Digital Commons Network^™

Have You Put On Weight? A Study On The Effects Of Certain Factors On The Increased Presence Of Eating Disorders In Modern Chinese Women, Kelli Michele Beard

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Recent Trend Of Mass Killing: What Causes Civil Wars To Escalate To Using Genocide, Brenna Danielle Depies

Honors Theses

In the last century the international community has become more concerned about the damage that civil wars can cause. Over the years, more cases of civil war are reported to lead into genocide, and this thesis looks to figure out why this is. There are many scholarly theories about the origins of genocide, but I aim to focus strictly on those genocides that occur in reaction to a civil conflict. When looking at the root causes of conflict, I claim that civil wars are more likely to lead to the use of genocide if the origins of the conflict are …

Branding A University's Mascot, Stanley Ryan Viner

Honors Theses

The objective of this paper is to investigate the dilemma many collegiate institutions have with the appropriateness of their symbols, particularly the mascot, and how these symbols can affect the overall brand equity of a university. Plausible connections between the mascot, symbols, and brands will be formulated validating the claim that a mascot is a brand, which will pcmiit the direct application of marketing and branding theories to the mascot situation at The University of Mississippi. The importance of the mascot and the human response to collegiate symbols will be explored by the utilization of two psychological theories - Social …

Transboundary Animal Diseases And Their Likelihood To Be Used In An Agroterrorist Attack On The United States, James Willard Allen

Honors Theses

All data and information contained in this investigation are open source and publically available. The assessment uses six different transboundary animal diseases which are not currently routine occurrences in the United States and through analytic methods, assesses the likelihood that each might be used in an agroterrorist attack on the United States' animal production sector. The assessment examines each disease using key details that would directly affect the likelihood of its use in an attack, focusing on potential economic damage. The three main animal populations considered are bovine, swine, and poultry due to their large size and value in domestic …

Consumer Behavior In Social Mediums: A Study Of The Impact Of Social Networking Sites And Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games On College Students' Academic And Social Lives, Laura Johnston

Honors Theses

Consumer Behavior is an interdisciplinary field that marketers use to understand the wants and behavior of consumers. It focuses on how people decide to spend their available resources, such as time or money, on a product or service and examines issues such as why, how often, and the impact of making such a decision. This study will incorporate the Social Cognitive Theory's assessment of expected outcomes based on consumers' own direct experiences that incite continued participation with the Use and Gratification Theory's idea of social need that may result in need gratification, leading to unintended results. Users of SNSs and …

Harry Potter And The Religious Right: An In-Depth Look At The Christian Undertones In J.K. Rowling's Series, Cody Pharr Hall

Honors Theses

This thesis involves an investigation of the Christian elements in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series. Methods and procedures included researching right wing religious responses to the Harry Potter series through media outlets. Each book was read and analyzed in response to religious objections. The series was explicated and studied for religious themes and ideas. The claims of the witchcraft content in the series were researched and expounded upon. Supplementary readers were used, and commentators were relied upon for certain cited ideas. The findings of this thesis are that fringe religious groups who oppose the Potter series are misinformed in …

Reduced Density Of Calbindin Immunoreactive Gabaergic Neurons In Major Depressive Disorder: Relevance To Neuroimaging Studies And Future Directions, Jonathan Hughes

Honors Theses

Background: Several lines of evidence suggest dysfunction of the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic system in major depressive disorder. Neuroimaging studies report reduced levels of GABA in the dorsolateral prefrontal and occipital cortex of depressed patients. Our previous postmortem study re-vealed a reduction in the density and size of calbindin-immunoreactive (CB-IR) GABAergic neurons in the prefrontal cortex in major depressive disorder. The goal of this study was to test whether the changes in CB-IR neurons can also be detected in the occipital cortex, where neuroimaging studies report a prominent GABA decrease. Methods: A three-dimensional cell counting probe was used to assess the …

A Study Of Attendee's Motivations: Oxford Film Festival, Taylor Elizabeth Thomas

Honors Theses

The obesity rate among Americans has been growing at an alarming rate in recent years; because of this, there has been much inquiry into the possible causes, interventions, and prevention methods for this problem. One major trend that appears to have an impact on this obesity epidemic is the large proportion of meals eaten outside the home namely, at fast food or sit-down restaurants. This trend is especially prevalent among college students, whose lifestyle is generally marked by an abundance of stress coupled with a lack of time and money. Because of this lifestyle and a lack of food preparation …

Examination Of The Consumer Ethics Of Students At The University Of Mississippi, Stephen Cole Wilkerson

Honors Theses

Consumer perceives a . in this a random sample of one hundred fifty-seven students reaction he study, in the College of Liberal Arts and the School of Business urveyed using the Consumer Ethics Scale devised by Vitell and Dr. James Muncy. Scale devised by Dr. Americus Reed and Dr. if any difference existed in the were s Dr. Scott The Moral Identity Karl Aquino was also used to see in which different majors perceive themselves. The results provided no significant there was a difference. way or want ot to perceive them. evidence that using a 0.05 hers significance level. There …

Women Behaving Badly, Taylor Elyse Wood

Honors Theses

Women Behaving Badly is the title of a performance piece that showed in Meek Auditorium at the University of Mississippi at 6:30pm on March 10 and 11, 2011. It was compiled and performed to address the issue of the suppression of the female voice. The piece interwove dramatic literature from various genres and time periods. The meaning and relevancy of each individual piece is explored in these pages. The women in these scenes defy societal expectations willingly, and the benefits and drawbacks of their decisions were explored in the piece. All proceeds from the production benefited Oxford’s Domestic Violence Project.

An Analysis Of Personal Transformation And Musical Adaptation In Vocal Compositions Of Kurt Weill, Elizabeth Rose Williamson

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the compositional transitions in the musical career of Kurt Weill as seen in his Gcmian, French, and American works. Weill was a Gemian-bom composer who was forced to immigrate to France in the 1920’s. He then immigrated to America where he composed for both stage and screen. Specific vocal works by the composer in each country were studied. Research was conducted through the analysis of sheet music, recordings, and a vocal performance of the specific pieces studied. Recordings provided the important aspect of understanding the appropriate vocal style for the music as preferred by the composer. The …

Jewish Identity And Interaction In The American South, Amelia Bartlett Gamble

Honors Theses

There once was a significant Jewish population that settled throughout the South and made a life as prominent members of their communities. I wanted to know what life was like for these people, and I wanted to know why the Jewish population dwindled over time in the South. In short, I wanted to learn about the Southern Jewish experience. I read many scholarly articles about Jews in the South in order to see Jews in a historical context, and I relied on memoirs and autobiographies to provide personal accounts. I also watched documentaries on Jews in the South in order …

Investigations Of Bite Force In Northern Gulf Of Mexico Shark Species, With Emphasis On Blacknose And Sharpnose Sharks, Martha Frances Dalton

Honors Theses

Bite force was investigated for nine shark species common to the waters of the Northern Gulf of Mexico using a bite force meter developed for this study. The two primary species examined in this study were blacknose, {Corcharhinus acronotus) and sharpnose (Rhizoprionodon terraenovae) sharks. Other species examined included blacktip (Corcharhinus limbatus), spinner (Corcharhinus brevipinna), finetooth (Corcharhinus isodon), sandbar (Corcharhinus plumbeus), bull (Corcharhinus leucus), tiger (Galeocerdo cuvieri), and bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo) sharks. Absolute bite force values ranged from 0.9 to 11.79 kg for blacknose, 0.05 to 5.44 kg for sharpnose, 1.36 to 11.34 for blacktip, 1.36 to 5.90 kg for spinner, …

Keeping Up Appearances: Analysis Of The Look-At-Me Generation, Sarah Rose Gardner

Honors Theses

My thesis consists of a series of mixed media sculptures exaggeratedly depicting the affects of technology that allows humans to instantly communicate with one another, such as the social networking tool, Facebook. My works deal with the idea of a preoccupation with creating an image of oneself to project to other people. I wanted to explore how now with the ability to instantly update one another on what is happening in our everyday lives, every mundane detail becomes important and more important situations we deal with become less so. My work is similar to that of the artist Red Grooms …

Role Reversals And The Generation-Defining Quest For Identity: A Study In Four Plays Of The Realism Of Sam Shepard, Grant Gardner Robinson

Honors Theses

In the contents of this thesis can be found an analysis of the work of Sam Shepard, modern American playwright. The analysis includes a look at a quartet of family plays: A Lie of the Mind, True West, Buried Child, and Curse of the Starving Class. In analyzing the action in each, I pose the problem of Identity crisis as it Is found in the role reversals that take place, how they are a reflection of the life of Shepard himself, how they are. In turn a reflection of young generations, and how a positive conclusion can be derived from …

Religious & Political Attitudes Towards Women In Power, Jason T. Miller

Honors Theses

This paper examines the influences of religious and political attitudes on attitudes towards women in power. Specifically, I measure the ideology and general favorability of Conservative Christians (Seventhday Adventists) towards various political candidates and ideological positions. This question is worth analyzing, considering relatively recent events regarding the role of women in politics and corresponding discussion in religious circles on the role of women in church leadership. A survey method was used to test whether there is a relationship between attitudes towards women in power in politics (female political candidates) and women in power in religion (women's ordination), as well as …

The Gatekeepers: An Evaluation Of Clergy Knowledge, Attitudes, And Perceptions Regarding Mental Health Issues, Collaboration, And Referral To Treatment, Alix R. Sandman

Honors Theses

The data from which this analysis originates is part of a an evaluation project which was designed to assess how clergy from various denominations collaborate with mental health service providers and refer church members to needed services. A survey of 215 clergy in Kent County, Michigan was conducted to gain a better understanding of clergy knowledge and perceptions of mental illness and their willingness to make referrals to mental health professionals. Initial frequencies, bivariate and Chi-square analyses were conducted using SPSS v. 16. Findings indicate that, compared to Caucasian clergy, ethnic minority clergy were less willing to make referrals and …

Is Vegetarianism A Diet? Implicit Associations Of Vegetarians And Omnivores On A Vegetarian Campus, Ashley Raethel

Honors Theses

This study examines the differences in implicit attitudes toward meat and vegetables in religious vegetarians and omnivores on a religious, vegetarian campus. Response times and error rates from the Implicit Association Task (IAT) were used to examine whether external diet commitments consistently affect internal attitudes. We found a significant main effect of diet on IAT responses, but no significant interaction of diet with a self-control depleting task. Thus, participants' explicit responses were by far the strongest predictor of their implicit attitudes, demonstrating that, unlike short-term dietary choices, long-term dietary choices are robust in the face of self-control depletion.

An Examination Of Parent-Child Relationships And Teen Substance Use, Brianna Johnson

Honors Theses

What is the relationship between parent-child relationships and teen substance use? Our relationship with our parents can impact our lives for the better or the worse. To study this we analyzed a survey done by the Community that Cares. Alcohol use, marijuana use and tobacco use were determined by the respondent's self-reported substance use within the last within their lifetime on a 7 point Likert scale that ranges from 0 times to 40 times. Parental Relationships was measured by the respondents' feelings about how close they felt to their parents on a 4 point Likert scale ranging from no to …

Using Led Lights As Prompts To Teach Receptive Identification To Preschool Children With Autism, Allison Pavlicek

Honors Theses

The purpose of the study "Using LED Lights as Prompts to Teach Receptive Identification to Preschool Children with Autism" is to implement a different prompting procedure than traditional least-to-most prompting procedures in teaching. One prompting procedure commonly used in discrete trial training classrooms involves least-to-most prompting in the form of gestural and physical prompts to guide children to make correct responses during teaching procedures. To specifically teach receptive identification skills, an apparatus with LED lights was used as a prompting device to vary light intensities on stimuli that the child will choose from. This alternate method of prompting may enable …

Proposing Research: An Undergraduate Learning Experience (Using Led Lights As Prompts To Teach Receptive Identification Of Preschool Children With Autism), Allison L. Pavlicek

Honors Theses

The purpose of the study “Using LED Lights as Prompts to Teach Receptive Identification to Preschool Children with Autism” is to implement a different prompting procedure than traditional least-to-most prompting procedures in teaching. One prompting procedure commonly used in discrete trial training classrooms involves least-to-most prompting in the form of gestural and physical prompts to guide children to make correct responses during teaching procedures. To specifically teach receptive identification skills, an apparatus with LED lights will be used as a prompting device to vary light intensities on stimuli that the child will choose from. This alternate method of prompting may …

Gravel Bars, Walking Sticks, Scorchers, And Archies: An Ethnographic Look At The Sub-Culture Of Native American Artifact Collectors, Raymond Gathright

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Quest Of A Lifetime : How The First Year Of University Of Richmond Life Affects Student's Spirituality And Religiosity, Melanie Martin

Honors Theses

First year university students’ religious and spiritual beliefs and attitudes were investigated over the course of the year. The survey used was largely made up of a subset of questions from the CSBV survey created by HERI and adapted and administered via Survey Monkey software to 153 first year students in the Fall Semester and 74 first year students in the Spring Semester at the University of Richmond. Students pray less and self-reflect more, are more likely to agree that the universe arose by chance, less likely to believe that ‘only religion can truly explain existence’, less likely to find …

Especially In This Economy : The Effect Of Personal And Situational Factors On Charitable Intentions And Attitudes Toward The Homeless, Eric M. Vanepps

Honors Theses

In response to tough economic times and difficulty meeting the need of homeless populations, many charities could use an improved understanding of what predicts and contributes to charitable intentions. The current studies sought to empirically address this issue. Study 1 results revealed that positive attitudes toward the homeless and charitable intentions predicted actual donation behavior. Study 2 results suggested that morality dimensions focused on fairness and harm predicted positive attitudes and charitable intentions. Additionally, a combination of moral commitment and interdependent self-construal predicted higher donation intentions. Study 3 examined how political affiliations and media coverage regarding the current state of …

'A Great Disturbance In The Force:' Thematic Dissonance Between The Two Star Wars Trilogies, Lauren Baiers

Honors Theses

All fans, scholars, and critics have their favorite films. Some support all of the films equally, some embrace the special editions, and others deny the existence of any movies other than the original versions of the first three films released. No matter what critics and fans say, all of the live-action movies are Star Wars movies: they follow the same mythology and bear the words "Star Wars" in their titles. However, the themes of the two trilogies of the Star Wars saga conflict. The prequel trilogy undermines the concerns of the original Star Wars trilogy by subverting the themes of …

Of Horror And Humor : The Transformation Of The Grotesque Into The Gothic In The Novels Of Frances Burney, Brittany Taylor

Honors Theses

This year was ushered in by a grand and most important event,—for at the latter end of January, the literary world was favoured with the first publication of the ingenious, learned, and most profound Fanny Burney!—I doubt not but this memorable affair will, in future times, mark the period whence chronologers will date the zenith of the polite arts in this island! This admirable authoress has named her most elaborate performance “EVELINA, OR A YOUNG LADY’S ENTRANCE INTO THE WORLD.” (Ellis 212)

When 1778 dawned, twenty-five-year-old Frances Burney was not the egotist this pronouncement in her diary might suggest. She …

What Counts? : Legitimizing Female Role Models, Audrey N. Innella

Honors Theses

The effect of exposure to female role models with gender specific attributes was examined in two studies. In Study 1 both women and men were presented with one of eight stimuli (role model gender: male or female; role model legitimacy attributes: organizational high, organizational low, social high, or social low). Results demonstrated women’s higher preference for female role models and vis‐à‐vis. Regression analyses demonstrated women’s preference for role models in general while men only preferred socially legitimate role models. In Study 2 both participants and role model exposure were limited to only women. Additionally a stereotype threat manipulation was added. …

Therapeutic Discourse And The American Public Philosophy: On American Liberalism's Troubled Relationship With Psychology, Clifford D. Vickrey

Honors Theses

I explore the main currents of postwar American liberalism. One, sociological, emerged in response to the danger of mass movements. Articulated primarily by political sociologists and psychologists and ascendant from the mid-fifties till the mid-seventies, it heralded the "end of ideology." It emphasized stability, elitism, positive science and pluralism; it recast normatively sound politics as logrolling and hard bargaining. I argue that these normative features, attractive when considered in isolation, taken together led to a vicious ad hominem style in accounting for views outside the postwar consensus. It used pseudo-scientific literature in labeling populists, Progressives, Taft conservatives, Goldwaterites, the New …

Family Ties: Mainstream Environmentalists' Understanding Of Radical Environmentalism In America, Zachary W. Ezor

Honors Theses

Environmentalism in the United States manifests itself in numerous ways. While American environmentalists have been grouped into broad camps over the years, observers have struggled to accurately classify the different components of the movement. Lately, environmentalists have been characterized based on their chosen modus operandi. Environmentalists who employ typical interest group tactics of policy advocacy and accept the notion of political compromise can generally be called 'mainstream.' Alternatively, those environmentalists who employ non-conventional strategies like direct action and take a no-compromise stance on environmental issues are typically described as 'radical.' Despite these distinctions, both radical and mainstream environmentalists are parts …

Revitalizing The Signaling Power Of Class Rank At Colby College, Nicholas Van Niel

Honors Theses

Consistent with trends at American colleges and universities nationwide, grades have been monotonically increasing at Colby College over the past decade while controlling for student aptitude. A rich data set that describes every Colby student over three cohorts is used to predict student performance. By comparing the mean predicted grade to the mean actual grade in a department, it is seen that some departments award mean grades that are significantly higher than predicted grades warranted by explainable factors. With some departments giving significantly higher grades than other departments, the current grading system is susceptible to awarding unwarranted higher grades to …