build the basis of an event driven and completely extensible MUD engine with unheard of levels of environmental realism. Whereas other MUDs are organized as a set of distinct nodes in which gameplay occurs exclusively of each other node, my MUD will blur the lines between nodes. While players still …

Women's Diaries In An Online Era, Emily Ostendorf

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Free Creative Outlets In Communities, Tracy Bochnak

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Reform Mathematics, Melissa Sue Vegter

Honors Theses

Why would the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics want to adopt a set of standards? Normally, groups adopt standards in order to state goals, promote change, and ensure quality. Therefore the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) wanted to state these new goals. Schools, teachers, students, and parents, at that time, had no protection from poor education. In 1989, the Board of Directors and the Commission believed that if students are to be adequately prepared to live in the twenty-first century, new standards should be created in order to achieve this. At this time in history, the economic …

A Telecommuter Program For Second To None, Inc., Michael J. Postma

Honors Theses

Telecommuting, or working from a remote location, is a very popular idea that has gained growing support from employees and companies over the past decade. The opportunity to stay home and do work appeals to employees, and the ability to reduce overhead costs appeals to the company. Developing a program that outlines how this arrangement would take place is vital. Outlined are a few of the components that should be included in this type of arrangement.

First, the telecommuter situation will be on a trial basis for a predetermined amount of time. The company or the employee has the right …

From Expression To Interpersonal: A History Of The Wmu Department Of Communication, Mercedes L. Varasteh

Honors Theses

As the Western Michigan University community celebrates its Centennial year, it is intriguing to consider not only how much the university has grown in the number of buildings or its student population, but to also recognize how the many academic disciplines have developed over the years.

Inefficient National Political Parties In Brazil And The Effects On Economic Policy, Jason Sullivan

Honors Theses

I intended to study the domestic and international issues that pushed and pulled at the government in its creation of its economic policy. I intended to focus on the executive branch of the government and the international organizations and sovereign nations that influenced the policy decisions surrounding the specific year of 1997. However, as I researched I found something that I think is as just as important if not more important in creating Brazil's economic policy. As I researched it became evident that the characteristics of the Brazilian political parties had an influence on how all policies are formulated, more …

Auto-Ethnography As A Communicative And Therapeutic Means Of Addressing Eating Disorders, Julie Irvin

Honors Theses

Under the premise that human beings are natural storytellers, narratives are an essential part of our lives and the way we shape and form our stories impacts our daily activities. When life struggles transpire, we typically make sense of our world through narratives, which is why therapists sometimes draw upon narrative therapy. By exploring different types of narratives-the basic genre of a life-story, testimonio, literary narrative, ethnography, and auto-ethnography-the mode that presents itself as a viable means of intrapersonal communication, possibly producing change, is auto-ethnography. Examining the need for narrative within the conditions of eating disorders, the question arises as …

Flexible Electrical And Software Programmable Transceivers For Wireless Communications (Feast Ii), Mike Ellinger, James Etters, Eric Juntunen

Honors Theses

Flexible Electrical and Software Programmable Transceivers (FEAST) is a project aimed at advancing both research and educational opportunities in wireless communications. The development of high speed analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters has enabled the modulation/demodulation of communications signals via real-time data processing. These "software radios" will allow greater flexibility in the reception and transmission of wireless signals. The FEAST wireless transceiver is such a system consisting of analog RF signal down converters and upconverters, high speed analog-to-digital and digital-toanalog converters, hardware digital signal processing IC's and real time software signal processing.

Phase II of the project (FEASTII) project focuses is on …

American Identity In The Illinois Territory, 1809-1818, Daniel Northrup Finucane

Honors Theses

Many histories have been writen about Illinois, both by early inhabitants and modern scholars. The histories are quite inclusive, yet none specifically address the topic that I am examining. Scarce material exists regarding the Americanism of the early settlers in Illinois. But, in fashioning my argument on the subject, I have taken from a variety of these cources bits and pieces of information about geography, demographics, economics, politics, and social life. My hope is that these facts and arguments will help to substantiate my suggestions regarding the mindsets of territorial Illinoisians. The work coming closest to my focus is an …