Digital Commons Network^™

Sensor-Enabled Reduction Of Stereotypy, Aaron Brzezinski

Honors Theses

The goal of this study was to create and implement an intervention to reduce stereotypic behavior in a child with Autism. The participant was chosen based on a high occurrence of target behavior and was recruited through his treatment center. The target behaviors were selected based on the subjective evaluation of his treatment provider and parents. The dependent variable in this study was hand-flapping. The independent variable was DRO training that included a buzzer and a chime noise contingent on the presence or absence of stereotypy respectively. A Microsoft Kinect© 2.0 was used to track occurrence of target behavior and …

Effects Of Multiple Exemplar Instruction On Reading Comprehension For Secondary Students With Reading Delays, Reilly Chabie

Honors Theses

This study tested the effects of multiple exemplar instruction on reading comprehension for a middle school student with a reading delay. A multiple probe design was used to evaluate and observe the changes in the number of questions the student answered correctly. Probes consisted of: (1) pre-experimental, (2) single exemplar instruction (SEI), (3) post-SEI, (4) MEI, and (5) post-MEI. The independent variable was a multiple exemplar intervention that required the student to read a passage across three topographies (silently, listening, and aloud).

Multiple exemplar instruction was shown to be effective in increasing the number of questions answered correctly during single …

Transitioning Children With Autism From A Discrete Trial Classroom To A Group Classroom, Alexandra Ennis

Honors Theses

The goal of this project was to prepare children diagnosed with autism for the transition to group learning environments by teaching them to sit in their chair and attend while the teacher is at least five feet away. This is a skill that will help kids succeed when they make the transition from an early intervention program to a group learner environment because it allows the teacher to focus more on learning important skills. A proximity procedure was put in place for two children that focused on gradually increasing the distance between the tutor and the student with use of …

Increasing Vocalizations In Children With Autism, Nicholette Christodoulou

Honors Theses

This study focuses on increasing vocalizations for students with Autism spectrum disorder. A three-part intervention was used to attempt to establish an echoic repertoire in students who had little to no vocalizations. Both students attended an early intervention classroom with a special education school. Students were selected from their classroom if they showed little to no vocalization or echoic skills. The goal during the first phase was to collect all sounds being made by the student to increase the overall number of vocalizations being made. This was done by continuous reinforcement using edible reinforcers. In phase two, the student’s dominant …

Behavioral Sensitization Following Concurrent Exposure To 4-Methylmethcathinone (4-Mmc) And 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (Mdma) In Male Sprague-Dawley Rats, Trent Bullock

Honors Theses

Recreational use of a new class of stimulant drugs known as synthetic cathinones is a recent public health concern. Although the Drug Enforcement Administration placed several of the most common of these substances permanently on schedule 1, their use is still prevalent as they remain low cost, accessible, and potent. Concomitant use of cathinone derivatives with other psychostimulant drugs is commonly reported by recreational users. Despite the prevalence of synthetic cathinone abuse, there is currently a paucity of scientific research regarding the behavioral and neurochemical effects of these drugs in mixtures with other drugs of abuse. The behavioral sensitization paradigm …

News In Virtual Reality, Samantha Macy

Honors Theses

Virtual reality (VR) is the next frontier of news media, but we know little about the impact is has on viewers. The goal of this experiment is to gain a better understanding of the social presence and information retained by watching news in VR. Participants will either consumer news in a VR setting, a highly interactive online format, or print. Then, using a survey, social presence and information retention were assessed. Research participants were undergraduate students at a large Midwestern university. It is expected that VR news will result in higher social presence and information retention than news in highly …

Using Sbirt As An Intervention For Substance Use In Public Schools, Amanda Higgins

Honors Theses

In Kalamazoo County, youth substance use is on the rise. In recent years (2012-2014), alcohol use has nearly doubled in the adolescent population. With the easy accessibility of alcohol in Kalamazoo, alcohol use among adolescents will continue to rise if early intervention protocols are not implemented. Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT), could be the model of intervention within Kalamazoo public schools, if implemented correctly. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), SBIRT is an evidence-based practice used to identify, reduce, and prevent problematic use, abuse, and dependence on alcohol and illicit drugs. Public …

Alcoholism, Domestic Violence, & Mental Illness: As A Graphic Novel, Abigail Jackson

Honors Theses

My inspiration for my project, “A Day on the Back Forty”, came from my personal experiences with domestic violence and alcoholism and my interest in not only sharing and hopefully lifting the taboo of having these experiences cast a negative light on my life, but to expose these issues and hopefully bring awareness to those who are not close to domesticviolence or alcoholism and to also offer a connection to those who have experienced these issues. My thought process for this project was to be able to create a thought-provoking familiarity that could be experienced on both an intimate and …

A Guided Inquiry To The Bromination Of Alkenes: An Effort To Foster Student Understanding Of Thin Layer Chromatography In The Organic Chemistry Laboratory, Casey Wright

Honors Theses

Many of the chemistry laboratories taught at Western Michigan University are “cookbook” labs, meaning that students are given an instruction manual with a prescribed set of instructions and a predicted outcome. Therein we present an introductory organic chemistry laboratory experiment to reinforce the student understanding of Thin Layer Chromatography which utilizes a guided inquiry format as part of an effort to move toward discovery based learning in our organic chemistry curriculum. Educational research was performed on classroom artifacts collected from the laboratory. We were able to gain an understanding of the struggles students face in applying general chemistry content knowledge …

Anxiety In The Aisle: A Multi-Channel Study Of The Incongruence Between Wine Consumption And Wine Shopping, Brianna Amat

Honors Theses

The wine industry is extremely fragmented with few manufacturers holding a substantial market share while contending with each other for limited shelf space and shoppers. At the same time, the large selection of wines available challenges retailers and manufacturers to make wine selection and purchase as pleasant and convenient as possible for shoppers.

Retail stores, referred to as “off-premise” are the predominant outlet for purchasing alcohol. Shoppers are exposed to a wide variety of prices, bottle sizes, grape variety, etc., but the traditional in-store displays lack in the most important information for shoppers — how to navigate the aisle and …

An Assessment Of Home Energy Efficiency In Kalamazoo, Alexis Coutts

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to assess the status of home energy efficiency in Kalamazoo as well as the reasons why (or why not) a homeowner adopts energy efficiency and what their incentives and barriers are. In order to address these questions this study first relies on a literature review to offer insight on this complex topic and reveal the main incentives and barriers to energy efficiency already found by homeowners. Next a survey is completed by a total of thirty participants, fifteen homeowners from two separate neighborhoods of Kalamazoo, using socioeconomics as a variable. Where Milwood neighborhood acts …

An Accessibility Analysis Of 8th Grade Math Textbooks: Implications For Diverse Learners, Emily Waddle

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Discriminative Stimulus Properties Of 3.0 Mg/Kg Mephedrone In Rats, Nathyn Thompson

Honors Theses

Consumption of a prominent synthetic cathinone known as mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone) has become a popular alternative to club drugs such as ecstasy, cocaine, and methamphetamine within the past decade. The pharmacological mechanisms that contribute to its subjective effects have yet to be fully characterized and are thus warranted for investigation. The present study employed drug discrimination methods to train eight male Sprague-Dawley rats to discriminate injections of 3.0 mg/kg mephedrone from saline. Various doses of mephedrone, 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), d-amphetamine (AMPH), cocaine, (+)-methamphetamine (METH), and 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) were investigated for their ability to substitute for the stimulus cues of the training …

An Actress, A Knight, And A Woodcutter Walk Into A Postwar Society: Memory And The International Postwar Art Film In Hiroshima Mon Amour, The Seventh Seal, And Rashomon, Austin King

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Athlete And Team Responses To Injury, Laura Heron

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Corporate Social Reponsibility Reporting: Industry Comparisons, Yu Cao

Honors Theses

According to the shareholder theory, the sole social responsibility of a company is to increase its profits and shareholders’ value (Friedman, 1970). However, the stakeholder theory states that a company owes the social responsibility to a wider group of stakeholders (Donaldson & Preston, 1995). Stakeholders refer to any person or group which can affect or be affected by the actions of a business, such as employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, competitors and the wider community. Around the world, more and more firms are increasing their engagement in corporate social responsibility (hereafter, CSR) and exploit CSR as the center of their corporate …

The Effect Of Bedside Handoffs On Patients’ Perceived Fears, Maija Paldan

Honors Theses

Background and Significance: Fear, anxiety, and apprehension can have a profound effect upon patient outcomes, possibly leading to a worsened health condition or delay in recovery. Current literature finds that communication and social support by the nursing staff may foster patients’ understanding of their care and their experiences of feeling safe. The bedside handoff is one way of enhancing communication and providing support within nurse patient interactions. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of bedside handoffs on patients’ perceived fear, anxiety, and apprehension.

Methods: A secondary analysis was performed upon a larger quantitative data set from …

Characteristics Of Patients Who Experience Fear During Hospitalization, Marlena Vande Streek

Honors Theses

Purpose/Background The purpose of this study is to describe individuals likely to experience fear, apprehension, or anxiety during hospitalization. Supporting literature has much to say about intervening once these feelings occur, but little on the description or characteristics of patients exhibiting these feelings during hospitalization. The intent of this exploration is to allow nurses to identify these patients sooner and prevent unnecessary stress and delays in care.

Theoretical Framework When a patient experiences fear, they respond through the stress response cycle commonly observed as delays in wound healing and immunosuppression when feelings are prolonged. Identifying individuals likely to experience fear …

Effects Of Acute Stress And Ethanol Consumption On Il-1Β In Female Long Evans Rats: A Pilot Study, Kristin R. Creel

Honors Theses

Background: Acute stress elicits many physiological, behavioral, and neurological responses, and many studies have aimed to better our understanding of these responses and their effects. However, a majority of preclinical studies have used male test subjects, despite growing evidence that males and females have different responses to acute and chronic stressors. This study thus aims to evaluate the ability of three different acute stressors to cause a physiological stress response in adult and adolescent female subjects.

Methods: In this preliminary investigation, Female Long Evans rats (N=12) underwent three acute stressors over the course of three consecutive days. In order, these …

The Gold Standard: Understanding The Impact Of Perfectionism On Occupation, Mary E. Wagner

Honors Theses

Occupational Science seeks to understand human occupation, often grouping occupations into categories and considering external factors that influence what people do. The current literature in psychology includes several studies on perfectionism, but there are no studies within occupational science literature. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how perfectionism impacts the occupations of college students studying occupational science and provide a measurable and meaningful depiction of the interaction between these variables. Original research was conducted using a mixed methods approach. The Almost Perfect Scale, Revised (APS-R), developed by Slaney, Mobley, Trippi, Ashby, & Johnson (1996) was …

Academic Mentorship In Honors, Victoria L. Abbott

Honors Theses

A recently developed program at Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) uses course-embedded tutors called Writing Fellows to provide first-year students with an academic peer mentor. Writing Fellows are assigned to an English 101 class which they attend, and outside of the class, they meet individually with students in consultations concerning their academic projects or papers. Since the Honors Program at EKU currently lacks a sustainable peer mentorship program, the author Tori Abbott attempted to combine elements of the Writing Fellow program with the needs of Honors students. The mentor for this Honors thesis, Katie Patton, taught two sections of the Honors …

Shared Book Reading Practices In The Daycare Setting, Sarah Oliver

Honors Theses

This study reviews emergent literacy, instructional techniques (specifically dialogic reading), and how involved different professionals are with literacy instruction with young children. Because little research has been done regarding shared book reading practices in the daycare setting, a mixed methods research design was utilized in order to determine the scale dialogic reading prompts are used during shared book reading by daycare instructors and their beliefs about early literacy. Analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data collected revealed three key themes: narrow view of literacy, limited understanding of early literacy instruction, and value of literacy. In other words, the participants believe …

Family Factors And School, Michael Pierce

Honors Theses

One of the most overwhelming issues at Eastern Kentucky University is academic retention. In 2013, Eastern had a four-year graduation rate of 23.5%. Each university has a goal to keep academic retention as high as possible. EKU has one of the highest rates of enrollment from students of the Appalachian region, an area of Kentucky that is diverse both ecologically and culturally than other regions of the state. EKU is also known among its students for being a “suitcase school,” a college or university that is active Monday through Friday, but is quiet on Saturday and Sunday due to students …

“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 …

Human Rights And Healthy Societies: Opening Social And Cultural Spaces For Peacebuilding, Margaret A. Maloney

Honors Theses

Exploring peace demands rethinking many of the assumptions that have driven the field of peacebuilding. Previously, scholars have investigated the content of peace agreements in relation to the promotion of sectors that include security, justice, and democracy. However, I hypothesize that by focusing narrowly on these areas, scholars and peacemakers overlook crucial ingredients that create stable post-conflict societies. This senior thesis examines the inclusion of social and cultural rights in peace agreements and aims to contribute to a more robust understanding of whether traditionally “soft” issues like education, art, and women’s participation may have significant impacts on the long-term health …

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 …

Effects Of Body Weight Loading On Arch Height, Anastasia Bjelopetrovich

Honors Theses

Deformation of the medial longitudinal arch under body weight loading is often assessed using the Arch Height Index Measurement System. This system assesses change in arch height between sitting and standing, estimated to be 10 and 50% of body weight, respectively. However, body weight forces during ambulation exceed these loads, therefore limiting our understanding of arch deformation under ambulatory load ranges. Thus, the study aims were 1) to assess if sitting and standing arch height differed from that seen under 10 and 50% body weight using a force target-matching procedure, and 2) to characterize the relationship between arch deformation and …

Biodiversity, Ecosystem Function And The Pollination Ecology Of Urban Gardens In Dayton, Ohio, Angela Nicole Giaquinto

Honors Theses

Urban agriculture is an ancient concept that is gaining momentum in the United States in connection with urban renewal projects and efforts to mediate urban food deserts. These agriculture efforts represent a potential habitat for pollinator communities within the urban hardscape. Pollinator communities are threatened by urban landscape transformation, and bee species, in particular, are in a state of global decline due to various stressors. Urban agriculture has the potential to sustain both human and ecological communities, and the pollinators that visit gardens may provide pollination to plant species in the surrounding area. We investigated the influence of urban land …

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 …

Model Behavior: An Assessment Of Role Model Attachment, Patrick C. Doyle

Honors Theses

Despite the term existing since the early part of the 20th century, little is known about role models and relationships that individuals develop with them. Using attachment theory, a cornerstone of interpersonal theory, relationships between individuals and their role models are compared to relationships between those individuals and their parents in the present study. While data did not support the hypothesis (those with anxious attachment to their parents will experience more secure attachment to their role model) promising opportunities for future research were suggested by the qualitative and quantitative data that were collected. For example, the experience of many participants …