Digital Commons Network^™

Linked-Cluster Expansions For Lattice Spin Models, Yuyi Wan

Honors Theses

Similar to various series expansions that are used to approximate mathematical func- tions, the linked-cluster expansion is an approximation method that allows us to approach the actual values of a very large physical system’s different physical quan- tities by systematically studying smaller systems embedded in this larger system. The main concept in linked-cluster expansion, weight, represents the additional con- tribution to a certain physical quantity by increasing the system size by one unit. These weights are used to eventually build up the result on a larger system. In our case, we focus on the partition function, a quantity that can …

Why Do I Have To Know This? Engineering In A Globalized Society, Caleb Cunningham

Honors Theses

Through a pilot comparative study, this thesis examines the problem-solving of chemical engineering students and chemical engineering faculty. Specifically, the thesis examines the extent to which individuals include global factors (cultural, social, environmental, and economic) into their engineering solutions as specified by ABET. Several hypotheses were investigated in this pilot study: (i) having a study abroad experience would increase the likelihood that participants included the global factors of interest, (ii) the type (PUI, Research Intensive, Unique) of institution students attended would impact how individuals approached the problem, (iii) students with similar career aspirations would approach the problems similarly, (iv) having …

On The Question Of Thinking: A Study Of Heidegger's Later Philosophy, Shishir Budha

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the writings of the 20th-century German philosopher Martin Heidegger to understand what “thinking” is and how thinking needs to be undertaken. I examine Heidegger’s commitments to phenomenology in his early writings, his revaluation of the meaning of truth in traditional Western metaphysics, his criticism of calculative thinking and scientific rationality, his diagnosis of the human alienation and homelessness, and his evocation of the redemptive power of art and poetry through which we can find our place in the world. By questioning through all these themes, I attempt to trace Heidegger’s path towards a deeper and more original …

The Reluctant Fundamentalist's Depiction Of The Postmodern, Kathryn Nicolai

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I examine postmodern fiction in the wake of 9/11. Specifically, I investigate initial predictions of how postmodernity would end after 9/11, Jean Baudrillard’s hyperreality, 9/11 as a semiotic-saturated event, 9/11-novels’ representations of hyperreality and postcolonial intersections with postmodern texts. These focuses are analyzed in Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist. The novel chronicles the protagonist, Changez’s life before, during and after 9/11 and how his perspective on America’s capitalist-centered society and his own identity shifts in the wake of the attacks. After 9/11, Changez undergoes a demystification with America’s nostalgia-based regression and returns to Pakistan. Similar …

To Be Human, Layla S. Gordon

Honors Theses

I write in an attempt to convey the way I perceive the world and my place in it. I am not separate from the natural world but, as a human, deeply part of it. I want my readers to feel how, as much as any other species, our history and existence are part of the Earth. Sometimes in the built environment, especially large cities, I lose my connection to my roots and to my own person. In writing, I reclaim that connection and hope to restore it for my audience. Every human behavior is either conditioned or evolutionary. Either we …

Crystalline Architecture And Stratigraphy Of Coral Skeletal Density Banding: A Geobiological Record Of Changing Coral Reef Ecology, Kyle Fouke

Honors Theses

Coral skeletal density banding (CSDB), composed of alternating high density band (HDB) and low density band (LDB) layers that comprise the CaCO₃ (aragonite) skeleton of scleractinian corals, are used as chronometers for global paleoclimatic reconstructions of sea surface temperature (SST). Scleractinian coral skeletons have been intensively studied for centuries with detail analysis of the macro- and microscale skeletal structure to establish taxonomic and evolutionary relationships of coral species, mechanisms of biomineralization, and seafloor physical, chemical and biological alteration (diagenesis) of the skeleton. This study is the first to determine the crystalline architecture of HDBs and CSDB stratigraphic …

Can We All Just Get Along?: Affective Polarization And Its Impact On College Campuses, Sam Rosenblatt

Honors Theses

American politics have become increasingly polarized, but not just in how sharply we disagree on issues. There has also been a rise in affective polarization, or how positively we view members of our own party and how negatively we view those of the opposite party. This behavior manifests on college campuses, where some students struggle to discuss politics with those who disagree with them while others refuse to engage in such conversations at all. While affective polarization is not a new phenomenon, it appears especially pronounced on college campuses following the 2016 U.S. presidential election. My thesis seeks to understand …

Analyzing The Georgian Opinion Of The Soviet Annexation Of Georgia, Indigo Clingerman

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I have examined the Sovietization of Georgia in the 1920s and analyzed how Georgians perceived Sovietization. Specifically, this thesis explores different opinions on Sovietization through the lens of Georgian nationalists, Georgian cultural literary icons, and the average Georgian. Further, this thesis addresses the interplay of time and Georgian nationalism in understanding Sovietization. The thesis examines how different groups of Georgians related their understanding of Georgian identity to the Soviet understanding of Georgian culture and demonstrates how the disconnect between Soviet and Georgian identity manifests as disapproval of Sovietization and the Soviet Union as a whole as time …

Fluvial Sedimentology And Architecture Of Two Latest Devonian Lower Huntley Mountain Formation Outcrops, North-Central Pennsylvania, Usa, Evan W. Filion

Honors Theses

Thick successions of river deposits accumulated in the north-central Pennsylvania region of the Appalachian foreland basin during Late Devonian time (~380-360 Ma). The properties and morphologies of these paleorivers are not well characterized. Latest Devonian tectonic, climatic, and eustatic controls on river dynamics and basin infilling also remain unclear. This study assesses the sedimentology, facies architecture, paleochannel depths, and grain size of a 133 m thick section of fluvial strata exposed across two outcrops, Blossburg South (older) and Blossburg West (younger), mapped as lower Huntley Mountain Formation near Blossburg, Pennsylvania. Field-based lithofacies observations, high-resolution panoramic photography, terrestrial lidar scanning, and …

Music And Communal Division During The French Wars Of Religion, Cameron G. Wade

Honors Theses

This Senior Honors Thesis explores the social and cultural impact of confessional musical composition and performance on the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598). Because Huguenots and Catholics identified with and were widely identifiable by their respective musical styles, cultural divisions between each confession were emphasized by differences in music. This capacity of sacred and confessionally-influenced secular music to highlight and reinforce societal divides is evidenced by the interconfessional violence that accompanied the public performance of sacred music in cities as well as the pressures imposed on composers to create music which clearly aligned with their respective confessions. As the wars …

The Theology Of John Donne's Body Politic, Carolyn P. Marino

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates John Donne’s body/soul dialectic, and discusses how this relationship extends towards both the individuated and communal body. The first chapter grounds Donne’s “Songs and Sonnets” in theology through his facilitation of the Platonic Ladder and the Great Chain of Being. It also gestures towards a shift in Donne’s poetry from subjectivity to intersubjectivity. Finally, it discusses Donne’s commissioned elegies, interrogating Renaissance ideas about the gendered soul, and expounding upon the impact of one person’s death on the communal body. The second chapter historically contextualizes ideas of martyrdom, suicide, and Donne’s term “self-homicide.” It discusses the content of …

Ukraine, L9l8-21 And Spain, 1936-39: A Comparison Of Armed Anarchist Struggles In Europe, Daniel A. Collins

Honors Theses

This thesis is a comparison of armed anarchist uprisings during the Interwar Period. Specifically, this thesis examines the political ideology and manifestations of it shared by the Free Territory of Ukraine (1918-1921), and Revolutionary Catalonia in Spain (1936-1939). This thesis argues that because of a shared political genealogy based on individuals, the revolutions are essential one. These individuals including Kropotkin and Durruti met each other in person and shared advice on their experience, which led to the similar expression of anarchism. This argument follows anarchist discourse of the mid and late 1800s and its direct implementation by way of Nestor …

A License To Kill: The Institutional Failure Of The Legal System To Hold Police Accountable, Eliana R. Fleischer

Honors Theses

In recent years, police shootings of unarmed African American men have become nationally visible. With few exceptions, the police officers involved in those shootings have escaped any criminal penalties. This paper addresses why so few police officers are convicted after shooting unarmed African Americans. Using an interdisciplinary approach, it addresses three aspects of the criminal justice system: prosecutorial power, Supreme Court case law, and jury bias. This paper argues that the legal system is structured to protect police officers from liability, making it unable to deliver justice after on-duty police shootings of unarmed African American men.

Gratitude, Resilience And Post-Traumatic Growth Among Kidney Transplant Recipients, Lillie Credle

Honors Theses

Chronic health conditions, such as end-stage renal disease (ESRD), can produce detrimental physical, psychological, and emotional effects (Schulz & Kroencke, 2015). While transplantation helps to alleviate the physical symptoms, other psychosocial problems can remain. The present study sought to investigate whether organ transplant recipients utilize certain strength-based attributes—gratitude, resilience, and post-traumatic growth—when coping with life post-transplant. This mixed-methods study recruited eight (N=8) kidney transplant recipients, who took part in semi-structured interviews followed by a survey. Though quantitative data was limited due to COVID-19 interruptions, the qualitative data revealed evidence of gratitude, resilience, and post-traumatic growth being used by the participants …

Evaluating A Culprit: A Review Of The Biochemical Mechanisms Of Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance, Callie Cinque

Honors Theses

Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance (NCGI) has evaded biological and chemical mechanisms since it was first reported in 1978. Celiac Disease, a multi-system immune mediated disorder has long served as the most similar counterpart to NCGI. Less cases of celiac disease are going undiagnosed reflecting an improvement on sensitive and decisive diagnostic tools. However, NCGI has been significantly growing as a diagnosis over the past decade with little match or similarity to the markers found in celiac disease patients. Critical evaluation of NCGI theories, experimentation, and existing hypotheses is necessary. This review seeks to synthesize multiple disciplines of gluten research and enhance …

Learning To Check Yourself: Improving Civic Engagement Through Duties, Better Voting Practices, And Combatting Group Loyalty, Katherine Brumund

Honors Theses

This project examines civic engagement. It is divided into three chapters: apathy, voting, and group loyalties. I derive two duties, a duty to care and a duty to reason well, that serve as a framework for community engagement aimed at facilitating moral progress. In the second section the main topic is voting. I argue for strategies to vote well. The third section of this project then focuses on group loyalties. This project uses two duties to frame how to engage with others, proposes a better way to participate civically, and ways to avoid pitfalls associated with group membership.

Aldol Condensations And Nitrile Aldol Reactions Mediated By Trimethylsilyl Trifluoromethanesulfonate, Samuel R. Bottum

Honors Theses

In the presence of excess trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate (TMSOTf), ketones and esters undergo aldol addition and dehydration to yield chalcones and cinnamates. This one-pot reaction proceeds through in situ enol silane formation, avoiding the need to pre-form and purify the nucleophile in the Mukaiyama aldol reaction. The stoichiometry of the TMSOTf controls whether the reaction proceeds with simple addition or addition-dehydration. When (trimethylsilyl) acetonitrile is stirred with an aldehyde and TMSOTf, nitrile aldol addition is observed.

How To Be A Good Believer: A Multifaceted Defense Of Christian Belief, Cameron Bonsell

Honors Theses

In this paper I will argue that holding Christian beliefs is consistent with intellectual virtues. I must first clarify that holding Christian beliefs does not consist only in the affirmation of certain propositions like “God exists”. This is not to say that affirming certain doctrine is not essential to Christian belief, but this is only part of what it encompasses. When I refer to Christianity and Christian beliefs in this paper, I mean affirming basic religious propositions like “Jesus was the son of God”, but I also take certain practices to be part of Christian belief. For example, spiritual disciplines …

Associations Between Hookup Culture And Social Group, Ross Abrash

Honors Theses

Differences in hookup culture and behavior were examined across different social groups at the University of Richmond. Specifically, I examined the difference between Greek life members, varsity athletes, and the general student population. The sample consisted of 174 students (123 females, 51 males) from the University of Richmond. The sample was 33.3% Greek life, 25.9% varsity athletes, and 40.8% general student population. I distributed a web-based survey for participants to complete in a quiet place of their choosing. Fraternity members, sorority members, and male athletes scored higher than the comparison group on a measure of personal attitudes towards hooking up. …

The Influence Of Flooding On Macroinvertebrate Diversity Of The James River Rock Pools, Meghan Leber

Honors Theses

Biodiversity within an ecosystem can be greatly influenced by environmental disturbances, such as fires, flooding, or other extreme events. Studying the effects of these disturbances on species diversity can be complicated though, due to difficulties tracking species-level responses and isolating the effects of disturbances. Model systems in community ecology, such as rock pools, are a beneficial way to scale down the study of disturbances in discrete communities without losing the ability to analyze important influences or interactions. In this study, macroinvertebrates within the James River rock pools were surveyed to investigate seasonal and annual differences in species richness and diversity, …

The Effect Of President Trump’S Company-Specific Tweets On Company’S Stocks, Justin Kleczka

Honors Theses

Implementing event-study analysis, I find that President Trump’s tweets about publicly traded companies cause daily abnormal returns of 0.25% in a company’s stock in the same direction as the sentiment of the tweet: positive tweets increase abnormal returns by 0.25% on the day’s end, while negative tweets will cause -0.25% abnormal returns.

Additionally, I find that President Trump’s company-specific tweets increase the daily abnormal trading volume and volatility of a company’s stock by 19%, regardless of tweet sentiment. For abnormal returns and abnormal trading volume, the effects of President Trump’s tweets do not last multiple days after a tweet. However, …

The Electoral College: Size Really Does Matter, Alexander Kirk

Honors Theses

The goal of this paper is to explore and ultimately convince the reader of the merits of the Wyoming Rule method of congressional apportionment as a method for altering the functioning of the Electoral College in United States presidential elections. This is conducted through an analysis of the role that the Electoral College has played throughout the history of American elections, in depth looks at four common proposals for changing or replacing the Electoral College, and finally discussion of the intricacies of the Wyoming Rule and the effects that it would have on American politics.

Profitability And Corporate Social Responsibility, Alexander Kirk

Honors Theses

This project examines the relationship between net margins and measures of corporate social responsibility for the companies in the S&P 500 index. This is conducted through linear regressions of overall, environmental, social, and governance scores on net margin percentages for firms from their annual 10-K reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The corporate social responsibility measures were taken from Sustainalytics via Yahoo Finance and combined with dummy variables for Global Industry Classification Standard sectors. Results indicate very limited role in corporate social responsibility measures for predicting net margins, instead favoring sector specific variables as driving net margins to …

Un Vrai Centriste? Les Politiques D’Emmanuel Macron Au 21Ème Siècle, Alexandra Kohnert

Honors Theses

“Le Kid” président. En 2016 Emmanuel Macron a bouleversé le climat politique avec sa candidature à l'élection présidentielle et son parti politique “La République en Marche” (LREM). Différent des hommes politiques traditionnels, Macron était le changement souhaité par le public français. Il représente un nouveau modèle pour la France sous la Cinquième République et les traditions gaullistes. Sa candidature centriste introduisait un mélange de pensées de gauche et de droite qui permettrait de resserrer le clivage politique. Comme il le proclame toujours, LREM n’est “ni de gauche, ni de droite”.1 Contrairement à Marine le Pen et sa campagne plus ou …

Troping For Justice And Joy: A Feminist Rhetorical Study Of Women’S Reproductive Health, Claire E. Noppenberger

Honors Theses

Taking my cues from feminist rhetorical studies, and the enactment of the personal as political, my thick description of women’s reproductive healthcare is focused on my own encounters with these rhetorics through a collection of my experiences through various media. This description adopts an autoethnographic attitude to approach these rhetorics “as pluralistic, subjective, personal, and potentially inclusive,” by using my own position and narrative to frame this rhetorical study. Just as feminist rhetorical studies require meta-reflexive awareness, autoethnography requires the acceptance of “responsibility for our subjective lenses through reflexivity.” My thick description uses the metadata of these media, including the …

Storytelling For Fundraising: Assessing The Impact Of Personal Stories On Donation Behavior, Kate A. Mccarthy

Honors Theses

In fundraising, some nonprofits have sought to channel the power of personal stories by including them in appeal letters. Are stories an effective tool in soliciting donations? In this study, participants read one of three appeals from an unnamed abortion fund. Two conditions contained a personal story, either an “unapologetic” or a “uncontroversial” narrative, about a woman who underwent an abortion; one condition did not include a story. Participants were then asked questions regarding the appeal and the organization before being given a “bonus” dollar, and offered the option of donating a portion of that to an abortion fund. Results …

Design Of New Ruthenium Complexes For Photoactivated Chemotherapy, Lindsey Paul

Honors Theses

Photoactivated chemotherapy (PACT) offers a targeted approach to cancer treatment through selective drug activation. Substitutionally labile ruthenium-based prodrugs undergo ligand-loss when irradiated, producing an unbound ligand and a Ru-aqua complex. We report the synthesis and cytotoxicity of several new ruthenium-centered complexes and their irradiation products for use in PACT. A series of complexes were synthesized in order to study the effects of structural differences on cell viability. Cell viability was tested on T47D human breast cancer cells in the presence of compound to determine cytotoxicity and dose-response. While neither the Rucomplexes nor their ligands demonstrated cytotoxicity, their Ru-aqua dissociation complexes …

“Put Your Phone Down, And Say Hi!” Cultivating Positivity Resonance At Ur, Natalie Szumel

Honors Theses

The goal of this study is to advance our understanding of outcomes related to experiencing positivity resonance and additionally to examine the role of technology as a potential barrier to experiencing positivity resonance (PR). I expect to see positivity resonance associated with physical, psychological, and social well-being, while phone use will predict lower levels of positivity resonance.

This study is unique because it focuses on a college campus population and analyses how their well-being is affected by their social behaviors. This study is especially important for a campus like UR given how segregated and exclusive the student population has become, …

Computer-Assisted Coloring-Graph Generation And Structural Analysis, Wesley Su

Honors Theses

Graphs are a well studied construction in discrete math, with one of the most common areas of study being graph coloring. The graph coloring problem asks for a color to be assigned to each vertex in a graph such that no two adjacent vertices share a color. An assignment of k colors that meets these criteria is called a k-coloring. The coloring graph Ck(G) is defined as the graph where every vertex represents a valid k-coloring of graph G and edges exist between colorings that di↵er by one vertex. We call graph G the base graph of the k-coloring graph …

Internal Migration Of Foreign-Born In Us: Impacts Of Population Concentration And Risk Aversion, Thin Yee Mon Su

Honors Theses

Internal migration in the US has been declining since the 1990s and research has mostly focused on labor market dynamics and aging population to explain the migration trends. This paper analyzes migration patterns of foreign-born groups in the US from 2000 to 2019. Along with the migration determinants such as education and employment, the paper focuses on population concentration as a factor that shapes foreign-born decisions to relocate in the US. Population concertation is defined to be a measure of how geographically concentrated each foreign-born group is across the US. I find that the likelihood of migrating to another state …