Digital Commons Network^™

Mindfulness In Education: A Literary Analysis And Program Proposal, Halle Graham

Honors Theses

The purpose of this work is to understand the potential impact of introducing mindfulness meditation and other contemplative practices to the United States Public Education System. Broken into two main components, the first section of this work is a literary analysis. Relevant studies on mental health in children and adolescents are analyzed in order to understand the state of mental wellbeing among the sample group. Research studies on integrating mindfulness into institutions (public and private schools, children’s summer camps) are also evaluated in order to understand the applications of mindfulness practices in terms of children and adolescents. Overall, the research …

“Keeping Down The Underground:” The Underrated Value Of Indie Music Scenes As Economic Development Tools For Small American Cities, Meghan Mckinney

Honors Theses

Indie music holds the largest share of the global music market and is a multibillion-dollar industry. On a more local scale, indie music can contribute significant revenue to small American cities through locally owned independent record stores, live venues, and festivals. Each of these elements, with the addition of the people involved in indie music in a variety of capacities, interacts within a centralized location known as an indie music scene. Collectively, these scenes can generate massive amounts of revenue through music sales, ticket sales, tourism, and various other business offerings. To the small cities in which these scenes operate, …

Suffering Sappho! Female Friendships In Superhero Comics, 1940s To 1960s And Today, Hannah R. Costelle

Honors Theses

Comic book superheroines are the goddesses of modern times; they are the ideal beautiful, powerful women of America’s collective imagination whom girls have looked up to and emulated for decades. But these iconic examples of womanhood usually lack one of the key elements of humanity that enrich real women’s lives, an element that has been proven to increase women’s autonomy and confidence: female friendships. Wonder Woman may have led armies of female friends in the 1940s when superheroines first appeared in the comics pages, but by the 1950s and ‘60s, female characters confiding in one another and working together in …

Application Of Neural Networks For Intelligent Video Game Character Artificial Intelligences, Simon D. Mikulcik

Honors Theses

Much of today’s gaming culture pushes for increased realism and believability. While these movements have led to much more realistic graphics, we also need to keep in mind the behavior of artificial intelligence characters also in the game. Neural Networks are complicated data structures that have shown potential to learn and interpret complex behavior. This research analyzes the application of neural network as primary controllers for video game characters’ artificial intelligence. The paper considers the existing artificial intelligence techniques, and the existing uses of neural networks. It then describes a project in which a video game was created to serve …

A Correlative Study Of Epidemiological Mortality And Morbidity Rates: Appalachian Vs Non-Appalachian Counties Within Kentucky, Nicholas E. Vossenberg, Lindsay Calderon

Honors Theses

In this study, differences in mortality rates were statistically analyzed between Kentucky Appalachian County Populations (KACP) and Kentucky Non-Appalachian County Populations (KnACP) for 2013. Health – risk factors and socio – economic conditions were also assessed to determine if they put KACP at a higher risk of the five most common causes of death in Kentucky. Estill County, a KACP, was also specifically examined for its mortality and health – risk factor rates. By examining the 2013 database provided by the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it was determined that …

"Literally Psycho"--Empathy For Those Who Have None, Through The Use Of Literature, Tyla Poindexter

Honors Theses

In today’s society, the word “Psychopath” gets thrown around very easily. But does society really know what it means to truly be a clinically diagnosed Psychopath? This thesis is all about uncovering the truth about what Psychopathy looks like, how Psychopathy is handled in the courtroom, and why people should not despise, but have empathy for Psychopaths. This was accomplished by writing a thrilling short story about a young clinical psychologist by the name of Dr. T Campbell who is assigned to interview a very charismatic man named Peter Vetrov for the court. Peter has been deemed guilty of 3 …

The Creation Of A Video Review Guide For The Free-Response Section Of The Advanced Placement Calculus Exam, Jeffrey Brown

Honors Theses

The Creation of a Video Review Guide for the Free-Response Section of the Advanced Placement Calculus Exam follows the creation of a resource to help students prepare for the College Board’s Advanced Placement Calculus Exam. This project originated out of the authors personal experiences in preparing for this exam. The goal of the project was to create an accessible resource that reviews content, provides insights into the Advanced Placement exam, and creates successful habits in student responses. This paper, chronologically, details the development of the resource and a reflection on the final product and future uses.

The Effect Of Wee1 On Mitosis In The Spb Mutant, David Leroy

Honors Theses

The speedbump mutant has been identified as an early arrest mutant, becoming apparent as soon as 80% epiboly (8.5 hours of development). This mutant has a mutation in wee1, which is a protein regulating entry into mitosis ensuring the completion of DNA replication before mitosis. The lack of this protein in speedbump allows for early entry into mitosis resulting in damage to the chromosome. Here, we investigate two questions: if mitosis in the speedbump mutant phenotype is more frequent than wild-type phenotype, and, if so, is there a phase in which the mutant phenotype favors. We used phosphorylated histone H3 …

The Theoretical Application And Comparison Of The Olfactory Sensory Organs In Swine Vs Canines For Accelerant And Explosives Detection, Naomi M. Sigler

Honors Theses

Swine may be able to work alongside scent detection canines, or replace them completely, in the scent detection field. Miniature pigs are the focus of this study since their larger counterparts can cause damage to potential evidence and to the scene itself. Ignitable Liquid Residues (ILRs) are searched for in post-fire conditions, and unconsumed explosives are searched for in major transportation hubs. Swine have more functional olfactory genes and less pseudogenes than humans, canines, and mice. Swine also have a highly functioning and exceedingly organized olfactory system. Swine are social creatures, which allows them to bond with a distinct handler. …

Differences In Amphetamine/Dextroamphetamine Prescriptions In Areas With & Without Large Universities, Heather Bacon

Honors Theses

This investigative study is examining trends in stimulant prescribing for several Michigan counties. An ex-post facto design was used to determine trends in the amount of amphetamine/dextroamphetamine dispensed in four Michigan counties containing large universities and two Michigan counties not containing large universities over the years 2007-2012. The study found suggestive evidence that there is an increasing trend of amphetamine/dextroamphetamine prescriptions filled in both counties with and without large universities. Suggestive evidence was also found that counties with large universities display a greater average amount of amphetamine/dextroamphetamine dispensed than counties without large universities for the years 2007-2012. Because the study …

Graphene Kirigami And Its Use In Biocompatible Strain Sensor, Erik Vyhmeister

Honors Theses

Graphene's large fracture strain (>30%), chemical inertness, and piezoresistive nature make it well suited for use as a biocompatible strain sensor. A rectangular multilayer strucutre with graphene as its operative component was designed. It consists of a bottom layer of SU-8, a center layer of graphene, and a top layer of SU-8 and gold, with gold acting as the electrical contact. Kirigami-style patterning is applied via photolithography and oxygen plasma etching, allowing for a greater fracture strain. Additionally, the kirigami affects the stress concentraton in the graphene, affecting its piezoresistive gauge factor. The complete (patterned) structure exhibited a fracture …

An Analysis On The Growth Of Student Loans And Its Implications On The U.S. Economy, Jensine Voon

Honors Theses

Student loan debt is an issue facing the United States of America today. More and more people are enrolling themselves into college, hoping that a college degree would increase their chances of employment and improve their standard of living. However, the rise in demand for tertiary education has an effect on the amount of student loan debt accumulated in America. A hike in college tuition fees has caused a rise in default rate among student borrowers. More borrowers are entering repayment plans because they are not able to make their monthly loan payments. This phenomenon has altered borrowers’ decision on …

From Love Canal To The Flint Water Crisis: Government, Public Opinion, And Environmental Crises, Sarah Hughey

Honors Theses

After the rise of the modern-day environmental movement, environmentalism in the United States focused more and more on issues and crises related to the areas in which people lived and to the aspects that impacted public health. In particular, the crisis at Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York during the late 1970s and early 1980s provided a starting point to the awareness and activism of modern environmental history. Recently, an environmental crisis related to drinking water occurred in Flint, Michigan in the mid-2010s that showcases how various aspects of the environmental movement have developed over time since the Love …

Hello Kitty's Long-Standing Cross-Cultural Popularity In The United States And Japan, Melanie Matchette

Honors Theses

Hello Kitty’s success is unique in that the character is popular across the world and has been popular for decades. This paper seeks to determine how Sanrio has gained and maintained success in both the United States and Japan despite their differences in consumers. I will explore the differences and similarities in marketing strategies employed in each country. I develop themes that attempt to explain the success of marketing techniques unique to each country as well as marketing techniques that worked for both countries.

After exploring the reasons behind marketing success in each country, I determine what Sanrio could do …

Retinal Ganglion Cell Neuroprotection Induced By Neuropharmacological Agents In An In-Vivo Model Of Glaucoma, Quinn Ameel

Honors Theses

Recent discoveries from this lab have demonstrated that activation of alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α7 nAChRs) on retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the retina is linked to neuroprotection of RGCs that are typically lost in glaucoma-like conditions. Various chemical agents have been produced to increase overall neurotransmission of ACh from cholinergic neurons. DMP-543 is an agent that increases calcium release from cholinergic synaptic terminals. Donepezil is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor that inhibits the breakdown of ACh in the synaptic cleft, prolonging ACh’s effect. In this study, the neuroprotective activity of these two agents was analyzed at the synapse between starburst amacrine …

Calculating And Analyzing Night Sky Brightness For The Commerce/Greenville, Texas Area, Rebecca Bosmans

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

I-94 Advanced Bridge Replacement, Saleem Alsharari

Honors Theses

The Michigan Department of Transportation has always felt the need of improving and increasing the capacity of the most critical highway in the state of Michigan, I-94. Part of the improvement plan is to increase the capacity of a 6-mile segment along a corridor of I-94 from French Avenue to Trumbull Avenue which is in a suburban neighborhood of Detroit. There are eight bridges built in the 1950’s that need to be re-constructed for a capacity increase. Vehicular and non-motorized traffic must be accounted for in the design of these bridges. The project is intended to increase the service life …

Attitude Determination Control Testing System (Helmholtz Cage And Air Bearing), Nicolas Theoret

Honors Theses

The WALI team at Western Michigan University requested a test environment to validate their CubeSat’s de-tumbling control system and hardware. The test environment required a Helmholtz cage and spherical air bearing. The Helmholtz cage provides an adjustable magnetic field to simulate low earth orbit; the spherical air bearing simulates the friction free environment the CubeSat will experience in space. In conjunction, the two components create an adjustable system that simulates a satellite in low earth orbit.

Total Bridge Replacement Of M-13 Over Cheboyganing Creek, Daniel Burns

Honors Theses

The Michigan Department of Transportation sought a proposal consisting of design and construction engineering services for the total bridge replacement of M-13 over Cheboyganing Creek. The M-13 Bridge Project is located on M-13 over Cheboyganing Creek on the Saginaw River in Portsmouth Township, Bay County, Michigan.

Several components of the existing bridge have been rated in poor or serious condition on the National Bridge Inventory rating scale. A total bridge replacement is required and aligns with MDOT strategies to address critical infrastructure needs in the state as well as the Bay Region's five-year plan for managing bridge and culvert infrastructure. …

Role-Based Access Control Filesystem, Scott Linder

Honors Theses

Access control is a prerequisite for security in computing systems. Unix permission bits are insufficient for many applications. Advanced access control models, including Multi Level Security (MLS), Role Based Access Control (RBAC), and Domain Type Enforcement (DTE) offer added security. Being able to understand and implement these models both as a software developer and a user of software is important, and this is the topic of university courses. A linux filesystem implementing RBAC was developed as a teaching aid for courses in secure software design. The filesystem is implemented in C using the Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE) kernel module. This …

Cubesat Adcs Validation And Testing Apparatus, Jacob Stevens

Honors Theses

The WALI team at Western Michigan University requested a test environment to validate their CubeSat’s de-tumbling control system and hardware. The test environment required a Helmholtz cage and spherical air bearing. The Helmholtz cage provides an adjustable magnetic field to simulate low earth orbit; the spherical air bearing simulates the friction free environment the CubeSat will experience in space. In conjunction, the two components create an adjustable system that simulates a satellite in low earth orbit.

A Visual Representation Of Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Heather Leigh Hoskins

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Stronger Together: The Reality Of Humanities Curriculum In A Stem Focused Era, Morgan Dalton

Honors Theses

The world of education is constantly changing. However, the way the pendulum is currently swinging has placed the Humanities, what has been seen as the framework since ancient times, under attack. Currently, that pendulum has become predominately focused on STEM education, and many budget cuts are being made to any part of the curriculum that does not fall under that category. This is not only seen in college and the job market, but in K-12 education. Pre-service teachers focusing on a STEM subject are often offered more incentives. Many college bound students are also shying away from the arts, especially …

Prison Stories: A Qualitative Study Of Women’S Experiences In Prison, Lizeth Chapa

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study to provide a meaningful profile of women offenders that will deliver a comprehensive understanding on the problems women face while in prison so that treatment can address these issues. Qualitative methodology, specifically the use of an open-ended questionnaire is used to examine the lives and issues that women in prison face. The sample consists of females who have previously been incarcerated in the state of Texas. They completed a semi-structured open-ended questionnaire in order to assess their perceptions of: (a) factors that contributed to their criminal behaviors, (b) how being incarcerated has positively or negatively …

Teenagers Need Drugs Too: Attitudes On The Accessibility And Acceptability Of The Hpv Vaccine From Parents Of Different Socioeconomic Statuses, Kristen Angell' Dupard

Honors Theses

Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of death among women around the world and is linked to the human papillomavirus (HPV). Strains HPV-16 and-18 are linked to the causes of cervical cancer. Research shows that HPV vaccination in adolescent females projects a 70% non-contraction rate. However, only 57.3% of girls between the ages of 13-17 in the U.S. have received their first HPV vaccination dose. Researchers have begun speculating that factors such SES and race could be contributing to low vaccination participation. Answers to such information can aid in improving federal and state vaccination policies and prevent the …

Winning At The Graduate Level Of Warfare: Six Core Factors Of A Successful Counterinsurgency Campaign And The Example Of Sierra Leone, John D. Rimann

Honors Theses

The most common form of warfare so far in the 21st Century has been insurgencies and counterinsurgencies, types of warfare which are particularly challenging for industrialized Western nations to wage effectively. This paper identifies six factors of primary importance which form the key to a successful counterinsurgency campaign. These factors are legitimacy, clarity, beneficial geopolitical factors, restraint, intellectual understanding, and an enduring commitment. This paper argues that these factors must all be present for a counterinsurgency campaign to succeed, and argues that without these factors being accounted for a counterinsurgency will fail. The British humanitarian intervention in Sierra Leone in …

The Employability Of Former Criminals, Miranda Donnell

Honors Theses

This thesis presents a view into the way employers view hiring decisions with particular focus on the hiring of former criminals, and what information these hiring professionals require in order to make what they would consider an educated hiring decisions related to the risks associated with hiring individuals with prior criminal histories. While there are thousands of people looking for jobs in the United States, there is a parallel employment gap for former criminals. For numerous reasons, the unemployment rate is much higher for former criminals. Abundant research has found that, in general, employers and the public believe two very …

Separate Ways Or Til Death Do Us Part?: Divorce In Victorian Literature, Ashley L. Felder

Honors Theses

Divorce laws changed radically across the Victorian period (1837-1901), making divorce more accessible, particularly for men. Considering how those changes affected the portrayal of divorce in early, mid, and late Victorian novels, this study analyzes the literary representation of divorce in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847), Charles Dickens’s Hard Times (1854), and George Meredith’s Diana of the Crossways (1885), contextualizing this analysis with literary criticism and legal history. No matter how accessible divorce became during the nineteenth century and no matter a character’s reason for wanting to end his/her marriage, divorce is not presented as a legitimate option for characters …

Teacher Perceived Barriers To Inclusive Instructional Delivery Approaches, Casey M. Wright

Honors Theses

The aim of this undergraduate thesis is to identify the perceived barriers to Inclusive Instructional Delivery Approaches (IIDA) through the perspective of general education teachers. For decades, students identified as having special educational needs have not been adequately served in the classroom. This study reveals the best practices used to include students with disabilities in the general education classroom and why they are not being employed as often as they should be. Through use of survey, the researcher allowed for the opportunity to answer (a) Which IIDAs are used most often? (b) How much time per week do teachers spend …

Sedimentology Of A Small Estuarine Marsh Along East (Pensacola) Bay, Florida, Jesse Pfadenhauer

Honors Theses

Sediment samples from a marsh along East (Pensacola) Bay were analyzed using various laboratory techniques. The color, magnetic susceptibility, organic content, carbonate content, and sediment size distribution of each sample was measured to attain an overall profile of the sedimentary characteristics of the area. Using the GPS coordinates of each collection site, samples were categorized into sub-environments based on their position within the marsh. The trends within the study area and sub-environments were evaluated and interpreted. The data indicate that this marsh is a siliciclastic, fining-inland area that is frequently inundated with tidal fluctuations and storm surges. These storm surges …