Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Affecting Nicaraguan “Vegetable” Literacy With Social Change Advertising, Summer Schneider

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

When the Sandinista socialist government gained control they began a total reformation of the country, most notably, the education system. The government supported a small group of men who created the 1980 Literacy Campaign, which worked to educate the majority of the nation. Nicaraguan literacy rates jumped from 49.65% to 87.04% in five months. Despite their successes, literacy rates still suffer today. Through primary research, it has been determined that the biggest issue facing Nicaraguan literacy are “vegetable literates,” those who lose their literacy because they do not use it. In order to combat the issue, I developed a four-part …

Audio-Visual Integration Is Strongest For Spatially Congruent Stimuli, Alyssa Prawl

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Young adult alcohol use is a prevalent and significant public health concern, influenced by a complex interplay of genetic, personality, and social factors. Greater descriptive norms (i.e., perceptions of peer drinking behavior) and injunctive norms (i.e., perceptions of peer drinking acceptability) have been associated with increased young adult drinking. Further emerging research suggest that the association between peer norms and alcohol outcomes may be exacerbated by carrying a 7-repeat allele of the DRD4 VNTR. Presence of a 7-repeat allele has also been associated with greater impulsivity (i.e., novelty-seeking and sensation seeking), but it remains unknown whether such heightened impulsivity explains …

A Case Study Of The Yasuní-Itt: What Is New About The Twenty-First Century Socialist Development Model?, Haley Kulakowski

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

© Haley Kulakowski 2016

Abstract

This paper explores and challenges the development strategies of Rafael Correa in Ecuador and, more generally, the new Latin American left through the Yasuní-ITT case study. Claiming to implement a post-neoliberal development model that stands to uphold the principles of buen vivir, post-neoliberalism, and the 2008 Ecuadorean constitution, the Yasuní-ITT case study seems less like a commitment to the rights of the Pachamama and the rights of indigenous tribes, and more like a political tactic, the creation of a hollow narrative that positions the new Latin American left as anti-Northern, anti- IMF, and as “post-neoliberal.” …

Sourcing The Sherds: An Analysis Of The Coarse Earthenware Ceramics From Trents Plantation In Barbados, Sara Mcnamara

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Trents, originally known as Fort Plantation, was one of the five initial plantations established by the English in 1627. Since 2012, three different loci at Trents have been excavated: an outbuilding to the main house (Locus 1), enslaved laborers’ living quarters (Locus 2), and a cave site (Locus 3). Locus 1 is well stratified with clear divides between material dating to the pre-sugar era in the early 17th century and the following period from mid-17th to early 18th century. 18th and 19th century deposits cap this locus. Locus 2 dates from the mid-17th to early 19th century. Distinct floor areas …

Reclaiming Identities: Intercultural Bilingual Education In Peru And Bolivia, Emily Malina

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This project involves analyzing indigenous intercultural bilingual education (IBE) and the reclaimation of identity. The intercultural nature of IBE models has the potentional to cause an ideological transformation and reclamation of culture through indigenous autonomy and inclusion in nation-building processes. Through comparing the histories of Peru and Bolivia, it becomes evident that there is a correlation between historic polity structures and the successful implementation of IBE.

In Pursuit Of My Eye: A Book Of Photographs, Amanda Piela

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This book progresses chronologically through photos that represent pivotal moments in my life. I carefully selected the photos I have included in the book from thousands of photographs that I had never so much as even looked at after I shot them and dumped them onto hard drives. The book functions as a way to organize my journey through photography and extrapolate on what I have learned over the years. I refer to teachers, professors, peers and advisors that have influenced me in countless ways as well as friends that have modeled for me and supported me over the years. …

Using Applied Public Relations To Develop The Londonderry Rail Trail, Meghan Rimol

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This project uses applied public relations research and theory to plan, implement and evaluate a campaign in partnership with nonprofit organization Londonderry Trailways to facilitate the development of the Londonderry Rail Trail in the town of Londonderry, New Hampshire. Using formal organizational analysis and research techniques, this project explores the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the organization relative to the Rail Trail project and outlines a comprehensive plan to address these issues. This plan, which was implemented between June 1, 2015, and January 1, 2016, includes a digital media campaign and various promotional events aimed at engaging key stakeholders …

Media Technology: An Evolving Political Machine, Jesper Van Den Bergh

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The goal of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of social media and the role that it plays when it comes to influencing legislation. The methodology was two-fold, a historical comparison with the role of social media being compared to the roles of media/information technology in the past, and a quantitative analysis of fiscal spending and social media presence. Possible problems could include a lack of quantitative data when it comes to social media, and a failure to establish enough of a connection between social media and technologies of the past. However, through these avenues the argument was advanced …

Arab Women In Development: A Postcolonial Legacy, Rachel Bass

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The way in which women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have been portrayed in international development and rights discourse is based on a narrow, ahistorical view of Arab/Muslim majority societies, which exhibits an overconfidence in the discipline of economics and the ideology of neoliberalism, or free-market economics. Based on arguments presented by anthropologists, feminist economists, geographers, sociologists, comparative literary scholars and others, I explore in this thesis the legacy of colonialism in MENA in its various incarnations: as physical colonization in the 19^th and 20^th centuries; as suppression of indigenous knowledge in favor of …

The Poppy: Contextualising A Seemingly Timeless Symbol In History, Materials And Practice, Emily Barrett

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

the poppy, a blood red flower, is the British nation’s symbol of remembrance. For over one hundred years, the poppy has been worn on the lapels of numerous generations as an act of respect for the military men and women that lost their lives serving the nation during times of war. The tradition ultimately began with World War I and since that time the poppy, its meaning and its use, is often viewed in a timeless manner; it transcends time to unite the past and the present. However, the poppy is not an unchanging, static and bounded symbol. This research …

Collective And Individual Identities Of Soldiers At The Florence American Cemetery And Memorial, Christiana Chmielewski

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Florence American Cemetery and Memorial, located outside of Florence, Italy, is the final resting place of 4,402 American soldiers who died during World War II while fighting in the Tuscan region after the liberation of Rome in June 1944. In addition to those buried, 1,409 soldiers are commemorated on the Wall of the Missing. By joining the military, these men (and women) became a part of the larger military family. Such a process ensured that their individual identities would become intertwined with that of a collective military identity. However, it was their biological kin, the family that remained in …

Jesus Wouldn’T Mow, He’D Grow: Transforming Congregations, Lawns, And Food Security In Linn County, Ia, Juliette Crellin

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This study looks at religious organizations, lawns, and food insecurity in Linn County, and seeks to evaluate a hypothesis set forth by the founder of a farming nonprofit in the county. The Kendrick Hypothesis states that Linn County congregations could grow enough food on their lawns to eliminate food insecurity in the region. The study assesses this hypothesis using a yield analysis and survey of local religious leaders. While the study found that full participation in a congregation garden program could produce enough yield to significantly impact the county’s food insecurity, the results do not support the Kendrick Hypothesis. The …

Abortion, Teen Pregnancy, And Feminism: Finding Women-Centric Solutions For Reproductive Justice, Jessica Faunce

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This two-part project seeks to understand, discuss, and address issues surrounding some of the most contentious debates in the United States: unplanned pregnancy and abortion. The first part of the project looks at the pro-life feminist movement’s agenda and ideals through comprehensive interviews with nine self-proclaimed pro-life feminists. The goal of this research is to gain an understanding of a women-centric opposition to abortion and to reflect on possible solutions that would benefit women and gain support from both pro-life and pro-choice advocates. Taking into account the information gathered through qualitative research on pro-life feminism, the second part of this …

Zest Magazine: An Editorial, Managerial, And Exploration Of Syracuse University's Premier Travel Publication, Madysan Foltz

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Zest Magazine is Syracuse University’s first travel publication dedicated to bursting the bubble of campus life and highlighting student adventures far beyond the Hill. It focuses on servicing students’ curiosity about the world while inspiring a sense of wanderlust in readers. Zest strives to get all students interested in travel, regardless of gender, socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic identity. Initially, Zest appeared in the spring semester of 2015 as an interactive tablet publication. It transitioned over to a print publication in the spring semester of 2016.

“Zest Magazine: An Editorial, Managerial, & Exploration of SU's Premier Travel Publication” sets out not …

The Interdependence Of Scientists In The Era Of Team Science: An Exploratory Study Using Temporal Network Analysis, Mark R. Costa

Dissertations - ALL

How is the rise in team science and the emergence of the research group as the fundamental unit of organization of science affecting scientists’ opportunities to collaborate? Are the majority of scientists becoming dependent on a select subset of their peers to organize the intergroup collaborations that are becoming the norm in science? This dissertation set out to explore the evolving nature of scientists’ interdependence in team-based research environments. The research was motivated by the desire to reconcile emerging views on the organization of scientific collaboration with the theoretical and methodological tendencies to think about and study scientists as autonomous …

Fine-Grained Emotion Detection In Microblog Text, Jasy Suet Yan Liew

Dissertations - ALL

Automatic emotion detection in text is concerned with using natural language processing techniques to recognize emotions expressed in written discourse. Endowing computers with the ability to recognize emotions in a particular kind of text, microblogs, has important applications in sentiment analysis and affective computing. In order to build computational models that can recognize the emotions represented in tweets we need to identify a set of suitable emotion categories. Prior work has mainly focused on building computational models for only a small set of six basic emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise). This thesis describes a taxonomy of 28 …

Netflix And The Development Of The Internet Television Network, Laura Osur

Dissertations - ALL

When Netflix launched in April 1998, Internet video was in its infancy. Eighteen years later, Netflix has developed into the first truly global Internet TV network. Many books have been written about the five broadcast networks – NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and the CW – and many about the major cable networks – HBO, CNN, MTV, Nickelodeon, just to name a few – and this is the fitting time to undertake a detailed analysis of how Netflix, as the preeminent Internet TV networks, has come to be.

This book, then, combines historical, industrial, and textual analysis to investigate, contextualize, and …

Essays On Structural Changes In High Dimensional Econometric Models, Fa Wang

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation consists of three essays on estimating and testing structural changes in high dimensional econometrics models. These essays are based on three working papers joint with Prof. Badi Baltagi and Prof. Chihwa Kao. The first essay considers estimating the date of a single common change in the regression coefficients of a heterogeneous large N and large T panel data model with or without strong cross- sectional dependence. The second essay considers estimating a high dimensional factor model with an unknown number of latent factors and a single common change in the number of factors and/or factor loadings. The third …

Essays On Characterizing Inefficiency For Stochastic Frontier Models, Ian Anthony Wright

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation consists of three essays on stochastic frontier models in characterizing inefficiency for a cross section of firms in essays one and three and a set of firms overtime in essay two. The first essay looks at stationary points for several models used in stochastic frontier analysis. The second essay extends the multivariate probability statements of Horrace (2005) to calculate the probability that a firm is any particular efficiency rank. These rank probabilities are used to calculate expected efficiency ranks for each firm. The third and final essay adds spatial correlation to the production function of each firm and …

“Texts From Hillary:” Political Meta-Meming, Likeability, And Social Presence, Hanna Katharina Birkhead

Dissertations - ALL

In the age of viral social sharing, memes have become an increasingly important way for the public to engage in political debate and discussion. Through social media, politicians have an opportunity to participate in meme sharing with their followers, and to gain valuable likeability points with them by doing so. Hillary Clinton is one such politician, who created a meta-meme by participating in a viral meme about her, and was able to have some control over the narrative about her image as a result. The present research examined the uses of and responses to political meta-meming through analysis of both …

What Does Corporate Social Responsibility Mean To Fortune 500 Companies And Why? A 2015 Csr Audit Of The Top 25 Fortune 500 Companies., Delisa N. Morris

Dissertations - ALL

Abstract

What Does Corporate Social Responsibility Mean to Fortune 500 Companies and Why?

A 2015 CSR audit of the top 25 Fortune 500 Companies.

Delisa Morris

Corporate social responsibility has become an essential function in modern business. The purpose of this study was to show the societal benefits and the vast possibility of CSR programs. The top 25 Fortune 500 companies were chosen for this study because they were leaders within each industry with business functions worldwide. Lastly, the purpose of this research is to find out how companies translate CSR into business benefits.

This study used a qualitative content …

Output Interference And Testing Effects In Recognition Memory, Sean Allison Spangler

Dissertations - ALL

Output interference and testing effects are two common occurrences in episodic memory data. Output interference is the finding that as a recognition memory test increases in length, performance tends to decrease. This suggests that continued testing is detrimental to recognition memory. Testing effects are the general finding that repeatedly taking a test contributes to better long-term retention than repeated studying (re-reading) of the same material. This implies that practicing taking a test is beneficial to the retention and future retrieval of that information. However, there are no studies that examine both output interference and testing effects. The current study sought …

The Relationship Of Cognitive And Affective Factors With Daily Somatic Complaints: An Investigation Into Response Expectancy Theory And The Symptom Perception Hypothesis, Garry L. Spink

Dissertations - ALL

Theories explaining how psychological factors influence somatic complaints have existed for decades; however, few attempts have been made to integrate their predictions. Two such theories are the symptom perception hypothesis and the response expectancy theory. The symptom perception hypothesis suggests that negative affect influences daily somatic complaints, whereas the response expectancy theory surmises relationships with response expectancies. Neurological evidence suggest psychological factors such as these should be integrated to better understand daily somatic complaints. In line with this suggestion, this study aims to examine the combined effects of three psychological factors: namely state negative affect, response expectancies, and recollection of …

Preparing For And Responding To Flood Disasters: A Tale Of Two Floods, Rachel Correll

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Major floods have occurred throughout geologic history and will continue to for centuries and millenia to come. Preparation and response strategies have been in place to various degrees. However, with more frequent and severe floods expected in many regions in the future, improving these strategies is a societal priority. In this thesis, I outline the strengths and weaknesses of these strategies in two case studies, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and The Great Mississippi Flood of 1993 in St. Louis. My research compares disaster preparedness and response of recent major flooding in the U.S. My objective is to learn from …

Orange Balance: A Health And Wellness Website For Freshmen Women At Syracuse University, Sarah Santos

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Adjusting to a new lifestyle away from home can be a challenge, especially for students who are moving to college for their first year. Based on my own struggles with maintaining my health and finding my balance with food, fitness, and personal wellness, which I endured when first coming to Syracuse University in the fall of 2012, I have created a health and wellness website designed specifically for first year female students at Syracuse University. Using WordPress to build the online platform, and working with writers, photographers, and an illustrator, I have built a site that discusses topics such as …

Welcoming The Stranger: African Refugees And Israel’S Asylum Regime, David Kimelman

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper will explore the Israeli asylum regime and its development since the state’s inception and will discuss the rationales and motives behind national policy and public perception of asylum seekers. Over the last decade, Israel’s asylum regime has been significantly upgraded to meet the growing needs of the state to manage an unprecedented flow of asylum seekers entering into the country. Upon arriving in Israel, however, asylum seekers have found a state that is reluctant to take them in and a citizenry unwelcoming to outsiders perceived as a divisive “other.” This “otherness” is perceived as a danger to many …

Trail's End Cafe Branding And Design, Morgan Mcmullen

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Trail’s End is a café which is scheduled to open in the first week of June 2016. For my creative capstone project, I developed the café’s identity, as well as designed the logo, materials, and website, among other things needed to get the café ready to open. Being the sole designer working on the identity development of any venture is a challenge, however this also made my tasks perfect for an honors-level capstone.

At Risk: Conflict Resources And The Right To Water In Sub-Saharan Africa, Madeleine Durbin

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper examines the relationship between water and natural resource extraction to expand the understanding of conflict resources to include water stress as a human rights violation. My research question asks how the human right to water can further our conceptualization of conflict resources and conflict risk. If we understand conflict resources broadly as those whose exploitation leads to human rights violations, then any resource extraction resulting in water stress should be considered a conflict resource, as it violates the human right to water and could lead to increased conflict risk. I examine diamonds and coltan as “widely accepted” conflict …

Psychological Reactivity To Dental Images And Sounds, Josue Deya

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Individuals who fear the dentist or have dental phobia, actively avoid routine care and dental procedures, leading to deterioration of their oral health. Consequently, research into possible triggers of dental related anxiety is of interest. The purpose of the current study is to develop a standardized set of images and sounds to use in future cue reactivity studies for a specific population: namely, college students varying in their fear and anxiety based reactions to the dentist and dental procedures. Participants were given questionnaires assessing their personality, oral health behaviors, and dental anxiety. Participants were also asked to assess negative dental …

Three Essays On The Impacts Of Air Pollution And Environmental Policy, Jordan Stanley

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation analyzes the effects of United States environmental policy - specifically that which regards air pollution - on health, labor market, and environmental outcomes. The first chapter examines the potential long-term effects of childhood exposure to atmospheric lead. The outcome of interest is crime, and the policy analyzed is the leaded gasoline phaseout. The second chapter seeks to investigate the effects of environmental regulation on labor markets. Nonattainment status designation creates variation in regulatory levels across counties based on a county’s air quality for a given pollutant, in this case ozone. The third chapter provides analysis of the design …