Digital Commons Network^™

Statistical And Biological Analyses Of Acoustic Signals In Estrildid Finches, Moises Rivera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Acoustic communication is a process that involves auditory perception and signal processing. Discrimination and recognition further require cognitive processes and supporting mechanisms in order to successfully identify and appropriately respond to signal senders. Although acoustic communication is common across birds, classical research has largely disregarded the perceptual abilities of perinatal altricial taxa. Chapter 1 reviews the literature of perinatal acoustic stimulation in birds, highlighting the disproportionate focus on precocial birds (e.g., chickens, ducks, quails). The long-held belief that altricial birds were incapable of acoustic perception in ovo was only recently overturned, as researchers began to find behavioral and physiological evidence …

Impact Of Covid-19 On Latinx And Black Communities, Carolina Zuluaga

Dissertations

This critical literature review project explored the impact of COVID-19 on Latinx and Black communities. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of September 28, 2022, around 16% of COVID-19 cases in the United States were among Latinx people, and 14% of cases were among Black people (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Since COVID-19 began, clinicians have become more conscious of the effects of health disparities within racial and ethnic minorities, which has warranted increased advocacy by educating health and mental health providers and creating and providing resources to these communities and clinicians. The review …

Conservative And Cultural Clashes With Comprehensive Sexuality Education, Bryan Z. Anderson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis analyzes the multifaceted debate over the use of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in United States public schools, while also emphasizing the ways in which withholding CSE is a strategy to uphold the white supremacist patriarchy. The work begins by historically framing the evolution of sexuality education through the United States’ history. This leads to the current discourse around CSE and the ways in which it is the optimal support for American youth today. After setting this foundation, the thesis looks at conservative figures and groups who are seeking to prevent public school adoption of CSE standards, as well …

Permanent Shelter In The Empire City: Youth Experiencing Family Homelessness And Navigating The Homeless Industrial Complex With A Narrative Inquiry Approach, Henry O. Love

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Many studies have examined unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness; however, a relative silence persists about the lives of youth and young adults (YYA) while in family homeless shelters. This study aims to fill the gap in the literature about the lives of youth residing in family shelters and to learn about successful transitions from adolescence to young adulthood while experiencing family homelessness. This transition interacts with various social collectives (family, peers, community), political institutions (municipal, state, and federal), and an overwhelming economic system (global racial capitalism). These complex perspectives are considered with a narrative activity-meaning system research design to understand the …

Adverse Childhood Experiences(Aces) And Nonverbal Reasoning Skills, Monika Malinowska

Dissertations

Severe stress and interpersonal traumatic experience in childhood have a cascade effect on an individual's physical and mental health. There is evidence that people with complex adverse childhood experiences have diminished cognitive abilities. However, there are few studies on the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) on non-verbal reasoning skills. This study aimed to assess the relationships between ACEs, non-verbal reasoning skills, and academic achievement.

Parenting And Students' Gpa In The Latino Population: An Exploratory Study, Carolina Arboleda

Dissertations

The present study experimentally investigated Latino high school students’ grade point averages (GPA) and the parenting styles used by their parents based on Baumrind’s (1968, 1971, 1989, 1991) theory of parenting behaviors. Participants (N=52) were asked to take a survey of 62 questions total addressing three parenting dimensions as measured by the Escala Parental Breve to categorize their parents’ behaviors into parenting styles. Participants also responded to demographic questions such as English proficiency, household income, parents’ education level, and other relevant factors impacting parenting and GPA. Results from the study were limited as there was a limited number of participants; …

​​The Effects Of Viewpoint, Motion, And Affordance Priming On Perceptual Learning Of Feelies​, Catherine Dowell

Dissertations

According to Gibson and Gibson (1955) perceptual learning is a process of developing the skill to differentiate previously undifferentiated but available information. The initial investigations focused on object identification, lacking a behaviorally relevant functional task. In the current study participants learned to differentiate between novel objects (feelies). To test the role of visual exploration objects were viewed from either a side or a top view and were displayed as either static pictures or rotating about a vertical axis. In Experiment 1 a simple object discrimination task was used. Perfect accuracy was achieved sooner in static conditions compared to motion conditions …

Child Sexual Assault Prevention And Intervention, Kira Peterson, Amaya Ibuna, Emily Valenzuela

Psychology and Child Development

In our paper, we discuss child sexual assault, its risk factors, short and long-term outcomes, as well as prevention and intervention programs that have been shown to be valuable. To limit research, our focus will be on children living in the United States who have been physically sexually assaulted. To spread awareness of child sexual abuse, we also developed a pamphlet (See Appendix) that will be distributed to CASAs, which stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates. The development of the pamphlet is described in the combined Method and Results section. We conclude our project and paper with a Discussion section …

An Offer You Cannot Refuse: Understanding The Elusive Construct Of "Voluntary" Plea Decisions, Melanie B. Fessinger

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Defendants often plead guilty in exchange for reduced punishments. Some argue that these reduced punishments are necessary for the functioning of the criminal justice system, whereas others argue that they are inherently coercive because they place a burden on the exercise of constitutional rights. This potential coercion is of concern because the constitution requires valid guilty pleas to be made by defendants voluntarily. However, “voluntary” is an elusive construct of which courts, scholars, and laypeople have differing definitions. Although limited research has focused specifically on perceptions of voluntary pleas, decades of research have shown that individuals generally perceive decisions more …

Effects Of Different Spectrum Of Leds On Retinal Degeneration Through Regulating Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress, Wenyi Chen, Rong Lin, Kunhong Xiao, Kun Yuan, Zhongjiang Chen, Yan Huang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: To evaluate the impact of full-spectrum light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on albino guinea pigs' retina and investigate the roles of short-wavelength opsin (S-opsin) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in light-induced retinal degeneration (LIRD).

METHODS: Three-week-old albino guinea pigs (n = 30) were distributed into five groups under 12/12 light/dark cycles with indoor natural light (NC; 300-500 lux, n = 6), full-spectrum LEDs (FL; 300 lux, n = 6; 3000 lux, n = 6), and commercial cold-white LEDs (CL; 300 lux, n = 6; 3000 lux, n = 6) and raised for 28 days. Hematoxylin and eosin staining and transmission electron …

Aibp Regulates Trpv1 Activation In Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy By Controlling Lipid Raft Dynamics And Proximity To Tlr4 In Dorsal Root Ganglion Neurons, Juliana M Navia-Pelaez, Julia Borges Paes Lemes, Leonardo Gonzalez, Lauriane Delay, Luciano Dos Santos Aggum Capettini, Jenny W Lu, Gilson Gonçalves Dos Santos, Ann M Gregus, Patrick M Dougherty, Tony L Yaksh, Yury I Miller

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Nociceptive afferent signaling evoked by inflammation and nerve injury is mediated by the opening of ligand-gated and voltage-gated receptors or channels localized to cholesterol-rich lipid raft membrane domains. Dorsal root ganglion (DRG) nociceptors express high levels of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), which also localize to lipid rafts. Genetic deletion or pharmacologic blocking of TLR4 diminishes pain associated with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). In DRGs of mice with paclitaxel-induced CIPN, we analyzed DRG neuronal lipid rafts, expression of TLR4, activation of transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1), and TLR4-TRPV1 interaction. Using proximity ligation assay, flow cytometry, and …

Basal Metabolic Rate As A Potential Determinant In Risk Sensitive Foraging., Kathryn Van Maanen, Eric S. Long, Baine B. Craft

School of Psychology, Family, and Community Research Conference

In foraging, there are many possible determinants of an individual’s sensitivity to risk, such as an animal’s learning or various biological imperatives. However, few studies on risk sensitivity incorporate information about an animal’s metabolism. One measure of metabolic rate is basal metabolic rate (BMR), or the minimum rate at which metabolism must produce energy to maintain homeostasis, which is highly plastic. Therefore, we investigated a potential relationship between risk sensitivity and BMR. This metaanalysis revealed little to no relationship between BMR and risk sensitivity, perhaps because of the high intraspecific variation of each of these traits.

Effects Of Nmda Inhibition Of Rodent Decision-Making And Reward-Seeking Behavior, Hoda Aboueich, Hannah Doble, Seth Foust, Brandon Goh, Michael Mains, Bailey Wells, Phillip Baker

School of Psychology, Family, and Community Research Conference

In this study, we are investigating the relationship between NMDA receptor antagonists and decision-making. Rats choose between a Fixed-Delay (FD) lever that dispensed a sugar pellet in ten-second intervals and a Progressive-Delay (PD) lever that dispensed a sugar pellet at progressively increasing time intervals of one second. After training on the optimal decision-making task, rats were injected with MK-801 in a randomized sequence of doses of 0.06 mL/g, 0.1 mL/ 0.2mL/g with saline as the control. Analysis of behaviors in relation to optimal choices is ongoing in relation to the varying doses of MK-801.

Machine Learning Analysis For Animal Behavior In Predator-Exposed Rodents, Hoda Aboueich, Michael Mains, Bailey Wells, Phillip Bakee

School of Psychology, Family, and Community Research Conference

Using machine learning analysis, we analyzed both rats and mice of different strain, sex, age, and housing in order to evaluate behavioral differences in exposure to a 3D printed owl predator that surges toward the center of an arena. As the rodent responded to the stimulus, we were able to evaluate behavioral patterns, such as time spent in hiding, freezing, fleeing, or near the walls of the arena. This will allow us to look at the overall movement trajectories prior to and during predator exposure across species.

Service Dogs And Their Impact On Psychological Well-Being And Anxiety, Zack Hower, Baine Craft, Jenny Lee Vaydich

School of Psychology, Family, and Community Research Conference

Service dogs are highly skilled animals that assist disabled individuals. The Americans with Disability Act was passed in 1990, which legalized the use of service dogs. Since then, there has been a growing demand for one to obtain a service dog for their disability. Though the popularity of owning a service dog has increased, there is limited research that supports the notion that psychological well-being improves and anxiety decreases as a result of having a service dog. The current proposal seeks to explore whether or not service dogs contribute to changes in psychological well-being and anxiety.

Relationship Between Sex And Mk801'S Effects In Rats., Emily Mccurry, Erica Sanchez, Seth Foust

School of Psychology, Family, and Community Research Conference

In this study, we are investigating the effects of MK-801 on male and female Sprague Dawley rats. According to D’Souza et al. (2001), females have a stronger reaction to MK-801 than males. Correspondingly, the current study measures the varied effects of MK-801 on rat models using an optimal decision-making task. The rats are injected with doses of MK-801. Then, they choose between a Fixed-Delay (FD) (ten-second intervals) and a Progressive-Delay (PD) lever (one second progressive increase) to receive rewards. We are currently in the process of obtaining results analyzing the relationship between sex and MK-801’s effects.

Comparing Teaching Methods For Auditory-Visual Conditional Discrimination, Brady Conley, Robbie Hanson

Theses

Responding to spoken language is a skill that is typically acquired at a young age. However, responding to spoken language requires discrimination between stimuli. Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have demonstrated difficulty acquiring listener behavior involving conditional discrimination. Thus, the most efficient and effective teaching strategies should continue to be a focus in behavior-analytic research. The purpose of the current study was to compare teaching methods for conditional discrimination for three school-aged children with ASD. The results showed that one participant met criterion for the best practice condition only, one participant met criterion for both best practice and …

The Effects Of Antecedent And Consequence Strategies On Data Collection In A Human Service Organization, Sarah Love, Robbie Hanson

Theses

Antecedent and consequence strategies in the research literature to improve employee performance within human service organizations have included behavioral skills training (BST) and performance-based incentive programs, among others. The current study continued this line of research in which participants were members of a human service organization and were responsible for collecting data on clients’ responding during programming. The purpose was to evaluate the effects of antecedent and consequence-based strategies on the accuracy of data collected by participants. The results showed that BST was effective at increasing accurate data collection across all participants and that the consequence-based intervention, in the form …

Death Cafés As A Strategy To Foster Compassionate Communities: Contributions For Death And Grief Literacy

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

The death-positive movement, the most recent manifestation of the death awareness movement, contends that modern society is suffering from a “death taboo” and that people should talk more openly about death. This movement is striving to shift the dialogue about (and place of) death and dying into community spaces. Death literacy is defined as a set of skills and knowledge enabling people to learn about, understand, and act on end-of-life and death-care options. People and groups with a high level of death literacy have a context-specific comprehension of the death system and can more easily adapt to it, becoming better …

Exordium: Lost Words, Lost Worlds

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Brunold-Conesa, C. (2022). Lost Words, Lost Nature: A Dictionary's Controversial Choices. Montessori Life: The Official Blog and Magazine of the American Montessori Society, Wednesday, September 07, 2022. https://amshq.org/Blog/2022-09-07-Lost-Words-Lost-Nature

Book Review: Jared Farmer's (2022) Elderflora: A Modern History Of Ancient Trees. Ny: Basic Books.

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Psychenatur: Selfing And Naturing

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Insofar as our sense of and appreciation of “nature aesthetics” is both culturally biased and subjectively determined (given our agentic proclivities and/or actual degrees of freedom), and while taking the more inclusive perspective that, objectively so, ‘nature’ are all the processes seen and unseen that existed, now exist, and will exist, from the infinitesimally small to those of cosmic proportions, and, that whatever we mean by a singular “self” stands, in reality, for a multiplicity of self-other and self-otherness references (i.e., intersectionality during the entire life of a given individual—see Fig. 3), then all characterizations easily or convolutely described …

Talking With Horses: Equine Assisted Activities To Promote Social Engagement In Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Amy Ezhaya

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Purpose of Project: The purpose of this evidenced-based project is to gather data on how therapeutic horseback riding (THR) facilitates social engagement in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The project aims to provide alternative treatment options and disseminate information to providers on the importance of community partnerships.

Background: In 2020, it was estimated that 1 in 54 children had ASD, which is a 170% increase since 2000. Often, those diagnosed with ASD also experience co-occurring mental health diagnoses placing a large burden of care on our healthcare system. THR is a growing alternative treatment option and has been found …

Who Am I?: How Natives’ Mental Trauma Develop During Precolonial And Colonial Eras As Seen In Achebe’S Things Fall Apart And Fanon’S The Wretched Of The Earth, Sophia D. Casetta

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

Colonialism is a long, brutal process, where natives’ identities are uprooted as colonizers establish their influence in a foreign land. Consequently, through the exploration of the natives’ response to this upheaval throughout the precolonial and colonial eras, the psychological toll that is placed on the colonized is evident. Such mental trauma that is incited is explored in Chinua Achebe’s fictional novel Things Fall Apart, which unveils the slowly lost of the natives’ identities during the precolonial shift, and the non-fiction work of Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth that details psychological disorders of the colonized due to colonization. …

Promoting Mental Treatment In The Arab World, Aya Emam Hassanein

Masters Theses

This study investigates why mental health has been neglected in the Arab world and what strategies could be used to promote it and break the stigma associated with mental disorders. The literature review reveals that the most prominent barriers preventing mental treatment in the Arab world are cultural stigma, poverty, illiteracy, false beliefs regarding the causation of the illness, conflicts in countries, and a scarcity of mental health services and research. The review also discusses the most common mental illnesses in the Arab world and how the culture affects the process of treatment. Additionally, it discusses the possible solutions proposed …

The Influence Of Childhood Familial Dysfunction On Emotional Well-Being And Substance Use Behaviors In Young Adults, Margaret Bullerjahn

Dissertations

Problematic substance use in young adulthood can lead to a variety of societal and individual consequences; therefore, it is important to understand risk factors contributing to its development. Although several individual and environmental factors can contribute to the development of substance misuse, the relationship between family dysfunction and emotional functioning in the prediction of substance use has been relatively understudied within this developmental period. The current study aimed to further understand how childhood family dysfunction, emotion regulation, and emotion reactivity aid in the development of young adult substance misuse. 405 young adults were surveyed about their childhood family experiences, current …

Woman Flytrap, Brianna Jo Hobson

Student Theses and Dissertations

Woman FlyTrap is a short story zine collection that explores the topic of sexual violence through the perpetrator and victim relationship with an explicit lens. Replete with cultural and entomological themes and motifs, Woman Flytrap seeks to remind survivors that we are not alone. In our bodies or in our lives. Neither in the world. There are over a million insects to every human, proving that there is strength in numbers. All five stories in the collection present different abstracts: revenge, transformation, justice, healing, body image, self-harm, mourning, etc. There is also a playlist and a section about the author. …

Creating Project Contrast: A Video Game Exploring Consciousness And Qualia, Pierce Papke

Honors Projects

Project Contrast is a video game that explores how the unique traits inherent to video games might engage reflective player responses to qualitative experience. Project Contrast does this through suspension of disbelief, avatar projection, presence, player agency in storytelling, visual perception, functional gameplay, and art. Considering the difficulty in researching qualitative experience due to its subjectivity and circular explanations, I created Project Contrast not to analyze qualia, though that was my original hope. I instead created Project Contrast as an avenue for player self-reflection and learning about qualitative experience. While video games might be just code and art on a …

Examining State Of Flow And Its Future In Dance/Movement Therapy: A Literature Review, Rachael A. Cohen

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This paper analyzes State of Flow, the definition codified by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and analyzes how Flow as a concept has developed in current psychological and artistic research, alternative therapies, and mainstream medias. This paper also views existing Dance/Movement Therapy frameworks such as Body-Mind Centering and Kestenberg Movement Profile to see how Csikszentmihalyi’s definition could integrate into current Dance/Movement Therapy practice, as well as looks at Laban Movement Analysis and its future in Dance/Movement Therapy. This thesis also examines how gender and neurodivergence may impact how one can experience State of Flow.

Playful Dance/Movement Therapy For Traumatized Individuals With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities: Development Of A Clinical Method, Teagan Collis

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This capstone thesis project explored the potential for dance/movement therapy (DMT) to be an accessible and effective treatment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) that have been impacted by trauma. People with IDD are more vulnerable to adverse life events than the neurotypical population. Past research has largely used treatment designed for neurotypical people who communicate and interpret life events in different ways than people with IDD. The expressive arts therapies, and DMT specifically, have the potential to create a positive embodied experience for people with IDD that have been impacted by trauma. The current method consisted of …