Digital Commons Network^™

The Price On Our Tap: A Policy And Quantitative Analysis Of County-Level Water Affordability In Alabama, Mayukh Datta

Honors Theses

This thesis examines disparities in water affordability in Alabama by exploring the relationship between water expenditure and other variables based on a quantitative analysis of a four-year water provider-level, panel data set. I utilize ordinary least squares to answer the following research question: "After controlling for income, what variables affect water expenditure in Alabama, and particularly, what impact does race have on water affordability and expenditure in Alabama?" This analysis is motivated by the on-going water and sewer affordability crisis that currently affects nonwhite households in the broader United States. Given that there are very few policies addressing water affordability, …

Tooth Crown Morphology And Testosterone Transfer In Female Members Of Opposite-Sex Dizygotic Twin Pairs, Randall Feezell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The twin testosterone transfer (TTT) hypothesis posits that females gestated with male co-twins develop more masculine phenotypes due to in-utero androgen exposure. Research has shown co-gestational effects to be associated with increased deciduous and permanent tooth size in females belonging to opposite-sex dizygotic twin pairs (OSF) as compared with females belonging to same-sex monozygotic (MZF) and dizygotic (SSF) twin pairs and female siblings. This study evaluates whether the TTT hypothesis explains patterns of dental morphological variation, namely differences between OSF and other females (SSF, MZF, female siblings) in a contemporary sample that includes both deciduous and permanent data. This work …

Teaching Old Calipers New Tricks: Using Craniometrics For Ancestry Admixture Estimation Via Fuzzy Math, Kristi Carnahan

Master's Theses

Cranial measurements have been a cornerstone of physical anthropology since its formation as a discipline in the early 1900s. However, most other ancestry determination methods come with a significant epistemological issue: they differentiate individuals into discrete categories without accounting for the issue of admixture. Advances in data mining and analysis techniques can now be used to help resolve this issue through soft computing, also known as “fuzzy math”. This type of advanced computational math requires specialized knowledge in computer programming, statistics, and data analysis techniques unless one is using computer programs specially designed to run these analyses.

This project compiled …

The Flourishing Lawyer: A Multi-Dimensional Approach To Performance And Well-Being (2022), Heidi K. Brown

Books

The Flourishing Lawyer offers an empathetic guide for members of the legal profession to cultivate their personal and professional well-being, identify and develop their individual strengths, and define success on their own terms. Drawing from lessons and research from the fields of psychology, health care, sports, and medicine, this book is an affirming guide to becoming a better contributor to the profession while living a flourishing life.

Studying Suspended Sediment Concentrations In The South Chickamauga Creek Of Chattanooga, Tn Using Satellite Imagery, Digital Image Processing, And Numeric Modeling, Abigail Faxon

Honors Theses

In recent years, Hamilton County, TN has experienced extensive urban growth. According to US Census data, Hamilton County welcomed more than 33,000 new residents in the last decade. There is increased concern about the environmental sustainability of Chattanooga’s urban growth because significant impervious surface development has taken place along the South Chickamauga Creek. This leaves the creek subject to increased urban runoff, which often carries sediments with different municipal pollutants. Thus, monitoring turbidity in the stream water is important to determine the sustainability of urban development in Chattanooga, TN. In this research, we have compared the viability of using different …

The Modern Meditation: The Effect Of Video Games And Yoga On Mindfulness Scores, Brian Ray

University Honors Program Senior Projects

This study was designed to explore the positive effects of casual video games, by comparing the mindfulness and mood scores among a) active yoga participants, b) passive yoga watchers, c) active video game players, and d) passive video game watchers. Participants were all undergraduate students recruited through Northeastern Illinois University’s participant pool. Participants began the study by being assigned to one of the four conditions. Following their interaction, participants answered an adapted mood inventory questionnaire, a Player Experience Inventory (PXI), and an Engagement Questionnaire (EQ). Demographics were also collected. It was hypothesized that the active video game condition will have …

Impact Of The Attractiveness Bias On Acceptance Of Interracial Relationships, Jackelyn Castaneda

University Honors Program Senior Projects

Even though interracial marriage became legal in 1967 changes have been slow (Field, Kimuna, & Straus, 2013): e.g., Interracial marriages have increased from roughly .7% in 1970 to about 3.9% in 2008 (U.S. Census Bureau). However, Americans have slowly become more accepting, and according to the U.S census (2010), there are over 5.3 million interracial couples in the United States. There are many factors that could have influenced this change, one of them may reside in a well-studied phenomenon that is our tendency to perceive those who are attractive as “good” (Lemay Jr., Clark, & Greenberg, 2010); that is, the …

The Political Power Of Museums: A Case Study On The Museum Of Spanish Colonial Art, Emily Snyder

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

Museums hold an esteemed position that grants validity to the objects and history held within them based solely on their inherent authority as institutions. This makes the analysis of what museums portray incredibly important given the extent of people’s belief that they hold the power to determine authoritative truth concerning art, history, and society. In the late 1970s, museums underwent a period of change tied to becoming more pluralistic. Beginning in the 1990s, many museums touted their postcolonial status in the wake of their inclusion of and collaboration with traditionally outsider communities. Despite this change appearing to create more diverse …

Is The Ivory Tower Made Of Glass?: Examining Work Experiences Of Women Faculty At Butler University, Erin Elizabeth Mahan

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The guiding research question for this study is: “What are the structural, cultural, and situational factors that affect women faculty’s experience at Butler University?” While this project focuses broadly on women as an identifying group, it also requires attention to the intersectionality of individuals’ experience as issues such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disabilities are also factors shaping women’s experiences. The information from this study draws attention to the experiences that women faculty have related to their gender and potentially facilitate change starting at Butler University. This paper will discuss the experiences of women faculty at Butler University regarding …

Aggregate Online Brand Name Pharmacy Price Dynamics For The United States And Mexico, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton

Border Region Modeling Project

Virtual cross-border medical tourism allows many residents in the United States to purchase brand name medicines from companies in Mexico without travelling there. Monthly economic reports indicate that the online brand name pharmaceutical product prices in Mexico are noticeably lower than the corresponding internet prices in the United States. There have been very few econometric studies on how these prices are linked and the dynamic nature of those relationships. Results in this study indicate that online medicine prices in Mexico respond very rapidly to online prices changes in the high-price market.

Whence Faith? The Nexus Of Passional Reason, Christian Personalism, And Abduction In Apologetics, Thomas Jefferson Gentry Ii

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Motivated by a desire to understand better and articulate matters touching on how beliefs are formed, this research considers the possibility of a religious epistemological nexus, a connection between the rational and affective capacities possessed by persons, human dignity and self-determination, and the method of argumentation used by apologists. The thesis defended is that through the means of the concomitance of the human intellect, emotions, and will (passional reason), the whole person is engaged in the process of passional reason whereby one can perceive, assess, and decide to believe in matters of religious faith (Thomistic doxastic voluntarism). Further, at the …

The Occupational Therapy Approach To Pain Treatment: A Pain Curriculum, Rosalee Howell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

It is within the scope of the occupational therapy profession to treat patients experiencing pain. The holistic approach used to assess and treat patients to improve functional performance is vital in treating pain. The focus is to decrease the detrimental impact of pain on the patient’s mental health, enhancing their ability to function in social and vocational roles. However, education is not adequately addressed in occupational therapy programs and is vital in preparing clinicians to meet the patient’s needs effectively.

This Doctoral Capstone was developed to highlight the importance and the benefit of education in preparing clinicians to treat patients …

“Who Says Lowriders Are Only For Men?”: Lowriders In Las Vegas, Nevada, Alejandra Herrera

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since its creation, Las Vegas, Nevada, has been associated with casinos, nightlife, drinking, and neon lights. Las Vegas is not associated with Lowriders. Historically, lowrider vehicles are associated with crime, gangs, and male drivers. When lowriding comes to mind, Lowriders are associated with major cities in California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. Lowriders are not usually visualized as having female participants or as being present in Las Vegas. This thesis highlights members of the Lowrider community (especially Christal Leyva, Ivelys Franco, and Juanita Salazar) through the use of oral interviews and personal correspondence. The Lowriders interviewed for this thesis …

Raman Spectroscopy Of Aged Waterlogged Bones: Protocol Optimization, Bailey Hoplight

Chemistry

Current methods used for determining the age buried bones for forensic purposes are heavily affected by environmental conditions, can be susceptible to scientific bias and the interpretation can vary from investigator to investigator. Raman Spectroscopy can potentially be used as an automatic method to analyze the composition of bone eliminating the human factor. To test this hypothesis, we will use Raman spectroscopy to potentially identify the burial time of bones. The change in the chemical composition of the pig bones was probed using a Raman spectrometer with a 785nm excitation wavelength. Other parameters of the Raman instrument were optimized to …

Metaphor And Atonement : A Conceptual Metaphor Study Of The Sacrificial Prescriptions In Lev 1-16, Bradley James Haggard

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Jerusalem The Great : An Analysis Of The Literary Structure Of John's Revelation, Adrian Reynolds

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Museum Talk: Conversations Regarding Art Museums’ Practices And Policies, Eva Solano

Honors Scholar Theses

Taking the form of a podcast, Museum Talk: Conversations Regarding Art Museums’ Practices and Policies aims to explore the ways in which art museums have upheld racist policies, excluded BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) individuals from their spaces, but also investigate what these institutions can do to become more welcoming and comfortable to people across all identities. With interviews from artists, activists, and scholars from various establishments, each guest provides their own perspectives, opinions, and personal experiences on the topic, which is beneficial to understanding the ways in which art museums are failing and what can be done better. …

Music Of The Brown Church: Connecting Religion, Social Justice, Latina/O Studies And Worship Practices, Ann Richelle Jeandrevin

Masters Theses

This thesis project aims to explore music that is being used in churches that serve the Latino/a/x/e communities in the United States, which is also referred to as The Brown Church. As music serves a vital role in the cultural background in these communities, as does faith, the connection between these facets will give better insight into this growing and changing society in the United States. In addition to exploring the relationship between faith and worship music, there is a connecting component through understanding the dark history of the Latin American church and how that impacts faith, worship, and social …

Progressive Christianity: The Postmodern Mutation Of Theological Liberalism, Lisa Dundov

Masters Theses

The intention of this thesis is to historically track Liberal Christianity, distinguishing its different shapes, dissecting its current form of Progressive Christianity, and then refute its tenets by holding them to the standard of orthodox Christianity. This project is organized into a chronological, historical approach to Liberal Christianity followed by a comparative approach to Progressive Christianity and orthodox Christianity. The historical research aims to identify and connect common, theologically liberal elements, a distinct man-centered theology, across different historical horizons, including the delineation of modernity, postmodernism, secularism, and humanism, which are influenced and shaped by theological liberalism. Focusing on the current …

Life In/Verse: A Poetry Collection, David A. Estringel

Theses and Dissertations

Life In/Verse: A Poetry Collection embodies the collected poetic works of Xicanx writer/poet David Estringel. The collection sequentially follows his growth as a poet and overall creative development, highlighting organic shifts in poetic voice, use of language and space, theme, and rhythm. Through poetry, the nuances and multiple facets of his identity are explored, ultimately leading to a clearer sense of self and poetic voice, demonstrating maturity and seasoning that can only come with time, experience, and acceptance. Pulling from literary influences, such as Homer, Raymond Carver, and Federico Garcia Lorca, significant and all too human …

Examination Of 21st Century Organization Development: An Ethnography Of A Distance Learning Support Department At A Hispanic Serving Institution Of Higher Education, Bobbie Myatt

Theses and Dissertations

This study used an ethnographic lens to examine the historic organizational development of a distance education support department within a Hispanic-serving institution of higher education. The Borderlands University (BU; pseudonym) Online Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center (OTLT) is representative of the structure and culture of a successful distance education support department for the 21st century. Through qualitative ethnography, this research study examined the development of cultural and structural components necessary for the success of this organization. This includes the internal community of support departments housed within institutions of higher education. Technologically raised generations emerging from traditional schools, “digital natives,” are …

Understanding The Intersectionality Of Bilingual Identities: Language And Biliteracy In Emergent Bilinguals, Natalia Carrillo

Theses and Dissertations

Cummins (2018) argued that “emergent bilingual students struggle, often unsuccessfully, to escape from the externally imposed identity cocoon within which they find themselves” (p. x). This struggle leads to negative views and deficit thinking approaches to educating these students. In today’s educational context, meeting the cognitive needs of bilingual students is not sufficient. Schools must provide learning opportunities to affirm their identities to support their academic success. Research indicates that we must develop a deep understanding of the intersectionality of language, students’ identity construction, and language use (Norton, 2010; Potowski, 2007; Poza, 2016).

This study aimed to examine …

What Are The Testimonios Of Immigrant Students In A South Texas Middle School And How Do Their Narratives Of Schooling Emerge In Their Stories?, Jessica Marie Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

This research follows the tenets of qualitative-interpretivist research. The study focused on the following question: What are the testimonios of immigrant students in a middle school and how do their narratives of schooling emerge in their stories? The stories of immigrant students’ educational experiences attending U.S. schools, in particular South Texas Middle School, and their parent’s discourses on border crossings were taken via testimonio. The methodology was constructed from the theoretical frames of four emancipatory types of frameworks used, that consisted of Critical Race Theory, Latino/Latina Critical Theory, Subtractive Schooling, and Funds of Knowledge. …

Impact Of Baby Behaviour On Caregiver's Infant Feeding Decisions During The First 6 Months Of Life: A Systematic Review, Mireya Vilar-Compte, Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, Dania Orta-Aleman, Valeria Cruz-Villalba, Sofía Segura-Pérez, Kate Nyhan, Linda M. Richter

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Caregivers are often concerned about baby behaviours. Without adequate counselling, parental response can lead to altering infant feeding and jeopardizing breastfeeding. We conducted a systematic review to assess the evidence about the influence of baby behaviours perceived as problematic (crying, sleep waking and posseting) on infant feeding decisions during the first 6 months of life (self-reported milk insufficiency, breastfeeding duration and introduction of formula). The review focused on quantitative studies published in English, Portuguese or Spanish without date restriction. The search was designed with the support of a medical librarian and conducted in seven databases. Data were managed in Covidence …

Serendipityblah, Amanda Linn Kunkel

English Theses & Dissertations

So, you’ve stumbled upon my neck of the woods, where the weird and fantastical reside. Wit and humor may save you here but beware of what draws near. Beneath the bright and smiling facade, you may find the danse macabre. Within these pages you’ll find magic and wonder, darkness, and failure. The setting is post-March 2020 in Norfolk, Virginia. An urban city at the heart of Hampton Roads where the lines between reality and otherworldliness blur. Witches protect ghosts in a downtown Abbey. The fae break new ground in the art district of Ghent. Even Death stalks the halls of …

Two Essays On Antecedents And Effects Of Award-Winning Ceos, Veronika Ciarleglio

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

A vibrant stream of research in strategic management examines CEO reputation, status, media coverage, and awards on firm outcomes.

This dissertation examines antecedents that impact the likelihood of CEOs gaining higher visible status —such as winning awards — and the impact of such status on firm behavior. The dissertation addresses these issues in two essays.

In the first essay, we use signaling theory to frame the impact of industry characteristics, firm level strategic initiatives, and demographic factors on the likelihood of CEOs winning awards. Specifically, in this essay we examine how industry structure, corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, business strategies, …

Bringing Awareness To Social Media’S Influence On Teens, Vianey Chavez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Many teenagers are unaware of the dangers of social media. Anderson and Jiang (2018) found that 95% of teens have access to a smartphone, and 45% mentioned they are online frequently, which means they have ready access to the internet and social media. Approximately 88% of young adults varying from eighteen to twenty-nine years old have access to social media use with some capacity (O’Day & Heimberg, 2021). O’Day and Hemberg (2021) bring forth that younger generations use more social media several times a day where they spend a majority of their day on it, which leads to pathological, addictive, …

Reconceptualizing Conservation, S. J. Cooke, Sarah Michaels, E. A. Nyboer, L. Schiller, D. B. R. Littlechild, D. E. L. Hanna, C. D. Robichaud, A. Murdoch, D. Roche, P. Soroye, J. C. Vermaire, V. M. Nguyen, University Of Ottawa,, J. F. Provencher, P. A. Smith, G. W. Mitchell, S. Avery-Gomm, C. M. Davy, R. T. Buxton, T. Rytwinski, L. Fahrig, J. R. Bennett, G. Auld

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Early definitions of conservation focused largely on the end goals of protection or restoration of nature, and the various disciplinary domains that contribute to these ends. Conservation science and practice has evolved beyond being focused on just issues of scarcity and biodiversity decline. To better recognize the inherent links between human behaviour and conservation, “success” in conservation is now being defined in terms that include human rights and needs. We also know that who engages in conservation, and how, dictates the likelihood that conservation science will be embraced and applied to yield conservation gains. Here we present ideas for reconceptualizing …

The Erasure Of Indigenous Populations Within National Geographic's Portrayal Of National Parks: A Digital Zine, Abigail Cook '22

Honor Scholar Theses

No abstract provided.

Interdisciplinary Studies Masters Degree In Anthropological & Science Based Education, Robert Porter

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The goal of this project is to develop anthropological and science-based curricula that will emphasize a place-based approach while actively engaging students in their education. I developed two curricula for elementary aged students in San Bernardino. The first curriculum was based anthropologically on the local history of indigenous groups and early San Bernardino history. The second was based on paleontology here in California with a focus on dinosaurs and fossils.

To improve and validate the curricula I sent the examples to educational experts and had them critique the lessons and information provided. Then I used their input to improve the …