Digital Commons Network^™

Lessons From An Iconic Grouper: Sex, Science, And Serendipity, Yvonne J. Sadovy De Mitcheson

Gulf and Caribbean Research

From a common little damselfish and spectacular grouper aggregations, to disappearing reef fishes and the dark side of the international seafood trade, my journey has passed through a fascinating and worrying period of change in the way we view and treat our oceans. Although much of my career has been in the Indo—Pacific, I focus here mainly on my professional ‘roots’ in the Caribbean and on the Nassau Grouper Epinephelus striatus, a species that kept me curious, taught me patience, never to assume and always to stay hopeful. This fish is almost an obsession; why can we not better safeguard …

Synthesis Of Dihydro-Β-Carbolines By Tandem C-H Activation And Aza-Michael Reaction In The Presence Of Rh(Ii)/Squaramide Catalysis: Investigation Of The Mechanism Via Computational Methods, Syed Wasiuddin

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

N-heterocycles are the major component of various bioactive natural products, pharmaceuticals, and their precursors. In particularly, β-carbolines are examples of substituted indole and its derivatives that serve as the basic structures of diverse, therapeutically important molecules with broad pharmacological properties. Rajasekar and Anbarasan have suggested a novel one-pot synthesis for dihydro-β-carbolines involving more than one catalytic system: a rhodium acetate dimer for C-H insertion on the indole and a basic organo-catalyst for the subsequent aza-Michael addition. The product can be obtained enantioselectively by using a chiral squaramide as the organo-catalyst. Since the mechanism of this reaction, including the rate determining …

Patrician Women In Renaissance Florence: Daughters, Wives, Mothers And Nuns, Elise Nehasil

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The society, economy, and political institutions of Renaissance Florence between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries were dominated by powerful merchant, patrician families. These families continually worked to maintain their positions at the apex of Florentine society. The women in these patrician families, as daughters, wives, mothers, nuns, played an integral role in their struggle to remain atop the social, economic, and political spheres. In examining the lives of these females we need to ask, to what extent were the lives, roles, and power of patrician women in Renaissance Florence shaped by the needs and desires of their families and the …

Evaluating The Effects Of Disability On Preferred Proximity, Mia Nicole Mcmahon

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

People with disabilities frequently face the barriers of prejudice, stereotypes, low expectations, and the doubt that they can be adequate romantic partners. This study sought to examine whether the description of a target individual’s proximity to disability would inform the participants’ preference for social closeness or social distance from the target. The target individuals described in the vignettes varied in their proximity to disability in that one target was disabled and did not disclose their identity, the second was likewise disabled and disclosed this, the third was not disabled themself but had a disabled sibling, and the last vignette described …

Coming Around: A Cost-Benefit Analysis Of The Vegas Loop, Adriana Alejandra Henriquez Mora

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

An ex-ante cost benefit analysis of the Vegas Loop was executed, where the possible costs and benefits of implementing the entirety of the project were quantified in monetary terms to measure the consequences of it on all members of society. The Boring Company’s Vegas Loop is a tunnel system which utilizes human-controlled Tesla Model X and Y vehicles to move passengers around the city of Las Vegas, directly to their destination without additional stops. For this analysis, the considered benefits were: fares, reduced travel times, reduced emissions, and bolstering of tourism. Conversely, the considered costs included: the implementation cost, the …

The Time War: Comparatively Analyzing The Process Of Settler Colonialism & The Importance Of Personal Record, Naomi Hardin

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

In this work, I argue for the necessity of framing settler colonialism as an ongoing process of exploitation and genocide, rather than an event of the past. Understanding settler colonialism as ongoing allows us to recognize how white supremacy utilizes direct and indirect forms of violence to not just occupy land but extract resources, build infrastructure that ensures its survival, and displace indigenous peoples. I offer first a sketch of settler colonialism as it is happening in Palestine, Algeria, and the Americas. I engage with books and research essays to think comparatively about these phenomena & further reveal the legacies …

Assessing College Students' Knowledge Of Applied Behavior Analysis And Evaluating The Effects Of A Fact Sheet To Address Misconceptions, Hannah Goike

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Previous research has indicated that college students consistently endorse misconceptions about behavior analysis (e.g., use of physical punishment, Applied Behavior Analysis [ABA] is only intended for people with autism). This study aims to assess college students’ knowledge of behavior analysis and identify the extent to which participants are likely to endorse common misconceptions. This study replicated Artzen et al. (2010) and extended it by adding questions related to the recent trends and reported misunderstandings in the field of ABA that stem from public misconceptions. The current study also evaluated the effects of a brief intervention for improving participant knowledge of …

Expressions And Attributions Of Ableism For Disabilities That Were Caused Or Congenital, Hadlie R. Daigle

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Ableism is a form of systemic oppression that prejudices disabled people. Ableist views perpetuate the idea that being non-disabled as the ideal and disability is a flaw or weakness to avoid. This research compared how different reasons for disabilities might lead to ableism toward auditory and cognitive disabilities. Some participants read about an individual who had cognitive disabilities (TBI) from congenital reasons, others due to illness, and then others due to a lack of caution leading to an injury resulting in TBI. Similarly, participants also read about individuals who had experienced an auditory deficit (deafness) due to these varying reasons …

Assessing The Impact Of The Great Recession On The Rust Belt States: A Policy Analysis, Cederick Charles

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

This research examines at the wide-ranging effects of the Great Recession, which struck the Rust Belt states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin between 2007 and 2009. The study uses historical economic data and state-level policy responses from 2005 to 2015, including GDP and unemployment, and examines the various policies implemented to combat this substantial economic slump. These policies include investments in infrastructure, job creation programs, industrial support, and aid for vulnerable populations. Beyond immediate responses, the research takes into account the region's long-term recovery trajectory. By evaluating different policy choices and the …

The Integration Of Certified Therapy Dog Teams Into Special Education: Insights Of Volunteer Handlers, Rana Aabed

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The purpose of this study was to better understand how certified volunteer dog therapy handlers can be integrated into special education settings. Although the pet therapy discourse confirms the overall impact dog therapy has on youth’s psychological health (e.g., Groenewoud et al., 2023), research that could elucidate how volunteer handlers modify the way they have their dogs interact with special education populations is a present-day need that has otherwise not appeared in the literature. In response, this study involved a qualitative multiple-case investigation about the role of volunteer certified handlers and the dog therapy provisions they offer special education populations. …

Intergenerational Linguistic Differences In Japan, Ian Gabriel Cruz

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

As time passes, languages evolve and change. This is evident through the differences in how younger speakers vs. older speakers communicate in their native language. This study focuses on the linguistic changes in the Japanese language over three generations of native Japanese speakers. The data for this study was collected in Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan in Fall 2023. The study focuses on the use of Japanese first-person personal pronouns and synonymous lexical differences.

Migrant Vulnerability To Human Trafficking: A Legislative Decade In Review With Historical And Policy Process Analysis, Elizabeth Solis

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Despite the establishment of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000, the state and prevalence of human trafficking in the United States has greatly increased. While there exists more information and legislation, it still remains an under-researched and under-evaluated issue. This study looks through the enacted human trafficking federal legislation over the last decade to track whether migrant vulnerability to human trafficking has been further addressed with the evolution of the issue within the country. To provide a relevant analysis, this study will look through human trafficking legislation through the years of 2013-2023 and will focus on the main …

Battles, Bustles, And Ballots: The Struggle For Michigan Women's Enfranchisement, Anna Bennett

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The struggle for women’s rights was long fought throughout American history and Michigan played a vital role in the movement’s success. This thesis explores three monumental eras that shaped the struggle for women’s suffrage in Michigan, detailing the evolution from the 1860s Civil War Era through the late 19th and early 20th century Progressive Era. The first era highlights how the Civil War provided women opportunities to challenge prevailing gender conventions and express political opinions. The second era examines the 1874 election, when suffrage was on the ballot but ultimately defeated, largely due to the Beecher-Tilton Scandal that tarnished the …

Salary Report, 2024 June, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Salary Reports

No abstract provided.

Salary Report, 2024 March, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Salary Reports

No abstract provided.

Bilingual Families' Perspectives On Augmentative And Alternative Communication Devices, Reem Hamami

Brehm Scholars Research

Objective: The purpose of this study is to collect the perspectives of bilingual parents of AAC users regarding devices and services, thus advocating for better AAC support for bilingual users and their families. Simultaneously, this study will aim to inform speech-language pathologists and guide their practice when working with bilingual AAC users and their families. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted to collect participants' perspectives in a virtual interview format over a 30-minute to 1-hour Zoom call. A flyer of the study’s details was circulated over social media to recruit participants, who were screened over email and a 15- to …

Late Discovery: Student Experiences With Late Learning Disability Diagnoses, Margot Moffa

Brehm Scholars Research

My research focuses on the experiences of students who were diagnosed with a learning disability in high school or college. I conducted a qualitative study including eight interviews. Findings after the study showed that participants were never identified without seeking help independently. Additionally, living with an undiagnosed learning disability left negative impacts on participants' mental health, resulting in the development of coping strategies to mask their symptoms and experiences. This research is critical as getting diagnosed with a learning disability later in life can be detrimental to a student's learning experience. Struggling in school and not understanding is extremely frustrating …

Second-Generation Flanking Policies: Addressing Extraterritorial And Non-Economic Costs Of Trade Liberalization, Timothy Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

Flanking policies – policies that aim to address potential negative effects of trade liberalization, and/or the concerns of domestic stakeholders regarding those negative effects, and that are either legally or factually linked to trade liberalization – have been a critical component of international trade policy since at least 1962. Over the years, however, flanking policies have changed. This Article argues that there is a heretofore unnoticed distinction between what I term first-generation flanking policies and second-generation flanking policies. Specifically, first-generation flanking policies target negative economic effects, or costs, of trade liberalization experienced within the enacting country. Trade adjustment assistance is …

Tennessee V. Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n: Contracts - Name, Image And Likeness, David Draper

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Training Law Students For Cybersecurity Practice, Stephen Black

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Compliance With World Health Organization Covid19 Preventive Behaviors In Rural Counties In Western Kenya: A Cross-Sectional Study, Caleb Nyaranga, Cholo Wilberforce, Fletcher J. Njororai

Population Health Leadership and Analytics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction: the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended various measures to tackle COVID-19, and were adopted by many governments, targeting behavior change among citizens to lower the transmission. There was a paucity of data on the patterns of compliance with different measures within individuals and whether people adhere to all recommended measures or cautiously prefer few but not others. Understanding compliance behaviors and associated factors is important for developing interventions to increase compliance.

Methods: cross-sectional study was conducted among adults in the western region of Kenya. A sample of 806 participants was selected using a stratified sampling method. A structured questionnaire …

Antibiotic Resistance In A Coastal River In Mississippi, Usa – Potential Drivers, Shuo Shen, Wei Wu, Eric A. Saillant, Darrell Jay Grimes

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are major sources of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in water bodies. Most studies on the impact of WWTPs on antibiotic resistance have focused on freshwater systems, with little information on coastal and estuarine waters with variable salinity. This study monitored seasonal levels of ARGs at the effluent and downstream of the Pascagoula— Moss Point WWTP in the lower Pascagoula River, a coastal river in southeastern Mississippi, USA. Surface water samples were collected seasonally at upstream, outflow, and 3 downstream sites from February to November 2016. Bacterial resistance to sulfamethazine, tetracycline, and …

Human Capital: Understanding The Policy And Fiscal Implications Of Prison Gerrymandering, Naomi Barbour

McNair Scholars Research Journal

This study will examine prison gerrymandering and its impact on residents of Metro Detroit. This analysis examines the fiscal, political, and municipal impact of prison gerrymandering on representation, taking into account the history of racially motivated disenfranchisement and political marginalization. Included are interviews with elected officials, social justice advocates, and formerly incarcerated individuals. The objective of the study is to explore the policy implications of prison gerrymandering and the process of transplanting incarcerated persons for funding purposes, in underserved communities. Through this examination, the approach demonstrates the relationship between the historical foundations that have perpetuated electoral inequalities, such as the …

Developing A Biodiversity Management Plan For The Emu Fish Lake Environmentla Education Center, Ocean M. Thomas

McNair Scholars Research Journal

The EMU Sustainability Commission uses the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) to document sustainability practices and find areas of improvement. This study will present a biodiversity management plan designed to identify vulnerable ecosystems and species at EMU’s Fish Lake Environmental Education Center (FLEEC). This plan will improve EMU’s STARS rating and help prevent, manage, and/or remediate damage to natural habitats and sensitive areas. So far, it has been found that most organisms within the defined research area hold the IUCN Red List conservation status of “least concern”; however, the site includes nine vascular plant species with a Coefficient …

Flipping Information Literacy Sessions: Applying A Fun-Flipped Classroom Approach To Cultivate Student Engagement And Planting Il Seeds Of Knowledge, Breeann Austin, Allison Williams, Megan Eberhardt-Alstot

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2024

No abstract provided.

Implementing Udl Using An Interactive Libwizard Tutorial, Madeline Ruggiero

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2024

No abstract provided.

The Incarcerated One-Shot: Applying Critical Pedagogy To Support Information Literacy Skill Development In Higher Education, Rebecca Blunk

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2024

No abstract provided.

Tackling The Nitty-Gritty In Teaching Search Strategies: A Visualized Approach From A Human Cognition Perspective, Yuqi He

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2024

No abstract provided.

154 East Chicago Blvd And Downtown Tecumseh, Mi, Lisa Powell

Historic Preservation Final Projects

The downtown commercial building at 154 East Chicago Blvd in Tecumseh, MI represents the typical building style of the late 1800s. It reflects the building styles and materials common to the area using such as fired brick and limestone, decorative cast iron columns and galvanized metal cornice, all typical in the Midwest in the late 19th century. This project analyzes how this commercial building has adapted to meet the needs of a small town in Tecumseh, Michigan, in southeast lower Michigan.

Court Review: Journal Of The American Judges Association, Vol. 60, No. 2, Eve M. Brank, David Dreyer, David Prince

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

Anniversary Year Brings a Look at Our Past, Court Review Editors

Judicial Independence, John Owens

Remarks on Judicial Independence by Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Anniversary Reprint), John Owens

So You’re Going to Be a Judge, Cynthia Gray

Religion’s Role in Judicial Decision-Making: an Update (Anniversary Reprint), Tiffany M. Williams, Alaina L. Warrior, Logan A. Yelderman, Monica K. Miller, and Brian H. Bornstein

Does A Judge’s Religion Influence Decision Making? Brian H. Bornstein and Monica K. Miller

How to Make Better Decisions, John F. Edwards

Editor’s Note, David Prince

President’s Column, Catherine Carlson

The Law of Sniffer-Dog Searches in Canada [Thoughts from …