Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Multi-Sensory Stimulation Environments For Use With Dementia Patients: Staff Perspectives On Reduction Of Agitation And Negative Behaviors, Megan Houston

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Background: Dementia is a degenerative neurological disorder that afflicts a growing proportion of the global population. Complementary alternative medicine (CAM) modalities are under investigation for their therapeutic value in the management of dementia.

Purpose: Nursing care of dementia sufferers can include managing agitation and negative behaviors; this study investigates staff appraisal of the Multi-Sensory Stimulation Environment (MSSE) as an intervention for these nursing challenges.

Methods: A purposive sample of nursing staff employed in residential care for dementia patients were recruited 10 weeks after the initiation of an open-access MSSE at the facility to complete a confidential self-administered questionnaire.

Results: 79% …

Discrepant Attentional Biases Toward Sexual Stimuli, Martin Seehuus

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

There are at least two types of response to stimuli: an automatic response that happens before conscious thought (a Type 1 response) and a deliberative, intentional response (a Type 2 response). These responses are related to behavior associated with the affective loading of the stimulus presented. Prior research has shown, for example, that a Type 1 tendency to spend more time looking at fear-provoking stimuli is associated with higher levels of general anxiety, while a Type 2 tendency to spend more time looking away from happy faces is associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. Some stimuli categories elicit mixed …

Working In Utopia: Locating Marx's "Realm Of Necessity" In The Socialist Futures Of Bellamy And Morris, Kira Braham

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This project examines two works of nineteenth-century utopian fiction, Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward and William Morris's News from Nowhere, and considers the way in which the organization of work in these imagined post-capitalist futures is guided by their respective philosophies of labor: while Bellamy's utopia is structured by an understanding of labor as primarily a social duty, Morris presents labor as central to the full development and happiness of the individual. These two utopias are read as representative of a fundamental tension within the writings of Marx: while Morris's understanding of labor aligns with the early works of Marx, Bellamy's …

Collaboration And Conflict In The Adirondack Park: An Analysis Of Conservation Discourses Over Time, Jeffrey Michael O'Donnell

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The role of collaboration within conservation is of increasing interest to scholars, managers and forest communities. Collaboration can take many forms, but one under-studied topic is the form and content of public discourses across conservation project timelines. To understand the discursive processes that influence conservation decision-making, this research evaluates the use of collaborative rhetoric and claims about place within discourses of conservation in the Adirondacks. Local newspaper articles and editorials published from January 1996 to December 2013 and concerning six major conservation projects were studied using content analysis. Results show that collaborative rhetoric increased during the study period, and conflict …

Short Food Supply Chains: Expectations And Reality, Richard Roberto Richards

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Alternative food systems (AFSs) are so defined because they purport to challenge a value or ameliorate a negative impact of the dominant conventional food system (CFS). Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are a type of AFS whose alterity is defined by socially proximal economic exchanges that are embedded in and regulated by social relationships. This relational closeness is argued to have benefits with respect to economic, environmental, and social sustainability. However, it would be a mistake to assume that AFSs and CFSs are paradigmatically differentiated or that their structures engender particular outcomes.

The first article traces a misguided attempt to …

Intuitions Or Informational Assumptions? An Investigation Of The Psychological Factors Behind Moral Judgments, Nolan Rampy

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

There is an ongoing debate among psychologists regarding the psychological factors underlying moral judgments. Rationalists argue that informational assumptions (i.e. ideological beliefs about how the world works) play a causal role in shaping moral judgments whereas intuitionists argue that informational assumptions are post hoc justifications for judgments made automatically by innate intuitions. In order to compare these two perspectives, the author conducted two studies in which informational assumptions related to ingroups and outgroups varied across conditions. In Study 1, political conservatives and liberals completed the moral relevance questionnaire while imagining they were in the US, Iran, or no specific country. …

Teenagers' Mode Choice To And From School And Technology Use For Transportation: Analysis Of Students From Five High Schools In Vermont And California, Paola Rekalde Aizpuru

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The carhops and drive-ins of the 1950s are symbolic of the freedom that the automobile has granted Americans. What the general public has gained from the automobile, however, may come at the expense of independent mobility and choices for today's adolescents, particularly those not yet old enough to drive or those from lower income families. Sprawl land use development patterns and limited transportation choices in most American cities often hold teenagers and their chauffeuring parents captive to the automobile. At the same time, information and communication technology is fast evolving and changing the ways in which teenagers live, interact, and …

Becoming Transdisciplinary: Exploring Process In A Research Initiative On Climate Change, Emil Tsao

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The subject of this case study is the Vermont Agricultural Resilience in a Changing Climate initiative, a transdisciplinary research team at UVM that has maintained success in meeting research and outreach objectives despite collaborating in a way that does not follow any particular ideal-type transdisciplinary process. In following recent science and technology (STS) studies' accounts of cross-disciplinary collaboration, the hypothesis pursued is that the transdisciplinary study of messy or "wicked" problems like climate change brings forth an array of responses from researchers whose disciplinary backgrounds already position them to pursue their research differently, particularly when they involve outside stakeholders in …

Grass-Based Dairy In Vermont: Benefits, Barriers, And Effective Public Policies, Serge William Wiltshire

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

A comprehensive literature review was undertaken in order to define and assess the sustainability and resiliency characteristics associated with grass-based and confinement dairy farming. Primarily as a result of reduced input costs, grass-based dairy farming often enhances profitability over confinement systems, especially on small farms. Further, conversion of tilled soil to permanent pasture has been shown to significantly reduce harmful sediment and nutrient transport into waterways. Perennial forage also acts as a carbon sink, curtailing or even negating a grass-based farm's carbon footprint. Finally, social benefits derived from enhanced nutrition and higher quality of life are also associated with grass-based …

Management By Crisis: Land Trust Conservation Engagement And Methods In Vermont, Louise Sopher Lintilhac

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Planning a future for the landscapes we live in can be a daunting challenge for many communities in Vermont. Conservation initiatives affect the quality of life for all community members and can be difficult if not impossible to change in the event of poor planning. Through examining stakeholder relationships with land trusts I have explored the complexities of planning processes used by land trusts in Vermont for conservation initiatives

The study involved one statewide land trust, the Vermont Land Trust, and two community land trusts, the Stowe Land Trust and the Duxbury Land Trust. I used qualitative methods including document …

Susceptibility To Peer Influence For Engagement In Relational Aggression And Prosocial Behavior: The Roles Of Popular Peers, Stress Physiology, And Gender, Nicole Lin Lafko

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The overall goal of the current study was to determine if perceptions of popular peers' relationally aggressive (PPSRA) and prosocial behaviors (PPSP) were related to engagement in these behaviors in a sample of emerging adults. This study also investigated if these associations were moderated by sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) reactivity to peer stress and gender. Although a significant amount of research suggests that aggressive behaviors can be socialized by peers (e.g., Molano, Jones, Brown, & Aber, 2013), there is a dearth of work that has examined relational forms of aggression that tend to be more …

Conversational Topic Moderates Visual Attention To Faces In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Ashley Rae Brien

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is often accompanied by atypical visual attention to faces. Previous studies have identified some predictors of atypical visual attention in ASD but very few have explored the role of conversational context. In this study, the fixation patterns of 19 typically developing (TD) children and 18 children with ASD were assessed during a SKYPED conversation where participants were asked to converse about mundane vs. emotion-laden topics. We hypothesized that 1) children with ASD would visually attend less to the eye region and more to the mouth region of the face compared to TD children and that 2) …

Lexical Mechanics: Partitions, Mixtures, And Context, Jake Ryland Williams

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Highly structured for efficient communication, natural languages are complex systems. Unlike in their computational cousins, functions and meanings in natural languages are relative, frequently prescribed to symbols through unexpected social processes. Despite grammar and definition, the presence of metaphor can leave unwitting language users "in the dark," so to speak. This is not problematic, but rather an important operational feature of languages, since the lifting of meaning onto higher-order structures allows individuals to compress descriptions of regularly-conveyed information. This compressed terminology, often only appropriate when taken locally (in context), is beneficial in an enormous world of novel experience. However, what …

Fnirs Measures Of Prefrontal Cortex Lateralization During Stuttered And Fluency-Enhanced Speech In Adults Who Stutter, Danra M. Kazenski

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The present study compared lateralization of cortical activation patterns in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of adults who stutter (AWS) and typical speakers (TS) as measured with functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in habitual and fluency-enhanced speaking conditions.

Participants were AWS (n = 11) and gender- and age-matched TS (n = 11) who completed speaking tasks in three condition blocks: (1) habitual speech using no speaking strategy (2) prolonged speech after receiving short-term training in fluency-shaping strategy-use (3) syllable-timed speech after being trained to speak in rhythm with a metronome at 92 beats per minute.

The three primary dependent variables were …

Factors In The Regulation Of Cycles Of Binge Eating Behavior, Andrew Knapp

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The reasons why people may periodically resort to binge eating behavior have long been a focus of study, and the reasons are elusive and varied. For people troubled by poor sleep and living with chronic stress, binge eating may be an attempt by the brain's glucose-depleted executive processing center to both regulate (i.e., increase) glucose levels and induce restorative sleep. Recovery resulting from restorative sleep may lead to a reduction in perceived stress, improved mood, and increased willpower, reducing the likelihood of another binge episode in close temporal proximity to the sleep-induced recovery. A repetitive cycle may ensue when stress …

Modifiable Risk Factors For Cardiovascular Disease As Perceived By Women In Kenya, Catherine Wanjiru Lawrence

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) worldwide has grown exponentially in the last two decades and while sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been grappling with the crippling effects of epidemic infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria, cardiovascular disease is now emerging as a grievous concern. Research and resources have largely been directed toward understanding and curtailing infectious diseases in the African continent. But as the risk of cardiovascular disease reaching endemic proportions in sub-Saharan Africa becomes more evident, research is critically needed in order to understand how to manage it and more importantly to direct the development and implementations of culturally relevant prevention …

Distress Intolerance And Cannabis Use: An Initial Empirical Investigation, Julianna Brett Hogan

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Within the United States (U.S.), one-third of those who use cannabis (the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S.), exhibit cannabis use problems significant enough to warrant a diagnosis of cannabis use disorder (CUD; Compton, Grant, Colliver, Glantz, & Stinson, 2004). Data suggests that quitting cannabis is highly difficult (Copersino et al., 2006), yet, there is little empirical knowledge about the nature of factors that relate to quit processes (e.g., self-efficacy). One potentially promising variable of relevance to CUD is distress intolerance (Leyro, Zvolensky, & Bernstein, 2010). Distress intolerance is referred to as (a) the perceived capacity to withstand …

Moderating Effects Of Coping On Associations Between Stress Reactivity And Internalizing And Externalizing Problems, Amy Aliza Paysnick

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The present study was motivated by a need to employ multilevel studies to better understand why the experience of stressful life events is predictive of increased rates of psychopathology. Specifically, this study aimed to test the moderating role of coping on associations between stress reactivity (autonomic arousal) and broad-spectrum internalizing and externalizing problems in a normative sample. Participants were 140 adolescents and emerging adults (ages 14-30 years; 60% female) who completed questionnaires on coping, stressful life events, personality, and behavioral/emotional problems. Skin conductance and heart rate data were also measured while participants completed two laboratory stress tasks: a public speaking …

Supporting A Growing Agricultural Economy By Understanding Child Care In Farm Families, Emily Stengel

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This thesis argues for the consideration of child care accessibility and costs as one factor in the success and wellbeing of farmers in the United States. There is a long tradition in rural studies of recognizing that farms are not just economic enterprises but are family-based social enterprises as well, with household level issues and family roles that are both acknowledged and contested. However, child care is missing from virtually all scholarly and public discussions of agricultural workforce development - even more so than other social services and family supports. Additionally, the agricultural sector, considered as a portion of U.S. …

A Randomized Pilot Trial: An Internet-Based Mind/Body Intervention To Mitigate Anxiety In Women Experiencing Infertility, Jessica Clifton

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Infertility is a frequently occurring chronic health condition, which often persists throughout the reproductive years. Heightened anxiety symptoms often are comorbid with infertility diagnoses. Women experiencing infertility, and particularly those with anxiety symptoms, characterize an emerging population that deserves special attention. However, women experiencing infertility have identified barriers to seeking psychotherapy (e.g., fears of being dismissed from fertility treatment and/or stigmatized). Consequently, women diagnosed with infertility need a psychotherapy that not only can reduce these symptoms, but can also be private and convenient. The current study translated an empirically tested in-person mind/body protocol into an internet-based intervention to suit the …

Characterization Of Real-World Particle Number Emissions During Re-Ignition Events From A 2010 Light-Duty Hybrid-Electric Vehicle, Matthew Beach Conger

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Despite the increasing popularity of hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), few studies have quantified their real-world particle emissions from internal combustion engine (ICE) re-ignition events (RIEVs). RIEVs have been known to occur under unstable combustion conditions which frequently result in particle number emission rates (PNERs) that exceed stabilized engine operation. Tailpipe total PN (5 to 560 nm diameter) emission rates (#/s) from a conventional vehicle (CV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) 2010 Toyota Camry were quantified on a 50 km (32 mi) route over a variety of roadways in Chittenden County, Vermont using the Total On-board Tailpipe Emissions Measurement System (TOTEMS). While …

Effects Of Pcb Contamination On The Environment And The Cultural Integrity Of The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe In The Mohawk Nation Of Akwesasne, Kim Ellen Mcrae

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The following research project examines the effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on the environment and the cultural integrity of the St. Regis Mohawk tribe in the Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne. This indigenous community has been subjected to widespread long-term industrial pollution from nearby toxic hazardous waste facilities and Superfund sites.

The Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne has the distinction of being the only tribe whose officially recognized territory straddles the border between the United States and Canada. Using qualitative methodologies, coupled with an interdisciplinary framework, this study successfully engages with Akwesasne community members to explore such issues as bottom-up approaches to …

Defining Food Agency: An Ethnographic Exploration Of Home And Student Cooks In The Northeast, Maria Carabello

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

According to popular and academic sources, home cooking is in decline. Nutrition and public health scholars concern that a loss of cooking abilities may diminish individuals' control over their food choices, thus contributing to poor health outcomes. Yet, there are still many unanswered questions. What skills, strategies, and knowledge sets are required to cook a meal on any given occasion? What capacity separates those who cook with ease from those who struggle to incorporate cooking into their daily routines? I propose that this difference is determined by an individual's capacity to employ a range of cognitive and technical skills related …

Pasteurization And Its Discontents: Raw Milk, Risk, And The Reshaping Of The Dairy Industry, Andrea M. Suozzo

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Milk is something many Americans consume every day, whether over cereal, in coffee or in a cup; as yogurt, cream, cheese or butter. The vast majority of that milk is pasteurized, or heated to the point where much of the bacteria in the milk dies. Pasteurization both slows spoilage of the milk and eliminates potentially harmful bacteria. The fact that we call heat-treated dairy simply "milk" is a testament to pasteurization's widespread proliferation over the past century. Prior to the 1900s, "milk" was raw and unheated, and pasteurized milk was a radically new technology. My research delved into understandings of …

Tejanos In College: How Texas Born Mexican-American Students Navigate Ethnoracial Identity, Tomás Sanchez

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

For Latina's in the United States, navigating the spectrum of racial and ethnic identities can be complicated. This same complication has the potential to affect one of the largest groups of Latina's in the nation: Mexican-Americans living in Texas or Tejanos. Through qualitative analyses of interviews and surveys and the use of an ecological framework on identity development theories for Latina's, Native Americans, Multiracial peoples and those in the Mexican diaspora, this study examines various factors that influences the ethnoracial identity choice of Tejano college students.

Findings revealed that there were several common themes across all the participants, even those …

Organic Chemical Characterization Of Primary And Secondary Biodiesel Exhaust Particulate Matter, John Kasumba

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Biodiesel use and production has significantly increased in the United States and in other parts of the world in the past decade. This change is driven by energy security and global climate legislation mandating reductions in the use of petroleum-based diesel. Recent air quality research has shown that emission of some pollutants such as CO, particulate matter (PM), SO2, hydrocarbons, and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is greatly reduced with biodiesel. However, studies have also shown that some unregulated emissions, such as gas-phase carbonyls, are increased with biodiesel combustion. Very limited research has been done to investigate the particle-phase carbonyl …

Screaming Behind A Door: The Experiences Of Individuals Incarcerated Without Opioid Maintenance Treatment, Shoshana Aronowitz

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Background & Purpose: Opioid maintenance therapy (OMT) is an effective method of treating opioid addiction. Of incarcerated individuals in the U.S., 50-85% have a history of substance abuse, and >80% of inmates with opioid addiction history do not receive treatment. The purpose of this study was to explore individuals' experiences after being tapered from OMT upon incarceration. Methods: Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was employed using in-depth interviewing of 10 participants. Results: Analysis identified six themes that captured the essence of the participants' experiences. Implications & Conclusion: Losing OMT upon incarceration was described as an extremely stressful experience for many individuals, …

Early Adoption Dynamics Of Private Sustainability Governance Initiatives: A Case Study Of The Marine Cultured-Pearl Industry, Julie Nash

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

We are witnessing a time of unprecedented human impact on the natural environment. Coral reefs, one of the most biologically diverse and productive ecosystems, are at the forefront of enduring these human impacts. Despite widespread recognition of coral reef degradation, counter measures have not reached a scale to offset the threat. The magnitude of this and other environmental issues call for a deeper understanding of the role the private sector can play in sustainable development.

In response to environmental pressures and the shortcomings of global-scale governance, private sustainability governance initiatives have developed. In the last decade, these initiatives have flourished, …

The Influence Of Prenatal Stress On Behaviors Associated With Schizophrenia And Autism Spectrum Disorder., Harold Bauerle

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Disorders such as schizophrenia (SCZ) and austism spectrum disorder (ASD) have long been associated with prenatal stress. In these three experiments, we attempted to correlate stress during gestation with behaviors considered to have good facial validity with SCZ and ASD in both juvenile and adult animals. To differentiate the effects of prenatal stress (PS) from the effects of early life stress due to a dam's behavior (MS), half of offspring animals were cross fostered to dams treated in the alternative condition as the offspring during pregnancy in experiments 2 and 3. In experiment 1, but not in 2 or 3, …

Discourse As Social Process In Outdoor Recreation And Natural Resource Management: Arguing, Constructing, And Performing, Monika Marie Derrien

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation examines the language-based, discursive processes through which meanings and experiences are socially constituted in outdoor recreation and natural resource environments. Language use and discourse are seen as interactive, constructive processes, approached through the theoretical perspectives of argumentation, social constructionism, and performance.

Three qualitative studies, based in data collected at Acadia National Park and forest-related sites throughout Vermont, comprise this dissertation. The first study uses rhetorical analysis to examine the ways National Park Service managers and community leaders argue for the meanings and management of dark night skies in and around Acadia. The second study examines how national park …