Digital Commons Network^™

“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 …

The Effectiveness Of Active Interaction In Interactive Visual Imagery As Created By The Keyword Method, Morgan Pair

Honors Theses

A proven mnemonic method called the Keyword Method can be used to learn concrete word pairs, such as when learning a foreign language. In the Keyword Method, an English word that sounds or looks similar to the foreign word (the “keyword”) is used to relate the foreign word and its English equivalent (Raugh & Atkinson, 1975). There are two steps to the keyword method. The first is to learn the foreign word, English translation and English keyword. The second step is to then create an interactive visual image using the English word and keyword (Raugh & Atkinson, 1975). This second …

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 …

Effects Of A Peer Developed Nutrition Education Intervention On The Fruit And Vegetable Intake In Elementary School Children, Sydney Marie Antolini

Honors Theses

To promote consumption and decrease plate waste, it is important to find innovative ways to encourage fruit and vegetable intake in children. In this study, collaborating with and educating students on nutrition brought attention to the issue and raised awareness in the school system of the need for better nutrition education.

Examining The Protective Effects Of Self-Positivity On Information Avoidance, Amanda C. Ferrante

Honors Theses

Although information could provide insight, comfort, or opportunity, people are motivated to avoid information that challenges preexisting belief or cause unpleasant emotion. Previous research shows that affirming one’s self-worth can reduce information avoidance. The present study measures whether selfenhancement, or exaggerating qualities to maintain a positive sense of self, can also reduce information avoidance. Self-enhancement is associated with positive mental health and reducing physiological stress symptoms if the exaggeration is within the same domain as threatening information. Participants in the selfenhancement category were asked to give examples of how they are better at maintaining social relationships than the average college …

Poetry And The Post-Apocalyptic Paradox: North American Indigenous Disruptions To The Westernized Self, Joseph Benjamin Ziegler Ferber

Honors Theses

This three-chapter project explores the work of three poets, each identifying with different North American indigenous tribes. Their work challenges western poetic conventions and notions of individualism to offer alternative worldviews and complicate mainstream oversimplifications of American Indian identity. Brandi MacDougall investigates assumptions of the Western Self represented by the "I" Perspective common in Western thought; Sherman Alexie revises the sonnet form to portray the complexity of how contemporary American Indians navigate the blending of capitalist institutions and native traditions; Kristi Leora offers readers an enlightened conception of self-hood by balancing processes of western socialization with native cosmology. Ultimately, this …

Global And Regional Chitinozoan Biodiversity Dynamics In The Ordovician: Relationships To Sea-Level, Carbon Cycling And Tectonics, Jordan Watson

Honors Theses

Fossil species provide extensive information about the past history of life on Earth. This thesis focuses on the global and regional biodiversity dynamics of the extinct fossil group Chitinozoa, and analyzes the impact and influences of sea-level, global carbon cycling and tectonics on their biodiversity. Biodiversity curves were generated from three different paleo-continents, Laurentia, Baltica, and Gondwana using the automated graphic correlation computer program CONOP9. Traditional methods of biodiversity analysis count fossil taxa in individual intervals of geologic time. The results of these methods are highly dependent upon interval length and the relationship of taxon range to interval boundaries. CONOP9 …

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.

Distribution Of Shell Formation Proteins In Oyster Hemolymph, Hemocytes, And Mantle Tissue, Donald Joseph Kleppel

Honors Theses

The occurrence and composition of L,3-4-dihydroxyphenylalanine-containing proteins (L-DOPA proteins) that participate in oyster shell formation has not been fully determined. It is known that the oyster mantle tissue is primarily responsible for shell formation and recent research has demonstrated the involvement of the hemolymph (blood) and hemocytes (blood cells). L-DOPA proteins are known to aid in the cross linking of shell formation proteins, in turn creating the insoluble organic matrix formed to produce the organic component of the shell. Using the biomarker amino acid L-DOPA, this research focuses on determining the localization of these shell formation proteins in hemocytes, hemolymph, …

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

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Consent Search Warning Argument: Procedural Justice And What A Warning Might Do For Police Legitimacy, Alec Kraus

Honors Theses

In 1966, the Supreme Court delivered the landmark Miranda v. Arizona decision that created the Miranda warning, which reminds citizens of their rights to remain silent and have an attorney present during custodial interrogations. However, through Schneckloth v. Bustamonte in 1973, the Court decided not to create a mandatory warning that reminds citizens of their right to refuse a consent search. Through these cases and the others discussed, the Court has often argued over whether or not these types of warnings impair police work, whether the contexts surrounding these instances amount to coercion, and whether or not a warning is …

Exploring French Short Stories: Guy De Maupassant's Writing Style And Social Justice, Gielle Kuhn

Honors Theses

This project explores the connection between French author Guy de Maupassant’s pessimist writing style and his observations of 19th century French social classes. A literary analysis of two of Maupassant’s short stories, La Parure and Le Gueux, determines key elements of pessimism, naturalism, realism and an unequal class structure, which discriminates between the peasantry, the working class, and the rich bourgeois. My research aims to demonstrate evidence that Maupassant uses a pessimistic writing style to advocate for social justice.

Mobile Application For Biosensor Colorimetric Analysis, Eui Bin You

Honors Theses

Inexpensive paper-based biosensors can be valuable screening tools to test for various illnesses, but it is often challenging to design them to produce a visual change that can easily be identified by untrained users. This research examines one method of compensating for the lack of distinct visual cues by developing and testing a mobile application that uses a machine learning algorithm (k-Nearest Neighbors) to analyze a picture of a sensor and determine whether it shows a positive or negative result. The machine learning algorithm was trained on a set of labeled sensor images and k-fold cross-validation was used to analyze …

Determining The Concentration Of Nitric Oxide In Solvent, Emily-Jean E. Bankes

Honors Theses

The body creates nitric oxide (NO) for signaling. One way that researchers study NO signaling is through the use of model complexes, or molecules that have the same metal ion and a similar molecular shape as biological molecules and are easy to synthesize. Currently researchers have limited ways to deliver precisely-known small quantities of NO to an experiment where they are trying to investigate NO-binding to a transition metal complex. A peak shift in the absorption spectrum at ~530 nm makes it possible for UV-Vis spectroscopy to observe NO binding to cobalt tetraphenylporphyrin (CoTPP). This makes it possible to measure …

Calibrating The Justice System, Ashley A. Ulferts

Honors Theses

By surveying a pool of judges in the State of Illinois, their rationale within a hypothetical situation is analyzed against the backdrop of recent contradicting court decisions and the history of law. It is through analyzing this rationale that the factors that tip the scales of justice can be identified, so that actions can be taken to correct our legal system to ultimately uphold the standards of truth and justice it claims to support.

Fluctuations In Oil Prices And Its Effects On The Usd-Mxn Exchange Rate, Alejandro Velasco

Honors Theses

Do oil prices affect exchange rates? There is a strong correlation between the changes in oil prices and the fluctuations of the exchange rates. What is the effect of the oil prices on US Dollar- Mexican Peso exchange rate? The US Dollar depreciates whenever the oil prices rise, meaning that the oil prices have an impact on exchange rates (Amano, 1998). Financial analysts and oil industry expertise have seen how prices started to decrease in 2014, and this caused uncertainty affecting other markets and consequently exchange rates. The intention of this research is to demonstrate the correlation that exists between …

Defensive Ability And Salary Determination In Major League Baseball, Christopher B. Shorey

Honors Theses

The process of salary determination in Major League Baseball (MLB) includes multiple levels of bargaining power and performance determinants. Previous studies of MLB salary determination have used a variety of measures of player performance. This paper examines the effect defensive ability has on salary determination for arbitration eligible players and for free agent players. Specifically, it will analyze player salary/contract data negotiated during the 2012-2015 period along with performance data from past seasons to examine the extent to which fielding percentage, errors, and the more recently developed measures of defensive ability affect player salary. Particular attention is paid to matching …

Follow Me Robot, Victoria M. Edwards

Honors Theses

The idea of a personal robotic assistant, while once made up the tales of science fiction, is now moving closer and closer to reality. It is easy for two humans to walk together where one person knows the directions and the other person follows along. However, it is not a trivial problem for a robot to recognize a human, and follow side by side along with them. There are three key parts to this problem: 1.) Detection of a human, 2.) Tracking the human, and 3.) the robot's Motion strategy. Using baseline assumptions, I can simplify the detection process allowing …

Police Impunity In Mexico: Creating Openings For Justice In A New Democracy, Emily Boyce

Honors Theses

In this project, I investigate why police impunity has persisted in Mexico, and why the application of justice, when it does occur, happens unequally. Mexico has undergone a democratic transition with a specific focus on increasing accountability in the judiciary. These persistent trends of police impunity and unequal application of justice are especially puzzling in the face of these recent shifts. Existing literature argues that the institutional changes that occur as a result of democratization should yield changes that further the individual rights of citizens. A majority of the scholarly work regarding police impunity and justice in Mexico focuses on …

Health Care Agency: Statewide Awareness Of Patient-Centered Care In Maine’S Mental Health Care Facilities, Holly Hogan A

Honors Theses

This research project focuses on patient-centered care (PCC) in the context of inpatient acute psychiatric units. Hospitals have been claiming their renewed outlooks on health-care via PCC. It has become an increasingly popular term to use on hospital websites and in presidential statements. The technologies and practices surrounding psychiatric care have evolved in such a way that patients are more welcomed to have an input in their care. This project discusses the discourse around PCC at Mental Health Care Facilities in Maine. There is no consensus on the definition; the meanings ascribed to it are derived from the individual institutions. …

Detecting Stock Market Bubbles: A Price-To-Earnings Approach, Austin F. Murphy

Honors Theses

To this day, economists argue about the existence of stock market bubbles. The literature review for this paper observes the analysis of four reputable bubble tests in an attempt to provide ample qualitative proof for the existence of bubbles. The first obstacle for creating an effective bubble detection test is the difficulty of estimating true fundamental values for equities. Without adequate estimations for the fundamental values of equities, the deviation between actual price and fundamental price is impossible to observe or estimate. Additionally, these tests are reliant on strong underlying assumptions, which tend to cloud results.

This thesis applies a …

Entering Into Dialogue With Pope Francis' Laudato Si: On Care For Our Common Home, Sarah Jeanne Shimer

Honors Theses

Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home brings together the spheres of science and religion. In this document, Francis puts forth a call for action towards religious and non-religious communities alike to address climate change. The strength of the document lies in the way Francis expresses his call. By drawing on scientific and religious tradition, he situates the encyclical in a broader conversation about the moral obligation for humans to care for the environment. This thesis explores the reception of Laudato Si by religious and environmental communities through political cartoons, written critiques, and personal interviews. …

Campaigning On Youtube: Messaging And Online Communication In The 2016 Presidential Nomination Process, Abraham Krieger

Honors Theses

The Internet has become an important media environment in the context of political campaigns. This research examines YouTube, the most popular website for video content, in order to understand how the platform fits into the broader media landscape and analyzes the messaging content of leading candidates seeking the 2016 nomination. It tests several hypotheses about the YouTube content posted by the campaigns of Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton, during the period from the announcement of their candidacies through February 10, 2016. The research finds that campaigns upload varying amounts and types of content and that they …

Phenanthrene...With A Twist!, Nicholas S. Kim

Honors Theses

The twisted and sterically hindered 4,5-dibromophenanthrene, was synthesized from 2,6-dibromoiodobenzene in a four-step pathway, or from 1,3-dibromobenzene in a three-step pathway. Then, 4,5-dibromophenanthrene was subjected to a Kumada coupling, leading to the synthesis of an even more twisted 4-bromo-5-tert-butylphenanthrene. Computational studies using density functional theory were performed to compare experimental and theoretical characteristics of these compounds, such as dihedral angles, optimized structures, and transition state energy barriers.

The purpose of these experiments is to fill gaps in chemical databases, synthesize more pronounced twists in normally planar phenanthrene molecules, and to ultimately synthesize 4,5-bis-tert-butylphenanthrene, which may have …

Pharmaceutical And Personal Care Products Concentrations In The Belgrade Lakes: A Possible Threat To Aquatic Ecosystems And Human Health, Serena Haver

Honors Theses

Pharmaceuticals and active ingredients from personal care products (PPCPs) include prescription and over-the-counter drugs, sunscreen, fragrances, and soaps. Recently researchers have detected PPCPs in surface waters, posing a threat to aquatic biota and human health. These compounds can enter the environment through dumping, direct excretion, or sewage effluent streams. We tested 14 water samples from East Pond, Great Pond, and Long Pond in Maine for the presence of 23 different PPCPs. Of those, we only detected significant levels of caffeine, 1,7-dimethylxanthine, and amphetamine all below 1µg/L. There were no significant differences between any of the three lakes for any of …

Assessing Lakesmart: The Development And Effectiveness Of A Lake Protection Program, Alexa A. E. Junker

Honors Theses

Maine’s nearly 6,000 lakes are a vital resource for the state, generating $6 billion in annual economic activity and sustaining 52,000 jobs. Over the course of the last several decades, this resource has increasingly been threatened by development and related problems, especially nutrient runoff. LakeSmart is a lake protection program designed to stem the flow of nutrient runoff by promoting and rewarding the use lake-friendly landscaping practices.

For this project, I traced the history of LakeSmart from its roots in the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and, through stakeholder interviews and surveys, chronicled its development into the flagship program of …

Are The Brain And The Mind One? Neuromarketing And How Consumers Make Decisions, Emily Glaenzer

Honors Theses

Neuromarketing utilizes brain-imaging technology, such as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machines, to understand consumers’ neurological responses to marketing stimuli. In this paper, I demonstrate how neuromarketing connects to the history of subliminal messaging and our current neuro-obsessed culture (neuroculture). These factors affect how critics view neuromarketing and the implications involved for the future of this study. I hypothesize that, when used correctly, neuromarketing can initiate a new section of the marketing world that will serve as a useful component to more traditional marketing practices. By taking away social bias and inaccurate answers present in market research, …

Petrography, Mineralogy, And Geochemistry Of Greenish- And Reddish-Gray Siltstones Straddling The Vertebrate-Defined Permian–Triassic Boundary In South Africa, Jiawen Li

Honors Theses

The Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME) is considered the largest in Earth’s history, yet the terrestrial response is not well understood. The Karoo Basin, South Africa, hosts abundant exposures of terrestrial deposits that span the Permian– Triassic Boundary (PTB). The terrestrial PTB is defined by a turnover in vertebrate assemblage zones and has been associated with a transition from greenish-gray to reddish-gray siltstone. The current PTME model states that the siltstone color change is a reflection of aridification and eolian deposition, which is believed to represent rapid climate change directly linked with the event. Greenish- and reddish-gray siltstones were collected from …

The Effect Of Temperature On The Supply And Demand For The American Lobster (Homarus Americanus) In The State Of Maine, Gaby E. Carpenter

Honors Theses

The Gulf of Maine (GOM) American lobster (Homarus americanus) stock accounts for 90% of the U.S. American lobster landings. This makes it an extremely valuable and important fishery on a national scale, but also to the state of Maine. In the past decade, the fishery has experienced rapid fluctuation in landings and price due to anthropogenic influences of the water temperature in the GOM. Given the economic importance of the fishery, it is important to understand the future impacts of climate change on the availability of lobster and economic consequences of these shifts. A bio-economic model is used in the …