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Abstracts

Author Department Professor Title Year
Christian C. Goos History and Philosophy Ronald Delph Sodomy in Renaissance Florence
Between the years 1432 and 1502 Florentine records show a rise in homosexual behavior, with 17,000 men out of 40,000 being investigated for acts of sodomy. Why did Renaissance Florence experience a rise in homosexual behavior, and why did it have such a powerful impact upon Florentine culture and society during the Renaissance? This question is answered by exploring the social and political structures under which males lived. Marriage patterns in Renaissance Florence show that most men didn't get married until the age of 30, leaving a large population of male youth and single men living within a predominantly male society. The Florentine government reacted by establishing organizations such as the Office of Decency and the Office of the Night to combat and investigate homosexual behavior. Homosexual activity impacted artistic expression through works of artists like Donatello and Michelangelo as well as the writings of Dante.
2010
Donna A. Lehman History and Philosophy Mark Higbee Bush v Gore: A Lesson in Constitutional Democracy
This project provides interpretation and analysis of the proposition that 'the legitimacy of the [U.S.] Constitution ought to derive solely from its utility as an instrument of democratic government.' (R.A. Dahl 2003, How Democratic is the American Constitution?) Using examples from past presidential elections, specifically the Bush _ Gore contest of 2000, the analysis indicates that despite structural inequities of democratic principles within the Constitution, remedies exist to perceived breaches of the public trust. Those remedies, however, require large measures of political will, which are very difficult to muster in a partisan political landscape.
2010
Kristina A. Lininger History and Philosophy Kathleen Chamberlain Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and Michigan's Native Americans
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft greatly influenced Michigan history. An Indian agent, he worked extensively with Chippewa tribes, writing books on the studies of Ojibwa language and Chippewa culture. Through his own lobbying and with the help of powerful friends, Schoolcraft's influence and power increased within Michigan and throughout the United States. How did Schoolcraft's power impact the displaced Indian tribes that left Michigan? Consequently, how did Schoolcraft's actions towards the Native Americans affect Michigan's history?
2010
Charlye D. Morley History and Philosophy Ronald Delph Orphans and Obligations in Renaissance Florence
A sexual renaissance brought Church-sanctioned prostitution to the streets of Florence with the goal of suppressing homosexuality. What resulted was a generation wrought with lust, greed, and unwed mothers murdering their own children. Those lucky enough to survive infancy only to be abandoned crawled through the Florentine streets as gittatelli and trovatelli: throwaways and foundlings. As infanticide and child-abandonment became an epidemic, the people of Florence turned to their Christian faith and humanist teachings to commission the Ospedale degli Innocenti: an innovative orphanage that turned discarded infants into educated children and ultimately hard-working and honorable Florentine citizens. This paper explores why orphan care was so important to the Florentines and why providing a home and education to parentless children became a universal responsibility in Renaissance Florentine society from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries.
2010
Anna F. Pierre History and Philosophy Ronald Delph Was it Idolatry? A Study of Renaissance Florence Image Worship
Since antiquity, people have worshiped deities and have constructed images or representations of these deities; the people of Renaissance Italy were no exception. Using a comparative approach, this paper explores Florentine image worship and religious practices in the 13th-16th centuries. The Florentines of this time period worshiped sacred images of their God and his saints, and they believed that these images were powerful and animate. To them, God manifested his power when he used one of the sacred images to perform a miracle, heal someone, or show wrath to those who disrespected him or the saints. These miraculous occurrences furthered the belief of Florentines that they were not practicing idolatry when venerating their sacred images.
2010
Lorinda F. Rausch History and Philosophy Ronald Delph The Jews of Quattrocento Florence: Moneylending and Replacement by the Monte di Pietà
The Jewish community in Florence had secured their economic place as moneylenders between 1437 and 1496, being granted a monopoly over the business of making cash advances to the working class. Why, after six decades of money-lending practices, did the Florentines attempt to displace the Jews from their occupation while simultaneously expelling them from the community? This turn against the Jews occurred because the powerful Medici rulers, who had supported this privilege, were no longer in power, anti-Semitic preaching was happening throughout the city, and the money-lending of the Jews was displaced by the establishment of the Monte di Pietà. What was not taken into consideration was where the initial Monte funds would come from. Ironically, the Jews would lend to the very institution that sealed their fate for expulsion.
2010
Julie Salo History and Philosophy Philip C. Schmitz The Bombing of a Nation: A Study of the Weather Underground
The Weather Underground was a radical student anti-war organization created in opposition to the Vietnam War in the late 1960s. The Weather Underground, in an effort to end the conflict in Vietnam and bring the war home, began a bombing campaign across the United States with targets such as the Pentagon, the U.S. State Department Building, and the U.S. Capitol. Within a few years of its creation, many Weather Underground members were living hidden from the law as fugitives. Meanwhile, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI stepped up their efforts to capture the Weather people, many of whom were on the 'Ten Most Wanted' list. This research project is a study of the Weather Underground from its inception to its demise and examines the issue of domestic terrorism in the United States.
2010
Bridget E. Sekuterski History and Philosophy Joseph Engwenyu Constructive Engagement: The Relationship between the United States and South Africa
The researcher investigated the United States' relationship with South Africa during the Cold War/ apartheid era. The research was conducted and presented in chronological order of Presidential administrations. Special emphasis was placed on the failed policy of Constructive Engagement that was created by Chester Crocker, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, during the Reagan Administration.
2010
Celeste L. Bogan Mathematics Andrew Ross Do We Raise The Bar? Math Placement Guidelines at EMU
We examine the success of students in EMU developmental mathematics classes, compared to their placement test or ACT/SAT scores. Should we change the placement guidelines? Is there a general score that determines whether a student should be placed in a full 5 credit Math 097 course or a 3 credit A/B course sequence? We also incorporate students who place out of developmental math courses. What happens after a student's first Math class? At what point is a bottleneck observed? Are the current prerequisites and guidelines effective for student success? In other words, should an adjustment be made to the overall rules to ensure that students achieve their goals in the Math Department?
2010
Li Sun Mathematics Tanweer Shapla Assessing Risk of an Exposure Factor in Developing a Disease in Presence of Confounders
The relative risk (RR) is one of the most useful epidemiological indices to measure the association between a risk factor and a disease outcome. While the direct estimation of RR is not available for a case-control study, the odds ratio (OR) has been used widely as an approximation to RR in health researches. In assessing the relation between the risk factor and disease outcome, it is recommended to estimate the adjusted odds ratio in order to control the confounder factors involved in the study. The Mantel-Haenszel odds ratio is one of the most popular effect measures to study the disease-exposure relation in presence of confounders. In this study, we revisit the inference procedure based on unadjusted and MH-type estimator of odds ratio. A real-life example of a case-control study on miocardial infarction and oral contraceptive use considering age as a confounder variable is presented to illustrate the underlying procedure in making inferences for the association between disease and exposure factors.
2010
Xiejuan Wu Mathematics Tanweer Shapla Modeling Data Using Multiple Logistic Regression
Logistic regression is one of the most popular techniques for biostatistical research which models log odds of an event by a linear predictor. In a binary logistic regression, the dependent variable is dichotomous and the explanatory variables are categorical, continuous, or both. A logistic regression equation can be used to predict the probability of occurrence of an event by fitting a logistic curve. The regression coefficients in the regression equation are used to estimate the odds ratio for each explanatory variable in the model. In this presentation, inference procedures relating to parameters in the logistic regression model will be revisited, and real life examples will be presented for interpretational purposes.
2010
Ivan I. Ivanov Music and Dance Kimberly Cole and MeeAe Nam Soliloquies (The Clarinet, Spring, 1979)
Without a doubt, Leslie Bassett's 'Soliloquies' (clarinet solo) is destined to be regarded as one of the few really fine examples of twentieth-century writing for the clarinet and is already considered so for those of us who have performed it. I base these assumptions both on receptions of my own performances of 'Soliloquies' by a wide range of audience types from coast to coast, as well as on my observations when hearing it performed by others. The music is at times extremely brilliant and technically demanding, and at other times serenely beautiful.
2010
Dawn D. Schell Music and Dance Donald Babcock Correct Tonguing Technique For Beginning Brass Instruments
This article catalogs various articulation syllables used by accepted brass pedagogues. It should be used as a reference when teaching beginning brass players to begin (articulate) notes using their tongues. Taking into consideration that each student varies in coordination and intuition as well as in tooth, bone, and tissue structure, not all articulation syllables will work for each player. Individual student factors including body size, posture, mouthpiece size, embouchure, tongue level, and mouthpiece pressure influence articulation and are included.
2010
Rachel E. Zirk Music and Dance Daniel Foster A creative approach to teaching beginning violinists based on Music Learning Theory
This creative project based on the research and Music Learning Theory (MLT) of Edwin E. Gordon further develops the work, 'Sing, Move, and Play!' presented in the 2009 Graduate Research Fair. The work includes primary chord progressions in all tonalities, a variety of rhythmic content, and careful attention to developing correct technique for beginners. Prior to the project, the researcher analyzed existing beginning violin methods, which were found lacking in basic MLT pedagogical elements. The only MLT-based method for particular instrument is Music Moves for Piano by Marilyn Lowe. The premise for this work is that music should move for all instruments.
2010

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641–654 of 654 abstracts