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2015

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Well-Being Technologies: Meditation Using Virtual Worlds, Laura Downey Jan 2015

Well-Being Technologies: Meditation Using Virtual Worlds, Laura Downey

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

In a technologically overloaded world, is it possible to use technology to support well-being activities and enhance human flourishing? Proponents of positive technology and positive computing are striving to answer yes to that question. However, the impact of technology on well-being remains unresolved. Positive technology combines technology and positive psychology. Positive psychology focuses on well-being and the science of human flourishing. Positive computing includes an emphasis on designing with well-being in mind as a way to support human potential. User experience (UX) is critical to positive technology and positive computing. UX researchers and practitioners are advocating for experience-driven design and …

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An Empirical Investigation Into The Role That Boredom, Relationships, Anxiety, And Gratification (Brag) Play In A Driver’S Decision To Text, Nathan White Jan 2015

An Empirical Investigation Into The Role That Boredom, Relationships, Anxiety, And Gratification (Brag) Play In A Driver’S Decision To Text, Nathan White

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Texting while driving is a growing problem that has serious, and sometimes fatal, consequences. Despite laws enacted to curb this behavior, the problem continues to grow. Discovering factors that can reduce such risky behavior can significantly contribute to research, as well as save lives and reduce property damage. This study developed a model to explore the motivations that cause a driver to send messages. The model evaluates the effects that boredom, social relationships, social anxiety, and social gratification (BRAG) have upon a driver’s frequency of typing text messages. In addition, the perceived severity of the consequences and the presence of …

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A Case For Weakening Patent Rights, Lucas S. Osborn, Joshua M. Pearce, Amberlee Haselhuhn Jan 2015

A Case For Weakening Patent Rights, Lucas S. Osborn, Joshua M. Pearce, Amberlee Haselhuhn

Scholarly Works

This Article contributes to the patent debate by observing that new and emerging technologies are radically altering the relative costs and benefits of the patent system. Although analysts cannot measure the patent system's numerous absolute costs and benefits, this Article demonstrates that new and emerging technologies are significantly reducing the research, development, and commercialization costs ("innovation costs") that are used by adherents to the incentive and prospect theories to justify the patent system's existence. All things being equal, if significantly, the relative need for the patent system has decreased and will continue to decrease. Thus, this Article argues that patents …

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Scholarly Collaboration And Information & Communications Technologies (Icts) In Information Sciences : A Longitudinal Analysis Of The Research Collaboration Social Network, Xiao Liang Jan 2015

Scholarly Collaboration And Information & Communications Technologies (Icts) In Information Sciences : A Longitudinal Analysis Of The Research Collaboration Social Network, Xiao Liang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation investigates the changing effect of geodesic, cultural (organization, profession, and country), and knowledge boundaries on scholarly collaboration. It also examines how the change can relate to the development of Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs).

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Theories Of Political Resistance : The Making Of Resistance From The Sixteenth Century To The Present, Onur Bilginer Jan 2015

Theories Of Political Resistance : The Making Of Resistance From The Sixteenth Century To The Present, Onur Bilginer

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study discerns political resistance from everyday resistance and then develops on a distinction between a morally and politically justifiable resistance and the kind that is not. Drawing on different historical periods, it demonstrates why the conceptual clarification and moral justification of political resistance cannot rely upon the categories of non-violence, visibility, and legality alone. This study has five main arguments. First, a genuine political resistance is collective and occurs in public. It is conducted with the cooperation of similar-minded people out in the open, as long as there is room for politics. Therefore, it is not hidden like everyday …

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Essays On Income Inequality, Minority Health And Healthcare Spending, Rui Cheng Jan 2015

Essays On Income Inequality, Minority Health And Healthcare Spending, Rui Cheng

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This set of essays addresses issues related to income inequality, public healthcare supply and population health. Income inequality has been found to affect health in a number of studies. Using data from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a telephone survey of adults in the United States, the first chapter of my dissertation studies the effect of state level and county level income inequality on health status and the pathway via public health spending. By using multiple imputation method applied to BRFSS income data, it derives synthetic Gini coefficient at state level and county level for each year from 2000 …

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The "Missing" Electorate : Examining The Political Participation Of Individuals With Disabilities And Exploring The Role Of Family And Supports In American Elections, Jessica L. Aubin Jan 2015

The "Missing" Electorate : Examining The Political Participation Of Individuals With Disabilities And Exploring The Role Of Family And Supports In American Elections, Jessica L. Aubin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The United States has passed several laws to help encourage the political participation of people with disabilities, yet data indicates that even with the passage of these initiatives a stark voter gap between those with and without disabilities persists. This project seeks to examine the participation of people with disabilities with the hopes of creating a better understanding of when, how, and why they participate or do not participate in American politics. Applying a common framework from the participation literature this research considers how factors like resources, psychology, and recruitment, as well as others, help to illuminate the story of …

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The Fiscalization Of Social Policy : Tax Expenditures And The Cultural Legacies Of Public Policies, Joshua Thomas Mccabe Jan 2015

The Fiscalization Of Social Policy : Tax Expenditures And The Cultural Legacies Of Public Policies, Joshua Thomas Mccabe

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation examines the politics behind the increasing use of tax expenditures as tools for social policy in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom. Tax expenditures, particularly in-work and child tax credits, have grown into major components of social policy across a number of countries since the 1970s. While some scholars have noted this increasing "fiscalization" of social policy, our current theories of welfare states struggle to explain this expansion across all three countries in an era of "permanent austerity" as well as variation in the distribution of these tax credits between the U.S. on one hand and Canada …

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Between Nations And The World : Negotiating Legal And Social Citizenship In The Migration Process : The Case Of Colombian And Puerto Rican Computer Engineers In The American Northeast, Lina Rincon Jan 2015

Between Nations And The World : Negotiating Legal And Social Citizenship In The Migration Process : The Case Of Colombian And Puerto Rican Computer Engineers In The American Northeast, Lina Rincon

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation research examines the negotiations Latino professional migrants engage in to navigate the interplay between the provisions of legal and social citizenship through the migration process. In this work, legal citizenship refers to the rights given to individuals that result from their formal membership to a nation. Social citizenship refers to the real ability individuals have to enjoy those rights and experience full social inclusion in a political community.

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Government-Nonprofit Relationships And The Management Process Of Social Welfare Service Contracting In Korea, Ji Sun Kang Jan 2015

Government-Nonprofit Relationships And The Management Process Of Social Welfare Service Contracting In Korea, Ji Sun Kang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation is an exploratory analysis of a government policy tool− contracting out social welfare services with nonprofit organizations− that aims to identify how contracting relationships between public and nonprofit managers influence the contract management process. The theoretical framework draws on the government-nonprofit relationship literature, especially studies that rely on resource dependence theory and agency theory. Using data gathered from interviews conducted with public officials in district governments and workers in social welfare centers in Korea, this dissertation examines the contract management process, particularly negotiation, monitoring, and evaluation through five critical dimensions of the contracting relationship: power, resources, communication, information …

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The Effect Of Caring For Grandchildren On Older Adults' Well-Being : Caregiving Grandparents Vs. Non-Caregivers In South Korea, Jwakyum Kim Jan 2015

The Effect Of Caring For Grandchildren On Older Adults' Well-Being : Caregiving Grandparents Vs. Non-Caregivers In South Korea, Jwakyum Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Purpose: The aim of the present study is to provide theoretical explanations of the relationship of caregiving and older adults’ health (i.e., a life course perspective and Andersen’s Behavioral Model). Specifically, this study examines the effect of caring for grandchildren on older adults’ well-being in South Korea.

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Prospective Secondary Teachers' Conceptualizations Of Literacy And Literacy In Their Content Areas, Jane Costello Bonacci Jan 2015

Prospective Secondary Teachers' Conceptualizations Of Literacy And Literacy In Their Content Areas, Jane Costello Bonacci

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract

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Striving For Salvation : Margaret Anna Cusack, Sainthood, Religious Foundations And Revolution In Ireland, 1829-1899, Sean Heather K. Mcgraw Jan 2015

Striving For Salvation : Margaret Anna Cusack, Sainthood, Religious Foundations And Revolution In Ireland, 1829-1899, Sean Heather K. Mcgraw

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Margaret Anna Cusack, later Sister Mary Frances Clare, and also known as Mother Clare, (6 May 1829 - 5 June 1899) was an Anglo-Irish Protestant who became a Catholic Nun and the foundress of a still existent Catholic religious order, the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. She was also a vociferous champion for the poor, for Irish political rights, for Irish nationalism, and was the first Irish nationalist woman historian and a prolific writer who wrote more than one hundred works. She was a radical, a revolutionary, a champion and hero, a source of conflict and …

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Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program And Home Food Availability : The Role Of Depression And Household Characteristics, Marta D. Hernandez Jan 2015

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program And Home Food Availability : The Role Of Depression And Household Characteristics, Marta D. Hernandez

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Although about 47 million low-income people participated in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) program at the end of 2012, the effect of SNAP participation on some nutrition related outcomes is controversial or unknown. Particularly, the effect of SNAP on food availability at-home has not been examined despite its association with food consumption. In addition, little is known about individual and social factors influencing this relationship. This study examined the effects of the interaction between SNAP participation and depression and the effects of the interaction between SNAP participation and the presence of children under 17 years of age on food …

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Ill Living : Hemingway's Writing And My Father's Death, Jennifer R. Morrill Jan 2015

Ill Living : Hemingway's Writing And My Father's Death, Jennifer R. Morrill

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract

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Racial Conflict And Bias Crimes Across Us Cities : An Analysis Of The Social Threat Perspective, Suzanne M. Strong Jan 2015

Racial Conflict And Bias Crimes Across Us Cities : An Analysis Of The Social Threat Perspective, Suzanne M. Strong

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This research examines racially biased crimes across US cities, utilizing social threat and a general criminality perspective based on social disorganization and strain theories. Racially biased crime is compared to violent crime in general and to unbiased racially disaggregated homicide to further examine the effects of social threat and general crime variables on different forms of violent crime. Data is compiled mainly from the 1990 and 2000 US Censuses, the 1996-2000 Uniform Crime Reports and the 1996-2000 Supplemental Homicide Reports. The research shows bias crimes cannot be explained utilizing general crime predictors. In particular, anti-Black violent bias crimes committed by …

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Welfare And Crime Revisited : Beyond Yea Or Nay, Colin Gruner Jan 2015

Welfare And Crime Revisited : Beyond Yea Or Nay, Colin Gruner

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The criminological literature has found that welfare is negatively associated with crime, but few studies have tested this association with data from after the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA) passed in 1996. PRWORA fundamentally altered the structure of the U.S. welfare state. The goals of this dissertation were to identify the research and theories on welfare and crime and test whether the relationship has changed since PRWORA. A review of the literature showed that there were several lines of research on welfare and crime but no studies drawing on the full extent of the welfare-crime literature. After combining …

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An Evaluation Of Eligibility, Accessibility, And Social-Emotional Outcomes For Young Children In The New York State Early Intervention Program, Kirsten M. Siegenthaler Jan 2015

An Evaluation Of Eligibility, Accessibility, And Social-Emotional Outcomes For Young Children In The New York State Early Intervention Program, Kirsten M. Siegenthaler

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A wealth of interdisciplinary research on early childhood development by the neurobiological, behavioral, and social sciences has occurred in the past 100 years. The findings from this research have led to an understanding and appreciation of the importance of early life experiences, the centrality of relationships in early childhood to support positive development, the complexity of social skills that are learned in early childhood and their long-term effect on adult success and well-being, and the ability to impact the trajectory of children’s development with effective early intervention. The New York State Early Intervention Program (NYSEIP) is one of the largest …

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The Third Wave Of Democratization : Consolidation Of Nominal Democracy, Rak Koo Chung Jan 2015

The Third Wave Of Democratization : Consolidation Of Nominal Democracy, Rak Koo Chung

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The topic of the dissertation is the third wave of democratization: Authoritarian regimes on earth around 1975 mostly gave way to democratic regimes by 2000. How did it happen? Why did democracies massively emerge even in the poorest countries where democracy was least expected? Why did global democracy increase in number but decline in quality? I inquire what factors promoted the third wave in what manners. To answer the question, I employ a mixed-methods approach, taking a sequential design of quantitative-to-qualitative methods. Event history analysis is conducted to test the factors of democratic transitions. Alternative theories are proposed based on …

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Taming A Profession : State And Economists During China's Economic Reform, 1978-2012, Jing Li Jan 2015

Taming A Profession : State And Economists During China's Economic Reform, 1978-2012, Jing Li

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

As neoliberalism comes to reshape the world, economists have increasingly reconstituted themselves into a global profession with sufficient political power over national states. This dissertation examines the professional development of Chinese economists during last thirty years’ economic reform to see whether they have converged with their colleagues elsewhere and triumphed over state power.

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Trends In Risky Sexual Behavior Among Men Who Have Sex With Men : Analysis Of Repeated Cross-Sectional Survey Data From Ukraine, 2007-2013, Roksolana Kulchynska Jan 2015

Trends In Risky Sexual Behavior Among Men Who Have Sex With Men : Analysis Of Repeated Cross-Sectional Survey Data From Ukraine, 2007-2013, Roksolana Kulchynska

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Objective: To examine changes in risky sexual behavior over time, i.e., unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Ukraine.

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The Acquisition Of Adult Skills In Oecd Countries : Individual And Societal Antecedent, Suehye Kim Jan 2015

The Acquisition Of Adult Skills In Oecd Countries : Individual And Societal Antecedent, Suehye Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Using the OECD the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competences (PIACC), the World Bank open data, the OECD data lab, and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, this study sets forth two conceptual frameworks to examine the effect of education on adult basic literacy and problem solving skills in technology-rich contexts. Based on a traditional approach to adult skills, this study explored how a differentiated form of initial education influences the acquisition of basic literacy and numeracy. Second, it build a proposed model assessing the effect of post-initial learning on problem solving skills in technology-rich contexts given that adults are required …

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The "New Civil Rights" : The Innocence Movement And American Criminal Justice, Robert Norris Jan 2015

The "New Civil Rights" : The Innocence Movement And American Criminal Justice, Robert Norris

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Few issues have captivated the criminal justice world in recent years like wrongful convictions. An advocacy network has developed around the United States, responsible for exonerating more than 1,500 individuals and successfully passing reforms at all levels of criminal justice policy and practice. This "innocence movement" has been described as a "revolution" and a "new civil rights movement," yet has rarely been examined in-depth by scholars. In this dissertation, I explore the history and theoretical underpinnings of the movement through interviews with 37 actors involved in innocence work, archival materials, and observational research. I draw on the rich body of …

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The Great Migration And Health Of The Left-Behind Elderly In Rural China, Qian Song Jan 2015

The Great Migration And Health Of The Left-Behind Elderly In Rural China, Qian Song

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In face of massive internal migration in China, this dissertation brings attention to the wellbeing of the left-behind elderly in the social context that adult children, the potential out-migrants, are still the culturally expected and de facto major eldercare providers. This dissertation has attempted to untangle and explain associations between adult out-migration and the psychological and physical health of the left-behind elderly in rural China.

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The Process Of Learning To Do Social Work In The Undergraduate Field Practicum In Mainland China : Bsw Students' Perceptions Of Most Useful Learning Event, Qiang Chen Jan 2015

The Process Of Learning To Do Social Work In The Undergraduate Field Practicum In Mainland China : Bsw Students' Perceptions Of Most Useful Learning Event, Qiang Chen

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Social work educational programs have been rapidly expanded in mainland China since 2000, and field practicum is considered as one of the most problematic areas. This qualitative study explores baccalaureate social work students’ perceptions of the most useful learning event in the field practicum. Critical Incident Technique-based interview was conducted with 27 students from one undergraduate program in Beijing. Interview transcripts were analyzed using Nvivo software, guided by a constant comparative method in the ground theory tradition. From data analysis, a general learning process emerged that reveals similar patterns of learning among the student participants. This general learning process comprises …

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Drunkorexia : Gender Differences In Compensatory Behavior In Response To Alcohol Use, Sasha Gorrell Jan 2015

Drunkorexia : Gender Differences In Compensatory Behavior In Response To Alcohol Use, Sasha Gorrell

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Compensatory eating behaviors (e.g., vomiting; caloric restriction) related to alcohol consumption may lead to both hazardous drinking as well as disordered eating (e.g., Barry & Piazza-Gardner, 2012; Eisenberg & Fitz 2014). Motivation for compensatory behaviors may differ; some of these behaviors may be more related to eating pathology (e.g., weight and shape concerns), or more related to alcohol (e.g., enhancing alcohol effects). What remains less well understood is whether motivation based on alcohol enhancement is associated specifically with reported eating disorder symptoms, and whether this relation may differ according to sex. An undergraduate sample (N = 530, 48% female) completed …

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Employment After Incarceration : Exploring The Influence Of Cumulative Disadvantage On Multiple Employment Outcomes, Amanda D. Emmert Jan 2015

Employment After Incarceration : Exploring The Influence Of Cumulative Disadvantage On Multiple Employment Outcomes, Amanda D. Emmert

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Prisons and jails across the Unites States release more than 600,000 inmates each year. Scholars have posed and addressed numerous concerns for the reintegration outcomes and prospects that face ex-inmates. Yet, little is known about the cumulative employment and economic disadvantages faced by ex-inmates who experienced their first incarceration at early ages or experience multiple incarcerations throughout their lives. Using event history and fixed effects analyses on longitudinal data from the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS), this project explores employment acquisition, employment tenure, employment stability, and use of public assistance for signs of differential ex-inmate disadvantages. While cumulative disadvantage is …

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Stereotypes And Deadly Force Decision-Making, Mark R. Chaires Jan 2015

Stereotypes And Deadly Force Decision-Making, Mark R. Chaires

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract

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Predicting Job Performance In Correctional Officers With Pre-Employment Psychological Screening, Shelley S. Hyland Jan 2015

Predicting Job Performance In Correctional Officers With Pre-Employment Psychological Screening, Shelley S. Hyland

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

There is substantial cost in the hiring and training of a correctional officer, with a high rate of turnover compounding these costs. While pre-employment psychological screening is suggested as one method to prevent these losses, mandates to screen are not as common in corrections as they are in law enforcement. Further, minimal research has examined the validity of psychological testing in correctional officers. This dissertation examined pre-employment psychological screening for 421 correctional officers hired by one of three upstate New York sheriff's departments. Assessments were conducted by Public Safety Psychology, PLLC from March, 1997 to June, 2012. T scores and …

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Neoliberalism, Populist Mobilization, And State-Making In Latin America : The Cases Of Mexico And Venezuela, Anibal Francisco Gauna Jan 2015

Neoliberalism, Populist Mobilization, And State-Making In Latin America : The Cases Of Mexico And Venezuela, Anibal Francisco Gauna

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Populism, as the Manichean juxtaposition of the elites versus the common citizen ("the People"), has become an entrenched phenomenon of the modern moral order. Political populism, which feeds from and reinforces the “elite vs the people” confrontation in the political arena, has been a recurrent feature of Latin American politics. The present work studies one its strains, say, the successful conflation of populism and the left in Venezuela—and the lack thereof in Mexico. Through process-tracing (George & Bennet 2005) several mechanisms explaining the success of the radical populist (Chavista) movement in Venezuela are identified, while a comparison with Mexico helps …

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