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The Recent Trend Of Mass Killing: What Causes Civil Wars To Escalate To Using Genocide, Brenna Danielle Depies

Honors Theses

In the last century the international community has become more concerned about the damage that civil wars can cause. Over the years, more cases of civil war are reported to lead into genocide, and this thesis looks to figure out why this is. There are many scholarly theories about the origins of genocide, but I aim to focus strictly on those genocides that occur in reaction to a civil conflict. When looking at the root causes of conflict, I claim that civil wars are more likely to lead to the use of genocide if the origins of the conflict are …

De Mal En Peor: The Framing Of Felipe Calderón’S “War On Drugs” In The United States And Mexican Print Media, Peyton Britt Smith

Honors Theses

This work was written to explore the print media’s portrayal of the Mexican war on drugs started by Felipe Calderon in 2006. In order to do this, I looked at both Mexican and U.S. print media sources to compare coverage and to ascertain the frames that the media employs when covering the drug war. I analyzed national newspapers in both countries and also analyzed coverage of specific events in pairs of U.S. and Mexican city, namely Tijuana and San Diego, and Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. In my analysis frames of “war” were used repeatedly and national biases were seen …

Fundamental Humanitarian Principles In Aid Organizations: Impartiality And Neutrality In The Great Lakes Refugee Crisis, Maggie Elizabeth Savely

Honors Theses

Since the origin of formal humanitarianism with the Geneva Conventions of 1864, aid organizations have become a major player on the global stage. Humanitarian aid has gone through significant changes over the years, being influenced by international events and the evolution of international relations. As with other international actors, aid organizations encounter a number of dilemmas, and this thesis aims to address one of the more recent struggles of aid agencies. The fundamental principles of impartiality and neutrality have become controversial, especially in complex humanitarian situations such as the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. This catastrophe is known as the …

The Effects Of Economic Integration On Poverty Reduction: The Case Of Mercosur, Sarah Emily Shaw

Honors Theses

The thesis presents information on poverty reduction in the MERCOSUR full member countries: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. These countries signed the Treaty of Asuncién in 1991 and began the process of integration. Included in the original objectives of the treaty were to work for economic development to further social justice. Using data on the national economies and poverty, it was shown that poverty reduction has occurred recently in the countries. However, the reasons for this poverty reduction did not relate directly back to MERCOSUR. The international constraints on the countries were not strong enough to force the leaders to …

Branding A University's Mascot, Stanley Ryan Viner

Honors Theses

The objective of this paper is to investigate the dilemma many collegiate institutions have with the appropriateness of their symbols, particularly the mascot, and how these symbols can affect the overall brand equity of a university. Plausible connections between the mascot, symbols, and brands will be formulated validating the claim that a mascot is a brand, which will pcmiit the direct application of marketing and branding theories to the mascot situation at The University of Mississippi. The importance of the mascot and the human response to collegiate symbols will be explored by the utilization of two psychological theories - Social …

Viridis: Green Living In The South”, Mary Elizabeth White

Honors Theses

Viridis magazine is a Southern cooking and lifestyle magazine centered around food, products, and places that are good for the body, good for the Earth, and good for personal wellness. Each issue, Viridis highlights interesting people, places, recipes, and consumer products all over the Southern United States that reflect a green, eco-conscious lifestyle of eating and living. It aims at Southerners who are proud of their region of the country and love being southern, but still care about what they eat and how they live.

Transboundary Animal Diseases And Their Likelihood To Be Used In An Agroterrorist Attack On The United States, James Willard Allen

Honors Theses

All data and information contained in this investigation are open source and publically available. The assessment uses six different transboundary animal diseases which are not currently routine occurrences in the United States and through analytic methods, assesses the likelihood that each might be used in an agroterrorist attack on the United States' animal production sector. The assessment examines each disease using key details that would directly affect the likelihood of its use in an attack, focusing on potential economic damage. The three main animal populations considered are bovine, swine, and poultry due to their large size and value in domestic …

The Role Of The Cerebellum In The Zebra Finch Song Circuit, Matthew Gian Digiusto

Honors Theses

The cerebellum was originally thought to be a brain area used just for motor coordination, but it is now known to play a role in complex cognition. Some of these complex roles include aspects of human speech such as rhyming, silent rehearsal, and timing of speech. There are many similarities between human speech and songbird song including a babbling stage, the necessity of a tutor to copy, and specialized neural structures for learning and production; however, it is not clear whether the cerebellum plays a similar role in the songbird song circuit. In this experiment I examined the role of …

Swing Into Action: The Political And Aesthetic Role Of Jazz In Nazi Germany And Occupied France, Marie Elizabeth Wicks

Honors Theses

MARIE ELIZABETH WICKS: Swing Into Action: The Political and Aesthetic Role of Jazz in Nazi Germany and Occupied France (Under the direction of Dr. Kees Gispen)

The role of jazz in the culture of Nazi Germany and occupied France will be examined from a political and an aesthetic viewpoint in this thesis. Due to its American origins and close associations with freedom and independence, jazz was often championed as a statement against totalitarianism. Jazz was just as frequently listened to for its entertainment value and exhibited little, if any, political ramifications. This thesis will analyze jazz within the borders of …

Conflict Or Compromise: China’S Perceptions And Intentions Regarding Us Defense Policy Towards Taiwan, Gabriel Amadeus Weiss

Honors Theses

Gabriel Weiss: Conflict or Compromise: China’s Perceptions and Intentions Regarding US Defense Policy Towards Taiwan (Under the direction of Dr. Joshua Howard)

China’s perception ofTaiwan as a “renegade” province continues to be a source of contention in Sino-US relations. Domestic pressures have reinforced Beijing’s commitment to enforcing the One-China policy and regaining Taiwan. In recent years, the US has failed to reduce weapons sales to Taiwan. Additionally, America has displayed a willingness to employ military force in defense of its global interests. These factors have led China to perceive the US as a potential foe—particularly in regards to the Taiwan …

Covering The Social Scene: Two Publications And The Use Of Social Networking Sites Within The Magazine Industry, Macey Simmons Baird

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between two specific social networking sites and two city-wide magazine publications. In examining the idea of social networking sites and its current connection to the media, this study will compare and contrast the two magazines use of their respective Facebook and Twitter accounts. It studied the publications’ effective and ineffective practices in an array of spectrums, from the issue of manpower and the content published within its' social networking sites. Secondary research comprised of an extensive literature review of text. newspaper articles, online journals and websites. The primary research was …

The Effects Of Omega-3 Fatty Acids On Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Inositol Pathway Mutants, Daniel Antonio Colon Hidalgo, Marlene Murray-Nseula

Honors Theses

Bipolar disease is a severe and chronic debilitating mental disorder affecting 1-3% of the population. Omega-3-fatty acids have been shown to relieve symptoms of bipolar disorder and are not associated with the negative side effects of lithium and valproate, two of the commonly used drugs for treating this condition. The mechanism of action of omega-3-fatty acids remains unknown. Therefore the purpose of this study was to determine if, like lithium and valproate, omega-3-fatty acids affect inositol metabolism. This was accomplished by investigating the effect of the omega-3-fatty acid docosahexanoic acid (DHA) on the growth of inositol pathway mutants. To measure …

The Effects Of Valproate Prodrugs On The Inositol Biosynthetic Pathway In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Yeast, Lisa Thompson

Honors Theses

Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric disorder characterized by episodes of abnormally elevated mood followed by periods of extreme depression. Currently, valproate is one of the drugs used to treat the disorder but it is associated with many negative side effects. The goal of this project is to create a prodrug with structural similarities to valproate and determine if its effect on growth of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is similar to that of valproate. Yeast cells were grown in media with or without the prodrug in the presence or absence of inositol. The results showed that the prodrug inhibited growth.

The Role Of Ci(-) Channel-Inhibition In The Brain On The Phonotactic Selectivity Of Female Crickets, Brent H. Sherwin

Honors Theses

The goal of this project was to determine if picrotoxin influences phonotactic selectivity of female crickets when nanoinjected into the supraesophageal ganglion. Adult females of Acheta domesticus were pre-tested for phonotaxis on a treadmill to a range of calling songs with different syllable periods. Following dissection to expose the brain, 9.2 nL of either saline (control group) or 10-5 M picrotoxin (experimental group) was nanoinjected into the supraesophageal ganglion. Post-tests following saline injection (10 min later) were similar to the pre-tests. Picrotoxin-treated females became more phonotactically selective displaying a preference for calling songs with the shorter syllable periods.

Consumer Behavior In Social Mediums: A Study Of The Impact Of Social Networking Sites And Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games On College Students' Academic And Social Lives, Laura Johnston

Honors Theses

Consumer Behavior is an interdisciplinary field that marketers use to understand the wants and behavior of consumers. It focuses on how people decide to spend their available resources, such as time or money, on a product or service and examines issues such as why, how often, and the impact of making such a decision. This study will incorporate the Social Cognitive Theory's assessment of expected outcomes based on consumers' own direct experiences that incite continued participation with the Use and Gratification Theory's idea of social need that may result in need gratification, leading to unintended results. Users of SNSs and …

The Crow's Nest A Family Memoir, Virginia Neal Drago

Honors Theses

For my thesis, I have created a family memoir about my family’s summers spent on Mobile Bay in Mobile, Alabama. Through interviews with family members, research of photographs, and delving into my own memories and experiences during my childhood, I have resurrected this past existence we had on the Bay and brought it to life once more through my thesis. The memoir is meant to be a journey through death that culminates in an unexpected discovery of life. By reexamining this past part of my life that I thought was dead, as well as the literal deaths of my grandmother, …

Exploring The Effects Of Environmental Factors, Policy, And Enforcement On Student Alcohol Use At The Univeristy Of Mississippi, William Curtis Mcgehee

Honors Theses

This work explores environmental factors related to student binge drinking at the University of Mississippi by using existing data from surveys, lawas, and student information at the University of Mississippi in hopes to identify alternative means of approaching the problem of student bing drinking. Findings include that a lack of presence of minority students, absence of on-campus housing for non-freshman students, and few well-advertised opportunities for community service may adversely affect bing drinking efforts at the University.

A Comparison And Cooperative Utilization Of Møller–Plesset Perturbation Theory And B3lyp Density Functional Theory On Weakly Bound Structures, Joshua Ryan Smith

Honors Theses

Harold Burson is the founder of Burson-Marsteller, a New York-based public relations firm, and has been recognized by PRWeek as "the century's most influential PR figure." He has received numerous awards from different organizations, run one of the largest public relations firm in the world, helped the field of public relations become a prominent profession and was one of the first individuals to push for international firms among other things. This thesis tries to reveal why so many see Harold Burson as a leader who has revolutionized the field. This is accomplished through interviewing friends, colleagues and family of Harold …

Conflicting Interests In The Swiss Alps: A Comparative Study Of International Environmental Governance, Shelley Clark

Honors Theses

I owe a great deal ofthanks to the people who helped with my thesis. First, my advisor Dr. John Sonnett helped shape and edit my thesis more than anyone else. My third-reader Dr. Ann Fisher-Wirth and my second-reader Dr. Kees Gispen should also be given credit for the completion ofmy thesis. Dr. Fisher-Wirth has been an inspiration to me since my first year at Ole Miss. She planted the seeds of environmentalism in my head and also fostered the exchange program with the University ofFribourg. Completing the thesis component for the Honors College and the Croft Institute has been an …

Does A Rising Tide Lift All Boats? An Analysis Of China's Increasing Gini Coefficient From 1980-2006, Erin Singleton

Honors Theses

Erin Singleton: Docs A Rising Tide Life All Boats? An Analysis of China's Increasing Gini Coefficient from 1980-2006 (under the direction of Dr. Ali Gungoraydinglu)

Income inequality has become a serious concern for both Chinese citizens and policy makers alike as the Gini coefficient has been consistently rising since the economic transition to a market economy began in 1978. The anti-globalization movement cites this increasing income gap as a negative result of China's entrance into the global market. On the contrary, supporters of globalization cite the dramatic decrease in China's poverty rate during this same period as evidence of globalization's …

Chinese Popular Opinion Towards The One Child Policy, Alyssa W. Yuen

Honors Theses

Alyssa W. Yuen: Chinese's Popular Opinion Towards the One Child Policy (Under the direction ofDr. Gang Guo)

The One Child Policy has been implemented since 1980, and is the world’s longest implemented population control policy. Popular opinion towards the policy is inevitable. This thesis attempts to explain the rationale behind the One Child Policy, the impacts the policy has had on China socially, economically, and environmentally, and the effects the policy has had on the Chinese population. The research question for this thesis is, "What affects Chinese popular opinion about the One Child Policy?”

The first section ofthis thesis illustrates …

Under The Blow Dryer: A Study Of Three Fictional Beauty Shops, Leslie Johns Ray

Honors Theses

In this thesis I explore how the beauty shop provides economic and social power to the women who own, operate, and patronize the fictional beauty shops over a seventy Petrified Man," Robert Marling's play Steel year time span in Eudora Welty's short story Magnolias, and director Bille Woodruffs film Beauty Shop. 1 have researched historical and sociological studies on American beauty shops and hterai*y studies of these works to discover common themes between fictional and actual beauty shops. Within the beauty shop, women often create a space independent of gender, race, economic, and class barriers present outside the shop walls. …

Bridge Over The River Kawaii: Examining The Consumption Of Anime And Manga In The United States, Luke Daniel Schwalm

Honors Theses

The sale of manga, Japanese comic books, and anime, its animated counterpart, in the United States has become a multi-million dollar enterprise and both mediums have gained an increasingly large fandom. Based on the framework of Said’s conception of orientalism and using information gathered from observing seven popular anime and manga internet forums and five semi-structured interviews this thesis seeks to understand how a segment of this fandom, namely those of its members who are active in online discussion, consume manga and anime and how this consumption affects their views of Japan. In conducting this research I found that the …

The Mythic Method At Work In The Travel Writing Of Bruce Chatwin, Paul Theroux, And V.S. Naipaul, Benjamin Bryant Sloan

Honors Theses

Bruce Chatwin, Paul Theroux, and V.S. Naipaul travel to remove what V.S. Naipaul calls their “area of darkness," by which he means those places in the world and places within themselves that are unexplored firsthand. They are much more interested in subjective impressions of the world than objective representations. In fact, these writers strive for subjectivity. But with subjectivity comes doubt and chaos, and a tool that these authors use to order their worlds and their works is the mythic method. All three of these writers are highly influenced by literary modernism and by sources across the ages, but in …

American Pornographic: A Collection Of Short Stories, Steven William Stringer

Honors Theses

This collection represents my best writing culled from four years of undergraduate study. Encouragingly, I wrote the vast majority of the collection within the past year, which points to the fact that I am still improving and evolving as a writer. These stories fill various American landscapes, but I believe the emotional landscapes share a common thread. The characters strive not to find a purpose in their lives, but to reject the idea of life having a purpose at all. Soldier On, Babies,” the oldest story in the collection and a major turning point in my writing, tells of a …

Harry Potter And The Religious Right: An In-Depth Look At The Christian Undertones In J.K. Rowling's Series, Cody Pharr Hall

Honors Theses

This thesis involves an investigation of the Christian elements in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series. Methods and procedures included researching right wing religious responses to the Harry Potter series through media outlets. Each book was read and analyzed in response to religious objections. The series was explicated and studied for religious themes and ideas. The claims of the witchcraft content in the series were researched and expounded upon. Supplementary readers were used, and commentators were relied upon for certain cited ideas. The findings of this thesis are that fringe religious groups who oppose the Potter series are misinformed in …

Reduced Density Of Calbindin Immunoreactive Gabaergic Neurons In Major Depressive Disorder: Relevance To Neuroimaging Studies And Future Directions, Jonathan Hughes

Honors Theses

Background: Several lines of evidence suggest dysfunction of the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic system in major depressive disorder. Neuroimaging studies report reduced levels of GABA in the dorsolateral prefrontal and occipital cortex of depressed patients. Our previous postmortem study re-vealed a reduction in the density and size of calbindin-immunoreactive (CB-IR) GABAergic neurons in the prefrontal cortex in major depressive disorder. The goal of this study was to test whether the changes in CB-IR neurons can also be detected in the occipital cortex, where neuroimaging studies report a prominent GABA decrease. Methods: A three-dimensional cell counting probe was used to assess the …

A Study Of Attendee's Motivations: Oxford Film Festival, Taylor Elizabeth Thomas

Honors Theses

The obesity rate among Americans has been growing at an alarming rate in recent years; because of this, there has been much inquiry into the possible causes, interventions, and prevention methods for this problem. One major trend that appears to have an impact on this obesity epidemic is the large proportion of meals eaten outside the home namely, at fast food or sit-down restaurants. This trend is especially prevalent among college students, whose lifestyle is generally marked by an abundance of stress coupled with a lack of time and money. Because of this lifestyle and a lack of food preparation …

Examination Of The Consumer Ethics Of Students At The University Of Mississippi, Stephen Cole Wilkerson

Honors Theses

Consumer perceives a . in this a random sample of one hundred fifty-seven students reaction he study, in the College of Liberal Arts and the School of Business urveyed using the Consumer Ethics Scale devised by Vitell and Dr. James Muncy. Scale devised by Dr. Americus Reed and Dr. if any difference existed in the were s Dr. Scott The Moral Identity Karl Aquino was also used to see in which different majors perceive themselves. The results provided no significant there was a difference. way or want ot to perceive them. evidence that using a 0.05 hers significance level. There …

Women Behaving Badly, Taylor Elyse Wood

Honors Theses

Women Behaving Badly is the title of a performance piece that showed in Meek Auditorium at the University of Mississippi at 6:30pm on March 10 and 11, 2011. It was compiled and performed to address the issue of the suppression of the female voice. The piece interwove dramatic literature from various genres and time periods. The meaning and relevancy of each individual piece is explored in these pages. The women in these scenes defy societal expectations willingly, and the benefits and drawbacks of their decisions were explored in the piece. All proceeds from the production benefited Oxford’s Domestic Violence Project.