Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Ua19/16/1 Hilltopper Volleyball Media Guide, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Archives Records

Athletic media guide for volleyball team.

Ua19/16/1 Wku Lady Topper Basketball Media Guide, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Archives Records

2020-21 women's basketball media guide produced by WKU Athletic Media Relations, includes athletic records and statistics, photographs, schedule and information regarding opponents.

Ua1c11/108 Jonathan Jeffrey Negative Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Negatives taken by Jonathan Jeffrey.

Ua37/44 Faculty Personal Papers Gordon Wilson, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Personal papers of Gordon Wilson.

Scotchwhisky101.Com: A User-Friendly, Persona-Driven Website, William Dillon Miller

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Within the realm of web design and marketing, it is easy for the designer to get caught up in what he/she thinks the site needs to look like. The problem is that web users are trying to accomplish specific tasks, and websites need to be tailored towards these users, not towards the designer. To work on this problem, I chose to make a website entitled “scotchwhisky101.com.” Most websites about single malts are too information-heavy and/or outdated. I used this problem to learn methods of user-oriented web design. To achieve this end, I gathered data through a survey. I then took …

Bridging The Food Gap: Founding And Sustaining A Food Recovery Network Chapter At Wku, Elaine Losekamp

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Food waste is a pervasive global issue with many environmental and social repercussions. While about one-third of all food produced for human consumption goes to waste, many people in the United States and the world are affected by food insecurity. Food recovery, the process of rescuing edible food that would otherwise go to waste and delivering to hungry people, is an effective solution for both food waste and food insecurity. The author of this capstone created a food recovery program at Western Kentucky University (WKU) in January 2019 and has grown the program’s scope and impact since that time. This …

Baudrillard And The Viral Violence Of Cyber Security, Alex Rivera

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This paper explores Jean Baudrillard’s theorization on war and communication, connecting it to recent developments in the field of cyber security. With the important elevation of military forces such as the United States Cyber Command, critical theory needs to interrogate the increasing stature and seriousness of the cyber domain in global military strategies. Baudrillard’s critique shifts the focus from simple military strategies to the globe’s consumption of the information that is offered by the global information complex. This paper explains the nuances of violence surrounding the exchange of media surrounding war, criticizing both pro-war and anti-war stances, to examine the …

A Comparative Analysis Of Institutional Trust, Traditional Social Values, And Partisanship In East And Southeast Asia, Lucas Knight

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

What factors drive an individual to trust, or not trust, their government? Over the past two decades, an extensive literature has developed that seeks to identify the sources and determinants of institutional trust in East and Southeast Asia. While this literature has solidified around several factors, for example, positive evaluations of economic performance or anti-corruption efforts, there is still significant debate on the importance of others. This study seeks to contribute to this ongoing debate by testing the role of traditionalism or traditional social values and partisanship. Utilizing data on 13 countries from Wave 4 of the Asian Barometer Survey …

An Analysis Of The Success Of Farmers Markets In Kentucky Using Logistic Regression And Support Vector Machines, Jeron Russell

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The purpose of this research is to look at the relationship that market-specific, economic, and demographic variables have with the success of farmers markets in Kentucky. It additionally seeks to build a tool for predicting farmers market success that could be used by policy makers to aid in decision-making processes concerning farmers markets. Logistic regression and Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are used on data acquired from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the American Community Survey in order to analyze the data in a traditional statistical approach as well as a machine learning approach. The results included an SVM model …

Mentor And Mentee Ratings: Are They The Same Or Different?, Brooke Zarotny

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Mentoring is the pairing of two people where the mentor is meant to be a role model and companion for the mentee in the mentee’s area of struggle or deficit. These relationships are meant to be support systems that encourage positive outcomes in youth through frequent meetings between youth and older volunteers. Participants in this project were undergraduate students (i.e., mentors) and middle-school students (i.e., mentees) attending an alternative school in the east south-central region of the United States. The purpose of this school-based case study was to examine the experiences of five mentor and mentee pairs through weekly survey …

A Vocation In Preservation: An Ethnographic Study Of Historic Preservation And Allied Trades, Ginny Willoughby

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This research examines younger generational interest in historic preservation (HP) and the preservation trades (PT). Utilizing an ethnographic approach, industry professionals were interviewed about their knowledge and perspectives on issues facing their respective fields (HP and PT). Historic preservation and the preservation trades were both identified to be experiencing a decline in interest and participation from younger individuals, thus negatively impacting incoming supply of future labor. Given the intensive nature of the field, traditionally the preservation trades have required a larger number of specialists. Currently, both fields are facing workforce shortages. High school level career and technical education was examined …

Geographic And Partisan Patterns Of Support For Electoral Reforms, Aubrey Kelley

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Electoral reform has become a hotly debated issue, and it has recently been in the news at federal and state levels. On the federal level, the House of Representatives recently passed an electoral reform bill to expand early voting and allow for same-day voter registration. On the state level, Kentucky has become one of the most recent states to implement photo identification requirements. Georgia’s strict voter registration system became a subject of deep controversy during the most recent gubernatorial election. Throughout the past couple of decades, electoral reform has been tackled in a variety of different ways; some states have …

Connecting To Success: Wku Libraries Annual Report Fy20, Jennifer Wilson, Susann Devries

Library Annual Reports, Reports, and Statistics

No abstract provided.

Determining Atmospheric Boundary Layer Behavior Over Mountainous Terrain Using Aircraft Vertical Profiles From 2009-2018 Nasa Student Airborne Research Program Data, Dallas Mckinney

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) height separates turbulently mixed air and pollutants emitted at the ground from the free troposphere above and is an important parameter in numerical weather prediction and air pollution dispersion models. Discerning the ABL height over mountainous terrain has historically been difficult because of, for example, complex interactions with upper level winds, venting of humidity and aerosols into the free troposphere, and large spatiotemporal variability. ABL over mountainous terrain (MT) can closely follow the terrain, be flat, or be shallower than surrounding valleys depending on the time of day, synoptic conditions, and effects of the surrounding …

The Effect Of Size Upon Haptic Shape Discrimination, Jessica Dukes

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Object shape perception is fundamentally important for daily life. It has been suggested (e.g., Gibson, 1962) that the visual and haptic modalities are equivalent with regards to the ability to perceive shape. Norman et al. (2012) showed that visual and haptic shape discrimination accuracies are indeed comparable. Craddock and Lawson (2009) found that haptic shape discrimination performance was adversely affected by a size change. However, this result was obtained for man-made objects (i.e., bathtubs and benches). The purpose of the current investigation was to determine whether size changes also reduce haptic shape discrimination accuracy for naturally-shaped objects. On any given …

The Age Of The Advertorial: Incorporating Sponsored Content Into The Newsroom, Hayley Robb

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

During a time when news is fast, frequent and easier to find than ever, it has become harder for news outlets to not only generate revenue but to establish a need with their readers. Sponsored content pieces, also referred to as native advertising, have offered creative solutions to this problem for student media groups and professional news outlets across the country.

Using WKU’s first-ever content agency, Cherry Creative, as a case study and by analyzing various other news outlets in the U.S., this project aims to develop a series of recommendations for the future of Cherry Creative and student media, …

Dark Magic Part 1, Rachel Quaid

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Dark Magic is a novel that mixes old folklore with fantasy and a splash of modern day. This first part of the novel readies the readers to enter the world of the old Irish Aos Sì. Ophelia is a witch, living in the land of the fae. She signs up to help with a research study to better her chances at succeeding as a healer. Rhea is a member of the Tuatha de Danann, the fae folk who rule the land from their courts of old. She is sent by her caretaker to observe this study. Everyone knows witches and …

Let My People Stay: A Nonprofit's Role In Immigrant Lives, Karla Villa

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This project draws on research that I conducted May to August 2019 with a nonprofit organization, La Casita Center, that provides services to the Hispanic immigrant community in Louisville KY. Despite what appears to be a bleak time in our country for immigrants and immigration reform, there is hope found in the organizations that are working to support and fill the gap that the national government has left. I draw on interviews and participant observation research conducted with staff at La Casita Center to

1. Analyze how La Casita staff decide which resources and projects to implement.

2. Consider how the current …

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The Bird, The Oak, And The Stories That Build Us, Alicyn Newman

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This is a project combining creative writing and oral history research surrounding the life of my late grandfather, Kenneth Wesley Newman. In its pages, I delve into memory, history, and storytelling, seeking to identify which stories have held meaning for my family over time, and why. I have written my way chronologically through my grandfather’s life and interwoven his narrative with what I know now, what I remember, and the stories we continue to tell as a family. The interdisciplinary nature of this project led to a combination of creating writing and research, which included reading war-era letters, watching home …

The Economic Determinants Of American Professional Sports Franchise Valuations, Ryan Flora

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This thesis seeks to analyze the impact of regional identities on American professional sports team valuations. Regional identities are classified as any name of a team that is not tied directly to the city that they reside in. For example, the Carolina Panthers have a regional identity because they are not based out of “Carolina”, they are based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. Another example would be the Arizona Cardinals, whose name encompasses the whole state of Arizona rather than Phoenix, the city they are based out of. The leagues that will be involved in this study are the National …

Female Cartographers: Historical Obstacles And Successes, Eva Llamas-Owens

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

For much of history, women have lived in male-dominated societies, which has limited their participation in society. The field of cartography has been largely populated by men, but despite cultural obstacles, there are records of women significantly contributing over the past 1,000 years. Historically, women have faced coverture, stereotypes, lack of opportunities, and lack of recognition for their accomplishments. Their involvement in cartography is often a result of education or valuable experiences, availability of resources, a supportive community or mentor, hard work, and luck regardless of when and where they lived.

This research divides women before and after the turn …

First Past The Poll: A Blog About Political Statistics, Bradley Wascher

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This Capstone Experience project details my efforts to become a political data journalist. I took the first major step in August 2018, starting First Past the Poll, my politics blog. For three semesters, this website was frequently updated with nonpartisan reports on the latest elections, deep dives on long-term polling trends, and commentary on political numbers more broadly. Hoping to buck the trend of the stodgy prose prevalent throughout politics, my stories combined academic rigor with accessible writing.

As I began to find my footing in the field, First Past the Poll put me in the position to become …

Factors Contributing To Continuing Democratic Victories In Some Southern House Districts, 1994–2008, Dillon Mccormick

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The American South went through a period of political transition in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This transition reached its climax after the 1994 elections, after which Democrats ceased to hold the majority of House seats in the South, never to regain that strength. However, Democrats continued to win a decent share of House seats in the South after 1994, with about 40% of Southern House seats being won by Democrats until the 2010 elections, after which Democrats shrunk to a much smaller minority.

This paper analyzes the factors that allowed some Democrats to continue to be elected …

A Hard Row To Hoe: Suicide Among Kentucky Farmers, Olivia Eiler

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, male farmers die by suicide at nearly twice the rate of the general population. My research focuses on understanding the factors contributing to this trend and identifying potential solutions, with a specific focus on the Commonwealth of Kentucky. I have collected qualitative data through video interviews with political leaders, scholars, and youth who are active in the agriculture community. These individuals have identified several key stressors, including stigma, a lack of healthcare providers in rural areas, financial insecurity, a lack of appreciation from the public, and uncertainty due to decisions made …

Ua19/16/2 Athletic Media Relations Press Releases, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Archives Records

General WKU athletic press releases for 2020.

Ua19/16/2 Track & Field Press Releases, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Archives Records

Press releases, photos and game statistics for WKU track & field teams in 2020.

Ua1c11/107 Roger Loewen Negative Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Negatives and transparencies taken by Roger Loewen photojournalism professor and Talisman advisor from 1970-1977.

Ua19/16/1 Wku Hilltopper Basketball Media Guide, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Archives Records

2020-21 men's basketball media guide produced by WKU Athletic Media Relations, includes athletic records and statistics, photographs, schedule and information regarding opponents.

Ua19/16/2 Baseball Press Releases, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Archives Records

Press releases, photos and game statistics for WKU baseball team in 2020.

Infant Temperament And Cardiac Physiology As Predictors Of Infant Locomotion, Mequeil Howard

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Infant locomotion is a major milestone that occurs during the first year of an infant’s life, and the onset of crawling is associated with various developmental changes. Previous work has focused on changes in infant temperament, specifically anger, during the onset of crawling. Other work has focused on changes in infant cardiac physiology in association with temperament development. Little research has examined both temperament and cardiac physiology (e.g., respiratory sinus arrythmia, RSA) as predictors of infant locomotion. Examining both factors in the same study could further explain variability in infant motor development. The current longitudinal study examined infant temperament (anger, …