The following Senior Independent Study Theses were awarded Honors and nominated by their departments to serve as examples of the outstanding work done by Wooster students. The PDFs of these exemplars may be downloaded from any location. For questions about the exemplar nomination process, please email openworks@wooster.edu.

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Senior Independent Study Theses from 2017

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The Soul's Response to Surveillance: A Foucaldian Investigation Into the Economy of Power Created by Contemporary Surveillance Techniques and the Conditioning of the Post 9/11 Subject, Jack Johanning
Department: Political Science

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La Fiebra Telenovela: Audience Perceptions of Telenovelas and their Representation of Economic Disparity, Brenda Khor
Department: Communication Studies

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All Hands on Deck: The Role of Ship Burial Reentry in the Maintenance and Construction of Narrative in the Vendel and Viking Periods, Gina Malfatti
Department: Archaeology

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Pretending To Be Human: An Automated Theorem Prover To Write Mathematical Proofs, Khoa Nguyen
Department: Computer Science; Mathematics

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"Orange Is the New Black": The Skin-Tanning Phenomenon and Its Influence on Perceptions of Race, Class, and Gender, Madeleine Polovick
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Grasping the Void: Immersion Tactics Using Gesture Controlled Physics Interaction Systems in Virtual Reality, Avery Rapson
Department: Computer Science

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Liebe, Leid und Rache: Die Wiederentdeckung des Mittelalters im 19. Jahrhundert und der daraus resultierende Einfluss auf den Anstieg des Nationalismus im Laufe des Jahrhunderts., Adrienne Reding
Department: German Studies

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What is Privacy? The Threat of Surveillance and Blackmail in the 21st Century, Harrison S. Ruprecht
Department: Philosophy

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The Relationship Between Self-Esteem, Ambivalence, and Relationship Outcomes within Romantic Partnerships, Victoria J. Schriber
Department: Psychology

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Immigration Policy Demanders: The Influence of U.S. Interests Groups and the American Electorate on Major Political Party Platforms, Scott D. Sears
Department: Political Science

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Projection of Groundwater Pumping Sustainability in Volta Wildlife Refuge, Merced County, CA, Helen Siegel
Department: Geology

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Show Me the Money: A Study of Interrelationships between a Regional Theatre's Revenue and Location, Rebecca Snedeker-Meier
Department: Theatre and Dance

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For Country, Liberty, and Money: Privateering and the Ideologies of the American Revolution, Scott D. Wagner
Department: History

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"The Least of These": Towards an Integrated Queer of Color Critique of the Prison Industrial Complex, Jahqwahn J. Watson
Department: Africana Studies

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La (re)presentación de las mujeres en la sociedad puertorriqueña: Un análisis comparativo de las obras de Rosario Ferré y Ana Lydia Vega, Gina B. Williamson
Department: Spanish

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Politics of the Apolitical: A Study of Operational Autonomy and International Non-Governmental Oganizations (INGOs), Rachel Wilson
Department: Global and International Studies

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La Transgresora Fetichista: Los Efectos de la Dictadura Franquista en la Evolución del Discurso Sexual Español, Marisa Lee Iola Yerkes
Department: Spanish

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The Search for GTO: Determining Optimal Poker Strategy Using Linear Programming, Stuart Young
Department: Mathematics

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The Role of Ethnic Enclaves on the Integration Process of Modern Immigrants: Case Studies in Columbus, Ohio and France, Caitlin Ziegert McCombs
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

Senior Independent Study Theses from 2016

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Amassing Subsistence: Creating an Environment Through Objects and Time, Matilda J. Alexander
Department: Art and Art History

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The Problematical, The Cave, and The Maya: A Theoretical Discussion and Ethnoarchaeological Investigation, Haley N. Austin
Department: Archaeology

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Fronteras entretejidas: Texto, textil, y la formación de una narrativa mestiza en las obras de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Gloria Anzaldúa, y Sandra Cisneros, Claire R. Billingsley
Department: Spanish

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La Trahison et la honte : Le rôle du gouvernement de Vichy dans la rafle du Vel’ d’Hiv’ et sa mémoire aux yeux de la société française, Olivia Bolek
Department: French and Francophone Studies

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It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! No, it’s Just My I.S.: An Historical Exploration of Superheroes and American Identity, Caroline G. Breul
Department: History

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When Do Black Lives Matter?: An Experimental Analysis of White American Support for Black Social Movements, Latrice M. Burks
Department: Political Science

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A Comparative Analysis of Photon and Electron Wave Functions in Spherically Symmetric Potentials, Michael Bush
Department: Mathematics; Physics

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The Groundwork for Food Criticism: How Normative Aesthetic Judgments Are Possible with Regards to Tastes, Jacob Caldwell
Department: Philosophy

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Cruising The Borderlands: Queer Latinx Creating Space in Lowrider Culture, Elisia I. Campos
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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From Fried Bologna Sandwich to Butternut Squash Prosciutto Flatbread: Examining Food Culture as a Multivocal Dominant Symbol in the Wessex, Ohio Restaurant Foodscape, Clare T. Carlson
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Prisons for Profit: Neoliberal Rationality's Transformation of America's Prisons, Kelsey Clark
Department: Political Science

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Opportunity and Empowerment in Female Prison Reentry in Wooster, OH, Zoe E. Cunningham-Cook
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Making and Mindfulness: How Process-Oriented Tasks Encourage Reflection and Lead to Recovery, Devin DeLaney
Department: Art and Art History

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Optimal Placement of Family Planning Centers, Kiera Dobbs
Department: Mathematics

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Policies and Clinical Practices Regarding Candidacy and Auditory Treatment for Hispanic Pediatric Patients in Cochlear Implant Centers in the United States, Matthew Ehrenburg
Department: Communication Studies; Spanish

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Fuerzas narrativas femeninas en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, Margaret Fishback
Department: Spanish

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“You Can’t Change What You Were”: Liminality and the Process of Role Exit Among Former Amish, Kathryn Foster
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Thoughts on Poetry, Alexandra B. Gustafson
Department: Philosophy

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"Hello my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!" Messaging Effects on Support for Violent Non-state Actors, Alexandra D. Haines
Department: International Relations; Political Science

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Insurgency in the Late Bronze Age Levant: A World-Systems Analysis of Three Egyptian Garrison Sites, Eric T. Hubbard
Department: Archaeology

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Victims of Downing Street: Popular Pressure and the Press in the Stoddart and Conolly Affair, 1838-1845, Sarah E. Kendrick
Department: History

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Creating The Middle-Class: The Impact Of Class Based Identity Appeals In Presidential Campaigns, Lois Kimmel
Department: Political Science

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Custom Framing: An Analysis of Camille Pissarro's "Les Turpitudes Sociales" within a Base-Superstructure Model, Robin S. Klaus
Department: Art and Art History

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The Puzzle of Post-Conflict Justice: Identifying Factors That Influence State Selection of Mechanisms, Taylor V. Knoop
Department: Political Science

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Is This Thing On? An Investigation of School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists' Knowledge of Hearing Technology, Marissa M. Kobylas
Department: Communication Studies

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Attempted Identification of the Calcium-Dependent Sodium Channel Gene in Paramecium tetraurelia using RNAi, Gwendolyn Kuzmishin
Department: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

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The Production and Manipulation of Nonseparable Spin-Orbit Modes of Light Under Hong-Ou-Mandel Interference Conditions, Maggie E. Lankford
Department: Physics

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La France et le plurilinguisme: deux opposés qui s'attirent? Une étude de l'enseignement et de l'apprentissage des langues étrangères en France., Rachel L. Lorch
Department: French and Francophone Studies

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Joyce's Musical Doublespeak, James May
Department: English

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Uisce: Compositional Explorations for Various Ensembles, James May
Department: Music

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In Black and White: The Sociopolitical Rhetoric Surrounding Anti-Miscegenation Attitudes in Ohio, Sarah McCrea
Department: History

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Factors that Influence Device Selection by Parents of Pediatric Cochlear Implant Candidates, Zachary W. Moore
Department: Communication Studies

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Legalization of Prostitution and its Impact on the Market for Human Trafficking, Varunavi Newar
Department: Business Economics; Mathematics

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Microaggressions, Trigger Warnings, and the Fight to Redefine Free Speech: An Analysis of the Judiciary's Response to Campus Speech Codes Through Liberal and Communitarian Perspectives, Madeleine G. O'Neill
Department: Political Science

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"Don't Read This!": Lemony Snicket and the Control of Youth Reading Autonomy in Late-Nineteenth-Century Britain, Brittany A. Previte
Department: English; History

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Phoenician Colonization of Nuragic Sardinia: A World-Systems Model of Periphery-Semiperiphery Interaction, Jade Robison
Department: Archaeology

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Art Making as an Ecofeminist Exercise in Understanding Species Extinction and Animal Farming, Adrian Rowan
Department: Art and Art History; Environmental Studies

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Just Let Them Move: Refugee Economic Integration and Conflict Spillover, Mohammad Sarhan
Department: International Relations

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Subaltern Realities and Cultural Identities: The Emergence of Creolization through Analysis of an Archaeological Assemblage at Betty's Hope Plantation, Katelyn Schoenike
Department: Archaeology

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China-Taiwan Relations: The Persistent Deadlock Amid Cycles of Stability and Change, Jordan E. Shremshock
Department: International Relations

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Conceptualizing Female Punk in the Theatre: The Riot Grrrl Revolution as a Radical Force to Inspire a Devised Solo Performance, Summit J. Starr
Department: Theatre and Dance

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Evolving Standards of Decency: The Intersection of Death Penalty Theory and Supreme Court Jurisprudence, Rachel S. Sullivan
Department: Political Science

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The Somewhere We Wish Were Nowhere: Dystopian Realities and (un)Democratic Imaginaries, Benjamin B. Taylor
Department: English; Political Science

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The Queen’s Serpent: An Examination of the Serpent Vessel from Burial 61 from El Perú-Waka’, Sarah Van Oss
Department: Archaeology; Art and Art History

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Beyond the Binary, Petr Wiese
Department: Art and Art History

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Speech-Language Pathologists' Knowledge of Treatments Used to Remediate the Vocal Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease, Angela M. Wiley
Department: Communication Studies

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From Fantasy to Virtual Reality: An Exploration of Modeling, Rigging and Animating Characters for Video Games, Sarah K. Williams
Department: Computer Science

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Euskaldunak or Amerikanuak: An Introduction to the Folklore of the Boise Basques and its Contribution to the Basque-American Identity, Leah Zavaleta
Department: English; Sociology and Anthropology

Senior Independent Study Theses from 2015

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Metamorphosis and Persona in Ned Rorem's Poems of Love and the Rain, Jacob Boca
Department: Music

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Learning Emotions: A Software Engine for Simulating Realistic Emotion in Artificial Agents, Douglas Code
Department: Computer Science

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Masculine Space: The Final Frontier; A Historical Analysis of the Spatial Politics of Gender through the New Woman’s Access to Brassieres, Bicycles, and Higher Education in the United States from 1890-1930, Shelby Kirst Goldman
Department: History

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The Effectiveness of the Strategies Interest Groups Use to Influence Health Care Reform in The United States: A Case Study Analysis of President Clinton, Bush, and Obama's Health Care Reforms, Jacquelyn E. Hannan
Department: Political Science

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Beyond ß: An Analysis of Alternative Risk Measures, Jai Kedia
Department: Business Economics; Mathematics

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Tuteo o Ustedeo: un Estudio de las Formas de Tratamiento en las Publicidades de Escaparates / Tutoiement ou Vouvoiement: une Etude des Formes d'Adresse dans les Publicités des Vitrines, Charlotte M. Klein
Department: French and Francophone Studies; Spanish

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The Role of Political Culture in Understanding Inconsistencies between International and Domestic Privacy Law in France and the United States, Mallory Kruper
Department: French and Francophone Studies; International Relations

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***Blksavage: A Study On The Elements of Traditional Radical Black Political Theories & Their Contributions To Contemporary Black Political Thought, Jestin B. Kusch
Department: Political Science

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Liberty, Security, and Judicial Review in the War on Terror: An Analysis of Supreme Court Approaches to Deference in a Post-9/11 Context, Jacob Oppler
Department: Political Science

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The Domestication and Migration of Zea mays L. in Association with Holocene Climatic Variance, Kelsey L. Salmon Schreck
Department: Archaeology

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A Summary and Reflection of the Percussion Repertoire for my Senior Recital, Christopher Scimecca
Department: Music

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"If You Want to Test a Man's Character Give Him Power" Abraham Lincoln's Character and Use of Strategic Action: An Analysis of Presidential Decision-Making, Hannah Sharfman
Department: Political Science

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I Don't Play Chess: A Study of Chess Piece Generating Polynomials, Stephen R. Skoch
Department: Mathematics

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History in the Hand Through Functional Ceramics, Katherine E. Stephens
Department: Art and Art History

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'You Are Who We Say You Are': The Politics of Ethnicity in Post-Genocidal Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Stephanie A. Sugars
Department: International Relations; Sociology and Anthropology

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Violence without Verdicts: A Comparative Analysis of Social Movements and Race Relations in the United States and South Africa, Madison Swoy
Department: Political Science

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Sacred and Mortuary Landscapes in Iron Age Cyprus: A GIS Analysis, James P. Torpy
Department: Archaeology

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Armed with an Easel: Understanding Artistic Political Praxis Through the Works of Theodor Adorno and Chantal Mouffe, Evelyn Yu Yu Swe
Department: Philosophy; Political Science

Senior Independent Study Theses from 2014

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The Moroccan Example: “Coming Movements,” Communities, and Lived Experience in Contemporary Protest, Paige I. Ambord
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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The Youth Unemployment Crisis Facing Welfare Regimes: How States Develop New Social Policy, Andrew C. Campbell
Department: Political Science

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A Not-So-Silent Spring: The Impacts of Traffic Noise on Call Features of The Bloody Bay Poison Frog (Mannophryne olmonae), Catherine G. Clemmens
Department: Biology

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Dueling For Their Votes: A Study on the Impact of Presidential Debate Rhetoric on Public Opinion, Daniel J. Cohen
Department: Communication Studies; Political Science

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The Effect of Ethnic Microtargeting on Latino Americans' Political Identity Perception, Emma Flanagan
Department: Political Science

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Does the Trend Need a Mend? The Effects of Herding Behavior on the Returns to Higher Edcuation, Amy K. French
Department: Business Economics

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Valuing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: A Defense of Countercultural Environmentalism, Mae Manupipatpong
Department: Philosophy; Political Science

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The Effects of Hospital Consolidation on Hospital Financial Performance and the Potential Trade-Off of Hospital Consolidation for Society, Aaron W. McKee
Department: Business Economics

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The Analytic Hierarchy Process: A Mathematical Model for Decision Making Problems, Giang Huong Nguyen
Department: Mathematics

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Generalist and Specialist Pollination Syndromes: When are they Favoured? A Theoretical Approach to Predict the Conditions Under which a Generalist or Specialist Pollination Syndrome is Favoured., Tyler L. Poppenwimer
Department: Biology; Mathematics

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Rising from the Ashes: Hansen’s Disease, Carville, and Patient Identity in 20th Century America, Lauren Quimby
Department: History

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Put Him in Grandma's House: Investigating Variation in Kinship Policy and Procedure across Ohio's County-based Child Welfare System, Andreja M. Siliunas
Department: Sociology and Anthropology

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Keeping Your Options Open: An Introduction to Pricing Options, Ryan F. Snyder
Department: Mathematics

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Normalizing Abnormality: An Exploration of Social Forces Driving Gendered Disparity in Rates of Anxiety Disorder Diagnoses, Sara Tebeau
Department: Sociology and Anthropology; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

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Markov Chain Theory with Applications to Baseball, Cal D. Thomay
Department: Mathematics