Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Revision As Resistance: Fanfiction As An Empowering Community For Female And Queer Fans, Diana Koehm

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis explores how fanfiction is a site of resistance and empowerment for female and queer fans. Fans rework popular cultural texts to represent themselves and reflect their own interests and concerns in the face of significant stigma on the part of fandom and media producers.

Between Developed And Emerging Markets: Globalization Of Large Consumer Good Enterprises, Christine Savino Ms.

Honors Scholar Theses

A few years ago, The Economist promulgated that “the only way that companies can prosper in [emerging] markets is to cut costs relentlessly and accept profit margins close to zero” (The Economist, 2010). Likewise, according to the World Bank’s 2018 Ease of Doing Business Index[1], the least ranked countries (#94 and under out of 190 countries) are solely undeveloped and developing, while the top 20 countries are solely developed economies (World Bank, 2018). It has been long held that emerging markets[2][3] are non-strategic investments for multinational expansion, and that business giants from …

Community Support Systems For Reentering Young Adults, Samantha Staffin

Honors Scholar Theses

Young adults reentering into society after incarceration encounter a variety of obstacles that make their transition particularly difficult. Recidivism is a threat that becomes increasingly present in an environment that has negative societal pressures. In consideration of this, the presence of a healthy community support system is crucial for this population. In depth interviews were conducted with seven young adult participants of the Reentry Program at Our Piece of the Pie, Incorporated (OPP) to determine the quality of their current community support systems. Based on the information collected from interviews, it is evident that the full needs of the population …

Maternal Immune Activation (Mia) In Mice: A Study To Phenotype Asd-Related Communication Behaviors And Analyze Maternal Health Outcomes In The Us, Komalpreet Gulati

Honors Scholar Theses

Core symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) include deficits in social/communicative behaviors, and repetitive/stereotyped behaviors. Mouse models are a highly established paradigm used to study the phenotypic deficits that result from various inducible genotypic or environmental risk factors for ASD. Previous studies have demonstrated a link between maternal immune activation (MIA) and ASD-like behaviors in mouse models. In this model, the maternal immune system is activated during pregnancy by injecting the viral mimic poly(I:C). The resulting offspring are phenotyped and analyzed with regards to their communicative behaviors.

Previous studies have demonstrated that male pups born to dams with immune activation …

Oa Week 2018, Marisol Ramos

UConn Library Presentations

Presentation of the benefits of Open Access, as part of exhibit to celebrate Open Access Week 2018 at the UConn Library.

Variables Affecting Latency Of Rats Running On A Maze, Divya Subramanian

Honors Scholar Theses

When rats are running on a maze, what factors affect their latency? This project examines how time of day of training and hunger levels of the rats affect how long they take to complete the sessions of a behavioral task. A training day consists of three sessions, each with 20 runs. I hypothesize that the rats’ performance will improve if they are trained later in the day, if they are hungrier, and in successive sessions.

From Chaos To Planned Future: Transforming Libguides From Pathfinders To Learning Objects, Marisol Ramos

UConn Library Presentations

This presentation shares how the LibGuides Management Team at UConn Library applied the lessons learned from previous mistakes to build more accessible and pedagogical sound research guides using LibGuides v2. I will share the issues, challenges, and successes of applying guidelines and best practices in a consistent way to improve the user experience while accessing our research, course, general and topic guides.

We Love Big Brother: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Orwell’S Nineteen Eighty-Four And Modern Politics In The United States And Europe, Edward Pankowski

Honors Scholar Theses

In recent months since the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States in November 2016, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four has seen a resurgence in sales, and terms invented by Orwell or brought about by his work, such as “Orwellian,” have re-entered the popular discourse. This is not a new phenomenon, however, as Nineteen Eighty-Four has had a unique impact on each of the generations that have read it, and the impact has stretched across racial, ethnic, political, and gender lines. This thesis project will examine the critical, popular, and scholarly reception of Nineteen Eighty-Four since its …

An Unlikely Populist: Donald Trump And The Rhetoric Of Elite And Minority Resentment, Jared Quigley

University Scholar Projects

Populist rhetoric is a political language employed by individual leaders which divides the populace into two categories: a pure, moral people and a corrupt elite. In this paper, I examine Donald Trump as a populist, focusing on Moffit’s political style approach (Moffit 2016) and Mudde’s definition of populism as an ideology (Mudde 2004). Listening to speeches from the campaign, I study how the components of these definitions of populism apply to Trump. I also examine the groups that Trump defined as “the people,” “the elite,” and the “undeserving minority groups.” I argue that while Trump does exhibit certain behaviors expected …

Effort-Related Decision Making In Comt Variant Mice: Pharmacological Studies And Genetic Susceptibility To Motivational Dysfunction, Suzanne Cayer

Honors Scholar Theses

Effort-related decision making tasks in animals can model motivational symptoms in humans, which are a set of symptoms spanning a multitude of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as major depressive disorder and the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The present studies aimed to evaluate the effort-related effects of the Val158Met polymorphism of human catechol-methyltransferase (COMT), by testing mice carrying either the human COMT Val (n=8) or Met allele (n=8) with Wild-Type control mice (n=15) by using concurrent FR2 and FR4/pellet choice tasks in a touchscreen operant conditioning apparatus. The Val158Met polymorphism has been repeatedly associated with neuropsychiatric disorders, and the Val allele has …

An Unlikely Populist: Donald Trump And The Rhetoric Of Elite And Minority Resentment, Jared Quigley

Honors Scholar Theses

Populist rhetoric is a political language employed by individual leaders which divides the populace into two categories: a pure, moral people and a corrupt elite. In this paper, I examine Donald Trump as a populist, focusing on Moffit’s political style approach (Moffit 2016) and Mudde’s definition of populism as an ideology (Mudde 2004). Listening to speeches from the campaign, I study how the components of these definitions of populism apply to Trump. I also examine the groups that Trump defined as “the people,” “the elite,” and the “undeserving minority groups.” I argue that while Trump does exhibit certain behaviors expected …

Social Support And Adherence To Recommendations Following Asd Diagnosis, Morgan Reiss

Honors Scholar Theses

This experiment aimed to look at how social supports effected adherence to recommendations following a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. We hypothesized that families with higher levels of structural social support, as defined as more adults living in the home, help with child care, presence of a co-parent, and day care utilization, would also report higher levels of adherence to intervention recommendations. The participants (n=8) were caregivers of children diagnosed with ASD at either the University of Connecticut or Drexel University. These children were screened for ASD during a well-visit to their pediatrician, and upon failing the M-CHAT-R, were eligible …

Security Analysis Of The Uconn Husky One Card, Trevor Phillips

Honors Scholar Theses

The “Husky One Card” is the name given to student IDs at the University of Connecticut. It can identify students, faculty, and staff in a variety of situations. The One Card is used for meal plans, Husky Bucks (an equivalent of money, but valid only in the Storrs area), residence hall/ university facility access, and student health services. The current Husky One Card consists of a picture identification on the front and a standard 1-dimensional barcode and 3-track magnetic strip on the back.

The goal of this thesis is to investigate the feasibility of cloning Husky One Cards, the ease …

The Ush2a Gene: An Analysis Of Ultrasonic Vocalizations In A Mouse Model Of Usher Syndrome Type 2, Kiana R. Akhundzadeh

Honors Scholar Theses

Usher syndrome type 2 is a complex autosomal recessive genetic disorder that is characterized by moderate to severe congenital sensorineural hearing loss, the onset of retinitis pigmentosa in the second decade of life, and in some cases, vestibular dysfunction. Mutations in the USH2A gene account for 85% of cases of type 2. The USH2A gene is responsible for encoding the protein usherin, which has an important role in the development and function of inner ear hair cells and retinal photoreceptors. Until recently, it has been believed that carriers of the USH2A mutation were phenotype free. However, recent data has suggested …

Early Phonological Awareness As A Predictor Of Reading Fluency: An Mri Study, Katherine Foley

Honors Scholar Theses

Learning to read is a critical building block in the acquisition of reading fluency. Previous studies indicate phonological awareness as the main skill used to acquire reading fluency. Previous studies have also found correlations with cortical thickness in certain regions of the brain associated with phonological awareness as well as higher reading fluency scores. This was a longitudinal study where about 100 children with little to no school experience came in at time 1 for behavioral tests and an MRI. They then came back one year later at time 2 for another set of behavioral tests and again a year …

The Path To Terrorism: The Islamic State And Its Recruitment Strategies, Laura Turner

Honors Scholar Theses

The Islamic State, commonly known as ISIS, a terrorist organization that commits acts of such brutality that even Al Qaeda has denounced it, has recruited approximately 21,000 foreign fighters from countries all over the world. Why is this group so appealing? What has made it so effective at recruitment? What methods does it employ to recruit so many individuals? This paper seeks to answer these questions by examining the recruitment strategies of ISIS. Case studies of individual foreign fighters are analyzed to assess the strength of three explanations of ISIS’ recruitment methods that dominate the current literature: strategic targeting, online …

A Qualitative Study Of School-Based Sexuality Education State Policies And Lgbtq+ Student Experiences In Sex Ed, Anna Babbin

Honors Scholar Theses

Objective:To assess the experiences of LGBTQ+ students in school-based sexuality education and compare responses of students from states with inclusive (Oregon and California) and non-inclusive (Alabama and Texas) sex education policies.

Participants:669 LGBTQ+ students between 13-17 years of age.

Main Outcome Measures:Student write-in responses about the inclusion of queer sexual orientations and gender identity topics in their school-based sex education.

Analysis:LGBTQ+ student write-in responses about their experiences in sex education were reviewed for themes using qualitative methods, and themes were compared across states.

Results:The majority of LGBTQ+ students living in Alabama and Texas report receiving …

The Effect Of Idiomatic Language On Event Processing, Katrina Turick

Honors Scholar Theses

Mental representations of object states are necessary to keep track of changing objects in the world. When the object undergoes change and there are two representations, it creates competition between the object states. This is seen in sentences during which an object changes and is then subsequently referred to again (e.g. “The chef will chop the onion. And then, he will sniff the onion.”). When there is a larger degree of change between the states of the object, there is more competition, which is indicated by an increase in reading time when the object is referred to for the second …

The Psychology Of Baseball: How The Mental Game Impacts The Physical Game, Kiera Dalmass

Honors Scholar Theses

The purpose of this study was to find whether or not sports psychology can be effective. Baseball was chosen as the sport for the study because baseball can be analyzed for nearly every single factor of the game, with the exception of the mental readiness or state of the player when he steps onto the field. It therefore provides the optimal atmosphere to provide clinical and statistical support to the field of sports psychology. Despite the various, numerous pieces of literature that praise and show support for sports psychology, there hasn’t been clinical research to support it. Additionally, multiple sports …

Self-Perceived Success Of First-Generation College-Going Latinx Students, Sarah Mongillo

Honors Scholar Theses

This exploratory study aims to address the unique experiences of Latinx first-generation college-going students during their undergraduate careers. Literature has emphasized the obstacles Latinx students face during admission phase to college; this research examines the experiences of students attending a predominantly white institution (PWI) in the northeast. Latinx individuals are the most underrepresented ethnic group on college campuses, and those whose parents lack knowledge of the US education system must overcome additional struggles. Through qualitative data analysis of 20 undergraduate students’ survey responses, this study finds that first-generation college-going Latinx students feel isolated in their college experience and prioritize non-traditional …

Puerto Rico’S Archival Traditions In A Colonial Context, Marisol Ramos, Joel A. Blanco

Published Works

This chapter examines the historical antecedents of recordkeeping and archives in Puerto Rico, during both Spanish and U.S. colonial rules. It also explores the history and current issues of the Archivo General de Puerto Rico (General Archive of Puerto Rico). This historical analysis is made within the context of colonialism, examining the effects of Puerto Rico’s colonial status (during the Spanish colonial period and the current period under United States colonial management) on the mission and work of the AGPR. We argue that while the Archivo General was created to address the chaotic management of government records, its founding reflected …