Digital Commons Network^™

Coping With Exposure To Community Violence: Assessing The Role Of Avoidance In Reducing Delinquency And Aggression In Low-Income Urban Adolescents, Cara Marie Diclemente

Master's Theses

Exposure to community violence has disabling effects on the mental health of youth in the US, with high rates of exposure for African American adolescents from underserved, urban communities. Past literature suggests that avoidant coping, specifically behavioral avoidance, may be most useful for youth exposed to uncontrollable stress. The current study assessed the utility of coping strategies in reducing aggression and delinquency in 267 sixth through eighth grade African American youth. First, confirmatory factor analyses revealed a three-factor structure of coping: cognitive approach, behavioral approach, and avoidance. Next, moderated moderation findings showed that for boys, avoidance and approach strategies increased …

Impact Of Visitation With Incarcerated Fathers On Behavioral Adjustment Among Children In The Foster Care System, Lauren Ashley Hindt

Master's Theses

This study sought to examine whether in-person visitation with incarcerated fathers related to less behavioral problems among children in foster care. The sample consisted of 282 youth (M = 10.18, SD = 2.36 years). Data were collected from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling revealed paternal incarceration was associated with increased externalizing slope trajectories (ß1515 = .18, p = .025), but not internalizing. African American youth had lower externalizing slope trajectories compared to the remainder of the sample (ß20 = -.14, p = .032). The association between paternal incarceration and externalizing was attenuated …

Fear Of Missing Out: A Moderated Mediation Approach To Social Media Use, Brynn M. Huguenel

Master's Theses

This study explores whether fear of missing out (FOMO) mediates the relation between social networking site (SNS) use and negative mental health outcomes, with moderators of Facebook activities and individual-level characteristics included. Short-term longitudinal data was collected from undergraduate students (N=296). Mediation analyses indicated that intensity of Facebook use did not predict anxiety or depression, as mediated by FOMO. Further, Facebook activities did not moderate the relation between intensity of Facebook use and FOMO, and social comparison and social connectedness did not moderate the relations between FOMO and negative mental health outcomes. Post-hoc analyses showed that social connectedness moderated the …

Perceived Partner Sexism And Stigma Consciousness: How 'Prince Charming' Undermines Relationship Satisfaction, Danielle Lauren Kellogg

Master's Theses

Perceived discrimination (outside of the relationship) relates to negative relationship outcomes, moderated by stigma consciousness (DeHart, 2017). Women who report higher (versus lower) levels of perceived partner benevolent sexism (i.e., perceptions of one's partner's endorsement of sexist attitudes) experience more negative relationship outcomes as well (Hammond & Overall, 2013; Hammond & Overall, 2014; Hammond & Overall, 2015). In addition, relationship partners adopt more traditional gender roles after becoming parents, which fosters benevolent sexism (Trillingsgaard, Baucom, & Heyman, 2014). In this study, married or cohabiting women with children were randomly assigned to either a sexism manipulation or control condition, prior to …

Comparing The Risk Factors Of Recidivism For Offenders With And Without Mental Illness, Meghan J. Mahoney

Master's Theses

This study examined which risk factors were predictive of recidivism among inmates released from Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) who had no mental illness, a non-substance abusing mental illness (non-SUD MI), a substance use disorder (SUD), or a co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorder (COD). The predictors of being returned to prison or being rearrested for a violent, property, or drug crime were compared across these four groups. A secondary data analysis was conducted on data obtained by Olson, Stalans, and Escobar (2016) for a study examining the predictors of recidivism for inmates released from IDOC in 2007. Logistic …

Understanding The Level Of Achievement Bilingual Education Fosters In Students, Erica Mallett

Master's Theses

Traditional approaches to examining the effectiveness of bilingual programs typically compare them to monolingual programs and rarely discuss the meaning and complexity of the notion of achievement therein. A vertical case study framework is used to examine this local phenomenon at a bilingual elementary school in Chicago, Illinois across local, national, and global contexts. This vertical case study aims to answer the question; how does a bilingual program define the notion of achievement and work to facilitate that achievement for students? To do this, I conducted interviews and analyzed policy documents to examine how achievement is defined in bilingual education …

Dexamethasone Treatment Effects On H3k27me3 Chromatin Organization Is Related To Nk Cell Immune Dysregulation, Michael Sarafeno Misale

Master's Theses

It is well-established that psychological stress reduces natural killer (NK) cell immune function. This reduction is mediated by stress-induced release of glucocorticoids (GC), which can suppress immune function. Associated with suppression of a particular immune function are GC induced histone-epigenetic marks. Histone-epigenetic marks are responsible for the organization and compartmentalization of genomes into transcriptionally active euchromatin domains that are localized to the interior of the nucleus. Transcriptionally silent heterochromatic domains are enriched with methylated epigenetic marks and are localized to the nuclear periphery. The purpose of this investigation was to assess the influence of GC on H3K27me3 chromatin organization by …

Developmental Assets And Outcomes: An Analysis Of Male Serious Juvenile Offenders To Promote Evidence Based Approaches For Rehabilitation, Danielle Jordan Nesi

Master's Theses

Positive youth development is an approach that seeks to enhance and promote young people's developmental progress. Although there has been a shift toward asset building in rehabilitation of delinquent youth, research on positive youth development has historically focused on children at risk of adverse outcomes, rather than those who are already engaged in criminal behavior. Without knowledge about the distribution of assets among delinquent youth and the relations of these assets to outcomes later in life, it is unclear if interventions based on research of developmental assets among at-risk youth are appropriate for justice-involved youth. The 40 Developmental Assets (Search …

Domestic Violence Among Asian Indian Immigrant Women In The United States, Teuta Peja

Master's Theses

This study looks at how domestic violence is conceptualized by the research studies on

Asian Indian immigrant communities in the United States through different periods of time, and

how sociocultural factors are associated with domestic violence. Using the meta-synthesis

descriptive method, I analyzed and interpreted the findings of four research studies conducted

between 1995-2016 that included in-depth interviews with Asian Indian immigrant women who

experienced domestic violence. The analysis focuses on changes of the patterns of abuse, helping behavior, and leaving the abusive marriage as an option. The changes in U.S. domestic

violence legislation and policy regarding immigration and domestic …

Children's Exposure To Violence Across Contexts: Profiles Of Family, School, And Community Witnessing And Victimization, Catherine Mary Rice

Master's Theses

Children residing in low-income, urban neighborhoods are at a disproportionately higher risk of exposure to violence (ETV) across multiple contexts compared to their peers, including witnessing violence and direct victimization. The many negative effects of ETV are compounded when youth experience ETV across multiple settings and when these experiences are chronic. Despite this, much of the research on ETV during childhood focuses on a single form of violence (e.g., family victimization or witnessing community violence). The current study examines patterns of frequency of ETV, including witnessing and victimization, across family, school, and community contexts, using person-centered methods to elucidate the …

Real-Time Fall Detection And Response On Mobile Phones Using Machine Learning, Ilona Shparii

Master's Theses

Falls are common and often dangerous for groups with impaired mobility, like the elderly or people with lower limb amputations. Finding ways of minimizing the frequency or impact of a fall can improve quality of life dramatically. When someone does fall, real-time detection of the fall and a long-lie can trigger fast medical assistance. Such a system can also collect reliable data on the nature of real-world falls that can be used to better understand the circumstances, to aid in prevention efforts. This work has been to develop a real-time fall tracking system specifically for subjects with lower limb amputations. …

Intersectional Stereotypes Of Race, Gender, And Facial Structure And Evaluative Judgments Of Leadership Ability And Workplace Fit, Avery Nichole Waklatsi

Master's Theses

Though the labor market is highly competitive and diverse, minority groups only hold 26.7%, of board positions, in companies on the Fortune 500 list (Alliance for Board Diversity Census, 2013). When tasked with hiring managers whom are presented with equivalent job qualifications, evaluators may rely on their subjective impressions in making an employment decision. The evaluator's subjective impressions may be informed by stereotypes of the groups to which applicants belong. The current study tests how stereotypes pertaining to race, gender, and facial structure inform evaluator judgments of managerial applicants' leadership ability and workplace fit. Leadership ability and workplace fit are …

Aldo Rossi: The City As The Locus Of Collective Memory And The Making Of The Public City In Cold War Italy, Sonia Melani Miller

Master's Theses

This paper seeks to redefine the scholarship on Aldo Rossi (1931-1997), an Italian architect known for having reintroduced symbolism to European architecture after the 1960s. My thesis addresses questions surrounding the development of Rossi’s theory of city morphology, proposing that it was rooted in antifascist sentiments and influenced by politics of the Cold War. Rossi’s professional growth is outlined through a period conditioned by the reactionary ideologies of postwar Europe, which deeply influenced the nation’s culture and shaped artistic production. This thesis relies on unpublished archival material from Rossi’s early career that documents the leading political and philosophical ideas of …

An Examination Of Predictors Of Counterproductive Work Behaviors: Personality Traits And Transformational Leadership, Edward Hsi

Master's Theses

Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) has constantly been a problem in companies, with research showing that the phenomenon is costly both monetarily to organizations and psychologically to their employees. However, there are many antecedents of CWB, including individual factors and situation factors, that have been found to reduce such behaviors. The present study examined both individual (i.e., personality) and situational factors (i.e., transformational leadership) in predicting CWBs directed at both individuals and organizations. Specifically, this study examined whether three personality traits (i.e., agreeableness, neuroticism and conscientiousness) and transformational leadership would predict CWBs, and whether transformational leadership would predict CWBs above and …

Unified Software Engineering Reuse: A Methodology For Effective Software Reuse, Charles Allen Flood

Master's Theses

Software is a necessity in the modern world, and that need is continuously growing. As expensive as the creation of all this new software is, the maintenance costs are even greater. One solution to this problem is software reuse, whereby already written software can be applied to new problems after some modification, thus reducing the overall input of new code. The goal in traditional software reuse is to produce a piece of software with enough flexibility to be used at least twice. Unfortunately, there are many difficulties in achieving software reuse using modern programming techniques. Even software built specifically for …

Using Recycled Water For Potable Reuse In Santa Clara County, Ca: High School Students' Knowledge And Acceptance, Nicholas Ronald Ajluni

Master's Theses

The drought-prone State of California has an ever increasing demand for water. Potable reuse provides a viable alternative water supply, but public attitudes, knowledge, and acceptance have limited implementation. This study investigated the knowledge and acceptance that high school students have towards potable reuse. Previous research has identified four critical factors that influence acceptance of potable reuse: 1) knowledge of the wastewater treatment process, 2) knowledge of local water supplies, 3) trust in local water resource managers, and 4) belief in the need for a new water supply. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods through a Likert-style survey …

The Perception Of Trust Between Athletic Trainers And Musical Performing Artists, Jenna Lea Chinburg

Master's Theses

Trust is a crucial element for a successful patient-clinician relationship. Athletic

trainers may care for musical performing artists who demonstrate unique needs compared

to traditional patients. In order to provide the best care, athletic trainers must establish a

basis of patient-centered care and build solid professional relationships with performers.

By improving overall patient-clinician relationship factors with respect to this population,

trust may be implemented and sustained. The purpose of the study was to determine

factors that established or diminished trust between drum corps members and their

athletic trainers. The study included 12 semi-structured interviews in which Drum Corps

International (DCI) …

Automated Classification To Improve The Efficiency Of Weeding Library Collections, Kiri Lou Wagstaff

Master's Theses

Studies have shown that library weeding (the selective removal of unused, worn, outdated, or irrelevant items) benefits patrons and increases circulation rates. However, the time required to review the collection and make weeding decisions presents a formidable obstacle. In this study, we empirically evaluated methods for automatically classifying weeding candidates. A data set containing 80,346 items from a large-scale academic library weeding project by Wesleyan University from 2011 to 2014 was used to train six machine learning classifiers to predict “Keep” or “Weed” for each candidate. We found statistically significant agreement (p = 0.001) between classifier predictions and librarian judgments …

Illegal Dumping As An Indicator For Community Social Disorganization And Crime, Amory Anne Brandt

Master's Theses

Illegal dumping of household waste in and around city streets results in many negative health, economic, and environmental effects. This goal of this study was to understand the systemic causes of illegal dumping within San José, California. Illegal dump sites were identified, quantified, characterized, and mapped within urban census block groups at a range of median family income levels. Results showed that commonly dumped debris types were furniture, and garbage. The most illegal dumping occurred within census block groups with low median family incomes, high percentages of non-English speaking individuals, and high percentages of renters. Factors such as social disorganization, …

A Qualitative Analysis Of A Team's Experience Of Coping With Bereavement After The Death Of A Head Coach, Matthew Paul Gonzalez

Master's Theses

The consequences of coping with death as an athlete have been documented in the literature by a variety of studies. However, these studies have remained largely focused on coping with the death of a teammate. This study examined the inter- and intrapersonal impact of experiencing the death of a head coach. Experiencing the death of a head coach during the season may have profound and varied psychosocial consequences for all members of a team. A collegiate team was identified as having experienced the death of its head coach during his tenure and from that team five participants (four players and …

The Moderating Effect Of Leader-Member Exchange On The Relationship Between Job Characteristics And Organizational Commitment, Caitlin Sullivan

Master's Theses

There is a phrase “You don’t leave the company; you leave a manager.” But what if the job is perfectly designed to lead to organizational commitment: will the manager still have that much of an influence? This study examined the moderating effect of Leader-Member Exchange on the relationship between the Job Characteristics and Organizational Commitment. 220 employees from various countries and industries were surveyed regarding their current job, commitment to the organization and their relationship with their manager. Results showed that the core job dimensions based on the Job Characteristics Model were independently and uniquely related to affective and normative …

Evaluating Contradicting And Confirming Evidence: A Study On Beliefs And Motivated Reasoning, Zachary Alan Caddick

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine ideological, psychological, and demographic predictors of motivated reasoning. Three-hundred and seventy-seven participants from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk system completed written responses critically evaluating strengths and weaknesses in a vignette on the topic of anthropogenic climate change. The vignette has two fictional scientists present prototypical arguments for and against anthropogenic climate change that are constructed with equally flawed and conflicting reasoning from both view points. Written responses were coded by a team of trained and reliability assessed qualitative raters. Motivated reasoning is operationalized by providing supporting evidence for the congruent belief and counter evidence …

The Effects Of Repeated Global Self-Adapted Testing On Online Statistics Performance, Gita Sierra Hodell

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a computerized academic testing format. Centered on the motivating and stress-reducing aspects of personal control, a modified form of global self-adapted testing (GSAT) was explored to help students who are challenged by test anxiety or low academic motivation. Forty-two students completed multiple GSATs throughout one semester of college-level, online statistics. Of those students, 20 volunteered to complete an academic motivation questionnaire at the beginning of the semester. The relationships between scores on the motivation questionnaire, GSAT use characteristics, and statistics performance were analyzed. Students who used the GSATs correctly …

Comparative Evaluation Of Malnutrition Screening In Oncology Patients In An Acute Care Hospital: A Pilot Study, Chandni Sen Sinha

Master's Theses

Malnutrition is associated with negative health consequences in the vulnerable cancer population, making it imperative for an efficient interdisciplinary approach to conduct nutritional screening using an appropriate scale. For the present study, a comparison between an existing malnutrition risk-screening questionnaire (EMR-SQ) and a comprehensive screening questionnaire (CMR-SQ) was performed on 37 cancer patients. The first stage of data collection required the nurses to electronically complete the EMR-SQ. In the second stage, the same patients’ data were assessed using the CMR-SQ, developed by the authors based on the guidelines of the PG-SGA and A.S.P.E.N. The CMR-SQ identified 32.4% at low, 37.8% …

The Moderating Role Of Perceived Organizational Support And Perceived Supervisor Support On The Relationship Between Teamwork Behaviors And Affective Commitment, Carlie Ann Stephens

Master's Theses

Researchers have identified employee affective commitment as a key indicator of variables that are of great interest to organizations (Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 1982). Teamwork behaviors have been identified as predictors of affective commitment (Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, & Topolnytsky, 2002). However, very few studies have examined the moderating effect organizational and supervisor support may have on these relationships. The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effects of perceived organizational support and perceived supervisor support on the relationship between teamwork behaviors and affective commitment. Results of a survey administered to 3,926 employees in a medical device company revealed …

Historical Trauma And Refugee Reception: Armenians And Syrian-Armenian Co-Ethnics, Nicole M. Campos

Master's Theses

This thesis considers the ways in which Armenian history has influenced integration of Syrian-Armenian refugees into Armenia due to the ongoing Syrian War. Ethnic Armenian outlooks were analyzed relative to the influx of Syrian refugees, particularly co-ethnic Syrian-Armenians. Field work in Armenia found a sustained cultural impression of Armenians’ Soviet membership and genocide. Findings suggest that recognizing the importance of history as it may or may not affect migration reception policies and attitudes is important to developing sustainable resettlement environments, at least until repatriation or third-country resettlement becomes an option to migrants. Ultimately, this thesis argues that more attention must …

Defining “Justice” In Post-Conflict Societies By Exploring The Case Of The Armenian Genocide., Narek Ghazaryan

Master's Theses

This study examines the many different approaches towards justice in post-conflict societies. It analysis the two main theories of justice and uses the Armenian Genocide as a case study to comprehend what constitutes justice in the aftermath of a humanitarian crisis. This study aims to define “justice” by the Armenian population in forms of surveys and expert interviews. It is the community who is directly impacted by the crisis can indeed identify what justice mean to them. For a society to heal in the aftermath of conflict justice needs to be served in order to restore peace and harmony. For …

Sino Ako? (Who Am I?): Exploring Filipino American Identity In Philippine Studies Courses, Omega Loren Letana

Master's Theses

Filipinos make up the third largest immigrant population in the United States and are the largest Asian immigrant group in California (U.S. Census, 2010). Despite this and an American colonial past, the American education system has failed to depict Filipino and Filipino American history accurately in its textbooks and courses. In addition to this, studies have indicated that young Filipino Americans often have difficulties in defining their identities. It is imperative that we recognize how this issue of identity formation is being addressed in postsecondary institutions through Philippine Studies courses, which employ decolonizing pedagogies.

This thesis paper analyzes the role …

Long Working Hours, Happiness, And Quality Of Democracy With The Case Studies Of Japan And Denmark, Yu Namie

Master's Theses

This thesis aims to reveal the hypothesis that long working hour reduce people’s happiness and undermine democracy. For achieving this goal, this study clarifies the relationship between long working hours, happiness, and political engagement. Moreover, in order to seek the way to increase social happiness, it tries to figure out how global free market economy relates the working hours. The research method mainly relies on the fieldwork in Japan and Denmark.

First, this study succeeded to reinforce the argument that long working hour negatively influenced people’s happiness. Also, if we define the quality of democracy as the society constituted with …

Challenging Filipino Colonial Mentality With Philippine Art, Francesca V. Mateo

Master's Theses

For 350 years, the Philippines was colonized by Spain and the United States. The Philippines became a sovereign nation in 1946 yet, fifty years later, colonial teachings continue to oppress Filipinos due to their colonial mentality (CM.) CM is an internalized oppression among Filipinos in which they experience an automatic preference for anything Western—European or U.S. American—and rejection of anything Filipino. Although Filipinos show signs of a CM, there are Filipinos who are challenging CM by engaging in Philippine art. Philippine art is defined as Filipino-made visual art, literature, music, and dance intended to promote Philippine culture. This …