What You Will: a Twelfth Night Adaptation

For my Senior Honors Project in ECU’s Honors College, I have adapted and directed Twelfth Night, cut down to only the sub-plot of Antonio and Sebastian, and titled it What You Will (Shakespeare’s alternate title for Twelfth Night). This adapted version of this play will shed light on the often forgotten tragic character of Antonio, whose only downfall was loving someone who didn’t love him back. This story is something that everyone has experienced in one way or another, whether it is your cat not wanting to be near you, your middle school crush not giving you the time of day, or watching the person you love marry someone else. Because unrequited love is something all audience members will be able to relate to, I wanted to highlight this sub-plot without all the distraction of the main characters. The main characters are still part of the adapted script, but their main function is to highlight the tragedy of Antonio’s story

Building Knowledge, Making Meaning, and Applying Understanding of Learner Agency in a New Zealand Primary School

This study builds knowledge, makes meaning and applies understanding about Learner Agency. It presents enablers, capabilities and perceptions of both students and teachers from Stonefields Primary School (SPS) in New Zealand. Quantitative data was gathered by implementing the Agency Self-perception Tool (ASpT) with 1089 Year 4-8 learners in four schools. The ASpT was developed at SPS and validated in this study. Focus Groups enabled scaffolding of the quantitative findings and support literature

The Resurrection of Nora O\u27Brien

There is a cave, hidden in the hills, that brings the dead back to life. Its power is the driving force behind the blood feud between the Walshes and the O’Briens that lasts for generations. Jeremiah Walsh, a young boy growing up just after the civil war, is entrusted with the location of the cave and its secrets. But when he kills to protect his family legacy, he is stricken with guilt and questions his loyalties. His story parallels Nora O’Brien’s, a teenage girl who moves to the Ozarks with her family after the death of her grandfather. As she explores her grandfather’s house, her family’s dark past comes to light and she finds herself on a quest to find the legendary cave. Eventually, Jeremiah and Nora’s timelines merge. The Resurrection of Nora O’Brien uses dual timelines to create a story set in both the past and the present. It does not conform to a single genre, but rather blends genre, as John Gardner talks about in The Art of Fiction. It is part regional novel, like Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell; part historical fiction, like The Teeth of the Souls by Steve Yates; and part fantasy, like Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting

Geophysical Investigations of the Mound City Borrow Pits, Ross County, Ohio

Geophysical subsurface imaging is becoming a common practice in archaeology. Non-invasive geophysical methods provide efficient alternatives to costly and invasive excavations, allowing archaeologists to analyze sites before any excavation is done to identify areas of interest. For my thesis, I investigated two prehistoric borrow pits at the Mound City Group (200 BC - 200 AD) in the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in south-central Ohio. The primary objective of this study was to determine the presence and spatial extent of a clay lining that was emplaced upon the borrow pits by the Hopewell people. Information gleaned from the geophysical investigation was used to assess the degree of site disturbance from agriculture, construction of Camp Sherman, and modern reconstruction of the earthworks. My analysis included a suite of overlapping geophysical surveys consisting of ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, electromagnetic induction, and electrical resistivity. The geophysical data was ground-truthed with limited auguring and trenching. Analysis of the first borrow pit data showed strong evidence of historical disturbance within the pit from construction of Camp Sherman, including disturbed soil and a buried utility pipe, leaving little of the clay lining present except around the edges of the borrow pit. The geophysical data for the second borrow pit showed less historical damage that was primarily caused from the re-excavation of the pit during the reconstruction of the park. The second borrow pit still retains about half of the clay lining, a finding supported by the results of auguring and trenching. These results are evidence that the borrow pits at Mound City may have also served a purpose as cultural landscape features. The geophysical methods used in this study proved to be an invaluable source of information with minimal disturbance of the site

Does nest defense behavior vary with differences in landscape features in four species of shrub-nesting birds?

This study focused on if landscape features around the nest affect levels of anti-predator behavior in different shrub-land birds. Adult behavior was recorded on day 7 post-hatch, when chicks were remover as part of another study. The species studied are American Robins (AMRO), Gray Catbirds (GRCA), Northern Cardinals (NOCA) and Brown Thrashers (BRTH). The behavior between the different landscapes of AMROs and GRCAs was not significantly different. This shows that the energy difference is not significant enough to deter protective behavior. However, the NOCAs in less developed areas had a significantly more aggressive behavior. Also, the BRTHs had a significantly higher behavior score in lower percent grassland/shrub-land areas. This may be due to predation risk and perceived quality of the habitat. Variation in their habitat influenced their behavior.Ope

Does nest defense behavior vary with differences in landscape features in four species of shrub-nesting birds?

This study focused on if landscape features around the nest affect levels of anti-predator behavior in different shrub-land birds. Adult behavior was recorded on day 7 post-hatch, when chicks were remover as part of another study. The species studied are American Robins (AMRO), Gray Catbirds (GRCA), Northern Cardinals (NOCA) and Brown Thrashers (BRTH). The behavior between the different landscapes of AMROs and GRCAs was not significantly different. This shows that the energy difference is not significant enough to deter protective behavior. However, the NOCAs in less developed areas had a significantly more aggressive behavior. Also, the BRTHs had a significantly higher behavior score in lower percent grassland/shrub-land areas. This may be due to predation risk and perceived quality of the habitat. Variation in their habitat influenced their behavior.Ope

Alcohol Hangover and Multitasking: Effects on Mood, Cognitive Performance, Stress Reactivity, and Perceived Effort

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of hangover on mood, multitasking ability, and psychological stress reactivity to cognitive demand. Using a crossover design and semi-naturalistic methodology, 25 participants attended the laboratory in the morning following a night of (i) alcohol abstinence and (ii) alcohol self-administration during a typical night out (with order counterbalanced across participants). They completed a four-module multitasking framework (MTF, a widely used laboratory stressor) and a battery of questionnaires assessing mood, hangover symptom severity, and previous night’s sleep. The effects of the MTF on mood and perceived workload were also assessed. Participants in the hangover condition reported significantly lower alertness and contentment coupled with a higher mental fatigue and anxiety. Multitasking ability was also significantly impaired in the hangover condition. Completion of the cognitive stressor increased reported levels of mental demand, effort, and frustration, and decreased perceived level of performance. MTF completion did not differentially affect mood. Lastly, participants rated their sleep as significantly worse during the night prior to the hangover compared with the control condition. These findings confirm the negative cognitive and mood effects of hangover on mood. They also demonstrate that hangover is associated with greater perceived effort during task performance

African American Men Survey

A comprehensive survey looking at how African-American men view their lives in the United States and their outlook for the future. The survey gauges the views and experiences of African-American men on marriage and family, education, careers and health, among other issues, and includes comparisons to the views and experiences of African-American women and white men and women. The African-American Men Survey is the 15th survey in a series generated under a three-way partnership between The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University. The three organizations work together to pick the survey topics, design the survey instruments and analyze the results. The survey's findings were published in the June 4, 2006, edition of The Washington Post. This survey was conducted by telephone from March 20 to April 29, 2006, among 2,864 randomly selected adults nationwide, including: 1,328 black men; 507 black women; 437 white men and 495 white women. Results for total respondents have been weighted so that black respondents are represented in proportion to their actual share of the population. Margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for results based on all respondents or black men, 5 percentage points for black women and 6 percentage points for white men or women. Hispanics and Asians were interviewed along with white and black respondents, but because of the relative size of those populations, there were not enough respondents to break out separately. The complete survey results and detailed methodology description are available in the toplines document