An Honors thesis is a research project and scholarly piece of work completed under the guidance of a faculty mentor. The thesis is orally defended and approved by a committee of at least two additional committee members.
Since underrepresented nominees began filling U.S. Supreme Court seats, political scientists have examined the possibility of existing biases towards potential judges based upon their identities or innate characteristics. Some scholars have identified that the gender identification and ethnic affiliations of candidates have affected the behaviors displayed by those involved in...
To design engineering systems that have improved reliability, it is important to understand what kind of system faults they will be susceptible to. Mitigation strategies are important to ensuring the performance of these engineering systems. Understanding how the modularity of complex engineering systems affects the risk of devastating failures such...
Introduction: Research has demonstrated that minimal shoes may help prevent ankle injuries by mimicking natural barefoot running. It has been proven that minimal shoes may help adults prevent injuries in the correct conditions, but little is known about the effect of minimal and barefoot running on youth kinematics. Purpose: To...
Ligaments serve to control the movements of bones and joints within the body. Viscoelastic properties, such as hysteresis, allow them to perform their functions; however, these properties may change following injury. Understanding alterations in viscoelastic properties may be useful in diagnosing, tracking, and determining treatment effectiveness in Chronic Ankle Instability...
Storytelling has been a key societal element for hundreds of years. Over time it has evolved from tales spread by word-of-mouth, to printed words, and most recently to worldwide digital platforms. Stories, and their ability to be both shared and coveted, make them a truly unique aspect of the human...
While hemodialysis is a unique therapy for treating chronic kidney failure, the application of extracorporeal blood processing presents the opportunity for treating a wider range of bloodborne diseases. The objective of the i-Blood research team is to develop a blood processing device that utilizes microscale-based technology as a platform for...
Interruptions and asking questions play a vital role in social communication and can exhibit status and power differences in regular conversation. Studies in gender communication describe the way men and women utilize their own linguistic register through the development of social subcultures. The different ways men and women report and...
Changes in glacier length reflect the integrated response to local fluctuations in temperature and precipitation, but when do such changes indicate forced climate change, and when do they indicate natural variability? In this study, we simulate the past ~1000 years of glacier length variability across the globe using the 3-stage...
The Tam McArthur Rim is a volcanic center located within the Tumalo Volcanic Field (TVF), approximately 25 km west of Bend, OR. The rim comprises of shallowly dipping bedded sequences of intermediate and silicic flows with minor tephra interbedding capped by a rhyodacite dome. Glacial activity has exposed significant portions...
Despite the prominence of LEDs in our society, we have limited knowledge pertaining to their long-term effects. These seemingly white LEDs have a large blue light component to them. Recent results have shown that Drosophila living in 12 hrs. of blue light and 12 hrs. of darkness live substantially shorter...