Digital Commons Network^™

Marketing Research For Western's Panhellenic Council, Julia Renee Williams

Honors Theses

The Greek system began at Western Michigan University in 1916 with debate societies. These organizations were recognized as national organizations in the 1950s. In recent years, the Greek system at Western Michigan University has seen a decline in its membership, as well as in the number of students participating in the recruitment process. In 1997 there were 28 social Greek organizations, but as of spring 2005, there are 23. With interest diminishing, a marketing research project was conducted to determine why people are no longer interested in women's fraternities and what might draw people to them. A series of 70 …

Young Singles: A Look At The Grocery Shopping Preferences Of A Unique And Underestimated Market, Survey & Analysis, Kelley Steinhofer

Honors Theses

Single person households make up a substantial percentage of the total U.S population. More than 102 million people aged 15 and over were not married in 2003. On a household basis, 48.5% of U.S. households were not headed by married couples. Some of these households are "nonfamily" which excludes single parent households according to U.S. Census Bureau definitions. Most studies that examine a specific demographic group have focused on households with children and mature consumers because their purchasing behaviors are highly predictable and easily obtainable. Very little research currently exists on the market of young, single adult consumers. This study …

Changes In Nursing Student Attitudes Toward Mental Illness, Jared Rogge

Honors Theses

People who suffer from mental illness comprise a highly vulnerable population, and encounter adversity from two directions. Not only do they have to contend with their illness and the management of its symptoms, but they also have to brace themselves against the societal backlash and devaluation produced by the stigma that accompanies mental illness. Stigmatization can drastically alter the life chances of individuals with mental illness and have negative outcomes in regards to employment, income (Markowitz, 1998), social integration(Chan, 2004), self esteem(Blankertz, 2001), health care, insurance, and access to justice (Sayce, 1998.)

American Prisoners Of War In Vietnam Tell Their Stories, Ryan Frost

Honors Theses

This paper seeks to examine the experiences of Vietnam POWs, both those held in thejungles of South Vietnam and those in the Hanoi prison camps of North Vietnam based on POW narratives consisting of memoirs, autobiographies, and interviews. Early POW history depicts great differences between the two groups of POWs, giving the impression that Pilot POWS, who comprised the majority of prisoners in Hanoi camps, acted more honorably while interned in comparison to enlisted army POWS, who spent the majority of their captivity in the jungles of South Vietnam. This paper demonstrates the similarities in their experiences through these narrative …

From Opposing Sides : The Duality Of Citizens' And Their Government's Views On Town Squares, Zachary Powell

Honors Theses

The purpose of my paper is to explore how the State's and the people's views concerning town squares come together. I will focus mainly on the duality between these two views: one the one hand, the State uses these spaces to display its power and for physical security. On the other side, the populace sees these spaces as theirs, as central to their community as citizens. Furthermore, they see it as a place to confront their government. Where else would be better than the place where the government seems to take on physical form?

I will explore this duality in …

A Comparison In Osteological Measurements Of Two Populations From East Tennessee, Corrine Vitek

Honors Theses

Forensic anthropology is the identification of skeletal remams in medicolegal death investigations. The foundation of forensic anthropology rests on "documented" skeletal collections, which provide a crucial repository of information from which experts can rely upon to make determinations about human skeletal remains. A "documented" skeletal collection is one in which the demographics (e.g., ancestry, sex, age, height) of each individual are supported by known facts about the decedent at the time of his/her death. A quantitative comparison between the Hamilton County Forensic Center's(HCFC) skeletal collection to the William M. Bass collection housed at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK) …

An Analysis Of Service-Learning And Applied Anthropology, Danielle Nordbrock

Honors Theses

People think of others in comparison to themselves, and what they know. Anthropologists study a wide variety of things, this includes all different societies: simple and complex, ancient and modern, and in different locales. The perspective of an anthropologist tends to take on a unique cross-cultural nature, with comparisons oftentimes being central to the research. When anthropologists become engaged in a project and begin their fieldwork they experience a unique sense of understanding from living in such close proximity to another culture.

The Forest Service's Quest For Power And Money: Implications Of A Budget-Maximizing Agency, Allison M. Stewart

Honors Theses

The Forest Service manages land for a diverse array of purposes under the Multiple Use Doctrine. Many of these uses are incompatible and lead to conflict The goal of my research is to explain what guides the Forest Service's management decisions, since this is critical to understanding how conflicts are resolved, .and uncover alternative approaches that better protect the environment.

In this paper, I present a brief history of the Forest Service's management over the past century. Particular attention is given to explaining trends in timber and recreation management. Following the historical presentation, I attempt to identify a set of …

The Continuous Struggle For Representation In The Venezuelan State, Gabriel Reyes

Honors Theses

One definition of democratic participation is a process whereby citizens influence or control those who make major decisions affecting them. Throughout Venezuela’s history, citizens have suffered under governments that aimed to limit their participation in the state. This research argues that the current Chávez regime, though seeking to concentrate power for itself in the executive branch, has also forged a space for democratic participation through its Barrio Adentro program.

In its introductory chapter, this paper examines Venezuela’s political development through a comparative lens and aims to situate Barrio Adentro within the country’s unique history. First, it shows how the political …

Governmental Resistance In International Intellectual Property Rights, Emily Honig

Honors Theses

The field of intellectual property, roughly defined as "a product of the intellect that has commercial value," is one of the growing fields of international legal debate, as the economies of the world become increasingly interconnected and the world's corporations operate overseas with increasing frequency. The literature in the field of international law and intellectual property rights (IPRs) tends to suggest that states, for political or economic reasons, have little choice but to bow to the wishes of multinational corporations (MNCs) and provide increased protection for IPRs. However, there are a number of cases that show that under certain circumstances, …

Collegiate Athletics Recruiting: Marketing A New Game Plan, Emily Douglas Evans

Honors Theses

For my thesis, I took an in-depth look at the collegiate recruiting process, in light of recent scandals and rule changes that, if implemented, could prevent confusion and future scandals. I conducted interviews containing open-ended questions with 18 college coaches, 15 Ole Miss supporters (alumni and non-alumni), and 15 current In addition, a quantitative survey was student-athletes, representing interviewed and student-athletes. given to 80 current Ole Miss both men's and women's sports, surveyed cited gray areas that still exist in NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) rules and gave suggestions for how the recruiting process could be To prevent future scandals, …

Six Middle Americans Respond To Thomas Frank's Question, 'What's The Matter With Kansas?' An Analytical Commentary On Populism And American Political Life, Rebecca Ruth Reyenga

Honors Theses

The American Populist movement of the 1800s, politically represented by the People’s Party, was the largest third party movement in the history of America. It is a movement that many authors have tried to reevaluate to better understand how grassroots movements, like Populism, begin and to discover what the Populist movement brought to the political scene that did not previously exist. In his book, “What’s the Matter With Kansas? How the Conservatives Won the Heart of America,” Thomas Frank analyzes the Populist movement of the late 1800s and compares it to the new populism of today. According to Frank, this …

Picric Acid Degradation In Sterilized Sediments From The Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant, Minden, Louisiana, Stephanie Kimberly Rice

Honors Theses

Picric acid is an explosive historically produced and disposed of at the Louisiana Army Ammunitions Plant (LAAP). The potential for natural degradation was investigated in two studies by creating picric acid slurries with four LAAP samples of sediment of variable composition. While the first study combined the sediment with picric acid without alteration to the sediment, the second study sterilized the sediment before the slurries were created. The purpose of the soil sterilization was to quantify the role of microbes in the degradation process. In the first study, picric acid concentrations decreased 10 to 18% the first day, attributed to …

Freedom Of The Press In A Post-September 11 World: A Global Perspective, Melissa Erin Sindelar

Honors Theses

Since the attack on the United States on September 11, most governments around the world have tried to decrease the likelihood of terrorists attacking their own countries or working within their own countries. Lawmakers have passed new legislation to control citizens’ activities. Many of these laws have tread upon human rights, including the right to a free press, which a majority of countries around the world have constitutionally protected. These new circumstances combined with the lack of respect and protection by police and government officials around the globe have created an unsafe world for journalists. The year 2004 will be …

News Media Consumption And Perceptions Of Poverty Within A Sample At The University Of Mississippi, Erin M. Smith

Honors Theses

The American news media are the cultural shapers of today’s society. Their many stories create a visual sense of reality for the consuming public, and many media critics have begun to call foul for their many misrepresentations of minorities, in particular their over-representation of black poverty. These representations have been shown to have substantial influence on the public’s perception of poverty, which may shape the attitudes and beliefs toward certain policy implementation. To test the validity of such claims, a quantitative instrument was distributed over the course of two days at the University of Mississippi. Also, the survey was designed …

New Methods Of Marketing And Manufacturing For A Startup Optical Internet Retailer, William Sharp Whitaker

Honors Theses

The internet has allowed commerce to become more efficient and more profitable for companies involved in retail. The retail optical industry has failed to capitalize this opportunity and this thesis explains how it can be done. The opportunity to increase profits exists for optical labs in the form of inexpensive Mexican labor. By committing investment into a lab south of the Mexican- American border, business owners have a great deal to gain. This thesis explains how to operate manufacturing in Mexico and how to conduct operations more efficiently than American competitors. By following some industry standards of marketing and evaluating …

Investigation Of Iron (Iii) Desferrioxamine B Oxalate Ligand Exchange By Uv-Vis Spectroscopy: The Next Step In Developing A Quantitative Analytical Method For Measuring Bioavailable Iron In Marine Ecosystems, Ken L. Pitter

Honors Theses

To date there are no analytical techniques designed to exclusively measure bioavailable iron in marine environments. The goal of this research is to develop such a technique by isolating the bioavailable iron using the terrestrial siderophore desferrioxamine B (DFB). This project contained many challenging aspects, but the specific goal of this study was to develop a robust analytical technique for quantification of Fe(III)-DFB complexes at nanomolar concentrations. Past work showed that oxalate (Ox) promotes photodissociation of Fe(III)-DFB to Fe(Il), and we are specifically interested in the mechanism of this process. A model was developed using known thermodynamic constants for Fe(III)-DFB …

Baseball In The Big Easy: An Analysis Of Professional Baseball In New Orleans, Louisiana, Christopher Emile Kieffer

Honors Theses

This paper is an analysis of the relationship between a community and a cultural activity. In this particular case it is about the relationship between New Orleans, Louisiana and its professional baseball teams, the minor league New Orleans Pelicans and New Orleans Zephyrs. The work examines how one can see the changes in the city during the twentieth century by examining the changes that surrounded its baseball teams. It shows that through the lens of baseball, one can examine the evolution of a community. The heart of the thesis is 17 first-hand interview accounts with several former players, fans and …

The Effects Of Physiological Arousal On Measures Of Upper Extremity Position Sense In Healthy Young Adults, Melissa Angelique Parker

Honors Theses

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of physiological arousal on the ability to perceive upper extremity position in healthy young adults. Heart rate measurements and blood pressure measurements were taken at pre-established intervals during data collection. Pre-stressor and post-stressor upper extremity trials were also recorded. Twenty participants, 12 females and 8 males, with a mean age of 22.3 (20 33) years comprised the experimental sample. Participants in the experimental sample underwent a combination of the Stroop color-word task and simple math problems to produce a state of arousal and were pre and post tested for upper …

Engineering Genetic Networks To Measure Real Time Repression By Λ Cro In Vivo, Zachary Louis Leblanc

Honors Theses

The field of systems biology seeks to engineer systems in order to explore specific dynamic properties as they act in vivo. Cellular activities have been proven to be regulated by a range of DNA binding proteins that bind to specific sequences that activate or repress transcription. Certain phage and bacterial repressor proteins were among the first of these DNA binding proteins to be characterized structurally and functionally. The demand for study of key steps in regulation of protein expression, folding, and repression has created multiple studies into systems of varying complexity. The data in this report explores the lambda system, …

Divination: A Collection Of Poetry, Elizabeth Davenport Stephenson

Honors Theses

This collection contains poetry that I have written during the course of my time at the University of Mississippi. Some of these poems in their first stages were part of my beginning and advanced poetry workshop portfolios. Other poems came from ideas scribbled in my poetry journal that I kept while studying abroad in New Zealand. My advisor and I set a goal of four poems a month for the fall 2005 semester, for a total of sixteen poems. The goal was to have perfected twelve poems for the final collection. I considered trying to conform my poems to a …

Mixing The Old With The New: Magazines In The 21st Century, Brandie D. Thomas

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the steps involved in completing a prototype for a 68 page magazine. It also examines the role of the World Wide Web in tlie survival and success of magazines in the coming years. Research concerning the potential audience for the lab-produced magazine, competitors, advertising, and magazine websites was compiled during the preliminary stages of the project and during production of the prototype. This project resulted in the actual production of the magazine prototype for Engage magazine, a science-fiction entertainment publication. The findings of the research conducted were vital in determining the design and content of the magazine. …

Colored Red: A Memoir And Memoriam, Jordan Charles Hooper

Honors Theses

My paternal grandfather, Larry Jean Hooper Sr. (Paw), died suddenly of a heart attack on a warm morning in early November while preparing to meet my father, Dana Hooper, at their small farm a short road trip from home. They had been best friends - together in work and in play - since before I was bom and through all I can remember. Blood flowed from one to the other and the roads flowed beneath both of them, through the marshes and prairies and the hills and mountains, to the top and back again more times than they could remember, …

Ginger: The Making Of A Redhead Magazine, Carlie Jean Kollath

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Corticosterone Response In A Learned Helplessness Model Of Depression, Courtney M. Cartwright

Honors Theses

This purpose of this study was to quantify both behavioral and biological markers of stress (i.e. distress vocalizations, plasma corticosterone) in the chick stress-separation paradigm. In this study, chicks were isolated from companions for either 5,10,15,20,40, or 60 minutes and distress vocalizations were recorded. In addition, one group was tested in the presence of social companions for 60 minutes. Blood was collected from half of the subjects immediately following the testing period and was also collected in a no-test group to establish plasma corticosterone basal levels. Isolation produced a significant elevation in distress vocalizations and corticosterone. The pattern of distress …

Civil War Medicine: Crisis And Heroism In The Medical Profession, 1861 - 1865, Diana Frances Semmes

Honors Theses

This thesis uses a variety of sources to look at the medical profession during the Civil War era. Both primary sources and secondary sources provide information on the perspectives of the key players during the period as well as an understanding of the knowledge present at that time and the methods and practices employed. Most of the research has been done using the J. D. Williams Library on the University of Mississippi main campus though it has been supplemented by books in my own personal collection, items loaned from Dr. Neff’s collection, online resources such as the Library of Congress …

Self-Discovery By Self-Destruction, Raney-Mills Turner

Honors Theses

The following body of thesis is a collection of short stories, poems, and personal essays compiled with visuals of my personal artwork. The prevalent theme throughout the work is self-discovery by self-destruction. It is in itself an ongoing research of reality among college students and must be seen as an artistic exploration. The artwork is that of multimedia in that it consists widely of photography, printmaking, sculpture, charcoal drawing, and ceramics inspired mostly by real emotion and dreams. In piecing the entire thesis as a whole, the following programs were used: Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe InDesign.

Ecotourism In Costa Rica: A Study Of The Viabilities And Impacts Of Three Ecotourism Models, Corey Harmon Rogers

Honors Theses

This paper examines three ecotourism endeavors in Costa Rica in order to answer the following question: can an enterprise fulfill all the definitional requirements for ecotourism and at the same time be both economically and environmentally viable? I first provide a discussion of the origins and conceptual views of ecotourism, then chart the evolution of ecotourism in Costa Rica. Next, three case studies are presented, each representing a different ecotourism model found in the country. Data presented in the case studies were compiled from site-specific primary data sets and interviews, Costa Rican government primary sources, and academic publications. For each …

"I Respectfully Dissent" : Intellectual Leadership In The Nation's Highest Court, Alison M. Smith

Honors Theses

The right of an individual to dissent from the ideas of his or her peers, or even his or her government, has been one of the defining characteristics of American civil society. The United States itself was founded as a result of American colonists' dissenting from the British government, and our Constitution established a governmental system that would not only accommodate, but encourage a process of deliberative democracy in which the views of both the many and the few would be taken into account and considered thoroughly. A system of internal checks and balances between the legislative, judicial and executive …

A Curriculum Plan Based On A Sung Dynasty Landscape Artist's Work And Techniques, Lindsey R. Terbrack

Honors Theses

This paper explores Sung Dynasty landscape paintings with focused attention on the works of Yen Wen-kuei. Comparison to Western art is apparent throughout the paper as an aide in using this information to create a unit of study suitable for high school art. The paper focuses around the context of the time period, materials used, style, presentation, viewer involvement, technique and thought process. The exemplar of Yen Wen-kuei is then dissected to give tangible evidence to the study.