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Honors Theses

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Evolution Dynamics And Trends Of The Content Of Chinese Exports From 1995-2011, Megan Kerbs Jun 2016

The Evolution Dynamics And Trends Of The Content Of Chinese Exports From 1995-2011, Megan Kerbs

Honors Theses

There is no question that China’s role in the international economy has grown over time, as it seems to be claiming more and more of center stage in the global arena. Back in the early 1990’s, the phenomenon of globalization enabled China to expand its reach, inserting itself into intricate production hierarchies that began to define the global marketplace. China experienced a massive export boom in 2000, and since, has evolved to become a highly sophisticated, high-tech country that now plays an integral role within not only the East Asian region, but also the rest of the world. This thesis …


A Comparative Analysis Of Mixed Race Marriage In Fiji And The United States, Rachel Kung Jun 2016

A Comparative Analysis Of Mixed Race Marriage In Fiji And The United States, Rachel Kung

Honors Theses

In Fiji it is imperative to belong to group, particularly a racial/ethnic group because of a history of ethnic pluralism under British colonialism. Making connections and forming relationships is all determined by one’s racial/ethnic group. Due to this, belonging to two groups, especially if those two distinct races do not get along, such as indigenous Fijians and Indo‐Fijians, it becomes increasingly difficult to create a system of social networks. Fijians also tend to define ethnicity in terms of behavior rather than simply looking at one’s biology. If one cannot speak the native language of that particular race, he or she …


Evaluation Of An In-Home Palliative Care Program's Management Of Pain, Mackenzie Laporte Jun 2016

Evaluation Of An In-Home Palliative Care Program's Management Of Pain, Mackenzie Laporte

Honors Theses

With the growing population of chronically ill patients wishing to receive care at home, care providers face unique challenges managing the pain of patients with quickly changing illness trajectories. Treating patients outside of institutionalized settings, where regular monitoring is standard, requires careful symptom management. This project was a retrospective review examining nurses’ documentation of pain for patients enrolled in Care Choices, a new home-based palliative care program coordinated through a visiting nurse service and community hospital. The extent to which nurses documented patients' pain score, site, type and pain goal as well as nursing interventions and plan of care in …


A Lineage Of Black Feminist Art, Kiana Miller Jun 2016

A Lineage Of Black Feminist Art, Kiana Miller

Honors Theses

This Black Feminist Art thesis project displays Black lives with full representational impact and it allows a space for agency to be shown. Through an empirical literature review, original poetry and artwork this thesis expresses dimensions of Black feminist/womanist voices. The purpose of this thesis is putting real images of Black lives out into the world in order to have a positive impact, giving young girls an artistic role model that looks like them, and the ability to read a book with images and stories of lives that may resemble theirs, lastly sharing a social commentary as well as a …


Cannibal Complex: The Western Fascination With Human Flesh Eating, Devin Bittner Jun 2016

Cannibal Complex: The Western Fascination With Human Flesh Eating, Devin Bittner

Honors Theses

For centuries, Western explorers, missionaries, and travelers have been bringing home tales of cannibals, which became the earliest documentation of the practice. Modern anthropology, however, has identified a serious concern with such early “documentation” in light of the rise of the ethnographic tradition: the authors of early reports did not consider the contexts in which the events they observed occurred. This thesis, in the anthropology of knowledge tradition, explores the debate over the Western idea of cannibalism by posing the question: why are we so determined to believe that evidence supporting cannibalism reflects an experiential reality, despite abundant proof of …


A 3d Modeling Perspective: The Juxtaposition Between Nature And Technology, Caroline Grace Brustowicz Jun 2016

A 3d Modeling Perspective: The Juxtaposition Between Nature And Technology, Caroline Grace Brustowicz

Honors Theses

For my senior thesis I explore the juxtaposition between nature and technology. There is beauty in the ubiquitous contrast and coexistence between these two entities, which we encounter on a daily basis. My work has been inspired by Ernst Haeckel, a German biologist, naturalist, and artist from the early 1900’s. His artwork includes over 100 detailed drawings, prints, and multi-colored illustrations of animals and sea creatures with a focus on representing the intricate details found in nature. I’ve emulated this attention to detail within nature by modeling (using Cinema 4D software and 3D printing with a MakerBot printer) sculptures that …


Divorce Devastates: Do State Divorce Laws Have An Effect On Women's Economic Well-Being?, Ann Cantwell Jun 2016

Divorce Devastates: Do State Divorce Laws Have An Effect On Women's Economic Well-Being?, Ann Cantwell

Honors Theses

Divorce devastates a family, and with over 40% of first marriages ending in divorce in the United States, it is important to analyze the effect divorce has on each member of the family. This paper aims specifically at the economic effect of divorce on women, and furthermore, if the implementation of a no-fault divorce clause in state law has negatively impacted women’s wellbeing. Women’s well-being is determined by annual income divided by annual need. The study looks at three different state divorce laws surrounding fault—fault-based, no-fault as the only option, and no-fault as grounds for divorce—as well as variance due …


Growth Engine: Effects Of China’S Trade And Investment On The Economies Of East And Southeast Asia, Xi Gao Jun 2016

Growth Engine: Effects Of China’S Trade And Investment On The Economies Of East And Southeast Asia, Xi Gao

Honors Theses

The emergence of China as an economic superpower through globalization and fragmentation of production has impacted global trade relations, particularly in East and Southeast Asia (ESA). China has become a major trading partner for ESA economies not only through exporting goods to ESA countries, but also importing goods to satisfy China’s energy and consumer needs. This thesis studies the impact trade and investment relationships with China have on ESA economies. This study will include ten developed and developing ESA countries: Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao DPR, and Philippines. The results obtained include: 1) the …


The Relation Of Adolescent Narcissism And Prosocial Behavior With Cooperative And Competitive Attitudes, Erin V. Moran May 2016

The Relation Of Adolescent Narcissism And Prosocial Behavior With Cooperative And Competitive Attitudes, Erin V. Moran

Honors Theses

Narcissism has been correlated with prosocial behavior in adolescents (Kauten & Barry, 2014, 2016). However, whether adolescents with high levels of narcissism use more egoistic (i.e., self-serving) or altruistic (i.e., helping others with no direct personal benefit) prosocial behaviors has not been investigated. This issue was addressed in the present study, and attitudes of cooperation and competition were also examined as moderators in these relations. The current study involved 147 at-risk adolescents, ages 16 to 18 (113 males, 34 females) who were enrolled in a residential program. The data were collected through self-report questionnaires which assessed narcissism (i.e., non-pathological, grandiose, …


A First Amendment Conundrum: Hate Speech And Social Harm, Kaylyn Blosser May 2016

A First Amendment Conundrum: Hate Speech And Social Harm, Kaylyn Blosser

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


How Various Sources Of Content On Social Networking Sites Affect Millennial’S Attitudes Toward A Brand, Katherine Campbell May 2016

How Various Sources Of Content On Social Networking Sites Affect Millennial’S Attitudes Toward A Brand, Katherine Campbell

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


The Economic Impact Of The 2015 Conference Usa Baseball Tournament In Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Kyle A. Stoner May 2016

The Economic Impact Of The 2015 Conference Usa Baseball Tournament In Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Kyle A. Stoner

Honors Theses

This study aims to measure the economic impact of the 2015 Conference USA Baseball Tournament hosted by The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Attendees of the event were selected at random to participate in an intercept survey to gauge financial data spent within the Forrest and Lamar County, Mississippi area. An Economic Modeling Systems International Input-Output analysis was used to process the data. This processed data was analyzed and results were determined based on the estimated multiplier and tax effect at the local and state level. These multiplier figures yielded a change in earnings in the local area …


Media's Isis Crisis: How Isis Came To Be Through Framing And Naming, Cameron A. Morgan May 2016

Media's Isis Crisis: How Isis Came To Be Through Framing And Naming, Cameron A. Morgan

Honors Theses

An exploration of the ISIS crisis from July 2013 - June 2014 in the New York Times and the Guardian's respective coverages using frame analysis. Through keywords, frames were determined to be constructed. Frame analysis was broken into three parts, particularly focusing on sourcing, power dynamic and structure.


Explaining The Outcomes Of The Affordable Care Act Through Lowi And Salamon’S Policy Evaluation Models, Anna Moravec May 2016

Explaining The Outcomes Of The Affordable Care Act Through Lowi And Salamon’S Policy Evaluation Models, Anna Moravec

Honors Theses

This paper illustrates how tools-based theoretical models, like Lester Salamon’s, can be used to predict the outcome of policy tools. Theodore Lowi and Lester Salamon’s theoretical models were applied to select provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to generate predictions regarding their outcomes. The validity of these predictions was assessed by comparing them to current empirical data and trends. Ultimately, this paper sought to demonstrate how tools-based models can be used to predict policy tool outcomes relatively accurately. Our evaluation used Lowi’s original model detailed in his Four systems of policy, politics, and choice (1972) paper and Salamon’s model …


Millennial Skepticism And Susceptibility To Media Persuasion, Olivia K. Lee May 2016

Millennial Skepticism And Susceptibility To Media Persuasion, Olivia K. Lee

Honors Theses

This study examines the disconnect between millennials' perceived and actual skepticism toward news media outlets as well as the Third Person Effect in millennials' attitude toward others' skepticism. This body of work includes survey research to examine these theories in the context of millennial news consumption.


Understanding Tacit Theories Of Nonprofit Administrators In Collaborative Interorganizational Networks, Ella C. Sanders May 2016

Understanding Tacit Theories Of Nonprofit Administrators In Collaborative Interorganizational Networks, Ella C. Sanders

Honors Theses

As the nonprofit sector increases in size, many organizations are choosing to collaborate as a new approach to delivering goods and services to the public. Collaboration occurs when “organizations work together to address problems through joint effort, resources, and decision making and share ownership of the final product or service” (Guo & Acar, 2005). In my research, I ask the question: How do nonprofit administrators conceptualize this kind of interorganizational collaboration? These conceptualizations are referred to as tacit theories: the wisdom and knowledge of administrators that is implicitly known as a result of experience. I compare these tacit theories to …


The Efficacy Of Congestion Pricing, Zachary J. Ridder May 2016

The Efficacy Of Congestion Pricing, Zachary J. Ridder

Honors Theses

The practice of congestion pricing, also called road pricing, is by no means a new innovation. It has roots as far back as the American Revolution, but in the modern world filled with hundreds of millions of cars it is a possible answer to gridlock, a potential source of revenue, and an environmentally conscious policy. The question remains though, is congestion pricing effective and, assuming that it is, is it a benefit to a community or a tax upon the poorer members of society? It has been implemented across the world in many forms and with varying degrees of success, …


An Ethics Of Economic Sanctions, Macallee N. Goldman May 2016

An Ethics Of Economic Sanctions, Macallee N. Goldman

Honors Theses

This paper provides an ethical analysis of smart sanctions under the combined framework of the categorical imperative and utilitarianism. Developing an ethical model that also encompasses sanction effectiveness as a means of evaluation, this paper argues that smart sanctions should not be used by countries and legislative bodies as tools of expression or of achieving goals without efficiency considerations grounded in this ethical framework. Only when they clearly meet the criteria of utilitarianism and the categorical imperative should smart sanctions be used. By doing so sanction effectiveness is argued to be maximized, in both ethical and empirical context.


Missed Connection: A Case Study Of Social Media, The Youth Vote And The 2015 Louisiana Gubernatorial Race, Valencia Richardson May 2016

Missed Connection: A Case Study Of Social Media, The Youth Vote And The 2015 Louisiana Gubernatorial Race, Valencia Richardson

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Using Information To Affect Party Alignment And Third Party Support, Lindsey Spillman May 2016

Using Information To Affect Party Alignment And Third Party Support, Lindsey Spillman

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Form-Blindness And Its Implications: A Verification Study, Meredith G. Moody May 2016

Form-Blindness And Its Implications: A Verification Study, Meredith G. Moody

Honors Theses

Form-blindness is not an eye problem. It is a perceptual inability to distinguish the small differences between shapes, colors, and patterns. This research examines this phenomenon by using a previously-established exam to study form-blindness and its implications. Demographic variables such as age, major, GPA, and sex are also looked at to see what potential impact they might have on a person’s performance on the exam. The form-blindness tests administered during this study were graded and then analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. In the end, no statistical significance was found for the demographic variables of age, GPA, major, …


Exploring The Experiences Of Individuals Incarcerated For The Crime Of Arson, Joshua W. Polk May 2016

Exploring The Experiences Of Individuals Incarcerated For The Crime Of Arson, Joshua W. Polk

Honors Theses

Arson is a major crime in the United States. Despite this, there is a major gap in the existing literature regarding the reason why some individuals commit arson. There are currently no preventative policies that address the root of the problem: the arsonists themselves. The purpose of this project is to help fill the existing gap in literature and lay the foundation for future research on this topic. The participants for this study were obtained from a single prison. This study was conducted using a mixed qualitative methodology: correspondence and interviews with individuals convicted of arson. Using this qualitative method, …


Factors Of Political Party Competitiveness In Mississippi, Anna Kate Baygents May 2016

Factors Of Political Party Competitiveness In Mississippi, Anna Kate Baygents

Honors Theses

This research project examines the relationship between urbanization and political party competitiveness in Mississippi. Using elections results from the 2011 and the 2015 Mississippi House of Representatives races, this project seeks to find if there is a relationship between urbanization and competitiveness in Mississippi, and if not, which factors do affect competitiveness. Previous research indicates that as an area urbanizes, its elections become more competitive among different political parties. However, this study finds that there is no clear correlation between urbanization and party competitiveness in Mississippi elections, and that other factors, including race, education, and geographic location, may have more …


Compassion Fatigue And Educational Preparation Among Mississippi Child Welfare Workers, Meredith D. Mcphail May 2016

Compassion Fatigue And Educational Preparation Among Mississippi Child Welfare Workers, Meredith D. Mcphail

Honors Theses

The prevalence of trauma among youth involved with the child welfare system affects not only these individuals but also child welfare service providers, namely social workers, who experience this trauma indirectly through interaction with the children. This exposure places service providers at risk for compassion fatigue, in which these workers themselves experience trauma symptoms or are less able to complete job tasks. It is especially important to address the issues of negative personal reactions among this population in order to best care for social service workers in Mississippi and identify strategies to effectively improve Mississippi’s child welfare system. As such, …


Married To Nursing School: How Stress Affects Marital Satisfaction Of Nursing Students, Krysta Af Laabs May 2016

Married To Nursing School: How Stress Affects Marital Satisfaction Of Nursing Students, Krysta Af Laabs

Honors Theses

In this paper, the lived experience of married nursing students and their stress during nursing school was explored. This project aimed to answer the questions: 1) what is the lived experience of married nursing student during one semester of their nursing program and 2) what is the students’ combined experience of nursing school stress and marital stress or satisfaction? The research design was qualitative with a phenomenological approach. The participants of the study consisted of 7 volunteer, married nursing students attending the BSN program at the University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Park campus during the fall 2015 semester. The participants were …


A Validation Study Of Zar-Pro Fluorescent Blood Lifting Strips, Carter L. Depew May 2016

A Validation Study Of Zar-Pro Fluorescent Blood Lifting Strips, Carter L. Depew

Honors Theses

It is well known within the latent fingerprint discipline that collection of bloody impressions can be difficult and destructive. This pilot study aims to validate the use of Zar-Pro Fluorescent Blood Lifting Strips© in the collection of bloody fingerprint impressions, and then compare the technique outcomes that of the currently used method – photography. This study used both collection methods to extract bloody impressions from white copy paper and aluminum metal. The impressions were aged over a two-week period prior to collection. A numerical score – representative of the identifiable minutiae points – was then obtained using the Smart Extract …


Excessive Police Force And Misconduct: A Failing System And How To Improve It, Elise Seale May 2016

Excessive Police Force And Misconduct: A Failing System And How To Improve It, Elise Seale

Honors Theses

The Law Enforcement Misconduct Statute was passed by Congress as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, partly as a reaction to a nationwide debate about excessive use of police force after Rodney King’s brutal killing in 1991. The statute gave the Department of Justice the ability to investigate and file suits against individual police departments; the statute’s intent was both to reform the investigated departments with high amounts of misconduct and excessive force and to incentivize police reform nationwide. However, because of the financial setbacks involved in launching investigations and inconsistency in implementation, this …


Cognitive Functioning As A Moderator In The Relation Between Externalizing Behavior Problems In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder And Stress Among Their Parents, Robyn M. Riley May 2016

Cognitive Functioning As A Moderator In The Relation Between Externalizing Behavior Problems In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder And Stress Among Their Parents, Robyn M. Riley

Honors Theses

It is known that externalizing behavior problems among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are related to parental stress among parents. This study examined how cognitive functioning levels of children with ASD may moderate this relation in a group of 27 children (ages 7 to 16 years) with a diagnosis of ASD. Children were tested on a brief measure of intelligence to estimate their cognitive functioning. Parents completed measures of the children’s ASD symptom severity and externalizing behaviors as well as a measure of their own levels of parental stress. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that ASD symptoms and cognitive functioning …


Reinventing National Identity In A World Of Globalized Soccer: The Case Of The Uruguayan National Team, Maia Cotelo May 2016

Reinventing National Identity In A World Of Globalized Soccer: The Case Of The Uruguayan National Team, Maia Cotelo

Honors Theses

Soccer played a central role in Uruguay’s national identity throughout the 20th century. The national team’s triumphs in the first half of the century were seen as proof that the small nation could perform on a world stage. The mutually reinforcing relationship between soccer success and national identity weakened after 1950 when the national team stopped winning and when it entered into profound crisis in the 1990s as Uruguayan star players began leaving the country to play in better leagues abroad. The national team no longer provided the country with glory and the players were no longer mirrors of Uruguayan …


The Manifestation Of Blight: Examining The Effects Of Inner City Decline On Populations In The Bronx, New York And New Orleans, Louisiana, Bianca R. Stewart May 2016

The Manifestation Of Blight: Examining The Effects Of Inner City Decline On Populations In The Bronx, New York And New Orleans, Louisiana, Bianca R. Stewart

Honors Theses

Urban decline, and the developments that trigger a collapse among formerly prosperous cities, is a phenomenon that is capable of leaving a lasting mark on any urban system. The collapse and disintegration of the urban landscape carries a variety of facilitators, and with that, this research sought to examine two distinct representations of urban decline and the populations that shifted in tandem with blight: the New York City fiscal crisis of the 1970s and post-Katrina conditions in New Orleans, Louisiana. Through New York City’s fiscal crisis and the act of condensing a city in hopes of rectifying urban decline, known …