2022 Honors Theses (Spring)

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that does not have any specific cause but can have a profound impact on one's life. Symptoms can include delusions, paranoia, and inappropriate actions. Many individuals with Schizophrenia can live their lives with proper treatment and care. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for Schizophrenia. CBT is used for treatment in many other situations such as anxiety, depression, and much more. It deals with replacing unwanted thoughts with more rational thinking and includes many ways to make this replacement happen (American Psychological Association, 2017). However, what if there was another possible treatment for Schizophrenia? A more natural approach would be Ecotherapy which involves getting out into nature with Mindfulness playing a large part of its existence.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Justin Hackett, PhD.

Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Sarah Downey, PhD.

The Asian community has recently become victim to hate crimes considering the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this is not the first time the Asian population in America has experienced this type of crime. Dating back to the 1800s, Asian people have historically been the targets of oppression and discrimination. This thesis will analyze the similarities between the hate crimes against the Asian population in the past and how they relate to the ones happening today. Some themes include xenophobia, sinophobia, Yellow Peril, the model minority myth, and Yellow Fever: The Lotus Flower/China Doll stereotype. Descriptions of past Anti-Asian policies will be included as well as a discussion on the cross-race effect theory. Additionally, this thesis will include five transcribed interviews of Asian women ages 18-25 and their individual experiences with Asian hate to humanize the faces behind the quantitative reports of Asian hate crimes.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Bonnie Laing, D.S.W.

Childhood trauma effects nearly half of children in the United States. And with that, the effects-of this trauma impact school performance and success. While schools are becoming more involved with trauma informed practices and perspectives, minimal studies exist to prove the overall effectiveness at improving students' symptoms and experiences when trauma informed practices are provided in the school setting. In this literature review, studies of the perspectives of relevant constituencies: students and school staff within schools utilizing a trauma informed approach, are reviewed to gain further insight on the utility of this approach. Many of the studies show that a combination of resources inside and outside of the classroom really best supports a student that has experienced significant trauma. Based on the data reviewed the author gives recommendations for future directions of trauma informed practices in the school setting.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Azadeh Block, PhD.

The rising phenomenon of mass shootings within schools in the United States has been a prevalent topic in news media and social media outlets. In response to what seems to be an increase in violence within schools, safety plans and procedures have been put in place to protect students from the seemingly inevitability of school shootings. The intent of this research is to gather data on student perceptions of school mass shootings, specifically at the collegiate level. The feelings of anxiety within students is debated by many researchers in the criminal justice and psychology fields. While some believe that the anxious feelings are caused by the projection of school shootings in the media, others believe that the training and drills conducted to mitigate school shootings cause unnecessary trauma within students. In this research project, on-campus college students will be examined on their personal perceptions towards mass shootings at the university. Additionally, this research project will delve into the possible anxiety-inducing triggers such as the mass media and active shooter drills. The goal of the research project is to then provide policy recommendations to colleges or universities that will help to alleviate the anxiety within students. \nKeywords: college students, school shootings, anxiety, media, target hardening, school shooting drills,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Christopher Wydra, PhD.

Consumerism is a key variable in many global issues. This is what I discovered when I tracked consumerism from the 1920's to modem day. At the rate we are consuming goods we are using all our limited natural resources, contaminating our water, causing conflicts in third world countries, and causing many other devastating consequences. Our society is convinced that consuming is the only and best way to keep our economy strong. Though utterly inaccurate as it is the cause of the one percent holding all the money. With the idea to produce products that do not last long has produced more waste and used more resources than the world can handle. It is hard for people to believe that the world is running out of natural resources due to the millions that corporate industries spend on propaganda to convince us otherwise. We need to change because once there is no more clean water or air to breathe, it will simply be too late ... and we are not far from those days. \nKey words: Mass conspicuous consumption, problems with consumerism, consumerism, global issues, global water crisis, third world conflicts, decline in mental health, unfair economy, start of consumerism,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Sean Madden, DA

Contemporary female artists have wrestled with female body image and society's dictation, criticism, and fetishism of the female form. My body of artwork, titled Evolving Bodies, seeks to expand into the commentary that these artists have already begun by creating paintings and sculptures that express and discuss societal criticism of the female body, its damage to the female psyche and her self image, and the resulting commodification of the female body. Art is an avenue to voice our concerns: that women's bodies are not a commodity, that she needs not conform to any particular shape, and to silence her oppressive critics. \nArt history is important in our exploration and understanding of what came before, what already exists, and how contemporary work fits in as new or expanding. My most unexpected learning experience as an undergraduate art student has been how the study of art history has impacted my view of art and how I approach and present my own work. My research of artwork by contemporary artists includes contemporaries such as Jenny Saville, Maggi Hambling, Elise Sigel, Ashley Cecil, David Jay, Sarah Baird, and others, as well as feminist literature by renowned writers such as Laura Mulvey, Helene Cixous, John Berger, Gill Saunders, Carla Rice, and Valerie Steele. \nFor my exhibition exploring these topics, I created six new works exploring society's criticism of the female body, how these social modes damage the female psyche and self view, and the resulting commodity and money made off of women trying to fix their bodies to appease society's strict and unrealistic standards. Four of the works are in my favored medium of acrylic paint on canvas, and two of the works are in a new 3D medium I had never worked with before - soft body sculptures.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Cynthia Persinger, PhD.

Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide composed of the two chemicals 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-d) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-t). During the mass production of the herbicide at the height of the Vietnam War over 12 million gallons of contaminated Agent Orange was sprayed on the affected area. Agent orange produces a highly toxic byproduct 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) or dioxin which has been known to cause a variety of gastrointestinal, respiratory, and systematic problems, including a variety of cancers. This highly toxic chemical is now being studied to understand the scope of dioxin-related illnesses. Interestingly, dioxin research has shown that the chemical can devastatingly impact the composition and quality of bone. In this research project, adult and embryonic Zebrafish were exposed to varying concentrations of TCDD and observed throughout breeding and post-exposure stages to understand the effect TCDD has on first generation-exposure offspring. Alizarin red was used to detennine whether fish developing from embryos exposed to TCDD or fish developing from embryos where parents had been exposed to TCDD showed structural changes in bone compared to controls. DNA methylation levels are being quantified to indicate whether exposed embryos and/or offspring show specific structural and molecular changes within the genome that might indicate that TCDD exposure causes epigenetic changes.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Louise Nicholson, PhD.

With the changing nature of the mortgage market from corporate banks and other standard lending institutions to nonbank mortgage lenders, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released in 2020 a Request For Information (RFI) for changing Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) membership. The main issue concerns whether or not nonbank mortgage lenders have the safety and soundness, and mission alignment to gain membership to the FHLB. This research analyzes the FHLB, the changes to their membership requirements since its inception, and the submissions to the FHFA's RFI on expanding membership to nonbank mortgage lenders. Although there are reasonable concerns over safety and soundness, nonbank mortgage lenders should be extended FHLB membership due to their prominence in the mortgage market and their mission alignment.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Joseph Heim, PhD.

Gender gap in the workplace has always been a challenging topic of discussion. There are a handful of reasons as to why this is a challenging topic especially in the technology field. One of the main reasons is that this field is mainly a male dominated field. The gender pay difference began in the 1980's and have persisted in both the lower and higher-level positions. The higher positions have typically been reserved for males to be in those roles. This study will examine the gender gap in the technology field through interviews with a handful of individuals who are in the current technology field.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Pratibha Menon, PhD.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had adverse effects on almost everyone, of all ages, races, genders, etc. It has been linked to an increase in mental health issues across the globe. This study aims to look at the impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on stress and anxiety levels in male and female college students and compare the two genders. It is hypothesized that both genders will have an increase of stress and anxiety levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also hypothesized that females will have significantly higher levels of stress and anxiety than males before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data used in this study will be collected through an online survey. The survey will consist of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) to retrospectively measure stress and anxiety levels before COVID- 19 and during COVID-19. Along with these questions to measure mental health symptoms, the survey also gathered information about the different COVID-19 factors that have influenced mental health. Results show that both genders have had an increase of stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results also support the hypothesis that females had more of an increase in stress and anxiety than males before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is recognized that not all college students identify as either male or female, but this study only focuses on these two genders. This study provides evidence that mental health among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic was a cause for concern. \nKeywords: COVID-19, college students, stress, anxiety, gender,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Michael Baranski, PhD.

The rise of social media influencers as a vehicle to reach consumers is a developing addition to the marketing mix. The purpose of this honors thesis is to determine if boutique hotel brands can benefit from the use of micro-influencer marketing to reach more potential guests than through their own social media accounts. The research methodology to test the hypothesis is participant observation and content analysis within Instagram as the research environment. Three boutique hotels within Nashville, Tennessee were chosen to compare influencer effectiveness rates against to determine the validity of the hypothesis. The importance of this research is to understand the level of effectiveness associated with investing in social media influencer marketing for boutique hotels. \nKeywords: Boutique Hotels, e-Word of Mouth, Influencer Marketing, Micro-Influencers, Brand,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Susan Ryan, PhD.

The Donora smog is an infamous event caused by Donora Zinc Works, which operated for thirty-three long years prior to the disaster which resulted in a foggy haze mixed with atmospheric pollutants to smother the proximal areas. The Donora smog occurred over the Donora and Webster areas on October 29th, 1948. Soil samples were collected, in triplicate, from the location where the plant used to stand, as well as from surrounding areas not impacted by industrialization. The soil samples were analyzed for pH, moisture content, organic matter content, and zinc concentrations. Bacteria isolated from the soil were tested for their ability to grow in high zinc concentrations and DNA was extracted from isolates exhibiting zinc resistance. The extracted DNA underwent shotgun sequencing to generate genome assemblies of the isolates. Some of the genomes identified were Serratia liquefacines, Alcaligenes faecalis, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia which have previously shown zinc resistance. The soil samples collected from Donora displayed high concentrations of zinc and the microbes isolated from the samples displayed the ability to grow in high zinc concentrations. The results from this study provide evidence to support that there are long-lasting effects of industrialization on the bacterial communities within the soil.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Michelle Valkanas, PhD.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become increasingly popular over these past few years. At this point these heroes are shown doing more than just fighting villains and catching bad guys, you are able to see them as normal humans with everyday problems. Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch), who I will be analyzing, has a lot of grief and trauma from losing her parents, brother, partner, and her kids. All those things influence how she performs as a hero and how people view her. These superheroes have power, whether that be their superpowers, mental strength, or their status alongside their teammates. I have found research papers discussing the different forms of power and used them to analyze Wanda. Through all of the movies and tv shows that she has been a part of I gathered evidence on how she uses these powers and how it shapes her character. \nKeywords: MCU, Wanda Maximoff, power: social, mental, and physical, loss, grief, trauma, social hierarchy, relationships,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Mark G. Aune, PhD.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the cognition of an individual. There is currently no cure, but potential treatments, preventions, and risk factors have been identified regarding both genetic and environmental factors. The main objective of the thesis was to identify if a lifetime of mental stimulation affects the onsets of Alzheimer's disease later in life. Various scientific articles were read regarding Alzheimer's disease, neurodegeneration, and research about mental stimulation. Mental stimulation was concretely defined in terms of what this thesis was focused upon. Statistical analyses were also completed to look at any correlations between environmental factors, such as amount of education achieved during an individual's lifetime, and Alzheimer's disease. This work has the potential to identify ways to lessen the chance of developing Alzheimer's disease later in life.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Brian Paulson, PhD.

The growing concerns regarding the overpopulation of feral felines in local communities and the need for more involvement to control the situation was the reason for writing this research paper. Arguments to members of the community were given as to why more people should get involved, a few reasons being it will improve the welfare and health of felines and humans, one can obtain a strong sense of accomplishment and camaraderie with neighbors, and there are many consequences to the whole ecosystem with one species being overpopulated. Suggestions for ways to control the feral feline population were also provided. In conjunction with this research-based argument essay, an event was hosted to raise more awareness for a local cat rescue with all members of the community being invited to support the rescue and provide funds for them to continue their work of trapping local strays and getting them vetted, sterilized, and adopted. Many attended to show their support and we received a vast variety of donations for the gift basket raffle. The bingo fundraiser event brought in $1405 for the California, PA based cat rescue named Cali Cats.,Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Jessica Swords, DVM