Digital Commons Network^™

Acl Injuries In Female Athletes: Are Prevention Programs The Answer?, Brooke Chandor

Honors Theses

Around 400,000 people tear their anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs) every year in the United States. The majority of these injuries occur during athletics, and most commonly to females. Their neuromuscular abilities, anatomies, and hormones put female athletes at a much higher risk of ACL injury than male athletes. The current gold standard of treatment, ACL reconstruction, is an imperfect technique at best. It leaves patients with much higher risk of both ACL reinjury and early onset of osteoarthritis. Prevention programs, aimed at reducing the neuromuscular risk factors in female athletes, have proved to effectively reduce the number of noncontact ACL …

Inequality And Involvement: Participatory Trends In The Politics Of A Rural Maine Town, Shelby O'Neill

Honors Theses

Interdisciplinary research suggests that participation in most forms of political activity in the United States is stratified by socioeconomic status. People with higher socioeconomic statuses are more able and willing to participate in politics than people with lower socioeconomic statuses. This participatory inequality amplifies the political voice of the upper class relative to the lower class. However, little academic attention has been paid to analyzing the impact of socioeconomic inequality on participation in local politics. By analyzing participatory trends in the politics of the rural town of Belgrade, ME, this honors thesis fills a gap in the academic literature on …

Innovation And Productivity: Evidence From China, Jingying Xu

Honors Theses

This paper investigates a lesser-known effect of innovation on the productivity of manufacturing firms in China using data that cover more than 330,000 firms across 40 sectors from 1998 to 2008. Innovation plays a key role in the productivity of firms and it matters for all types of firms, new as well as established. The ratio of new product output to the firm’s total outputs is used to measure innovation ability in this paper. A higher ratio is expected to have a positive impact on a firm’s productivity since new products are likely to be more differentiated than old products …

School Gardens: Cultivating A Child’S Nutritional Habits, Environmental Knowledge, And Sustainability Practices, Jeffrey Meltzer

Honors Theses

School gardens have existed since the late nineteenth century and today are becoming increasingly popular in many parts of the world, including where I studied in Maine and Australia (AUS). Multiple organizations support school gardens in Maine, including the Maine School Garden Network, which has over 125 registered school gardens. In AUS, the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation primarily supports the school garden movement and has over 800 registered school gardens. While many researchers have studied school gardens, few have compared two countries, focused on environmental sustainability, or investigated Maine in particular. This thesis combines information from literature reviews, and …

Mathematical Modeling Of Emiliania Huxleyi And A Host-Specific Virus, Julia Middleton

Honors Theses

The world’s oceans provide the basis for life on the planet. One microscopic algae, the coccolithophores, and Emiliania huxleyi in particular, is a major source of carbon drawdown in the context of the global carbon cycle and account for a significant amount of the primary production in oceanic ecosystems. We know that the oceans are packed with marine viruses and they have an important role in the rise and fall of plankton populations but current mathematical models do not accurately account for virus-host interactions when predicting plankton blooms. Therefore I am using model optimization and comparison techniques to evaluate current …

From Development To Desintegration: Elites And The Connectedness Of Mountain Communities In Western North Carolina From The Antebellum Period To The End Of The Civil War, Colin W. Hull

Honors Theses

This paper undertakes as study of western North Carolina and the connectedness of mountain communities as they developed and disintegrated over the course of the antebellum period and the American Civil War. The research and conclusions in this paper confront common stereotypes of Appalachia, which include individualism, backwardness, isolation, and unionism during the Civil War. These stereotypes and generalizations have been attributed to the region by early histories, outsider accounts, and popular representations and have led to a myth of an engrained mountain culture, embodying those stereotypes. Mountain communities were not stagnant and unchanged throughout the 19^th century, but …

Expanding The Literary Enterprise: How We Experience The Texts Of The Advanced Placement English Literature And Composition Curriculum, Molly Ostrow

Honors Theses

How we read the texts of the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition curriculum.

La (Re)Imaginación De Una Ruta Milenaria: El Camino De Santiago En El Modelaje De Una Espiritualidad Moderna, Benjamin Lester

Honors Theses

El Camino de Santiago ha visto un gran influjo de peregrinos modernos desde 1993, año en que fue declarado patrimonio mundial de la UNESCO: aquel año jacobeo vio 99.436 peregrinos en comparación con los 9.764 del año anterior. Esta tesis explora la experiencia del peregrino, considerando obras culturales que 1) han sido producidas después de 1993, fecha a partir de la cual hay mayor énfasis en una espiritualidad diferente y transformadora, según la tesis que se defiende en este trabajo; 2) trata solo del Camino francés, que es el que conecta con Europa y, por tanto, el que tiene carácter …

Queering The Production Of Sexual Knowledge: Narrative Strategies, Gender Politics And The Promise Of Feminist Focus Groups, Madeline J. Hunsicker

Honors Theses

Dominant public discourses structure our interpretations of sexual acts in decidedly gendered ways, shaping our understandings of sexual experiences and embodiment. As a result, current understandings of term such as “virginity” evoke cultural standards of womanhood, whiteness, monogamy, and tradition that both reflect and reinforce contemporary society’s hetero-patriarchal relations of power. The narratives available for girls and women to make sense of the first sexual experiences are policed by dominant sexual discourses that privilege male pleasure (Kozma, 56-59), which can limit the narratives of actual sexual experiences and subjugate gynogentiric discourses of sexual knowing (Medley-Rath 26). In the absence of …

Market Microstructure And Abnormal Returns: An Analysis Of Nyse And Sgx Securities, Alex Ng

Honors Theses

This paper investigates the differences in the abnormal returns of securities in the context of the earnings announcement in both the United States (NYSE) and Singapore (SGX) markets[1]. Despite the similarities between both exchanges, there exist two key market microstructure differences: the free float factor (i.e. the portion of listed share capital that is freely traded on the market) and lot size (i.e. the minimum number of shares that an investor can trade in a single transaction). While the difference in the lot size can be attributed to the intrinsic institutional differences between both exchanges, the involvement of …

The Growing Crisis In Maine: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Olivia Avidan

Honors Theses

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is a Maine epidemic. In addition to having medical repercussions, NAS is intrinsically linked to social, political and economic factors. NAS is a conglomeration of symptoms, short-term and long-term, that affect a child that has been exposed to opioids in utero. These factors that impact NAS are interdependent. The past decade is characterized by a dramatic rise in NAS cases in Maine. This paper explores the social, political and economic landscape surrounding NAS in an effort to describe fully the syndrome’s effect on both individuals and the community as a whole.

Generation Of 2-Adamantylidenecarbene From A Phenanthrene-Based Precursor, Christine E. Wamsley

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the generation of 2-adamantylidenecarbene from a phenanthrene-based precursor. A three-step synthetic procedure was used to generate the 2-adamantylidenecarbene precursor, which subsequently underwent photolysis to produce 2-adamantylidenecarbene. This product was trapped with cyclohexene. No evidence of a ring expansion to 4-homoadamantyne was observed. It was also noted that the target precursor underwent rearrangement during photolysis, leading to the formation of an isomer containing a seven-membered ring. This isomer did not photolyze. Additionally, computational studies were performed using Gaussian 09. Geometries were initially optimized and then, the single point energies of the singlet and triplet carbene states were calculated. …

A Constellation Of Caring: The Dynamic And Fluctuating Nature Of Pediatric Cancer Care, Anne Friedrich

Honors Theses

This honors thesis explores the fluctuating and dynamic nature of pediatric cancer care. I discuss the ways in which pediatric medical providers make meaningful interactions both for themselves and for their patients by enacting a caring liminality that allows them to fight disease while also creating a more personal, relational, and social moment of care. Providers care and work in shifting landscapes of care, what I call carescapes. The carescapes of the built environment, of value, and of physical movement all make the provider’s liminality visible. Ultimately, I argue that care is a way of being in the world, …

The Influence Of Normative Feedback On Stigma Of Mental Health, Carly A. Taylor

Honors Theses

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI; 2012) reports that the greatest barrier preventing college students from seeking help for a mental illness is stigma. Previous research has yet to develop an effective stigma reduction intervention targeting college students.Therefore, the purpose of the following research was to examine whether the administration of personalized normative feedback (PNF) could reduce personal stigma and correct the perception that others stigmatize mental illness. It was hypothesized that participants at baseline would expect others to hold more stigmatizing views compared to themselves. In order to correct this misperception and reduce stigma, half of the participants …

Institutions, Distance, And Foreign Direct Investment, Charles Coffman

Honors Theses

In this paper, I examine institutional differences between countries and the effect that those differences have on FDI flows using data from 193 countries and ten institutional indicators from the Index of Economic Freedom. I find a statistically significant result for five institutional distance variables. My results also support existing literature that claims that strong institutions increase FDI flows. I found that strong institutions are negatively associated with FDI inflows to low income countries, with the exception of trade and natural resources, suggesting that firms are investing in low income countries for natural resources and cheap production that can be …

Co-Authorship In Action: Curation & Collaboration In American Post-Judson Dance, Sara Gibbons

Honors Theses

This essay aims to illuminate and champion concert dance through an investigation into a sliver of American postmodern dance, which I term post-Judson dance, in an attempt to better understand, define, and assert dance in academe, art, and culture. This thesis examines the use and benefits of collaboration in today’s dance devising processes and the influences that constructed collaboration as a choreographic working method. Through historical, theoretical, contemporary, and practice-based evidence, this essay argues that through choreographer and performer participation, leading to the transformation of content, style, structure, and discovery, choreographers harvest an expansive collection of information that they use …

Investigating The Endogeneity Of Risk Attitudes: Experimental Evidence Involving Cooperation And Competition, Erik Solli

Honors Theses

Individual decision making is at the core of microeconomics. Rarely, however, are decisions made in environments without some element of uncertainty or even in isolation. While people may differ in their inherent willingness to take on risk, their preferences could change when new information is learned or a new relationship is fostered. I designed an experiment in which participants were asked to make investment decisions involving different levels of risk. The participants completed task between these gambles which allowed me to introduce competitive and collaborative relationships. I was interested in: (1) understanding the factors that are important to explaining risk …

Cost Effectiveness Of Renewable Energy Policy On Military Installations, Zachary L. Esakof

Honors Theses

In 2007, the United States government issued the National Defense Authorization Act, and Section 2852 mandates that the Department of Defense (DoD) meets 25% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2025. This paper investigates the production decisions that the DoD faces when increasing its share of renewable energy to meet this objective. A linear programming model is created to solve for the cost-effective renewable energy portfolio mix for each military base to meet its production target of renewable energy. The renewable sources utilized in each base’s energy portfolio include solar, wind, geothermal, and renewably-sourced energy from the grid, …

Sociological Effects Of Wind Farms In Maine, Jeanne E. Barthold, Jeanne Barthold

Honors Theses

Renewable Energy is an extremely important topic in today's energy discussions. In Maine, with the motivation of Governor Baldacci, there was a rapid push towards utilizing wind energy, starting with the Wind Energy Act in 2008. While the theory of wind farms and wind energy seems intelligent at a first glance, it is not an energy source that lacks issues. Many of the Maine wind farms constructed in the last ten years have had a large impact on human health, altered the beauty of Maine, created a change in wildlife habitats, and completely torn apart communities. Every new energy source …

Reputation Effects And Hedonic Pricing At The Portland Fish Exchange, Kush Jadeja

Honors Theses

The Portland Fish Exchange, founded in 1986, is America’s first all-display fresh seafood auction. The ability to observe each lot of fish before it is sold enables buyers to offer prices that reflect the perceived quality of the fish they bid on. As a result, the price per pound paid for lots of identical fish can vary can vary significantly on any given day, implying that some boats or sellers may benefit from a “reputation” effect for high quality fish. In this study I explore the factors that explain the price differentials paid for a given type of fish using …

The Importance Of Fitting In: Drinker Status, Social Inclusion, And Well-Being In College Students, Molly B. Hodgkins

Honors Theses

These three studies examined the relationship between drinker status, well-being, and social inclusion in a college population, specifically seeking to discover why and how drinkers are happier than abstainers. In the first study, an existing longitudinal data set was used to compare the happiness of drinkers and non-drinkers, as well as ascertain if year in school was a factor. Drinkers were significantly happier than non-drinkers upon completion of their first semester freshman year, but this difference was not significant when the students were assessed one year later. Study 2 extended Study 1 by examining social factors as potential mediators of …

Assessing The Carbon Impacts Of Colby College’S Biomass Plant, Alice Hotopp

Honors Theses

Biomass energy plants are considered to be carbon neutral systems under some definitions. However, this concept of carbon neutrality needs to be rethought in order to understand the true carbon impact of biomass plants upon global climate change. A biomass plant’s wood source, the extent to which the biomass plant emits carbon dioxide, and the timescale over which the biomass plant emits carbon should all be taken into account. In this study, I consider the Colby College biomass plant’s role in carbon cycling. Colby’s Physical Plant Department provided me with information on how much carbon (tons of woodchips) is used …

Quantization Of Analysis, Kelvin K. Lui

Honors Theses

In quantum mechanics the replacement of complex vectors with operators is essential to “quantizing” space. Nonetheless, in many physics textbooks there is no justification for this action. Therefore in this thesis I will attempt to understand the mathematical formalism that allows for such a “replacement” to be rigorous. I will approach this topic by first defining a vector spaces and its dual space, a Hilbert space and a conjugate Hilbert space, and an operator space. Next, I will look at the algebraic tensor product of two vector spaces, two Hilbert spaces, and finally two operator spaces. Ultimately we will look …

Nurturing Environmental Literacy At Colby College: Higher Education And The Environmental Crisis, Molly Nash

Honors Theses

The environmental crisis will affect all people, career paths, and academic disciplines. Acknowledging this, does higher education have an obligation to educate all students for environmental literacy (EL)? This study reviews literature on how to effectively assess and implement EL initiatives and highlights how other colleges successfully nurture EL in all students. This study also uses quantitative and qualitative survey measures to understand student levels of EL at Colby College and to highlight specific programming or curriculum that leads to high EL levels in students. Findings include significantly different EL scores between environmental studies student respondents and respondents in all …

"Trying To Resurrect People": Musical Theater And Theater For Social Change In Witness Uganda, Emilie Jensen

Honors Theses

In spring 2014, the musical Witness Uganda premiered at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA. Written by Griffin Matthews and Matt Gould, the show takes on the problematic idea of aid work in the United States and worldwide. In this thesis, I look at Witness Uganda in relationship to theater for social change. Theater for social change is theater that actively works for social justice. In studying Witness Uganda, I investigate the possibilities and challenges of creating a piece of commercial musical theater that could be considered theater for social change.

Beer Stein Poem, True Poem, Sick Poem, Erotic Poem, And Other Poems, Margaret Bower

Honors Theses

A collection of poems dealing with subjects like absurdity, strange love, and adulthood.

Experimental And Computational Investigation Of Selected Β-Hydroxy Carbenes, Joseph D. Deangelo

Honors Theses

The photolytic precursor to the sterically hindered β-bis(tert)-butanol carbene, 3-(1a,9b-dihydro-1H-cyclopropa[l]phenanthren-1-yl)-2,2,4,4-tetramethylpentan-3-ol was prepared in three steps from phenanthrene. Photolysis of the precursor generates the desired β-hydroxy carbene, an intermediate, which subsequently rearranges into two different observed products from an intramolecular C-H insertion and alkyl shift. Four intramolecular mechanisms were ultimately considered to account for the possible rearrangement pathways. Computational studies using density functional theory are also presented.

In addition, the photolytic precursors to two cyclic β-hydroxy carbenes, 1-(1a,9b-dihydro-1H-cyclopropa[l]phenanthren-1-yl)cyclopropan-1-ol and 1-(1a,9b-dihydro-1H-cyclopropa[l]phenanthren-1-yl)cyclobutan-1-ol, were also prepared through different synthetic routes from phenanthrene. …

L’Identité Libanaise Dans La Mémoire Littéraire De La Guerre Civile, Sarah J. Rockford

Honors Theses

Sampling prominent works of Lebanese literature, this paper seeks to unpack the legacy of the Lebanese Civil War (1975- 1990) in the collective memory and identity of Lebanese.

The Dark Side Of Volunteering : When Helping Might Hurt, Emily Morse

Honors Theses

This paper examines the relationship between implicit theories of intelligence and social dominance orientation (SDO) in the context of volunteering. While there is still little research on the subject, it has been shown that un- and undertrained volunteers often do more harm than good in the community. Community-based learning courses that send students out into vulnerable communities are common at most colleges and universities today; so examining the reasons why students volunteer as well as how effective they believe volunteering to be is important in order to help them avoid causing harm to vulnerable populations. Survey data from 261 college …

Information Source, Religiosity, And Attitude Change Toward Corporal Punishment, Emilie Fennimore

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.