Digital Commons Network^™

Antecedents To Alumni Loyalty, Diana Vasquez

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The World Of Finance In Russia, Matthew Thomas

Honors Theses

Russia is currently in an economic crisis the likes of which the Russian people are unfortunately familiar with in their turbulent past. Economic sanctions, paired with a global downturn in oil prices, have stalled any progress that had been occurring after the 2008 global economic meltdown. The Central Bank of Russia, which was founded after the fall of the USSR in the early 1990s, was quick to respond to the sanctions and domestic economic issues by laying out an Anti-Crisis plan along with the aid of the rest of the government. They raised interest rates to over 20%, passed legislation …

Analysis Of The Foreigner, Hannah Matias

Honors Theses

In my senior year at Western Michigan University, I had the privilege of portraying Catherine Simms of the university’s production of The Foreigner. I was never been more excited to play a role in my entire life. For me, this is where the rubber met the road. I have trained for four years in the acting program and I was more than ready to apply the skills I have attained in this performance. I did extensive bookwork for this character. From doing research, to creating a biography, finding out Catherine’s objectives, and so on, my bookwork is definitely a sight …

Attitudes And Perceptions Towards Men In Nursing: A Replicated Study, Emily Schaffer

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Cultural Appropriation And Fashion: A Line To Clarify The Line, Lauren N. Holloway

Honors Theses

In this creative project, the idea of cultural appropriation in fashion is explored and interpreted into mood boards and garment sketches inspired by different cultures. Cultural appropriation occurs when dominant groups take or “borrow” styles from marginalized groups, who face oppression or have been stigmatized for their cultural practices throughout history. In order to prevent appropriation from happening in fashion, it is important to educate and implement certain business styles in order to stay ethical. Understanding the history of cultural appropriation is important in moving forward and cutting down on the phenomenon in the fashion industry. By looking at examples …

"El Bloqueo" And The Initial Changes To Expect In Cuba Following Its Repeal, Justin B. Asher

Honors Theses

This document seeks the answer to the question, "What will happen when the Embargo in place against Cuba by the U. S. government is lifted?" This question undoubtedly came to the front of many Americans’ minds when President Obama announced on December 17,2014 that the United States and Cuba would begin diplomatic relations by opening embassies in the capital city of one another's state. It uses various sources to define the Cuban Embargo and the events that led to its manifestation, the current state of affairs with Cuba (roughly 2 years after the announcement). While the United States seeks a …

The Educational Experience: Understanding The Voices Of Students With And Without Specific Learning Disorders, Morgan A. Wood

Honors Theses

Elementary school is a pivotal time during a child’s development in cognition, social behaviors and relationships, and development of self. For students who may have significant academic disabilities, resulting in a diagnosis of a Specific Learning Disorder, this time can be more difficult than their “typical” learning peers. Intervention techniques have been developed and implemented; however, academic success is defined as increased standardized test scores. Little research has been done regarding these students’ emotional and social success within their prescribed intervention technique. It is the aim of this study to strive to understand the voices of students with specific learning …

Preserving Life, Identity, And The Human Experience: The Music Of Józef Kropiński In The Nazi Concentration Camps And Its Role In Memorialization, Anndee Harrell

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Socio-Emotional Development In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Christiana K. Whitley

Honors Theses

The purpose of the present study was to determine which lesson from a social skills program would result in the greatest improvement in duration of social interaction for children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) between the ages of five and fifteen. The Superheroes Social Skills Program (Jensen et al., 2011) includes lesson plans that focus directly on helping children with ASD develop communication skills in group settings. The data indicate that one specific lesson, Participation and Joining In, was responsible for the largest mean increase in duration of social interactions of participants. Social skills lessons were introduced …

Fanfiction Communities And Plagiarism: An Academic Inquiry, Claudia I. Hicks

Honors Theses

Fanfiction communities give would-be authors a place to practice their craft. This study focused on how fanfiction community members defined and policed plagiarism. The aim of this study was to conduct qualitative analysis of plagiarism cases in online fanfiction communities. The data sources were analyzed using Grounded Theory. Analysis found that fanfiction communities use certain protocols to police plagiarism except when it violates their highest value, popularity. This study contributes to our understanding of plagiarism in a digital age.

The Impact Of Political Oversight In Democratization: The Cases Of Japan And Bangladesh, Andrea K. Griner

Honors Theses

This study seeks to illustrate the importance of oversight in parliamentary democracies. A case study of Japan and Bangladesh is analyzed with a focus on legislative oversight. Results stress the importance of stable institutions and executives, and incentives for parties to consolidate.

Bodies Unbroken: Disability In Indra Sinha's Animal's People And Katherine Dunn's Geek Love, Hannah C. Baker

Honors Theses

This project explored the representation of physical disability in modern fiction with the hope to prove that disabled characters are receiving more complex and complete treatment in fiction as a reflection of social change, progress that is also supported by the growing field of disability scholarship. I will explore how two contemporary novels depart from older conventions of representing the disabled as static symbols of good or evil or as broken persons who need to be fixed. Scholars in both English and Disability Studies have commented on these problems, and their insights informed my argument.

Furthermore, I will explore the …

Women In Gaming: A Study Of Female Players’ Experiences In Online Fps Games, M Allison Mcdaniel

Honors Theses

Existing literature has long been divided over whether the gaming world fosters violence and misogyny or provides a space for people to explore diverse identities. Not enough is known about how women experience videogames, especially the hypermasculine environment of first-person shooter (FPS) games. Competition, violence, and war, are dominant features of these games. The following thesis explores what harassment and discrimination women playing FPS games face, how they respond, and in what ways they find games to be empowering. A survey was distributed online to an international sample of 141 female FPS gamers. This research finds that women who play …

Private Vs. Public Healthcare In South Africa, Montgomery Young

Honors Theses

This paper explores the South African healthcare system in regards to the gap between the private and public healthcare sectors. Public healthcare is government funded and offered to all citizens of South Africa, but there are many disadvantages such as long wait times, rushed appointments, old facilities, and poor disease control and prevention practices. Citizens can opt to purchase private insurance in order to be treated at private hospitals and health clinics. The private healthcare sector has many perks that set it apart from public healthcare, such as short wait times, appointments are not rushed, better facilities, and proper disease …

(Mis)Representation By Bravo: Maintaining/Countering Stereotypes Of Black Women On Reality Television, Michelle Mayfield

Honors Theses

This honors thesis investigates the use of stereotypes used to portray Black women on reality television.  Focusing on Bravo’s Blood Sweat and Heels, this project utilizes an Afrosemiotic framework, which is a combination of Afrocentricity and Semiotics.  Afrocentricity focuses on the agency and consciousness of Africans and African Americans.  Semiotics focuses on the study of signs and the explicit and implicit markers of these signs.  The first season’s narrative focuses on the positive lives of single, successful Black women but shifts to mainly negative portrayals inspired by Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise.  This project focuses on stereotypes associated with Black …

Clearing Up Calculus With Adaptive Learning Habits, Jennifer Patterson

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Diagnostic Practices Of Autism Spectrum Disorders In Brazil, Ana Claudia Vesper Manier Dias

Honors Theses

In Brazil, in spite of over half a million students with special needs in primary education, little research has been conducted about ASD diagnostic practices. This involves learning about the training that professionals are receiving, what diagnostic practices are being implemented on the field, and whether those are being contextualized according to the Brazilian culture. Students with special needs are directly affected by the results of diagnostic practices, since identifying the individuals is one of the first steps. Lack of understanding about that stage may lead to the problematic realities of underidentification or overidentification, exclusion of children who should receive …

"Make Margaret Atwood Fiction Again": Burke's Perspective By Incongruity And The Shifting Image Of The Handmaid, Morgan Hydrick

Honors Theses

Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale has been a source of inspiration and warning for readers since the 1980s. However, the novel itself never garnered the kind of attention Bruce Miller's Hulu adaptation has. In response to the show's timing with the current political climate, there are women dressing up as oppressed handmaids and lining the front steps of capitol buildings, filling rows during legislative sessions, and standing in silence in front of the White House in response. By using Kenneth Burke's theories regarding juxtaposition, irony, the grotesque, and comic correctives, I explore how the novel, the television show, and …

Was 2015 The Summer Of The Shark? Evidence From The Coastal Carolina University Shark Project, Brooke Anderson

Honors Theses

Winyah Bay is a 65-km2 estuary in northeast South Carolina and is considered essential habitat and nursery ground for several shark species of the western North Atlantic. As a result of a number of shark bites/attacks during the summer of 2015, many concluded there was higher abundance of sharks than in previous years. The objective of this study was to test this hypothesis using surveys of shark populations from Winyah Bay in the summer of 2015, and comparing the diversity and abundance of sharks from this survey to those of previous years from the same survey. From July to August …

Managing A Crisis: Should America Continue To Encourage Its Youth To Participate In Football Given Recent Findings On Player Safety And Concussions, Brock Matava

Honors Theses

In recent years, more light has been shed on player safety issues when it comes to youth sports, football especially. The major emphasis of concern is on reducing concussion rates among our youth and an exposure to the potentially lifelong disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Financially however, the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of football anywhere in the world, is healthier than it has ever been. If the NFL wants to stay on the fast-track it currently enjoys, concussions and player safety are two issues that it will undoubtedly be under pressure to face. The pros and cons …

The Canine Genome: Discoveries, Applications, And Future Potential, Rachael Lander

Honors Theses

A frequent question that educators often encounter is: what is the value of learning? Does knowledge have an inherent value, or should there be an economic benefit? The results of the collaborative efforts to determine the nucleotide sequence of the canine genome were used as a platform to assess these thesis statements. A literature review, practical experience in the laboratory, and interviews with several genome scientists of the contributions of the efforts to determine the genome sequence of the domestic dog, and the biomedical contributions that have been made to both canine and human health demonstrate the inherent value of …

A Comparative Environmental History Of America And China: "Nature" And Climate Change, Elaine Lac

Honors Theses

Environmental history is at the most basic level an exploration of changing relationships between people and the environment or nature. Additionally, environmental history observes the human reshaping of nature, which then translates into culture, philosophies, and policies, and vice versa. A close examination of the ecological themes of history uncovers patterns and long-term changes. According to environmental historian Louis S. Warren, "At the beginning of the twenty-first century, as concerns about global warming and other ominous threats trouble many, the discipline of environmental history provides key insights into environmental relations and problems of the past." Ultimately, these insights can lead …

How To Save A Life: The Effect Of Message Format And Strength On Persuasiveness In Public Safety Messages, Katherine A. Lauber

Honors Theses

Public Safety messages aim to get important messages out to the general public. This study seeks to examine how message format and content are interconnected and the role they play within persuasion. The study is a 2x2 design, with the tested variables being central message versus peripheral message and text format versus video format. Participants will self-report interest level in the topic of toxins in household products before viewing a message on the topic, then self-report after. Results concluded that those with high initial interest were less persuaded than those with low initial interest, but central cues were more persuasive …

Radical Feminism As Social Arrest: A Kinetic Analysis, Audrey Mcandrew Love

Honors Theses

In my study of radical feminism as social arrest, I apply a kinetic understanding of social struggle to the tactics and objectives of radical feminist organizing in the United States in the 1960's and 1970's. I observe that the radical feminists of the 1960's and 1970's sought to effect women's transition from self-objectification to active subjecthood via various forms of consciousness-raising. This alteration in subjecthood provided the platform upon which radical feminists sought to arrest the operation of patriarchal power in the context of everyday life, be it through spectacle, challenging social roles, or establishing separatist communities.

A Noble Dream: The Inter-American Studies Program At Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (1958-1985), Colin T. White

Honors Theses

This essay explores the rise and fall of the Inter-American studies program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The Inter-American Studies Program attempted to bridge two distinctive bodies of academic literature when Dr. Albert Bork first envisioned it. Unlike other programs founded in the 1950s, SIU’s Inter-American Studies program was an academic experiment challenging that emerging trend. Regardless of its failure, the program’s original idea was innovative.

Material Selection Analysis For The Development Of An Integrated Surface Vehicle System, Austin Pavlak

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Emotional Resistance In Kim Addonizio's "Jimmy & Rita": Representing The Negative Effects Of Baby-Boomer Values On Generation X, Raquel G. Olive

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Pablo Escobar: Drug Lord As Heroic Archetype, Adem Ahmed

Honors Theses

On December 1, 1949, an influential figure in Colombian history, Pablo Escobar, was born. In his relatively short life he would accrue so much money that he would begin to burn it, struggling to find secure areas to bury it. He would also come to wield an incredible amount of power over the Colombian government and legislature, creating his own prison, practically destroying any credibility in the Medellín police force, and striking several deals for reduced sentences. How is it that the most wanted man in the world, head of the Colombian drug cartel¿who utilized kidnapping, fear, bribery, torture, death, …

Eco-Spirituality: Case Studies On Hinduism And Environmentalism In Contemporary India, Vikram Vishnu Shenoy

Honors Theses

India, with its population of 1.3 billion people, is one of the world's fastest growing countries both in terms of population and economy. One consequence of such rapid growth is that India now has levels of environmental pollution that are unprecedented in scale. Hinduism, India's majority religion, is the primary focus of this research. Hinduism is a religious tradition whose roots lie in the ancient Sanskrit Vedas. The Vedas, along with the Upanishads and Puranas, hold teachings of nurturing, caring, and protecting all aspects of the natural world. The cultural dynamics of India have drastically changed over the past two …

Do Proterozoic Metamorphic Rocks In Northern New Mexico Record One Metamorphic Event At 1.4 Ga, Or Two Overprinting Events At 1.65 Ga And 1.4 Ga, Sara Vivienne Stotter

Honors Theses

In-situ LA-ICPMS U-Pb monazite geochronology was used to determine the timing of regional metamorphism in the Picuris Mountains and northern Taos range, New Mexico. Monazite ages from aluminous quartzite and sillimanite-kspar bearing gneisses in Cedro Canyon, northern Taos Range, yield intercept ages of ca. 1380 Ma. Subhedral to anhedral monazite range in size between 10 µm and 50 µm, are typically aligned parallel/sub-parallel to the foliation, and generally occur along mineral grain boundaries; a few grains occur as inclusions within Fe-Ti oxides. Backscatter electron imaging revealed zoning in several monazite grains, but little to no compositional zoning is exhibited in …