Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Relationship Between — Exam Changes, Exam Costs, And Educational Requirements —And The Decline Of First-Time Candidates For Certified Public Accountancy Examination, Julian Rodriguez

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Studying The Effects Of High School Athletics Social Media, Justin Scott

Honors Theses

This research project focuses on high school athletics social media pages and their relevance to high school communication audiences and institutional communication goals.

I conducted two in-depth interviews with school officials from a large Michigan high school, a survey of the high school sports social media followers, and an analysis of data from that high school’s Facebook page.

I was able to determine that seeing social media content from high school athletics pages had a positive relationship with how the school’s quality of social media communication was perceived, intentions to attend athletic events, and an increased awareness of the school’s …

Self-Reported Professional Competencies Of Rn-To-Bsn Students, Nicole Thompson

Honors Theses

Groundbreaking research by Aiken et al. (2003) and subsequent researchers has determined increased educational preparation and Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree obtainment of Registered Nurses (RNs) to be associated with improved patient safety and outcomes. Other organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), have demonstrated professional competency to be an important indicator of quality nursing care. The purpose of this study was to evaluate self-reported professional competency of RN-to-BSN students at the point of graduation in order to investigate the added value of baccalaureate degree obtainment to the actual nursing practice of RN-to-BSN program graduates. The Nurse …

Prep-Hplc Method Development To Isolate Potentially-Carcinogenic, Arginine-Based Heterocyclic Amines, Victoria S. Kim

Honors Theses

Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are carcinogenic molecules generated from the reaction of creatin(in)e and amino acids at high cooking temperatures in meat. Previous research has shown that replacing creatine with arginine leads to new, uncharacterized HCA molecules. This research entails implementing and optimizing the preparative HPLC analysis of extracts from multiple burnings of arginine with phenylalanine. Isolated fractions from the prep-HPLC analysis were further analyzed using the Ames test to identify mutagenic compounds. Prep-HPLC provides quality control to the burning process along with isolation of larger quantities of materials for further characterization and molecular structure identification.

The Benefits Of Immersion In Learning A Foreign Language, Cassidy Crouch

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to measure the linguistic benefits of learning a foreign language in a study abroad immersion program through Western Michigan University’s (WMU) Spanish department. The participants in this study were all participants of the Santander, Spain program of the Summer II semester of 2017. Nineteen students in total went to Spain and eleven of them agreed to participate in this study. During the Spring 2017 semester the eleven participants were given a pre-departure questionnaire and oral interview where they were asked demographic questions as well as program-specific information. During the last week in Santander, Spain …

Impact Of Men's Shed On Social Participation And Health Outcomes, Joshua Grimmer

Honors Theses

This paper will explore the concept of a community-based organization, known as a Men’s Shed. The purpose of the research is to determine the positive impacts the North Belfast Men’s Shed has on social participation and overall health outcomes. The key factors observed in this study were the safe environment, camaraderie, social acceptance, and variety of activities the shed offers. The study included a sample of 11 men primarily over the age of 60. At the time of the study, all of the men were retired or unemployed and came from diverse occupational backgrounds. A set of semi-structure questions was …

Helping Children Understand: Using Picture Books To Age – Appropriately Explain Dance-Movement Therapy And Childhood Cancer, Megan Schaefer

Honors Theses

Cancer is the leading cause of childhood death by disease, and there are many different therapies available to patients. One of the most promising forms of therapy is Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT). DMT is an engaging and creative form of rehabilitation, and focuses on the interaction between the body and mind. With this exercise, patients are able to express their emotional processes through physical movement, allowing for an alternate form of communication.

The way that children engage in DMT is highly influenced by their age and developmental stage. When children are presented with a new task, it may be necessary for …

The Effects Of Repealing The Estate Tax And Reducing The Corporate Tax Rate Coupled With A Repatriation Act, Trenton Vanderlende

Honors Theses

Given that significant U.S. federal tax reform is taking place for the first time in over 30 years, this paper examines how changing specific tax provisions may affect the average individual taxpayer as well as the wealthiest 1% of Americans. Three potential federal tax law changes are addressed: repealing the estate tax, reducing the corporate statutory income tax rate, and offering a repatriation holiday for remitting the foreign profits earned by U.S. businesses. These changes are analyzed using publicly available data from U.S. Congressional hearings, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Based on this …

Gilmore Girls: The Intersection Of Feminism And Social Capital, Megan Rucker

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Low-Cost Control Engineering Experiments, Megan Arduin

Honors Theses

The disciplines found within the area of motion and controls is a vital element of each engineer’s education. The ability to understand and then control dynamic systems is a fundamental skill required for many working engineers today. The aim of this project is to further develop the tools and methods available to teach and prepare engineering students to effectively design control system architecture, and then successfully implement their design into real world systems. The main goal is to design an apparatus that can be used to teach control system methods and has an affordable price. There are few experiments where …

Analyzing The Legislative Productivity Of Congress During The Obama Administration, Zachary Hunkins

Honors Theses

Our nation looks to Congress to solve problems by producing legislation. Four congressional sessions took place during the eight years of the Obama administration; these were the 111^th (2009-2011), 112^th (2011-2013), 113^th (2013-2015), and 114^th (2015-2017). These four congressional sessions were often labeled and stigmatized as some of the least productive sessions in our nation’s history. This raises the questions, what explains legislative productivity? What variables effect it? Were the four sessions that took place during the Obama administration that ineffective? How do these sessions compare to sessions that took place during past presidential administrations? This …

Boat-Lift Design And Analysis, Nathan Schick

Honors Theses

A current in production 6000 lb. rated boat-lift is being sold at “Great Lake Lifts”. The lift was tested experimentally and proved to hold at least 8000 lb. The design team successfully modeled the current lift on Ansys to help the customer understand where the weakest points in the design were. Following the creation of the initial lift design, the design team proposed and tested modifications that could be made in order to make the lift more structurally sound. The initial lift had a maximum deflection of 0.43846 inches, a maximum stress of 15880 psi, and a safety factor of …

Going Beyond The Textbook: Revitalizing Culture In The Spanish Classroom, Sarah Basar

Honors Theses

Effectively teaching the culture of a target language in foreign language classrooms can be a rather difficult and time-consuming task. Most often, culture is placed somewhere on a spectrum of either being a minor supplement to acquiring and learning the target language or utilizing culture as the direction through which grammar, vocabulary, and conversational practice are attained. Teachers’ beliefs, experiences, and resources all play a significant role in how culture is defined and taught in the schools of a country where globalization and immigration are quickly beginning to change the sociopolitical and demographic dynamics of our society. Thus, it is …

The Effects Of Media Multitasking On Congitive Control, Seth Thomas

Honors Theses

Research has shown that heavy media multitaskers, people who engage in more than one form of media simultaneously, have a more difficult time distinguishing relevant from irrelevant stimuli when distractions are present (Ophir et al., 2009). Research has also shown that attention-related deficiencies are correlated with deficiencies in prefrontal cortex functioning. Further studies have determined that working memory and prefrontal cortex functioning are linked (Klingberg, 2002). This thesis aimes to examine how the amount of time people engage in media multitasking relates to performance on cognitive ability measures including working memory, attention control, and impulsivity. Results in the first study …

Vibrio Vulnificus Monitoring Along The Coastal Bend And The Rio Grande Valley, Texas, Louay Bachnak

Honors Theses

Vibrio vulnificus is a common opportunistic pathogen found in marine, coastal, and estuarine waters. This one micrometer microorganism is the leading cause of deaths in the United States due to food poisoning after consumption of raw or undercooked seafood. The optimal temperature for survival is between 15.6°C and 35.0°C with moderate salinities – conditions frequently found in the Gulf of Mexico (Lin, Payne, & Schwarz, 2003).

In the United States, V. vulnificus infections are more common in states bordering the Gulf of Mexico, including Texas. However, infections can still occur in individuals consuming infected food more inland or sustain wounds …

Statistical Linear Mixed Models For Evaluation Of Training Program In Hand Surgery Chief Residents, Zoe Michelle Ross

Honors Theses

Resident clinics (RCs) are intended to catalyze the achievement of educational milestones through progressively autonomous patient care. However, few studies quantify their effect on competency-based surgical education, and no previous publications focus on hand surgery RCs. This study aims to use statistical theories and knowledge of descriptive statistics and inference statistics, such as confidence intervals, two sample t-tests, correlation and association tests, as well as statistical model building such as analysis of variance with random effects and mixed linear models. We hypothesize that the higher a resident’s training years, the higher the autonomy score (quality of surgery) will be. We …

An Analysis Of Prevalence Of Chytrid Fungus In An Amphibian Assemblage In Middle Tennessee, Cameron Brocco

Honors Theses

Chytridiomycosis is an infectious, fungal disease largely seen in amphibians, which is caused by the highly virulent, zoosporic, pathogenic, single-celled fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). It is known to cause epidermal hyperplasia, hyperkeratosis, skin ulcerations, and fatalities by asystolic cardiac arrest either from shifts in electrolytes or increased acidity in the blood plasma. Previous research has demonstrated that urban water bodies have a higher prevalence of chytrid fungus than rural water bodies. Researchers have also found that chytrid is more prevalent in open canopy habitats than closed canopy habitats. Furthermore, it is implicated in global population declines and local extinctions in …

Predicting The Author Of Twitter Posts With Markov Chain Analysis, Daniel Freeman

Honors Theses

Given a set of text with known authors, is it possible to take new text, not knowing who wrote it, and correctly identify the author? One way to do this is to analyze the text using Markov chains. This research project will first attempt to answer this question using books available in the public domain. Using what is learned from trying to identify authors of books, the primary goal of this project is to identify the best way to guess the author of a post on the social media network Twitter using Markov chains.

Policy Implications: An Analysis Of Intercountry Adoption In Relation To Nationalism, Victoria Szczechowski

Honors Theses

This research seeks to answer the question: Does level of nationalist sentiment expressed within a country affect the restrictiveness of the country’s intercountry adoption policy? Current literature has examined the influence of the level of nationalism expressed in a country on adoptive parents in choosing from which country to adopt; however, no study has examined the link between nationalism and country-specific intercountry adoption policy. The variable of nationalist sentiment warrants study, for the Hague Convention posits that intercountry adoption is a valid option only if “a suitable family cannot be found in his or her [the adoptable child’s] State of …

Magically Empathetic: An Investigation Of Theory Of Mind And Empathy In The Harry Potter Series, Lindsey M. Layman

Honors Theses

Research suggests that reading fiction can increase empathy, and a number of studies have found the Harry Potter series to promote pro-social values. One prosocial value that has not been explored directly in relation to the series, however, is empathy. Defined as “the experience of understanding another person’s condition from their perspective,” empathy is the motivation behind many prosocial behaviors and values, making it an important focus of investigation. In this study, I conduct a textual analysis of the Harry Potter series using the perspective of theory of mind and simulation theory as a guide. After analyzing a range of …

The Effects Of Perinatal Methamphetamine Use On Maternal And Child Outcomes: Implications For Education Among Bsn Nursing Students, Tina Nguyen

Honors Theses

The implications of methamphetamine use are vast and prevalent in the U.S. This epidemic is also well recognized in Tennessee and in Hamilton County. The number of men and women that continue to use methamphetamine speaks to the importance of this issue. Among these individuals, pregnant women comprise a significant portion of female methamphetamine users across the United States. The potential complications that can arise for not only a mother but also her child due to maternal methamphetamine use pose a much more significant issue. The detrimental effects that a child can experience as a result of maternal methamphetamine use …

Development And Production Of A One Act Play, Josiah D. Motok

Honors Theses

A commonly known facet of the traditional western Christian faith is that mankind is "created in God's image." The question that immediately follows this is "what is God's image?" or "what does it mean to be made in someone or something's image?" This play attempts to explore that question by creating an understandable and humanized caricature of the Christian God. In the author's opinion, what is meant by humanity being made in God's image is that humanity has been granted the power of consciousness, the attribute of individual and self-aware life. Neither the biblical representation of God nor many of …

A Biotic Survey Of Outcroppings And Pinctada Longisquamosa In Oyster Pond, San Salvador Island, Bahamas, One Year After Hurricane Joaquin, Ashton Selah Mitchell

Honors Theses

Oyster Pond is one of the marine inland ponds located on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Oyster Pond has connections to the ocean through a series of conduits in the pond, which cause the salinity of the pond to be marine pond, except after a hurricane and during a drought. Oyster Pond has a variety of marine life such as algae, small fish, and invertebrates occurring in mangroves, flocculent, conduits, and biotic outcroppings. The focus of this research was to evaluate the impact of the 2015 Hurricane Joaquin (17 months later) on water chemistry and the marine life of the biotic …

Effectiveness Of Conservation Education At The Chattanooga Zoo, Luke Allen Black

Honors Theses

Conservation is the central focus of many modern zoos and aquariums. These zoos incorporate guest education to facilitate a connection between zoo guests and animal conservation. I conducted a study at the Chattanooga Zoo and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga which examined two modern zoo education approaches. The two approaches utilized in the study are currently used in keeper chats at the Chattanooga Zoo. The first approach is an emotional appeal (an appeal to the personalities of the chimps at the zoo) and the second approach is a utilization of a take-action initiative (recycling cell phones to reduce mining …

Bsn Student's Perspective Of Departmental Honors Thesis: A Case Study Approach, Kathryn Messier

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to personally recount my experience and adventure constructing a Departmental Honors Thesis in the field of nursing research. This thesis is a case study approach in which I explore the question as to why there is an increase in African American infant mortality as opposed to other races. Nursing implications and theories as well as limitations to the research are included in this study as well. Construction of this thesis was met with great difficulty including an intense literature review, multiple changes in research methodologies, limited clinician participation, etc. Overall, the conclusion of this …

Developmental Steroids And Vitamins: Identified And Quantified In Predatory Lady Beetles, Andrea Hixson

Honors Theses

Autumn brings ladybeetles into homes to seek shelter during the winter, which is a nuisance. Their bites may induce an allergic reaction resulting in painful rashes. Predatory ladybeetles have been used as a biological control agents. Not only do they feed on ecological pests, they also feed on the saps of ripe fruits reducing the value of the damaged crop. Two species of ladybeetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) will be examined to determine the quantities of steroids and vitamins used throughout their life stages. The species examined are native, Hippodamia convergens, of North America, and an invasive, Harmonia axyridis, of Asia. The …

Riddarasögur: Changing Medieval Norway With French Romance Literature, Elizabeth Tuggle

Honors Theses

In the realm of Arthuriana, numerous versions exist of the adventures of King Arthur and his knights. The genre of the riddarasögur – “the sagas of knights” – contains Norwegian versions of these tales along with Norwegian versions of other French literature such as Marie de France’s lais and fabliaux. In the 13th century, King Hákon Hákonarson commissioned the translation of the French tales into Norwegian for the purpose of civilizing Norwegian society in general and the royal court in particular. Given the fair treatment of women and of love in the riddarasögur, King Hákon’s project to civilize his court …

A Comparative Analysis Of Professional Pilot Jobs, Ryan Snoeyink

Honors Theses

Professional Pilots fly aircraft for a living. Just like there are many different types of aircraft, there are many different types of professional pilot jobs. While it is an impossible task to describe every single job a professional pilot could have, there are four "groups" in which most jobs can be classified. These groups are Part 121 Scheduled Airline Service, Part 135 On-demand Charter, Part 91 Corporate/Private, and Part 61/141/142 Flight Instruction. The goal of this thesis is to examine the differences between these four groups; and by doing so, aid in the education and career decision making of those …

Correlations Between Religion And Book Sales In The Mississippi Gulf Coast Region, Ashley C. Yount

Honors Theses

This thesis will involve how local religious populations might affect the sales of books/book genres on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This paper will endeavor to answer this question: how would local religions affect book sales in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region? Firstly, it will explain the history behind religious literary censorship, as well as listing secular and religious institutions that protest or ban books. Secondly, it will define and categorize literature into genres, mainly fiction and nonfiction, with subgenres including fantasy and spiritual. Similarly, it will record what characteristics such as gender/sexuality, presence of intimate/sexual scenes, violence, supernatural phenomena/creatures, inappropriate …

The Relationship Between Parental Leave Policies And Infant Mortality: Global Policies, Local Practices, Jennifer Balcazar

Honors Theses

Study objective: Increased maternity leave has been shown to have a positive impact on maternal and child health, and increases the length of time that mothers breastfeed their infants. After childbirth, working women must decide if/when they will return to the workforce. These decisions are based on many factors. The purpose of this project is to determine the impact of current United States’ (US) family leave policies on Mississippi mothers’ decisions to return to work after the birth of their first child.

Study Design and Methods: A comprehensive survey was developed to collect information about mothers’ decisions to return to …