Theses (2013)

Over the past several decades, the use of animal-assisted therapy (AAT), a treatment intervention that incorporates a specially trained animal into a goal-oriented therapy setting, has been increasing in prevalence. AAT has been found to be effective among a variety of populations, including childhood PTSD victims, children with autism spectrum disorders, adults with mental illness and elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease and dementia. The present review will discuss the current research available on AAT among varying populations and identify the limitations that must be addressed in future research in order to establish AAT with dogs as an ideal adjunctive therapy in various mental health settings.

Like all superheroes, the first Black Green Lantern (John Stewart) is endowed with unique powers, yet the very idea of power is complicated by the racial discourse that exists inside and outside his comic book series. Thus, power in his origin story is associated at times with a stereotypically fetishized black male physical power, while at other times it takes on a more socially critical dimension, indicating concerns with the superhero's power of self-definition and his power within the existing social structure.

The language of images - in photography particularly - is a physical representation of the variability of signified meaning. Roland Barthes believed that photographic representation was a product of the "indexical" nature of photography - that photography pointed to one physical, visual element that represents the "real" or "true." Individual elements of the mass media and postmodern art culture affect meaning behind representation, questioning how a photographer's perspective alters representation of an image. Focusing on Cindy Sherman's works within "Centerfolds" and "Sex Pictures," Barthes' studies on connotation and Butler's criticism of the female body merge with Sherman's expressions of femininity to operate as a language of the body.

Understanding how proteins crystalize is a fundamental question in biochemistry, and has important implications in molecular recognition. Carbonic anhydrase, specifically bovine carbonic anhydrase (SCA) is a good model system to study crystallization because SCA is structurally rigid, easily produced in large quantities, and well-studied. This study explored three physical properties of SCA and per-acetylated SCA: protein crystallization thermostability of the proteins and the binding affinity of each protein to a given ligand.

This presentation will share the experiences of Rebecca Benigno during her Fall 2013 practicum in a first grade SEI (Sheltered English Immersion) classroom at the Tobin School in Boston. Emphasis will be placed on her role in creating and fostering a strong learning community in the classroom.

The dawn of the Information Era has witnessed two remarkable developments in human history: the appearance and recognition of systemic problems that are global in scope and a wave of civil society activism. The role of the Internet and new media technology in rapidly dispersing information, images, and ideas around the globe has garnered much attention in recent years, but there is little known about how new media shapes transnational activism organizations and their pursuit of social change. This study examines existing perspectives on the role of new media in contemporary activism organizing and conducts primary analysis of organizations’ websites and qualitative interviews with organizations’ staff.

Metafiction refers to narratives that self-consciously and systematically draw attention to their status as artifacts in order to question relationships between fiction and reality. While this device is most often associated with the postmodern movement of the 1960s and 70s, it has gained ever-increasing attention in recent years. With metafictional elements reflected and exemplified within popular culture, an understanding of the operations of this technique is especially relevant to the contemporary American experience. An analysis of selfconscious literature from the Romantic Era to present day, through the lens of simulated collaboration between author and reader, will give insight into its characteristics and purposes and will account for the current demand for metafictional texts

The airline boarding problem involves minimizing the time it takes to load passengers onto an airplane. Reduced boarding time can allow airlines to operate more flights and have more profitable day-to-day operations. Various academic and industrial researchers have developed improved boarding schemes over the traditional method of boarding the airplane from back to front. W hile there are multiple studies considering this problem, few studies incorporate a model for time and spatial location involved in stowing luggage in overhead bins. We investigate luggage interferences, which occur when a passenger is unable to stow baggage at their seat due to a full overhead bin. A model is developed for the expected number of luggage interferences for a plane of arbitrary size. We also investigate how various boarding strategies perform differently in the presence of a spatial model for luggage.

Sydney Owenson's The Wild Irish Girl perpetuates a literary history that figures Ireland as dependent. In her novel, the two main characters, Horatio and Glorvina, represent their respective countries, England and Ireland, as an allegory for the Act of Union. To analyze Owenson's novel, I argue that the writing of Jonathan Swift establishes a literary tradition which figures Ireland as a dependent woman.

Why did counties receive differing amounts of aid, following Hurricane Katrina? Although one expects it would be based on the damage a county had, I hypothesize, based upon social capital theory, that the amount of aid received was also associated with the number of businesses in the county, the poverty rate, racial make-up, and net population size.

This essay will argue that there is an intellectual link between the philosophies of Benedict de Spinoza and John Locke. When one examines their major works and Spinoza’s letters with Henry Oldenburg, there is strong evidence that Spinoza influenced Locke. While the essay will address their epistemologies, primary emphasis will be on their political philosophies in order to address the thesis of Jonathan Israel that Spinoza’s political works had a direct influence on modern democratic institutions. By influencing Locke, and Locke in turn influencing the American Revolution, Spinoza has left a mark on American democracy, providing a new perspective on the development of political theory.

I explore how standard of living, beyond just economic measurements, impacts satisfaction among U.S. immigrants. Micro-economic immigration theory argues that immigrants migrate in an effort to maximize their earnings. Piore's segmented labor market theory states that immigrants are willing to take on low-status jobs, because immigrants are working for income rather than prestige. But, is it only economic measurements that matter in satisfaction with one's migration, even if those are the primary motivations? Through an analysis of surveys collected from 16 immigrants, I test the extent to which different measurements of standard of living (homeownership, job status, educational attainment, etc.) impact satisfaction in the U.S.