2020-2021 Senior Honors Theses
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This collection contains theses produced by Class of 2021 Honors students
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Item Freeway Architectures Of Biopolitical Disobedience(2020-05) Polkinghorne, Katherine H.IH-45 is an inconceivably large ribbon of infrastructure that acts as a border between political and geographic communities. IH-45’s margin shelters socio-politically marginal architectural programming. If we take space to be a material reiteration of power, then the contested and marginal territory of the NHHIP is a critical site for architectural consideration and engagement. Through non-hegemonic site analysis and the imagining of counter-futures at four sites along the NHHIP’s extent, this thesis re-conceives of the freeway’s marginal territory as site for liberatory praxis and theorizes modalities of activist engagement with megastructures and megaprojects.Item Dating Violence and Peer Conflict In Adolescents With and Without Borderline Personality Disorder(2020-10) Asim, NabeehaBackground: A hallmark feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is unstable interpersonal relationships. Adolescents with BPD may be more likely to experience teen dating violence (TDV) and peer conflict. Yet, there is little research studying TDV and peer conflict in the context of BPD. The overall aim of this study was to examine whether adolescents with BPD or BPD features report higher levels of TDV and peer conflict. Method: The sample included 235 inpatient adolescents with BPD, 417 non-BPD psychiatric inpatient adolescents, and 441 healthy adolescents. Self-report measures of BPD features, TDV, and peer conflict were completed by the three groups of adolescents. A semi-structured BPD interview was conducted across the two inpatient groups. Results: While controlling for relevant demographic variables, results revealed that TDV victimization, perpetration and all forms and functions of peer conflict had a significant association with borderline features. Furthermore, the BPD group had higher levels of TDV victimization and reactive overt aggression than the psychiatric controls and healthy controls, even after controlling for relevant demographic variables. There were no significant differences between BPD and control groups in TDV perpetration and other forms and functions of peer conflict. Conclusions: Findings suggest that TDV and peer conflict are important correlates for BPD pathology. TDV and peer conflict ought to be considered for early prevention and treatment of BPD.Item The Cisnormative Wall: Distinguishing Gazes in Modern American Television and Film Featuring Transgender Characters (2013-2020)(2020-11) Newman, KatThis thesis analyzed modern American television and film works: "The Danish Girl (2015)," "Orange is the New Black (2013)," "Dallas Buyers Club (2013)," "POSE (2018)" and "Euphoria (2019)," in relation to the transgender representations they presented onscreen. The works were selected after what TIME magazine called the "Transgender Tipping Point," in response to the recent increased visibility of transgender characters in media. This thesis argues that increased visibility does not equate to positive impacts on the lives of real-life people who are transgender. The television and film works are used to discuss transgender tropes as depicted onscreen and in real-life, and to articulate the nuances that decipher cisnormative gazes from transnormative gazes. All of these pieces take a run at cisnormative assumptions that have traditionally excluded transgender people from the mainstream. What is at stake is whether they do enough to break through what I call the cisnormative wall, the cisnormative rhetoric that prevails in the United States. When dealing with the representation of transgender characters, the first question that arises is: Is the character portrayed by a cisgender or transgender person? Other important questions I explore are: Is the transgender character minimized to simply their transgender status? Does the work conflate sex, sexuality, and gender identity — intrinsically linking sexuality to gender expression? And can the transgender character be categorized as “victimâ€� or “villain?â€� (As previous representations have cast these titles upon them). Using both qualitative and statistical data, this thesis incorporates a combination of television and film analysis using Transgender Studies texts and statistical data centering the transgender population living in the United States to place the works on a spectrum from cisnormative to transnormative.Item Exercise Enhancement of Cognitive Reserve: Promotion of Mental Health in Older Age?(2020-12) Ahmad, MahnoorThe concept of cognitive reserve is one that quite recently has been discussed in clinical neuroscience literature. Cognitive reserve posits that there is an established amount of supply in the brain that compensates for brain functions during normal age-related decline or when there is pathology present. Many factors contribute to the growth of reserve throughout an individual’s life, but one that is seen to be significantly beneficial, even in older adulthood, is aerobic exercise. The focus of this paper is on the promotion of healthy aging through exercise enhancement of cognitive reserve to assist the brain through the normal process of aging. In addition, one of the most prevalent mental illnesses afflicting older adults is depression. Not only is it more prevalent in older adults, but because it manifests differently in older adults, it is more detrimental to overall brain health. It is hypothesized that exercise enhances cognitive reserve, which may prevent or minimize negative aging effects on the brain such as depression, leading an individual to age without decline in quality of life.Item Identifying Factors Associated With Physical Activity In Middle School Minority Girls(2020-12) Torres, JenniferThe obesity epidemic in the United States is an increasing public health concern that is affecting more children every day. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 23.5 million children and adolescents (aged 2-19) are categorized as overweight or obese. Engaging in regular physical activity is critical at a young age to decrease the risk of developing a chronic disease in adulthood. Minority children are disproportionately affected by the obesity epidemic due to behavioral and social factors. However, Hispanic girls have the second highest rate of obesity prevalence among minority girls. During adolescence Hispanic girls experience a decline in physical activity for reasons that have not been fully investigated. In this study, we investigated the differences in weight loss between Hispanic boys (n=36) and Hispanic girls (n=49) in a school-based obesity prevention intervention at YES Prep Charter School. In a randomized control trial, students that identified as Hispanic with a BMI ≥ 95th percentile, were placed in an escalated treatment program (Take CHARGE!). Treatment duration was 3 months and occurred during the participants’ PE class, five days a week for 45 minutes each day. We compared group differences on baseline using T-tests and chi-square. No differences were found between genders with respect to baseline demographic or anthropometric variables. The Hispanic boys demonstrated a significantly greater reduction in their zBMI when compared to girls (F = 6.72, p < .05), although post hoc analyses revealed that both boys and girls significantly reduced their zBMI at 6 months compared to baseline (t = 4.34, p = .001; t = 2.45, p = .032, respectively). This study demonstrates that Hispanic girls experience sex-specific barriers that impedes them from engaging in physical activity. There is a need for health promotion that isn’t only tailored to culture and age, but to gender as well in order to tackle the obesity epidemic.Item Data-driven Rules for Individualized Lifestyle Recommendations(2020-12) Odo, Chiwetalu P.Heart failure (HF) is a global pandemic affecting more than 26 million patients worldwide. Effective management of risk factors is extremely important for reducing heart failure. Lifestyle modification can effectively reduce the risk of heart failure but clinical guidelines are generalized and not tailored for individuals. This project developed a rule-based framework that automatically generates personalized lifestyle modification recommendations for heart failure risk reduction. The proposed framework integrates an ensemble learning-based rule discovery model (RuleFit) that translates the patient-level profiles into actionable patterns (rules), and a rule-based optimization algorithm that searches for the optimal lifestyle modification recommendations based on the patient’s unchangeable profile. The proposed framework was applied to a large population in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study to manage patient risk of fatal coronary heart disease events.Item Stable Isotopes of Macrofossils and Bulk Carbonates from the Late Miocene to Pleistocene Santa Rosalia Basin, Baja California Sur, Mexico(2020-12) Taylor, Laura L.Modeling of the response to future climate change predict that northwest North America will become more arid. By studying sedimentary deposits from the late Miocene and Pliocene time periods, when mean global air temperatures were ~3 ºC warmer than today and sea-surface temperatures were 3-8 °C warmer than today, scientists can further address the potential future impact of climate change. The late Miocene to Pleistocene Santa Rosalía Basin, located along the western margin of the Gulf of California in Baja California Sur, Mexico has a complex history of sedimentation but the paleoenvironments of fluvial, marginal-marine, and marine deposits in this area are poorly understood and the late Miocene to early Pliocene climate is relatively unknown. In this study, bulk carbonates from the late Miocene Boleo Fm. and bivalve and barnacle macrofossils from the late Miocene Boleo Fm., early to middle Pliocene Tirabuzón Fm., late Pliocene Infierno Fm., and Pleistocene Santa Rosalía Fm. were collected and processed for petrography, species identification, X-ray diffraction, and stable oxygen and carbon isotope analyses. X-ray diffraction analysis and the covariation trends between δ18O and δ13C suggest that the values recorded in these deposits are original. Comparison between the δ18O and δ13C values in this study and common values for Quaternary carbonates reveals a strong freshwater signal on deposits that were previously regarded as marine. In this study, δ18O and δ13C values from the late Miocene Boleo Fm. and the Pliocene Tirabuzón and Infierno Fms. suggest a substantial freshwater source into the basin not present today. δ18O and δ13C values from the Pleistocene Santa Rosalía Fm. no longer record a freshwater influence, as the climate transitioned to the modern arid regime. This suggests that during the late Miocene and Pliocene warmer temperatures did not lead to increased aridity in this region and instead this area was likely more humid than modern times. The Santa Rosalía Basin was likely influenced by a prolonged and intensified North American monsoon resulting from increased sea-surface temperatures and opening of the Gulf of California during the late Miocene and Pliocene.Item The Work-Life Interface and Job Performance(2020-12) Salazar, CheyenneThe work-life interface literature has not adequately examined the objective effects the work-life interface can have for individuals. There has also yet to be an investigation on how an individual’s imbalance or balance between their work-life interface might affect their job performance. This thesis seeks to address these gaps in the literature by exploring the roles of work-family conflict, family-work conflict, work-family balance satisfaction, work-family balance effectiveness, and gender for one’s job performance. In order to accomplish this, I examine these specific facets of the work-life interface and how they affect job performance, in terms of h-indexes, using a sample of 266 tenured and tenure-track faculty members across 25 public universities in the United States. The results support a couple of the proposed hypotheses, indicating that work-family balance satisfaction enhances job performance and that men have better job performance compared to women.Item Tracing the Provenance of Modern Galveston Sediments Using Strontium and Neodymium Isotopes and Major and Trace Elemental Abundances(2020-12) Schmitt, Audrey P.Galveston Bay is a semi-enclosed coastal embayment, located on the southeastern shore of Texas adjacent to the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area. The Houston Ship Channel (HSC) through Galveston Bay provides many industries access to the Gulf of Mexico. The project provides the first strontium (Sr) and neodymium (Nd) isotope ratios for Galveston Bay, as well as updated major and trace element concentrations for Galveston Bay sediments. Procedures and methods used in this study include leaching and acid digestions of sediments for sample residues, aliquot separations, dilution of major and trace element aliquots in ~2% HNO3 solution for ICP-MS and ICP-OES analyses, and column chemistry (2) extraction of Sr and Nd isotope aliquots for TIMS analyses. The range of εNd values, -14.21 to -10.15, in this dataset suggests recycled crustal material and/or an older source (McCulloch and Wasserburg, 1978). Rare earth element (REE) contents of Galveston Bay residues resemble quartz arenites from the North American midcontinent region, which have REE contents 10–100 times lower than bulk igneous rocks from Archean and Proterozoic source (Johnson and Winter, 1999). The Trinity Bay contribution, of fine-grained, clay- and silt-size fractions, of suspended sediments entering the bay, is greatest in Galveston Bay, and is the most prevalent pattern seen in spatial variation maps of fRb/Sr values and high field strength elements (HFSE).Item Sparse Deconvolution of Pulsatile Growth Hormone Secretion in Adolescents(2020-12) Genty, Jon X.Growth hormone (GH) is secreted by cells in the anterior pituitary on two time scales: discrete pulses over minutes that occur within a 24-hr pattern. Secretion reflects the balance of stimulatory and inhibitory inputs from the hypothalamus and is influenced by gonadal steroids, stress, nutrition, and sleep/wake states. We propose a novel approach for the analysis of GH data and use this approach to quantify (i) the timing, amplitude, and the number of GH pulses and (ii) GH infusion, clearance, and basal secretion (i.e., time-invariant) rates, using serum GH sampled every 10 minutes during an eight-hour sleep study in 18 adolescents. In our method, we approximate hormonal secretory events by deconvolving GH data via a two-step coordinate descent approach. The first step utilizes a sparse-recovery approach to estimate the timing and amplitude of GH secretory events. The second step estimates physiological parameters. Our method identifies the timing and amplitude of GH pulses and system parameters from experimental and simulated data, with a median R2 of 0.93, among experimental data. Recovering GH pulses and model parameters using this approach may improve the quantification of GH parameters under different physiological and pathological conditions and the design and monitoring of interventions.Item The Effects of An Economic Education on Philanthropic Activity(2020-12) Sikaddour, DuncanThis study examines whether there exists a relationship between the number of economic degree holders in a state and the level of philanthropic activity. This hypothesis is consistent with economics students being exposed to thinking about overall economic efficiency. This study uses panel data from the American Community Survey regarding individual educational attainment. Two sources of philanthropy are utilized, individual giving from the IRS, and receipts by philanthropic organizations from their 990 forms. I build a panel data set using US states from 2009-2017. After controlling for a number of other important influences including income, I find that the fixed effects regression results show that as the share of female economics major rises, individual giving rises. Conversely, however, male economics majors are found to engage in less philanthropy than the average of other college graduates. No statistically significant effects are found using the organizational income data.Item Speculative Portraiture: The Imagined Black Body In Contemporary Art(2021) Walls, Jaelynn D.Visual representations of Blackness are ever changing. To visually define African-American identity is to explore decades of imagery both combatting and rejecting negative stereotypes and playing with them to magnify the issues within them. In Speculative Portraiture, I explore the significance of institutionally trained contemporary black American painters utilizing traditionally European narratives to visually represent contemporary black identity through portraiture. Rather than an essentialized definition of blackness, I am interested in identifying it in their works through contemporary theoretical understandings of blackness. From this point, I split the research into three parts: Imagined Black History, The Imagined Black Artist, and Styling Blackness. I use these three categories to examine the works of three artists and their visual interpretations of blackness through the imaginary insertion of black figures in traditional painting styles. While primarily looking to the work of Titus Kaphar, Kerry James Marshall, and Kehinde Wiley, I also thread in other black American artists who are playing with the same flexibility of identity through their works though not necessarily through the medium of painted portraits. I examine these artists and their portraits through the lens of critical race theory in the visual arts by theorists such as Darby English and Franz Fanon to establish a working definition of contemporary black identity and its signifiers. By identifying signifiers, I am able to deconstruct black representation through European visual constructions of the 18th and 19th centuries in a non-abstract way.Item The Impact and Management of Investment Losses(2021-04) Gudapati, Sai P.The growing wealth disparity between the top 1% of America and the bottom 70%-80% is partly due to the lack of investment by the bottom half of the country in with the financial markets. The way to get out of poverty is to have income, but the way to achieve financial stability is to build wealth and plan long term. The problem however is that those who experience poverty or who are part of the bottom half of the country, have much more to lose, therefore are averse to investing. For example, the $600 stimulus check for someone who is just above the poverty line means that they will be able to pay the month’s rent or that their family does not have to starve. Any additional money generally goes to basic life necessities rather than investments. There is also the case of the lack of knowledge regarding the markets and market strategies, and the tendency to exit the market when loss occurs. Additionally, success in the stock market comes with experience, the good and the bad. However, those that cannot take such chances are not going to be able to run through experience and never get to truly succeed in the market. Furthermore, investors of all socioeconomic classes tend to feel pressured by the lack of time and the abundance of information when making transactions. This just adds another layer to the difficulty of participating in the market. I hypothesize that: investors react differently based on how they are informed of their losses, loss aversion causes investors to leave the market and forgo gains, and time pressure causes investors to make less than optimal choices. To test my hypotheses, I interviewed three experienced investors as well as three financial advisors to talk about their experiences with the stock market and the strategies they employ to deal with the changes in the stock market. Regarding hypothesis 1, I found that the way investment losses are phrased does affect individual investors. The investors stated that they try not to look at the absolute dollar amount of their loss at all, and that they look at percentages so they can make rational decisions. The financial advisors said that they only communicate their clients’ losses to them in terms of percentages. They state that it is the best way to keep their clients calm and help them make rational decisions to move forward or to mitigate the losses. Regarding hypothesis 2, I found that inexperienced investors will leave the market when they face loss. The financial advisors stated that they all had clients that left the market following the market crash in March 2020. Even when staying in the market meant gains in the long run, many investors chose to leave because of short term losses. Regarding hypothesis 3, I found that both the financial advisors and the investors admit that when they first started out, time pressure was a major reason for their mistakes. But they also said that making transactions under time pressure does get easier as one becomes more experienced.Item Lenses: Reading Palestine Then and Now(2021-04) Durrette, Cristobella L.Comics journalism tells nonfiction stories through the framework of sequential art. Incorporating literary devices utilized in New Journalism, comics journalism blends visual and verbal elements that create an immersive reader experience. Journalist Joe Sacco’s Palestine integrates text and illustrations to provide a glimpse into the lives of people in the Occupied Palestinian Territories at the end of the first Intifada. Departing from the traditional idea of journalistic objectivity by including himself in the story, Sacco allows readers to inhabit his position and to engage in the world of the story. Drawing on the formal cartooning techniques practiced by Joe Sacco, I crafted the script for a graphic novella to analyze questions about reader engagement and the ethics of witnessing stories of suffering. I illustrated Part 1 of the graphic novella to visually demonstrate theoretical comics concepts. The graphic novella script explores comics theorist Scott McCloud’s concept of a shell character—a narrator or witness whose position that the reader can inhabit within the story—by depicting protagonist Jessica engaging with Palestine. The story traces Jessica’s trajectory as she witnesses and contends with the treatment of Muslims in post-9/11 America and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Like Sacco, Jessica must negotiate between her growing awareness of political violence and her own ethical standing as a white, middle-class American citizen.Item Antisocial Traits and Risky Sexual Behavior In Inpatient Adolescents(2021-04) Pearson, CarolineIntroduction: Risky sexual behavior (RSB) during adolescence increases risk for sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDs, and teenage pregnancy. Youth with externalizing disorders are more likely to engage in RSB, and antisocial traits in adolescence may be particularly relevant to RSB. It is still not clear which specific antisocial traits are most relevant to RSB and RSB attitudes, or how gender influences RSB and RSB attitudes in adolescence. The present study examined RSB and RSB attitudes, and their relationship with gender among inpatient adolescents with antisocial traits. Methods: 128 female and 52 male (N=180) inpatient adolescents ranging from 12 to 17 years of age (M = 5.28, SD = 1.41) completed self-report measures of antisocial features, RSB, and RSB attitudes. Pearson’s correlations, followed up with multiple linear regressions, were used to examine relations between antisocial features, adolescent age, RSB and RSB attitudes. Results: Results indicated no gender differences in RSB; however, significant gender differences in RSB attitudes were found. All antisocial facets, with the exception of stimulus seeking, were not related to RSB. Most antisocial facets were found to be related to RSB attitudes, most significantly antisocial behavior. Age at admission was the variable most significantly related to RSB and RSB attitudes. Conclusions: Results suggest that for inpatient adolescents, antisocial features may not be related to engagement in RSB; however, the presence of riskier attitudes may affect future engagement in RSB among adolescent males with antisocial traits later in life and therefore present important preventative targets.Item The Road To Nowhere(2021-04) Key, NoahThis thesis explores the combination of two distinct film genres: the coming-of-age narrative and the losing-grip-on-reality trope seen in psychological films. Influenced by the global pandemic and other crises, this thesis looks to how young people have to grow up in a time where everything is unknown, and reality is not in its normal state. This thesis comprises of an analytical, introductory essay that explores my creative process, a Hollywood-standard treatment, and an original, feature-length screenplay entitled The Road to Nowhere. Works that inspired and influenced this thesis include Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Graduate, Birdman, Donnie Darko, Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, and Talking Heads’ Road to Nowhere. The screenplay examines both a crisis of identity and a crisis of reality, asking the following questions: who are we and where do we belong in this world; how do we perceive the world around us; how much are we willing to risk finding happiness; and where do we find happiness: in the jobs and opportunities we earn or the people and environment we surround ourselves with?Item Racial Disparities In Black-White Education: A Sociological Conflict Theory Explanation(2021-04) Hart, Darralyn NicoleInequalities between African American and white public-school students have continued since desegregation with only slight decrease. Sociologists have attempted to understand how and why inequalities in education between Black and white students are still perpetuated despite desegregation being implemented over 50 years ago. Specifically, conflict theorists have attempted to explain the power construct that has purposefully put these differences in place. The focus of this research will be on disparities in education between Black and white students in America. The various disparities continuing the gap between Black and white education that will be focused on are historical practices and differentials in both funding and teacher credentials. This paper will analyze a set of hypotheses in accordance with these disparities. The hypotheses will have basis in conflict theory with emphasis on John U. Ogbu’s “acting white” theory. In correlation with these hypotheses, data and secondary analysis will be evaluated to reject or accept the hypotheses.Item Redesigning the Deconstructed: Chapels of St. John(2021-05) Niño, Stefan MartinThis thesis project will focus on completing an unfinished puzzle that will tie together memory, culture and a future vision. John the Beloved traveled throughout the Mediterranean and eventually settled in Ephesus where he spent the rest of his days, later passing away and being buried in Ayasuluk Hill. Over his tomb today sheep roam. He is the only apostle who does not have a proper tomb over his body or a place for people to celebrate and worship, to read his writings while going through the ritual of the mass that he helped design. This project seeks to rectify this by creating a series of chapels that will allow for the three original denominations of Christianity to worship. Around the 4th century, a few hundred years after St. John died in Ephesus, a church was built atop his tomb. The Basilica, whose ruins are still visible today, was built by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. In the 13th century, Tamerlane’s Mongol army leveled the site, leaving the Basilica in ruins. The ruins sit at the base of Ayasuluk hill as part of the renowned ruins of Ephesus. The campus will create a place for rest, for meditation, celebration and worship. It finds its inspiration in the writings of John where love is the key element. The word “love” appears 57 times in the Gospel of John and 46 times in his First Epistle. The concept of love and affection will be driving themes throughout the project as they are driving themes in St. John’s writings. This thesis will provide a reconstruction of this site allowing for the three original denominations of Christianity to worship. There are three important rules guiding this project. The first, is that it protects and respects Saint John, by creating a proper space of worship for him. The second, is to touch the site as little as possible so as to not disturb the ruins and bring respect to the physical site. The third, is for the project to have a clear distinction the ruins so that you can clearly define what is old and new. The three pillar denominations of Christianity: Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Armenian Apostolic, will all have their own places of worship surrounding the tomb, allowing for interreligious dialogue similar to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They will all be con-nected through the tomb of St. John, who has been present through their readings.Item Agnès Varda and the Reinvention of the Flâneuse(2021-05) Zidon, Naomi G.This interdisciplinary thesis examines Agnès Varda’s inhabitation of the flâneuse in the city space, the national space, and the international space. Varda goes beyond showing a character as a flâneuse, but is the flâneuse herself. The flâneuse is a female wanderer who observes the cityscape. The term originates from the male wanderer, the flâneur. Varda extends flânerie beyond the cityscapes and goes into unfamiliar territories. This work closely analyzes Varda’s narrative and documentary films that take place in Paris, the French countryside, California, Iran, and Cuba. By studying these films, the thesis reveals Varda’s relationship with psychogeography, feminism, and space. Ultimately, the thesis will lead to an understanding of the essence of the female perspective and of how the female gaze observes the changes that occur around her and the subject as she documents it through film. Varda embodies this idea as she moves from portraying the flâneuse by following the rules of flânerie to becoming the flâneuse by breaking all the rules of flânerie and presenting other scenarios in which flânerie can take place.Item What Hands Are Capable Of(2021-05) Flores, MattA collection of poems and images with a critical introduction based on personal and historical experiences surrounding south Texas. Emphasizing a distinct Tejano perspective on craft, the found fragments of experience are (re)collected and pieced together here in a mosaic of lyric presentation. This thesis blurs the lines between activism and art as it engages with on the ground investigations surrounding the humanitarian crisis near the southern border, where numerous migrants perish in their attempt to circumvent highway checkpoints in the U.S. Combining this narrative with my own experiences of personal grief, this thesis aims to politicize mourning into fruitful action by way of poetry.
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