Digital Commons Network^™

The Calusa And Early Spanish Settlement: An Archaeological-Historic Analysis Of Early European Contact In Southern Florida, Rylan Cromer

Honors Theses

In 1513 Juan Ponce de León led an expedition force to explore the western coastline of Florida as part of a mission for the Spanish Crown to map the Gulf of Mexico and determine the capability of the area to potentially support Spanish colonization attempts. Instead, León established first contact with a powerful native society that successfully drove León and his fleet of three ships from their shores with nothing more than bows and basic dugout canoes. For nearly a century afterward, the mere presence of these people, the Calusa, was enough to limit Spanish settlement to the Eastern coastline …

"El Bloqueo" And The Initial Changes To Expect In Cuba Following Its Repeal, Justin B. Asher

Honors Theses

This document seeks the answer to the question, "What will happen when the Embargo in place against Cuba by the U. S. government is lifted?" This question undoubtedly came to the front of many Americans’ minds when President Obama announced on December 17,2014 that the United States and Cuba would begin diplomatic relations by opening embassies in the capital city of one another's state. It uses various sources to define the Cuban Embargo and the events that led to its manifestation, the current state of affairs with Cuba (roughly 2 years after the announcement). While the United States seeks a …

The Educational Experience: Understanding The Voices Of Students With And Without Specific Learning Disorders, Morgan A. Wood

Honors Theses

Elementary school is a pivotal time during a child’s development in cognition, social behaviors and relationships, and development of self. For students who may have significant academic disabilities, resulting in a diagnosis of a Specific Learning Disorder, this time can be more difficult than their “typical” learning peers. Intervention techniques have been developed and implemented; however, academic success is defined as increased standardized test scores. Little research has been done regarding these students’ emotional and social success within their prescribed intervention technique. It is the aim of this study to strive to understand the voices of students with specific learning …

Preserving Life, Identity, And The Human Experience: The Music Of Józef Kropiński In The Nazi Concentration Camps And Its Role In Memorialization, Anndee Harrell

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

We Learn To Walk By Falling: Portraits And Wisdom From Women, Jennifer Townsend

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

The Role Of Physician's Assistants On Limiting The Risk Of Surgical Errors, Courtney Adler

Honors Theses

Surgical errors existed long before physician assistants (PA) starting joining surgical teams. However, the addition of PAs to surgical teams added a team member with a medical perspective that was different from everyone else’s. PAs are able to follow surgical patients through all the steps of the surgical process. This allows them to have a deeper knowledge of the patient’s case, putting them in a position to promote a culture of safety and reduce the risk of surgical errors. This study generates an idea of how the PA plays a role in lowering the risk of surgical errors by promoting …

Factors Influencing The Decision To Remove A Player From An Nba Game: A Lebron James Case Study, Jordan Tyler

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Political Oversight In Democratization: The Cases Of Japan And Bangladesh, Andrea K. Griner

Honors Theses

This study seeks to illustrate the importance of oversight in parliamentary democracies. A case study of Japan and Bangladesh is analyzed with a focus on legislative oversight. Results stress the importance of stable institutions and executives, and incentives for parties to consolidate.

Fanfiction Communities And Plagiarism: An Academic Inquiry, Claudia I. Hicks

Honors Theses

Fanfiction communities give would-be authors a place to practice their craft. This study focused on how fanfiction community members defined and policed plagiarism. The aim of this study was to conduct qualitative analysis of plagiarism cases in online fanfiction communities. The data sources were analyzed using Grounded Theory. Analysis found that fanfiction communities use certain protocols to police plagiarism except when it violates their highest value, popularity. This study contributes to our understanding of plagiarism in a digital age.

Socio-Emotional Development In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Christiana K. Whitley

Honors Theses

The purpose of the present study was to determine which lesson from a social skills program would result in the greatest improvement in duration of social interaction for children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) between the ages of five and fifteen. The Superheroes Social Skills Program (Jensen et al., 2011) includes lesson plans that focus directly on helping children with ASD develop communication skills in group settings. The data indicate that one specific lesson, Participation and Joining In, was responsible for the largest mean increase in duration of social interactions of participants. Social skills lessons were introduced …

Protein Residue-Residue Contact Prediction Using Stacked Denoising Autoencoders, Joseph Bailey Luttrell Iv

Honors Theses

Protein residue-residue contact prediction is one of many areas of bioinformatics research that aims to assist researchers in the discovery of structural features of proteins. Predicting the existence of such structural features can provide a starting point for studying the tertiary structures of proteins. This has the potential to be useful in applications such as drug design where tertiary structure predictions may play an important role in approximating the interactions between drugs and their targets without expending the monetary resources necessary for preliminary experimentation. Here, four different methods involving deep learning, support vector machines (SVMs), and direct coupling analysis were …

Bodies Unbroken: Disability In Indra Sinha's Animal's People And Katherine Dunn's Geek Love, Hannah C. Baker

Honors Theses

This project explored the representation of physical disability in modern fiction with the hope to prove that disabled characters are receiving more complex and complete treatment in fiction as a reflection of social change, progress that is also supported by the growing field of disability scholarship. I will explore how two contemporary novels depart from older conventions of representing the disabled as static symbols of good or evil or as broken persons who need to be fixed. Scholars in both English and Disability Studies have commented on these problems, and their insights informed my argument.

Furthermore, I will explore the …

Assessing The Feasibility Of A One-Pot, Tandem Olefin Metathesis And Isomerization Sequence To Synthesize Conjugated Aromatic Olefins, Ajay D. Makwana

Honors Theses

The synthesis of substituted phenylpropene dimers using a one-pot, tandem olefin metathesis and isomerization sequence has been studied. This sequence relies on the facilitated, in-situ conversion of a ruthenium carbene species (Ru=C) to a ruthenium hydride species (Ru-H) upon addition of an inorganic hydride source. Three separate reactions occur within one reaction flask: 1) olefin metathesis of the starting phenylpropene to yield phenylpropene dimer via Ru=C catalyst, 2) conversion of Ru=C to Ru-H via addition of an inorganic hydride source, 3) isomerization of phenylpropene dimer via insertion and β-hydride elimination to yield conjugated product. The focus of the study has …

Determining Energy Output In Manual And Automated Solar Arrays, James K. Ayres

Honors Theses

The scope for the project was to design and construct a system that could be used to both manually and automatically track the sun using solar panels to demonstrate engineering principles for classroom and laboratory experiments at both the primary and secondary education levels. For ease of demonstration, a manual and automatic tracker was designed for the experiment. Using a standard camera tripod, the solar panels were attached to fabricated mounts to allow for omnidirectional movement. For the automated, or active tracker, an Ardunio Uno microcontroller was used in conjunction with two 180˚ servos to adjust the active tracker solar …

Ireland Defined As Place, Halley Andrews

Honors Theses

Ireland is a country filled both with rich land and rich culture. In this project, I undertook to better understand this beautiful country by examining it in terms of place and space, and also by studying and analyzing its literature. I discuss the complex relationship between space, a physical location, and place, the meaning given to a certain location and construct a “tablecloth model” that I then use to analyze the place and space seen in modern Irish literature, examining writers such as Seamus Heaney, William Butler Yeats, and Patrick Kavanagh. I compare the authors’ and poets’ sense of Irish …

The Phenology And Compatibility Of Hazelnut (Corylus Avellana) Cultivars In Tennessee, Ben Nigel Heard

Honors Theses

The European hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.), is an important temperate zone nut tree species for which there is an expanding demand worldwide. Historically, the Eastern filbert blight disease (EFB), caused by the ascomycete fungus Anisogramma anomala, has prevented commercial hazelnut growing in Tennessee. As part of a UTC hazelnut cultivar trial, EFB resistant hazelnut cultivars and numbered selections from Oregon State University and Burnt Ridge Nursery were planted in 2003 at Smith Farm in Ooltewah, TN. Hazelnut trees are wind-pollinated, dichogamous, and self-incompatible, which means they are not self-fertile, their male and female blossoms may open at different times, and …

Women In Gaming: A Study Of Female Players’ Experiences In Online Fps Games, M Allison Mcdaniel

Honors Theses

Existing literature has long been divided over whether the gaming world fosters violence and misogyny or provides a space for people to explore diverse identities. Not enough is known about how women experience videogames, especially the hypermasculine environment of first-person shooter (FPS) games. Competition, violence, and war, are dominant features of these games. The following thesis explores what harassment and discrimination women playing FPS games face, how they respond, and in what ways they find games to be empowering. A survey was distributed online to an international sample of 141 female FPS gamers. This research finds that women who play …

Private Vs. Public Healthcare In South Africa, Montgomery Young

Honors Theses

This paper explores the South African healthcare system in regards to the gap between the private and public healthcare sectors. Public healthcare is government funded and offered to all citizens of South Africa, but there are many disadvantages such as long wait times, rushed appointments, old facilities, and poor disease control and prevention practices. Citizens can opt to purchase private insurance in order to be treated at private hospitals and health clinics. The private healthcare sector has many perks that set it apart from public healthcare, such as short wait times, appointments are not rushed, better facilities, and proper disease …

'The Crisis Of 1297': Royal Prerogative, The Commonality, And The Limitations Of The Crown, Zachary J. Warren

Honors Theses

Modern economic scholarship does not take into consideration institutional examinations of legal power, which affected the three estates: nobility, clergy, and the commons. Additionally, scholars have not studied a correlation between the concessionary charters the king signed after 1297 and the power the commons held at the conclusion of the 'Crisis.' Therefore, this paper's intervention combines both the modern economic and traditional institutional approaches to historical scholarship in an attempt to showcase the means by which Edward I exercised royal power during the 1290s and the consequential effect of this power on the English economy. The purpose of this cross-examination …

(Mis)Representation By Bravo: Maintaining/Countering Stereotypes Of Black Women On Reality Television, Michelle Mayfield

Honors Theses

This honors thesis investigates the use of stereotypes used to portray Black women on reality television.  Focusing on Bravo’s Blood Sweat and Heels, this project utilizes an Afrosemiotic framework, which is a combination of Afrocentricity and Semiotics.  Afrocentricity focuses on the agency and consciousness of Africans and African Americans.  Semiotics focuses on the study of signs and the explicit and implicit markers of these signs.  The first season’s narrative focuses on the positive lives of single, successful Black women but shifts to mainly negative portrayals inspired by Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise.  This project focuses on stereotypes associated with Black …

Clearing Up Calculus With Adaptive Learning Habits, Jennifer Patterson

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Diagnostic Practices Of Autism Spectrum Disorders In Brazil, Ana Claudia Vesper Manier Dias

Honors Theses

In Brazil, in spite of over half a million students with special needs in primary education, little research has been conducted about ASD diagnostic practices. This involves learning about the training that professionals are receiving, what diagnostic practices are being implemented on the field, and whether those are being contextualized according to the Brazilian culture. Students with special needs are directly affected by the results of diagnostic practices, since identifying the individuals is one of the first steps. Lack of understanding about that stage may lead to the problematic realities of underidentification or overidentification, exclusion of children who should receive …

"Why Do We Laugh When We Should Cry?...Is It Only Here In This Sad Island?": Gender, Affect, And Empire In Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea And Johnston's Fool's Sanctuary, Kylie Dennis

Honors Theses

British colonial literature has produced no shortage of the silent woman: she has surfaced in a variety of disguises as the domestic wife, the colonial woman, and the mysterious, exoticized other. For contemporary women writers interested in countries occupied by British forces, the prominence of the silent woman has produced a dilemma of writing agentic female characters and women's voices into literature without centuries of historical precedent for doing so. For Jean Rhys and Jennifer Johnston, dissatisfaction with the representation of women's narratives has inspired novels that engage with iconic colonial women, revising their stories and reconsidering the space for …

Disaster Relief Housing: A Passive Design Approach, Lauren K. Ovca

Honors Theses

Hurricanes, forest fires, floods, and avalanches are only a few of the natural disasters that can devastate cities, communities, and families. Too often the individuals that have endured these catastrophes have nowhere to go. As traveling out of the area may not be possible, they are often crowded into shelters or given inferior, substandard housing. These living conditions are far from ideal, and what was initially presented as a housing solution for a week or two can quickly turn into a harsh reality for several months or more.

Why not provide better housing solutions during these trying times? The answer …

"Make Margaret Atwood Fiction Again": Burke's Perspective By Incongruity And The Shifting Image Of The Handmaid, Morgan Hydrick

Honors Theses

Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale has been a source of inspiration and warning for readers since the 1980s. However, the novel itself never garnered the kind of attention Bruce Miller's Hulu adaptation has. In response to the show's timing with the current political climate, there are women dressing up as oppressed handmaids and lining the front steps of capitol buildings, filling rows during legislative sessions, and standing in silence in front of the White House in response. By using Kenneth Burke's theories regarding juxtaposition, irony, the grotesque, and comic correctives, I explore how the novel, the television show, and …

Learning And Memory In A Drosophila Melanogaster Model Of Alzheimer's Disease, Eric Robles

Honors Theses

Human Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent and lethal neurodegenerative disease; it involves the accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles, loss of synapses and neurons in specific areas of the brain, and the presence of extracellular amyloid plaques, particularly Amyloid beta-42 (AP-42). In this study, two Drosophila transgenic fly lines carrying either elav-GAL4 driver or UAS-AP-42 transgene, were crossed to generate AD flies that expressed low levels of human Ap-42. Male AD flies (experimental) and elav-GAL4 flies (as parental control without AP-42) were tested for learning and short-term memory using the courtship suppression assay (Siegal and Hall, 1979). The courtship suppression …

Was 2015 The Summer Of The Shark? Evidence From The Coastal Carolina University Shark Project, Brooke Anderson

Honors Theses

Winyah Bay is a 65-km2 estuary in northeast South Carolina and is considered essential habitat and nursery ground for several shark species of the western North Atlantic. As a result of a number of shark bites/attacks during the summer of 2015, many concluded there was higher abundance of sharks than in previous years. The objective of this study was to test this hypothesis using surveys of shark populations from Winyah Bay in the summer of 2015, and comparing the diversity and abundance of sharks from this survey to those of previous years from the same survey. From July to August …

Abundance And Distribution Of Microplastic Particles In Winyah Bay, S.C. ‌, Dillon King

Honors Theses

Plastics are incredibly durable synthetic polymers used in a wide variety of consumer products. Microplastics are generally defined as plastic debris ranging from 0.33 to 5 millimeters in size. Microplastic pollution in the environment is a global concern because of their propensity to serve as a vector for bioaccumlation and the spread of harmful bacteria. This study characterized the concentrations of floating microplastics in Winyah Bay, South Carolina, the surrounding freshwater river systems, and 10 miles offshore of Winyah Bay. Samples were collected according to NOAA standard techniques for microplastic collection in water using a 335 µm and 153 µm …

Development Of A [2]-Catenane Synthetic Method And A Student Beliefs Survey For A Hybrid Organometallics Course, Jourdan E. Lakes

Honors Theses

In this study, the value-added of a new upper-level chemistry course, CHEM 372-Organometallics, was defined using a Student Beliefs Survey that was answered by students in CHEM 372 and by faculty who teach upper-level chemistry courses at Coastal Carolina University. The laboratory portion of CHEM 372 focused on the synthesis of a [2]-catenane, which is a molecularly interlocked molecule (MIM). The intention was to give the CHEM 372 students a goal to work toward over the course of the semester instead of different, unrelated, experiments each week. Using this style of lab teaching, the students were introduced to graduate school-level …

Managing A Crisis: Should America Continue To Encourage Its Youth To Participate In Football Given Recent Findings On Player Safety And Concussions, Brock Matava

Honors Theses

In recent years, more light has been shed on player safety issues when it comes to youth sports, football especially. The major emphasis of concern is on reducing concussion rates among our youth and an exposure to the potentially lifelong disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Financially however, the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of football anywhere in the world, is healthier than it has ever been. If the NFL wants to stay on the fast-track it currently enjoys, concussions and player safety are two issues that it will undoubtedly be under pressure to face. The pros and cons …