Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

“Mexico Has Spilt American Blood Upon American Soil!” The Role Of The Mexico-U.S. Border In The Promotion Of American Nationalism, 1821-1920, Jon M. Williams Phd

Sociology ETDs

International borders not only serve as the edge of a nation-state's sovereign territory, but they also aid in informing popular conceptions of its national identity. This study examines how the Mexico - U.S. border served as a spark for episodes of American nationalism from 1821-1920. In examining three historical periods whereby the border was forming, disrupted, or challenged, I demonstrate how borders serve as sources, both symbolically and physically for the expressions of American nationalism. I utilize inductive qualitative discourse analysis of American actors embedded along the border, in Mexico, or serving as political leaders, to sample some of the …

Evaluating Ai Literacy In Academic Libraries: A Survey Study With A Focus On U.S. Employees, Leo S. Lo

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This survey investigates artificial intelligence (AI) literacy among academic library employees, predominantly in the United States, with a total of 760 respondents. The findings reveal a moderate self-rated understanding of AI concepts, limited hands-on experience with AI tools, and notable gaps in discussing ethical implications and collaborating on AI projects. Despite recognizing the benefits, readiness for implementation appears low among participants. Respondents emphasize the need for comprehensive training and the establishment of ethical guidelines. The study proposes a framework defining core components of AI literacy tailored for libraries. The results offer insights to guide professional development and policy formulation as …

Pursuing Social Justice Through Visual Practice: Intro To Part Iv, Stephanie Beene

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This peer-reviewed chapter serves as the Introduction to the final section of the book, Unframing the Visual: Visual Literacy Pedagogy in Academic Libraries and Information Spaces, edited by Maggie Murphy, Stephanie Beene, Katie Greer, Sara Schumacher, and Dana Statton Thompson, and published by the Association of College & Research Libraries (2023). As the introduction to the final section of the book, it introduces readers to the final theme of the 2022 Framework for Visual Literacy in Higher Education, a Companion Document (VL Framework) to the 2016 Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, “Learners …

The Effects Of Full Spectrum Hemp Oil On Extinction Of Stress Enhanced Fear Learning In A Rodent Model Of Ptsd, Tiphanie Chanel

Psychology ETDs

There are only 2 FDA-approved treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) despite the overwhelming evidence of the need for safer and more effective treatments. For example, roughly 50% of treatment seeking patients with PTSD experience relief from conventional pharmaceutical medications and only one third experience full remission. The Cannabis plant is a promising novel treatment for PTSD for several reasons. The endocannabinoid system plays a role in stress, emotion, cognition, suicidal phenotypes, fear memory consolidation, retrieval and reconsolidation and extinction. Cannabidiol (CBD), one of the most widely studied phytocannabinoids found in the Cannabis plant, has both anxiolytic and antidepressant qualities. …

Wise Mind Program Evaluation, Molly Pylypciw

Psychology ETDs

Addressing adolescent mental health, especially among low-SES and racial-ethnic minority youth is imperative. This study evaluated the effectiveness and acceptability of a school-based socio-emotional learning program, called Wise Mind, delivered to a low-income, racially-ethnically diverse population. Participants (n=45 total; n = 25 intervention; n = 20 control) were ninth graders in both Special and General Education classes at a low-income racially-ethnically diverse high school in the Southwest United States. Eight one-hour sessions of Wise Mind were delivered to the intervention group over the course of eight weeks. Participants responded to questionnaires pre- and post- intervention assessing emotion regulation, mindfulness, interpersonal …

An Exploratory Study Of How American Indian College Students Develop A Sense Of Well-Being As They Pursue An Associate Degree In A Rural Community College, Elvira Martin

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

Using a qualitative, naturalistic inquiry research design, and following the guide principles for conducting research with American Indian populations, this study explored how American Indian college students develop a sense of well-being as they pursue an associate degree in a rural community college. To understand well-being from an American Indian perspective, I used an indigenous model, Secatero’s (2009) four Well-Being Concepts, which include physical, social, mental, and spiritual aspects, as the conceptual framework for my study. The participants in my study described well-being as identity, beliefs, values, relationships, perseverance, and financial stability. They were developing a sense of well-being as …

Stable Complexity: Verbal Inflection In Prominent And Frequent Environments, Lukas Denk

Linguistics ETDs

Despite presenting challenges for speakers, complex linguistic features such as lexically conditioned inflection (LCI) persist across different languages. LCI forms part of not entirely predictable paradigms which require lexeme-specific knowledge to master. Moreover, LCI remains one of the oldest morphological phenomena in certain languages. Previous research has linked the persistence of such complexity to language-external factors like geographic and social circumstances of speech communities.

This dissertation delves into the question whether language-internal properties are associated with the distribution of inflectional complexity. LCI is compared with other inflectional paradigms across 41 genetically and geographically distant languages. The study shows that LCI …

The 2005 Bosnian Law On Defense; A Policy Change Case Study, Gregory D. Vuksich

Political Science ETDs

The Dayton Peace Accord (DPA) in 1995 ended the civil war in Bosnia and Hercegovina and established a constitution for the newly institutionalizing state. It permitted the three ethnicities – Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs – to retain their wartime armed forces in place under ethnic command, a prerogative the Serbs guarded strenuously. International organizations, however, sought a single, multiethnic military institution for the whole of the country. In 2005, however, the Serbs reversed their opposition and agreed to the international organization preference. This study explores why Bosnia’s Serbian community reversed its earlier and acceded to the creation of a single …

Conceptual Meaning In Phonology: Multimodal Iconic Expressions In Discourse Focus, David Páez Acevedo

Linguistics ETDs

In everyday communication, speakers go beyond words to synchronize speech sounds and gestures, adding nuanced meanings. For instance, in Colombian Spanish, recounting the distant past involves elongating words, modulating pitch, and using expressive hand movements. This dissertation explores this phenomenon, termed Multimodal Iconic Expressions (MMIEs), using Cognitive Linguistics and Cognitive Grammar. The quantitative study uncovers correlations between verb aspect, nominal quantification, and speech duration, revealing phono-iconic connections. The qualitative study examines construal operations giving rise to MMIEs across semantic domains. MMIEs predominantly appear in discourse Focus, with durative events and mass-like quantities exhibiting pronounced phono-iconic associations. Patterns include stress and …

Intersections Of Health And Religion: Experiences And Perceptions Of Muslim Refugee Women In The Us Regarding Communication With Healthcare Providers, Sumaira Abrar

Communication ETDs

Delivering healthcare to Muslim refugee patients in a healthcare environment necessitates a profound understanding of their cultural and religious beliefs. The healthcare provider faces intricate hurdles in facilitating effective communication due to the diverse social, cultural, migration, and religious backgrounds within this population. Moreover, bridging the healthcare communication gap often involves grappling with gender-specific expectations aligned with how patients perceive healthcare delivery. To effectively navigate these challenges and enhance patient-provider communication, it is essential for providers to comprehend cultural norms, be well-versed in religious values and restrictions, and grasp the significance of self-care practices and connections to traditional and cultural …

Are The Housing Staff Alright? A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Examination Of The Experiences Of On-Campus Student Housing Professionals Through The Covid-19 Pandemic, Megan J. Chibanga

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

College and university housing professionals served a role they were generally underprepared for as long-term crisis managers during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted and shifted higher education operating structures on a grand scale, and housing staff were asked to continue operating on-campus housing facilities throughout the ever-changing response to COVID-19. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of housing professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the collective experiences of 21 participants three major threads emerged: comfort in the unknown, a need for connection and community, and relentless resilience. Each of these …

Do I Listen To You, Or Do I Listen To Me? An Individual Difference Investigation Into Advice Utilization, Danielle Nicole Sanchez-Combs

Psychology ETDs

This work addresses three fundamental questions. First, can the source of the advice (crowd or single advisor) be leveraged to enhance advice use? Second, does high skill and high metacognitive ability predict greater advice use or are these individuals also blind to the need for advice? Finally, can personality, performance, and pre-advice confidence factors be used to profile those most likely to benefit from advice? Results indicated surprisingly low advice taking rates (~25% to ~26%) from both advisors, despite the advice being 100% accurate. Advice taking was even lower when individuals were in a high-confidence state, with high-skilled …

Affective Liking Influences Reward Processing In Depression: A Computational Eeg Approach, Garima Singh

Psychology ETDs

Reinforcement learning (RL) enables agents to learn through interaction with their environment. This empowers individuals to optimize actions in complex and dynamic settings. The component of event related potential (ERP) termed as the Reward Positivity (RewP) evidently signifies a fundamental reward prediction error (RPE) associated with rewards. This characteristic implies that it represents a fundamental computational process in the assessment of RL. When a reward is particularly pleasurable or liked by an individual, it tends to elicit an amplified RewP signal, reflecting the heightened positive affect. RPE arises from disparities between anticipated and actual rewarding outcomes and is known to …

The Town That Built Its Own River: La Plaza Del Cerro At Taos County New Mexico, José A. Rivera Ph.D

Faculty Publications

Cerro is an unincorporated community in Taos County, New Mexico, and is situated near New Mexico State Highway 522 heading north to the Colorado border. Nearby is Cerro de Guadalupe, a peak that has an elevation of 8,796 feet and Cerro at 7,490 feet. The connection to Guadalupe Mountain gave the town its original name as “La Plaza del Cerro de Guadalupe.” Cerro was established in the early 1850s by settlers who arrived from nearby Questa and Taos. By itself, Guadalupe Mountain did not provide sufficient water to sustain an agrarian economy based on farming and livestock ranching as was …

Identifying Psychosocial And Neural Correlates Associated With Future Homicide In A Sample Of Incarcerated Boys, Samantha N. Rodriguez

Psychology ETDs

Previous research has observed significant group differences regarding neuroanatomical and psychosocial variables between incarcerated boys who have and have not previously committed a homicide, resulting in successful postdictive classification (Cope et al., 2014). However, no study to date has investigated whether similar group differences characterize future homicide offenders. Following the methodology of Cope et al. (2014), the current study aimed to identify baseline neural, clinical, and environmental deficits (collected in a sample of n = 242 incarcerated juvenile offenders) associated with future homicidal behavior as adults. Results indicated that youth who went on to commit homicide as adults were characterized …

Beyond Stressors: Identifying Protective Cultural Factors And Coping Strategies For Mental Health Symptoms Among Aging Latino/Hispanic Immigrants, Juan M. Pena

Psychology ETDs

Within the next decade, Latino immigrants will constitute the largest middle-aged and older immigrant group living in the U.S. This cross-sectional study investigated traumatic stressors, acculturative stress and perceived structural injustices and their associations with mental health symptoms. This study also examined the linkages between cultural factors, social support, and coping strategies and mental health outcomes. Eighty Latino/Hispanic immigrants who were 45 years of age or older completed a series of questionnaires and optional open-ended questions. A greater exposure to traumatic events, higher acculturative stress, and perceived injustices were associated with greater psychological distress and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and …

The Water Mills Of The Historic Río Arriba In Northcentral New Mexico, 1598-1975, José A. Rivera Ph.D, Thomas F. Glick Ph.D

Faculty Publications

The water mills of New Mexico played a major role in the agricultural economy of the Río Arriba for centuries following the introduction of wheat from the Old World to the Americas. Wheat, in its ground form as flour, was a staple during the Spanish colonial period. To process raw wheat, local grist mills (molinos) were essential infrastructure as were the aceq uias (ditches) that powered them. Situated near the banks of rivers, the internal components of each mill were driven by the gravity force of water from an acequia, itself diverted from the river. Researchers have documented …

Three Essays On The Economics Of Children’S Health And Education In Nepal, Khusiman Pun

Economics ETDs

First essay: This paper studies the impact of Nepal’s 1996-2006 Maoist insurgency on the nutritional status of children. We employ the difference-in-difference (DID) model. The proxy for conflict intensity is killings per thousand population (KPT). The finding of our study is that a marginal increase in KPT decreases the height-for-age (HAZ) of the children by 0.0844. The loss in child health was statistically not significant in both non-poor and poor households. Therefore, the impact of the insurgency on child health is largely driven by the negative effect of the insurgency on Janajaties, irrespective of their economic status.

Second essay: This …

Between Casas Grandes And Salado: Community Formation And Interaction In The Borderlands Of The American Southwest/Mexican Northwest Region, Ad 1200-1450, Thatcher A. Seltzer-Rogers

Anthropology ETDs

The historical record of Indigenous North America at the time of European colonization attests to the presence of borderlands between competing culture cores. Yet, the oftentimes inability of the archaeological record to speak to the presence of such dynamics in the past remains a hinderance to understanding how past peoples engaged with one another in noncolonial settings as well as how these interactions resulted in ethnogenesis or the establishment of new culture cores. This dissertation uses a comparative analysis of settlement layout, architecture traits, ceramic artifacts, and mortuary practices to examine how individuals who resided in the space between two …

Disrupting Whiteness In Education Organizations: Community Testimonios Of Strategy, Resistance, And Perseverance In Educational Justice Organizing, Florence E. Castillo

Sociology ETDs

Through this project, I utilize multiple approaches to disrupt whiteness. I make a case for centering Indigenous and non-Western methods, such as testimonio in sociological studies, to disrupt the academic whiteness of knowledge creation and validation. Whiteness itself is amorphous and looks different depending on circumstances, location, who holds power, and context (Hughey 2016). Utilizing a theory of racialized organizations, I shed light on how whiteness is normalized in education institutions through race-neutral, everyday actions (Ray 2019). This further disrupts whiteness by rendering it visible. Finally, I highlight the different modes of resistance that educational activists use to disrupt whiteness. …

Examining The Measurement Invariance Of The Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory Among Hispanic And Non-Hispanic White College Women, Christina Nicole Gillezeau

Psychology ETDs

I examined whether the Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI-R) was invariant between Hispanic/Latina and Non-Hispanic White (NHW) undergraduate women. I performed confirmatory factor analysis to assess model fit and used increasingly restrictive models to test invariance. I included 208 Hispanic/Latina women and 190 NHW women. The CFI and RMSEA model fit statistics (CFI=0.98, RMSEA=0.06 (90% confidence interval=0.04-0.08, p-value=0.16) showed that the model fit well. I constrained factor loadings to be equal in both groups to test metric invariance. I observed non-significant differences in model fit (deltaX² (9)=88.67, p>0.95, deltaCFI=0.003, deltaRMSEA=-0.011). I also constrained intercepts to be equal to …

Digitally Rural: Identifying How Technological Inequity Impacts Rural Students In First-Year Writing Courses, Jo Anna M. Nevada

English Language and Literature ETDs

To teach composition in this era means to engage students with technology; it is all but an unspoken requirement at the majority of universities. This dissertation theorizes, however, that the imbricated use of technology in first-year writing (FYW) classrooms places rural students at an inherent disadvantage, with issues of inadequate technological proficiency and inconsistent access causing a substantial learning disparity between this student population and their urban peers. Through mixed-methods data analysis of student survey responses and final FYW course portfolios, this study reveals that the expectation of technological access and presumption of digital literacy is detrimental to rural student …

The Municipal Acequias Of San Fernando De Béxar: A Working Paper, José A. Rivera Ph.D

Faculty Publications

Of the seven acequia irrigation systems constructed during the height of San Antonio’s Spanish colonial period, five were built for the benefit of the Franciscan missions and their indigenous residents: San Antonio de Valero, Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña, San José y San Miguel de Aguayo, San Juan Capistrano, and San Francisco de la Espada. In addition to the five mission acequias, other diversions from the Río de San Antonio and San Pedro Creek were constructed for civilian use within the municipality of San Fernando de Béxar, founded in 1731, now San Antonio: the San Pedro Acequia …

Electrophysiological Signatures Of Error Commission And Adjustment, Mark Lavelle

Psychology ETDs

Errors inhibit attainment of our goals. Behavioral and neural adjustments following errors are often framed as independent aspects of decision-making termed threshold (or response caution) and drift rate (or evidence accumulation). We replicated and extended the association of single-trial threshold with frontal midline theta power from the previous trial, as measured from EEG in 21 participants completing a flankers task. Surprisingly, theta power also predicted next trial drift rate. Variation in brightness of the stimuli was associated with drift rate and various EEG and time-frequency features, including posterior alpha/beta power. Posterior alpha/beta power also correlated with drift rate and significantly …

An Examination Of The Associations Between Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy, Trust In Media, And Trust In Science And Scientists, Jegason Phosphorus Diviant

Psychology ETDs

Recent evidence suggests corroded trust in scientific institutions, but particularly among political conservatives. The current investigation examined the potential role of trust in conservative media sources by capturing associations between trust in politically-biased media sources, trust in science and scientists, and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. A total of 1,117 participants completed an online cross-sectional self-report study. Results revealed that: (1) the less trust respondents had in science and scientists, the greater their overall COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (and perceived risks and fears of COVID-19 vaccines); and (2) the more respondents trusted conservative-leaning news media sources, the greater their overall COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy …

Feasibility And Acceptability Of An Online Empathy Skills Training For Substance Use Providers, Emily L. Starratt

Psychology ETDs

The ability to train counselors to convey empathy is critical, given the importance of therapist empathic skill level in substance use disorder treatment outcomes (Moyers & Miller, 2013). To date, no studies have examined the efficacy of an online empathy skills training for clinicians, where competency is evaluated using objectively rated standardized client sessions. This study evaluated the acceptability, feasibility, and fit of an online empathy skills training for substance use disorder providers. METHOD: Therapist empathy was measured pre-post training using standardized client actor interviews and evaluated with a global rating yielded by the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity Code 4.2 …

News Media Framing Of Disabilities In Ghana: Journalistic Practices Amidst Advocacy Calls For Change, Pamela Ofori Boateng

Communication ETDs

The study contributes to expanding scholarly research on media portrayals of people with disabilities in Ghana. Drawing on theories of framing, ableism, and intersectionality, I analyzed news stories published in Graphic.com.gh. in 2021 and 2022 to explore how the editorial practices framed people with disabilities and how framing patterns revealed change and continuity in representation. The findings affirmed a shift to using more diverse and appropriate language to represent people with disabilities more fairly and accurately; the categorization of most of the disability stories under “General News,” which suggests the significance attached to disability related stories; and the …

Queer Crises: Movements From Queerness And Feelings Of White Religion In The United States, Austin Williams Miller

Communication ETDs

Anchored by contemporary crises surrounding queer and trans people in the United States, I employ movements from queerness within an affective queer phenomenological framework to understand how arrangements of “white religion” (Schaefer, 2015, p. 63), a process whereby U.S. American Christian forms escape ideology into religious affective economies in the United States, relegate queer people “to the background… to sustain a certain direction” (Ahmed, 2006, p. 31). I assemble a queer rhetorical context analyzing white religious space in documentary film, secular sexual regulation through contemporary U.S. legal contexts around marriage, and settler colonial Christian nationalist political imaginations to critique how …

Projecting Vegetation Condition And Fire Risk In Southern California, Westin K. Guthrie

Geography ETDs

In the western US, relationships between fire, vegetation, climate, and urban areas are dynamic and evolving. This work used a forest landscape model, LANDIS-II, informed by future climate scenarios and projections of urban expansion to understand wildfire interactions within projected Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas. This simulation showed that in both 2050 and 2100 +93% of the WUI in southern California experienced fire. Future work needs to be done in parametrizing forest biomass to ensure the validity of projections. Additionally, increasing each climate scenario model's replicates will create more accurate projections.

State Of Urbanization In Nepal: The Official Definition And Reality, Keshav Bhattarai, Ambika P. Adhikari, Shiva Gautam

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Nepali government’s official delineation of several human settlements as new urban areas has been questionable because many important criteria such as urban infrastructure and services, open space, population density and economic viability are not thoroughly analyzed while defining what is urban. Many settlements in Nepal officially defined as urban, often driven by political considerations, are operating in the rural framework forming ruralopolises. This paper analyzes various criteria needed for defining urbanization that are internationally accepted to assess Nepal’s official definition of urban settlements. Urban areas have been expanding in Nepal at the cost of agricultural, forest, and shrubland land uses. …