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Examining County-Level Implicit Stereotypes And Prejudice As Predictors Of Racial And Gender Disparities In Incarceration Across The United States, Emma Elizabeth Lee Money

Dissertations and Theses

Background: This dissertation investigated the role of local macropsychological factors - specifically, county-level implicit racial bias and implicit gender stereotyping - in shaping inequalities in incarceration across the United States. Despite overall declines in incarceration, trends in the incarceration of women and people of color (particularly Black women) show disparities compared to White men. Regional aggregations of implicit biases have been proposed as robust markers and drivers of systemic inequalities and are examined in current research.

Research Questions: Three overarching research questions (RQ) guided this dissertation: RQ1 tested the relationship between county-level implicit racial bias and proportions of Black (relative …

Development Of Recommendations For The Future Of Telehealth Use Among Sexual And Gender Minorities (Sgm), Jeffrey A. Wilhite

Dissertations and Theses

It is now well-documented that sexual and gender minoritized individuals (SGMs) face consistent stigmatization from not just the health care system, but also from overarching community, federal, and societal entities. Subsections of the SGM community, like gay men for example, face higher rates of eating disorders, certain cancers, alcoholism, mental illness and even obesity, when compared to heterosexual counterparts. Many of these challenges could be exacerbated by current political administration efforts to silence the community. Ensuring access to clinical care is one way of preserving the health and livelihood of the community. Telehealth, or synchronous, remote based clinical care, can …

A Mixed-Methods Study On Extended Parental Separation Among Mexican And Central American Immigrants: Insights From Legal Violence And The Stress Process, Natalie J. Cholula

Dissertations and Theses

My mixed-methods dissertation examines the mental health effects of legal violence on Mexican and Central American immigrants experiencing prolonged parental separation amid heightened immigration enforcement. The study encompasses three papers utilizing Menjívar and Abrego's (2012) framework of legal violence and Pearlin's (1989) stress process model. The first paper employs quantitative analysis of the Mesoamerican Migration Project data, revealing that heightened immigration enforcement is associated with increased distress among Mexican immigrants in the context of parental separation, the use of coyotes, and the Trump era. The second paper offers qualitative insights from 29 Mexican and Central American immigrants, highlighting the emotional …

Medicare Advantage Dominance In Puerto Rico’S Healthcare System: Exploring Its Financial Landscape, Marketing Strategies And Quality Measures Using The Commercial Determinants Of Health Framework, Sergio Andrés Rivera-Rodríguez

Dissertations and Theses

Over time, Medicare Advantage (MA) has seen an increase in enrollment in the United States and Puerto Rico. This program, which is the privatized version of traditional Medicare, has faced critiques in recent years for being focused on profit maximization and reducing accessibility to Medicare beneficiaries. In Puerto Rico, the majority of Medicare beneficiaries (95%) choose a MA plan over traditional Medicare. Despite being the primary financier of healthcare in Puerto Rico and covering populations that require extensive healthcare services, individuals over 65 and those with disabilities, there are still numerous research gaps about the MA industry. This dissertation examines …

The Ecology Of Gender-Based Violence For Syrian Refugee Women In Tripoli And Akkar, Dima Masoud

Dissertations and Theses

Lebanon is a country that suffers from multiple economic, political, and health crises. Additionally, the mass displacement of Syrian refugees to Lebanon after the war in Syria over a decade ago has left Syrian refugees vulnerable, including the vulnerability of Syrian refugee women to gender-based violence (GBV). While these conditions have affected all of Lebanon, this dissertation focuses on the regions of Tripoli and Akkar in northern Lebanon. Tripoli and Akkar are regions that border Syria, which means that an influx of Syrian refugees, mostly unregistered, comes in. While other regions in Lebanon also border Syria, Tripoli and Akkar are …

Agglomeration Economies In Social Economy Clusters: The Role Of Networks, Mina Kim

Dissertations and Theses

The social economy is an economic framework that prioritizes social value over profit, emphasizing cooperation, solidarity, and community-based solutions to the failures of neoliberal market systems. In East Asia, the development of the social economy is often government-led, raising concerns about resource dependency and the long-term sustainability of Social Economy Organizations (SEOs). This dissertation investigates how network structures and diversity within a policy-driven social innovation cluster shape SEO survival, and how agglomeration economies operate differently compared to conventional industrial clusters. The case of Seoul Innovation Park (SI Park) in South Korea provides the empirical basis for the analysis.

A mixed-methods …

Japanese And English Code-Mixing: A Study On The Grammar And Functions By L1 Japanese-Speakers In Oregon, Takefumi Ariga

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the phenomenon of code-mixing (CM) among speakers of Japanese as their first language (L1) and of English as their second language (L2) residing in Oregon, the United States. Unlike prior studies that focus on early bilinguals or individuals with mixed linguistic and cultural backgrounds, this study specifically target speakers who began learning English in formal settings through compulsory education or a cram school in Japan. After they had completed high school in Japan, they started living in English-speaking countries.

The participants in this study were two communities. Each group recorded their conversations via their own cell phones, …

Pesticides As Multiple Stressors To Bivalves And Echinoderms, Alexandra Gabrielle Tissot

Dissertations and Theses

Pesticides are ubiquitous in aquatic environments, alongside numerous contaminants and other stressors that can result in combined exposure to target and non-target organisms. Nevertheless, traditional toxicity studies quantify the effects of these compounds at an individual level, and to a narrow range of traditional test organisms. Through this dissertation, I explored the presence and effects of commonly detected pesticides of concern in the Pacific Northwest in order to realistically quantify potential effects from combined stressors. In Chapter 2, I demonstrated my background knowledge on these select pesticides (atrazine, bifenthrin, diuron, indaziflam, and imidacloprid), including their chemical and physical properties. Using …

Exploring The Pathway From Customer Sexual Harassment To Instigated Incivility In Service Employees, Fernanda Wolburg Martinez

Dissertations and Theses

The current study explores how and why customer sexual harassment (CSH) experienced by service workers may lead to instigated incivility towards customers in the same week. Specifically, following the tenets of Personality Systems Interaction theory (PSI) and the affective shift model, I hypothesized that week-level affective shifts mediate this relationship, such that upshifts in anxiety and downshifts in self-assurance govern changes in motivational and cognitive functions that impair the employee's ability to provide good customer service. Further, supervisor preventive behaviors and psychological detachment are proposed as interventions that may lead to a departure from the mistreatment spiral by weakening the …

Investigation Into Thermodynamic And Kinetic Phenomena In Arylation Reactions With Diaryliodonium Salts, Soocheta Jha

Dissertations and Theses

Benzenoid rings are fundamental structural motifs in organic chemistry, widely recognized for their prevalence in natural products, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and functional materials. Transition metal-catalyzed arylation, using catalysts such as palladium, nickel, or copper, has revolutionized C-C, C-O, and C-N bond formation, offering broad substrate scope and high efficiency. Among the reagents developed for efficient aryl group transfer, diaryliodonium salts have emerged as particularly powerful tools. Diaryliodonium salts facilitate metal-free arylations across a broad spectrum of nucleophiles, offering high reactivity, operational simplicity and environmental compatibility. The versatility of diaryliodonium salts has led to their widespread adoption as efficient arylating reagent in …

Dynamics Of Urban Heat And Green Infrastructure, Yunjae Ock

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of the interaction between urban heat and green infrastructure (GI) in terms of dynamic aspects, spatiotemporal variation across various spatial scales, temporal phases, and socioeconomic contexts. By integrating a national-scale longitudinal analysis, street-level structural assessments, and neighborhood-specific resilience frameworks, this study enhances our understanding of how cities can utilize existing ecological assets to mitigate increasing heat risks while addressing systemic inequities.

Urban areas face unprecedented thermal challenges due to climate change and the urban heat island effect, with marginalized communities disproportionately affected. Although cities are increasingly adopting GI expansion for heat mitigation, significant knowledge …

Race, Reflection And Resistance: An Autoethnographic Journey In Social Studies Curriculum Development, Jesse Nicholas Hendryx-Dobson

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this qualitative, self- study, autoethnography is to explore my instructional practices, strategies and decision making as I navigate my attempts to build a more anti-racist, racial justice social studies curriculum in a predominantly white school environment. Critical Race Theory as well as racial literacy provided me with a conceptual framework, but also with the language I need to articulate the research problem and my findings. Three research questions guided how I collected and analyzed my data: 1) How do I plan social studies lessons that address the topic of race/racism? 2) How can I use social studies …

#Clandestini: How Italy's Center-Right Parliamentary Coalition Frames The Migrant Crisis On Social Media, Jenna Lynn Depasquale

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation examines the intersection of Italian neo-fascism, the Mediterranean migrant crisis, and digital media. Through a qualitative content analysis of the Twitter and Instagram posts made by Italy's center-right parliamentary coalition from 2014-2018, this research outlines frameworks that facilitate both the physical and social deaths of migrants. Twitter is a platform on which bite-sized xenophobic messages characterize migrants as criminals, spoiled youth, spreaders of infectious disease, and future terrorists--sometimes in a contradictory fashion. Instagram is a medium for conveying Italian identity and history, which disregards the longstanding contributions of people of color, including Muslims, in Southern Italy. Comment sections …

What This Work Really Takes: Lessons, Tensions, And Student Perspectives In A Social Justice Math Classroom, Kathryn Elizabeth Roman

Dissertations and Theses

In recent years, there have been growing calls for mathematics instruction that engages students in understanding and critiquing injustice through mathematics. While resources for social justice math (SJM) lessons have become increasingly available, implementing these lessons in real classrooms--with real students, real time constraints, and real pressures--remains a challenge. This dissertation explores how teachers and students navigate this complexity through three connected papers.

The first paper introduces a framework to support teachers and mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) in selecting and modifying pre-designed SJM lessons (PSJMLs). The framework is organized around three guiding principles: (1) center student identity and teacher self-awareness, …

Development Of A Low-Cost Electron Microscope For Educational Purposes, Christopher Halseth

Dissertations and Theses

Electron microscopy is a powerful tool for exploring microscopic world, yet its high cost and operational complexity severely limit accessibility, particularly within educational institutions. Commercial systems are often designed as opaque "black boxes," further hindering hands-on learning and experimentation. This dissertation introduces the Educational Scanning/Transmission Electron Microscope (EduSEM), a project designed to overcome these barriers by developing a low-cost, modular, and transparent electron microscope optimized for educational use.

The EduSEM achieves significant cost reduction by operating in a rough vacuum environment (1-20 mTorr), eliminating the need for expensive high-vacuum pumps. This necessitates novel component designs tolerant of higher pressures. The …

Breaking The Rules: Post-Translational Modifications And Proteome Dynamics During Anoxia, Chelsea Jordan Hughes

Dissertations and Theses

Most organisms are ill-equipped to survive anoxia, but some organisms have developed molecular strategies to mitigate the cellular stressors associated with a lack of oxygen. While it is established that anoxic survival is contingent on metabolic suppression, it is unclear what mechanisms support this change in gene expression. Gene expression is regulated by a variety of mechanisms within the cell, including alteration of chromatin structure through histone modifications and protein modifications which contribute to the ever-changing proteomic landscape of the cell. Protein modifications such as ubiquitylation can lead to the degradation of proteins, while modifications to transcription factors can change …

Accessibility To Public Spaces: Intersections Between The Courts And The Houseless Community, Margaret Maxey

Dissertations and Theses

In an attempt to answer the question of what role the judiciary played in affecting access to public spaces from the 1960's to 2024, this thesis identifies an accumulation of patterns relating to the courts' role in accessibility of public parks and their amenities over this time period. The data supplied for this question is drawn from scholars focusing on judicial decisions and political theory relating to public spaces, including those mentioned above. The result of this study will include a close examination of the role the judiciary holds as a cornerstone institution in not only our democracy, but in …

Latino Threat Perceptions And Immigration Attitudes: An Examination Across Generations Of Latinos, Michelle Angel

Dissertations and Theses

Recently, immigration has been a major focus in U.S. politics, more importantly with the current administration pushing for the implementation of punitive immigration policies. Research shows that perceived Latino threat is associated with support of Trump and harsh border controls. While existing research has expanded the perceived Latino threat and punitive border control attitudes among non-Latinos, less is known about how perceived Latino threat and punitive border control attitudes function within their own group and how they might vary across different generations of Latinos. Accordingly, there has been a shift in Latino voting preferences, specifically across different generations of Latinos. …

Is Ride-Hailing A Potential Solution For Older Adults After Driving Cessation? The Role Of Objective And Perceived Accessibility, Minju Kim Song

Dissertations and Theses

Due to age-related physical and cognitive changes, older drivers have a greater risk of crashes and are restricted by age-dependent regulation. Nonetheless, many older adults in the United States maintain a car-dependent lifestyle and still prefer driving. When driving cessation or reduction becomes necessary, a primary concern is finding suitable alternative transportation modes. However, the availability of alternative transportation modes does not guarantee their actual use of these options.

As a relatively new transportation mode, ride-hailing services, such as Uber and Lyft, offer on-demand, door-to-door transportation and may be a feasible transportation solution for older adults who stop driving. While …

Evaluation Of Social Worker Knowledge Of Human Trafficking At The Oregon State Hospital: A Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis Of Education, Training, And Victim Identification, Jamie Sue Pryde

Dissertations and Theses

The prevalence of human trafficking continues to increase worldwide, and the implementation of human trafficking education and victim identification within institutions is slow to catch up. The Oregon State Hospital is a psychiatric in-patient hospital that currently does not provide human trafficking education or a screening tool for staff and does not know how to provide treatment to trafficked victims. Interviews were conducted with employed social workers at the Oregon State Hospital to obtain a baseline understanding of their previous education, training, and knowledge of human trafficking to aid in the creation of a trafficking screening tool. Results indicate participants …

Occupational Stress: Lifestyle And Health In Blue- And White-Collar Workers In The United States, Carice T. Craffey

Dissertations and Theses

ABSTRACT

Occupational Stress: Lifestyle and Health in Blue- and White-Collar Workers in the United States

by

Carice Craffey

Advisor: Catherine M. Schooling, Ph.D.

Background: Heart disease and diabetes are leading causes of death in the United States and globally, particularly heart disease in men. Employment conditions can contribute to illness and death. Occupational or job stress (OS) is a potential contributor to heart disease and diabetes, but its conceptualization and role for men and women remain unclear. To address this gap, I conceptualized OS, then examined the role of OS in heart disease and diabetes.

Methods: I used a literature …

How Do Health Insurer Practices Affect Health Equity For Gay And Bisexual Men And Transmasculine Individuals? A Qualitative And Health Policy Assessment, Alexa D'Angelo

Dissertations and Theses

In the U.S. there continue to be stark disparities in health that affect LGBTQ+ communities. These disparities include those related to mental health, sexually transmitted infections, along with chronic illnesses and some cancers. Higher health needs across diagnostic categories mean that LGBTQ+ individuals require access to the healthcare system both to prevent conditions disproportionately affecting the community, and to treat conditions as they arise. In the U.S., access to healthcare often requires either reliable insurance coverage or another payer to cover costs associated with care. Thus, health insurance status and coverage of care, along with coverage regulations and health policies …

Influencing Factors Of Angle-Of-Arrival Estimator Based On Deep Learning, Guohao Pang

Dissertations and Theses

Deep learning (DL)-based angle-of-arrival (AoA) estimation offers significant advantages over traditional signal processing methods, especially in complex and high-noise environments. However, situational complexity and differences in hardware can significantly impact the estimator's performance. It is therefore of interest to investigate the relationship between the performance of deep learning models and the variation of physical parameters such as the number of signal sources, the number of receiving antennas, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In this study, we investigate the impact of these variations on deep learning-based AoA estimation by systematically analyzing how the variations in the characteristics of the received signal …

The Silk Butterfly Effect: Japan And The United States 1853-1941, Melodee Birlew

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines the rise and fall of the silk industry in both the United States and Japan in the first half of the twentieth century. While silk had been a valuable commodity for millennia for royalty, aristocrats, and the extremely wealthy, the opening of Japan's ports in 1853 soon made silk more accessible to lower classes around the world.

Consequently, Japan's newfound wealth catapulted her status among other rich and powerful nations. Japan's military might, financed in large part by the silk trade and displayed by her victory over Russia in 1905, earned her even more prestige on the …

"We're Not Gonna Take It": The Parents' Music Resource Center And Reformist Tendencies In American Society, Nathaniel Todd Belcik

Dissertations and Theses

The Parent's Music Resource Center is a cultural curiosity that few historians have examined. Started by Tipper Gore and Susan Baker, the wives of prominent politicians, they advocated for a warning label on music with explicit lyrics and achieved their goal within only a few years of their creation. This thesis aims to contextualize the PMRC within a broader context of middle-to-upper class reformist movements. Many have argued that the PMRC falls on the conservative end of the political spectrum. Yet, a more complete story can be told by situating the organization within a reformist tendency in American history, thus …

Their Will Is Wealth: American Billionaires, Illiberal Capital, And Their Immunity To Federal Law, Conor Kawika Carroll

Dissertations and Theses

Billionaires are inherently unique political actors. They, and their wealth, are a species apart. This rarity is measurable by quantifying relative consequences for actions made on behalf of that wealth. This thesis explores whether or not a billionaire's political power provides them with immunity to federal laws and regulations that govern wealth and its political use. The objective of this research is two-fold: to illustrate the scholarship gap regarding American billionaires and their relative immunity from federal law, and to instigate academia to study billionaires politically at increasing rates, providing more data for lawmakers regarding the most economically powerful political …

The Rainbow War: Ballot Measure 9 And The Fight Over Gay Rights In Oregon, Patrick Douglas Lasalle

Dissertations and Theses

On November 3, 1992, Oregonians were asked to vote on Ballot Measure 9, an amendment to Oregon's constitution that would prohibit anti-discrimination protections for homosexuals, prohibit the use of public funds and facilities to "promote" homosexuality, and require schools to actively discourage homosexuality as "abnormal, wrong, unnatural, and perverse." In this narrative history, I will explore Measure 9 and the ways in which it divided the state, beginning with its introduction in May 1991. I examine the history and reasoning of the Oregon Citizens Alliance, the Christian Right organization behind the measure, as well as the gay and lesbian community’s …

Price-Signal-Based Control Strategy For Heat Pump Water Heaters In Demand Response Applications, Othman A. Murad

Dissertations and Theses

This work presents a price-signal-based control strategy for residential Heat Pump Water Heaters (HPWHs) aimed at reducing electricity costs and shifting load away from high-price periods. By integrating the California Load Flexibility Research and Development Hub (CalFlexHub) prototype price signals, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA-2045-B) communication protocol, and the Object-oriented, Controllable, High-resolution Residential Energy (OCHRE) simulation framework, a rule-based controller was developed to align HPWH operation with dynamic electricity pricing while maintaining hot water availability.

The control strategy was evaluated through two case studies: one using a fixed water draw profile under varying levels of price signal foresight, and another …

A Quantitative And Qualitative Analysis Of The Workplace Challenges Experienced By Women, Ahmed Mohammed Almousa

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation explores the persistent workplace challenges experienced by women through three interrelated studies using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Despite decades of progress, women continue to face structural barriers, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and emotional labor demands that shape their professional experiences.

The first study analyzes GSS data to examine the impact of the #MeToo movement on self-reports of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. Results show an increase in reporting sexual harassment among White men and Women of color. With respect to men of color and white women, the results were not significant or did not show an increase. …

Navigating Sovereignty And Human Rights: A Legal Analysis Of Palestinian Detention Under Israeli Jurisdiction In Comparison To International Law, Amani Nidal Odeh

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines whether Israeli detention practices of Palestinians conform to or contravene Israeli domestic legislation and international legal standards using a doctrinal legal analysis. This thesis evaluates six key areas through four hypotheses: the detention of minors, geographic disparities (particularly Gaza), administrative detention procedures, the use of military courts, due process violations, and detention conditions. While Israeli domestic law formally authorizes these practices, the analysis finds they routinely violate crucial international legal norms, including the ICCPR, CRC, CAT, and the Fourth Geneva Convention. The use of secret evidence, prolonged administrative detention without trial, and discriminatory legal frameworks undermines the …