Matching Items (467)
Description
In my Honors Thesis, I endeavor to complicate and to respond to conventional debates over historical periodization and the problem of what it means to be "modern." I understand the modern as a conceptual product of discourses surrounding religion, science, and industry. Specifically, the modern era has been defined as one in which the forms of rationalization associated with quantitative and experimental scientific methods and large-scale, technologically sophisticated industrial production have surpassed the "irrational" superstitions associated with religion. Critical responses to this definition have largely had the goal of supplanting it with another way of conceiving of the historical discontinuity between the "modern" and the "non-modern." In three essays, I aim to complicate the terms (religion, science, and industry) in which these debates have been conducted and to relate them to one another both historically and conceptually. As opposed to the goal of re-defining the modern, my goal in these essays is to complicate the existing definitions and to reveal and challenge the ideological motives of historical periodization. I illuminate the connections of the modern conception of "religion" to a colonial system of power, between scientific development and changes in economic and religious thinking, and between contemporary technological and industrial projects to an "enchanted" view of the world. In tracing these connections, I am indebted to conventional discourses of modernization, Max Weber's theory of "disenchantment," and recent scholarship on the use of materialist methods in the study of history. In these essays, I move beyond the critical project of "re-imagining" the modern, and illuminate some of the ideological commitments of that project that I consider untenable. In addition to a more sophisticated historical understanding of the meaning of religion, science, and industry, what I aim to achieve in my thesis is a better framing of some of the largest problems faced by contemporary humanity, including the looming risks of ecological, economic, and geopolitical collapse. In this framing, I situate these risks in the context of their connection to strategies of historical periodization, and argue that managing them will require a radically new view of religion, science, industry, and the roles that they play in producing historical discontinuity.
ContributorsNeibergall, William (Author) / Bennett, Gaymon (Thesis director) / Suk, Mina (Committee member) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Analysis into the political career of Texas state senator George Ruby provides invaluable insight to the African American experience during Reconstruction in Texas as a whole. Juxtaposing the needs vocalized by African American communities and the actions taken by Ruby, the Freedmen’s Bureau, and other Texas politicians, helps identify how racial politics dictated the lives of Texas African Americans. Ruby’s rise to power can also be utilized as a historical blueprint for how leaders in marginalized communities can become impactful and obtain power within a racially-biased societal structure. Ruby’s rise and fall in Texas politics is tragic as he finds himself forced to separate from his loyal African American support base—deciding to cater to the needs of elite white Texans to help ensure political favor on both sides of the political and racial spectrum. However, Ruby’s legacy remains one of great success as he managed to break the mold forced upon so many African Americans during Reconstruction and enact lasting change in the marginalized Texas African American communities.
ContributorsCourson, Shawn Thomas (Author) / Schermerhorn, J. (Thesis director) / Delmont, Matthew (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The human hairless gene (HR) encodes a 130 kDa transcription factor that is primarily expressed in the brain and skin. In the promoter and 5'-untranslated regions (5'-UTR) of HR, there are three putative consensus p53 responsive elements (p53RE). p53 is a tumor suppressor protein that regulates cell proliferation, apoptosis, and other cell functions. The p53 protein, a known tumor suppressor, acts as a transcription factor and binds to DNA p53REs to activate or repress transcription of the target gene. In general, the p53 binding sequence is 5'-RRRCWWGYYY-3' where W is A or T, and R and Y are purines or pyrimidines, respectively. However, even if the p53 binding sequence does not match the consensus sequence, p53 protein might still be able to bind to the response element. The intent of this investigation was to identify and characterize the p53REs in the promoter and 5'-UTR of HR. If the three p53REs (p53RE1, p53RE2, and p53RE3) are functional, then p53 can bind there and might regulate HR gene expression. The first aim for this thesis was to clone the putative p53REs into a luciferase reporter and to characterize the transcription of these p53REs in glioblastoma (U87 MG) and human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cell lines. Through the transactivation assay, it was discovered that p53REs 2 and 3 were functional in HEK293, but none of the response elements were functional in U87 MG. Since p53 displayed a different regulatory capacity of HR expression in HEK293 and U87 MG cells, the second aim was to verify whether the p53REs are mutated in GBM U87 MG cells by genomic DNA sequencing.
ContributorsMaatough, Anas (Author) / Neisewander, Janet (Thesis director) / Hsieh, Jui-Cheng (Committee member) / Goldstein, Elliott (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Abstract The purpose of this study is to draw attention to problematic peer behaviors experienced among older adults in low income housing. Antagonistic behaviors including peer bullying are commonly associated with youth yet they also occur among older adults. This study shares findings from a recent study of negative social interactions among older adults in independent low-income housing. Using a sample size of 11 tenants, and semi-structured interviews, this author used thematic analysis to code and categorize themes. This author found that common themes included types of behaviors experienced, contributing factors, interventions and perceived barriers to interventions. Results indicated that tenants experienced a variety of antagonistic behaviors including verbal, physical and relational aggression. The most common behaviors reported were verbal threatening (36.4%) and being gossiped about (54.4%). The least common reported were physical behaviors (27.3%). Tenants reported the most common contributing factor for the aggressor's actions as having mental health or emotional issues (45.5%), whereas they reported physical disability as the most common contributing factor in those who were victimized (54.5%). Individuals reported responding to these behaviors most commonly through isolation, withdrawal, and avoidance. Findings suggest the need for interventions to minimize bullying and other antagonistic behaviors in low-income housing. Additionally, findings suggest the need to help those who are mistreated to find ways to address the bullying in more positive ways. Keywords: themes, behaviors, factors, interventions, barriers
ContributorsCasalean, Monica Ruth (Author) / Bonifas, Robin (Thesis director) / Mendoza, Natasha (Committee member) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / School of Social Work (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
In the early 1960’s, there was a socio-political movement in the Black people in the United States for them to look more natural through their hair, which lead to the popularization of the afro style during this time. After a few decades, the natural style fell off and many Black women started chemically treating their hair or using excessive heat to straighten it. However, today, natural hair for Black people and non-Black people is a constant topic in social spaces, politics, and pop culture. I would consider this to be a new wave of appreciation for Black hair with a conversation crafted specifically around new thoughts about race in the 21st century. This thesis will examine the views on Black hair both historically and currently in the United States from a sociological lens. For my research, I aim to examine definitions of terms related to Black hair in order to help others learn how Black people understand and speak about their own hair; to explore how the history behind the hair has shaped the current day conversations of Black hair; and the representations of Black hair in literature, film, television, and on the Internet on platforms such as YouTube and Instagram in order to understand how people speak and think about Black hair in the 21st century.
ContributorsLynn, Kayla (Author) / Lee, Sangmi (Thesis director) / Taylor, Jameien (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
This study focuses on the connection between musical rhythm and dyslexia. Dyslexia has long been a disability that has been studied, but not one that researchers have a particular or in-depth treatment for. There has been a long time of research on the connection between dyslexia and creativity. This has led to looking at how dyslexic students are often found in art schools and engage in creativity. This has led to a new wave of research into EEG and how dyslexia occurs, including what causes dyslexia. This connection is proposed through the temporal sampling deficit hypothesis that theorizes “neuroelectric oscillations that encode incoming information at different frequencies could explain the perceptual and phonological difficulties with syllables, rhymes and phonemes,” (Goswami, 2011). My research aims to go further into the theory that dyslexia is caused by phonological perception and rapid timing skills (Overy et al., 2001). Music has many of these underlying deficits within it, so my theory is that dyslexic people have rhythm deficits, therefore, music therapy would be helpful in learning dyslexia. This paper does not find a negative correlation between dyslexia and rhythm. The trend points to dyslexic participants responding to claps faster and more accurately. All participants made a trend of fewer errors and faster responses the second time they heard a clap pattern. This leads to an inconclusive conclusion that requires more investigation to confirm whether this is statistically significant.
ContributorsSarraf, Maya (Author) / Bristol, Rachel (Thesis director) / Peter, Beate (Committee member) / Kim, Yookyung (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Tuition costs for undergraduate students have been on the rise in the United States in recent years. The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that the current average cost of tuition at a public four-year college is 23 times higher than it was in 1963, leading students to work while attending school. Additionally, Gen-Z young adults report significantly higher rates of stress than all other generations, making burnout a salient concern within this demographic. Taking these two factors of employment and stress into consideration, the current study aimed to explore the role of job type (major vs non-major) in the relationship between burnout and social support for undergraduate students in the United States. The current study sampled 312 undergraduate students from the United States ages 18-24 (M = 20.75, SD = 1.89). The results indicated that there was no significant difference in academic burnout among employed vs unemployed students. Both perceived and actual social support-seeking were linked with lower academic burnout only for employed students. Higher person-job fit was associated with lower job burnout. Finally, students with jobs related to their major reported significantly lower job burnout at the lowest levels of person-job fit than students with non-major jobs.
ContributorsNazir, Zainab (Author) / Mickelson, Kristin (Thesis director) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05