Human Ecology Commons^™

The Altruistic Self, Nathan Dougherty

Dialogue & Nexus

Altruism as a purely naturalistic phenomenon self-defeats the term altogether; however, theology also makes unsubstantiated claims that some behaviors are purely selfless. I will first define various conceptual forms of altruism and then offer explanations of the term from neurological, evolutionary and psychological investigations. Despite the position that altruism can be reduced to a fantastical impossibility bearing neither the arms of science nor theology, it is also a fallacy to separate it from a religiously derived supernatural altruism that carries no implications for the realm of morality.

The Relationship Of The Serotonin Transporter (Slc6a4) Extra Long Variant To Gene Expression In An African American Sample, Meeshanthini Vijayendran, Carolyn Cutrona, Steven R.H. Beach, Gene H. Brody, Daniel W. Rusell, Robert A. Philibert

Daniel W. Russell

The serotonin transporter (SLC6A4) is a key regulator of serotonergic neurotransmission. Like most genes, SLC6A4 expression is partially regulated by genetic variation. The most heavily studied variant affecting this expression is the polymorphism known as the serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region (5HTTLPR). In those of northern European ancestry, this variation exclusively consists of two alleles; a long (l) variant that consists of 16 repeats and a short (s) variant that consists of 14 repeats of ~22 bp element. In a large number of studies, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that the short variant is associated with 60% of the transcriptional ...

Divine Intervention: Designed For Social Evolution By Integrating Natural Order, Anatoshia L. Wyatt

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

There is a long tradition in architecture of using ordering systems found in nature and science to create built space. This thesis builds upon such line of thought to propose new design methods based on ordering systems with a particular focus on social relations. It focuses on the design of a community center in the city of Atlanta which is considered as a catalyst for jumpstarting the betterment of society through improvement of social bonds, community involvement, activism, meditation, and the integration of nature in the community. The design is situated on the Bellwood Quarry site and creates an ecological ...

Where The Sidewalk Ends: Reimagining Urban Place And Governance In Semarang, Indonesia, Emmaleah K. Jones

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Purpose: This project analyzes the uses of space and geography up the scales of political organization – from the village to the municipal – attempting to find the intersections where physical space meets governance using Semarang, Indonesia as my strategic case. This research employs a biocultural lens, addressing the existing gaps in literature by advancing a framework to function across disciplines and ultimately reconnecting to its practical application in urban planning and design. Such a framework is important in providing a blueprint for building a coherent and supportive structure on which to assess the human impact of design and contribute new “human-centered ...

I Share, Therefore It's Mine, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Flames In The Shadows - The Marathwada Riots And The Struggle For Dalit Liberation, Paroma Soni

Senior Theses and Projects

From July to September 1978, the Marathwada region experienced intense levels of violence following the decision to rename Marathwada University into Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar University. In a crushing display of upper-caste power, thousands of dalits were killed, raped and made to flee their homes. Deep feelings of uncertainty and fear lingered on for several months after. The question of why a matter so ostensibly trivial as renaming a university incited so much violence is a perplexing one. It cannot be answered by merely reducing the violence to “an imposition of high caste authority.” The rise of dalit self-assertion movements – inspired ...

Book Review: Greenwood, M. Et Al. (Eds.). (2015). Determinants Of Indigenous Peoples' Health In Canada: Beyond The Social, Javier Mignone

The International Indigenous Policy Journal

This article provides a review of the book Determinants of Indigenous Peoples’ Health in Canada: Beyond the Social edited by Margo Greenwood, Sarah de Leeuw, Nicole Marie Lindsay, and Charlotte Reading.

Frustrations, Fights, And Friendships: The Physical, Emotional, And Behavioural Effects Of High-Density Crowding On Mumbai’S Suburban Rail Passengers, Lily Hirsch, Kirrilly Thompson, Danielle Every

The Qualitative Report

Crammed together in tight folds of humanity, the suburban rail passengers of Mumbai, India, experience the most densely crowded trains in the world (Basu & Hunt, 2012). Whilst the immediate physical descriptors of crowdedness in Mumbai are well understood (Hirsch, 2016), there is little knowledge of the effect this has on the multitude of passengers. This is an important omission, as the effects of crowding on passengers impact their attitudes, travel behavior, and travel decisions. This paper therefore seeks to discern the physical, emotional, and behavioural effects of rail passenger crowding in Mumbai, India. To achieve this, a qualitative methodology, including ...

Married Black Men's Observations Of Fathers' Teachings About Husbandhood, Tera R. Hurt, Jeffrey K. Shears, Margaret C. Oconnor, Sharon B. Hodge

Human Development and Family Studies Publications

It is important to investigate the ways in which sons learn about marriage from men, including biological fathers, male relatives, and social fathers. This study’s purpose is to explore Black sons’ observations of fathers’ teachings about husbandhood. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 52 married Black men who participated in the Pathways to Marriage project in 2010. Findings highlighted developmental pathways and family processes related to modeling husbandhood, demonstrating trust and commitment, managing conflict, protecting and providing, displaying teamwork and partnership, showing love and affection, and imparting beliefs and values. Implications and recommendations for future studies are also discussed.

Relationship Contexts As Sources Of Socialization: An Exploration Of Intimate Partner Violence Experiences Of Economically Disadvantaged African American Adolescents, Antoinette M. Landor, Tera R. Hurt, Ted Futris, Allen W. Barton, Stacey E. Mcelroy, Kameron Sheats

Human Development and Family Studies Publications

Intimate partner violence (IPV) among African Americans is a serious public health concern. Research suggest that African Americans adolescents, particularly those from economically disadvantaged communities, are at heightened risk for experiencing and perpetrating dating violence compared to youth from other racial and ethnic groups. In the present study, we examined different relationship contexts that are sources of IPV socialization. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 economically disadvantaged African American adolescents. Content analysis yielded five relationship contexts through which the participants witnessed, experienced, and perpetrated IPV: (a) adolescents’ own dating relationships (64%), (b) siblings and extended family members (e.g., cousins ...

First Nations And Adaptive Water Governance In Southern Ontario, Canada, Thomas Dyck

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Water quality and quantity are prominent concerns for First Nations across Canada. The federal government shares the responsibility with First Nations to ensure water resources on-reserves meet the needs of First Nations. Federal approaches have been predominantly technical, focused on addressing issues related to infrastructure, maintenance, training, and monitoring. This approach is important. However, water issues concerning First Nations go beyond technical issues and relate to inadequate participation in decision making, poorly defined roles and responsibilities, and approaches to managing water resources on-reserve that have not accounted for local context. These issues parallel historical nation-to-nation (i.e., First Nations and ...

Backpacking Brothers: An Experiential, Adventure Education Program To Transform Rape Culture And Prevent Sexual Violence, Matthew Lynn

Capstone Collection

Sexual violence is a public health crisis in the United States and globally, that has devastating interpersonal, social, psychological, spiritual and economic impacts. The root causes of sexual violence are tied to all forms of oppression. The normalization and perpetuation of sexual violence is buttressed by cultural paradigms used by media, religion, education and other systems that maintain rigid gender roles and power dynamics. There are promising initiatives for preventing sexual violence before it occurs. This paper explores one of those initiatives called Backpacking Brothers. The purpose of Backpacking Brothers is to engage middle school boys in an adventure education ...

Evaluation Des Impacts Sociaux Et Ecologiques De La Gestion Communautaire De La Forêt D’Analabe, Nicole Israel-Meyer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Le transfert de gestion des forêts de l’Etat vers les communautés locales est l’une des approches que le gouvernement malgache a implémentées pour à la fois conserver la biodiversité locale et continuer le développement rural. Cette étude cherche à comprendre les impacts sociaux et écologiques de la gestion communautaire de la forêt d’Analabe par le VOI Fanarenana. La forêt d’Analabe se trouve dans le secteur d’Antanandava du district Majunga II dans le nord-ouest du pays. En utilisant une méthodologie mixte, l’étude a exposé que dans les trois ans d’opération du VOI Fanarenana, la ...

Culture And Conservation: Beyond Anthropocentrism, Nathan Poirier

Journal of Ecological Anthropology

No abstract provided.

Developing And Implementing A Lgbt Family Studies Course: A Pre-Post Evaluation, Kathryn Alexandra Conrad

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores the pre- and post-course knowledge and attitudes regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and families. An upper-level, Child and Family Studies undergraduate course, Modern Families, was constructed and piloted during the Spring 2016 semester to provide students with empirically-based information on contemporary families with a heavy emphasis on LGBT individuals and families. Participants (N = 19), who were enrolled in the course, participated in a series of open- and close-ended surveys at the beginning (Time 1 [T1]) and end (Time 2 [T2]) of the semester that assessed their knowledge and attitudes towards diverse family constellations (most ...

Playing Out: The Importance Of The City As A Playground For Skateboard And Parkour, Mike Jeffries, Sebastian Messer, Jon Swords

Occasional Paper Series

The authors document young skaters and freerunners’ improvisational use of public space and the development of their interpersonal relationships and learning.

What (And Where) Is The ‘Learning’ When We Talk About Learning In The Home?, Julian Sefton-Green

Occasional Paper Series

In this paper, I will build on the proposal that we need to pay attention to both of these frames through characterizing the metadiscourse surrounding learning in the home. I suggest that this metadiscourse is made up of several elements. I will show how a number of families — the subjects of a larger research project that investigates learning across time and contexts — adopt and use folk “ theories of learning,” and I will consider, in particular, how such theories relate to dominant discourses around learning in school. Second, I will explore how media technologies — and in particular, how the ways that ...

Front Matter And Introduction: The Other 17 Hours - Valuing Out-Of-School Time, Jennifer Rebecca Teitle

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Visualizing Spaces Of Childhood, Heather Kaplan

Occasional Paper Series

Explores the connections between our images of the child and our understandings of children’s spaces to posit childhood itself as a construction of both image and space.

Shared Perspectives Of Divided Space: Perceptions Of The Urban Environment Among Jerusalemites, Andie Duplantis

Theses and Dissertations

Multidisciplinary research and philosophical discourse have long explored the complex relationship between the objective environment and subjective human perception. No two humans perceive, experience, and form attitudes about the same phenomenon in exactly the same way. Individual demographics (sex, age) and group identity (culture, religion, ethnicity, political ideology) have been shown to have a profound effect on perception of phenomena; research has also focused on the effect of the physical environment itself. Differences in perception, experience, and resulting behavior have great implications for governance, particularly in regards to planning and development. Recognizing these differences, modern urban planning increasingly seeks to ...