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.

Drone-Assisted Emergency Communications, Di Wu

Dissertations

Drone-mounted base stations (DBSs) have been proposed to extend coverage and improve communications between mobile users (MUs) and their corresponding macro base stations (MBSs). Different from the base stations on the ground, DBSs can flexibly fly over and close to MUs to establish a better vantage for communications. Thus, the pathloss between a DBS and an MU can be much smaller than that between the MU and MBS. In addition, by hovering in the air, the DBS can likely establish a Line-of-Sight link to the MBS. DBSs can be leveraged to recover communications in a large natural disaster struck area …

Supporting User Interaction And Social Relationship Formation In A Collaborative Online Shopping Context, Yu Xu

Dissertations

The combination of online shopping and social media allow people with similar shopping interests and experiences to share, comment, and discuss about shopping from anywhere and at any time, which also leads to the emergence of online shopping communities. Today, more people turn to online platforms to share their opinions about products, solicit various opinions from their friends, family members, and other customers, and have fun through interactions with others with similar interests. This dissertation explores how collaborative online shopping presents itself as a context and platform for users' interpersonal interactions and social relationship formation through a series of studies. …

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 …

The Future Of Maine's Forests Under Alternative Socioeconomic, Climate And Conservation Pathways, Jianheng Zhao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maine is a historically important timber supply region in North America and understanding the potential change in forestlands and their product industries affected by climate change and various socio-economic conditions can better improve the forest healthy and sustain a sustainable product industry. A statistical harvest choice model for the state of Maine was developed in chapter 1. It was estimated using a multinomial logit model of two products, under varying management intensities, and ownership classifications across varying market conditions. Results indicate that stumpage prices have a significant effect on forest landowners' harvest decisions and that the expansion of conservation land …

Campus Collaboration At The University Of San Diego For Student Veterans, Jennifer Castro Garcia

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

The purpose of my research was to help provide better resources for student veterans during their experience in higher education at the University of San Diego (USD). My research question was: how can I collaborate with campus partners in creating a central hub for the Military and Veterans Program at the University of San Diego. This was important because as a student veteran there are multiple obstacles to overcome while learning how to be integrated back into civilian life. I looked specifically at student veterans as they have particular characteristics that may differ from other military-connected students on campus, such …

Journalism Through Learning Design, Geoff Decker

Capstones

Abstract

At its core, journalism is a civic enterprise with a mission to help citizens better understand their world and communities. Fulfilling this lofty mission in today’s digital media landscape poses new and evolving challenges, but it also presents a unique opportunity to reexamine the relationship between storytellers and their audiences. Advancements in the learning sciences in recent decades offer important insights into how the mind works. In teaching and learning, pedagogical experts and practitioners increasingly utilize these insights to refine and implement instructional strategies that increase student engagement, motivation, and learning. This capstone project aims to establish a framework …

Examining Bicycle And Motorized Vehicle Speeds And Their Relationships In The Context Of Urban Roadways, Jaclyn Sue Schaefer

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis presents a compilation of papers exploring passenger car and bicycle speeds through their interactions with each other and with urban roadway factors.

First, following a concern raised in part of the traffic literature that a large mode shift toward bicycling may cause travel time delays and potentially exacerbate congestion instead of alleviate it unless bicycle lanes are installed, an empirical study detailing how the presence of bicycles on urban roads without bicycle lanes may affect passenger car speeds is presented. Pneumatic tube data from six predominantly low speed, low volume roads in Portland, Oregon were utilized to identify …

Assessing Airborne Radar To Map Glacier Elevations In Alpine Terrain Including Estimated Glacier Volume Change, Bryce Allen Glenn

Dissertations and Theses

Alpine glaciers and perennial snowfields (G&PS) are important hydrologically and ecologically, providing meltwater during the hottest and driest summer periods. Climate warming shrinks these natural reservoirs while temporarily providing increased streamflow. To assess regional changes in glacier volume, from which contribution to streamflow can be estimated, I used NASA's Airborne Glacier and Ice Surface Topography Interferometer (GLISTIN). This instrument mapped the surface topography of alpine glaciers; differencing these elevations from historic elevations derived from topographic maps, volume change is calculated. GLISTIN was flown over the glacier-populated mountain ranges of the western U.S. Of the 3289 glaciers and perennial snowfields with …

A Historical Ecology Of Aridland Springs In Desert National Wildlife Refuge, Nuwu/Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute/Chemehuevi) Ancestral Territory, Nevada, Yarrow Sarah Valentine Geggus

Dissertations and Theses

Aridland springs are among the most threatened ecosystems in the world. Vital to desert ecologies and Indigenous cultures, these complex and individualistic ecosystems have layered histories. To inform management in the changing landscape of Desert National Wildlife Refuge, a 1.6 million acre protected area in Southern Nevada, I conducted a historical ecology study of a sample of ten upland springs. Through a six-part interdisciplinary methodology including interviews, archaeological survey, botanical survey, and archival research, I summarize findings into three broad eras: the Nuwu/Nuwuvi pre-Contact Era, the Settler Era, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Era.

For millennia, Nuwu/Nuwuvi drank …

Covid-19’S Impact On Climate Change Research And Institutional Resilience In Higher Education In Vermont And Tanzania, Stephanie Clement

Capstone Collection

The COVID-19 pandemic impacts all sectors of society. It is necessary to understand how higher education institutions (HEIs) react to, adapt to, and build resilience in the face of such a crisis. HEIs around the world shifted how they deliver education to their students and struggled to adapt to a changing economy. Yet, there is little information on how HEIs bolster their resilience to exogenous shocks, like the coronavirus. This study assesses how the COVID-19 crisis impacted institutional resilience and climate change research at four HEIs: the University of Vermont (UVM) and Vermont Law School (VLS) in Vermont, United States …

Identifying Successful Strategies Within An Extrinsic Reward System To Improve Behavior In The Alternative School Setting, Christian Burner

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this Delphi study was to identify strategies that are successful within a school-wide extrinsic rewards system to improve alternative school student behavior in the alternative school setting. A second purpose was to rate the effectiveness of the identified strategies for improving alternative school student behavior in the alternative school setting.

Methodology: This study used a Delphi method, consisting of 3 rounds, to collect data from alternative schoolteachers who are experts in implementing strategies within a school-wide extrinsic rewards system. In Round 1, participants were asked to identify strategies to improve student behavior in the alternative school …

Exploring The Relationship Between Anger, Aggression, And Perpetrator Substance Use In The Commission Of Sexual Offenses, Dominique Rivera

Student Theses

This study examined the potential association between perpetrator substance use, anger, and aggressive behavior in the commission of sexual crimes. The sample included 246 adult males convicted of rape (n = 54) or child molestation (n = 192). Descriptive statistics revealed that 64.6% of the individuals in this sample (n = 159) were intoxicated at the time of the offense. Results showed that perpetrators who used substances at the time of the offense were more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior toward the victim (e.g., weapon use, verbal abuse) than those who did not. Offenders with higher pervasive anger scores were …

Deported Veterans: The Unintended Consequences Of “Good Moral Character”, Jonathan Deras

Master's Theses

The purpose of this research is to argue that U.S. immigration policy, specifically the 1996 IIRIRA (also known as IIRAIRA), needs to change regarding the legal treatment of immigrant U.S. military veteran deportees due to the following concepts. The first concept is to articulate how the criminalization of immigration, and how the military system intersects to facilitate the Deportation of U.S veterans. A key concept in this analysis is the standard of “good moral character” set by the U.S. government that enlistees need to meet to be accepted into the military; this standard is also used against immigrant veterans during …

A Phenomenological Study On The Impact Of Servant Leadership For Establishing A Culture Of High Performance As Perceived By High School Principals, Darrick Rice

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and describe the perceived impact of Patterson’s (2003) 7 servant leadership constructs on high school principals in establishing a culture of high performance.

Methodology: The qualitative phenomenological study described the lived experiences of high school principals who lead schools that have implemented Patterson's (2003) 7 servant leadership constructs for establishing a culture of high performance in Los Angeles County, California. The researcher was a part of 8 peer researchers and 2 faculty advisors. The data collection included virtual face-to-face semi structured interviews using a protocol developed by the thematic team. …

Does Age Of Second-Language Acquisition Improve Intellectual Processing Abilities?, Sanum Shafi

Theses - ALL

Past research on bilingual education indicates that the onset-age of second language learning is negatively associated with both second language proficiency and the cognitive benefits of being bilingual. However, there is inconsistency in the bilingual education field as to whether bilingual speakers benefit from enhanced intellectual processing abilities compared to monolingual speakers. The critical period hypothesis states that during childhood development a certain window of time exists in which second language acquisition skills are strongest. This hypothesis provides the theoretical foundation for my research study. In the current study, I synthesize evidence on the associations between onset-age of second language …

Towards A Nuanced Understanding Of Emotional Infidelity: An Investigation Of Behavioral Exemplars And The Impact Of Ambiguity, Morgan Proulx

Theses - ALL

Infidelity is an especially severe relational transgression that can act as a predictor of negative outcomes. Though the word “severe” may seem to imply that we can expect a degree of clarity when considering whether a particular behavior qualifies as “infidelity”, thinking of infidelity behaviors in that way might be an oversimplification. Whereas researchers have had some success in predicting the outcomes of and responses to infidelity, our understanding of infidelity may be complicated by a lack of clear behavioral indices for some forms of infidelity, namely emotional infidelity. The present study explored the specific types of behaviors that participants …

Nonparametric Identification And Estimation Of Stochastic Frontier Models, Jun Cai

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation studies nonparametric identication and estimation of stochastic frontiermodels. It is composed of three chapters. The rst chapter investigates the identication and estimation of a cross sectional stochastic frontier model with Laplacian errors and unknown variance, which is built on a nonparametric density deconvolution strategy. Chapter two studies a zero-ineciency stochastic frontier model utilizing a penalized sieve estimator, which allows flexible function forms and arbitrary distributions of ineciency. The third chapter explores identication and estimation of a nonparametric panel stochastic frontier model based on Kotlarski's Lemma and moments derived from conditional characteristic functions.

Gendered Civil Society Context, Local Party Strength, And Candidate Emergence: Explaining Female Representation Across The Us State Legislatures, Colleen Dougherty Burton

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examines the substantial and persistent variation in female representation observed across states and party caucuses in the US state legislatures. I develop and test the theory of gendered civil society context and party strength to explain why female candidates are more likely to run for office in some places rather than others. Gendered civil society context refers to the gender balance of civil society groups (e.g. unions, service organizations, advocacy groups, professional associations) in a party’s local strategic environment; party strength is defined as the capacity of political parties to influence candidate nomination.

Two main hypotheses guide the …

Three Essays On Demand-Side Health Policies In India, Raghav Puri

Dissertations - ALL

Demand-side health policies, such as conditional cash transfers and public health insurance, aim to increase the utilization of healthcare services by providing financial incentives and higher purchasing power to under-served populations. With their increasing popularity in developing countries, there is a need for more research on their implementation and impact. In this dissertation, I examine demand-side health policies in India by evaluating the impact of these policies, identifying challenges in their implementation and proposing ways to improve their effectiveness in increasing utilization of healthcare services.

In the first chapter, I measure the impact of conditional cash transfers on health-seeking behaviors. …

A Model Of Scaffolded Encoding, Yanxiu Chen

Dissertations - ALL

Repetitions are ubiquitous and are the foundation of episodic memory. As we investigate episodic memory in a laboratory setting and with, usually, a study-test design, we have inaccurately assumed encoding happens only at study and retrieval happens only at test. However, it’s entirely possible that encoding and retrieval happen simultaneously at both study, with explicit repetition, and test, with implicit repetition. The fallacy that encoding and retrieval are separate processes coincides with the unsatisfactory status of memory process model: there is no unified memory model. Most models of memory are models of retrieval tasks. Facing these two challenges, we proposed …

Examining The Mediational Role Of Writing Motivation In The Writing Development Of Elementary-Aged Students, Brittany Eggleston

Dissertations - ALL

Motivational variables, such as writing self-efficacy and writing attitudes, are not emphasized in writing frameworks for developing writers. The purpose of this research study was to extend the research literature on elementary-aged students’ writing development by examining the potential mediational role of writing self-efficacy and writing attitudes between foundational academic skills (e.g., handwriting, spelling, and executive functioning/working memory skills) and written performance. Measures of spelling, handwriting, executive function/working memory skills, writing self-efficacy, writing attitudes, and written expression were administered to 140 third-grade and fifth-grade students. In this correlational research study, a parallel mediational analysis was conducted to examine whether writing …

Maternal Communication At Menarche: Evaluating Direct And Indirect Effects On Age At First Sexual Intercourse In Young Adult Women, Jennifer Horne King

Dissertations - ALL

This study examines maternal communication at menarche and its effects on early sexual decision-making in young adult women. Drawing on principles from Bandura’s social cognitive learning theory and communication privacy management theory, I predicted that certain types of maternal communication at menarche would either promote or inhibit early sexual self-efficacy, with indirect effects on age at first sexual intercourse. I also predicted that maternal communication at menarche would vary in tone or content, depending on age at menarche, with mothers communicating less to daughters who reached the milestone early. A total of 175 sexually active females aged 18 to 26 …

Parenting Typologies And Adolescents' Academic And Behavioral Outcomes In Ghana, Odetta Odartey Addo

Dissertations - ALL

AbstractGrounded in Interpersonal Acceptance-Rejection and Social Learning theories, and guided by Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions framework, this study sought to test the applicability of parenting typologies within the Ghanaian context. In addition to ascertaining maternal and paternal culturally-specific parenting typologies, the associations among parenting typologies, and sociodemographic correlates, adolescents’ academic and behavioral outcomes were determined. Variations in the prevalence of parenting styles, academic and behavioral outcomes across different Ghana’s cultural regions were also examined. A sample of 800 adolescents, including 489 (61.1%) females and 311 (38.9%) males drawn from high schools located in two southern sector regions (Greater Accra and Eastern) …

The Affective Politics Of Democratic Erosion: Explaining Mass Support For Executive Aggrandizement, Aykut Ozturk

Dissertations - ALL

During the last two decades, executive aggrandizement has emerged as one of the chief threats to democratic regimes. In various countries, ranging from Turkey and Hungary to Venezuela, elected incumbents used their democratic mandates to gradually dismantle democratic institutions. Similar patterns of executive aggrandizement have been visible even in an advanced democracy, the United States of America. Executive aggrandizement is facilitated by the consistent electoral support that incumbents with authoritarian agendas enjoy. In order to understand this threat to the future of liberal democracies, we first need to explain why voters support leaders eroding democratic rights and freedoms in their …

¿Campo Para La/Os Jóvenes? Exploring Campesina/O Youth Subjectivities In Contemporary Colombia., Manuela Ruiz Reyes

Dissertations - ALL

The fate of small-scale agrarian production, livelihoods, economies and cultures and their transformations under capitalism is an ongoing and global question. Instead of focusing on agriculture, this dissertation focuses on the young adult agriculturalists (18-35 years old) as the subject under transformation. Based in the frameworks of agrarian studies, political ecology and feminist theory, and situated in the Andean region and river basin of Sumapaz, Colombia, this dissertation is a feminist political ecology analysis of agrarian livelihoods, exploring how campesina/o identity is constructed and how the decisions of continuing or not with small-scale agrarian or campesina/o livelihoods are taken and …

#Metoo: Networked Celebrity Advocacy As Capital Performance, Li Chen

Dissertations - ALL

Celebrity advocacy scholars have studied how social movements utilize celebrity appeal to attract media and public attention for decades. Some researchers have found that celebrity advocacy failed to achieve exceptional performance in the legacy media age. Moreover, only a very few top-class celebrities have successfully attracted legacy media attention regarding advocating social causes. This dissertation introduces the concept of networked celebrity advocacy to illustrate a new route on networked social media. Employing theories of capital and the framework of social network analysis, I test networked celebrity advocacy in the case of the #MeToo movement on Twitter. This dissertation analyzes the …

How Can I Help You? Social Support In The Context Of Attachment Insecurity., Julian Domingo Fuentes

Theses - ALL

People in close relationships support each other through various means yet support attempts may be unsuccessful. I propose that people prefer support behaviors matched to their dispositional needs (the personal context) and their relationship with the support provider (the interpersonal context). I also propose that this kind of support is most effective at enhancing relationship quality and reducing personal distress. Attachment theory provides a framework for characterizing differences in dispositional needs and in the specific relationship context between a support recipient and support provider. In three studies, I tested whether one’s trait and relationship-specific attachment orientations are associated with preferences …

The Role Of Exposure To Communication Channels, Institutional Trust And Moral Norm In Predicting Pm2.5 Risk-Reduction Intention In China: A Study Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior., Tong Lin

Theses - ALL

Understanding and encouraging people to perform PM2.5 risk-reduction behaviors is essential to reduce the health risks caused by PM2.5 and to promote a healthy lifestyle. This study aims to predict the effects of psychological factors (attitude, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm and moral norm) on individual’s PM2.5 risk-reduction intention. It also looks into how contextual factors (exposure to communication channels and institutional trust) can influence behavioral intention and make contributions to the predicting powers of the theory of planned behavior. To achieve this goal, I analyze the secondary survey data that randomly selected residents living in three regions known for …

Exploring Media Preference And Trust By Millennial Investors., Chedza Mmolawa

Theses - ALL

The purpose of this study is to establish which media millennial investors and potential investors prefer and trust to make investment decisions. The Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) will be used to understand why millennials prefer the media they chose to receive investment and financial information, and how it gives them the satisfaction they seek. The study also evaluates how Investor Relations (IR) practitioners can hone the relationship they have with millennial investors and potential investors by using their preferred media to impact their decision-making process. This study will use both qualitative and quantitative research. An online survey will be …