2018 Honors Theses (Spring)

On the surface, Heathers: The Musical may look like a typical musical set in the 1980s where there is big hair and denim jackets; however, the plot is more serious than what is shown on the surface. The show focuses largely on psychological and social issues such as bullying, suicide, and abusive relationships. Though the musical is fictional, the issues still are reflected in society today. Working with my thesis advisor, Dr. Pagen, I observe bullying, suicide, and abusive relationships that exists in Heathers: The Musical. I specifically analyze the three main characters: Veronica, J.D., and Martha, and their social context and behaviors present in the show based on actual research conducted on adolescents. This includes but is not limited to: weight shaming, slut shaming, suicidal behaviors in resilient adolescent males, and the risk factors that lead to abusive relationships.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Michele Pagen.

An n-body gravitational simulator was created and used to analvze the efficiency and efficacy of parallelizing a workload across a number of parallel processing cores in personal computing systems. While parallelizing does have definite performance advantages, there exist hurdles and limitations to implementing such.,Honors thesis advisor: Paul Sible.

Hazard mitigation has been an increasing field of importance, especially for those who work in public safety. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the risks associated with natural hazards that are frequently observed. The goal for this project is to create an original methodology for determining natural hazard vulnerability by combining methods for determining environmental and social vulnerability mentioned in the literature. The information learned from the literature was then applied to data extracted from the Spatial Hazards Events and Losses Dataset (SHELDUS) from the University of South Carolina. These data will then be used to analyze different trends of hazard occurrences within the dataset and to also determine where the area(s) of greatest vulnerability existed within the state of Ohio from 1960-2016. The data will also be aggregated into 30-year climatological periods; 1960-1989, 1970-1999, 1980-2009, 1987-2016 to identify any existing trends within the dataset in regard to vulnerability. Visuals that did not exhibit spatial trends were tested using the Moran's I test to determine how randomly the data were distributed. For those that were tested, all except one showed a random distribution, meaning no one region had the highest vulnerability to a specific hazard. While there appeared to be spatial trends within the individual hazards and their occurrences, the main finding was that only one county in the state of Ohio showed consistent vulnerability, Cuyahoga County, receiving the highest score possible.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Chad Kauffman.

With eating disorders being one of the most common forms of chronic illness in adolescents and adults (Mirasol, 2018), the question of whether eating disorders are common in athletes is introduced, particularly with dancers. The present research produces a meta-analysis of the current data found, examining if there is a high probability of eating disorders in dancers. This study examines fifteen articles, selected using specified criteria. Sign-tests were used to measure these studies to show significance. Subsequently, no significant results were found in the conclusion of the study, thus making for stimulating outcomes.

In this paper, I explore a topic about which I am passionate: handmade goods. The focus started out as being just about greeting cards, but now the idea has expanded further into the entire handmade industry. Handmade cards, pins, buttons, etc. make us stop and think and enjoy the simple things from life. The majority of us grouped in the millennial age range have grown up in an era where we rely on technology more than hands-on experiences. In an era of technology, people have learned to "stop and smell the roses" of the handmade trend that continues to be a part of our lives. Sites such as Etsy, Amazon Handmade, and even individual small business sites would not be this successful if people were not interested in this phenomenon. The main focus of my research has become looking at the appreciation and emotional response that people, as a whole, have during this era of technology where our eyes are trained to barely leave a screen. Walter Benjamin's (1968) article on the age of mechanical reproduction talks about the loss of aura and authenticity because of the use of machinery, and his content ties into what I am trying to talk about here. In this paper I ultimately argue that some people today are seeking out tactile goods that have been crafted by an individual person because of the humanistic traits these objects possess which helps us to understand on a deeper level their uniqueness and authenticity. Through the use of case studies and theorist's opinions, I have built up my argument that handmade goods are making a comeback, but also an impact on our lives where technology has lacked.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Spencer Norman.

Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Craig Fox.

The acerbic quality of the 2016 Presidential Election prompted several psychologists to weigh in on the mental health of then-candidate Donald Trump, a trend that has continued into his presidency. One of the many diagnoses given to the president is that of sociopath, a label that is characterized by the absence of a conscience. This is a very serious charge to level at a president, because without a conscience, what would keep them from deliberately harming the American people? The present study seeks to analyze a sample of 15 US presidents stratified over the past 45 presidencies for sociopathic traits using the DSM-5 characteristics for antisocial personality disorder (APD) on biographies of their lives. It uses the data collected to understand how often presidents are elected with sociopathic traits and what historical contexts they were elected in, providing further insight on when and why the United States ends up with a commander without a conscience. Ultimately, it identifies that three out of the 15 presidents studied meet the criteria for APD and hypothesizes that the elections of sociopathic individuals occur in times of social uncertainty, a concept that will need to be analyzed in future research.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Emily Sweitzer.

Artificial neural networks are a trending topic in computer science and machine learning. Rooted in today's current understanding of how the brain works, artificial neural networks allow machines the capability to essentially learn and decide for themselves. Improvements in technology have provided the means for a proposition between finite automata and neural activity to be realized. Extensive research has been conducted to understand the true potential of this realization, and the results of such research show great promise. To better understand artificial neural networks, their fundamental properties were explored and applied to an existing solution to a problem on Open AI's website called CartPole-v0.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Paul Sible

In recent years, a significant increase in philanthropic nonprofit businesses have started across the country to benefit society as a whole. These entities aim to enhance and enrich society rather than the profits associated with large corporations. Today there are many nonprofit sources of funding in higher education; however, there is no financial source to help students pay for graduate level standardized test taking. Tests which are required to advance students into graduate level programs and ultimately further their career. Standardized test taking can be very costly as it routinely includes books, preparation classes, practice examinations, and the tests themselves. The enclosed literature review establishes a fundamental understanding of the educational nonprofit business landscape, non-profit donors and funding sources available, and similar nonprofit organizations and their roles in society. This supporting information is then used to develop a business plan for the establishment of Fund Her Future. Fund Her Future will sponsor graduate female test takers and their journey to graduate school. The enclosed business plan then serves as an indication that a nonprofit organization for such a niche market is necessary.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Justin Barroner.

Studies have found an increase in the use of glottal fry in recent years among young adult English-speaking women in the United States (Yuasa, 2010; Wolk et al., 2012). This increase is especially salient in popular American culture, occurring in movies and on television shows. This study explored current research on the topic of glottal fry and analyzed speech samples from one woman who exhibited notable glottal fry in the reality television show The Bachelor. While exploring glottal fry in particular episodes, this study compared its use by location in utterance in three different conversational settings: speaking to the camera, speaking to the bachelor, and speaking to the other women.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Robert Skwarecki.