Digital Commons Network^™

Locating Postmodern Epistemology, Organizational Structure And Postcolonial Workers In The Knowledge Rhizome, Viren Mascarenhas

Honors Theses

The three excerpts from Amitav Ghosh's novels find the main characters speculating about the relationship between organizational structures, epistemology and knowledge production. In the first excerpt, Arjun tells Dinu that he does not believe that the colonial bureaucracy known as the British Anny will continue to exist if the policy of separating Indian and British officers persists. Anticipating the problems created from Indians holding leadership positions, he doubts that the British Anny "can go on." Murugan explains how the counter-scientists operate in the second excerpt, noting that members were revising epistemology by distorting knowledge through mutation. They were not following …

The Gray Ghost's Sanctuary: Civilians In Mosby's Confederacy During The Civil War, James J. Cain

Honors Theses

This work examines why civilians in Mosby's Confederacy supported the 43^d Battalion of Virginia Cavalry. The tactics used by Mosby placed civilians at considerable risk with Union authorities, for his men did not live in a separate camp but stayed either in hideaways in the mountains or, more commonly, with families they knew in the area. The nature of the guerrilla warfare practiced by Mosby's men, which involved late night gatherings, lightning strikes on the enemy's weakest points, and then dispersal into the countryside until the next raid, frustrated the Federal commanders who fought against them. These commanders, however, …

Escaping The Auction Block And Rejecting The Pedestal Of Virtue : Slave Narratives Redefine Womanhood In Nineteenth-Century America, Candice E. Renka

Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is not, as Carby states, to "establish the existence of an American sisterhood between black and white women," an overly optimistic effort, of which Carby is rightfully wary. Rather, this understanding of womanhood as an ideology existing concordantly with slavery, reveals the limits of personhood as it was defined for women in antebellum America. Although the dominant paradigm of womanhood did not articulate White as a race, it was acutely aware of "whiteness ... as a racial categorization" in opposition to Blackness (Carby 18). Similarly, Black women were reconstructing womanhood, creating a model that empowered …

Non-Classical Level Control Of The Utc Distillation Column, Mevan Ranasinghe

Honors Theses

This paper researches the enhancement of accuracy for level control for an operational distillation column. This was achieved through an analysis of both controller and sensor components. The UTC distillation column reboiler level control, like any control system, has multiple sources of error resulting in increased imprecision and inaccuracy. Several fundamental inaccuracies in processing of data were identified and then minimized by the introduction of a non-linear mathematical model prior to any actual controller development. This provides more accurate level measurement and a base for developing accurate controllers.In exploring the effectiveness of alternative controllers, two non-classical controllers are considered in …

Rethinking The Great Divide : A Rhetorical Study Of Orality, Literacy And The Human Experience, Danielle L. Joyce

Honors Theses

Our technologizing of the world has not only drastically been changing the way we live, work, and play but also the rhetoric that we employ within it to communicate with one another. "Cyberspace" and "virtual reality" have become commonplace descriptors of social forms where people do not have to live, meet, or work face-to-face in order to develop or maintain significant social relationships (Gackenbach, 227). We no longer only meet "in person" for important discussions or send hand written letters to loved-ones for reception weeks later. Instead, today, we talk into cameras attached to telephones to close multi-million dollar business …

Self-Similarity In Network Traffic, Francisco Chinchilla

Honors Theses

It is critical to properly understand the nature of network traffic in order to effectively design models describing network behavior. These models are usually used to simulate network traffic, which in turn are used to construct congestion control techniques, perform capacity planning studies, and/or evaluate the behavior of new protocols. Using the wrong models could lead to potentially serious problems such as delayed packet transmissions or an increase in packet drop rates.

Traditionally, packet arrivals were assumed to follow a Poisson arrival process. Although Poisson processes have several properties that make them easy to work with, they do not accurately …

Western Michigan University Occupational Therapy Department Web Page, Holly Pietrzak, Melissa Byrne

Honors Theses

Website designed for WMU's Occupational Therapy department.

Rape Myths Among A Sample Of Utc Students, Nicolette Mendenhall

Honors Theses

Rape has a tremendous impact upon victims. The victim has to come to terms with the reality that she was raped,as well as face the new perceptions that other people will have about her. These perceptions will be a result of conceptions about rape that are not realistic. These unrealistic beliefs are called 'rape myths.' There has been much research on rape myths for the following reasons: they may upset the victim, they provide justification for rapists to rape someone, and they may affect a woman's behavior because she may avoid activities she believes will lead her to be raped. …

Girls In Motion: World War I As A Catalyst For Change In The Cultural And Fictive Landscape Of American Girlhood, Emily Honey

Honors Theses

The girls' series fiction of the First World War is particularly adept at portraying both the service of women and their idealization, simultaneously encouraging young women to go out into the workforce in the name of patriotism and discouraging them from giving up their roles as the traditional caretakers of men.

Elementary History Education And Children's Perceptions Of Time, Christine M. Mccreedy

Honors Theses

When I was in upper elementary school, social studies, history in particular, was often nothing more than reading a text to imprint for a short period of time the "facts" of history. I read books through most of the instruction. I read so many wonderful works of historical fiction, the Holocaust and the Civil War being among the most interesting subjects. Through excellent and not-so-good works of historical fiction, I saw history unfolding in the present, not just the past. The characters gave faces, stories, and meaning to the text we used in class. I grew up with a strong …

Modeling A Real-Time Economics Simulation With User-Coded Agents In An Object-Oriented Database, Kevin Simons

Honors Theses

A simulation tbat models the stock market with real-time stock quotes was created. Users can translate their own theories about investing into Java code, which is then used to create an intelligent agent. The agent is inserted into the simulation, which allows the agent to gather data from the model. Based on this data, the agent uses the algorithm the user wrote to buy and sell stocks. Such as model provides a means of testing investment theories before investing.

Above And Beyond The Rim: An Examination Of Customer Discrimination In The National Basketball Association, Carl E. Tugberk

Honors Theses

I present a study of customer discrimination in the NBA by examining total annual attendance for all 29 teams for the five-season period from 1996 to 2001. Several previous studies have been conducted on this issue and seldom have found evidence of discrimination by measuring the racial composition of a team as the percentage of _white players on the roster. However, using this measure and several alternative measures of racial composition, I find that fans do discriminate against black players, and this discrimination occurs in a variety of ways. Specifically, spectators alter their decisions to attend games based on the …

Attributes Of A Successful Confederacy: A Comparative Analysis Of The Political Institutions Of The Articles Of Confederation And The European Union, Kim Victor

Honors Theses

Following the devastation and instability in Europe in the aftermath of World War II, six of the continent's nations entered into the European Coal and Steel Community. The agreement to enter this organization provided the impetus for the modern day European Union (EU)I. Although its relatively short history may not be sufficient to consider the relationship perpetual, the European Union shows promise of continual integration. While these two political systems are fundamentally different in a number of respects, the basic structure of each organization be categorized as a confederacy. Using the notion of a confederacy as a point of comparison, …

Soviet History Reconsidered: The Reform Of Undergraduate History Teaching In Contemporary Russian Universities, Amy Hirschauer

Honors Theses

In my discussion, I will compare how the two universities have dealt with pressing social, financial and economic concerns. This will demonstrate not only the differences in how universities in Russia are dealing with these concerns, but also how a major university with a great deal of prestige in a large, cosmopolitan city can have much more trouble dealing with interpersonal political conflict than a smaller university in the interior, despite the fact that it receives substantially more financial support from the central government. This comparison provides a context for understanding the challenges present in teaching history, and shows how …

Collective Memory Of Vichy : Moulin, Pétain, And The Vél' D'Hiv', Kathryn W. Bondy

Honors Theses

Following World War II, European countries that had been devastated by the war slowly began the task of rebuilding. This reconstruction did not only involve the restoration of buildings and governments, but also of national psyches, as most European nations had recently experienced a traumatic period in their history. France was no exception. Since the liberation of Paris in August of 1944, France had been attempting to regain a sense of normality that it had not had under the World War II government of Vichy. As a result of signing an armistice with Germany on June 22, 1940, France was …

Investigations Of Intramolecular Copper (I)-Arene Interactions Using A Ns2-Macrocyclic Ligand With Different Pendant Aryl Arms, Paul J. Lee

Honors Theses

Two macrocyclic ligands with a pendant phenyl group -N-[2-(l-phenyl)ethyl]-1-aza-4,8di thiacyclodecane (L1) and N-[2-0-phenyl)propyl]-1-aza-4,8-dithiacyclodecane, (L2) has been synthesized and characterized. The copper(I)-triphenylphosphine complex [LICu(PPhJ)]OTf , (2) was synthesized from L1 1/2(C6H6)[CuOTf]2, and PPh3. The complexes [LICu]OTf 1 and [L2Cu]OTf 3 were also synthesized and characterized using DC and IH NMR, UV-vis and lR spectroscopy, and ESI-MS. In CD2Cl2, 1 was found to have a fluxional behavior with the barrier ΔG to the process estimated at 9-11 kcal/mol. Variable temp. NMR spectroscopy of 1 gave compelling evidence that the phenylappended group is bound in an intramolecullar η2-fashion with the copper center. At …

Time Of Pachakutik: An Examination Of The Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement, Eliza Cooke Kittredge

Honors Theses

The Ecuadorian indigenous movement has emerged in the last decade as the most important social and political movement in the country. The driving organizations behind the movement, CONAIE (Confederadon de Nacionalidades Indigenas del Ecuador), a social organization. and Pachakutik Movimiento Pluri-Nacional (Pluri-national movement), a political organization, have taken different approaches to fortifying indigenous identities, challenging the policies of the Ecuadorian government, and uprooting the subtle but persistent racist ideologies that have been discriminatory and exclusionary for over 500 years. I argue that Pachakutik's involvement within the political system has a greater chance of effecting long-term change for indigenous peoples in …

Effects Of Melatonin On Hemolymph Glucose And Lactate Concentrations In The Fiddler Crab, Uca Pugilator, Kathryn M. Dalton

Honors Theses

Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is an indolamine hormone produced by the pineal gland that works to regulate sleep/wake cycles and activity rhythms. The effects of melatonin in metabolism are far from understood. Melatonin was injected into the fiddler crab, Uca pugilator, to investigate the effects of melatonin on hemolymph glucose and lactate levels. Following injection at t=O, hemolymph samples were collected at t=O.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 5.0 hours. Melatonin caused a decrease in the stress response to injection and also caused delayed hyperglycemia. Melatonin-injected crabs also retained the glucose and lactate rhythymicity when compared to saline-injected crabs. Glucose and lactate rhythms followed …

Local Participation As A Determinant Of Success In World Bank Environmental Projects: What Is The Evidence?, Catherine Benson

Honors Theses

The current impoverished, environmentally degraded state of Africa suggests that international aid projects have proven largely unsuccessful in tackling the enormous development and environment challenges faced by Africa. Africa has historically been inundated with groups trying to implement change in the form of political, economic, and environmental agendas, beginning in the colonial period and continuing today. The abundance of advice and financial assistance poured into this region have resulted in a continent lagging behind other developing regions to an even worse extent than prior to aid projects. The environment of development in Africa is complex; nowhere else in the world …

The Rhetoric Of Legality Vs. The Rhetoric Of Morality : Seeing Justice Through The Eyes Of Dramatic Works, Hannah C. Bate

Honors Theses

Seeing Justice Through the Eyes of Dramatic Works

Nationalism And The Public Sphere : Debating The Limits Of Patriotism In Popular Music Since September 11th, Mark Melvin

Honors Theses

At various historical moments, music has been a part of change and movement within social dynamics. From minstrels entertaining the courts of kings to plantation slaves singing spirituals of emancipation, the localities of music are diverse and ever shifting. Music is, and always has been, forming and reforming dynamic relationships with culture, art, and politics. With the emergence of mass media and mass distribution in the 20th century, music has become more than an art form that can only be experienced by a live audience; consequently, music has formed even more unique relationships within the cultural, artistic and political spheres. …

Complement Resistance In Agrobacterium Tumefaciens Isolates, Michael E. Mccormick

Honors Theses

The word "pathogen" ofen brings to mind morose images and other words such as "illness," "malaria," and "outbreak": words associated with animal pathogens, in particular, the ones that make us humans sick. However, some pathogens also affect another major kingdom, plants, and one of the more devastating pathogens to the plant kingdom is the bacteria Agrobacterium tumefaciens. This organism has a Type IV Secretion System that allows it to transfer a piece of t-DNA into the host cell; this DNA integrates into the eukaryotic genome and establishes in ction by utilizing the host's transcription machinery. This unique and effective means …

Achieving Equality, Balance, And Democracy: Racial Redistricting Throughout The Civil Rights Era To The Present, Michael Nelson Bailey

Honors Theses

Redistricting is inherently invidious and when coupled with racial considerations, the stakes become much higher. Legislative representation is at the core of the governmental process in the United States. Any changes to this process affect every citizen and their influence in our government and electoral system. This paper approaches this topic from a philosophical standpoint, evaluating the theories and ideas of the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and constitutional scholars. The issue is so complex and divisive that a full understanding of the controlling forces at work is a difficult concept to grasp. In this research the Voting Rights Act and …

Pharmacists' Perceptions Of Practice Roles: Opportunities And Challenges Facing Pharmacy With Respect To Expanding The Scope Of Practice In Mississippi, Peter John Pattridge Jr.

Honors Theses

Title: Pharmacists' Perceptions of Practice Roles: Opportunities and Challenges Facing Pharmacy with Respect to Expanding the Scope of Practice in Mississippi Objective: To provide objective evidence as to the opportunities and challenges that pharmacists will encounter when implementing an expanded role in the health care system from the perspective of the practicing pharmacist. Methods: Questionnaires were mailed to Mississippi licensed pharmacists. The first section contained questions dealing with the demography of the respondent including a utilization of skills scale and several domains of job satisfaction. The second section contained the health care activities inventory. Respondents were asked to report which …

Effect Of 6-Thioguanine And Methyl-6-Thioguanine On Stability Of Dna Duplexes, Mabaera Rodwell

Honors Theses

6-Thioguanine (65G) has been used for the past thirty years as an anti-cancer agent in maintenance chemotherapy for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia as well as acute myeloid leukemia. Despite its long-standing clinical use, little is understood of the molecular basis of the cytotoxicity associated with ?sG. Research has shown that ?sG is incorporated into DNA during replication after which it may exert its cytotoxicity by inducing rapid mutation or by affecting DNA-protein interactions. 65G has also been shown to impair HIV replication by inhibiting HlV-l reverse transcriptase and to inhibit human telomerase activity. To further understand the structural changes associated …

Photochemical Generation And Chemistry Of Α-Acetoxycarbene, Jonathan Mann

Honors Theses

Efforts have been made at generating the parent α-acetoxycarbene from a non-nitrogenous precursor. Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of the ketone, 1-(1a,9b-dihydro-lHcyclopropa[1] phenanthren-1-yl)-ethanone, available in two steps from phenanthrene, led to the ester, 1-(1 a,9b-dihydro-lH-cyclopropa[/]phenanthren-l-yl)-acetate, which is a photochemical precursor of the parent α-acetoxycarbene intermediate. Photolysis of the ester in cyclohexene afforded an isomeric mixture of endo and exo acetates resulting from the carbene adding to the α-bond. Photolysis of the ester in trans-3-hexene yielded a single trans-cis acetate, a product of the same cycloaddition process. The formation of methyl glyoxal, via the l,2-acyl shift of the carbene, is observed through its derivatives. …

Purification Of The Hmg1 Protein And Investigation Of Its Interactions With Diepoxide Cross-Linked Dna, Gayle Pageau

Honors Theses

HMG1 is a nonhistone chromosomal protein that binds preferentially to some types of globally modified DNA. HMG1 has been implicated in the cellular response to the anti-cancer agent cisplatin, functioning to block excision repair of specific distorted platinated DNA lesions and resulting in enhanced cytotoxicity. We have investigated whether other DNA-binding agents also produce lesions that are recognized by HMG1. Specifically, we used polyacrylamide gel shift assays to monitor the potential HMG1 binding of diepoxybutane interstrand cross-links, which have been suggested to induce DNA bending. We isolated the native protein from chicken erythrocytes and expressed engineered HMG domain proteins in …

Study Of Area Deprivation In Connecticut And Maine, Jonathan H. Ryder

Honors Theses

This paper accounts the development of an area deprivation index for two New England states, Connecticut and Maine. The index incorporates data from the 1990 U.S. Census. By applying methodology used in previous projects that created similar indices for area in Britain, an area deprivation index is created at the 5-digit zip code level for these two states in the year 1990. This project provides an example of how such a study can be applied to and completed in the United States. Foremost, it is an attempt to evaluate the relative merits of examining a comprehensive measure of area deprivation, …

A Random Walk, Absorbtion, And Enumeration Of Returns, Joanna Cecile Rochester

Honors Theses

The general notion of a Markov Chain is introduced in Chapter 1, and a theorem is proven characterizing the two-state Markov Chain. The concept central to the thesis, the Random Walk, is introduced in Chapter 2 and a thorough analysis is presented of a Random Walk in one dimension with a single absoring state. A theorem is proven which provides probabilities of absorption for arbitrary starting points. The theoretical results are then tested by computer simulation, yielding a very satisfying match with the predictions of the theorem. Finally, in Chapter 3 a modification of the Random Walk withou absoring states …

Students' Ability To Communicate Algebraically Using The Internet And E-Mail, Johnny Reynolds Moore

Honors Theses

The research idea came about as a result of Dr. Rock’s doctoral to whether or not there had been any his study was published in over st to conduct the study dissertation study. We were curious as improvements in mathematics communication since 1998. We used the Algebra in Action the course of an eight-week period Internet Conte . On the odd numbered weeks, we required correct explanation of how numbered weeks asked only for the students to submit the correct answer along with a they found their answer. The problems on even We hypothesized that there would be a significant …