Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

“I Felt Scared, Like I Was Nobody”: Native American Athletes And Fans Face Widespread Racism At Sport Events, Kalen Goodluck

Capstones

Rural towns in the midwest are often highly supportive of their high school basketball teams and Indian reservation teams are no exception. The trouble is Native American players and fans face racism when facing high school teams from outside reservations.

Over the last decade, from 2008-2018, there have been at least 45 reported incidences all over the U.S. of racial incidents against Native Americans at sporting events like high school games and non-Native teams with pseudo-Indian names and mascots. This data was compiled from news reports by the NYC New Service.

These reported incidences range from making “whooping,” streaking in …

The Effect Of Gender Stereotypes On Academic Success, Brooklyn Proudlock

Honors Projects

Gender stereotyping is the idea of making assumptions about a person or group based on their gender. Commonly heard ones may include “boys are stronger than girls” or “girls belong doing housework.” Gender Stereotypes at Bowling Green State University are analyzed using a survey to undergraduate students.

Motivators Of Prostitution Desistance, Shawn Nicole Guy

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses

The intent of this thesis was to determine the factors that lead to desistance from street prostitution in the form of motivators and how to shape recommendations to courts, social services, and policy-makers based off of identified themes. Additionally, various theories are discussed, supporting the presence of identified motivators and themes, that could be used by interventionsists as guiding principles when working on strategies for prostitution desistance modifications. Without isolating and stratifying motivators and themes, prostitutes who desire to desist may not receive appropiate treatments and interventions and may continue to recidivate with prostitution-related criminal charges. Statements obtained through qualitative …

Parent Involvement Activities That Lead To Increased Parent Participation: A Case Study, Sandra Patricia Fernandez

Public Affairs Dissertations

There is sufficient evidence to suggest that parent involvement increases student success. Connecting the home to the school can offer a bridge that will lead to academic success for students. Parent involvement can lead to increased school success in terms of test scores. Research shows that parents are involved in many ways at the schools but when asked, they have varying definitions of what parent involvement means to them. The major hypothesis of this study is that when parents are offered more ways to participate at various times of the day, they are more inclined to be more involved in …

Parent Involvement Activities That Lead To Increased Parent Participation: A Case Study, Sandra Patricia Fernandez

Public Affairs Dissertations

There is sufficient evidence to suggest that parent involvement increases student success. Connecting the home to the school can offer a bridge that will lead to academic success for students. Parent involvement can lead to increased school success in terms of test scores. Research shows that parents are involved in many ways at the schools but when asked, they have varying definitions of what parent involvement means to them. The major hypothesis of this study is that when parents are offered more ways to participate at various times of the day, they are more inclined to be more involved in …

The Economic Impact Of Refugees On A Host Country, Zaid Ghaleb-Sharari-Al-Bakhit Alfayez

Public Affairs Dissertations

Refugee numbers are increasing around the world due to political instability. Host countries are encountering several issues such as socioeconomic challenges as a result of refugees. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the effects of the economic impact of refugees. The Middle East region has taken in a high number of these refugees, especially Jordan. This empirical research studies the impact for countries receiving refugees to help policy makers effectively regulate and deal with this challenge. This study analyzes the impact of refugees on the economy using Jordan as a case study. However, this research can be applied to other …

A City In Crisis: Communication Network, Ethics, And Power In The City Of Dallas, Sana Salma Syed

Public Affairs Dissertations

The conceptual framework for this research builds on Manuel Castells’s work to find the specific network configuration of actors, interests, and values that engage in their power-making strategies to operationalize a communication network and understand the roles and powers of programmers and switchers at a local level. The study explores the role and purpose of communication networks within cities from the perspective of administrators and elected officials and their responsibility to provide communication as a public good. The research design is an organizational autoethnography of the city of Dallas that incorporates various perspectives from those who were a part of …

The Effects Of Travel Time Delay On Vehicle Miles Traveled And Travel Mode Choice Behavior: An Empirical Analysis Of The Seattle Metropolitan Area, Reza Sardari

Public Affairs Dissertations

Traffic congestion is a crucial factor for understanding travel behavior. The scientific evidence has shown that traffic congestion affects air quality, public health, and economic development, but empirical studies about the effects of travel time delays on travel behavior are limited. This research aims to address this gap by developing a time-related mobility measure, or “delay score,” and analyzing its impact on VMT and commuters’ mode choices within a comprehensive framework that incorporates the built environment, demographics, and residential preference/self-selection factors. In this framework, VMT per household and travel mode choice were examined using SEM and GSEM techniques, respectively. This …

Factors Affecting Transit Ridership And The Impact Of Intelligent Transit Information Systems (Itis) - Case Study Of Dallas Area Rapid Transit (Dart), Ahmed Ismail Daqrouq

Public Affairs Dissertations

Transit ridership is at the heart of transportation policy making and the success of any transit system. Urban planners have been focusing on the need to reduce car dependence and promote more sustainable transportation alternatives. Automobile dependence is a concern for many reasons including congestion in urban areas, pollution, and environmental damages. Switching to more sustainable and environmentally friendly transportation modes such as public transit is likely to be an effective solution to most of these problems. As an alternative to the private car, public transit is an effective means to move large numbers of people within cities, and transit …

Pros And Cons: Anime Conventions And Cosplayers, Angela N. Barajas

Sociology & Anthropology Theses

Among the brightly-hued convention (con) halls, people dressed in feathers, foam armor, and spandex pose for pictures with one another as cosplayers. Cosplay is a way for fans to present themselves and their group to the fan community on a con-wide scale. Originally, I planned to investigate how cosplayers navigate their identities as cosplayers and as members of mainstream American society and how do these two identities inform each other. I sought to understand cosplayer’s identities as laborers within their cosplay groups. Using ethnographic research methods, I interviewed eleven participants and conducted participant observations. Cosplay is even more than identity …

Polarization And Nuclear Fear: How Partisan Message Processing Affects Public Trust In Government, Ian Trevor Owens

Political Science Theses

Scholars have found that an environment that appears increasingly polarized in the United States has been accompanied by a decline in institutional trust over several decades. Scholarship involving partisanship and trust suggests that out-party groups are less receptive to political messages than in-groups. In the wake of the false emergency alert in Hawaii that sent citizens into a panic for 38 minutes, messaging and nuclear issues remain a salient topic for study. This thesis presents the results of an experiment (N = 2,310) investigating how political trust is influenced by the partisan interpretation of a message. Survey respondents were presented …

The Maritime Education And Training Sector: Beyond Traditional Quality Management, Htet Khaing Kyi Lin

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

International Political Turbulences Impact On Travel And Tourism, Abeer Omar Almughrabi

Public Affairs Dissertations

Tourism is a major economic development force, but it appears that international political turbulence has an impact on tourism. Whether the impact of political instability on tourism is a negative or a positive one is the scope of this study. In addition, Substitution and Spillover Effects that occur as a result of political instability impact on tourism are analyzed to provide additional information about the impact on safe countries adjacent to political instability/ or located within the same region of the turmoil. This research attempts to prove that there is a correlation between international political turbulence and tourism. In addition, …

Prosodic Phonology In Oklahoma Cherokee, Samantha Cornelius

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations

In this dissertation, I provide an analysis for word level prosody in Cherokee, a Southern Iroquoian language spoken in Northeastern Oklahoma and Western North Carolina. Focusing on Cherokee as it is spoken in Oklahoma, I analyze right edges of Cherokee words, showing that the boundary tone is predictable, though its distribution is conditioned by lexical tonal phonology and other word-final phenomena. In order to account for the distribution of the boundary tone, I must first provide an analysis of lexical tone in Cherokee. There have been previous comprehensive tone analyses (Lindsey 1985; Wright 1996; Uchihara 2013), which argue for a …

The Capacity Of Postpartum Depression Resources In Underserved Communities, Brandie Green

Public Affairs Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the resources that are available to women in underserved communities to detect and treat postpartum depression. Postpartum depression continues to be a major public health issue. Although there are screening methods and treatments that are available to address this mental illness, the rates of detection are still low leading to a number of women that suffer from postpartum depression and go untreated. Two populations that have proven to be at a higher risk of postpartum depression are those from underserved communities and minority populations. This research takes a deeper look into …

Access To Opportunity And The Impacts On Housing Value, Somayeh Moazzeni

Public Affairs Dissertations

Accessibility is the well stablished concept in theories of urban planning and spatial structure. This dissertation measured access to opportunities that incorporate major destinations as well as all jobs for three modes. The study used the most updated transportation network to measure access to opportunities by gravity equation that account for distance and mode. It also used Principal Component Analysis to make the opportunity scores out of several related destinations and to make overall score by incorporating all the opportunities. The developed access to opportunity scores were applied to evaluate the location efficiencies of major affordable housing units in DFW. …

Exploring The Effects Of Socio-Demographic And Built Environmental Factors On The Public Adoption Of Shared And Private Autonomous Vehicles : A Case Study Of Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area, Hamid Hajjafari

Public Affairs Dissertations

Although the self-driving technology promises to solve several urban issues, the deployment of the autonomous vehicles (AV) is an evolutionary process that depends on different factors. One of these factors is the public adoption of AVs that plays a crucial role in the deployment of this technology by controlling the level of market penetration. By analyzing the cross-national survey studies on AVs acceptance, the author finds that the rate of AVs adoption in America is considerably lower than other developed countries. Although some studies have focused on the AVs adoption in the US and the factors that affect it, there …

The Capacity Of Postpartum Depression Resources In Underserved Communities, Brandie Green

Public Affairs Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the resources that are available to women in underserved communities to detect and treat postpartum depression. Postpartum depression continues to be a major public health issue. Although there are screening methods and treatments that are available to address this mental illness, the rates of detection are still low leading to a number of women that suffer from postpartum depression and go untreated. Two populations that have proven to be at a higher risk of postpartum depression are those from underserved communities and minority populations. This research takes a deeper look into …

The Rise Of Twitter In Presidential Communication: An Examination Of The Relationship Between President Trump's Twitter Feed And The Media Coverage Of His First 100 Days, Zedan Xu

Communication Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between Donald Trump’s Twitter feed and the media coverage of Trump’s agenda expressed in his tweets during the “honeymoon period.” From the theoretical perspective of agenda setting theory, this research empirically explores the salience issues present in Trump’s Twitter postings and compare them to the media agenda. Descriptive statistics of Trump’s tweets and the coverage of his tweets from the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal show that nearly half of Trump’s Twitter posts are covered in the news media, indicating that Trump’s Twitter feed …

Hyphenated Americans: Christian Arab-Americans’ Identity Struggle, Amanda Haddad Jobgen

Communication Theses

The topic of this thesis is the understudied minority of Christian Arab-Americans (CAAs), and this research addresses the issues CAAs face in the United States with special attention to the factors that influence their cultural identity. The thesis provides a historical background on how Christian Arabs came to the United States and explains the factors that influence their identity struggle. The theoretical framework of my research is based on Berry’s (1997) acculturation model. Ten participants were interviewed for this study, and a thematic analysis was conducted in order to determine the extent to which religiosity and perceived discrimination affects/influences the …

Obscured Leisure: Crafting As Leisure For Stay-At-Home Mothers, Christina Laura Carney

Sociology & Anthropology Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning handcrafting has for stay-at-home mothers, the reasons some mothers engage in handcrafting, and how the practice of handcrafting influences motherhood. Qualitative data on handcrafting were gathered from in-depth, in person interviews with nine stay-at-home mothers. The data highlights the struggles stay-at-home mothers face in their everyday lives and how handcrafting serves to help mothers manage motherhood expectations. Handcrafting is a form of obscured leisure because it provides the mothers in this study some escape from the pressures of mothering while also allowing the mothers to perform intensive motherhood to their …

Beyond Bribery: An Exploration Into Lobbying And International Corporate Influence In The Middle East, Polly D. Roark

Political Science Theses

Qualitative evidence suggests that corporations lobby within countries with informal structures abroad. While political science research on Western lobbying is robust, it falls short in understanding how multinational businesses operate in countries that do not possess regulated lobbying arenas. Given this, my research findings help fill a theoretical gap in political science literature by identifying how multinationals lobby within informal (unregulated) structures the same as they do within formal (regulated) arenas, like the US and EU. I argue that US multinational companies who engage the American lobbying arena are more likely to lobby within informal structures to ensure strategic goals. …

The Forgotten Mourners: A Literature Review On Parental Suicide And Community Art Therapy With Child Survivors, Emily Ellis

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The prevalence of grief has raised the question of the long-term effects and efficacy of current bereavement practices (Mitchell, Wesner, Garand, Dysart-Gale, Havill, & Brownson, 2007). There is a lack of understanding and research on bereavement support for child survivors of parental stigmatized deaths; specifically, death by suicide. Children remain to be an underserved population with specific vulnerabilities regarding their inclusion in the emotional and cognitive comprehensions of the death and the resounding grief and mourning. Consequences specific to death by suicide are characterized by feelings of guilt, blame, and shame, as well as perceived stigma and isolation (Mitchell et …

Does The Death Penalty Deter Homicides?, Lorenzo A. Mendoza Valles

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses

This study assessed the long debated question over the death penalty’s deterrent effects. The majority of the empirical research on this topic is dated and does not display the current status of capital punishment. The death penalty argument is divided between criminologists who suggest that capital punishment holds no deterrent effects and criminologists who suggest that it does. This examination revisits the argument with an analysis of state panel data and executions between the years of 2000 and 2014. The findings suggest that the application of the death penalty does not deter would be offenders from committing homicide.

Mental Health Screening For Prisoners Upon Entrance To State Prisons, Illandra Denysschen

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses

The prison system has left a penal system that strives to rehabilitate an offender, for one that simply punishes. This is detrimental for prisoners with mental disorders, as their condition may worsen exponentially with incarceration. This research examines the mental health screening processes for prisoners upon entrance to state prisons across the United States, by identifying the screening process via state policies. State policies were identified by going onto the respective DOC websites for every state, and reading through the mental health/health policy in order to identify whether or not there were mental health screening processes in place. The resulting …

A Comparative Tone Analysis Of Several Bantu D30 Languages (Dr Congo), Kent Rasmussen

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations

This dissertation presents an analysis of the tonal systems of the Bantu D30 languages. There are 34 Bantu D languages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), few of which have developed orthographies (Lewis, Simons, & Fennig 2013). These languages make use of contrastive pitch (tone), which is a source of difficulty in their analysis. I begin, therefore, with a review of literature arguing for a number of positions regarding the collection, analysis, and representation of tone data. Additionally, I describe the fundamentals of consonant-tone interaction, and some background on the Bantu D30 languages, including their genetic and geographic …

Gentrification In Washington D.C.: A Tug-Of-War Between Development And Displacement, Aabiya Noman Baqai

Public Affairs Theses

During the past two decades, gentrification has been defined as a form of urban renewal where suburban dwellers have opted to return to the inner cities, attracting new investments, property development, and higher housing prices, hoping to achieve socioeconomic growth in underdeveloped neighborhoods. However, this policy has displaced minority communities that were once deep-rooted in the area, triggering criticism by them as they feel alienated, unheard and threatened. Washington D.C. has also been a host to this policy. However, it’s had a different, yet important past. Since it’s been the capital and policy hub of the country, this has meant …

Gentrification In Washington D.C.: A Tug-Of-War Between Development And Displacement, Aabiya Noman Baqai

Public Affairs Theses

During the past two decades, gentrification has been defined as a form of urban renewal where suburban dwellers have opted to return to the inner cities, attracting new investments, property development, and higher housing prices, hoping to achieve socioeconomic growth in underdeveloped neighborhoods. However, this policy has displaced minority communities that were once deep-rooted in the area, triggering criticism by them as they feel alienated, unheard and threatened. Washington D.C. has also been a host to this policy. However, it’s had a different, yet important past. Since it’s been the capital and policy hub of the country, this has meant …

Emerging Grassroots Energy Communities: An Assemblage Theory Analysis, Ali Mohammed Adil

Public Affairs Dissertations

In context of the federal leadership vacuum in the United States on climate action and sustainable energy development and consequent subnational policy and regulatory variations, the rise of citizen-led grassroots energy communities (GECs) is increasingly considered as a countervailing civic force in the mainstream energy system. However, as grassroots attempts to transform the carbon-intensive, centralized energy system gain in prominence, attracting broad-based support and generating a multitude of social organization and governance models, citizen advocacy, activism and on-the-ground local projects encounter varying socio-cultural, policy and regulatory support structures across urban and regional landscapes leading to disparate outcomes. Yet, the advent …

Assessing Cumulative Barriers To Transportation: An Integrated Framework Of Equity Analysis For Housing Choice Voucher Families In The Dallas Fort Worth Region, Myriam Igoufe

Public Affairs Dissertations

Transportation is said to be affordable if it does not consume more than fifteen percent of a household’s budget. The widespread normative threshold of transportation affordability, becomes increasingly problematic as households slide down the income spectrum. Most fundamentally, low-income households have vastly different financial capabilities to purchase transportation services, hence to travel. Yet, little is known about the financial capabilities of very-low income households, and the use of a normative cost-to-income-ratio-threshold of transportation affordability obscures our understanding of travel capacities, in monetary terms, of these populations. Failure to comprehensively conceptualize and evaluate transportation affordability inevitably inhibits the formulation of adequate …