Annual Celebration of Student Scholarship and Creativity

An Exploration of Art Song and Aria: Historical Influence and Performance Practice

Eliza Mandzik — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:15:34 PDT

Soprano Eliza Mandzik's contribution to the Annual Celebration of Student Scholarship and Creativity was a musical performance. This document presents the progam for Mandzik's performance.

Impacting Student Attitudes Toward Mathematics Through Project-Based Learning: A Multiple Intelligence Based Approach

Andre Wade — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:29:33 PDT

Reflecting on my first year of teaching, the number one hindrance to my students’ progress in mathematics seemed to be that my students strongly disliked the subject. Therefore in my second year of teaching at a diverse Catholic school in New England, I completed an action research project that implemented project-based learning (PBL) based on Multiple Intelligence (MI) theory into my mathematics classroom. I wanted to to see if the experience would first, impact student attitudes to make students like math more, and second, if PBL would allow students to see mathematics as applicable to the real world. Therefore, this action research project used a mixed-method design to examine student (N=20) attitudes towards mathematics. Students completed the research-tested Attitudes Towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) as well as an open-ended reflective survey both before and after the PBL experience to assess the impact of the intervention. Results indicated that while PBL did not improve most student attitudes towards mathematics—at least in terms of students liking math more—it did cause almost every student to see math as useful in the real world.

The Rise of Religious Parties in Turkey and India

Hannah Donovan — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:29:29 PDT

This project examines the rise of religious parties in secular democracies. In both Turkey and India, religious parties have enjoyed electoral successes (and failures). While religion is a significant issue to voters, it is oftentimes the persistence of economic problems that leads to the rise and fall of religious parties. The impact of coalition governments, change in political rhetoric, and relationship between government and religion in both countries are also analyzed and contrasted.

Developing Direction: "The Illusion" at Providence College

Patrick Saunders — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:29:27 PDT

Patrick Saunders was "selected to co-direct the Theatre, Dance and Film production of Tony Kushner's play, The Illusion. The role of the director is to engage the text, envision the production and guide the process of exploration with collaborating artists, from conception and design through rehearsal with the acting company, in order to ensure that the efforts of the creative team result in an innovative and unified story before a live audience."

Available for viewing is an extended abstract video, in which the director provides a summary of the production process.

A Plagued Mind: The Justification of Violence within the Principles of Maximilien Robespierre

Kevin Lynch — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:29:23 PDT

A Plagued Mind: The Justification of Violence within the Principles of Maximilien Robespierre, takes a new look into the political career of the French Revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre. This work explores the reasons as to why a man who valued principles so highly would seemingly turn against them by instituting the Reign of Terror. It follows the course of Robespierre's political career from beginning to end, and explains how each action taken by Robespierre was actually not an attempt to rise to power, but rather a sincere effort to create a republican France. As the French Revolution spiraled into chaos, so to did Maximilien Robespierre. As the situation of the Revolution became more dire, Robespierre began to justify acts of increasing extremity, climaxing with the infamous Reign of Terror.

New DWC Syllabus Using Nonwestern Sources

Aubrey Moore — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:29:20 PDT

This project presents a new, annotated syllabus for the Development of Western Civilization (DWC) curriculum at Providence College. The syllabus follows most of the same topics discussed in 3rd semester DWC, but instead uses almost all nonwestern sources for reading material. The purpose of the project was to gain a better understanding of western civilization while providing an alternative to how people learn about the society they live in, to better understand other societies, and help to put historical events into a broader context.

The Effects of Emotion and Message Framing on College Binge Drinking

Monica Broughton — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:10:34 PDT

The purpose of this study was to find an effective way of portraying binge drinking information to college students, hopefully changing their drinking behavior. A 2(Loss vs. Gain frame) X 2(Anger vs. Fearful prime) X 2(Time 1 vs. Time 2 Alcohol Consumption) was used to assess change in participants' alcohol intake. It was hypothesized that the fearful/loss condition as well as the anger/gain condition would be the most effective in decreasing participants' alcohol consumption.

Leadership: Dr. Stephen Coan

Rebecca Coan — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:10:33 PDT

The goal of the Leadership wiki was to collect information and inform others about the qualities of good leadership. Such exemplary leaders are ones who engage in a specific practice, maintain the standards of their practice against personal temptation or institutional pressures to be more efficient, seek excellence in the whole of human life by transforming their personal desires to pursue what is truly good, and finally confront what is wrong with culture. The wiki will explain practice, practical reasoning, and virtue in general. For the Leadership wiki I chose my uncle, Dr. Stephen Coan, as my exemplary leader.

The Alternative Appeal

Courtney DeRoo — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:10:32 PDT

For decades, Americans expressed dissatisfaction with conventional cancer treatments. I examine the appeal of biological alternatives to surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy for patients with cancer. The limited effectiveness and side effects of many conventional cancer therapies led many patients to pursue a variety of unconventional therapies. To improve the quality of care for cancer patients, "mainstream" providers must better understand, and even collaborate with, alternative practitioners.

Socialist Utopian Communities in the U.S. and Reasons for their Failures

Elizabeth Nako — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:10:30 PDT

The focus of my research is on why socialist utopian communities could not last in capitalist America. Even though people lived in these isolated communities, they still relied too much on the "outside world." Some of the factors that would ultimately lead to the demise of these communities would be problems with leadership and financial difficulties . I researched two utopian socialist communities in nineteenth century New England: The Northampton Association of Education and Industry and Brook Farm. These two communities were both part of the Transcendental Movement and also were the ideas of Charles Fourier, a French philosopher. I will give a background on both of these communities and how they started and also why they ceased to exist today.

Returns to Schooling: A Quantile Regression

Arman Oganisian — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:10:28 PDT

This paper contributes to the large body of economic literature that attempts to estimate the returns to schooling. It uses quantile regression to estimate the effect of an additional year of education on monthly wage for earners in different quantiles. Using data from the young men’s cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey, the paper attempts to control for ability, family background, geography, and race, and finds that the returns to schooling is approximately 3.49% for men. Furthermore, the paper finds that while the effect of education on earnings is not significantly different from quantile to quantile, the significance of education increases with earnings.

Examining Medical Error: Causes, Consequences, and Checklists

Laura Keaney — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 08:35:37 PDT

Reclaiming Fat

Emilie E. DeBaie — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 08:26:29 PDT

The Cognitive Representation of Fantasy Versus Pretense

Colleen McInnis — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 08:19:51 PDT

Do our minds process fantasy, pretense, and reality differently? Participants read fantastical (Snow White eating an apple), pretend (a girl pretending to be Snow White), or realistic (a girl eating an apple) vignettes. Participants’ reaction to a property of each vignette’s realistic context (apple as ‘delicious’) or its unrealistic context (apple as ‘poisonous’) was measured by a computer program. Differences in study 1 reaction time indicate that fantasy may require different mental representation than pretense and reality. Differences in study 2 fail to duplicate results from the fantasy condition in study 1, instead finding differences in mental representation after reading pretend vignettes. Trends in both study 1 and 2 indicate possible influences of fantasy and pretense on realistic thought.

The Organization of American States (OAS) in Rhetoric and Reality

Elizabeth Marie Moore — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:16:38 PDT

The purpose of this study is to examine how well the countries in the Western Hemisphere translate Organization of American States’ (OAS) resolutions into actual meaningful legislation, and how international discourse influences, or does not, domestic policy. This study will utilize the data program QDA Miner in order to better analyze texts of agreements and treaties put forth by the OAS, and to highlight the correlation between different types of rhetoric and meaningful member state action. Data will be gathered primarily from the OAS’ own data bases and compiled into the QDA software for analysis. This analysis will allow the agreements to be divided into “rhetoric categories.”

After the agreements are analyzed and divided up into their respective rhetoric categories, regression will be run using SPSS 19.1 IBM software. This software will allow for the interpretation of whether or not there is a correlation between competing types of international discourse and the domestic policies of member states.

Prior to this study, many different research studies have been carried out to examine what compels different countries act in accordance with International Organizations and what does not. Compliance with international declarations and agreements has long since been a question and focal point of study when analyzing international institutions and this study aims to understand what role, if any, language and rhetoric plays in the issue of compliance.

Walking the Tightrope: The United States’ Policy in Vietnam, 1952-1954

Erin Flynn — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:53:30 PST

This thesis demonstrates how the Truman and Eisenhower administrations sought to avoid direct intervention in Indochina and halt the spread of communism at the same time. This purpose is achieved through careful analysis of primary and secondary sources, with a particular focus on the primary documentation found in Foreign Relations of the United States: 1952-1954. Through examination of these day-by-day recordings and memos, the futility of pursuing the two conflicting aims becomes clear.

Sorting on CUDA

Ayushi Sinha — Tue, 10 May 2011 12:12:15 PDT

The traditional sorting technique, sequential sorting, is inefficient with increasing amounts of data that can be stored on computers. Researchers looking for faster sorting techniques have turned to parallel computing to address the limitations of sequential sorting. This project involves the implementation of three parallel sorting algorithms on CUDA, a parallel computing architecture which implements algorithms on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs).

Let's Move! from DC to PC: Policy and Programming in Providence Charter Schools Around Student's Awareness Towards Living Healthy

Carmine Perrotti — Tue, 10 May 2011 11:56:29 PDT

A thesis developed out of an intership for the Office of the First Lady's "Let's Move Initiative". Following said internship, the author conducted original research on the local level - namely, Providence charter schools - to design, implement, and assess a series of educational “interventions”. These interventions were created to provide information to students and their parents about the benefits of healthy eating and exercise. Over 500 elementary-level students were surveyed for the research. See document abstract for more information.

Voices from El Salvador: Community Hopes, Dreams, and Realities

Nicole Sabatino — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 09:22:36 PST

"Voices from El Salvador" is a Spanish-language documentary on the socioeconomic aspects of El Salvador. Providence College alumni Nicole Sabatino made the document as an undergraduate to expand awareness about the conditions of poverty within the Latin American country.

The Triumphant Tragedy of King Lear

Erin Lamontagne — Wed, 26 May 2010 16:07:25 PDT