Digital Commons Network^™

Food Waste In German Households: A Policy Analysis, Carlie Maree Vowell

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the issue of food waste in Germany and proposes policy solutions for food waste in German households. The author analyzes the history and background of sustainability and food waste in Germany in order to recommend a change in policy. The author uses a systematic literature review as the primary method for investigating food waste in Germany. The findings indicate that household food waste occurs due to a lack of planning, misreading food labels, misconceptions about food, improper food storage techniques, and a lack of awareness on the economic and environmental implications of food waste. Moreover, various demographic …

On A Generalization Of Lucas Numbers, Skylyn Olyvia Irby

Honors Theses

In this paper, we consider a generalization of Lucas numbers. Recall that Lucas numbers are the sequence of integers defined by the recurrence relation: L_n = L_{n−1} + L_{n−2} with the initial conditions L_1 = 1 and L_2 = 3(or L_0 = 1 and L_1 = 3 if the first subscript is zero). That is, the classical Lucas number sequence is 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, .... The goal of the present paper is to study properties of certain generalizations of the Lucas sequence. In particular, we consider the following generalizations of the sequence: l_n = al_{n−1} + l_{n−2} …

The Wise Women Of Oxford, Jaz Brisack

Honors Theses

In Fall 2015, a group of women began meeting for lunch. The first meeting was nearly spontaneous: a woman named Eunice Benton emailed a few of her friends, saying that she would prefer to go out to eat with them at one o’clock on a Friday instead of eating alone. From there, the email list Eunice had created began growing and incorporating many new women from a variety of backgrounds, some of whom Eunice knew and then, increasingly, some she didn’t. The list spiked tremendously after the 2016 presidential election, as the group provided comfort to women who were extremely …

Regionalism And Reform: The Consequences Of Consociationalism In Belgium, Elizabeth L. Brown

Honors Theses

With the success of the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA), a Flemish regionalist party, in recent federal and regional elections, the continued role of regionalism in Belgian politics has been made clear. This has occurred despite significant efforts by Belgian politicians to counteract this tendency. By analyzing the impact of the six state reforms that have drastically affected the political system within the country, this paper outlines how the reforms themselves have unintentionally incentivized the political parties to pursue regionalism as a winning political strategy, which laid the groundwork for the current success of the N-VA. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates how the …

Carbon Dioxide Reduction Using Redox-Active Macrocyclic Catalysts, Dawson Kendall Buettner

Honors Theses

The current energy crisis experienced by society today is in desperate need of a solution. Through carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction, we can reduce the amount of greenhouse gas that is warming our planet as well as create a source of renewable energy. Significant challenges currently inhibit the reduction of CO2 to more desirable products. Current limitations can be addressed through the design and synthesis of more efficient catalysts that are selective, durable, and operate close to the target thermodynamic potential of CO2 reduction. In this work, three redox-active macrocyclic ligands have been synthesized and studied for the development of potential …

A Self-Study Of Purposeful Grouping For Collaborative Learning, Allie Cameron Roberson

Honors Theses

Groups are commonly seen and used in mathematics classrooms. During my time student teaching, I have used what I call, “timely, flexible, dynamic, purposeful” groups. I call groups “purposeful” when there is a defined purpose for using them, there is an ability to change groups when needed, and the groups are formed from a timely assessment. During my self-study, I have looked at how I used these purposeful groups in my classroom, and how it differs from common group-types. I give an example of a specific class period, how I used the data from the opener to form purposeful groups, …

Sustainability In The Sanctuary: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Christian Churches And The Environment, Katelyn Campbell

Honors Theses

Paper bulletins, weekly customized song sheets, disposable coffee cups—all parts of a regular communal church gathering on Sunday mornings. Where do these products go after the service is over and the pews are empty? Combining the topics of environmental sustainability and organized religion, this thesis explores how local churches view the intersection of environmental sustainability and faith practices in Oxford, Mississippi. Preliminary research has shown that while many global denominations publicly issue statements supporting environmental practices and encouraging sustainable behavior, often these statements are not effective in directly influencing a local church’s behavior as it relates to implementing environmentally sustainable …

Compositional Differences In Bacterial Communities In Fresh And Saltwater Wetlands Of The Gulf Coast, Mary Grace Bass

Honors Theses

Wetlands are important reservoirs for biodiversity and ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling. However, the anthropogenic stressors of sea-level rise and eutrophication threaten these habitats. In this study, I examined the bacterial communities at six locations along the US Gulf Coast between Louisiana and Florida, focusing on how these communities were affected by salinity, depth, and site location. At each of six locations, five 30cm-deep soil cores were taken from a tidal fresh marsh and either a tidal brackish marsh or tidal saltmarsh. Bacterial DNA was extracted from both the surface layer and the root layer of each soil core. …

Determination Of Shrinkage Of Fine-Grained Soils Using 3d Scanning Technology, Hemant R. Joshi

Honors Theses

Shrinkage Limit is the moisture content parameter in fine grained soil which is related to the volume stability of the soil. The conventional method, ASTM Standard D427-04 that uses mercury has been replaced by wax method, ASTM Standard D4943-02 that uses wax and water or MT-92 that uses spray coating. This modification has certainly minimized safety concerns of the laboratory technicians by avoiding the use of the health hazardous substance, mercury (Hg) but it is not really an economic and convenient method. This thesis proposes a 3D scanning method of determining the shrinkage limit of fine grained soils. The 3D …

There She Evolves: The Financial, Marketing And Journalistic Sustainability Of The Miss America Organization, Blair Wortsmith

Honors Theses

Adrian Phillips, a Pageant President and volunteer in the Miss America Organization for more than seven decades, stated that, “Things evolve. The press likes to refer to ‘changes,’ but most everything that has happened has been a precedent of something evolving. It comes by evolving and it disappears by evolving. And that has been the history of the Miss America Pageant” (Bivans). With the centennial anniversary quickly approaching and drastic changes made recently within the Miss America Organization, my Thesis examines the program’s evolution and evaluates its sustainability through finance, marketing and journalism perspectives. To do this, I drew information …

Al-Qaida, Boko Haram, And Isis: Tracking The Shift In Women’S Involvement, Anna Therese Beavers

Honors Theses

This paper discusses the shift in women’s roles in Islamic extremist groups over the last two decades. Focusing on three violent Sunni groups, al-Qaida, Boko Haram, and ISIS, the research aims to fill gaps in United States and global counterterrorism and reintegration efforts by providing a comprehensive, accurate, and timely assessment of the recent change in women’s roles in terrorist organizations, shifting from foundational to limited operational to fully operational. The shift occurred and continues to unfold as several moving parts have fallen into place to create this situation. Women’s desire to participate at a more operational level, the need …

The Effect Of Instructional Expenditures On Student Outcomes: Evidence From St. Louis-Area Public School Districts, Noah Antle

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to contribute to the broader conversation over the relationship between school spending and student outcomes. Using twenty-two public school districts in the St. Louis area, annual data on instructional expenditures and two measures of student outcomes (average composite ACT score and the percentage of high school graduates to enroll at a 2- or 4- year college or university within 180 days of graduation) was collected by request from the Missouri Department of Education and Secondary Education. Regression analysis was conducted with this data to determine whether or not raw changes in instructional expenditures per student or the …

Feedback-Related Neuronal Processing During Motor Learning, Rosemary Marguerite Marquez

Honors Theses

Motor learning has been widely examined using electroencephalography (EEG) to record event related potentials (ERP). ERPs occur in response to given stimuli and represent underlying neural processes that are either modifying or being modified by motor learning. This study seeks to examine how movement feedback changes neural activity (i.e. ERPs) in the motor cortex, and more specifically, if feedback-related neuronal activity is modified by motor learning and visual feedback. A novel visuomotor rotation task was employed in which participants adapted their movement to a 30- degree counter-clockwise rotation. Feedback was given through the presence or absence of the trajectory line …

More Than Altruism: An Examination Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'S Involvement In The Chicago Campaign And Protest Of The Vietnam War, Stephanie Poiroux

Honors Theses

This mix-method study examines whether Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s writing reflects altruism. Utilizing content analysis, I examined 60 of King’s sermons, speeches, letters, newspaper statements, and telegrams about the Chicago Campaign and the Vietnam War over two separate two-year periods starting from January 1, 1965 to December 31, 1967. King’s documents were scored based on the Altruistic Personality Scale for Leaders and Protest, which was created based on the characteristics of both passive and active bystanders derived from studies written by scholars of psychology. After analyzing the range, complexity, and density of King’s altruism, this study shows that all …

[Female]: A Collection Of Profiles Featuring Influential, Inspiring, Modern American Women Who Have Made History, Tara Lyn Hawkins

Honors Theses

[FEMALE] is a collection of profiles that feature the stories of some of the most influential and inspiring modern American women and how they have influenced the world. The profiles look into the lives and careers of female athletes, entrepreneurs, political figures and entertainers who are currently alive in 2019. Each profile includes dialogue from recorded interviews with the featured women. The idea for this project came from wanting to learn more about the successful, influential role models in my life. To learn about the hardships and odds they overcame in order to achieve their dreams and become the women …

Analysis And Optimization Of A Triple Notch Ultra-Wideband Antenna, Caleb D. Keathley

Honors Theses

This paper analyzes a microstrip fed triple notch band Ultra-Wideband (UWB) antenna designed with an inverted pi slot and a Defected Microstrip Structure (DMS) Band-Stop Filter (BSF) from the design stage to the testing stage. This paper systematically steps through each phase of the antenna from simulation, to fabrication, and finally testing. The results of the simulation and testing phases are both compared to each other before comparing the entire project's results to the source paper's results. After determining the accuracy of the fabricated antenna, the paper discusses future avenues for optimization of an Ultra Wide-Band antenna.

To Sleep Or Not To Sleep, That Is The Question: Sleep, Anxiety And Depressive Symptoms In Pregnancy, Alexis B. Miller

Honors Theses

Pregnancy is a time associated with many changes in a woman’s body including hormonal, metabolic, physical, and physiological changes (Miller, 2004; Okun, Kiewra, Luther, Wisniewski, & Wisner, 2011). A related concern is pregnant women and the impact of disturbed sleep. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 36% of the population in Mississippi experience an insufficient amount of sleep (CDC, 2014). Moreover, sleep disturbances in pregnancy are significantly associated with antenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms (Volkovich, Tikotzky, & Manber, 2015; Yu et al., 2017). The present study assessed potential relations between sleep disturbances, anxiety, depressive symptoms …

6th-12th Grade Math Teachers And Their Experiences With The Mississippi College- And Career-Readiness Standards, Dorothy Reid

Honors Theses

This thesis identifies and describes 6th-12th grade math teachers and their experiences with the Mississippi College- and Career- Readiness Standards. There are two parts to this thesis: 1) a survey distributed to public school math teachers across the state and 2) the written thesis. In my thesis, I craft teacher narratives from the quantitative and qualitative results of the survey. Listening to the teachers’ narratives provides beneficial insights to the implementation of the MCCRS at the classroom level. Teachers have many different experiences. My thesis offers policy recommendations, based on the teacher narratives, to three levels of education: teachers, schools …

Examining The Impact Of Meaning And Resilience On Survivors' Life Satisfaction After Hurricane Harvey, Emily A. Gawlik

Honors Theses

The experience of a traumatic event such as a natural disaster can often lead individuals to suffer a variety of negative sequelae, including the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms. However, certain positive psychological constructs like meaning and resilience have been shown to mitigate these consequences. The purpose of this study was to explore the contributions of meaning and resilience to the life satisfaction of individuals (N = 55) impacted by 2017’s Hurricane Harvey. It was hypothesized that not only would meaning and resilience be significantly and positively related to life satisfaction but that meaning would contribute more to the prediction …

Evaluation Of School Wellness Policies Implementation As Measured By The Organizational Readiness To Change Theory, Elizabeth B. Quirk

Honors Theses

BACKGROUND: Overweight and obesity trends have been increasing drastically for the past twenty years. School wellness policies have been put into place to help decrease overweight and obesity prevalence. Analyzing a school’s organizational readiness to change for full implementation of wellness policies could identify areas that are contributing or hindering successful implementation of federal regulation of policies and policy outcomes. METHODS: This pilot study included 21 participants, all of whom served as a school wellness coordinator, either at the district or school level in Mississippi. Each participant completed a six-part questionnaire addressing school wellness policy implementation. Survey item development was …

“Nosotras Como Mujeres”: The Environmental Activism Of Indigenous Women Of The Ecuadorian Amazon, Leta Rowan

Honors Theses

Across Latin America, indigenous organizations have mobilized against environmental destruction inflicted upon their communities. Environmental destruction brought about by climate change and extractive industries has been especially devastating in the Western Amazon- the most biologically diverse region of the Amazon and home to a diversity of indigenous populations. The efforts of indigenous organizations in the Western Amazon, notably the Ecuadorian Amazon, have been successful in affecting progressive environmental policies as a means to protect their natural environments and standards of living. Indigenous women specifically have played a significant role in addressing the climate injustices affecting their communities and have employed …

The Haves And The Have Nots: Segregation And Marginalization In Puebla, Mexico, Jarvis Benson

Honors Theses

Beginning in the early 1990s, the city of Puebla, Mexico pursued an urbanization strategy based on converting the historic center into a hub for international tourism devoted to marketing colonial architecture and developing another section of the city, Angelópolis, as an affluent space for commerce and elite dwelling. This strategy produced a crowding out effect that relegated the lower and working classes to the peripheries of the city. There are currently high levels of marginalization in Puebla that negatively impact overall citizen well-being, with pockets of precarious populations living in zones with difficult social conditions. Though based on a small …

Silent Majorities: The Brief History Of A Curious Term, 1920-1980, Jordan R. Holman

Honors Theses

This paper examines the use of the term “the silent majority” from 1920-1980, tracing the term from its roots in the prohibition and moral movements of the 1920s and 1930s, to its resurfacing in the 1950s in connection to race and integration, to finally Nixon’s popularization of the term. The sources in which the term was used as such were located through Google Books, the University of Mississippi’s One Search tool, and the Chronicling America database. The Google Ngram Viewer was also utilized in creating a graph that tracked the usage of “the silent majority” in digitized literature through the …

Generational Expressions Of Basque Nationalism, Mollie Bradford

Honors Theses

This work studies the difference in the expressions of Basque nationalism between the Basque youth and the older generations of the Basque population in the Basque Country of Spain, or Euskadi. I hypothesized that the Basque youth would express nationalism banally, or in everyday activities, while the older generations would be intentional and active in their expressions, due to the older generations’ experiences with the Franco regime and ETA, the Basque terrorist group. I researched using articles from a Basque newspaper, Euskal Irrati Telebista. I chose key words and searched through articles written in 2017. I also conducted a survey …

A New Consultation Service For Community Pharmacies? An Investigation Of Pharmacists' Perspective On Implementing A Weight Management Program, Shelby N. Strength

Honors Theses

Pharmacists are capable and interested in providing a targeted weight management intervention addressing the high rates, and associated risk, of obesity. A series of in-depth phone interviews with Mississippi community pharmacists were used to gain their perspective on a systematic approach for delivering a weight and obesity management service to patients. Using qualitative content analysis, three themes were identified and analyzed. These themes included: pharmacist’s perceptions of patient’s needs, program structural components, and pharmacist’s implementational needs. These findings can be used to expand the role of pharmacists, serve as a model for the development of other consultation services, improve health …

Dismantling The “Deep State”: The Evolution Of Legitimacy In The American Intelligence Community, Sydney Carol Stanard

Honors Theses

SYDNEY CAROL STANARD: Dismantling the “Deep State”: The Evolution of Legitimacy in the American Intelligence Community (Under the direction of Dr. John Winkle)

This thesis explores the nature of legitimacy and how it applies to the American intelligence community. The laws and regulations that allow the intelligence community to be a legitimate actor within the American democracy have changed over the years, and there have been periods where these safeguards have failed. I will examine how and why these legitimacy crises, were rectified in the past and how current legitimacy questions are affecting the intelligence community. My research is based …

An Investigation Of Recreational Marijuana Laws And Traffic Fatalities, Todd Darby

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates whether the implementation of a recreational marijuana law in Colorado is associated with a change in traffic fatalities. This thesis utilizes Colorado state-level data in regression analysis with a menu of dependent traffic fatality variables from the Fatality Accident Reporting System data. The only significant relationship found is between the implementation of the recreational marijuana law and marijuana-related traffic fatalities, where the law is found to be largely and positively related with marijuana-related traffic fatalities. However, this paper can draw only limited conclusions owing to the lack of a counterfactual and the short period of post-implementation data …

Microadventures: Student-Empowered, Trauma Informed Outdoor Learning Projects, Jennifer Lyn Flaumenhaft

Honors Theses

This project began with colored Post-It notes and a classroom of Colby College students with a mission to promote student voice in an under-resourced rural elementary school. Lyn Mikel Brown’s Youth-Fueled Activism class paired with Transforming Rural Experience in Education (TREE), an organization that transforms rural communities into hubs for opportunity and civic empowerment.1 TREE uses trauma-informed principles to improve the school experience for students at Seabrook and Portside Elementary Schools. Our class worked with TREE to engage in curricular reform that reimagines learning in a way that promotes student voice. Our class took Maine Common Core State Standards and …

Do Global Cities Make Green Cities? How Global Governance Impacts Transportation In Bogotá And Medellín, Eleanor Jackson

Honors Theses

This thesis examines how global and local governance has combined to deliver effective and sustainable public transportation in cities by comparing Bogotá’s bus rapid transit (BRT) system, TransMilenio, with Medellín’s mass transit system, STIMVA, often referred to as Metro de Medellín. After considering the rationales used to justify local and global authority over climate change, this analysis problematizes the supposed benefits of empowering global and local actors by highlighting the conflicts of interest that plague the elites who mediate the global and the local. In analyzing the global and local interactions, this work draws from extensive literature to highlight three …

Analysis Of Crush Resistance And Mississippi-Sourced Sands To Determine Potential As Proppant Sands, Ryann C. Lam

Honors Theses

Proppant is a media used in hydraulic fracturing to bear in-situ stresses in order to maintain fracture networks, which act as highly permeable pathways for hydrocarbon recovery. Proppant can be made from a variety of materials such as glass, ceramic beads, sand particles, and more. Proppants are characterized by their size, sorting, roundness, and sphericity. These properties help determine the compressive strength of the pack proppant. This study focuses on these properties for natural sand. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the viability of lower-quality sands as proppant sands by testing the affect these properties have on the …