Digital Commons Network^™

Sustainable Urban Groundwater Governance In Faisalabad, Pakistan: Challenges And Possibilities., Shahbaz Altaf

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater use is high in developing countries, especially in places where municipal water authorities struggle to meet the water demand of their residents. To analyze the interactions between groundwater and piped water in the Global South context, Faisalabad, Pakistan was taken as the case study area. Using the Institutional Analysis and Development framework and Elinor Ostrom’s design principles as analysis tools, formal and informal institutions governing the piped water and groundwater, including their congruence with the social and ecological factors, were explored. The results showed that scarcity of piped water pushed people towards groundwater and the absence of informal and …

Assessing Universal Basic Income Proposals: A Comprehensive Analysis Of Established Studies., Zachary Paul Baker

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

The development of welfare within western cultures has become incredibly polarized over the last decades. Propositions for ideas such as Universal Basic Income (UBI) has reemerged into the mainstream conversation, with some lofty promises. What is the credibility of UBI as a welfare policy platform? Do the results of the studies on the effects of cash-transfers show the possibility of UBI as a new national program, or do they reveal issues that highlight major structural problems with UBI? This thesis examines over twenty different studies within various categories of cash-transfers to see the positives and negatives revealed by previous researchers. …

Exploring Service Provider Perspectives On Facilitators And Barriers To Needle Exchange Program Participation By Females Who Inject Drugs., Tammi Alvey Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the opioid epidemic lingers on across the country, many areas have set up harm reduction strategies such as needle exchange programs (NEPs) to combat the long-term consequences of injection drug use (IDU). Males and females face a plethora of health issues associated with injection drug use such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C. While males comprise the largest portion of the injection drug use population, most research is gender neutral, which makes it difficult to discern issues specifically related to females inhibiting our ability to design interventions and procedures targeted to address their needs. Females require varying …

Understanding Wellbeing In Refugee Youth From The African Great Lakes Region., Victory Osezua

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Young refugees are a vital and growing population in the United States that experience health inequities that make them vulnerable to adverse health outcomes. The health inequities that are evident between refugees and the general population elucidate the disparate power relations between the outcomes of the colonial past and postcolonial present. Although research shows that colonialism and their more recent experience of racism may have adverse long-term impacts on young people's health, it is essential to understand the contexts that shape their wellbeing. While the westernized model of wellbeing focuses on the individual, this study prioritizes the prevention of illness …

"If Fear Wasn't Enough?!": African American Perceptions Of Policing After Breonna Taylor's Unprovoked Death., Moriah Antoinette Bellamy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates how African Americans perceive the racialization process in the criminal justice system following the death of Breonna Taylor. Focusing primarily on police-community relations in Louisville, KY, I find the Breonna Taylor case amplifies preconceived perceptions of race between civilian and non-civilian groups. To test the hypothesis that racialization in the criminal justice system has caused damaging effects on relations between African Americans and police, two virtual focus groups were designed to discuss participants’ experiences with law enforcement. My findings suggest that the racialization process in the criminal justice system negatively skewed African American civilians’ attitudes towards law …

Exploring The Contextual Factors And Decision-Making Process Of Risky Sexual Behavior Among Homeless Adults In Louisville, Kentucky., Sarah C. Van Heiden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Homelessness is a complex public health issue; individuals who experience homelessness are said to engage in risky sexual behaviors at an increased rate and experience a higher prevalence of sexually transmitted infection (STI). While the sexual behaviors of homeless adolescents are commonly studied, little is known about the sexual behaviors of the growing population of older adults, or how they make decisions to engage in sex. Three aims guided this research: 1) to describe the sexual behaviors and sexual decision-making process of homeless older adults, 2) to examine how homeless older adults evaluate the outcomes associated with engaging in risky …

The Economic Rationality Of Consumption In The Mycenaean Political Economy And Its Role In The Reproduction Of Social Personae: Modeling Prestige Networks., Devin Alexander Stephens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a theoretical examination of the economic rationality of consumption as it existed within the Mycenaean political economy. Using a modified paradigm of social network analysis, a semiotic approach is used in the study of identity expression and economic stratification present at three Late Helladic cemeteries. In doing so, the claim that exchange strategies which existed outside of palatial redistribution were present in the Late Helladic was substantiated as a similar logic of mortuary stratification which existed during the palatial era was also found to have existed after the shift to the post-palatial era and the collapse of …

Black Codes Re-Envisioned: The Dred Scott Majority Opinion As An Antiblack Performative Speech Act., Tiffany Dillard-Knox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a discursive analysis of the decision in the Dred Scott v Sandford, 1857 case written by Chief Justice Roger Taney. It begins with an overview of the literature on performative speech acts, focusing on the aspects of performatives that relate to Louis Miron and Jonathan Xavier Inda’s thesis that race is a performative speech act. Breaking from their use of race as the analytic, this analysis is situated within a black/nonblack paradigm. This provides a framework that focuses on the unique ways in which the discourse of the text enacts, accumulates and renders blackness fungible. The …

Social Cognition, Impulsivity, And Emotion Regulation Factors In Aggressive Behavior Among Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder., Kelly E. Slaughter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) exhibit greater levels of aggressive behavior than their typically developing peers, often resulting in impairment in social and family functioning. Aggressive behavior is often differentiated into two functions: reactive, or “hot-blooded” and proactive, or “cold-blooded” aggression. Prior research has identified several factors contributing to aggressive behavior within a general population, including emotion dysregulation, negative urgency, social information processing (SIP), and parenting behaviors. A paucity of research has examined these factors within an ADHD population. Thus, the present study aimed to examine social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive factors associated with aggression among children with ADHD. Specifically, …

Evaluation Of Risk And Protective Factors Of Substance Use In The National Association Of Intercollegiate Athletics., Richard D Weaver Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The NCAA and NAIA have conducted prevalence studies of substance use in their organizations but little research into risk and protective factors that influence usage. Substance use is associated with an array of consequences including negative academic impacts, criminal charges, health risks, and mental health. As the most reported substances used by student-athletes the study focused on alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine. This study specifically examined several risk and protective factors impacting substance use. This study utilized a secondary data analysis of information gathered from the NAIA Substance Use and Abuse Study conducted in 2020 with student-athletes (N=2489). Descriptive statistics, parametric …

The Journey Towards Critical Self-Authorship For Native Lacrosse Athletes At Ncaa Division I Institutions., Brandon C. Joseph

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an examination of contemporary collegiate lacrosse as a symptom of settler colonialism and the experiences of Native lacrosse athletes at NCAA Division I historically white institutions. It begins with a brief historical overview of Native lacrosse and Native education through a lens of settler colonial theory and Tribal Critical Race Theory. It uses Critical Indigenous Research Methods to examine the experiences of contemporary Native collegiate lacrosse players and their journey towards critical self-authorship. The ultimate goal was to explore the extent to which Native lacrosse athletes felt they could show up as their authentic Native self in …

In The Balance: Perceptions Of Work-Family Balance For Women In Higher Education., Aubrey Radford Woolley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Striking a balance between paid work and family work is hard for many individuals. Previous research has focused on the availability and effectiveness of family friendly policies and demonstrated a need for continued research. I examine work-family balance among women working in higher education. My study asks what are the determinants for work-family balance? I draw on institutional data from the fall 2017 Campus Climate and Diversity Survey which in part focuses on work-family balance. My regression analysis shows that faculty have a lower perception of work-family balance than non-faculty. For both non-faculty and faculty, support from supervisor/chairperson and to …

Charting The Unknown: Examining The Prevalence And Correlates Of Seconday Traumatic Stress In Kentucky Probation And Parole Officers., Amanda Marie Roberts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to discern the prevalence and magnitude of both exposure to traumatic events and Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS); as well as potential correlates of STS in a group of Probation and Parole officers in the state of Kentucky Department of Corrections (KY DOC). Participants (N=302) completed a written survey which asked them to indicate demographic variables (age, gender, and ethnicity), as well as several important occupational variables, namely years of experience in the KY DOC, caseload volume, prison work experience, and whether or not they are responsible for a sexual offender caseload. Participants were also …

Social Disorganization And Violent Crime Across Nonmetropolitan Areas Of Kentucky., Daniel Ray Jude

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This macro-level study examines the effects of social disorganization predictors on violent crime registered in nonmetropolitan areas of Kentucky from 2012 to 2016. The study intends to expand the line of research interested in verifying the applicability of the social disorganization theory (Shaw & McKay, 1942), including its new theoretical developments, to non-urban settings and plans to contribute to the literature willing to provide a better understanding of violent crime in rural areas. In response to Narag et al.’s (2009) call for a theoretical integration of environmental contaminants among the ecological factors that influence variations in crime, the study also …

Literacy Abilities Of Children And Adolescents With Williams Syndrome., Caroline Greiner De Magalhaes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I report findings from two studies of the literacy abilities of children with Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic disorder associated with intellectual disability. I had two overarching goals: 1) evaluate the applicability of theories of reading and spelling acquisition developed based on typically developing children to children with WS; and 2) provide results that would inform the development of targeted assessments and interventions. In Study 1, individual differences in phonological awareness, visual spatial perception, vocabulary, overall intellectual abilities, and reading instruction approach (systematic phonics vs. other approaches) for sixty-nine 6 – 7-year-olds (most of whom were in …

Exploring The Promotion Of Youth Voice And Activism By Youth Development Workers In Community-Based Programs., Rebecka M. Bloomer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Youth-adult partnerships (Y-APs) and youth voice promotion are best practices within the youth development sector, but youth development workers receive little training or guidance in employing these concepts. A scarcity of research explores the relationships between organizational supports, as demonstrated by training, supervision, evaluation, and worker engagement in promoting youth voice. The two studies within this dissertation investigated the social processes of how and why youth development workers promoted youth voice. Program participants were primarily youth of color living in areas of high multidimensional poverty. They also explored how and why organizational factors impacted the promotion of youth voice within …

“Lord, Mr. Ford!" The Overall Estimated Economic Impacts Of The New Blueovalsk Battery Park In Glendale, Kentucky, Thomas E. Lambert

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Developing Tools And Communication Strategies For Web Development, Terri Holtze

Faculty Scholarship

This session describes how to develop tools and communication strategies for creating a coherent brand across a distributed-labor website. Learn about on-boarding, getting people to follow the brand, approaches for maintaining quality and accessibility, and effective methods of communicating web issues to web-page maintainers and the library staff in general.

Financial Knowledge Or Financial Situations? Toward Understanding Why Some College Students Use Credit Cards To Pay For College Tuition, Benjamin D. Andrews

Journal of Student Financial Aid

While the majority of college students use credit cards for educational expenses like textbooks, recent data reports that college students also use credit cards to directly fund their schooling by charging for at least some part of their tuition (Sallie Mae, 2009). Because credit cards carry a higher interest rate than student loans, and because they do not have a period of deferred payment while a student is enrolled in school, credit cards are a particularly risky method of payment that students resort to in order to attend college. Why do college students participate in such risky spending behavior to …

Social Media’S Innate Feature Of Social Interaction And Engagement That Are Utilized By The Marketing Industry, Zayna Qaissi

The Cardinal Edge

No abstract provided.

The Motion Aftereffect: Mechanisms And Variants, Erica E. Hassoun

The Cardinal Edge

The motion aftereffect causes a visual stimulus to undergo apparent motion. An adapting stimulus, which moves in a specific direction, adapts motion-responsive neurons in the middle temporal area (V5) to that direction of motion. Viewing a second stimulus, a test stimulus, produces apparent motion in the direction opposite that of the initial stimulus. Neural networks involved in attention and working memory are also implicated in the motion aftereffect. There is still little known regarding the mechanisms of the motion aftereffect, despite extensive documentation in the literature. This review discusses established knowledge of the motion aftereffect, focusing primarily on the middle …

Sexual Health Misinformation And Potential Interventions Among Youth On Social Media, Jahnavi Sunkara

The Cardinal Edge

With the rise of the internet and social media, many adolescents and young adults have turned to the internet and social media for sexual health information. However, this can be problematic because sexual health misinformation on social media utilizes a variety of techniques to quickly disseminate and retain that misinformation in users. Historically, the spread of sexual health misinformation has specifically negatively impacted adolescents and young adults regarding two sexual health topics: contraceptives and HPV vaccination. Current evidence demonstrates that a combination of corrections and inoculation would be effective against general health misinformation. However, there is a lack of research …

Novel Pilot Development Of A Closed-Loop Sustainable System Between Biogas Renewable Energy, Distilling, And Aquaculture By Vermiculture Of Stillage Wastes, Samuel C. Kessler

The Cardinal Edge

This study provides a mixed-methods approach in analyzing a potential closed-loop system between renewable biogas production from anaerobic digestion, vermiculture production, aquaculture production, and organic wastes with a particular focus on stillage wastes. Such system may hold significant promise for significantly reducing organic carbon and methane emissions from its components, and should be assessed for such. The 2021 IPCC report essentially identified methane reduction as the single fastest way to slow global warming (IPCC, 2021), making the study and implementation of methane-reducing systems and supportive policy for them critical. Knowledge gaps to implementing this system were qualitatively identified as disconnect …

Violence And Development: The Cost Countries Pay For High Rates Of Homicide, Brittany Lowe

The Cardinal Edge

Violence is one of the largest and most persistent humanitarian crises across the globe. Understanding violence’s role in economic costs and losses is crucial to informing and guiding decision makers. This study uses international panel data to conduct a log-linear regression with time and country fixed effects. It focuses on studying the causal effects of violent crime on GDP at an aggregate, international level. The results find that the homicide rate has a statistically significant, negative effect on GDP per capita. Acts of violence come not just at a humanitarian cost, but also at the cost of economic progress and …

Exploring Standardized Patients' Nonverbal Responses Toward Lgbtq Microagressions, Betty Ngo, Emily J. Noonan Phd, Laura Weingartner Phd

Undergraduate Research Events

Nonverbal behaviors play a significant role in the patient-doctor interaction as it provides cues to underlying unspoken emotions and concerns from the patient (Silverman, 2010). Nonverbal behaviors are most significant when they can be used to reinforce or contradict verbal responses. Thus, it is important for medical students to learn to identify patient non-verbal behaviors through their speech patterns, facial expressions, and body posture, and be able to relate these responses to a positive or adverse patient-physician interaction.

Rising third year medical students were video recorded taking health histories from standardized patients (SP; n = 84) of all gender identities. …

Becoming Their Authentic: The Shift In Corporate Esg Reporting, Lauren Reuss, Jenna Haugen

Undergraduate Research Events

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the “context-specific organizational actions and policies that take into account stakeholders’ expectations and the triple bottom line of economic, social, and environmental performance” (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012). Businesses using the CSR model engage in or work towards bettering society in three spaces: the environment, social welfare, and governance (ESG's). We want to see how this model is communicated among stakeholders, and if this social mission is fully integrated into the practices and workspaces of YUM! Brands.

Parental Well-Being, Technoference, And Parent-Child Interactions During The 2nd Year Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Katherine Whitaker, Katherine G. Golway, Cara Cashon Phd

Undergraduate Research Events

- Parent-child interactions during the first five years of life have been associated with the child’s social and cognitive development (Edwards, Sheridan, & Knoche, 2008).

- The amount and quality of parent-child interactions may be associated with a parent’s mental health (Milkie et al., 2020).

- Mothers with depression tend to show increased withdrawal and intrusion from their infants during interactions than non-depressed mothers (Field, 1995).

- Increased distractions from technology during parentchild interactions may be associated with differences in infants’ social and cognitive development (Reed, Hirsch- Pasek, and Golinkoff, 2017).

- Technoference refers to the, sometimes invasive and persuasive, …

Inducing Cognitive Reflection And Its Impact On Contradictory Belief Holding, Meg Powers, Keith Lyle Phd

Undergraduate Research Events

Cognitive reflection is the propensity to reflect on one’s intuitions. 1 Some people are more likely than others to engage in cognitive reflection. This tendency can be measured with the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT). 2

Cognitive reflection appears to be an important individual difference factor. For example, lower CRT performance has been linked to greater belief in conspiracy theories 3 and greater social conservatism. 4 Hence, it is important to test whether reflection can be induced among people who do not spontaneously engage in it.

The present research will also test whether cognitive reflection is related to yea yeaing . …

Tone And Language Used By Medical Students To Discuss Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity With Standardized Patients, Martha M. Popescu, Emily J. Noonan Phd, Laura Weingartner Phd

Undergraduate Research Events

During standardized patient (SP) encounters, medical students interact with mock patients to practice clinical skills.The tone and language used by students with SPs to gather sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) information are important reflections of the adequacy, frequency, and retention of training concerning these topics. Prompting these discussions with ease helps ensure gender minority patients are affirmed and receive comprehensive care.

Body Trust Moderates The Relationship Between Physical & Emotional Awareness & Eating Disorders In Adolescents, Emma G Roberts, Rowan Hunt, Cheri Levinson Phd

Undergraduate Research Events

Eating disorders (EDs) have a complex relationship with interoceptive awareness (i.e., awareness of inner bodily sensations; IA). Research suggests that physical hyper-awareness and tendency to distract from bodily sensations are positively associated with ED symptoms, and body trust (i.e., experiencing one’s body as safe and trustworthy) is negatively associated with ED symptoms (Lattimore et al, 2017; Merwin et al, 2010; Duffy et al, 2020). While physical awareness (PA) and emotional awareness (EA) have been shown in nonclinical samples to be beneficial for affect regulation, similar facets of IA are associated with higher symptomatology in ED samples (Price & Hooven 2018). …