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Central Washington University

All Master's Theses

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Lgbtq+ Heritage In Kittitas County, Washington, Tiernan Vansuetendael Jan 2024

Lgbtq+ Heritage In Kittitas County, Washington, Tiernan Vansuetendael

All Master's Theses

We know that LGBTQ+ people lived, loved, worked, and made history in Kittitas County—but you would never know that if you visited a local historical site or museum. LGBTQ+ histories exist, yet they are not always visible within the landscape, and this is particularly true for rural communities like Kittitas County. Meanwhile, representation of marginalized communities within local history can contribute to a sense of belonging, of knowing one’s place and the people who came before. This thesis addresses this gap in LGBTQ+ history by conducting archival and ethnohistorical research for the purposes of documenting LGBTQ+ history. Utilizing input from …


Music Density: A Novel Measurement Of Music Perception, Tyler Ussery Jan 2024

Music Density: A Novel Measurement Of Music Perception, Tyler Ussery

All Master's Theses

Empirical research in fields such as music perception, cognition, and therapy has developed considerably in recent decades. While many studies implement musical stimuli, there are few expeditious metrics for identifying the objective characteristics of music itself. The current study proposed and developed a tool for measuring perception of the theoretical concept of music density. Music density can be defined as the compactness of auditory information that comprises a piece of music. For this study, five musical factors were explored (tempo, texture, timbre, dynamics, and predictability) via a 5-point Likert scale. It is well established that personality is an important …


The Impact Of Subjective Risk Analysis On Real Estate Prices In The Nisqually Region Following The 2001 Nisqually Earthquake, Ryan Espedal Jan 2023

The Impact Of Subjective Risk Analysis On Real Estate Prices In The Nisqually Region Following The 2001 Nisqually Earthquake, Ryan Espedal

All Master's Theses

Earthquakes are an environmental hazard that pose great risks to communities almost every day. With earthquakes, the main cause of concern is physical destruction of property, however, there are also psychological effects that are researched and discussed much less. In 2001, the Nisqually area of western Washington experienced a substantial earthquake that produced minimal physical damage but caused a significant decrease in real estate prices. Studying single-family homes from 1986-2012, this research utilizes hedonic property models to measure the change in consumer’s subjective risk calculations with reference to real estate purchases after the Nisqually earthquake, measure the relationship between earthquake …


The Effect Of Sentence Presentation Order On Animacy Violations And The N400 Effect: A Mixed Methods Approach, Naomi Cady Jan 2023

The Effect Of Sentence Presentation Order On Animacy Violations And The N400 Effect: A Mixed Methods Approach, Naomi Cady

All Master's Theses

Semantic memory refers to a portion of long-term memory that processes meaning, understanding, and conceptual facts about the world. Research shows that information processing benefits from a priming effect for access to semantic memory. For example, seeing a certain word or gesture, can form a prediction of what will follow. Encountering information that is incongruent with this priming effect elicits the N400 brainwave. The N400 can be used to identify incongruence in sentences, gestures, and even facial expressions. However, there is emerging evidence that context given to even incongruent information has the effect of lessening the strength of the N400. …


Zooarchaeology Of The Grissom Site (45kt301), Kittitas Valley, Washington, Steven Spencer Jan 2023

Zooarchaeology Of The Grissom Site (45kt301), Kittitas Valley, Washington, Steven Spencer

All Master's Theses

The Grissom site of central Washington was excavated 1967-71 by students and faculty from Central Washington State College. The site may represent a portion of a large, springtime intertribal gathering near Kittitas known as Che-lo-han, which involved camas root gathering, tribal councils, and social activities. Extensive radiocarbon dating places occupation ~1810-130 BP, based on 20 of 21 radiocarbon dates, with some stratigraphic mixing. Site materials have been subject to several previous studies, including a 2018 undergraduate pilot study by the author. Other fauna have not been reported outside of a 2012 fish analysis by Lubinski and Partlow. In consultation with …


The Expected Risks And Exacerbations Of Poverty, Mental Health Disorders, And Maternal Mortality From Abortion Bans: A Comparative Literature Analysis, Daniel J. Francisco Jan 2023

The Expected Risks And Exacerbations Of Poverty, Mental Health Disorders, And Maternal Mortality From Abortion Bans: A Comparative Literature Analysis, Daniel J. Francisco

All Master's Theses

Background. Early termination of a pregnancy (hereinafter referred to as an “abortion”) has been debated in the United States (U.S.) for decades, without much regard to the negative outcomes that forced pregnancies have for those assigned female at birth regarding poverty, mental health and maternal mortality. In 1973, access to safe abortions was protected so long that the procedure was done within the legal gestational period and/or was necessary for the health and safety of the patient (Blackmun, 1972). Unfortunately, in 2022, the Supreme Court took that protection away and made it legal for states to determine the reproductive rights …


Ballistic Experiments With A Sample Of 3-D Printed Columbia Plateau Projectile Point Types, Aren Orsen Jan 2023

Ballistic Experiments With A Sample Of 3-D Printed Columbia Plateau Projectile Point Types, Aren Orsen

All Master's Theses

Recent advances in 3-D scanning and printing offer the means for experimental archaeologists to utilize reproductions of artifacts for analysis and interpretation. In this case study I accurately reproduce a sample of Columbia Plateau projectile points, measure their ballistic properties with an experimental approach, and test the effectiveness and function of point types representing different time periods. Eight morphologically distinct projectile points were 3-D scanned, printed, and test fired into a clay target. Velocity, kinetic energy, momentum, penetration, and wound channel size were measured. Results indicate all eight arrow mounted point types were suitable for small to medium game. Variations …


Cannabis Cues And Effects On Social Anxiety, Erica Steinberg Jan 2023

Cannabis Cues And Effects On Social Anxiety, Erica Steinberg

All Master's Theses

Prior research has shown that individuals experiencing social anxiety may use cannabis for self-medication; therefore, the current study evaluated if viewing cannabis cues would reduce feelings of social anxiety. Central Washington University undergraduates enrolled in psychology courses (n = 124; 66.7% female; Mage = 19.8, SDage = 4.7) were shown cannabis cues after viewing expressive facial images that prior research has shown induces feelings of social anxiety. Contrary to prior research, the current study found that emotional faces did not significantly affect state-trait anxiety as measured by the 6-item State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-6) but that trait social …


Using Primates As A Flagship Species In Marketing Campaigns: Effects On Proenvironmental Attitudes And Behavioral Intentions, Taylor Barber Jan 2023

Using Primates As A Flagship Species In Marketing Campaigns: Effects On Proenvironmental Attitudes And Behavioral Intentions, Taylor Barber

All Master's Theses

Shade coffee plantations grow coffee under a canopy of trees and provide alternative habitats for many bird and primate species, known as agroecosystems, particularly in Latin America. The aim of the current project was to better educate the public about shade plantations and the positive effects they can have on conservation for primates. In addition, marketing tactics such as the presence of a shade plantation certification label and howler monkey images were assessed for their effects on consumer purchasing intentions as well as participant support for biodiversity and sustainability. Participants were recruited through the Department of Psychology’s research system at …


Staff Perceptions Of Responsibility And Implementation Of Cognitive Enrichment For Non-Human Primates In Zoo Settings, Ember Nevada Toth Jan 2023

Staff Perceptions Of Responsibility And Implementation Of Cognitive Enrichment For Non-Human Primates In Zoo Settings, Ember Nevada Toth

All Master's Theses

In zoos, caregivers have considered enrichment as vital for their animal collections’ physical health and development. Since primate species are endangered and continue to decline in numbers in their natural habitat, zoos are steadily becoming the only places we can view and learn about them. In today’s zoos, cognitive enrichment—which falls into overlapping categories of enrichment and does not yet have a universally accepted definition—is either absent or inconsistently offered. Providing challenges to stimulate cognitive well-being has been found to influence the overall welfare of captive primates. Cognitive enrichment is considered very important according to zookeeper surveys but is not …


Exploring Agricultural Worker Self-Efficacy During A Covid-19 Delta Variant Surge And Adverse Environmental Conditions, Hannah Lascano Jan 2022

Exploring Agricultural Worker Self-Efficacy During A Covid-19 Delta Variant Surge And Adverse Environmental Conditions, Hannah Lascano

All Master's Theses

Yakima County is a rural county with an urban core located in central Washington State. With over 60% of its workforce dedicated to agriculture, food production, and other essential industries, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly compounded in Yakima County populations. Factors such as low decision-making power, limited ability to social distance, and occupational limitations such as fear of job loss, non-compliance with immigration regulations, and lack of representation have yet to be explored during the COVID-19 Delta variant (Delta) surge in conjunction with environmental conditions. This study utilized a novel, online survey of Yakima County residents, …


A Contentious Crop: Exploring The Regulatory Debate Of Solar Power Production Facilities In Kittitas County, Washington, Daphne Condon Jan 2022

A Contentious Crop: Exploring The Regulatory Debate Of Solar Power Production Facilities In Kittitas County, Washington, Daphne Condon

All Master's Theses

Between 2010 and 2018, Kittitas County, Washington faced an influx of Solar Power Production Facility (SPPF) proposals that challenged its traditional rural land management governance. Despite state support of decarbonized energy, variegated interpretations of project permitting procedures induced heated contentions amongst stakeholders. To explore this, this research constructs a multijurisdictional legal framework for SPPF advancement. It uses these laws to divulge the permitting processes of three case study projects founded in Kittitas County’s renewable energy history: The Wild Horse Wind Facility, the Iron Horse Solar Project, and the Columbia Solar Projects. Through a mixed methodology of project archival analysis and …


Investigating The Archaeological Record Using A High-Resolution Gis Land Use Model In The East Saddle Mountains, Grant County, Washington., Mars Galloway Jan 2022

Investigating The Archaeological Record Using A High-Resolution Gis Land Use Model In The East Saddle Mountains, Grant County, Washington., Mars Galloway

All Master's Theses

For decades, the annual subsistence round in the Mid-Columbia Plateau has been examined archaeologically through surface lithic scatters using bivariate approaches. We know from the ethnographic record that the annual round is a complicated process where multiple resources may be extracted simultaneously, yet there are no studies examining the archaeological record on a scale that allows investigation of this complexity. This research used GIS to model landforms and the locations of plant, animal, and mineral resources to assign a resource potential score across the landscape. The relationship between resource potential score and the archaeological record in the East Saddle Mountains …


Wilderness And The Geotag: Exploring The Claim That "Geotagging Ruins Nature" In The Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Wa, Mara Gans Jan 2022

Wilderness And The Geotag: Exploring The Claim That "Geotagging Ruins Nature" In The Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Wa, Mara Gans

All Master's Theses

This research explores the claim that “geotagging ruins nature” by quantifying and qualifying patterns in geotag use and visitors’ experiences in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, in Washington, United States. Many have raised concerns that geotags increase recreational visitation to public lands, which subsequently contributes to negative resource impacts. Others, however, claim that geotagging has made the outdoors more accessible to less privileged communities and raise concerns that condemning geotags will perpetuate the exclusion of certain groups from outdoor recreation. This debate is studied within federally designated Wilderness, which is legally defined as “untrammeled by man,” a definition rooted in problematic …


Hanford Nuclear Site Cultural Resource Gis Analysis: A Case Study Investigating Pre-Contact Travel Networks And Site And Artifact Locations, Luciana R. Chester Jan 2022

Hanford Nuclear Site Cultural Resource Gis Analysis: A Case Study Investigating Pre-Contact Travel Networks And Site And Artifact Locations, Luciana R. Chester

All Master's Theses

This thesis uses Global Information Systems (GIS) to investigate travel networks and site locations on the Hanford Nuclear Site. I construct a spatially referenced base map of historical travel routes, compare amounts of areas with and without archaeological survey, and analyze the location of archaeological sites. Government Land Office maps (GLO’s) mapped trails between1860’s and 1890’s. GIS analysis helps calculate relative frequencies and the densities of site and artifact types within 2 km buffers along the Columbia River corridor and trails. Collaboration between agencies and tribes facilitates consultation on all matters related to Hanford, and shared management of data covering …


Activity Levels Of Bat Species At Interstate Highway Sites With And Without Wildlife Underpasses In The Washington Cascades, Jenna Chapman Jan 2022

Activity Levels Of Bat Species At Interstate Highway Sites With And Without Wildlife Underpasses In The Washington Cascades, Jenna Chapman

All Master's Theses

Roads force wildlife to navigate degraded and fragmented habitats across the globe, creating barriers to movement and increasing the risk of mortality. This includes bats, whose movements between foraging and roosting habitats may be impeded by roads. Wildlife crossing structures (WCS) are a common mitigation strategy to increase connectivity, but investigation into bat activity in and around these structures is limited. I investigated bat species presence and activity along Interstate-90 in the Cascade Range of Washington State. My goal was to test whether all bat species found in the nearby forest were also active along the highway, and whether bat …


Geomorphic History And Preservation Of Archaeologically Significant Areas In The Hanford Reach Of The Columbia River, Washington State, Benjamin Deans Jan 2022

Geomorphic History And Preservation Of Archaeologically Significant Areas In The Hanford Reach Of The Columbia River, Washington State, Benjamin Deans

All Master's Theses

Archaeological sites near rivers may be preserved through burial, altered by exposure, or destroyed through erosion. Preserved because of the unusual needs of the Manhattan Project, the Hanford Reach is the only remaining free-flowing reach of the Columbia River and ideal for research into the geomorphic settings of archaeological sites along this river. The 1894 (742,000 cfs [20,900 m3/s]) and 1948 (690,000 cfs [19,000 m3/s]) floods were the largest in the historical record through the reach, but their relationship with geomorphic change and site preservation are less understood. To understand how floods have preserved and destroyed …


Analysis Of The Correlation Between The Lexical Profile And Coh-Metrix 3.0 Text Easability And Readability Indices Of The Korean Csat From 1994–2022, Andrew Howie Jan 2022

Analysis Of The Correlation Between The Lexical Profile And Coh-Metrix 3.0 Text Easability And Readability Indices Of The Korean Csat From 1994–2022, Andrew Howie

All Master's Theses

The Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) is a highly competitive standardized assessment that graduating high-school seniors complete in the hope of getting a good score which will improve their chances of admission to a university of choice. The CSAT contains an English Section that has been described by scholars and educators alike as being far too difficult for the official English language curriculum to serve as sufficient preparation. The test’s lack of construct validity has been the basis for calls to revise the test to be better reflective of the school curriculum so that it can serve the evaluative …


What About Me: Understanding The Relationship Between Gender Identity And Social Anxiety, Jessica Allen Jan 2022

What About Me: Understanding The Relationship Between Gender Identity And Social Anxiety, Jessica Allen

All Master's Theses

Anxiety disorders have been researched primarily in cisgender populations until very recently. A clear gap in the literature exists for gender diverse individuals in this research. Through analysis of transgender and gender-diverse individuals’ accounts of their experiences with social anxiety, this study developed a scale specifically aligned with these encounters, titled the Allen Scale. Further, this study examined whether body dysmorphia symptoms have any correlation with social anxiety symptoms in either gender-diverse or cisgender populations. Results uncovered no clear statistical difference between the gender diverse group and the cisgender group on ratings of experienced discrimination, social anxiety or body dysmorphia …


Higher Education And Food Access: A Case Study Of Food Access Initiatives And Their Community Impact, Rebecca Wheaton Jan 2022

Higher Education And Food Access: A Case Study Of Food Access Initiatives And Their Community Impact, Rebecca Wheaton

All Master's Theses

Food security issues are being prioritized across college campuses and among student communities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. While basic needs services are typically available on campuses, there is still a discrepancy between availability and accessibility. Ellensburg, Washington, has vulnerable food-insecure populations, including Central Washington University (CWU) students, whose access issues involve not only social, cultural, and political dimensions, but also practical considerations like transportation, distance to grocery stores, and affordability of food resources. A central concern of this research is to understand food as constitutive of different forms of symbolic, cultural, and economic capital following Bourdieu’s Theory …


Raw Material Usage And Stone Tool Manufacture In The Elwha River Valley, Zachary C. Allen Jan 2021

Raw Material Usage And Stone Tool Manufacture In The Elwha River Valley, Zachary C. Allen

All Master's Theses

Archaeological investigations stemming from the removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon Dams of the Elwha River Valley in 2014 resulted in the identification of nine archaeological sites and collection of 6,870 pre-contact lithic artifacts, primarily composed of fine-grained volcanic stone. Regional models of this raw material usage and site location within a glacially-carved riverine environment place these sites within the Old Cordilleran/Olcott cultural tradition that has been widely observed in the Salish Sea. This study is focused on the variation in raw materials used in the production of stone tools in the Elwha River Valley to understand if similar …


Quantifying The Impact Of Remapping Floodplains On Residential Property Values In Snohomish County, Washington: A Hedonic Approach, Carson Joseph Risner Jan 2021

Quantifying The Impact Of Remapping Floodplains On Residential Property Values In Snohomish County, Washington: A Hedonic Approach, Carson Joseph Risner

All Master's Theses

Flood events are the most common and costly natural disasters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) quantifies flood risks in the form of Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMS). These FIRMS delineate flood risks and are used to set flood insurance premiums. Changes in land use, the augmentation of the natural environment, is threatening the validity of the Nation’s FIRMS. Therefore, Congress has approved remapping programs to update these FIRMs ensuring that current flood risks are known. This remapping presents another issue, specifically for properties that are remapped into a flood zone. Current literature suggests that properties within flood zones are …


An Analysis Of Tachylyte And Other Volcanic Glasses In Washington Archaeology, Mallory M. Triplett Jan 2021

An Analysis Of Tachylyte And Other Volcanic Glasses In Washington Archaeology, Mallory M. Triplett

All Master's Theses

Within archaeological literature, a discussion of volcanic toolstones from Washington State is uncommon. Washington’s volcanic glass landscape is relatively sparse, with low-quality sources scattered within and on the east side of the Cascades, including tachylyte, obsidian, and vitrophyric obsidian. Tachylyte is a volcanic glass that forms within low-silica, basalt flows while obsidian comes from high-silica, usually rhyolitic, eruptions. Vitrophyric is a textural term used to describe an igneous rock that has a glassy groundmass with conspicuously large crystals. The low-quality and dispersed nature of these toolstones are reflected in Washington’s archaeological record by the more common occurrence of out-of-state volcanic …


Critically Evaluating Website Credibility: Factors That Influence Perceptions Of Online Mental Health Information, Mikayla Kimery Jan 2021

Critically Evaluating Website Credibility: Factors That Influence Perceptions Of Online Mental Health Information, Mikayla Kimery

All Master's Theses

Research on the use of online information has suggested that general users of the internet do not critically evaluate the information they consume. In addition, specific elements of online information, such as the presence of advertisements, has been shown to affect perceptions of that information, resulting in less favorable ratings of websites. In contrast, communication studies have shown that perceptions of the presented information increased favorably when an image of a brain was included even when the actual information was considered insufficient in quality by experts. To date, the combined effects of brain images and advertisements on evaluations of online …


Graduate School Psychology Students’ Self Report On Multicultural Competence And Program Satisfaction, Jasmin Moreno Sanchez Jan 2021

Graduate School Psychology Students’ Self Report On Multicultural Competence And Program Satisfaction, Jasmin Moreno Sanchez

All Master's Theses

The percentage of culturally diverse students in public schools has increased and with this the need for multiculturally competent school psychologists has also increased. Despite the rigorous training that school psychologists receive, it has been discussed that graduate training factors impact the development of graduate students’ multicultural competence. Therefore, this study explored what training factors impact school psychology graduate students’ multicultural competence. This study found that the number of multicultural courses taken, and the ethnicity of practicum supervisors graduate students were exposed to were not significantly correlated with the development of graduate students’ multicultural competence. Furthermore, the ethnicity of graduate …


Evaluating The Spatial Trends And Statistical Determinants Of Residential Solar Uptake In Washington State, Caleb Michael Valko Jan 2021

Evaluating The Spatial Trends And Statistical Determinants Of Residential Solar Uptake In Washington State, Caleb Michael Valko

All Master's Theses

Washington State’s Clean Energy Transformation Act and other state and federal policies encouraging solar power make Washington a ripe candidate to examine growth, trends, and potential determinants or barriers to residential solar uptake. In this thesis, residential solar is cumulatively and annually mapped by county (2000-2019) and Census tract (2017-2019) across the state to identify trends over time and space. Each variable (income, age, households, race, education, solar insolation, cost of solar per watt) was isolated individually to analyze the relationship (if any) to the dependent variable (i.e., residential solar installations). The covariates are then combined into a multiple regression …


Transitioning To Legalization Of Cannabis In Washington State: Regulations’ Impacts On Commodification, Metabolism, & Labor Practices, Rob Loewen Jan 2021

Transitioning To Legalization Of Cannabis In Washington State: Regulations’ Impacts On Commodification, Metabolism, & Labor Practices, Rob Loewen

All Master's Theses

This thesis provides an ethnographically grounded analysis of how existing regulations shape the legal recreational cannabis industry in Washington State. I examine the processes involved from seed to sale, including cultivation, processing, quality-control testing, and distribution of recreational cannabis. The goal of this research is to provide a greater understanding of how existing regulations were formed and how they shape social relations within the industry. This study seeks to answer the question: “How are the processes of production within the recreational cannabis industry, along with its labor force and its consumers, impacted by societal perceptions about cannabis, encapsulated within state …


Patterning And Quality Of Male-Male Interactions In Hamadryas Baboons (Papio Hamadryas), John Calcitrai Jan 2021

Patterning And Quality Of Male-Male Interactions In Hamadryas Baboons (Papio Hamadryas), John Calcitrai

All Master's Theses

The social structure of a primate group is defined as the content, quality, and patterning of interactions and relationships among the members of the social group. Ecological variables, stress physiology, and phylogenetic inertia play a role in regulating measures of interactions and relationships between non-human primates. To examine social dynamics among male hamadryas baboons, video recordings of focal follows of this species were coded for three behavioral categories: self-directed behaviors (SDB), socio-positive behaviors, and agonistic behaviors. The analysis of self-directed behaviors revealed no differences in SDB across males of differing sex classes (i.e., Leader Male, Follower Male, or Solitary Male), …


Immigration Offenses Throughout Federal Sentencing: An Analysis Of The Impact Of Political Affiliation Among Districts, Robin Hood Jan 2021

Immigration Offenses Throughout Federal Sentencing: An Analysis Of The Impact Of Political Affiliation Among Districts, Robin Hood

All Master's Theses

Immigration has remained one of the most controversial political debates throughout the United States. Research has yet to fully examine the effects of political affiliation of federal districts on sentencing outcomes for specific immigration offenses. To fill the gaps in research, this study compares political affiliation of federal districts among immigration offenses to determine variations in sentencing outcomes. Data included Presidential and House of Representative votes for the 2016 election and Monitoring of Federal Sentencing for the fiscal years of 2015-2016. Analysis includes case processing/legal variables, defendant characteristics, and political affiliation. To analyze political affiliation, a binary logistic regression was …


Extirpation Risk Of The Endangered Golden Langur (Trachypithecus Geei) Inside And Outside Biological Corridors, Langthel Sub-District, Trongsa, Central District Bhutan, Kuenzang Dorji Jan 2021

Extirpation Risk Of The Endangered Golden Langur (Trachypithecus Geei) Inside And Outside Biological Corridors, Langthel Sub-District, Trongsa, Central District Bhutan, Kuenzang Dorji

All Master's Theses

I assessed extirpation risks of the golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) in two landscapes (inside and outside the biological corridor). Working with a team of trained scientists, I collected data on group size, feeding range, sleeping sites, and predation on golden langurs from Langthel sub-districts, Trongsa district, central Bhutan. I used scan sampling to follow 24 groups of golden langurs (15 groups outside and 9 groups inside the biological corridor) to estimate average group sizes in the two landscapes. I confirmed their sleeping sites and recorded the physiognomies of sleep sites and dimensions of the trees used as sleeping …