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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

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University of Connecticut

Series

2019

Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Wrack Lines Volume 19, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2019, Nancy Balcom, Syma Ebbin, David Gregorio, Richard Telford, Judy Benson Jun 2019

Wrack Lines Volume 19, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2019, Nancy Balcom, Syma Ebbin, David Gregorio, Richard Telford, Judy Benson

Wrack Lines

Issue theme is: "Making Connections: As the Climate Changes, People and Nature Intertwine in New Ways." Articles include: "As More Roads Become Rivers, Communities Search for Solutions;" "Solving an Engineering Conundrum: As Coastal Homes Get Elevated, New Research Looks at Whether Vulnerability to Wind Damage Is Increasing;" "Along the Coast, Residents Consider How to Heed Sandy's Warning of What's to Come;" "All Rivers, All Lives Run to the Sea," about the intersection of waterways and the world of nature writer Edwin Way Teale; and "Crosscurrents: Connecticut Sea Grant's Retrospective Exhibition Makes Waves," about reaching new audiences and building bridges with …

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Connecticut Waterfront Property Premium In Areas With Flood Risk, Conor O'Donnell May 2019

Connecticut Waterfront Property Premium In Areas With Flood Risk, Conor O'Donnell

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper investigates the premium paid for waterfront property along the Connecticut shoreline and how that premium is affected by its vulnerability to coastal flooding as measured by its location relative to the FEMA 100-year and 500-year flood zones. The primary analysis is a comparison of the rate of appreciation of properties within each flood zone relative to coastal properties outside the flood-zone. An analysis of the impact of Super Storm Sandy in 2012 on the appreciation rate is also presented. It is hypothesized that the rate of appreciation of properties within the 100-year flood zone is lower following Hurricane …

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School Policy Evaluated With Time-Reversible Markov Chain, Trajan Murphy, Iddo Ben-Ari May 2019

School Policy Evaluated With Time-Reversible Markov Chain, Trajan Murphy, Iddo Ben-Ari

Honors Scholar Theses

In this work we propose a reversible Markov chain scheme to model for the mobility of students affected by a grade school leveling policy. This model provides unified and mathematically tractable framework in which transition functions are sampled uniformly from the set of {\bf reversible} transition functions. The results from the study appear to confirm the disadvantageous effects of this school policy, on par with the of a previous model on the same policy.

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Make History Accessible: The Case For Youtube, Rohit Kandala May 2019

Make History Accessible: The Case For Youtube, Rohit Kandala

Honors Scholar Theses

Public interest in history is alarmingly low, and this thesis aims to help reverse that trend by recommending the adoption of YouTube as history’s community tool. The majority of this thesis assesses YouTube’s merits as a suitable platform for enthusiasts and professionals alike to share their interests and thereby grow the public’s interest in history. This paper also includes other authors' sentiments on digital history and incorporates it into the argument.

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Cooperation Or Conflict: Using Alliance Theory To Explain The Current Gulf Cooperation Council Crisis, Pierre Aguirre May 2019

Cooperation Or Conflict: Using Alliance Theory To Explain The Current Gulf Cooperation Council Crisis, Pierre Aguirre

Honors Scholar Theses

What caused the current diplomatic crisis between countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council? I analyze this question through the lens of alliance politics. In the past, scholars have used these different theories to explain the formation and sustainability of certain alliances, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Specifically, I test Walt's theory of the Balance of Threat against others to see which can best explain the Council's downfall. Using a case study research design, I disaggregate the alliance into three notable periods: formation, sustained cooperation, and discord. My findings reveal that Walt’s theory lacks certain …

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Decentralization And The Provision Of Public Services: A Case Study Of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, Mishaal Afteb May 2019

Decentralization And The Provision Of Public Services: A Case Study Of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, Mishaal Afteb

Honors Scholar Theses

The effective provision of public services is integral to a functioning democracy as it connects the public to the government and grants it legitimacy. Public services are ones that are provided by the federal and local governments and paid for with constituent taxes. Public services provided by the state are education, health, water/sanitation, environmental measures, security, policing, labor and legal guidelines and so on. Whether the structure of the government is centralized or decentralized is an important factor which impacts the provision of services. Decentralized governments are state or local governments which receive monetary and institutional resources from the federal …

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Utilizing Blockchain Trade Finance To Promote Financial Inclusion, Bryce Ciccaglione May 2019

Utilizing Blockchain Trade Finance To Promote Financial Inclusion, Bryce Ciccaglione

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper examines the use of blockchain, or distributed ledger, technology for the potential supplantation of the antiquated process of international trade financing. Using the technology for this purpose has the potential to narrow the enormous gap in unmet demand for trade finance experienced by small-and medium-sized enterprises in the developing world. The current process of trade finance is still paper-based and relies heavily on manual labor. After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, banks became restrictive in their lending, especially to small-and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries, leading to the aforementioned trade finance gap. Blockchain technology could narrow this gap …

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Determining Defense: Bureaucracy, Threat And Missile Defense, Emilyn Tuomala May 2019

Determining Defense: Bureaucracy, Threat And Missile Defense, Emilyn Tuomala

Honors Scholar Theses

What caused interest in the U.S. missile defense systems to change over time, starting as an impossible idea and now a multibillion dollar reality? The common belief is that national security decisions and technological choices are rationally determined in response to external threats. Is it possible that technological defense decisions are shaped by bureaucracy and political ideology as well? Was funding poured into SDI due to pressure from Russian threats? From U.S. policymakers with close ties to defense contractors? I measure interest in missile defense through the amount of money allocated to these projects, evaluating how it has changed since …

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Presidential Power Couples: Does A Strong First Lady Correlate With A Strong President?, Misha Jethwa May 2019

Presidential Power Couples: Does A Strong First Lady Correlate With A Strong President?, Misha Jethwa

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis explores the extent to which a strong first lady correlates with a strong president, and if she impacts public perceptions of his success. To do this, I have run a cross-tabulation through STATA with comprehensive rankings on presidents and first ladies from C-SPAN and Siena College respectively. Both consist of 10 categories that factor into the overall rankings. I have also compiled brief case studies on statistically significant first ladies in order to discover why some of these women are ranked as such. The correlations between rankings are most prominent at the bottom of the rankings - with …

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Smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment: Adherence, Stress, And Sleep Study, David Massabni May 2019

Smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment: Adherence, Stress, And Sleep Study, David Massabni

Honors Scholar Theses

It is known that lack of sleep correlates with more stress throughout the day. In this unique study, we utilize participants smartphones to complete surveys through a hyperlink via text message. The use of smartphones could help because stress and sleep can only be measured at a moment’s notice. A sample of 8 participants were assessed for Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), College Student’s Stressful Event Checklist (CSSEC) along with their height, weight, and blood pressure at baseline. Next, participants were asked to respond to five scheduled surveys over the next two days where they completed …

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The Alchemical Vessel, River Soma Jan 2019

The Alchemical Vessel, River Soma

MFA Statements

My work comes from a place of deep feeling on a bodily level. Amidst the decorative play, there is a sense of the primitive and primordial, and also a certain humanity and clumsiness through struggle. Through the hermetic tradition I relate the alchemical vessel and its symbolic process of interior development to my artistic practice. Focusing in mixed media sculpture, I discovered a concentrated accumulation of symbolism specific to my practice, but also the full recognition of my practice as a ritualized psychological undertaking.

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Using The Power Of Storytelling To Shape Your Institution’S Narrative, Jessica De Perio Wittman Jan 2019

Using The Power Of Storytelling To Shape Your Institution’S Narrative, Jessica De Perio Wittman

Faculty Articles and Papers

People love stories. For generations, storytelling has been the basis of human communication. Stories capture our attention, and they recount authentic human experience. Stories enable individuals to understand the world around them and to make sense of the who, what, when, where, why, and how of institutional actions. Most importantly, stories enable people to create meaningful connections with one another and with members of their community. The law library has always acted as a community hub that encourages and facilitates scholarly activity and collaboration. By connecting citizens with laws and narratives, the role of the modern law library has evolved …

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