Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Model Minorities: Asian Americans And The White-Black Racial Paradigm, Jason Tom

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the racial wedge driven by Whites between Blacks and Asian Americans during the Cold War on to the present. Model minorities is a term coined by whites in the 1960s to suppress Civil Rights protests and Black demands. By elevating a minority group through success stories, whites constructed a means to suppress Black people’s organizing for change against systemic racism and oppression.

Post-Revolutionary State Building Processes Democratization Or Divergent Paths?, Ingi Rashed

Theses and Dissertations

As many scholars argue that revolutionary changes generally leads to autocratization, evidence from recent revolutionary changes in post USSR republics and Eastern Europe demonstrate that divergent regime types emerge thereafter. On the one hand, the case of Poland in the aftermath of the collapse of USSR demonstrates that the first few years after regime removal from power are crucial to the emerging new regime. Additionally, Poland proved that democratization can emerge if various institutional settings take place hand in hand with the existence of certain dynamics that shape decision making processes and society agency.On the other hand, the case of …

Are Giant Pandas (Ailuropoda Melanoleuca) Averse To Inequity?, Miranda R. Trapani

Theses and Dissertations

Inequity aversion, a negative response to situations of unequal reward distribution, is a cognitive trait usually seen in social species. This capacity is thought to regulate cooperative relationships in intelligent, cognitively flexible animals. Giant pandas are a unique case in that wild populations are characterized as nonsocial, however captive populations are socially housed until sexual maturity. This allows for the study of a nonsocial species in a social context and thus the assessment of socio-cognitive flexibility across evolutionarily distant taxa. Here, we assessed whether the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) displays inequity aversion by testing ten juveniles living at …

Variation In Personality Among Semi-Wild Myanmar Timber Elephants, Sateesh Venkatesh

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines two personality traits: exploration and neophobia, which could influence human-elephant conflicts. Thirty-one semi-wild elephants were tested over two trials using a custom novel puzzle tube containing three tasks and three rewards. Our studies show that elephants do vary significantly between individuals in both exploration and neophobia.

Behavioral Differences Among Varyingly-Disturbed Populations Of Eastern Grey Kangaroos (Macropus Giganteus) In New South Wales, Australia, Francesca A. Iacobucci

Theses and Dissertations

Despite their iconic status, kangaroo spp. are often treated as pests in Australia due to perceived abundance and extensive grazing behaviors. With growing suburbanization, animals such as kangaroo spp., are forced to inhabit human-dominated areas. Little research has been done examining how different aspects of human-induced disturbance can varyingly affect the behavior of wild animals. Specifically, this study examined how varyingly-disturbed areas affect behaviors such as vigilance, foraging, joey emergence during the in/out stage of pouch emergence, and play in three eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) populations. Results suggest that acute environmental disturbances (e.g., dogs barking or …

The Relation Between Hyperlipidemia, Hypertension, And Downstream Cognitive And Neuroanatomical Function, Victor James Wasserman

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: Cardiovascular risks (CVR) such as hypertension and hyperlipidemia play a critical role in the emergence of dementia syndromes. Medication to treat CVR may not obviate downstream risk for cognitive change.

Methods: To examine the relation between history of treatment with medications to treat CVR and cognitive outcomes, participants were seen at time points ~7 years apart, completed neuropsychological evaluations, assessed for history of treatment with medication associated with hypertension and hyperlipidemia as indicators of CVR, and classified into 3 groups: Not Treated, Inconsistently Treated, and Consistently Treated. Regression models associating neuropsychological outcome measures of cognition and CVR were explored …

Evidence Of Incipient Song Divergence In A Hawaiian Population Of Warbling White-Eyes, Jesse D. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Natural or human-mediated founder events can lead to changes in avian communication signals, potentially impacting the trajectory of evolution. Warbling white-eye (Zosterops japonicus) was introduced from Japan to the Hawaiian Islands between 1929 – ca. 1937. I recorded primary songs in Hawai‘i (O‘ahu, Big Island) and collected archival recordings, then conducted a comparative analysis between introduced and native song types which revealed significant differences in the O‘ahu and Big Island populations. To test for behavioral responses that corresponded to these differences, I presented conspecific playback stimuli (intra-island, inter-island, native) to individuals in Hawai‘i (O‘ahu, Big Island). Big Island individuals increased …

A Study Of Fremont Snake Valley Black-On-Gray Ceramics From Sites In Northern Utah And The Parowan Valley, Stephanie K.Y. Abo

Theses and Dissertations

Archaeologists widely argue that Fremont potters from the Parowan Valley, in southwestern Utah, manufactured Snake Valley pottery. For my thesis, I examined Snake Valley Black-on-gray rim sherds using neutron activation analysis, oxidation analysis, metric data, and statistical methods. I compared my results on Snake Valley Black-on-gray sherds from three archaeological sites within the Parowan Valley (Paragonah, Parowan, and Evans Mound) to my results on Snake Valley Black-on-gray sherds recovered from three archaeological sites over 250 kilometers to the north (South Temple, Block 49, and Wolf Village). I argue that the Snake Valley Black-on-gray ceramics from the northern sites are tradewares …

Examining Psychotherapeutic Treatment Approach Preference In A Hispanic Population, Andrea Mayra Vieira Debarros

Theses and Dissertations

Minority groups are at a disadvantage when seeking psychological treatment. Interventions are often less effective for minority populations when treatment outcomes are compared to Anglo populations. Studies indicate that the stigma associated with mental health disorders and seeking psychological intervention within these minority subgroups may be at fault for this disparity. In this study, we explored this idea by examining what methods of intervention Hispanic-identified individuals are more likely to seek out. Participants were given the option to enlist in a biofeedback approach to intervention as well as a supportive talk psychotherapy. Participants were drawn from the community population in …

Are They Really Just Cosmetic? The Impact Of Cosmetic Items On Fortnite's Gameplay And Game Design, John Joseph Fennimore

Theses and Dissertations

Cosmetic microtransactions, the act of paying for virtual items that customize certain parts of video games and virtual worlds such as skins that change the appearance of the avatar, are looked upon more favorably in the gaming community than performance-enhancing microtransactions, where one pays for virtual items that enhance the abilities of avatars or speed up the progression of the game. Video game industry spokespeople have adapted this rhetoric and emphasized that the microtransactions in their games are for cosmetic items only with no bearing on gameplay. However, the way players use cosmetic items in games and the way cosmetic …

Videogame Tourism: Spawning The Digital Into The Physical Realm In The British Isles, Heather Rebecca Brinkman

Theses and Dissertations

Video game tourism is in its infancy but growing in popularity. This dissertation is an anthropological study of gamers’ attempts to interact with the physical environments in Scotland that influenced the virtual landscapes to which they have an emotional connection. Seven of the locations I identified as potential field sites provided some form of ethnographic material. I traveled with gamers to these seven sites. While at these sites, I observed and interviewed people that I met as well as did participant observations with those I went with. This project was able to demonstrate that gamers and tourists alike attempt to …

Stradling A Cultural Doctrine: Exploring Historical Trauma On Ethnic Identity Development Among The Mestizo Peoples, Esmeralda Gill

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT STRADDLING A CULTURAL DOCTRINE: EXPLORING HISTORICAL TRAUMA ON ETHNIC IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AMONG MESTIZO PEOPLES

by Esmeralda Gill The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2020 Under the Supervision of Professor Marty Sapp, Ed.D.

The modern descendants from the territory now known as Mexico, the Mestizo, are known to primarily be an admixture of Indigenous and European ancestry. Mestizo ethnic nomenclature acknowledges the presence of Indigenous Peoples in an individual’s ethnic background. Though the Mestizo narrative is saturated in collective mass group trauma and chronic complex forms of racism, discrimination, and systemic oppressive forces that delineate from colonialism, the Mestizo are also known …

Proactive And Reactive Cognitive Control Under Threat Of Unpredictable Shock: A Combined Eye-Tracking And Eeg Study Using Multilevel Modeling, Salahadin Lotfi

Theses and Dissertations

We are constantly bombarded by environmental distractors in daily life which interfere with internal, ongoing goals, thus cognitive control processes need to be in place to adapt to maintain these goals in light of the environmental demands. These cognitive processes (generally referred to cognitive control) are thought to be adjusted reactively or proactively to deal with distractors. There is little evidence on how state anxiety dynamically interacts with these two modes of cognitive control. Taking advantage of a multimodal methodology, through two experiments, we replicated existing findings of reactive and proactive control processes via utilizing a Flanker task in a …

Essays On Private And Public Debts, Financial Integration And Economic Volatility, Prince Osei-Sarfo

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two essays on surges of private and public debt flows and how these debt flows through financial integration affect output and consumption volatility (risk sharing) in emerging markets. Chapter 1 focuses on a common characteristic of many of the recent emerging market financial crises – a preceding surge in the debt inflows not only in the public but also in the private sector. In this chapter, I examine the drivers of the occurrence and magnitude of foreign debt surges to 28 emerging market economies (EMEs) over 1990-2016. Using the threshold method of defining a surge on …

Roli I Faktorit Ndërkombëtar Në Krizen Jugosllave 1991-1998, Gazmir Gashi

Theses and Dissertations

Roli i faktorit ndërkombëtar në krizen Jugosllave 1991-1998

Qëllimi i këtij hulumtimi është analizimi i ngjarjeve historike dhe identifikimi i faktorëve që çuan drejt shpërbërjes së Jugosllavisë, ndikimi i politikave të tyre të ndërmarra nga organizatat ndërkombëtare për zgjidhjen e çështjes së Kosovës, ndërhyrja dhe vendosja e misioneve dhe operacioneve ndërkombëtare në Kosovë për ruajtjen dhe konsolidimin e paqes në shtetin e ri, me qasje në forcimin e mbrojtjes dhe të sigurisë kombëtare e rajonale.

Ndër konferencat që kemi cekur në theks të vecantë janë: Koferenca e Hgës, e Londres, e Dajtonit dhe e Rambujesë. Referencave apo citimeve iu kemi …

“Cenimi I Privatësisë Përmes Rrjeteve Sociale: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Në Kosovë”, Agnesa Halili

Theses and Dissertations

Me zhvillimin e hovshëm të teknologjisë, mënyra se si i mbrojmë të dhënat tona apo privatësinë është vështirësuar. Shqetësimet lidhur me privatësinë në hapësirën kibernetike filluan të bëheshin çështje e debatit ndërkombëtar në fillim të viteve 2000. Ky shqetësim është ngritur së fundmi edhe në Kosove, ku vërehet një rritje e numrit të personave të cilët janë ankuar pranë autoriteteve përkatëse. Teknologjia tanimë në një formë ose tjetrën e “kontrollon” një pjesë të madhe të jetës tonë, madje sjell edhe probleme të mëdha. Për këtë arsye ky punim synon të trajtojë cenimin e privatësisë përmes rrjeteve sociale: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram …

Fuqia E Ndikimit Të Medias Si Pushtet I Katërt Në Kosovë, Qendresa Ibrahimi

Theses and Dissertations

Kjo temë “Fuqia e ndikimit të medias si pushtet i katërt në Kosovë” shqyrton efektin e medias në historinë e Kosovës. Fillimisht analizon literaturën mbi e efektin e medias në opinionin publik, dhe rëndësinë e saj në zhvillimin shtetëror, tutje duke analizuar historinë e Kosovës, zhvillimin e mediave lokale si dhe vëmendjen e mediave ndërkombëtare. Kjo temë zhvillon paralelisht historinë e Kosovën dhe gjendjen e mediave në ato periudha deri në intervenimin ndërkombëtar.

Tema analizon variablën e pavarur fuqinë e medias dhe variablën e varur në rastin tonë zgjidhja e konfliktit. Ky hulumtim teston teorinë të efektit CNN duke u …

Associations Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Negative Sleep Health Among Young Adults, Yanzhou Lu

Theses and Dissertations

Poor sleep health has been marked as a major factor impacting young adults’ social, academic, and physical performance in a negative direction. Existing research has shown that stress related mental illness or disorder are significant risk factors that contribute to negative sleep health in a bidirectional relationship. Such stress can be contributed by stressors of daily life, as well as adverse experiences and other experiences from earlier in the development. Purpose of the current study aimed to contribute to the existing understanding of the mechanisms that connect early trauma and disadvantage to sleep difficulties in emerging adulthood. Results indicated that …

Restorative Potential And Working Memory Capacity Of Exposure To Vegetation In Indoor Built Environments, Jee Heon Rhee

Theses and Dissertations

This research seeks to understand how natural elements – specifically, vegetation in the indoor environment - influence people’s ability to restore attention and working memory capacity. Previous research demonstrates the benefits of nature on human beings in various ways. For instance, numerous studies show the positive effects of nature on stress reduction (Hartig, Mang, & Evans, 1991; Ulrich et al., 1991) and attention restoration (Staats, Kieviet, & Hartig, 2003). However, most of these studies focus on the effect of nature in outdoor settings. Relatively few studies focus on the presence of natural elements indoors. This is an important gap in …

Attitudes Of Criminal Justice Students' Towards Women: Hegemonic Masculinity In The Workplace, Lauren Escovedo

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the following study is to examine positive, benevolent, and hostile attitudes towards women in the workplace held by criminal justice students enrolled at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. As well, to examine whether or not criminal justice students enrolled at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley believe that criminal justice personnel create a gender-neutral classroom environment. The application Qualtrics XM was used to comprise a 35 question survey that, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, was administered online to students for a two week period during the Fall 2020 semester. Criminal justice students …

Examining The Indoctrination Of Mexican American Criminal Justice Students, Noe Leal Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Mexican American Criminal Justice students (MACJS) sometimes select a career in Department of Homeland Security, which has a history of systemic racism and oppression. The purpose of this thesis is to examine MACJS conformity to U.S. ideological hegemony and examine the differences in their understanding of human rights/ethics. A questionnaire was administered to MACJS (n = 156) wishing to pursue a career in DHS. The survey instrument used is based on the concepts of Social Identification: Mexican versus U.S. American; Support for Nationalist Racist Policies, Internal Colonialism, Followership by engaging in policies/orders by the government; and Human Rights: Knowledge of …

Displacement: An Analysis Of Foreign Aid And Its Effects On Migration Patterns In Latin America, Edgar Abraham Navejar

Theses and Dissertations

To influence a country’s behavior, aid has been used to push for specific changes, whether it be to increase security in a country or to sponsor social programs. Using neoclassical realism, this paper will analyze if US aid influences migration patterns, specifically, if U.S. foreign policy through aid creates conditions that encourage or discourage migration of people to the United States. This paper will analyze between the years 1980- 2017 to see if the Cold War played a part or if the post- Cold War international arena pivoted the United States to focus on migration patterns in Latin America.

Underlying Principles Of U.S. Media Coverage: A Case Study Of Venezuela’S Political Crisis From January-July 2019, Solange Nirere

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the U.S. mainstream media’s coverage of Venezuela’s political crisis from January to July of 2019. By deciding not only the issues presented, but their tone and stance, the media actively sets policy agendas and influences public opinion. The propaganda model (PM) provides a predictive framework for understanding media behavior and how “filters” determine published content. Using a media content analysis of 270 articles on the Venezuelan crisis in the NYT and WSJ, I found strong evidence for the PM viz a heavy reliance on U.S. government sources, strong U.S. foreign policy support, and an absence of alternate …

When It Comes To Money In Elections, It Doesn't Matter Which Paris You Live In, Jacqueline J. Arias

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I argue how money influences election outcomes in the Texas Legislature from 2010 to 2018. I explore the political history of Texas, where scholars have long alluded to the role of wealthy elites in the political process. Using an investment theory approach, where money is considered a powerful determinant in elections over other factors, this thesis will analyze total disbursements and vote totals of Texas senate and house candidates in a linear model. Along with this bivariate correlation, this thesis will conduct a multilevel analysis that includes partisanship and regions in Texas. This thesis found a strong …

Cyber Intimate Partner Victimization And Its Association With Depression And Alcohol Use Among Hispanic Emerging Adults: Identifying Protective Factors, Jorge I. Cantu

Theses and Dissertations

The advent of modern technology has inadvertently created newer avenues for intimate partner victimization (IPV) to transpire. This study investigated whether among Hispanic emerging adults psychological, sexual, and stalking intimate partner cybervictimization (cyber IPV) types were uniquely associated with depression and alcohol use; whether there were additive effects of cyber IPV types on depression and alcohol use; and to test whether cognitive reappraisal, self-compassion, and flourishing served as protective factors by moderating the unique effect of each cyber IPV type and the effect of cyber IPV multi-victimization on depression and alcohol use.

Participants were 1,129 Hispanic emerging adults in the …

The Mediating Role Of Emotion Dysregulation In The Association Between Intimate Partner Victimization Types And Symptoms Of Depression In Young Hispanic Women, Maria Gabriela Copeiro De Lestarpe

Theses and Dissertations

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is defined as the abuse or aggression that occurs in a close relationship. Statistics show that the most prevalent types of IPV are psychological, physical, and sexual. In the U.S. 1 in 4 women (24.4%, or 29.2 million) are victims of IPV before the age of 25. Minorities and socioeconomically disadvantaged women are most likely to experience it. Depression, among others, is one of the harmful consequences resulting from IPV victimization. The present study focuses on the role of emotion dysregulation in the association between IPV and depression. It was hypothesized that emotion dysregulation mediates the …

Governance And Sustainable Development Goals (Sdgs): Exploring The Relatinship Between Governance And Sdgs Using An International Comparative Perspective, Apu Deb

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between governance and sustainable development goals from an international comparative perspective. The research question of the study was: Does the performance level of governance affect the achievement of SD specifically in terms of reducing poverty, gender inequality, and human inequalities? This study has used the convenient sampling method to select 16 countries based on their income level and secondary data collected from the UNDP, World Bank for statistical analysis. We did the Hausman test to decide whether used fixed effects or random effects and found the Hausman test was significant …

Where Is My Mind? The Who, What, And Where Of Mind Wandering At Work, Anthony Belluccia

Theses and Dissertations

Mind wandering is a phenomenon often tackled by cognitive psychologists and overlooked by organizational psychologists, despite numbers suggesting that disengaged employees cost organizations $550 billion a year. Mind wandering is a demonstrated disruptor to cognitive processes like reading and working memory capacity that impair performance but may also be helpful for creative problem solving and autobiographical planning. Despite this, extant research has yet to develop a framework for the antecedents of mind wandering, there are still gaps in our understanding of workplace implications of mind wandering, and it is typically treated as a monolithic construct, ignoring dimensionality. The current research …

Simple Subject-Verb Agreement: A Morphosyntactic Path To Arabic Variations, Turki Alwahibee

Theses and Dissertations

The analytic object of this dissertation is to formally model the Arabic subject-verb agreement aspects, more particularly, the verbal agreement with simple subject DPs. It aims to define how φ-agreement is formally manifested across the Arabic varieties, more specifically, Standard Arabic and the current dialects, and hopes to draw the latter varieties’ interrelation. In other words, this thesis hopes to advance the overall understanding of subject-verb agreement in Arabic and contribute to a clearer and simpler view of a number of specific syntactic phenomena. Most important of all, the subject DP relative order with respect to the verbal predicate influences …

Communion, Agency, And Authenticity: How Gendered Expectations Influence Trust In Leaders, Allyson Day Pagan

Theses and Dissertations

While there are a great many benefits to increasing female numbers in leadership positions, organizations still struggle to find a place for women leaders. More research is required to examine leader skills and mechanisms through which they operate in order to facilitate women’s empowerment. The purpose of the current study was to examine leadership skills (political skill), behaviors (impression management and emotion management) and their outcomes (authentic leadership and trust in leader) in the context of gender. This study examined interpersonal emotion management as an increasingly important construct for leadership and social influence, incorporating it as an outcome of political …