Thesis Archives Search
This search engine will let you explore the over 1800 theses written in Honors at The University of Maine since the Program’s inception in 1935. You may search our thesis archives based on any of the fields listed above. If the thesis is available at the Reynolds Library (Thomson Honors Center) or Fogler Library (Special Collections), the information will appear below the bibliographic data. At last count, we had about 1800 theses in the Reynolds Library.
Search Results
Behavior Manifestation as Possible Early Indicators of Learning Disabilities in the Pre-School Classroom
Behavioral Interactions Between Spotted-Wing Drosophila (Drosophila Suzukii) and It’s Parasitoid the Samba Wasp (Ganaspis Brasiliensis)
Author:
Dominic
Crowley
Major: Biology Graduation Year: 2023 Thesis Advisor: Philip Fanning
Description of Publication:
Past research has found that female Drosophila generally decrease their reproductive output in response to exposure to predators, including parasitoid wasps. However, no studies on behavioral changes induced by the endoparasitic wasp Ganaspis brasiliensis have been documented in the literature. G. brasiliensis has been identified as a biocontrol agent candidate against D. suzukii, with field trials currently underway across the contiguous United States. In this thesis, two experiments were performed: a behavioral observation assay measuring reproductive behaviors and an oviposition assay, a measure of reproductive activity. Female D. suzukii exposed to G. brasiliensis were observed to have depressed oviposition, producing fewer offspring than the unexposed. Decreased oviposition upon exposure to larval predators may be a strategy to increase survival of offspring, implicating an evolutionary tradeoff between offspring quality and quantity. These results indicate that the mere presence of G. brasiliensis alone may suppress D. suzukii populations, providing evidence for the suitable use of G. brasiliensis as a biocontrol agent.
Location of Publication:
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/845/
Major: Biology Graduation Year: 2023 Thesis Advisor: Philip Fanning
Description of Publication:
Past research has found that female Drosophila generally decrease their reproductive output in response to exposure to predators, including parasitoid wasps. However, no studies on behavioral changes induced by the endoparasitic wasp Ganaspis brasiliensis have been documented in the literature. G. brasiliensis has been identified as a biocontrol agent candidate against D. suzukii, with field trials currently underway across the contiguous United States. In this thesis, two experiments were performed: a behavioral observation assay measuring reproductive behaviors and an oviposition assay, a measure of reproductive activity. Female D. suzukii exposed to G. brasiliensis were observed to have depressed oviposition, producing fewer offspring than the unexposed. Decreased oviposition upon exposure to larval predators may be a strategy to increase survival of offspring, implicating an evolutionary tradeoff between offspring quality and quantity. These results indicate that the mere presence of G. brasiliensis alone may suppress D. suzukii populations, providing evidence for the suitable use of G. brasiliensis as a biocontrol agent.
Location of Publication:
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/845/
Behavioral Response of Atlantic Puffins to Ecotourism at Eastern Egg Rock, Maine
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: UNPACKING COLLEGE STUDENTS’ COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS WITH PORNOGRAPHY CONSUMPTION
Author:
Samantha
K.
Saucier
Major: Sociology & Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Graduation Year: 2018 Thesis Advisor: Jennie Woodard
Description of Publication:
This thesis is a quantitative and qualitative study of University of Maine students attitudes and consumption habits of pornography. It contains a literature review of anti-pornography feminism from the Second Wave, as well as an overview of sex- positive and sex-critical theories of pornography from more recent years. The goal of the thesis is to understand how sex-negative and/or sex-positive ideas have or have not permeated college student’s understanding of pornography. Over 800 students were surveyed about pornography consumption through the Psychology Department’s Fall prescreen. 4 students from the survey, who all happened to be women, were interviewed about their relationships with sex and pornography. The findings of this study suggest that young adults (18+) have nuanced and multifaceted relationships with pornography. Men reported watching pornography at a higher frequency than women, but men and women both reported that they do not believe pornography is similar to real life sex. The interviews suggest a significant level of porn literacy and gender consciousness among consumers. It was found that participants were more likely to have sex-positive ideas about their own consumption habits than others’. Additionally, this research is significant because it serves as a pilot study for future sex-positive models in pornography research. The study also provides a lens through which feminism can be more inclusive of sex workers’ rights.
Location of Publication:
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/357
Major: Sociology & Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Graduation Year: 2018 Thesis Advisor: Jennie Woodard
Description of Publication:
This thesis is a quantitative and qualitative study of University of Maine students attitudes and consumption habits of pornography. It contains a literature review of anti-pornography feminism from the Second Wave, as well as an overview of sex- positive and sex-critical theories of pornography from more recent years. The goal of the thesis is to understand how sex-negative and/or sex-positive ideas have or have not permeated college student’s understanding of pornography. Over 800 students were surveyed about pornography consumption through the Psychology Department’s Fall prescreen. 4 students from the survey, who all happened to be women, were interviewed about their relationships with sex and pornography. The findings of this study suggest that young adults (18+) have nuanced and multifaceted relationships with pornography. Men reported watching pornography at a higher frequency than women, but men and women both reported that they do not believe pornography is similar to real life sex. The interviews suggest a significant level of porn literacy and gender consciousness among consumers. It was found that participants were more likely to have sex-positive ideas about their own consumption habits than others’. Additionally, this research is significant because it serves as a pilot study for future sex-positive models in pornography research. The study also provides a lens through which feminism can be more inclusive of sex workers’ rights.
Location of Publication:
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/357
Belize and Before: An Argument for Leaving the Known
Benjamen C. Burbar, Portrait of a Lifestyle
Benjamin West’s Hybrid Identity: the Construction and Reconstruction of an Anglo-American Artist
Author:
Caroline
Strolic
Major: Art History Graduation Year: 2021 Thesis Advisor: Justin Wolff
Description of Publication:
How does one come to be known as the “father of American art,” especially after having never lived in an independent United States? The painter Benjamin West (1738-1820) is an enigma in the history of American art. Although he spent the majority of his life in London, where he worked to establish himself as the leader of the English school of painting, late in life he attempted to portray himself as a genuine American who played a major role in the development of American art. John Galt’s early biography of West, published in 1816, has proved to be instrumental in the promotion of West’s Americanness and served as the blueprint for understanding his legacy for over a century. In recent years scholars have begun to examine West’s identity more closely, discovering his essential slipperiness. This thesis analyzes how West crafted and inhabited a hybrid Anglo-American persona that was fluid and ambivalent. It considers his hybrid identity in personal, aesthetic, political, and historiographic contexts and concludes that West and his biographers manipulated his persona to benefit their professional positions and legacies. However, it also claims that West’s ambivalence was an all-too human emotional response to the disorienting and violent ruptures of the revolutionary era.
Location of Publication:
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/696/
Major: Art History Graduation Year: 2021 Thesis Advisor: Justin Wolff
Description of Publication:
How does one come to be known as the “father of American art,” especially after having never lived in an independent United States? The painter Benjamin West (1738-1820) is an enigma in the history of American art. Although he spent the majority of his life in London, where he worked to establish himself as the leader of the English school of painting, late in life he attempted to portray himself as a genuine American who played a major role in the development of American art. John Galt’s early biography of West, published in 1816, has proved to be instrumental in the promotion of West’s Americanness and served as the blueprint for understanding his legacy for over a century. In recent years scholars have begun to examine West’s identity more closely, discovering his essential slipperiness. This thesis analyzes how West crafted and inhabited a hybrid Anglo-American persona that was fluid and ambivalent. It considers his hybrid identity in personal, aesthetic, political, and historiographic contexts and concludes that West and his biographers manipulated his persona to benefit their professional positions and legacies. However, it also claims that West’s ambivalence was an all-too human emotional response to the disorienting and violent ruptures of the revolutionary era.
Location of Publication:
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/696/