Digital Commons Network^™

Novella, Sydney German

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This paper was written for ENGL 470B:1 – Seminar: Creative Writing Fiction under the instruction of Dr. Ray Levy, and the project is titled Novella while the story is called Unforeseeable. It is an 11,000-word sensational, suspenseful psychological fiction about Ava Reed, a 22-year-old woman, who is on a search for independence and freedom from her small town. The story begins by immediately diving into the scene of a murder with Ava holding the weapon. From there, the story works backward to slowly reveal the motive and the true account of what took place that night. It focuses primarily …

How Formal Music Training Affects Executive Functions In Middle School Band Students, Zachary C. Anderson

Honors College Theses

My thesis project explored the relationship between a formal music training experience and executive functions in a middle school band classroom. Executive functions are working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility which allow us to gain and focus our attention on specific tasks. Participants in the study were two groups of middle school students: a sixth-grade class with no previous musical experience and an eighth-grade class with two years of band classes. I measured changes in students' overall success on cognitive tests over a two-month span to observe at what point music training begins to impact executive functions. I found significant …

Tinder Usage On Bgsu Campus: A Collection Of Interviews, Autumn Zeller

Honors Projects

The purpose of the study is to explore the mental effects Tinder has on Bowling Green State University students. My project explores in-depth interviews of 8 BGSU students, and their usage of the popular dating app Tinder. Dating apps have become very popular since the creation of Tinder in 2012, and research explores the negative self-esteem effects it can cause. My research found that many people use the app simply because they are bored, and stray away from trying for something serious because of the stereotypes attached to the app. I also found that women tend to become more critical …

“The Ugly Truth”: Examining War Trauma And Therapeutic Storytelling Through The Works Of Tim O’Brien, Meredith Ivy Fedewa

Masters Theses

Within this work, a close study on the relationship between trauma and storytelling is examined through three of Tim O’Brien’s works: The Things They Carried, Going After Cacciato, and In the Lake of the Woods. Through the application of psychoanalysis, specifically the work of Jacques Lacan, and modern trauma theory, the relationship between individual identity and the traumatizing encounter of the Real is examined through O’Brien’s concepts of Story Truth versus Happening Truth, as well as how those concepts work together to navigate one’s trauma story. Through weaving the aforementioned theory with each text, O’Brien is seen …

Exploring The Acute Cardiovascular Effects Of Floatation-Rest., M C Flux, Thomas H. Fine, Tate Poplin, Obada Al Zoubi, William A. Schoenhals, Jesse Schettler, Hazem H. Refai, Jessyca Naegele, Colleen Wohlrab, Hung-Wen Yeh, Christopher A. Lowry, Jason C. Levine, Ryan Smith, Sahib S. Khalsa, Justin S. Feinstein

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

The central nervous system (CNS) exerts a strong regulatory influence over the cardiovascular system in response to environmental demands. Floatation-REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy) is an intervention that minimizes stimulation from the environment, yet little is known about the autonomic consequences of reducing external sensory input to the CNS. We recently found that Floatation-REST induces a strong anxiolytic effect in anxious patients while paradoxically enhancing their interoceptive awareness for cardiorespiratory sensations. To further investigate the physiologic nature of this anxiolytic effect, the present study measured acute cardiovascular changes during Floatation-REST using wireless and waterproof equipment that allowed for concurrent measurement …

Differences In Negative Symptom Severity Across Bipolar Disorder With And Without Psychosis, Gia Renemae Calip, Jessica J. Woodyatt, Erik Ringdahl, Sally Vogel, Gregory P. Strauss

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

There was no significant difference between BP+ and BP- groups. Significant difference were found in BP+ and SZ groups when tested for Affective Flattening and Alogia.Significant difference were found in HC and BP- when tested for Anhedonia-Asociality.

Musicality, Misophonia Sensitivity, And Responsiveness To Misophonia Videos, Alexis Rice, Jennifer Hsu, Kaela Omengan, Sivan Barashy

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Misophonia sensitivity as measured by the A-MISO-S predicts emotional responses to misophonia trigger videos, but musical sophistication (Gold MSI scores) did not. A measure of real-time responses to videos can capture a meaningful aspect of misophonic experience in the general population. Future research should investigate whether more direct measures of musicality such as perceptual tasks will show a relationship between musicality and misophonic reactions.

Unpacking Athletics: An Exploration Of Identity Development For Division I Women College Athletes, Kathleen E. Scanlon

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation explored how former Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women athletes made meaning of their undergraduate experience and how it influenced their post-graduate lives. The study research questions focused on three areas: a) how participants constructed meaning from their athletic experiences and what role those experiences had in shaping their identity; b) how the participants made sense of the various systems they experienced and what bearing various identities had on their meaning making; and c) what concrete knowledge, skills and qualities participants felt they possessed today that they attribute to their intercollegiate athletic experiences.

Three semi-structured interviews …

Distinctive Sans Forgetica Font Does Not Benefit Memory Accuracy In The Drm Paradigm, Mark J. Huff, Nicholas P. Maxwell, Anie Mitchell

Faculty Publications

A common method used by memory scholars to enhance retention is to make materials more challenging to learn—a benefit termed desirable difficulties. Recently, researchers have investigated the efficacy of Sans Forgetica, a perceptually disfluent/distinctive font which may increase processing effort required at study and enhance memory as a result. We examined the effects of Sans Forgetica relative to a standard control font (Arial) on both correct memory and associative memory errors using the Deese/Roediger–McDermott (DRM) false memory paradigm, to evaluate Sans Forgetica effects on overall memory accuracy. Across four experiments, which included nearly 300 participants, Sans Forgetica was found to …

Voices From The Field: A Critical Incident Study Of Teachers' Perspectives On What Helps And Hinders The Implementation Of Behavior Intervention Plans In The Classroom, Emily Anne Cragun

Theses and Dissertations

Student problem behavior continues to be a major issue in schools for both teachers and students. Teachers often feel they are not provided with enough resources to help them manage this problem behavior. Students who engage in problem behavior tend to struggle socially and academically. When classified with an emotional disturbance, students are especially at risk due to the severity of the problem behavior they exhibit (Brauner & Stephens, 2006). This study examined how function-based interventions can help both teachers and students better manage the effects of problem behavior. There are several factors believed to hinder the effectiveness of function-based …

Pharmacotherapy For Opioid Use Disorder In Mississippi, Amanda Michelle Whitacre

Doctoral Projects

The opioid epidemic is affecting Mississippi’s young to middle-aged adult population in a profound way. Pharmacotherapy for opioid use disorder (OUD) is the gold standard treatment. Despite the FDA-approved evidence-based treatment of pharmacotherapy for OUD, rural areas often lack providers available who will initiate and provide maintenance of this life-saving medication. For this doctoral project, a 36-question survey was developed based on a preliminary literature review. The survey was disseminated to advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in the family and psychiatric specialties across Mississippi to assess the barriers to APRNs filling the gap in pharmacotherapy prescribing for OUD. A continuing …

Comparing Importance Of Knowledge And Professional Skill Areas For Engineering Programming Utilizing A Two Group Delphi Survey, John F. Hutton

Theses and Dissertations

All engineering careers require some level of programming proficiency. However, beginning programming classes are challenging for many students. Difficulties have been well-documented and contribute to high drop-out rates which prevent students from pursuing engineering. While many approaches have been tried to improve the performance of students and reduce the dropout rate, continued work is needed. This research seeks to re-examine what items are critical for programming education and how those might inform what is taught in introductory programming classes (CS1). Following trends coming from accreditation and academic boards on the importance of professional skills, we desire to rank knowledge and …

Parent-Child Relationships And Parental Distress As Moderators Between Chronic Illness And Psychological Problems In Emerging Adults., Abigail Kukay

Theses and Dissertations

The current study aimed to better understand how parental functioning and parent-child relationships might moderate the effects of chronic illness on psychological problems in emerging adulthood. Three hypotheses were made: (1) the presence and severity of chronic illness would associate positively with emerging adult psychological problems, (2) parental distress would moderate the effects between chronic illness presence/severity and emerging adulthood psychological problems, and (3) parent-child relationship quality would moderate the effects between chronic illness presence/severity and emerging adult psychological problems. Data analysis consisted of testing interaction effects, pairwise parameter comparisons, and multiple group analysis. The three-way interaction between endorsing a …

Determinism V. Free Will & Genetic Evidence Of Addiction In Plea Bargaining And Sentence Mitigation: Conversion Of Incarceration To Probation And Rehabilitation Based On Genetic Addiction Risk Severity (Gars) Test, Kenneth Blum, Paul Mullen, Richard Green

St. Mary's Law Journal

In this Article, Dr. Kenneth Blum and his team present the case of a presently abstinent, thirty-five year old alcoholic (“AG”) who has several convictions for DWI. AG has undergone and continues to be engaged in out-patient substance abuse treatment. He entered treatment before adjudication and was mandated by the court to continue treatment to assist in maintaining sobriety. Treatment included the administration of the Genetic Addiction Risk Severity (“GARS”) Test.

AG was facing a probable five-year sentence for his fifth DWI conviction in Bexar County, Texas. However, because AG’s genetic risk results indicated a genetically induced dopamine dysfunction, hypodopaminergia, …

Foster Youth In The Mountain West, Zachary Billot

Undergraduate Research Symposium Lightning Talks

Number of children adopted from foster care vs. waiting to be adopted from foster care in the Mountain West, FY2020

Predicting The Next Pandemic: Utilizing Wastewater-Based Epidemiology As A Novel Technique For Detecting Mpox Dna, Austin Tang, Michael Moshi, Hayley Baker, Ching-Lan Chang

Undergraduate Research Symposium Lightning Talks

Mpox cases are trending downward in Las Vegas, aligning with national trends. The study demonstrates that it is possible to extract mpox DNA directly from wastewater and quantify the genetic material using qPCR. This research indicates that WBE can be utilized to give a relative abundance of virual nucleic acids in wastewater, giving opportunities for early-warning systems and other public health interventions. Mpox remains a global threat to public health, continued surveillance of MPXV using wastewater is necessary to ensure that we can detect unusual spike in viral DNA level. Mpox detected in the wastewater samples will be sequences to …

Are They Satisfied Enough To Go Above And Beyond?, Alexandra Lungu

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Drawing on self-determination theory, this study examines the relationship between paradoxical leadership and service employees' work behaviors.

Correlational Analysis Between Self-Esteem And Selective Mutism, Janelle Ferraris, Karina Carrillo-Juarez, Alexandra Caballero, Melanie Rede

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

These results demonstrate that children who score higher in being self-conscious or easily embarrassed are may be more likely to present more severe symptoms of selective mutism. These results also suggest that, in treating or identifying children with selective mutism, it is beneficial to understand the severity to which these children feel self-conscious or embarrassed.

Emotional Engagement To Music Is Correlated With Enhanced Frisson Experience But Not Misophonia, Sarah Al-Shimary, Nicole Datastanyan, Shelbie Silvers, Sivan Barashy, Solena Mednicoff

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

There is evidence that individuals who are particularly sensitive or intolerant to sounds are also more engaged or fascinated with positive sounds such as music.

Investigating The Impact Of Dividing Attention On Auditory And Visual Object Memory, Sharica Lee, Alexa Salomon, Laura L.S. Werner, Kevin D. Mohawk, Maggie Mcmullin

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Recently, we found that dividing attention reduced recollection and familiarity for visual objects, but a different pattern emerged for auditory object memory: auditory object recollection was not affected by dividing attention. This could be attributable to differing levels of baseline performance with visual memory far exceeding auditory memory. Thus, we attempted to equate baseline performance in both modalities in order to adequately investigate the previous findings.

Malice Within Meanness In Psychopathy Predicts Unrestricted Sociosexuality, Michal Newhouse-Van Vlerin

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

This study examines the relationship between the Meanness in Psychopathy-Self Report Short Form (MiP-SR-SF) and the Sociosexuality Orientation Inventory-Revised (SOI-R). It links the fields of personality and sexual functioning.

Testing Wickelgren's Model Of Interference And Decay, Gabriel Hull, Isabella Lacy

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Two explanations have been proposed to explain forgetting: decay (forgetting occurs as a function of time) and interference (the mental activity can impinge on the consolidation of a recently acquired memory). Wickelgren (1974) proposed a model of forgetting which suggests that forgetting is a function of both decay and interference, best expressed as a power-exponential function. The present research will be the first to directly examine whether Wickelgren’s model accurately predicts the observed effects of these two components on forgetting. This research will further the study of human memory by improving current models, and helping to resolve the debate surrounding …

The Effect Of Sleep And Emotion On Pattern Separation, Alanna N. Osmanski, Laisha Sanchez Espitia

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Slow wave sleep has been considered an important aspect of memory consolidation, most commonly through a model known as active systems consolidation. Newly encoded memories are repeatedly activated, driven by slow oscillations that occur in the neocortex. A widely accepted view is that emotional memories are preferentially consolidated during sleep making them easily obtainable for retrieval. However, recent meta-analyses of sleep, emotion, and memory have suggested that this effect may not be as robust as we once thought. A relatively new way to investigate sleep and emotional effects on memory is with a pattern separation task called the Mnemonic Similarity …

The Influence Of Prediction Error Strength On Recognition Memory, Augustine L. Alvarado, Kevin D. Mohawk

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

An important feature of learning and memory is being able to make predictions about our environments based on past experiences. However, our predictions are not always accurate. We may experience a prediction error (a mismatch between what was predicted and what actually occurred). Research has found that PE enhances learning and memory. The Predictive Interactive Multiple Memory Signals (PIMMS) suggests that PE facilitates learning and memory because it triggers a need to update our representation to reduce errors in the future. This study aims to replicate Greve et al., (2017), who found that PE enhances declarative memory of learned associations. …

The Stability Of The Speech-To-Song Illusion, Jennifer Hsu, Brooke Booth, Jordyn Karns, Rodica R. Constantine

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

The Speech-to-Song (STS) illusion: when a listener is presented with multiple repetitions of a spoken phrase and begins to hear it as increasingly song-like. In the present study, we aim to verify anecdotal evidence that suggests the STS illusion is temporally stable and replicate existing evidence that excerpts transform to song by the third or fourth repetition and perhaps faster upon future encounters.

You're So Harsh On Me: Meanness In Psychopathy And Perceived Family Criticism, Jordan E. Hayes, Kayla Mcginty

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Overall, the lack of research on percieved criticism, especially within populations that display meanness, show a need for research because just like mood, percieved criticism may change throughout the day. Understanding the relationship between psychopathic meanness and momentary patterns of percieved criticism among family members could provide helpful insight into social interactions and elucidating patterns of family dysfunction involved in the most antagonistic features of psychopathy.

Telehealth Acceptance Among Appalachian Respondents During Covid 19: A Secondary Data Analysis, Victoria Hood-Wells, Florence M. Weierbach, Amy Wahlquist, Janet M. Keener, Manik Ahuja, Hadii M. Mamudu

ETSU Faculty Works

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between telehealth use, telehealth satisfaction, and chronic medical conditions among residents living in Appalachian and non-Appalachian communities.

Sample: A COVID-19 public health survey was distributed via social media and healthcare clinics in the tri-state region of central Appalachia. Survey responses were limited to adults aged ≥18 years who consented to participate in the survey that self-identified as an individual with one or more chronic medical conditions (n=195).

Method: Simple descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations (SDs) were calculated for variables of interest both overall and by …

Ideological Extremism, Conspiratorial Thought, And Support For Authoritarianism In The United States, Sophie N. Martino

Honors Theses

Since the nation’s founding, Americans have tended to take democracy for granted. People see democracy as a given, believing that adherence to democratic values will persist. However, in the past few election cycles, there has been a trend in support for authoritarianism in the United States – not just with political leaders and figures, but also with individuals susceptible to authoritarian values and signals. This thesis seeks to address this apparent threat of authoritarianism in the United States, delving into possible factors that play a role in the growing support for authoritarian attitudes among Americans. I believe that two phenomena …

Balancing Free Play And Structured Learning Opportunities In Early Childhood Education Classrooms: Contrasting Perceptions Of Teachers And Researchers, Logan Mentzer

University Honors Theses

This study explored how early childhood education classrooms can provide a balance of learning opportunities that are both initiated by the child and facilitated by the teacher. Three transitional/preschool teachers were interviewed along with two researchers who study preschool/kindergarten classrooms. The results of this study found four strategies that are used in early childhood education classes that allow both child exploration and adult facilitation: 1) creating close teacher-child relationships; 2) creating close lead-assistant teacher relationships; 3) using both mental and physical planning; 4) using guided questions to teach. There were interesting differences in contrasting perspectives of early childhood education teachers …

Accepting The Monster Within: Addressing Mental Illness Through Young Adult Literature, Jenna Ellis

Honors Theses

This creative research project discusses the importance and practice of implementing a unit on mental health in young adult literature in secondary-level ELA curriculum. The first portion of this thesis is an original short story, entitled “Beneath the Surface,” which portrays a middle-schooler, Leith, whose anxiety manifests itself as a monster. “Beneath the Surface” explores mental illness through a metaphor of the ocean, utilizing water imagery to depict Leith’s experiences with and symptoms of anxiety. Following the short story is an annotated bibliography describing mental health texts for students to read in an ELA unit on mental health as well …