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Neuroticism And Relationship Quality: A Meta-Analytic Review, Charlotte R. Esplin

Theses and Dissertations

Of each of the Big-Five personality traits, neuroticism is most strongly associated with poor relationship outcomes. Prior research has established a robust negative association between neuroticism and relationship quality, regardless of participant age, length of relationship, and country of origin. As so much has already been studied on the topic of neuroticism and relationship quality, the current study explores the association between neuroticism and relationship using meta-analytic methodology, and details whether Hill's seven criteria for causation have been met in the current literature thus far. After searching through databases and the references of included studies, I used 151 published studies …

Analysis Of The Cytopathogenic Effect Of Different Hiv-1 Vpr Isoforms On Primary Human Cd4+ T Cells And A Model Cell Line, Jonatan Josue Fierro Nieves

Theses and Dissertations

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the causal agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a disease characterized by the depletion of CD4+ T cells which impairs immune response. Analysis of HIV-1 infected patients has identified two distinctive phenotypes that differ in length of time towards the development of AIDS, Rapid Progressor (RP) and Long-Term Non-Progressor (LTNP) patients. The cause of the differences between these two groups is a process that is still under investigation. Hints about a possible cause have been attributed to the discovery of mutations in the viral protein R (Vpr) that have been associated with these phenotypes: mutations …

Thirteen-Lined Ground Squirrel (Ictidomys Tridecemlineatus) Morphology And Burrow Placement Across A Latitudinal Range, Emma Solis, Emily Davis, Hallie Dickerson, Veronqiue Tessier, Taqwa Armstrong, Jessica Healy-La Price

Western North American Naturalist

Thirteen-lined ground squirrels (TLGS; Ictidomys tridecemlineatus) are burrowing obligate hibernators whose species range extends over 20 degrees latitude in North America from Texas to Canada. Despite their ubiquity as laboratory animals for hibernation research, relatively little is known about their life history across their range in the wild. We live-trapped TLGS in parks or cemeteries from Texas to Minnesota, took morphological measurements, and conducted a survey of burrowing locations in 5 states across the latitudinal gradient. We found that soil texture and percent soil organic matter differed at field sites in different states, with Minnesota soil high in sand …

The Decline Of Two Native Fish In The Moapa (Muddy) River, Nevada, 2007–2015, Ronald B. Kegerries, Ronald J. Rogers, Zachary R. Shattuck, Brandon Albrecht, David J. Syzdek

Western North American Naturalist

Aquatic ecosystems in the American Southwest have experienced biotic and abiotic degradation, which have deleteriously impacted the native fish communities that have evolved in these systems. The native fish community in the Moapa (Muddy) River in Nevada faces many of these challenges, including changes in flow regimes, changes in temperature regimes, habitat fragmentation, and nonnative species introductions. By 2007, the only native fishes to occupy the Muddy River downstream of the warm, spring-fed headwaters were Virgin River Chub Gila seminuda and Moapa Speckled Dace Rhinichthys osculus moapae. From 2007 to 2015, biannual standardized hoop-net sampling of portions of a …

The Socioeconomic Achievement Gap In The Us Public Schools, Kate Bradley

Ballard Brief

Impoverished children are severely disadvantaged before even reaching adulthood. In public schools, lower-income children are significantly less likely to succeed than their wealthier classmates. Poverty affects a child's brain development, inhibiting their ability to learn and understand. In addition, lower income students go to schools with insufficient funding and resources: quality teachers or the lack thereof increase the inability to provide for these students adequately. The achievement gap affects students by increasing dropout rates. It involves the nation by costing the US nearly $700 billion annually. Even more grave than the financial consequences is the loss of every student-each with …

The Misrepresentation Of Women In Video Games, Abigail Warr

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

According to the most recent statistics, 45% of the people who regularly play video games in the United States are now female (Entertainment Software Association, 2021). The video game industry is no longer dominated by male consumers, and yet many times the female roles in video games still do not demonstrate the well-rounded, complex characters that female consumers may want. Instead, women in video games generally seem to display “emphasized femininity” by fulfilling female stereotypes in an unrealistic way (Dill & Thill, 2007). This emphasized femininity can be displayed by being oversexualized (Melzer, 2019; Summers & Miller, 2014), or by …

Inadequate Healthcare Services Among Individuals With Autism In The United States, Gabby Sutton-Clark

Ballard Brief

Healthcare innovation has been a pressing topic in public discourse across the United States for centuries. Advances have taken place in several healthcare fields, such as maternal and fetal medicine, cardiology, and surgical specialties; however, healthcare for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (AS □) has not received the same attention and care. A general lack of access to healthcare services, communication barriers, lack of ASD-specific provider training, and the physical healthcare environment all contribute to the inadequate healthcare experiences and services individuals with AS □ receive. As a result, individuals with AS □ not only seek healthcare less frequently for …

Prevalence Of Alzheimer's Disease In Adults In The United States, Margaret George, Erica Bassett

Ballard Brief

Alzheimer's disease (AD) has become increasingly prevalent among adults in the United States, with the CDC estimating that AD affects 5.4 million people in the US. As a neurodegenerative disease, AD leads to life-threatening physical and cognitive effects for adults ages 65 and older. Many risk factors contribute to the possibility of an individual developing AD in the United States. Some of these risk factors an individual can somewhat control, including wellness choices and the quality of one's social relationships. Other factors are more challenging for an individual to control, such as one's genetic history and environmental factors like air …

Lady Macbeth As The Mourning Mother: Melancholy And Hysteria In Macbeth, Bailey Winget

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Throughout the short time frame of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lord and Lady Macbeth are childless. However, textual evidence suggests that the Macbeth’s did conceive a child who passed away prior to the opening acts of the play. At the end of act 1, Lady Macbeth tells her husband, “I have given suck,” clearly acknowledging her experience with motherhood and feeding a child (1.7.54). As suggested by Alice Fox, other references to death and childlessness occur throughout the text as the Macbeth’s use early modern language associated with gynecology and obstetrics to describe the events of the play (127). Because childlessness was …

Two Modes Of Cyclicality In The Ancient World, Yanming An

Comparative Civilizations Review

The cyclical view of time and history appears in two modes represented respectively by the Indo-Hellenic and the Chinese tradition. The former contains a conception of Mahayuga or Great Year, which signifies the periodic destruction and reconstruction in the cosmos and human world. In addition, it analogizes human affairs to the celestial cycle and therefore generalizes the mode of cyclical movements in both the cosmos and the human world as “uniform rotation.” In contrast, the Chinese tradition incorporates Heaven and human into a unity, containing no conception of periodic interruption in the movement of Heaven-human unity. At the same, it …

Effects Of Plastic And Waste Pollution On Ocean Communities In The Asian Pacific Region, Whitney Kingsolver

Ballard Brief

Plastic and waste pollution is a global problem, but it affects ocean communities in the Asia Pacific Region (APR) the most due to their lack of resources to process the pollution. Additionally, low-income areas in these countries need access to sustainable non-plastic packaging options, which increases the amount of plastic generated. Direct pollution leads to poor ocean health and the disruption of important industries like tourism or fishing. Plastic pollutants eventually break down, which creates microplastics and releases toxic chemicals. These pollutants damage ecosystems and severely harm marine life. The overwhelming amount of waste pollution in the APR also damages …

Pointers From Sociology: Looking At Trevor Noah’S Born A Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

The book is a study of a basic change in social stratification. It is also a study of poverty in South Africa. Plus, it is a study of the changing nature of community and society in that land.

We know that almost every society organizes inequality by ranking categories of people in a hierarchy. Four important principles of social stratification are:

• Social stratification is inclusive of all, not a reflection of individual differences, and shapes our lives.

• Social stratification carries over from generation to generation.

• Social stratification is universal but variable.

• Social stratification involves both inequality and beliefs about the …

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The Psychology Of Fascism: Wilhelm Reich Et Al, Kenneth Feigenbaum

Comparative Civilizations Review

There are innumerable definitions and explanations of fascism in the literature of the social and behavioral sciences. This paper only explicates one: the concept of a fascist personality. It focuses on the early work by scholars in this area, beginning with the writings of the 20th century psychiatrist and student of Sigmund Freud, Austrian and American intellectual, Dr. Wilhelm Reich.

In the short story/essay that follows this article, allusion is made by the author — the late writer and United Nations staff member Shawna V. Tropp — to the circle which grew up around Wilhelm Reich. This was a significant …

Small Claims, Shawna V. Tropp

Comparative Civilizations Review

Had Laura Davidov not been a heavy woman in her late fifties, she would have thought that she had made a conquest. A golden young man appeared to have been following her through the Musée Rodin for over an hour; his eyes were turquoise, and he was quite old enough to be her son. There was also something disturbingly familiar about him. She therefore beamed her most maternal smile upon him and took a hesitant step in his direction.

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Comparative Civilizations Review

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The Future Of Civilization: A Systems Approach, Robert Bedeski, Ph.D.

Comparative Civilizations Review

Civilization is one of several stages of human evolution and forms a system of interaction. Its past dominance is now challenged by growth of three subsystems — state, economy, and science/technology. These three subsystems have matured through application of rational knowledge. The vertically integrated state now dominates society and demarcated territory. The horizontally integrated global economy and global science/technology society have become worldwide in scope. State domination is reinforced by autonomous global science and international capital. The remaining subsystem of Moral Knowledge occupies present non-material civilization and is characterized by organic knowledge and embracing the unprovable, which includes religion, art, …

Coastal Fog Enhances Physiological Function Of Seaside Daisies (Erigeron Glaucus), Sarah E. Gomes, Sara A. Baguskas

Western North American Naturalist

Seaside daisy (Erigeron glaucus) is a plant native to fog-influenced coastal dune habitat in California. Seaside daisy is an important nectar plant to a variety of pollinators, especially butterflies, and is commonly used in coastal dune habitat restoration projects. In San Francisco, pollinator habitat restoration is critical for preserving species that would have otherwise been lost to urbanization. Advancing our basic understanding of how microclimate conditions (coastal fog in particular) impact the physiological function of the seaside daisy is an important first step to developing climate change–resilient habitat restoration plans. In semiarid Mediterranean ecosystems, coastal fog can augment …

Women Of The Scriptures In The Relief Society Magazine: An Analysis Of The Role Of Language In Maintaining Gender Norms, Kayla Bach

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper explores the language used to discuss women from the scriptures in the Relief Society Magazine, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1914 to 1970. More specifically, this paper analyzes the usage of language in relation to the establishment and maintenance of gender norms, particularly those relating to women. This analysis reveals that the following core themes are frequently present throughout discussions of scriptural women in the magazine: the nature of womanhood, motherhood, wifehood, women’s roles in religion, the interaction between patriarchy and equality, and gender-neutral spiritual traits. By exploring these …

Socioeconomic Status And Physical Attractiveness In Partner Selection 32 Years Later: An Empirical Replication And Extension Of Townsend And Levy (1990), Elena Kelsey Henderson

Theses and Dissertations

Partnership is a universal part of human existence. Human partner selection has been long studied within evolutionary and sociocultural frameworks. One study by Townsend and Levy (1990) found that physical attractiveness and socioeconomic status influence male and female partner selection in distinct ways. The present study replicated and extended the work of Townsend and Levy, investigating how physical attractiveness, socioeconomic status, and race and ethnicity influence relationship willingness at various levels of involvement. A repeated measures ANOVA was conducted, and planned post hoc pairwise comparisons and parameter estimates were analyzed. We analyzed responses from 503 single American adults of four …

Parent And Child Acculturation Differences: Sleep And Weight Outcomes In Latinx Pre-Adolescents, Kelsey K. Zaugg

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: The present study aimed to evaluate associations between parent-child acculturation differences and sleep and weight outcomes in Latinx pre-adolescents aged 10-12 years. Parent and child stress were considered as possible mediators through which parent-child discordance in acculturation may negatively impact sleep quality and body fatness. Pre-adolescent resilience and ethnic pride were explored as possible personal strengths that may ameliorate the impact of this association. Method: Data from mothers, fathers, and pre-adolescents were collected on two occasions separated by one year. In our sample, only language-specific acculturation was significantly different between parents and children. Thus, parent-child language difference was a …

Pandas: How To Recognize And Intervene, Trevor Brackney, Blaine Winters

Student Works

This research paper delves into pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcus (PANDAS). PANDAS causes rapid psychiatric changes in children ages 3 to puberty. These changes are most often obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and/or tics, however, anxiety, agitation, mood disorder, depression, oppositional defiance disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, hallucinations, memory/cognitive deficits, enuresis, and sleep disturbances have also been noted. Present-day estimations of PANDAS cases would likely prove to be understated if awareness of PANDAS increased (Centner, 2021). The purpose of this paper is to disseminate awareness and data of a disease that has gone relatively unnoticed in American medicine since being defined …

Facing The Matter: An Eye-Tracking Assessment Of Social Media Beauty Filter's Impact On Cosmetic Surgery Normative Beliefs, Camilla Marie Owens

Theses and Dissertations

Communication research has begun to assess the unique relationship between social comparison, social media, and body image (Lewallen & Behm-Morawitz, 2016), yet little research has been done to assess the unique connection between body dissatisfaction, social media filters, and cosmetic surgery (Beos et al., 2021). Studies have found that viewing edited body images on Instagram positively correlates with decreased body satisfaction and behaviors of body objectification (Tiggemann, & Barbato, 2018). This study used a series of scales to measure individuals' media exposure (MTUAS: Rosen et al., 2013) body area satisfaction (BASS; Brown et al., 1990), facial region satisfaction (FRSS; Guthrie …

Examining The Effects Of Eating Behaviors On Mental Health And Internalization Of Weight-Based Messaging, Avery E. Bollinger

Theses and Dissertations

The current study sought to explore the effects of eating behaviors on mental health and the internalization of attitudes toward one's appearance. This was performed through a survey distributed through a global online market research firm, Dynata, and gathered 495 eligible participants. Of those, 78 represented the plant-based group, and 417 represented the non-plant-based group. Each completed the survey containing sections with the Mizes Anorectic Cognitions Scale (MACS) to assess if they were at low or high risk for having/developing an eating disorder, a section determining if participants were plant-based (defined as a regimen that encourages whole, plant-based foods and …

From The Headlines: A Textual Analysis Of Social Polarization And Discord In Times Of Pandemic Across A Century In The United States, Alexa Demarco

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Within the past century, three major pandemics have affected the United States – the Spanish Flu, AIDS, and COVID-19. Each of these pandemics has tested the capabilities of the public health sector and the social resilience of the population. Scientists have studied the viruses and implemented public health measures to limit viral transmission, but the social responses to these preventative measures proved to be difficult to predict and control. The dissonance and polarization between the public health initiatives and the response of the general public in the most recent pandemic was apparent. Was this a pattern in other pandemics? Was …

Parental Genetic Contributions To Neonatal Temperament In A Nonhuman Primate (Macaca Mulatta) Model, Elizabeth K. Wood, Jacob N. Hunter, Joseph A. Olsen, Laura Almasay, Stephen G. Lindell, David Goldman, Christina S. Barr, Stephen J. Suomi, Daniel B. Kay, James Dee Higley

Faculty Publications

Temperament is an individual’s nature and is widely believed to have a heritable foundation. Few studies, however, have evaluated paternal and maternal contributions to the triadic dimensions of temperament. Rhesus monkeys are widely utilized to model genetic contributions to human development due to their close genetic-relatedness and common temperament structure, providing a powerful translational model for investigating paternal and maternal genetic influences on temperament. The temperament of rhesus monkey infants born to 19 different sires and 50 different dams was assessed during the first month of life by comparing the temperament of paternal or maternal half-siblings reared with their mothers …

Air Quality Impacts From Mineral Dust, Fireworks, And Urban Pollution Revealed By Trace Element Chemistry And Strontium Isotopes Ratios In The Wasatch Front, Utah, Usa, Micah J. Marcy

Theses and Dissertations

Airborne particulate matter (PM) in urban areas is derived from a combination of natural and anthropogenic sources. To identify PM sources and their effects on air quality, we collected PM using active filter samplers over a two-year period in the urban Wasatch Front, northern Utah, an area affected by multiple pollution sources. Filters from active samplers and other PM samples were analyzed for major and trace element concentrations and 87Sr/86Sr ratios. We identified wind-blown mineral dust from dry lake beds, winter inversions, and fireworks as primary PM sources affecting air quality in the Wasatch Front. Dust contributes Al, Be, Ca, …

Still No Crystal Ball: Toward An Application For Broad Evaluation Of Student Understanding, Piper Armstrong

Theses and Dissertations

Evaluation of student understanding of learning material is critical to effective teaching. Current computer-aided evaluation tools exist, such as Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT); however, they require expert knowledge to implement and update. We propose a novel task, to create an evaluation tool that can predict student performance (knowledge) based on general performance on test questions without expert curation of the questions or expert understanding of the evaluation tool. We implement two methods for creating such a tool, find both methods lacking, and urge further investigation.

Daily Survey Of Negative Affect And Social Interactions In Young Adults With High Levels Of Social Stress, Danica L. Limon

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Few studies have focused on the contextual influences that impact negative affect (NA) and risk for mood disorders in young adults. Research using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods has shown that neurotypical adults with elevated social anxiety may be more sensitive to their social environment. To date, little is known about how types of social interactions impact autistic adults, who may show varying levels of social anxiety and social motivation. Aim: Our goal was to examine the heterogeneity in daily social experiences for autistic and socially anxious adults. Method: Using EMA surveys, we tracked daily self-reported face-to-face interactions and …

An Exploration Of Factors That Impact Uptake Of Human Papillomavirus Vaccines, David Samuel Redd

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction The discovery and continued development of vaccines is arguably one of the most important innovations in human history. Vaccination greatly reduces the worldwide incidence and transmission of diseases, preventing permanent injury and premature death. Mass vaccination campaigns have led to the eradication or partial eradication of severe infectious such as smallpox and polio, have reduced childhood mortality, and has led to an overall increase in average health in the human population globally. Despite the documented benefits of vaccination, vaccine hesitancy is increasing, and the uptake of some vaccines is low. Vaccines have been so successful at preventing disease that …

Big Data Meta-Analyses Of Transcriptional Responses Of Human Samples To Orthohantavirus Infection And Shotgun Metagenomics From Crohn's Disease Patients., John L. Krapohl

Theses and Dissertations

Hantavirus is a dangerous zoonotic viral pathogen that is found across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. This virus causes a range of symptoms from flu-like malaise to heart failure and death. It is normally transmitted to humans via the aerosolized feces or urine of infected rodents. Currently, there are no known treatments for the disease, and it continues to threaten human health in endemic areas. In order to identify possible future therapeutic targets, we ran a meta-analysis of existing transcriptomic data collected from infected human tissue. Several genes and cellular pathways were identified, in addition to several potential therapeutics that …