Digital Commons Network^™

Leaving Home, Keeping The Faith, Damian J. Geminder

Capstones

This capstone explores how outreach to immigrant and non-English-speaking communities is vital to the health of the American Catholic Church.

How Can We Build A Moral Robot?, Kristen E. Clark

Capstones

Artificial intelligence is already starting to drive our cars and make choices that affect the world economy. One day soon, we’ll have robots that can take care of our sick and elderly, and even rescue us in rescue us in emergencies. But as robots start to make decisions that matter—it’s raising questions that go far beyond engineering. We’re stating to think about ethics.

Bertram Malle and Matthias Scheutz are part of a team funded by the department of defense. It's their job to answer a question that seems straight out of a sci-fi novel: How can we build a moral …

Los Problemas De Las Fronteras Humanitarias, Miriam Ticktin

Publications and Research

Resumen:

Este texto plantea un análisis crítico del papel de los discursos y prácticas humanitaristas en nuestra concepción de la migración y en las políticas públicas desarrolladas en relación a la movilidad poblacional a través de las fronteras internacionales. Se parte de la premisa de que el humanitarismo, aunque fuera bien intencionado, puede tener efectos perniciosos sobre la situación que se vive en las fronteras, especialmente si acaba por sustituir a la justicia y a los derechos que tienen los emigrantes. Para estudiar esta paradoja, el texto analiza, sucesivamente, varios problemas asociados a la acción humanitaria: el problema con la …

White Faces In A Black Movement: Why Their Voices Matter, Chauncey L. Alcorn

Capstones

This story follows the lives of two white activists in New York's Black Lives Matter movement. It examines the largely ignored impact white activists have had on the BLM movement and also explores the history of white activists in the abolitionist and Civil Rights movements. The climax details a highly-publicized spat between rival Black Lives Matter organizations that happened during a Dec. 4 protest to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Officer Daniel Pantaleo's non-indictment in Garner's death. My main character, a white male, was blamed for causing the rift and was asked to step down from his leadership position in …

Online Sexual Activity Experiences Among College Students: A Four-Country Comparison, Nicola Döring, Kristian Daneback, Krystelle Shaughnessy, Christian Grov, E. Sandra Byers

Publications and Research

The purpose of this study was to compare male and female college students in four countries (Canada, Germany, Sweden, and the U.S.) on their lifetime experiences (prevalence) and frequency of recent experiences with six types of online sexual activities (OSA): sexual information, sexual entertainment, sexual contacts, sexual minority communities, sexual products, and sex work. Participants (N = 2690; M age, 24.65 years; 53.4 % women, 46.6 % men) were recruited from a university in each of the countries to complete an online survey that included background and demographic questions, and questions about OSA. Most participants reported experience with accessing …

Prescription Drug Diversion: Predictors Of Illicit Acquisition And Redistribution In Three U.S. Metropolitan Areas, Shana Harris, Valentina Nikulina, Camila Gelpi-Acosta, Cory Morton, Valerie Newsome, Alana Gunn, Heidi Hoefinger, Ross Aikins, Vivian Smith, Victoria Barry, Martin J. Downing Jr.

Publications and Research

Objective: Prescription drug diversion, the transfer of prescription drugs from lawful to unlawful channels for distribution or use, is a problem in the United States. Despite the pervasiveness of diversion, there are gaps in the literature regarding characteristics of individuals who participate in the illicit trade of prescription drugs. This study examines a range of predictors (e.g., demographics, prescription insurance coverage, perceived risk associated with prescription drug diversion) of membership in three distinct diverter groups: individuals who illicitly acquire prescription drugs, those who redistribute them, and those who engage in both behaviors.

Methods: Data were drawn from a cross-sectional Internet …

The Feast Of Corpus Christi As A Site Of Struggle, Barbara R. Walters

Publications and Research

Multiple versions of the liturgy for the new fest of Corpus Christi provide evidence for changes in the theology of the Eucharist during the thirteenth century. These changes give pause in crediting the Miracle of Bolsena as the source of inspiration for the 1264 version of the liturgy by St. Thomas Aquinas. An earlier version of the "original office" with approbation from Liege Bishop Robert Thourotte in 1246 and a celebration of the feast by Hugh of St. Cher in 1252 weigh against the Bolsena Miracle as the source. Moreover, the idea of a corporeal presence with blood issuing from …

Educational Attainment In The United States And Six Major Metropolitan Areas, 1990-2010: A Quantitative Study By Race, Ethnicity, And Sex, Lawrence Cappello

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines educational attainment rates among racial/ethnic groups in the US and New York City metro area between 1990 and 2010.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: The data indicate that the percentage of the population with a B.A. or higher in the U.S. has steadily increased across all races and ethnicities for both sexes. This trend was apparent in …

Factors Influencing The Choice Of A Safe Haven For Offloading Illegally Caught Fish: A Comparative Analysis Of Developed And Developing Economies, Nerea Marteache, Julie S. Viollaz, Gohar A. Petrossian

Publications and Research

Using data from 72 countries, this study focuses on factors that affect illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing vessels’ choice of country to offload their catch, with a specific emphasis on the differences between developed and developing economies. The concept of choice-structuring properties is applied to analyze whether the following factors influence the selection of a country: concealability of vessels and illegally caught fish; convenience of the ports; strength of fisheries monitoring, control, and surveillance measures; effectiveness of country governance; and commitment to wildlife protection regulations. Results indicate that, rather than a country’s level of development, situational factors play a …

Situational Prevention And Public Transport Crime In El Salvador, Mangai Natarajan, Ronald Clarke, Carlos Carcach, Carlos Ponce, Margarita Beneke De Sanfeliú, Dolores Escobar Polanco, Mario Chávez, Mauricio Shi

Publications and Research

By any standard, there is a serious problem of crime on the public transport system in El Salvador. Guided by crime opportunity theory, this study undertook a rapid assessment of the problem consisting of a systematic observation of public transport in El Salvador and focus group discussions with passengers, bus operators, police and bus company owners/managers. The purposes were (1) to describe the main forms of crime and disorder afflicting the system, (2) to identify features of the system that contribute to the high levels of crime and disorder, and (3) to identify preventive measures, consistent with international experience. A …

On The Prospect Of A Cognitive Sociology Of Law: Recognizing The Inequality Of Contract, Michael W. Raphael

Graduate Student Publications and Research

One of the few basic premises that sociological analysis assumes is a general answer to the question of how society is organized according to some sort of agreement or contract. Elucidating how this question is still unsettled requires an exploration of how several prominent thinkers have considered what the basis for society is and how it is related to justice founded in the cognitive sociological basis of individuality. Drawing on the cognitive and cultural turn, this critique offers a revision of the structure-agency problem and examines the implications for a sociological conception of freedom and a corresponding concept of causation …

Stargate Theatre Company: Engaging Justice-Involved Youth In Creativity And Growth, Jeffrey A. Butts, Martha Wade Steketee

Publications and Research

This report provides a possible starting point for an evaluation of The Stargate Theater company. The Stargate Theater Company, embedded in the resources, expertise, and artistry of the Manhattan Theatre Club Education Program, recruits its members, 10-15 males, from youth services agencies for a seven-week summer arts program. Members of the program write raw materials which become performable text and perform the work with the help of professional theater artists. The writer-performers work for pay and ultimately perform their own words about their life experiences. The program aims to be a paid job and a work readiness training program, a …

Humanitarianism's History Of The Singular, Miriam Ticktin

Publications and Research

In “The New Universalism” Daniel Bertrand Monk and Andrew Herscher bring together global history and global humanitarianism to argue the emergence of a new (perverse) universal singular—a monadological refugee and form of refuge that threaten to efface both. By putting shelter and displacement side by side, they insightfully point us to different global patterns, such as the turn to the principle of the particular. Monk and Herscher read these patterns against the grain, offering us—almost in passing—a new history of humanitarianism.

Arab-American Lives In New York City: The Value Of Creative Non-Fiction Journalism To The Social Sciences, Sofie F. Tholl

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Through three journalistic portraits of Arab Americans living in New York City today, this thesis adds to the academic work of documenting the post-9/11 Arab-American experience via creative non-fiction storytelling. The three portraits of different generation Arab Americans each touch upon major themes covered in the post-9/11 social science research on this population, themes that are discussed in the literature review of this thesis. Furthermore, the thesis argues that the choice of creative non-fiction storytelling contributes to the already existing research in the area by making otherwise specialized material readable and accessible for a non-academic audience. Additionally, this thesis addresses …

A Long-Term Follow-Up Of Crossover Youth: Young Adult Outcomes For Maltreated Youth In The Juvenile Justice System, Carly Lyn Baetz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Crossover youth, those with histories of childhood maltreatment and delinquency, may be at high risk for negative outcomes compared to other youth. However, very little is known about the long-term outcomes for this population. This dissertation compared four groups: youth with histories of child maltreatment and juvenile arrest (n = 180), youth with a history of maltreatment only (n = 428), youth with a history of juvenile arrest only (n = 91), and youth with no history of maltreatment or juvenile arrest (n = 496), on a range of outcomes, including mental health, education, employment, and criminal behavior. Data from …

Labor Market Trajectories Of Black Women In The United States, 1980 To 2010, Danielle Jackson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In light of several trends among Black women in the U.S., including rising levels of college degree attainment, immigration, and household headship, scholars have begun to more thoroughly explore the factors impacting Black women's labor market outcomes (e.g., employment status, earnings, and occupational prestige). Focusing on the 30-year period of 1980 to 2010, this dissertation applies theories of social and cultural capital, intersectionality, and social mobility to the examination of Black women's labor market trajectories according to their nativity (U.S.- vs. foreign-born status) and level of educational attainment (college-educated vs. non-college-educated). Additionally, this dissertation examines recent national data to determine …

The Three-Quarter House: A Product Of The Neoliberal City, Paulette Soltani

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Thousands of the most impoverished New Yorkers have found shelter in the unlicensed, unregulated, for-profit housing market known as the three-quarter house industry. The houses -- scattered throughout the city -- shelter individuals coming from a host of difficult circumstances: people who are formerly incarcerated, chronically homeless, and struggling with drug and alcohol dependency, unemployment, mental health conditions, and medical issues. Once there, residents are faced with rampant violations of their rights, dangerous physical housing conditions, and obstructions to recovery and reintegration. Through a historical lens, this paper argues that decades of neoliberal policies helped develop the three-quarter house industry …

Law Enforcement Innovation And Diffusion: A Network Analysis Of Police Accreditation, Jeremiah Paul Johnson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study seeks to identify network structures capable of predicting innovation uptake among law enforcement organizations. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, diffusion is studied through the lens of a single innovation, state law enforcement accreditation. Quantitative data culled from a variety of social artifacts in two New England states are used as a basis for the study. Relational data extracted from meetings held by a private police chief's association over an 11 year period were used to construct an affiliation matrix. Social network analysis demonstrates that actors with high levels of centrality are more likely to self-select state accreditation enrollment than …

Women Are Like Silk And Men Are Like Gold: A Cross-Country Comparison Of Institutional Responses To Honor Violence, Alana Michele Henninger

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over the past decade, a specific form of interpersonal violence known as honor violence has drawn international attention because it has been increasingly reported in immigrant communities in western countries. There are currently no specific institutional responses to honor violence in the United States, but the growing media coverage of honor-related crimes has led interest groups to call for new legislation and institutional responses specific to honor violence. The global debate on the codification of honor violence hinges on the discussion of whether honor violence is a cultural crime that deserves special consideration, or whether such codification encourages discriminatory responses …

Organizing Against Discrimination: The Chinese Hand Laundrymen Historical Niche And Ethnic Solidarity In America, Johnny Thach

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

From the late 1800s to early 1900s, hand laundries developed into the first Chinese historical niche in America in conjunction with Chinese laundrymen's activism, community organization, and ethnic solidarity in response to the proliferation of anti-Chinese discriminatory ordinances and laws instigated by White laundries and government officials. Using primary sources and secondary historical examples, this thesis explores the formation of the niche through the collective actions of two Chinese laundrymen organizations: the Tung Hing Tong “("同心堂")” in California, and the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance in New York. This thesis demonstrates that not only were both organizations founded differently and for …

A Critique Of Western Liberalism, Siddhant Issar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this thesis I draw attention to the connections between Western liberalism, particularly exemplified by the idea of liberal freedom, and (in)visible modalities of oppression. In chapter 1, I examine how the philosophical basis of liberalism allows it to serve as a mediator of oppression. In chapter 2, through a genealogical analysis, I trace out the link between liberalism and political economy. Here I focus on the imbrication between (neo-)liberalism, capitalism, and the production of subjectivity. My analysis aims at revealing the specific form of subjectivity engendered under the sign of liberal freedom. In chapter 3, I take up post …

Surviving The Gauntlet: Adult Undergraduates In American Higher Education, David Bernard Monaghan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In modern American higher education, people ages twenty-five and older account for nearly forty percent of all undergraduates. Though neglected by scholars, these students and their experiences are both important in their own right and can help shed light on the broader world of non-elite postsecondary education. In this dissertation, I combine qualitative and quantitative methods to address central questions relating to college-going among adults. I draw on data from a nationally-representative longitudinal study (the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 cohort) and from in-depth interviews with thirty-six adult undergraduates in order to explore factors that lead students to drop …

The Power Of Place: A Comparative Analysis Of Prison And Street Gangs, Jennifer M. Ortiz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

One misconception in gang research is the assumption that the terms prison gang and street gang are organizationally and ideologically synonymous. Although in the minority, some researchers suggest that prison gangs are qualitatively and quantitatively different from other gangs (Fleisher & Decker, 2001). Utilizing 30 in-depth semi-structured interviews, this study assesses the effect of environment on the emergence, organization, and ideologies of prison and street gangs. The findings identify key differences between the 'free' society where gangs emerge and the captive societies where prison gangs emerge. The primary difference was the level of formal and informal control exerted over individuals …

Traumatic Brain Injuries Among Adolescent Inmates In Rikers Island, Nyc Jail: A Mixed Methods Study, Cassandra Ramdath

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is a higher prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among incarcerated population than in the general population. It is possible that head injuries can lead to behavioral difficulties, increasing the risk of criminal justice involvement and custodial difficulties. Principles of bio-social criminology put forth that the interaction between people's environment and their biological makeup that can lead to maladaptive behaviors. One of the main domains within the bio-social criminology approach is neurocriminology; neurocriminology uses principles of neuroscience to better understand delinquent and antisocial behaviours and suggests that brain injury can interact with environmental factors to produce seemingly aggressive and …

Exploring The Effects Of Strain On Cross-National Lethal Violence: An Integrated Model, Catrin Andersson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Lethal violence is a global problem. In 2012, the United Nations documented 437,000 homicides worldwide (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2014b), and in 2012, the World Health Organization reported that there were 800,000 suicides internationally (World Health Organization, 2015c). There is a large body of research on violence in the social sciences. Although suicide and homicide are often studied separately, they have been said to share many of the same correlates, such as inequality and divorce (e.g., inequality and divorce; Nivette, 2011; Stack, 2000). There is a need to integrate theories drawn from different disciplines to better understand …

Dangerous Spaces: The Structural Context Of Violence Against Foreign Nationals In South Africa, Alexandra Hiropoulos

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since South Africa's heralded democratic transition in the mid-1990s, ongoing patterns of violence specifically targeting people on the basis of their race and nationality have been observed throughout the country. This dissertation study examines the spatial nature of violent incidents against foreign nationals in the Republic of South Africa and the effect of structural conditions on the occurrence of anti-foreigner violence.

While international migration has been historically accompanied by resentment and ill-treatment of migrants worldwide, this phenomenon is inadequately studied in developing countries such as South Africa. Since nationwide riots targeting foreign nationals in townships in 2008, there has been …

Sexual Victimization, Disclosure, And Accountability: Organizational Responses Of The Boy Scouts Of America To Child Sexual Abuse, Michelle Anne Cubellis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Child sexual abuse has always been a highly publicized and controversial topic due to the vulnerability of children. However, there have been several recent child sexual abuse (CSA) scandals garnering even more attention and concern. With the exposure of the Catholic Church abuse scandal in 2002, public attention became focused on the Archdiocese's poor and prolonged response. However, this crisis was not the sole case of widespread sexual violence and institutional failure. In October of 2012, Boy Scouts of America files from 1959 to 1991 containing reports of child sexual abuse were released. These reports feature detailed information about the …

Pimps Of Harlem: Talk Of Labor And The Sociology Of Risk, Amber Horning Ruf

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines how third-party labor is socially constructed by pimps or third parties. Pimps and their labor are investigated using sociological paradigms of risk. Risk is defined as exposure to danger (Beck, 1992; Giddens, 1991) and can produce negative or positive feelings and outcomes (Lupton, 1999). I explore how third-party labor is connected to risk with the following research questions: 1) How does the U.S. media portray third parties as risky, and how does this influence proposed remedies to this social problem? 2) How do third parties' at-risk status impact their role in illicit and licit economies? 3) How …

The Immigration Experience Among Elderly Egyptian Immigrants In The United States, Ihab Girgis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

An increasing mosaic of immigrants comes to the United States' shores every year for different reasons. An invisible part of those immigrants are the elderly who join their families in the United States. The story of the Egyptian elderly immigrants among them, as one representative group of Arabs, is significant and its investigation is timely. This study explores the context of exit from Egypt, the risk factors for health and mental health distress induced by this transition and how they impede the adjustment process, and the protective factors and processes that buffer the risk factors, foster resilience, and facilitate the …

Making Sense Of Naturalization: What Citizenship Means To Naturalizing Immigrants In Canada And The Usa, Sofya Aptekar

Publications and Research

Immigrant naturalization is both a barometer of inclusiveness and immigrant incorporation and a mechanism of social reproduction of the nation. This article reports on an interview-based study in suburban Toronto and New Jersey that investigated how immigrants explain their decisions to acquire citizenship. It analyzes respondents’ under- standings of naturalization in light of different theories of citizenship and different dimensions of the concept. The study contributes to the literature by showing how many American immigrants interviewed while going through the naturalization process resisted framing naturalization as identity-changing, situating it instead as a common-sense move following permanent settlement and belonging. In …