Digital Commons Network^™

Interrupting Holistic Processing May Improve The Detection Of Deceptive Emotional Facial Expressions, Christopher A. Gunderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although a growing body of evidence suggests that genuine and deceptive facial expressions differ, previous work is mixed as to whether observers can discern between them. One explanation is that cues to deception on the face are subtle and not readily perceived by observers. I argue that the way people process faces may obscure these cues, making them ‘unseen’ by observers. In the current work, I pit two hypotheses against each other to test whether interrupting holistic processing improves or impairs the ability to identify deceptive emotional expressions. Since people process faces holistically, one region of the face may interfere …

2022 Forecast La Conference Book, Fernando J. Guerra, Brianne Gilbert, Lindsey Hendren, Alejandra Alarcon, Jorge Cortes, Julian Samuels, Viola Chow

Forecast LA

No abstract provided.

Ua12/8 Annual Campus Safety & Security Report, Wku Police

WKU Administration Documents

Statistical report of crimes reported to and services rendered by the WKU Police Department during the calendar year 2022. Includes policies related to security and safety.

Uri Libraries' Ai Lab--Evolving To Meet The Needs Of Students And Research Communities, Harrison Dekker, Angel Ferria, Indrani Mandal

Technical Services Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mitigating Weight Stigma In The Medical System: Self-Compassion For Nursing Students, Ellen C. Joseph

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Weight stigma is a form of oppression that has been shown to have a detrimental impact on the well-being of people with higher weight. Healthcare providers are one of the most common sources of weight stigma, and their stigmatizing beliefs have been found to be associated with differential care for patients with “obesity”. The current study aimed to explore the feasibility of the loving-kindness meditation (LKM) as a brief intervention that reduces weight bias in nursing students by increasing self-compassion, positive, other-focused emotions, and cognitive flexibility, in order to improve compassionate care for patients with higher weight. Participants (189 nursing …

Community Well-Being And Leadership In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2022 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Heather Akin, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy, Timothy Meyer, Steven A. Schulz, Amanda Tupper

Nebraska Rural Poll

Rural Nebraskans are less positive about the current change and expected future change in their communities this year. The proportion believing their community has changed for the better has typically been greater than the proportion believing it has changed for the worse. However, last year the proportion believing their community changed for the worse was slightly more than the proportion believing it had changed for the better (similar to what occurred in 2003 and 2009). This year, that gap widened a bit.

Despite that, rural Nebraskans are positive about their community by many different measures. Most rural Nebraskans rate their …

A Call To Dismantle Systemic Racism In Criminal Legal Systems, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Margaret C. Stevenson

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Objectives: In October 2021, APA passed a resolution addressing ways psychologists could work to dismantle systemic racism in criminal legal systems. The present report, developed to inform APA’s policy resolution, details the scope of the problem and offers recommendations for policy and psychologists to address the issue by advancing related science and practice. Specifically, it acknowledges the roots of modern-day racial and ethnic disparities in rates of criminalization and punishment for people of color as compared to White people. Next, the report reviews existing theory and research that helps explain the underlying psychological mechanisms driving racial and ethnic disparities …

Traffickers’ Use Of Substances To Recruit And Control Victims Of Domestic Trafficking For Sexual Exploitation In The American Midwest, Erica Koegler, Claire Wood, Lilly Bahlinger, Sharon Johnston

Social Work Faculty Works

This paper describes how traffickers use substances to recruit and control victims of domestic trafficking for sexual exploitation, as reported by service providers working with trafficking survivors in the American Midwest. This data was derived from interviews with 15 service providers in a major metropolitan area. Findings revealed consistencies with previous literature and new insights into the trafficker- substance use dynamic. Traffickers’ use of substances with victims was pervasive when trafficking was for the purpose of sex but not other labour. There were several examples of how traffickers use substances for victim exploitation and recruitment. These include using substances to …

No-Knock Warrants: Unlawfully Legitimate, Isabel Pergande

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

On March 13, 2020, Breonna Taylor was fatally shot when officers of the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) executed a search warrant at her apartment. Breonna Taylor’s case brought national attention to no-knock warrants (NKWs), which allow police to enter private residences unannounced. It is estimated that 20,000-80,000 NKWs are executed by American police each year. This thesis explores the development of NKWs as a common, yet controversial, police tactic. The increase in NKWs is largely attributed to the federal government’s War on Drugs, beginning with Richard Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign. However, the Supreme Court laid the foundation for NKWs …

Art As Politics? How Fox News Manufactures Its Hosts’ Performances To Acquire Cable Prestige, Matthew Mcguirk

The Graduate Review

Fox News is the most popular cable news network in the United States, drawing millions of conservative viewers who trust it more than any other outlet. Although many of the network’s claims are subject to controversy or rooted in falsities, these viewers continue watching, offering a never-before-seen devotion to the network. Using Fox’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as insight from Karl Marx and Walter Benjamin, this paper demonstrates how Fox manufactures its hosts’ performances to advance its fetishizing of the commodity of cable prestige.

Descriptive Model Of Economic Development, Thomas O. Armstrong

Pennsylvania Economic Review

A descriptive model of economic development is a long-run framework for enhancing production factors through a supportable economic development infrastructure contributing and exploiting physical and human technological innovations. When supportable, the developmental impact results in a per capita increase with demand for goods and services changes as income increases. The structure of the labor shifts to a greater skilled and technological demanded workforce therefore contributing greater innovation in a reinforced economic development model. Costs and regulations, quality of life, innovation or competitiveness, and constitutional/institutional framework underlie an economic development infrastructure focusing upon Pennsylvania for any gaps to supportability.

“Stay Home, Save Lives": A Study On Covid-19 And Intimate Partner Violence, Grace E. Messina

Honors Undergraduate Theses

With the introduction of COVID-19, preliminary data suggests that the forms and frequency of abuse relating to intimate partner violence (IPV) have changed. Most of society was unaware of the arising silent pandemic which was happening to the individuals in abusive relationships who were being quarantined with their abuser. The IPV resources were extremely aware of this silent pandemic due to large numbers of individuals seeking emergency shelter. However, there was only a priority for public safety due to COVID-19 when in hindsight, there needed to be a balance of public safety as well as increased aid for the individuals …

The Role Of Individual Differences And Personality Factors In Distracted And Aggressive Driving Behaviors, Alyssa M. Holcomb

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Government reports indicate that, on average, more than 3000 people die due to distracted driving each year, accounting for nearly 10% of all fatal car crashes. Other reports claim that two-thirds of fatal car accidents result from aggressive driving. Previous research has been inconclusive regarding how personality impacts distracted and aggressive driving behaviors. Therefore, the goal of this current study is to fill the gap in the literature concerning the role that personality plays in distracted and aggressive driving behaviors. We also explored the role that distracted and aggressive driving behaviors played in accident involvement. A sample of (N=327) participants …

Setting The Agenda: The Legal And Historical Context To Best Understand How Transportation Technology Might Be Regulated To Combat Forced Labor, Brittany Eastman

Journal of Law and Mobility

Transportation is a piece of all human activity. As individuals and as a society, the logistics of getting people and goods from one place to another is a question we answer countless times a day. Just today, billions of people drove to work, took the bus to school, used a rideshare to get to the store, or took the train into the city to enjoy an evening out on the town. This list does not even consider all the items people have ordered online which will be shipped and delivered to homes. Even more exciting is the innovation that inspired …

Rise Of Police Unions On The Back Of The Black Liberation Movement, Ayesha Bell Hardaway

Connecticut Law Review

Police unions have garnered the attention of the media and some scholars in recent years. That attention has often focused on exploring the seemingly inexplicable and routine power police unions have to shield problem officers from accountability. This Article shows that police union power did not surreptitiously arrive on the doorsteps of American cities. Instead, collective bargaining rights for law enforcement began to gain firm footing during the 1960s as white Americans remained committed to preserving their place in the nation’s racial hierarchy as it related to housing, jobs, education, and entertainment. Existing legal scholarship has successfully highlighted the depth …

Community-Oriented Policing: Building Trust And Collaborative Relationships With The Black Community, Tunice M. Cole

DSW Capstone Projects

Black people die at the hands of police at a disproportionate rate. In the United States, Black citizens are three times more likely to be killed by police than White citizens. This, along with other factors, has caused a lack of trust, legitimacy, and relationships between police and the Black community. Examining this problem from a socio-ecological and social constructivist perspective suggests that the solution encompasses the use of community feedback and experiences to build and develop a model of community-oriented policing that addresses the issues of the community being served.

Product one of this capstone was a systematic literature …

A Job-Demand Resource Theory And Psychological Flexibility Integrated Model Of Police Officer Burnout, Lucas David Baker

Dissertations and Theses

Police officers encounter stressors as a result of job responsibilities that contribute to high rates of occupational burnout. Defined by three primary components (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and professional inefficacy), burnout is associated with health- and work-related problems among officers. In addition, police agencies incur significant costs associated with burnout due to performance decline and turnover. Officer burnout is also a matter of public interest given that burnout is associated with low prosocial behavior and high use of force. As such, research that aims to explore the formation and maintenance of officer burnout may be consequential for the profession and society …

Challenges To Career As A Source Of Meaning And Satisfaction Among Certified Athletic Trainers In The United States Of America, Nicole Marie Glasgow

Dissertations and Theses

There is a high prevalence of burnout in the athletic training profession. Similar to what has been found in other healthcare professions, burnout is correlated with lack of job satisfaction, high turnover, and decreased productivity. In phase one of this study, the purpose was to investigate whether there was a relationship between perceived career meaning and burnout among certified athletic trainers. In phase two, the purpose of the study was to explore the lived experiences of meaningfulness and purposefulness by certified athletic trainers. The overall objective of the research was to generate an understanding of factors associated with burnout in …

Fines, Fees, Race, And Socioeconomic Disadvantage, Joshua D. Houy

Dissertations and Theses

Fines and fees for legal violations finance American criminal justice systems but often at a severe cost to those incurring fines and fees. While fines and fees are a long-standing feature of the United States criminal justice system, the use of fines and fees recently captured attention of scholars in the wake of questions prompted by recent social, political, and legal developments. The central question is: What, if any, association is there between race, socioeconomic disadvantage, and county fine and fee issuance? The main hypothesis is: Fine and fee issuance of the most populous counties positively and significantly associate with …

The Expression Of Satanist Identity: Does Visible Identification Of Satanism Predict Discrimination And Depression?, Allyson Dudley

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The current research examines the relationship between visible expression of religion, identification within Satanism, experiences of discrimination, and depression in a sample of modern Satanists (n = 1,272). Historically, Satanism has been scrutinized as immoral and a threat to public safety. The current research attempts to challenge that viewpoint by employing culturally competent methods and understanding of modern Satanism. Findings indicate a negative relationship between expression of Satanism and discrimination, expression of Satanism and depressive symptoms, in-group ties and discrimination, and identification (in-group ties and in-group affect) and depressive symptoms. Results show a positive relationship between identification with Satanism and …

Towards A Psychological Science Of Abolition Democracy: Insights For Improving Theory And Research On Race And Public Safety, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Phillip Atiba Goff

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

We call for psychologists to expand their thinking on fair and just public safety by engaging with the “Abolition Democracy” framework that Du Bois (1935) articulated as the need to dissolve slavery while simultaneously taking affirmative steps to rid its toxic consequences from the body politic. Because the legacies of slavery continue to produce disparities in public safety in the U.S, both harming Black people and the institutions that could keep them safe, psychologists must take seriously questions of history and structure in addition to immediate situations. In the present article, we consider the state of knowledge regarding psychological processes …

Laws For The Support Of Transgenders In Argentina And Brazil, Elias Choclin

Modern Languages, Philosophy and Classics Theses

In the last decade, the feminist and LGBTQ+ movements have shown the challenges transgender people face in different countries of the world. Specifically, Brazil and Argentina have proposed different regulations and laws that protect these individuals from violence and that intend to incorporate them into the job market. However, these countries have vastly different policies regarding healthcare for transgenders such as transition medication and surgeries, which will be further identified and explained in the paper.

Fig Leaves, Pipe Dreams, And Myopia: Too-Easy Solutions In Environmental Law, Albert C. Lin

University of Colorado Law Review

Much of environmental law and policy rests on an unspoken premise that accomplishing environmental goals may not require addressing the root causes of environmental problems. For example, rather than regulating risks directly, society may adopt warnings that merely avoid risk, and rather than limiting plastic use and reducing plastic waste, society may adopt recycling programs. Such approaches may be well-intended and come at a relatively low economic or political cost. However, they often prove ineffective, or even harmful, and they may mislead society into believing that further responses are unnecessary.

This Article proposes the concept of "too-easy solutions" to describe …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Hospital Nurses' Experiences During The Covid-19 Pandemic Through The Lens Of The Demand-Control-Support Model, Alisha Garner

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Positive social support, realistic job demand, and appropriate levels of control over their responsibilities can mitigate empathy fatigue and burnout among nurses, increase quality care for patients, and lay the foundation for teams to embrace challenges during crises. The COVID-19 pandemic stretched nurses in all these areas, leading many nurses to contemplate changing fields. Failure to address and embrace the difficulties that nurses face during such crises can result in loss of nurses and impact the entire healthcare industry.

The present study used one-to-one interviews to glean insider perspectives of changes in job demand, control, and support nurses experienced as …

The Assessment Of Emergency Preparedness Among University Students, Arliah Cox

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

University students have been an understudied population when it comes to the topic of emergency/ disaster preparedness. While there have been a few studies carried out to examine students’ perceptions of preparedness, the level of preparedness must be determined to be able to close the gap when it comes to barriers preventing them from being prepared. One hundred and eighty-seven undergraduate participants at a Midwestern university completed both online and in-person surveys in March 2022. The survey included questions regarding emergency/ disaster preparedness, perception of being prepared, and barriers which can prevent preparedness. Results showed that a lack of time …

Financial Sustainability Of Florida Cities: Comparative, Retrospective Modeling For Prospective Municipal Financial Health, Terry Henley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The Great Recession produced rising debt, deficits, and exposed vulnerabilities for municipalities in a globalist economy. The two-month COVID recession in 2020 accelerated these burdens; a lagging downturn recently added pressures of reduced economic activity, record inflation, and rising costs in 2022. This dissertation studies how local financial sustainability (FS) and financial condition (FC) approaches can work in concert towards a set of indicators with internal and external categorization to explain municipal financial health (MFH). Unassigned fund balance plus select formal stabilizations measure MFH, are conceptually supported in having retrospective (FC) and prospective (FS) value as an intergenerational resource and …

The Educational Trajectories Of Latinx Undocumented Students: Illegality And Threats To Emotional Well-Being, Alessandra Bazo Vienrich, Rosalie A. Torres Stone

Sociology

For undocumented students, the high school–to–college pipeline is filled with social, economic, and psychological stressors. Yet very little is known about the impact of legal status on the experiences of undocumented Latinx college students living in states without tuition equity policies. Using qualitative data from 37 interviews exploring undocumented college students’ educational trajectories in Massachusetts and North Carolina, the authors examine the impact of legal status on the emotional well-being of undocumented Latinx students, including those who benefited from Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The findings show that even when undocumented students gain access to higher education, barriers to legal …

The Rise Of 5g Technology: How Internet Privacy And Protection Of Personal Data Is A Must In An Evolving Digital Landscape, Justin Rabine

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Applying Critical Race Theory And Risk And Resilience Theory To The School-To-Prison Pipeline: Theoretical Frameworks For Social Workers, Christopher Thyberg, Christina Newhill

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social workers are essential stakeholders in the mounting efforts to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. This article presents a theoretical framework integrating Critical Race Theory and Risk and Resilience Theory as a tool for social workers and other school-based social service providers seeking to create meaningful change to school discipline policies. In this article, we apply the theories to expand the understanding of the school-to-prison pipeline and why it has persisted, compare and contrast each theory’s relative strengths and limitations, and conclude with implications for social workers, counselors, and social service providers at the practice, policy, and research levels.

Turning The Tides: An Inoculation Theory And Theory Of Planned Behavior Approach To Developing Mental Health Help-Seeking Interventions For Gen Z, Sarah Ann Geegan

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Extensive research, predating and during the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrates the rising prevalence of anxiety and depression among Gen Z college students in the United States—findings which are accompanied by rising rates of suicide, the second leading cause of death among people aged 15-24. Although college campuses often offer mental health resources, the number of college students utilizing them is significantly less than the number of students reporting mental health challenges. A dearth of empirical evidence, focused on Gen Z specifically, exists as a basis for developing interventions to address this issue. This investigation addressed this gap through two component studies. …