The Honors College

Need-for-cognition reflects an individual's predisposition to participate in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities. Although need-for-cognition has been widely investigated, research has not investigated whether an individual's level of need-for-cognition may influence his or her everyday physical activity levels. In the current study this question is investigated and two alternative hypotheses are put forth. It is predicted that, because they are more involved in cognitive activities, high need-for-cognition individuals are also less involved in physical activities.

Out of Many Waters is a series of five linked short stories exploring key events in the life of a single protagonist. With the exception of the fifth story, Osmosis, the pieces appear in reverse chronological order, creating a "nesting doll" effect: stories within stories. While each piece stands as an individual entity, each subsequent story offers greater insight into those that come before it.

This thesis discusses solar type stars that are between 0.3 and 1.5 Gyr old, otherwise known as young solar analogs (YSAs). It explores how they are defined, the methods used to study them, and the state of research in the field. The study of young solar analogs offers us a window into the conditions in the early solar system when life was establishing a foothold on the Earth.

"Our job is only to hold up the mirror—to tell and show the public what has happened. Then it is the job of the people to decide whether they have faith in their leaders or governments." Walter Cronkite was one of America's top reporters and radio news announcers. Over the years, news has taken on many different forms—soft news, entertainment news, and news commentary programs, to name a few—but which forms of news can really be relied upon?

During my time at Appalachian, most of my honors classes were in the communication department. One topic that was brought up quite a bit that I found to be particularly interesting was women's portrayal in the media. I developed a particularly strong interest in this subject after watching the documentary Generation M: Misogyny in Media & Culture from the Media Education Foundation. My actual major is Graphic Arts and Imaging Technology, so for my thesis, I wanted to create something that combined Communication and Graphic Arts.

Mindfulness is the broad attentiveness and lack of hierarchal evaluation -given to internal and external stimuli. Previous studies have shown a wide range of benefits of mindfulness, including improved mental and physical health and improved control of attention. These benefits ofmindfulness may be interrelated, in that improved controlled attention may influence what kinds ofdetails people focus on in emotional situations.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber ofFleet Street by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, although written several centuries apart, prove upon closer examination to be exemplary ofthe Elizabethan and Jacobean revenge tragedy. This thesis explores the ways in which both plays share the motifs ofthe archetypal revenge tragedy as well as various additional themes, and such a comparison .- ofan early modern tragedy against a more contemporary one is a step towards illuminating the difference between what revenge meant in Shakespeare's era and what it means now.

University civic engagement offices tend to rely on anecdotal effects of its programs; however, research is essential to assess the impacts of these programs. This paper examined the short term and long term benefits of community service, service-learning, and service-based trips.

The travel and tourism industry is an enormous revenue generator and a major employer worldwide. Thelodgingindustry(referringtoanytypeofaccommodation)isoneofthebiggest players under the travel and tourism umbrella. There have been many changes in these industries due to natural disasters, innovation in technology, and the economy, among a myriad of other .... factors. These transformations require the industry to react to consumer demands and adapt to their new lifestyles and expectations.

Traumatic brain injury is the "signature wound" of the current theater of war. Many service members are returning from deployments with communication disorders as a result of traumatic brain injuries. This paper addresses the etiology of traumatic brain injury, the communication disorders that may occur because of traumatic brain injury, the incidence of traumatic brain injury in military veterans, and treatment of communication disorders resulting from traumatic brain injury in service members.