Digital Commons Network^™

Technology And Nutrition: Interactive Strategies For Children To Learn Nutrition, Nicole Bogden

Honors Theses

This manuscript aims to describe nutritional requirements and needs for children and how technology is being used to improve nutritional knowledge among them. Several technologies and applications are explored, and recommendations are given for ways to improve. Four interactive nutrition games for children are examined: two computer games and two mobile applications. Through revision of performance, nutrition content, attraction, design and attention capabilities, HealthyHeroes was chosen to be the best game for children to learn and have fun with the subject of nutrition.

Importance Of Preserving History: A Conservation Of An Edwardian Wedding Dress, Brittany Aris

Honors Theses

The Importance of Preserving History: The Conservation of an Edwardian Wedding Dress

This thesis concentrates on the significance of recorded history, and the importance of conserving artifacts such as an Edwardian wedding dress. Such treasured pieces contribute to our perception of the past, not only as artifacts but as an insight into how, why, and by whom, they were created.

The Edwardian period is so important in women’s fashion because it was such a short-lived era. The socio-economic times that preceded the Edwardian era, such as the Industrial Revolution and the Victorian era, all had profound impacts which helped influence …

Economic Impacts Of The Fifa World Cup In Developing Countries, Mirele Matsuoka De Aragao

Honors Theses

Hosting mega events, which have traditionally been a privilege of developed nations, became an attainable goal for developing countries starting in 2008. This might seem to be a positive step, but there are speculations concerning the real benefits and expenses those games generate. The aim of this thesis is to investigate if it is recommendable for a developing country to host a World Cup. This question is answered through an analysis of the two previous World Cups in South Africa (2010) and Brazil (2014). The research involves comparing before and after data for both countries on government expenditure, labor market, …

Co-Editor-In-Chief Of The Laureate, Dj Delong

Honors Theses

The Laureate’s mission is to provide undergraduate students at Western Michigan University a place in which to publish their fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and other creative works. Under the guidance of a faculty editor and mentor, Samantha McVeigh and I have taken on the task to edit the 14th edition. Our responsibilities included choosing assistant editors, calling for and reading submissions, choosing pieces to create a manuscript, and editing multiple times for publishing.

This edition is different because of the introduction of co-editors, accepting color artwork, and adding audio files of authors reading their pieces. The Laureate explored the technology that …

Hate Crime Laws: What Are They And Who Do They Protect?, Maya Pedersen

Honors Theses

Perhaps due to media attention, especially to recent high-profile cases, awareness of hate crime laws has increased. When people think of the groups protected by such legislation, factors such as race/ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation often come to mind. People victimized because of their affiliation with any designated group should be protected under these laws and perpetrators of such crimes should receive enhanced penalties. More specifically, the Hate Crime Protection Act (2009) made it a federal offense to assault someone because of sexual orientation. Relatively little research has been conducted on hate crime legislation, but it is important to understand …

Understanding The Role Of The Common Core State Standards In Catholic Education, Annemarie Fisher

Honors Theses

In 2009, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) revolutionized academic standards, providing a format adopted by states across America that focused on raising Math and English Language Arts standards as preparation for colleges and careers. In conjunction with the adoption and implementation of the CCSS across the United States, Catholic schools have worked towards the strengthening and advancement of their own educational systems. This thesis first examines the background of the CCSS, including implementation and professional development, as well as the opposition regarding the standards. The paper presents an overview of the history of academic standards in Catholic education and …

Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5 Mediates Metastatic Melanoma Cell Invasion Into A Brain Micro-Environment, Nicholas C. Borkey

Honors Theses

While survival rates for localized melanoma are above 98%, metastatic melanoma proves to be an extraordinarily dreadful disease because of its notoriously poor prognosis resulting in less than 15% survival within 5 years. This is due to the fact that the disease is highly resistant to standard cancer therapies. With approximately 40% of melanoma patients progressing to brain metastasis, a greater understanding of the pathways mediating melanoma cell invasion into the brain must be achieved. In this study, a potentially key target often deregulated in melanoma and other cancers, Cyclin- Dependent Kinase 5 (CDK5), will be interrogated for its implications …

School-Books On Tape: The Tensile And Adhesive Strength Of Duct Tape In A College Backpack, Robin Elizabeth Ker

Honors Theses

Two categories were used to assess the strength of duct tape constructions: adhesive strength and tensile strength. Previously made duct tape backpacks frequently suffered from adhesive failure around shoulder straps. When a backpack is lifted, it experiences a force which is greater than the resting weight. The hypothesis states that there is an area of application between two pieces of duct tape such that they will behave as a uniform piece and experience tensile failure, that two sufficiently overlapped pieces can hold within 5% of the load carried by a single piece, and that there is a relationship between the …

Coding Dna Into Music: An Alternate Way Of Analysis, Samuel Fesenmeier

Honors Theses

In the study, we are analyzing the human genome in order to determine patterns that may tell something about how DNA functions. Patterns require an explanation: it is highly improbable that they are random occurrence. These patterns may hint to something about how DNA functions. There are known patterns already discovered in DNA. For example, in the coding portion, three base pairs translate to a specific amino acid. In the non coding portion, however, specific patterns are not as simple.

We will search for patterns by applying a coding system that turns DNA into music. Music may serve as a …

Sherlock Holmes And James Moriarty: Victorian Genius In A Millennial World, Allison K. Carey

Honors Theses

In 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published his first novel regarding the detective Sherlock Holmes. He would go on to publish another three novels and 56 short stories detailing the great detective’s endeavors. Today, 128 years later, Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is as popular, as relevant, and as alive as ever. Adaptations continue to be made and achieve success, including the BBC’s mini-series, Sherlock. This modern adaptation and its interpretation of Conan Doyle’s characters, novels, stories, plots, and themes allow for a unique combination of Victorian and Modern England. It highlights the similarities and differences of a Victorian Holmes and …

Black White And In-Between: Race And Ethnicity In The Criminal Justice System 1885-1915, Elizabeth M. Wilhelm

Honors Theses

Events in the past year have brought racial and ethnic discrimination in the criminal justice system to the forefront of American consciousness. In reality, race has been used to create stereotypes for centuries, often supported by “scientific” and “statistical” evidence to support the idea that certain races are more likely to commit crimes than others. In my research, I trace the development of these ideas as well as the evidence used to support these racial notions primarily by drawing upon conference transcripts from two professional organizations: The National Prison Association and the National Conference of Charities and Corrections covering the …

Genre Controversy: Human Universality Or Plagiarism In The Dystopian Genre?, Taylor V. Kingston

Honors Theses

In a fusion of behavioral psychology, evolutionary psychology, and literary analysis, this thesis considers the possibility that human nature dictates the types of rhetoric utilized in any given genre. Operant conditioning emerged as the governing device in a case study of the dystopian genre since readers must be made to associate fear or hope with particular government structures. Implicitly then, literature is molded into its genres by the human desires addressed by that genre’s reigning themes. This “mold” seems to have created a strain of novels within the dystopian genre that are so similar there have been accusations of plagiarism. …

Horses: How Saddle Style Defines A Culture And The Skeletal System, Brandy Morgan

Honors Theses

This paper examines the way in which various parameters affect injury type and prevalence in horse eventing. The human-horse relationship has a long history that has continued to evolve, and their relationship is still strong today, especially in the role of sports and entertainment. In equestrian sports, horseback riding has been found to be extremely dangerous in terms of prevalence and severity of injury. This paper evaluates how saddle style, the sex of the rider, rider experience, and nature of event impacts injury patterns specifically within horse eventing which utilizes an English styled saddle.

Horses: How Saddle Style Defines A Culture And The Skeletal System, Elizabeth Brandon

Honors Theses

Throughout history different cultures have been greatly impacted by horses and their uses. Today horseback riding is still a very popular sport, and though it is more dangerous than other forms of transportation, such as motorcycle riding, horseback riding is still used in entertainment, occupational, and leisure activities. Saddles have long been an important piece of equipment for riding. As the horse became a mode of transportation, many cultures had their own saddle style, but today there are two prominent saddle styles, the western and english styles. The western saddle style is used more for leisure, occupational, and rodeo riding. …

Creating Como-Pickton: A Study On The Integration And Consolidation Of Como-Pickton Consolidated Independent School District, Austin Baxley

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

An Undiscovered Wilderness--Place And Self: A Digital Curation Of Text And Images, Alana Jane Jajko

Honors Theses

Medieval manuscripts are beautiful compilations of text and image. My work explores this media as a way to celebrate the beauty of the natural world, combining nature writing with marginalia and illustrations that reflect the content of the text. The calligraphy style is modeled after the font used in the Book of Kells, as it too portrays natural imagery throughout its pages. Manuscripts were meant to glorify the text within, and it is my hope to glorify and preserve an appreciation of nature in a world where it is sometimes overlooked. The culmination of this research has grown into a …

"Will The Sun Come Up In The Morning?" : The 1999-2000 Conflict Between Summerhill School And The British Department For Education And Employment, Emily Kerwin

Honors Theses

On March 23, 2000 a group of school children sat in the Royal Courts of Justice in London and voted to accept an agreement between Secretary of State for Education David Blunkett and their school, Summerhill School in Leiston, Suffolk. This vote ended a year-long fight to keep the school from closing. Carmen Cordwell, the chair of that meeting later remarked, "This is our charter for freedom. After 79 years, this is the first official recognition that A.S. Neill's philosophy of education provides an acceptable alternative to compulsory lessons and the tyranny of compulsory exams. With this one bound, we …

Isolation Of Microbial Nrps And Pks Gene Clusters For Natural Product Isolation, Danielle N. O'Hara

Honors Theses

Greater than 99% of microbes living in the environment are uncultivable due to their complex nutrient and temperature requirements for growth. These microorganisms present a potential source of natural products that could be developed for biotechnological and pharmaceutical uses. Microorganisms with phosphopantetheinyl transferase (PPTase) activity are of high interest due to the role PPTase plays in activating non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) and polyketide synthase (PKS) gene clusters. These gene clusters produce multi-enzymatic, multi-domain megasynthases that produce complex natural products utilized by the host organism for selective advantages. This study isolated genomic DNA from soil samples collected from the University of …

Extending An Implicit Theories Approach To The Examination Of Empathy And Forgiveness, Jennifer Cecilione

Honors Theses

Empathy and forgiveness are two key constructs involved in effective conflict-resolution. Empathy has been defined in terms of its cognitive aspects (i.e. the ability to understand another’s emotional reactions to situations without actually feeling the other’s emotions) and its affective components (i.e. the ability to vicariously feel the emotions of another without directly experiencing the other’s situation). On the other hand, forgiveness has been described as the ability to act in a prosocial manner towards a transgressor. Past research has repeatedly shown links between empathy and forgiveness, such that empathy is a precursor to forgiveness. More recent research has suggested …

Edward Snowden, Criminal Or Patriot: Media Coverage Of National Security Agency Document Leaks, Joyce M. Yoon

Honors Theses

Kenneth Burke's dramatic pentad was used to analyze Edward Snowden's National Security Agency (NSA) document leaks from June 5, 2013 through October 1, 2013 as published in the New York Times (NYT) and the Guardian. The articles were coded by newspaper, headline, reporting journalist, page prominence, word count, publication date, and tone of stories. Content analysis revealed that there was significant difference in coverage of Snowden: the Guardian utilized the word "swhistleblower"s extensively in a positive way while negative words like "leaker" drove NYT coverage of Snowden. Both papers overlap in the identification of Snowden's actions as one of the …

Changing Attitudes Towards Sexual Orientation And The Effect Of Documentary Film, Michael Jon Vanderwaal

Honors Theses

Attitudes towards LGBT people are shifting rapidly, with over half (51%) of the US population now favoring same-sex marriage. LGBT issues are also being hotly debated in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church. The purpose of this research is to examine how the film, Seventh-Gay Adventist (SGA) influences SDA college students' attitudes regarding homosexuality. My study compares attitude scores of students (N=46) using an experimental design with random assignment. Both the experimental group and the control group completed a commonly used Homosexuality Attitude Scale and modified version of Fulton's Adventists and LGB's survey at pretest and posttest. Results show that the …

Musical Borrowing In Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas: Piazzolla, Desyatnikov, Vivaldi, Wayanne Watson

Honors Theses

Leonid Desyatnikov arranged Astor Piazzolla's Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas for violin and string orchestra, interspersing quotations from Vivaldi's Four Seasons throughout the new work. My score-based analysis of the arrangement investigates Desyatnikov's borrowing practice and connects his compositional techniques to musicological meanings. In addition to identifying levels of contrast value between the quotation and the surrounding arrangement, I examine alterations to the original content and context of the quotations and determine whether Desyatnikov maintains or transforms the quotations' identities. I combine identity and contrast value into an interpretive model of musical interaction, providing a more nuanced exploration of musical dominance.

Narcissism And The Selfie: Investigating Millennial Narcissism On Instagram, Megan Reed

Honors Theses

Recent studies revealed a correlation between self-promoting images on social media and higher levels of narcissism. This research further examined the relationship between narcissism and use of social media by determining the proportion of selfies an individual posts on Instagram and narcissism among millennials. The proportion of pictures that were selfies was measured in two ways: in the subject's past 4-weeks of picture posting and in the last 30 pictures the subject posted. The standard Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) was used to measure the subject's level of narcissism. Correlation analyses revealed that no correlations were found between the NPI score …

An Investigation Of Bag3 Knockdown And Its Effects On The Cytotoxicity Of Laromustine, Colin Sheehan

Honors Theses

Laromustine is a sulfonylhydrazine anticancer prodrug whose main cytotoxic arises from its ability to interfere with DNA replication of dividing cells. Multiple studies have suggested that Laromustine induces a form of cell death known as apoptosis. In a previous study investigating the mechanism of apoptosis, bcl2-associated athanogene 3 (BAG3) demonstrated significant upregulation in the presence of Laromustine. Given its anticancer ability, we selected BAG3 as a target for further investigation. BAG3 knockdown through transient shRNA transfections was performed in U138 glioblastoma multiforme cells and verified using qRT-PCR analysis. Finally, cell death assays were used to assess Laromustine’s cytotoxic effect on …

School Gardens: Cultivating A Child’S Nutritional Habits, Environmental Knowledge, And Sustainability Practices, Jeffrey Meltzer

Honors Theses

School gardens have existed since the late nineteenth century and today are becoming increasingly popular in many parts of the world, including where I studied in Maine and Australia (AUS). Multiple organizations support school gardens in Maine, including the Maine School Garden Network, which has over 125 registered school gardens. In AUS, the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation primarily supports the school garden movement and has over 800 registered school gardens. While many researchers have studied school gardens, few have compared two countries, focused on environmental sustainability, or investigated Maine in particular. This thesis combines information from literature reviews, and …

Queering The Production Of Sexual Knowledge: Narrative Strategies, Gender Politics And The Promise Of Feminist Focus Groups, Madeline J. Hunsicker

Honors Theses

Dominant public discourses structure our interpretations of sexual acts in decidedly gendered ways, shaping our understandings of sexual experiences and embodiment. As a result, current understandings of term such as “virginity” evoke cultural standards of womanhood, whiteness, monogamy, and tradition that both reflect and reinforce contemporary society’s hetero-patriarchal relations of power. The narratives available for girls and women to make sense of the first sexual experiences are policed by dominant sexual discourses that privilege male pleasure (Kozma, 56-59), which can limit the narratives of actual sexual experiences and subjugate gynogentiric discourses of sexual knowing (Medley-Rath 26). In the absence of …

The Growing Crisis In Maine: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Olivia Avidan

Honors Theses

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is a Maine epidemic. In addition to having medical repercussions, NAS is intrinsically linked to social, political and economic factors. NAS is a conglomeration of symptoms, short-term and long-term, that affect a child that has been exposed to opioids in utero. These factors that impact NAS are interdependent. The past decade is characterized by a dramatic rise in NAS cases in Maine. This paper explores the social, political and economic landscape surrounding NAS in an effort to describe fully the syndrome’s effect on both individuals and the community as a whole.

Assessing The Carbon Impacts Of Colby College’S Biomass Plant, Alice Hotopp

Honors Theses

Biomass energy plants are considered to be carbon neutral systems under some definitions. However, this concept of carbon neutrality needs to be rethought in order to understand the true carbon impact of biomass plants upon global climate change. A biomass plant’s wood source, the extent to which the biomass plant emits carbon dioxide, and the timescale over which the biomass plant emits carbon should all be taken into account. In this study, I consider the Colby College biomass plant’s role in carbon cycling. Colby’s Physical Plant Department provided me with information on how much carbon (tons of woodchips) is used …

Nurturing Environmental Literacy At Colby College: Higher Education And The Environmental Crisis, Molly Nash

Honors Theses

The environmental crisis will affect all people, career paths, and academic disciplines. Acknowledging this, does higher education have an obligation to educate all students for environmental literacy (EL)? This study reviews literature on how to effectively assess and implement EL initiatives and highlights how other colleges successfully nurture EL in all students. This study also uses quantitative and qualitative survey measures to understand student levels of EL at Colby College and to highlight specific programming or curriculum that leads to high EL levels in students. Findings include significantly different EL scores between environmental studies student respondents and respondents in all …

No Such Thing As Happiness, Megan Lindsay

Honors Theses

This thesis contains a collection of short stories I have written over a two year period. Major themes include loss, healing, nature, mental health issues, and the ways in which relationships (familial, companionate, etc.) strengthen characters.