Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

College As Capability Enhancement, Cristina Lee

CMC Senior Theses

In this thesis I wanted to apply the Sen’s framework in Development as Freedom to college campuses. In my experience at Claremont McKenna College, I have seen how some students are able to take advantage of the resources better than others. Given that we were all accepted by the same admissions office, I always questioned why did some students know how to take advantage of the system. In order to explore this, I first discuss Sen’s capability approach. Then, I show how the capability approach is more comprehensive than social networking theory and William Deresiewicz’s account on elite colleges. Finally, …

Caffeine Withdrawal And Dependence: A Review, Alexander Roberts

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With the prevalence of caffeine use increasing in modern lifestyles, it is important to look at the symptoms of caffeine use, including withdrawal and dependence, and whether these symptoms have implications for addiction. A limited number of assessments have been developed to assess caffeine withdrawal. In order to make a call for more assessments and programs to be developed to assist with healthy caffeine use, this literature review observed recent studies focusing on withdrawal and dependence. Ozsunger et al. (2009) classified caffeine withdrawal into three categories of symptoms. Three years later, Juliano et al. (2012) used an experimental approach to …

Social Media And Terrorist Organizations: Observing Success Of Recruitment Through Social Media, Vincenzo Cibra

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The Internet is an instrument that has revolutionized the world and the society since its introduction. Today, over 4 billion people around the world have access to it. While this technology comes with several positive innovations, it can also be used negatively by terrorist organizations to more efficiently spread propaganda messages. More so, the development of social media has fostered new methods of recruitment that allows to reach a broader audience anonymously and outside of the geographical area of operation of a terrorist organization.

The purpose of this research is to analyze the relationship between social media development and changes …

Intergenerational Financial Exchange And Cognitive Well-Being Among Older Adults In China, Ping Xu

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Although cognitive loss is part of normal aging, it has unfavorable consequences for older individuals, their family, as well as society. The prevalence of mild cognition impairment is expected to go up in China. How to maintain normal cognition for a longer period of time and to delay impair process is an emerging concern for older Chinese adults. Unlike Western countries, China lacks of formal support system. Intergenerational support between older parents and adult children is a predominant resource when they are in need. This study examines how intergenerational financial exchanges between older parents and their adult children is related …

Observing The Experience Of Racism Through Social Background, Leïla J. Dieye

Graduate Masters Theses

This study explores racism through the eyes of the one that experiences it. If different types of racism have already been established, the initial premise of the study is that some factors make its experience unique, such as one individual’s markers of identity and his history.

Data have been collected from in-depth interviews with ten participants belonging to five ethnic groups (Latino, African American, Asian, African and Middle Eastern). Those participants were asked to reflect on a specific moment when they witnessed racism, and on why it made them think that event in particular was racist. Then, they were asked …

Household Activities And Areas: A Reanalysis Of The John And Priscilla Alden First Home Site, Caroline Gardiner

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis seeks to further understanding of early colonial life within New England through an examination of the John and Priscilla Alden First Home site in Duxbury, MA, excavated in 1960 by Roland Robbins. It specifically focuses on the composition and spatial distribution of the ceramic assemblage to discuss household activities and the spaces in which they were performed. The findings of the ceramic analysis detail a collection composed primarily of utilitarian vessels that indicate multiple subsistence farming activities including dairying. The spatial study reveals the significant patterning of these artifacts. It is proposed that these denote specific activity areas …

Environment, States, And International Organizations: The Role Of Global Environmental Conventions In Protecting The Environment, Natalia Escobar Pemberthy

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Global environmental conventions are created to address and resolve global environmental problems. Assessments of the achievement of specific environmental goals, however, indicate that there is room for progress and that stronger collective action is required. Given that there are no empirical instruments to measure implementation and to determine the factors behind individual countries’ results, challenges emerge that require the expansion of existing analytical frameworks around environmental conventions and their role as global governance instruments. This study develops an empirical instrument – the Environmental Conventions Index – to assess the implementation of global environmental conventions, determining the main trends for both …

Examining Attentional Control And Processing Speed Deficits As Underlying Mechanisms Of Neuropsychological Impairment In Schizophrenia, Mayte Forte

Graduate Masters Theses

Neuropsychological impairment is a key characteristic of schizophrenia (SZ), but its cognitive profile and underlying information processing mechanisms are not yet well understood. We compare patterns of neuropsychological functioning in 85 persons with SZ and 76 healthy controls across measures of intelligence, memory, and executive function. We then test the hypothesis that neuropsychological impairment in SZ is related to dual deficits in two related but distinct information processes: processing speed and attentional control. All research participants completed Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III), Wechsler Memory Scale Third Edition (WMS-III), and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), all of which provided measures …

Whether Or Not 'It Gets Better'…Coping With Parental Heterosexist Rejection, Cara Herbitter

Graduate Masters Theses

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people face the burden of additional stressors as a result of their experiences of stigma and discrimination regarding their sexual minority status. Parental rejection of LGB people in the context of heterosexism serves as a powerful minority stressor associated with poorer mental health (e.g., Bouris et al., 2010; Ryan, Huebner, Diaz, & Sanchez, 2009). Few contemporary theories exist to describe the experience of parental rejection. In addition, the extant empirical research has focused primarily on youth experiences among White and urban LGB samples, signaling the need for research across the lifespan investigating more diverse samples. …

The Effect Of Changes In Racial Composition On Housing Prices: A Study Of The Most Diverse Place In The World, Youseph Anwar

Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to illustrate that increases in minority residents may lead to decreases in housing prices. I observe the effects of changes in racial composition on housing prices in Queens, NY from 2011-2015. The following econometric tools are implemented: a fixed effects model, quantile, hedonic, and OLS regressions.

Enacting “Technology” And Everything Else: Gendered Practices And The System Of Crop Intensification, Natasha Susan Koshy

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation is a qualitative examination of the functioning of a rural

development project in a Himalayan region of India, with a special focus on a

particular project activity centred around an agro-ecological method of crop

production, the System of Crop Intensification (SCI). Environmental changes and

disasters along with rapid transformations in the rural economy in Uttarakhand has

engendered a renewed interest in non-mainstream farming practices. However, the

success and/or failure rates of adoption of new agricultural methods and technologies

remains a poorly understood phenomenon. Studies of adoption rates tend to focus on

the aspects of the technology itself, rather …

The Preemptive Paradox: The Rise Of Great Powers & Management Of The International System, Jeffrey Treistman

Dissertations - ALL

Since the beginning of the modern state system only a few select nations have achieved great power status. But what can account for their rise? The presence of existing great powers would suggest that aspiring states should encounter formidable obstacles that would render their success implausible. In some cases extant great powers sought to counter the rise of a new peer, but the historical record also reveals that incumbents sometimes did not contest the rise of potential competitors. Thus, great powers have pursued two divergent strategies: contestation and nonintervention. How then do great powers decide on which policy to implement? …

Father Involvement Among Asian-Indian Immigrants In The United States: Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, Dimple P. Vadgama

Dissertations - ALL

Parenting is codependent and nested within a familial and cultural structure. While parenting research consistently demonstrates more maternal involvement with children, often fathers’ involvement gets little or no attention. One of the major limitations of fathering research is single source data, often comprised of only mothers’ reports of fathers’ involvement. The purpose of this study was to address this gap by examining the nested nature and interdependence of immigrant parents’ marital adjustment, parenting self-efficacy, and beliefs about parental role and, fathers’ involvement. Actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) was applied to examine the actor (intrapersonal or spillover) and partner (interpersonal or crossover) …

Collaboration And Conflict In Transnationally-Dispersed Zimbabwean Families, William John Suk

Dissertations - ALL

Approximately one quarter of Zimbabwean adults left their country of birth during the past twenty years. These sojourners are increasingly dispersed as tightening immigration regimes in preferred destinations and fluctuating global opportunities lead them to places with fewer historical links to Zimbabwe. This dispersive process fractures many families between multiple international locations. Nevertheless, the idea of family remains centrally important to diasporans, who work with relatives around the world to care for children and elders, to acquire important documents like passports, and to prepare for an eventual return home. Following from performative and relational theorizations of kinship, this dissertation argues …

Readers’ Perceptions Of Newsworthiness And Bias As Factors In Participation With Digital News Content, Gregory James Munno

Dissertations - ALL

Audience participation with digital news content has become a central feature of news consumption. These participatory news behaviors – commenting on, sharing, and “liking” news stories – have implications for both newsreaders and producers of news. This dissertation tests a structural model of commenting behavior using survey data (N = 335). The model builds on suggestions of a connection between hostile-media effects and commenting. This study adds newsworthiness to the structural equation, hypothesizing that newsworthiness increases readers’ perceptions that an article will influence other readers. These relationships should increase hostile-media effects, and, therefore, a reader’s likelihood of commenting. The model …

The Ageing Of The Archives: Community, Conflict, And Queer Potential At The Lesbian Herstory Archives, Rebekah Orr

Dissertations - ALL

The Lesbian Herstory Archives is the oldest and largest lesbian archives in the

world. This dissertation project examines the role of this community archive in

building, defining, redefining, and sustaining community over time. More

specifically, this dissertation seeks to explore the relationship between queer

archives and community through the following research questions:

1. How does the act of archiving produce community?

2. How does a community archive and project of collective memory, rooted

in a specific identity, respond to a radically shifting socio-political

climate?

3. In what ways does the deployment of community produce boundaries of

inclusion and exclusion?

Drawing …

The Effects Of Gross-Motor Fluency Training On Physical Activity Levels In Young Children, Allison Jayne Womack

Dissertations - ALL

Engaging in regular physical activity is one of the most important factors related to good health. Encouraging and promoting physical activity in young children aids in preventing overweight and obesity, promoting health, preventing disease, and supporting bone and overall growth development. However, physical activity levels in young children are low, and efficient and effective interventions to increase physical activity in young children are unclear. One creative method to increase physical activity in young children is gross-motor fluency training. A multielement single-case experimental design was employed to assess the effects of fluency training in six gross-motor skills on children’s levels of …

Generalization Programming And Performance Feedback: A Writing Intervention With Third-Grade Students, Rigby Dawn Malandrino

Dissertations - ALL

Despite the importance of explicitly programming generalization in the context of intervention studies (Stokes & Osnes, 1989), the research base is limited, especially with respect to academic interventions. Given that writing is a particular area of concern in the United States (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012), this is an important area to target. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the benefit of incorporating explicit generalization programming tactics into a performance feedback intervention that has received support for increasing students’ writing fluency (Hier & Eckert, 2014). Toward this aim, 52 third-grade students were randomly assigned to …

“In Our Own Words”: The Phenomenological Exploration Into The African American Experience Of Relational Therapy With White Therapists, Melody Michele Brown

Dissertations - ALL

The consideration of one’s cultural context is a critical component of systemic therapy. Marriage and family therapy literature underscores this importance with a wealth of information on working with various diverse family systems. The literature has not adequately reflected the voices of the African American client. The purpose of this study was to understand the African American experience in relational therapy with White clinicians. Phenomenological methodology was employed via semi-structured interviews with eleven participants across the United States. The findings revealed three themes (lived experiences of African Americans, lack of culturally responsive clinical practice, and what works in therapy). The …

Limits Of Liberation: Youth And Politics In Brazil's Landless Rural Workers' Movement, Melinda Gurr

Dissertations - ALL

This thesis examines the forces that strengthen and weaken young people’s involvement in Brazil’s Landless Rural Workers’ Movement, the MST, during the twilight of the PT years, 2012-2014. The MST responds to displacement, environmental devastation, and capital- intensive development by fighting for land reform and socialist transformation. Although the MST’s politics of redistribution have attracted significant attention from activists and academics worldwide, little ethnographic attention had yet been paid to the experiences and subjectivities of rural youth affiliated with the movement. By attending to structural conditions, dynamics of family, sexuality, and gender, and political socialization in three regions of Brazil, …

The Effects Of Isolation, Encoding Strength And Feature Distinctiveness On Recognition And Categorization, Osung Seo

Theses - ALL

Previous research has shown that in recognition tasks, a distinctive feature can increase hit rates and decrease false alarm rates associated with an isolated item in a similarity space. However, this is inconsistent with the prediction of the global activation models, such as the Generalized Context Model. Since it is generally assumed that recognition and categorization operate under the same similarity-based generalization mechanism, a distinctive feature should also affect categorization judgments in a similar manner. However, the effects of feature distinctiveness on categorization has yet to be explored. For this reason, the present paper investigates the effects of feature distinctiveness …

Coast Guard Public Affairs Middle Management And The Excellence Study, Stephen Bailey Lehmann

Theses - ALL

As is the nature of any organization, the U.S. Coast Guard is constantly seeking to improve its functions, operations, policies and procedures. In terms of communications, the service’s Public Affairs Program has instituted a number of different competencies and qualifications to better prepare candidates as they approach the next rank. This study sought to provide an outline of the middle-management component as it exists within the public affairs element and compare the findings to those published in the Excellence Study to assist the service by providing a basis from which additional policy recommendations could be made.

The study was conducted …

Mammy Representations In The 21st Century, Ayondela Mcdole

Theses - ALL

This thesis examines the signification of the mammy stereotype in the 21st century. The performances of Martin Lawrence, Tyler Perry and Eddie Murphy’s as mammies in drag are the selected texts for the project. By presenting the many mammy representations over the past 150 years, I outline the ways in which the mammy stereotype dehumanizes black women and hinders the Pan African agenda. Through the commodification of the mammy stereotype it has been de-historicized and thus separated from its beginnings as a part of the white supremacist imagination. Discourse analysis is used to analyze its meaning and signification while black …

Concordance And Discordance: Cognitive And Neuropsychological Performance Of Twins With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Elizabeth P. Mckernan

Theses - ALL

This study sought to examine the cognitive and neuropsychological performance of monozygotic twin pairs who vary in concordance for ASD. The study used secondary data collected from a larger pilot study, resulting in a final sample of 28 children, all of whom were monozygotic twins (IQ range: 36 – 109). First, the study sought to determine whether pairwise concordance for ASD among monozygotic twins has changed with the use of new diagnostic criteria. McNemar tests found that pairwise concordance rates were not significantly different across DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, but were significantly greater with the use of either parent …

Pack-Years Of Tobacco Cigarette Smoking As A Predictor Of Spontaneous Pain Reporting And Experimental Pain Reactivity, Martin Joseph De Vita

Theses - ALL

The pack-years formula is a widely used estimate of lifetime tobacco smoking exposure, and greater pack-years have been associated with greater risk of chronic pain development and poorer pain-related outcomes among smokers with chronic pain. The pathophysiology underlying these associations is poorly understood. Regular tobacco smoking exposure may dysregulate homeostatic pain processes, producing an allostatic state of pain facilitation. Maladaptive pain mechanisms, such as central and peripheral sensitization, are chronic pain risk factors. Yet, no published research has involved a determination of the relation between lifetime-smoking exposure and dysregulated pain processing. The current study used hierarchical linear regression analyses to …

Cover, Copy, Compare And Performance Feedback: An Integrative Writing Intervention, Natalie Williams

Theses - ALL

A large proportion of students in the United States are performing below the proficient level in writing (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012) and a key component in enhancing writing quality is proficient spelling skills (Berninger, 1999). Unfortunately, explicit and developmentally-appropriate spelling instruction is neglected in elementary school classrooms. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the combination of two empirically-based interventions on third-grade students’ spelling and writing performance. A total of 54 third- grade students were randomly assigned to either (a) Cover, Copy, Compare + performance feedback condition, or (b) performance feedback only condition. Results of the …

Neurocorrelates Of The Mirror Neuron System In Children With Chromosome 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome, Ade Marais

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Activation of brain regions that make up the mirror neuron system (MNS) is thought to reflect processing and perceiving behavior, action, and intentionality of other organisms. Sensing and perceiving motor behavior in others is an important component of understanding and participating in social interactions. Children with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) are diagnosed with serious medical, cognitive, and socio-emotional symptoms. Atypical development and function of the MNS may underpin some aspects of socio-emotional impairment and autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-like symptomology reported. This study of the MNS investigates differences in activation in the operculum, sensorimotor areas, and basal ganglia (BG) in …

Frameworks Of Recovery: Exploring The Intersection Of Policy & Decision-Making Processes After Hurricane Katrina, Kim Mosby

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to understand how local and national newspaper articles and African American residents frame obstacles to returning to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. It explores how recovery planning processes and policy changes influenced the decision-making processes of African Americans displaced to Houston through a content analysis of the media and qualitative interviews with displaced and returned residents. The study shows the media and participants framed disaster recovery policies as creating opportunities and gaps in assistance that varied by location. Participants described how policy decisions that created gaps in assistance compounded the difficulty of returning for working- and middle-class …

The Horse's Ass: A Survey Of Comediology, William M. Fisk

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

What is comedy? Can someone learn to be funny? Are there rules or guidelines for the production of laughter, the universal language? This paper, which outlines an investigation of successful comedians and the production of a short film, determines to aggregate as many of the relevant prerequisites of inducing giggles as possible, especially as they relate to the audiovisual medium of cinema.

Possible Breakdown Of Dopamine Receptor Synergism In A Mouse Model Of Huntington's Disease, Samantha F. Kennedy

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The model of basal ganglia function proposed by Albin, Young and Penney (1989) describes two anatomically independent motor pathways, the direct and indirect. However, under normal conditions striatal dopamine (DA) is required for the expression of motor behavior, and DAergic control of the two pathways (via D1 and D2 receptors, respectively) is dependent on co-activation. We tested for a possible breakdown of D1/D2 synergism using transgenic R6/1 mice bearing the human huntingtin allele (Htt). Motor stereotypy, observed prior to the onset of HD-related symptoms, was rated on a 5-point scale following activation of: A) D1 receptors alone, B) D2 receptors …