Digital Commons Network^™

Sustainable Development In The Atacama Desert? Community And The Copper Mining Industry In Northern Chile, Livia Christina Macias

Honors Theses

Antofagasta is a particularly difficult region to promote sustainable development given its location in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. In the single-industry community case in Antofagasta, the relationship between the copper industry and the surrounding community is essential for the survival of both. The purpose of this thesis is definitions of sustainable development on the international, national, and local levels, understand the challenges of sustainable development in the to scrutinize the many Antofagasta Region, analyze the important aspects of sustainable development promoted the initiatives for sustainable development between by a single industry, and compare state and private industries in …

Concert Promotion In A College Community: A Guide For The Hopeful Concert Promoter, Lori Ann Simpson

Honors Theses

This thesis was comprised of research in action in an attempt to plan and promote a concert in a college community. Research began in the summer of 2007 with an internship with Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter. After spending three months working in the live music industry, I decided to put that knowledge into practice by organizing an awareness concert for Mississippi Blood Services in Oxford, Mississippi. I spent much time planning this concert, first as a large outdoor event, and after it became evident that would not be possible, a smaller, local event at an Oxford venue. …

Russians At Work: Past And Present Of The Russian Mentality Toward Work, Dustin Cody Bankston

Honors Theses

This paper is an analysis of the Russian mentality toward work. Several factors deeply affecting the work mentality are discussed along with their historical and cultural causes. Research for this paper was primarily gathered from personal experience, academic articles, newspaper articles, books, case studies, movies, literature, history texts, interviews, and a self-conducted quantitative questionnaire. The paper identifies five major themes that affect the Russian mentality toward work including relationship to authority, group dynamics, prioritization of work, political factors, and western influences. The themes are each linked to the unique historical and cultural development of Russia. The paper concludes that an …

Immunological Effects Of Written Disclosure In Athletes, Kristen Thatcher

Honors Theses

Many studies have demonstrated the health benefits of written disclosure of traumatic or stressful events. These benefits include improved psychological well-being, fewer health clinic visits, shorter hospital stays after surgery, and increased immune function. In athletes, high immune function is necessary to ward off illness during training and competition, but much research has shown that athletes tend to have lowered immune function. Therefore, writing about traumatic events may be a way for athletes to remain healthy during their seasons. To test this hypothesis, 21 varsity athletes and 15 individuals who exercised less than three hours per week participated in the …

Divergent Effect Of Social Cohesion On Economic Growth In East Asia And Latin America, Horacio Diaz Adda

Honors Theses

In this paper I explore the link between social cohesion and economic growth in Latin America and East Asia. Unlike previous studies, I allow for different slope parameters for the different regions. Using ethno linguistic fractionalization as a proxy, I find that social cohesion has not played an important role in determining growth outcomes in Latin America. While social cohesion has not had a direct effect on growth nor institutions in Latin America, it helps explain a large degree of the growth differentials among Asian countries. Social cohesion mostly impacts growth through its effect on institutional quality. However, these results …

Why Most Mergers Fail: An Emphasis On The Human Factors, Kimberly Defouw

Honors Theses

Recent studies have shown that 60-80% of all mergers are failures when measured by their ability to outperform the stock market or to deliver profit increases. Mergers must create value and grow the business to have true success. Often mergers fail due to financial and market factors, such as a poor economy, market entry timing, unrealized synergies, or a saturated market. It is easy to overlook the human factors, the characteristics of people that need to be considered when implementing mergers in order for people to interact effectively. While a CEO may be the first to say that people are …

A Study Of The Impact Of Adult Day Care Centers On The Caregivers Of Clients With Dementia, Abby L. Olsen

Honors Theses

The purpose of this descriptive study was to evaluate the impact of adult day care centers (ADC) on the perceived stress of the caregivers of loved ones with dementia and on their perceptions of their loved one's level of functioning or quality of life. Five caregivers whom had a loved one attending the same ADC were interviewed to obtain qualitative data concerning their perceptions about ADC utilization. Two assessment tools, the Caregiver Strain Index and the QA Study Assessment Tool were also used to determine quantitatively the impact of adult day care attendance on caregiver stress. The results suggested that …

Word Oper Findan : Seamus Heaney And The Translation Of Beowulf, Jack Harding Bell

Honors Theses

In 2000, Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney published a new translation of the early medieval epic, Beowulf The work was subsequently lauded as a masterpiece. Despite this ensuing surge of interest in Heaney's translation, very few scholars have undertaken the task of a critical analysis of the translation and none have assumed the task of a comparative analysis between the original text and Heaney's version. Most, it seems, have assumed that Heaney's translation is a faithful rendition of the original, and with good reason. Heaney maintains fidelity to the structure, stylistics, and meter of the original, as well as to its …

Framing Femininity: Media Coverage Of A Tennessee Mayoral Campaign, Katie Broderick

Honors Theses

In recent years, more women have emerged from both major parties and across all regions and disciplines to make their voices heard in the political arena. Slowly, the number of women in Senate seats and governor's mansions has inched higher, and there is a strong possibility that we will have a female presidential candidate in the next election. In 2007, 87 women are serving in the United States Congress. They hold 16, or 16%, of the 100 Senate seats, and 71, or 16.4%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. In state positions, percentages are slightly higher: in …

Marginalized Literature In The English Classroom Working With Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel And Dimed, Noelle Carpenter

Honors Theses

Literature in the English classroom should give students the opportunity to explore the voices of a diverse range of people, especially in a school system that is becoming increasingly diverse itself. By exposing students to literature that engages them in important social issues, students become aware of a world beyond their own. Marginalized literature shows students different perspectives that exist in the world in which they live. Ehrenreich's autoethnography Nickel and Dimed is a window into the lives of the working poor based on her own personal experiences and research during a time when the views surrounding those in poverty …

Rawls And Health Care, Elizabeth H. Coogan

Honors Theses

John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice (1971), his first major work articulating his theory of justice as fairness, was immediately recognized as a fundamental contribution to political philosophy in the twentieth century. Working within the tradition established by previous philosophers such as Kant and Locke, Rawls employed the contract theory approach. Taking it to a higher order of abstraction, he sought to determine not what the structure of social organization would be, but what the principles which governed social institutions would be under a hypothetical contracting situation. Rawls uses this contract theory approach to construct a society in which the …

Anhedonia And Depression: Anticipatory, Consummatory, And Recall Deficits, Kaitlin Hanley

Honors Theses

Current conceptions of anhedonia as a key symptom of depression do not consider the importance of anticipatory, consummatory, and recall deficits involved in anhedonia. Sixty-one depressed and non-depressed, college-student participants provided reports of anticipated pleasure to tasting chocolates, tasted chocolates and rated their experience of pleasure, and provided recalled reports of pleasure to the experience one day later. Results demonstrated a deficit in the ability to anticipate experiencing pleasure for depressed participants when compared to non-depressed controls, however, their reports of consummatory pleasure and recalled pleasure did not differ significantly from non-depressed control participants. This study suggests that actual experiential …

Agent Of Change: Trickster In Ojibwa Oral Narratives And In The Works Of Louise Erdrich, Patrick B. Benton

Honors Theses

Change is not only a theme of Louise Erdrich’s work, but the paramount theme. Critic John Purdy concurs, writing that “the characters who people her pages are immensely recognizable to an audience comprised of many cultures: they exhibit all the frailties and strengths, the failures and triumphs one would expect for humans who face what we all – as individuals, as cultures, and as species – must face: change” (Purdy, 8). What is this change, though? And, who is the agent of this change? Casual readers of Louise Erdrich’s works may not be aware that her characters are informed by …

Collective Moral Responsibility, Allyson Rudolph

Honors Theses

What is collective moral responsibility? And why should you care? The answer to the former, like any good philosophical question, is largely unresolved. Although writing on collective responsibility has flourished, particularly in the wake of the Holocaust, and despite the existence of an increasingly consistent bibliography of essential writings in the field, there is no definitive authority on the subject. Unlike individual moral responsibility, however, there is little consensus among the ranks. Many theories disclaim the existence or the possibility of collective moral responsibility—a group is just not the sort of thing that can ever be considered a morally responsible …

Dialectics Of Diaspora Space: A Study Of Contemporary, Diasporic, South Asian Fiction, Christopher A. Zajchowski

Honors Theses

In light of these continuing debates concerning immigration, national identity and belonging, re-examinations of immigrant and ethnic communities, often referred to as ‘diaspora,’ have become increasingly popular and prudent. Khachig Tololian, editor of Diaspora magazine, calls diaspora “exemplary communities of the transnational moment.”5 In an increasingly globalized world, where labor, capital, and resources are passed fluidly from continent to continent, diaspora are created by relocation or displacement of immigrant workers and their descendents.6 For these unskilled, immigrant laborers, middle class immigrants, and the children of both groups, adaptation to the culture, society, and life in a new ‘host’ country can …

Gendered Struggle For The Freedom From Violence Using Frantz Fanon’S Theory In Three Postcolonial Novels: Albert Wendt’S Pouliuli, Tsitsi Dangarembga’S Nervous Conditions, And Edwidge Danticat’S Breath, Eyes, Memory, Robin M. Respaut

Honors Theses

While studying abroad in New Zealand last year, I became intrigued by Albert Wendt’s novel Pouliuli, because it was my first literary view into Pacific Island culture. My interest in the novel was part of my awakening to the particular damage done by the west in Oceania. By attending classes on the anthropology and sociology of postcolonial Pacific societies, I discovered how the west had acted in the region to encourage progressive technology in ways that handled native traditional culture with unconscious disrespect. I was stunned to learn that Oceania is the most aided region in the world today, surpassing …

In Any Weather : A Collection Of Short Stories, Stephen J. Plocher

Honors Theses

Short Stories

The Effects Of Stereotype Activation On Women's Reactions To Leadership Situations, Or, How Reading Cosmo Might Prevent You From Becoming Ceo, Stefanie L. Simon

Honors Theses

The present experimental study investigated the effect of stereotype activation on women's responses to a leadership situation. Participants were exposed to either gender-stereotypic or gender-counterstereotypic magazine advertisements picturing women and then performed a leadership task involving two confederate s. Results supported the prediction that participants exposed to stereotypic advertisements would exhibit more negative reactions to the leadership situation than those exposed to counterstereotypic advertisements such that they reported lower perceived performance, self-esteem, and well-being. Sex-role orientation moderated this effect such that' advertisements had a stronger effect on feminine-oriented participants' domain identification, intent to lead in the future, and experienced cognitive …

Refiguring History : The Works Of Faith Ringgold And Kara Walker, Amy Bradshaw

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I seek to investigate various elements that the works of Faith

Ringgo ld (b 1930) and Kara Walker (b 1969) have in common as well as explore the

differences. My method is to begin with an examination of the work of Ringgold on its

own and follow with an analy sis of the work of Walker. While dealing with Walker, I

continue an examination of Ringgold so that the work of both artist s and the connections

and differences between the two become clearer.

Self-Management: Saving One Western Student At A Time, Courtney L. Fox

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

The War On Inequality : Subtleties In The Perceptions Of Women Leaders, Adrienne Supino

Honors Theses

We studied whether the incongruity between the female gender role and stereotypically masculine leadership roles can lead people, particularly men and sex-typed individuals, to negatively perceive women in this type of leadership role. A study was designed to investigate whether the gender of a potential appointee to the historically masculine leadership role of Secretary of Defense, in either a time of peace or terror, affected people's perceptions of this person. Fifty-three participants read one of four articles containing biographical information about either a male or female candidate for the post, in either a peace context or a terror context. We …

The Rise And Fall Of America's Education President : George W. Bush's Political Leadership And The Passage Of The No Child Left Behind Act, Ethan L. Mcwilliams

Honors Theses

On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush proudly signed the "No Child Left Behind Act," thus ensuring that H.R. 1 became Public Law 107-110. During the signing ceremony, the President triumphantly proclaimed that, "as of this hour, America's schools will be on a new path of reform, and a new path of results."1 The legislation, which totaled more than six hundred pages, was intended to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and expand its aim according to four central principles: accountability for results; state and local flexibility; focusing resources on successful methods; and expanding choice? Although substantively notable …

Art And Persuasion: A Communication Study Of Contemporary Documentary Film, Lauren Elizabeth Freeman

Honors Theses

The focus of this study is defining and determining the area of communication in contemporary documentary films. In examining the structure and aesthetic composition of documentary film, this study will compare the film genre to the areas of journalism. persuasion and propaganda through secondary and primary research defining the elements that constitute these specific areas of communication. Secondary research involved text, newspaper articles, online journals and websites, and the viewing of documentary film. The primary research was conducted through personal interviews with documentary filmmakers. Research findings resulted in a wide range of views on the definition and uses for documentary …

The Revenge Of The Past: Ethnic Nationalism, Soviet Nationalities Policies, And The Collapse Of The Ussr, Steven Montgomery Wheat

Honors Theses

The Soviet Union was a vast empire that included scores of ethnic minority groups, From its earliest days, the Soviet government was compelled to find creative ways to address the concerns of these various groups while remaining true to its ideological rhetoric. This paper outlines many of the governmental programs that aimed to appease minority groups through cultural, linguistic, and in some cases, administrative autonomy. The numerous instances in Soviet history during which these privileges were curtailed are also included. In sum, this paper presents a chronological review of the various, often contradictory, nationalities policies adopted in the Soviet Union …

The Limits Of Laïcité: Islam And The Headscarf Issue In France, Lindsay Blaire Beeman

Honors Theses

Laicite is the term given to France’s complex policy of separation between church and state. Developing out of a long and tumultuous religious history, laicite set out to resolve the problems that the French state had with religion by eliminating its presence in the public sphere. At its inception, the policy did not have clearly stated objectives. As a result, it was not equally applied and many problems ensued. The most recent debacle involving the application of laicite was Vaffaire dii foulard, or headscarf affair. Citing the principle of laicite, numerous teachers and principals in French schools required Muslim students …

Environment, Behavior, And Internal Consciousness: A Study Of Space And Time In Dostoevsky, Laura Claire Bagwell

Honors Theses

Individual and public space creates the reality of daily existence for a human being. The ideological perspectives a person maintains are direct products of individual space experience because the larger societal context of a region constructs the norms for behavior and belief Dostoevsky writes concentration narratives that focus on the urban and rural space surrounding a protagonist, and contrasts between these two settings to illustrate the impact of environment on the human psyche. This study examines the use of external conditions to describe literary characters and the ideologies and behaviors they maintain. In researching space and time in the literature …

The Absence Of Financial Feminism, Blythe Leigh Keenum

Honors Theses

This thesis describes alumni donor behaviors for University of Mississippi double-alumni married couples and analyzes those behaviors through the lens of gender. I used data from the University of Mississippi Foundation databases. A subsequent review of scholarly literature dealing with gender and philanthropy gave additional context for analyzing results. These analyses showed a considerable tendency for UM double-alumni households to favor males’ schools across multiple variables and the presence of household bargaining is strongly indicated.

Out Of The Agrarian Closet: Rereading The Velvet Horn By Its Queer Currents, Jacob W. Brasher

Honors Theses

Jacob W. Brasher: Out of the Agrarian Closet: Rereading The Velvet Horn by its Queer Currents This thesis begins with an analysis of Agrarianism and its effects upon the popularity of a Southern writer, Andrew Nelson Lytle, and his crowning work. The Velvet Horn. Agrarianism was introduced to society in 1930 through the volume. I'll Take Mv Stand, to which Lytle contributed an essay, “The Hind Tit,” and was immediately and summarily rejected as a viable economical philosophy for the South. The thesis concludes that Agrarianism's unpopularity combined with Lytle's devotion to it throughout his life ultimately damaged his popularity …

Influence Of Carrageenan-Induced Nociception On Separation-Induced Distress Vocalizations And Hyperthermia In Domestic Fowl Chicks, Erin Kathleen Johnson

Honors Theses

While there is extensive research on the effects of stress on pain perception, very few studies have been conducted on how vary ing pain intensities affect stress levels. This study was conducted to simulate this relationship by using carrageenan-induced inflammatory nociception to quantify its effect on the stress measures of social separation stress devocaJizations (dVocs) and body temperature in 6-7 day old domestic fowl chicks. Nociception was induced 2 hours prior to the stress test, via intraplantar injection of carrageenan at either 0 %, 0.125%, 0.25%, or 0.5%, and was measured directly after the stress test by both foot withdrawal …

Mexico's Cult Of Death: An Analysis Of The Days Of The Dead And Its Literary And Artistic Counterparts, Samantha Kay Pettit

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the Mexican celebration known as Days of the Dead and some of the literary and artistic efforts based on it. Research was conducted during a four-month study abroad program in Queretaro, Mexico, during the fall of 2006 and during the spring semester of 2007 through the completion of an independent research course under the direction of Dr. Melvin Arrington. An investigation of Aztec and pre- Hispanic ideologies was conducted, and an analysis of the celebration’s transformation since the Spanish Conquest through modem times was undertaken, including a consideration of the resultant syncretism between pre-Hispanic religion and Catholicism. …