Digital Commons Network^™

Psychological Research In Action: Mentoring At An Urban Hsi Institution With Intersectional Perspectives And Outcomes, Pa Her, Jean E. Hillstrom, Amanda Almond

Publications and Research

This paper is from the perspective of three women who are psychology faculty members at various points in their professional development. It was written with the intention to promote ways for students and faculty members of color to construct representations of themselves as mentors. The New York City College of Technology’s (City Tech) participation in National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institute of Health (NIH) grants, as well as institutionally-funded research initiatives, provided the authors with a context for engaging undergraduate students through research within the field of psychology. City Tech is a Hispanic serving institution with an urban campus …

Institutional Investment In Teaching Excellence, Steven C. Taylor, Catherine Haras, Emily Daniell Magruder, Eva Fernández, Margery Ginsberg, Jake Glover

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mentalized Affectivity: A New Model And Assessment Of Emotion Regulation, David M. Greenberg, Jonela Kolasi, Camilla P. Hegsted, Yoni Berkowitz, Elliot L. Jurist

Publications and Research

Here we introduce a new assessment of emotion regulation called the Mentalized Affectivity Scale (MAS). A large online adult sample (N = 2,840) completed the 60-item MAS along with a battery of psychological measures. Results revealed a robust three-component structure underlying mentalized affectivity, which we labeled: Identifying emotions (the ability to identify emotions and to reflect on the factors that influence them); Processing emotions (the ability to modulate and distinguish complex emotions); and Expressing emotions (the tendency to express emotions outwardly or inwardly). Hierarchical modeling suggested that Processing emotions delineates from Identifying them, and Expressing emotions delineates from Processing them. …

Veganism As A Virtue: How Compassion And Fairness Show Us What Is Virtuous About Veganism, Carlo Alvaro

Publications and Research

With millions of animals brought into existence and raised for food every year, their negative impact upon the environment and the staggering growth in the number of chronic diseases caused by meat and dairy diets make a global move toward ethical veganism imperative. Typically, utilitarians and deontologists have led this discussion. The purpose of this paper is to pro- pose a virtuous approach to ethical veganism. Virtue ethics can be used to construct a defense of ethical veganism by relying on the virtues of compassion and fairness. Exercising these values in our relations with animals involves acknowledging their moral value, …

The Punishment Marketplace: Competing For Capitalized Power In Locally Controlled Immigration Enforcement, Daniel L. Stageman

Publications and Research

Neoliberal economics play a significant role in US social organization, imposing market logics on public services and driving the cultural valorization of free market ideology. The neoliberal ‘project of inequality’ is upheld by an authoritarian system of punishment built around the social control of the underclass—among them unauthorized immigrants. This work lays out the theory of the punishment marketplace: a conceptualization of how US systems of punishment both enable the neoliberal project of inequality, and are themselves subject to market colonization. The theory describes the rescaling of federal authority to local centers of political power. Criminal justice policy activism by …

Early And Late Components Of Eeg Delay Activity Correlate Differently With Scene Working Memory Performance, Timothy M. Ellmore, Kenneth Ng, Chelsea P. Reichert

Publications and Research

Sustained and elevated activity during the working memory delay period has long been considered the primary neural correlate for maintaining information over short time intervals. This idea has recently been reinterpreted in light of findings generated from multiple neural recording modalities and levels of analysis. To further investigate the sustained or transient nature of activity, the temporal-spectral evolution (TSE) of delay period activity was examined in humans with high density EEG during performance of a Sternberg working memory paradigm with a relatively long six second delay and with novel scenes as stimuli. Multiple analyses were conducted using different trial window …

An Exploratory Study Of Mobile Messaging Preferences By Age: Middle-Aged And Older Adults Compared To Younger Adults, Alexis Kuerbis, Katherine Van Stolk-Cooke, Frederick Muench

Publications and Research

Introduction: Mobile technologies, such as short message service or text messaging, can be an important way to reach individuals with medical and behavioral health problems who are homebound or geographically isolated. Optimally tailoring messages in short message service interventions according to preferences can enhance engagement and positive health outcomes; however, little is known about the messaging preferences of middle-aged and older adults.

Methods: Utilizing secondary data, global messaging preferences were examined to inform the development of short message service interventions for adults of all ages. Two hundred and seventy-seven adults were recruited through an online labor market. They completed an …

Multiple Baskets: Diverse Racial Frames And The 2016 Republican Primary, Michael Lee

Publications and Research

A strain of racist, xenophobic populism is sweeping through many democracies, jumping from the fringes of political discourse to the mainstream. Understanding how Donald Trump was able to take power while making explicitly racist appeals is vital to understanding this phenomenon. This article examines the 2016 Republican primary, drawing on data from the National Election Study pilot survey to explore how, and why some voters favored Trump over other Republicans. Were Trump voters reacting to the adverse economic effects of globalization, or the 2008 financial crisis? Were they traditional “Southern Strategy” Republicans? Were they white nationalists? While I find evidence …

Professional Licensing And Teacher Certification For Non-Citizens: Federalism, Equal Protection And A State’S Socioeconomic Interests, Janet M. Calvo

Publications and Research

Some states have recently addressed the integration of their non-citizen populations and their socioeconomic needs by expanding the eligibility of professional licensing to noncitizens. Changes made in 2016 in the two states with the largest immigrant populations, California and New York, were extensive and comprehensive. California removed immigration status requirements for licensing through legislation that covered all occupations regulated by the California Department of Consumer Affairs. The New York Board of Regents and Commissioner of Education expanded the categories of non-citizens eligible for professional licensing and teaching certification through administrative regulations, including all non-citizens permanently residing in the state under …

Zines As Creative Resistance - Exhibit, Wanett I. Clyde, Elvis Bakaitis

Publications and Research

The exhibit Zines as Creative Resistance was created by Wanett Clyde and Elvis Bakaitis, and displayed in the Graduate Center Library from 2017-18. The exhibit was accompanied by two events, a panel discussion on 10/17/2017, featuring Jenna Freedman (Barnard College), Erica Cardwell (BMCC), Kel Karpinski (NYCCT) and Devin N Morris (3 Dot Zine), and Zines: a DIY Scholarly Experience, a workshop held on 11/9/17. Zines included in the exhibit were primarily from the personal collection of Elvis Bakaitis, with contributions by Wanett Clyde and the Barnard College Zine Library.

The wall text references the featured works, with sections indicating …

Transgender And Gender Nonconforming Youths’ Public Facilities Use And Psychological Well-Being: A Mixed-Method Study, Lance S. Weinhardt, Patricia Stevens, Hui Xie, Linda M. Wesp, Steven A. John, Immaculate Apchemengich, David Kioko, Shannon Chavez-Korell, Katherine M. Cochran, Jennifer M. Watjen, Nickolas H. Lambrou

Publications and Research

Purpose: In this study, we explored experiences and feelings of safety in public facilities in relation to psychological well-being among transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) youth in the Midwest in the summer of 2016, in the context of ongoing legislative proposals and regulations regarding school and public bathroom use in the United States.

Methods: We used a mixed-method approach, with (1) a self-administered, paper-and-pencil survey of 120 TGNC youth, focusing on differences of self-esteem, resilience, quality of life (QoL), perceived stigma, feelings of safety, and experiences of public facility use and (2) two focus group interviews (n = 9) in …

Optimal Microgrids Placement In Electric Distribution Systems Using Complex Network Framework, Mahmoud Saleh, Yusef Esa, Nwabueze Onuorah, Ahmed Mohamed

Publications and Research

This paper provides a new approach to find the optimal location for Microgrids (MGs) in electric distribution systems using complex network analysis. An optimal location in this paper refers to a location that would result in increased grid resilience, reduced power losses, less line loading, higher voltage stability and secured supply to critical loads during power outage. The criteria used to find the optimal placement of MGs were based on the centrality analysis adopted from complex network theory, the center of mass concept used in physics, and the controlled delivery grid (CDG) concept. An IEEE 30-bus system was used as …

The Varieties Of Place-Based Education, Laureen Park

Publications and Research

Traditionally, the predominant focus of Place-based educational (PBE) theories and practices has been the natural environment. The focus of this chapter will be on urban and digital environments as incubators of the PBE goals of experiential learning, interdisciplinarity, critical thinking, ethical reflection, and other goals. The framework used to interpret and analyze the various senses of place is based on the notions of the lifeworld, personalistic attitude, noesis and noema, all concepts found in Edmund Husserl’s Ideas I and II. Urban and virtual places share the characteristic of being built, which has resonances for the interactivity and engagement …

Introduction: History And Conceptual Basis Of Assessment In Higher Education, Peter Ewell, Tammie Cumming

Publications and Research

Assessment and accountability are now inescapable features of the landscape of higher education, and ensuring that these assessments are psychometrically sound has become a high priority for accrediting agencies and therefore also for higher education institutions. Bringing together the higher education assessment literature with the psychometric literature, this book focuses on how to practice sound assessment.

This volume provides comprehensive and detailed descriptions of tools for and approaches to assessing student learning outcomes in higher education. The book is guided by the core purpose of assessment, which is to enable faculty, administrators, and student affairs professionals with the information they …

You Learn What You Live: Prevalence Of Childhood Adversity In The Lives Of Juveniles Arrested For Sexual Offenses, Jill S. Levenson, Michael Baglivio, Kevin T. Wolff, Nathan Epps, William Royall, Katherine C. Gomez, Dahlia Kaplan

Publications and Research

Social workers often find themselves working with children or adolescents who have been victims of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including youths who have ended up in the juvenile justice system. Childhood trauma has been linked to negative health, mental health, and behavioral outcomes across the lifespan. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence rates of child maltreatment and household dysfunction in the lives of juveniles who have been arrested for sexual offenses (JSO; n = 6,549). ACE prevalence rates for JSOs were compared by gender to juveniles arrested for other crimes, to adults arrested for sexual offenses, …

Morpho-Phonemic Analysis Boosts Word Reading For Adult Struggling Readers, Susan H. Gray, Linnea C. Ehri, John C. Locke

Publications and Research

A randomized control trial compared the effects of two kinds of vocabulary instruction on component reading skills of adult struggling readers. Participants seeking alternative high school diplomas received 8 h of scripted tutoring to learn forty academic vocabulary words embedded within a civics curriculum. They were matched for language background and reading levels, then randomly assigned to either morpho-phonemic analysis teaching word origins, morpheme and syllable structures, or traditional whole word study teaching multiple sentence contexts, meaningful connections, and spellings. Both groups made comparable gains in learning the target words, but the morpho-phonemic group showed greater gains in reading unfamiliar …

Can Squirrel Monkeys Learn An Abna Grammar? A Re-Evaluation Of Ravignani Et Al. (2013), Stefano Ghirlanda

Publications and Research

Ravignani et al. (2013) habituated squirrel monkeys to sound sequences conforming to an ABnA grammar (nD1;2;3), then tested them for their reactions to novel gram- matical and non-grammatical sequences. Although they conclude that the monkeys ``consistently recognized and generalized the sequence ABnA,'' I remark that this conclusion is not robust. The statistical significance of results depends on specific choices of data analysis, namely dichotomization of the response variable and omission of specific data points. Additionally, there is little evidence of generalization to novel patterns (n D 4;5), which is important to conclude that the monkeys recognized the ABnA grammar beyond …

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Activity Predicts Internalizing And Externalizing Behaviors In Non-Referred Boys, Wei Zhang, Shawn E. Fagan, Yu Gao

Publications and Research

Atypical respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a biomarker of emotion dysregulation, is associated with both externalizing and internalizing behaviors. In addition, social adversity and gender may moderate this association. In this study, we investigated if RSA (both resting RSA and RSA reactivity in an emotion regulation task) predicts externalizing and/or internalizing behaviors and the extent to which social adversity moderates this relationship. Two hundred and fifty-three children (at Time 1, mean age D 9.05, SD D 0.60, 48% boys) and their caregivers from the community participated in this study. Resting RSA and RSA reactivity were assessed, and caregivers reported children’s externalizing …

Maternal Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Response To Foraging Uncertainty: A Model Of Individual Vs. Social Allostasis And The "Superorganism Hypothesis", Jeremy D. Coplan, Nishant K. Gupta, Asif Karim, Anna Rozenboym, Eric L.P. Smith, John G. Kral, Leonard A. Rosenblum

Publications and Research

Introduction: Food insecurity is a major global contributor to developmental origins of adult disease. The allostatic load of maternal food uncertainty from variable foraging demand (VFD) activates corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) without eliciting hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activation measured on a group level. Individual homeostatic adaptations of the HPA axis may subserve second-order homeostasis, a process we provisionally term “social allostasis.” We postulate that maternal food insecurity induces a “superorganism” state through coordination of individual HPA axis response.

Methods: Twenty-four socially-housed bonnet macaque maternal-infant dyads were exposed to 16 weeks of alternating two-week epochs of low or high foraging demand shown to compromise …

Critical Time Intervention For Homeless People Making The Transition To Community Living: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Renée De Vet, Mariëlle D. Beijersbergen, Irene E. Jonker, Danielle Am Lako, Albert M. Van Hemert, Daniel B. Herman, Judith Rlm Wolf

Publications and Research

To help create an evidence base in Europe for effective interventions that improve the well-being of homeless people, we tested whether critical time intervention (CTI), a time-limited intervention developed to support vulnerable people during times of transition, is effective outside the United States. For this multi-center, parallel-group randomized controlled trial, 183 adults who were moving from shelters in the Netherlands to supported or independent housing were allocated to CTI or care-as usual. The primary outcome was number of days rehoused, which was assessed by interviewing participants four times during a 9-month follow-up. Outcomes were analyzed with three-level mixed-effects models. The …

Selfie-Takers Prefer Left Cheeks: Converging Evidence From The (Extended) Selfiecity Database, Lev Manovich, Vera Ferrari, Nicola Bruno

Publications and Research

According to previous reports, selfie takers in widely different cultural contexts prefer poses showing the left cheek more than the right cheek. This posing bias may be interpreted as evidence for a right-hemispheric specialization for the expression of facial emotions. However, earlier studies analyzed selfie poses as categorized by human raters, which raises methodological issues in relation to the distinction between frontal and three-quarter poses. Here, we provide converging evidence by analyzing the (extended) selfiecity database which includes automatic assessments of head rotation and of emotional expression. We confirm a culture- and sex-independent left-cheek bias and report stronger expression of …

Scherbaum Studies The World Of Work, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“My interest in psychology has evolved over time. My parents owned a small business when we were young, and we saw firsthand some of the challenges and issues of managing organizations, managing the people in the organizations, hiring, ring; and it always got me curious.” That is how Dr. Charles Scherbaum, a native of Anchorage, Alaska, explains how he became interested in psychology as a career.

After growing up in Seattle, where he obtained his bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Washington, he completed his master’s and doctorate, also in psychology, at Ohio University and became an assistant professor …

Combined Mnemonic Strategy Training And High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation For Memory Deficits In Mild Cognitive Impairment, Benjamin M. Hampstead, Krishnankutty Sathian, Marom Bikson, Anthony Y. Stringer

Publications and Research

Introduction: Memory deficits characterize Alzheimer’s dementia and the clinical precursor stage known as mild cognitive impairment. Nonpharmacologic interventions hold promise for enhancing functioning in these patients, potentially delaying functional impairment that denotes transition to dementia. Previous findings revealed that mnemonic strategy training (MST) enhances long-term retention of trained stimuli and is accompanied by increased blood oxygen level–dependent signal in the lateral frontal and parietal cortices as well as in the hippocampus. The present study was designed to enhance MST generalization, and the range of patients who benefit, via concurrent delivery of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

Methods: This protocol describes …

Of Stars And Solitude: Two Mexican Documentaries, Paul Julian Smith

Publications and Research

By happy coincidence, Mexico in 2016 yielded two expert and moving documentaries on women, sex, and aging: María José Cuevas’s Bellas de noche (Beauties of the Night) and Maya Goded’s Plaza de la Soledad (Solitude Square). Both are first-time features by female directors. And both are attempts to reclaim previously neglected subjects: showgirls of the 1970s and sex workers in their seventies, respectively. Moreover, lengthy production processes in which the filmmakers cohabitated with their subjects have resulted in films that are clearly love letters to their protagonists.

Studying The Mechanisms Of Developmental Vocal Learning And Adult Vocal Performance In Zebra Finches Through Lentiviral Injection, Zhimin Shi, Ofer Tchernichovski, Xiaoching Li

Publications and Research

Here we provide a detailed step-by-step protocol for using lentivirus to manipulate miRNA expression in Area X of juvenile zebra finches and for analyzing the consequences on song learning and song performance. This protocol has four parts: 1) making the lentiviral construct to overexpress miRNA miR-9; 2) packaging the lentiviral vector; 3) stereotaxic injection of the lentivirus into Area X of juvenile zebra finches; 4) analysis of song learning and song performance in juvenile and adult zebra finches. These methods complement the methods employed in recent works that showed changing FoxP2 gene expression in Area X with lentivirus or adeno-associated …

Critical Conversations With Children’S Literature: How Cultural And Political Vignettes (Cpvs) Support Young Readers, Jacqueline Darvin

Publications and Research

This article will discuss ways that teachers of young students can address sensitive or controversial issues in their classrooms through reading children’s literature and responding to Cultural and Political Vignettes (CPVs). First, it provides a brief overview of a four-stage pedagogical model that was designed to help teachers address controversial or sensitive issues in their classrooms (author, 2015) and briefly discusses two of the theoretical frameworks that support the model and its accompanying teaching strategies. The article then provides two detailed examples of how teachers of young children successfully addressed sensitive issues with their students. These examples contain descriptions of …

Gender Differences In The Leadership Styles Of Mpa Directors, Meghna Sabharwal, Helisse Levine, Maria J. D’Agostino

Publications and Research

A growing body of literature has documented leadership styles by gender. This study examines if directors of Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs accredited by the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration exhibit gender differences in leadership styles. Such differences may affect the implementation of public administration and how effective MPA directors are in achieving positive outcomes. Using a mixed methods approach—specifically, exploratory sequential design utilizing qualitative data and analysis, followed by a quantitative survey—we find that there are some gendered differences among public administration directors. In particular, we find that women directors are significantly more likely …

Students: Professors, I Wish You Would.., Norman Eng

Publications and Research

What do students wish they could tell their professors about their instruction but never do? Read their unvarnished responses in this eye-opening post.

Funding Science With Science: Cryptocurrency And Independent Academic Research Funding, Edward Lehner, Dylan Hunzeker, John R. Ziegler

Publications and Research

Scientific funding within the academy is an often complicated affair involving disparate and competing interests. Private universities, for instance, are vastly outpacing public institutions in garnering large, prestigious grants. Inequities also extend to the kinds of research funded, with government, corporate, and even military interests privileging certain types of inquiry. This work proposes an innovative type of research fund using cryptocurrencies, a fast-growing asset class. Although not a total funding solution, staking coins, specifically, can be strategically invested in to yield compound interest. These coins use masternode technologies to collateralize the network and speed transaction pace. Additionally, these staking coins …

State Reform And Respect For The Rights Of The Disabled People: A Reflection On The Olmstead Decision The Case Of New York State, Roseanne L. Flores

Publications and Research

Individuals with serious mental illness are often forced to live in institutional settings which limit their freedom and rights to become fully integrated into the community. The Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999) decision ruled that states must provide individuals with disabilities the opportunity to live in the most integrated settings based on their needs. Since that time several lawsuits have been filed on behalf of individuals with disabilities against states for failing to comply with the Olmstead decision. New York State is one such state. The purpose of this paper is to describe the lawsuit which was brought …