Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Relationship Between Weir Openings And Green Tide Variation In Korean Rivers, Uisuk Jung

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

On the four major rivers in South Korea (Han River, Nakdong River, Geum River, and Yeongsan River), 16 weirs were installed in 2011 to secure water resources. However, there is controversy that the weirs allow the summer Green Tide (hereafter referred to as GT) to thrive, so the South Korean government has been opening them since 2017 to evaluate their effectiveness. The opening of the weirs was mainly done at three weirs on the Geum River, where there are few constraints, and some on the Yeongsan and Nakdong rivers, depending on the degree of constraints, while the Han River was …

Sports Betting In Kentucky: An Analysis Of Kentucky’S Sports Wagering Legislation Through Local And Regional State Budgetary Revenue Trends, Brett Gillispie

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Kentucky’s legislation legalizing sports wagering in the Commonwealth and delineating its taxation, HB551 of the 2023 Regular Session of the General Assembly, has been implemented and posted numbers in its early months that suggested it will exceed revenue projections for the Commonwealth. Researchers have raised concerns, particularly in studying West Virginia, which implemented similar legislation in 2019, that sports betting may be cannibalizing existing gambling revenue for states that implement it. However, this was not conclusive. While evidence from West Virginia suggests that sports betting may be cannibalizing existing revenue, evidence from Kentucky and the individual and broader regional trends …

The Impact Of Actuarial Valuation Reporting On State Pension Funds, Samantha Montgomery

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The U.S. is currently experiencing a public pension funding crisis that has become the topic of news outlets around the country and political talking points for legislators. It is estimated at the end of fiscal year 2023 that the average funded ratio for a public pension program is 78.1%, which equates to total unfunded pension liabilities for state retirement systems being approximately $1.4 trillion (Pension Plan Funded Ratio Rankings 2023, 2024). Pension systems across the U.S. are managed by boards and pension agencies that are charged with fiduciary responsibility to manage the pension funds in a manner that focuses on …

Evaluating The Impact Of Patient Acuity On Nursing Productivity: A Case Study At Uk Healthcare Chandler Hospital, Kara Klein

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This study examines the relationship between patient acuity and nursing productivity at UK HealthCare (UKHC) Chandler Hospital from June 2022 to April 2024. Patient acuity, characterized by the complexity and intensity of nursing care required by patients (Juvé-Udina et al., 2020), is crucial in determining staffing needs and operational efficiency. The primary objective of this research is to investigate how variations in patient acuity levels impact Full-Time Equivalents (FTE), a key metric for assessing nursing productivity. The study utilized hospital data and applied descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and regression models to assess the impact of patient acuity on FTE. The …

Enhancing Equity And Economic Growth: A Strategic Review Of Procurement Practices In Prince George’S County, Andrew Stover

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Procurement represents a substantial portion of public spending in state and local governments, and thus is an essential element of responsible public financial management. This paper explores the procurement process on the local government level and provides research into best practices that are conducive to equity and economic development. It takes a look specifically at Prince George’s County, Maryland and analyzes its procurement function in relation to these best practices. An analysis of the County finds that despite its strides in implementing equitable procurement policies, significant gaps remain in the engagement of disadvantaged classes of businesses. To tackle these challenges, …

From Local Income Tax To Local Sales Tax In Kentucky: An Examination Of Lfucg, Zachary Vogl

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Property tax revenue is widely known as the largest own source revenue for local governments. However, other taxes such as local sales taxes (LST) and local incomes taxes (LIT) also provide significant revenue streams for local governments. For example, in Kentucky, “[e]xcluding Fayette and Jefferson, counties collected a total of $353.5 million in occupational license fees on payroll and net profits in FY 2022, making up 42.7 percent of all tax revenue” (Smith 2024).

The use of LST and LIT, in addition to property taxes, by local governments allows for flexibility and revenue diversification; but, these taxes also come with …

Role Of Program Activity Data In Allocation Decision-Making For The Community Development Block Grant Program, Carolyn Anne Ferguson

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The forthcoming study aims to further the conversation on the importance of data for effective, efficient use of public funding by conducting a quantitative, correlational case study of the Community Development Block Grant (“CDBG”) activity obligation approvals for grant allocations administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), Office of Community Planning and Development (“CPD”). The increasing use of data, including but not limited to program outcomes, accomplishments, capacity, sustainability, compliance, efficacy, efficiency, and activity provision, to inform decision-making associated with appropriations, allocations, and awards results in a mounting need to focus on various means of data …

The Fairness Model Of Legal Institutions, James M. Donovan

Law Faculty Books and Chapters

If any group is to endure over time, individual frustrations, while inevitable, must be usually experienced as acceptable, or at least tolerable. Failing that, little would prevent the losers in these conflicts from leaving or revolting, which would be cumulatively debilitating to the group. As opposed to holding law’s job to impose order and police infringers, the second approach suggests that finding the balance between group and individual desires is the ‘major difficulty of all law—the problem of really getting a fresh start in relations between litigants after disposition of a trouble-case. This is the problem not only of keeping …

Mediating Authenticity: An Ethnographic Portrait Of Experience At U.S. Popular Music Festivals, Elizabeth Navarra Varnado

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This ethnographic study of U.S. popular music festivals subverts the impression of festivals as strictly ‘presentational’ live music events by utilizing a nuanced approach that is grounded in ethnographic fieldwork, historical analysis, and participant interviews.

Interlocutors, drawn from the author’s personal network of festival attendees, musicians, and promoters, reflect on “particularly positive festival moments,” the social and emotional benefits of festivals, and the corporeality of festival aesthetics. Discourse and published media play a vital role in festival participants’ perception of the festival field and their place within it; therefore, this study draws inspiration from the tripartite focus of iconic festival …

Different Cohort, Disparate Results: Selection Bias Is A Key Factor In Autopsy Cohorts, Kathryn Gauthreaux, Walter A. Kukull, Karin B. Nelson, Charles Mock, Yen-Chi Chen, Kwun C. G. Chan, David W. Fardo, Yuriko Katsumata, Erin L. Abner, Peter T. Nelson

Neurology Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: Research-oriented autopsy cohorts provide critical insights into dementia pathobiology. However, different studies sometimes report disparate findings, partially because each study has its own recruitment biases. We hypothesized that a straightforward metric, related to the percentage of research volunteers cognitively normal at recruitment, would predict other inter-cohort differences.

METHODS: The National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) provided data on N = 7178 autopsied participants from 28 individual research centers. Research cohorts were grouped based on the proportion of participants with normal cognition at initial clinical visit.

RESULTS: Cohorts with more participants who were cognitively normal at recruitment contained more individuals who …

Identifying Public Perceptions Towards Precision Dairy Technology Use, Brad Kelly

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

To remain sustainable, the dairy industry must demonstrate commitment to addressing concerns from the public, such as sustainability and animal welfare. Precision dairy technologies (PDT) are a potential solution to ameliorate this issue, but public perceptions towards PDT are currently underinvestigated. This thesis aims to describe public perceptions towards PDT. Specifically, the objectives are to 1) describe baseline perceptions of the U.S. public towards PDT, 2) determine the effects of framing information about human-animal bond, data transparency, and animal welfare on PDT perceptions, and 3) evaluate how demographic characteristics mediate these perceptions. An online survey was used to measure baseline …

Essays On Corporate Debt Structure, Kyuyoung Oh

Theses and Dissertations--Finance and Quantitative Methods

The dissertation consists of three chapters exploring three different facets of corporate debt structure choice. In the first chapter, “Risk Management and the Choice between Secured and Unsecured Debt: Evidence from Natural Experiment,” I study whether and how corporate hedging affects firms’ choice between secured and unsecured debt. Exploiting the introduction of steel futures as a natural experiment, I provide causal evidence that risk management enables firms to switch from secured to unsecured debt without sacrificing debt capacity. Cross-sectional evidence supports the interpretation that risk management drives the results. The effects are stronger for firms that are more likely to …

De Aquí, Y De Allá: Education, Culture, And Identity Development Of Transnational Latinas, Elizabeth Harris-Medina

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

De Aquí, y De Allá: Education, Culture, and Identity Development of Transnational Latinas This ethnographic case study examines the experiences of three transnational Latina women, descendants of families from Degollado, Jalisco, Mexico, exploring how their migration history and educational backgrounds influence their life trajectories. Focusing on these three women, the study aims to better understand their challenges and inform the development of resources to support their success in the U.S. education system. Using ethnographic interviews and Ecological Systems Theory, the research highlights how places and social systems shape views and life paths, offering insights into how best to support these …

Increasing Expectations For Entry: Analyzing Changes In Labor Market Entry-Level Education Requirements Over Time With Potential Implications For Credential Or Degree Inflation And Returns-To-Education, William Nicholas Grinstead

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

The dissertation asks the following question: Have occupations increased academic degree requirements over time?

The literature review provides background on the origin and criticisms of the concept of a “knowledge economy.” It addresses economic “signaling theory” and sociologic “credentialism.”

The methodology relies on a trend analysis using the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Outlook Handbook and the occupations’ Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and its predecessor the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT). In order to address whether occupations have increased academic degree requirements over time, this dissertation will compare entry-level education requirements for BLS SOC occupations that today are …

Internalized Racism: A Theoretical Model, William Glen Fisher

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

Internalized racism exists, we can observe and measure the effect it has on people. It manifests from both the psychological and sociological factors that form a person’s racial self-image. As Campón and Carter (2015) state: “less attention to date has been given to … how racial minority groups appropriate (i.e., take in) racial beliefs.” (p.498). In this dissertation, I explore how internalized racism forms. Further, I propose a new theoretical model integrating two concepts, the racialized self and racialized experiences. Racism is found at different levels, within the self through the racialized self, it highlights how People of Color view …

Welcome To The Fruit Farm: How Queer Farmers Are Shaping The Agroecology Of The Future, Alessandra Del Brocco

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

The question of sustainability has many different facets, but one of the most urgent issues is that of sustainable agriculture. Decades of agricultural policy demanded farmers go big or get out, more colloquially known as the government directive of the 20^th century to farm “fencerow to fencerow”. In the 21^st century, we now face a near-critical consolidation of farmland and decline in the overall number of farmers. If sustainability calls for a resilient, diversified agrisystem, how can we change direction at this point in the trajectory?

In this study, I demonstrate how queer farmers make valuable contributions to …

Effect Of On-Duty Resistance Training On Neuromuscular Function In Structural Firefighters, Jamal L. Thruston

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

Participation in on-duty exercise is critical to enhance firefighter safety and readiness. However, these sessions are often interrupted with emergency responses and require firefighters to work in a fatigued state that may increase injury risk. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the impact of on-duty resistance training on neuromuscular function. A sample of 18 firefighters (Age: 38.8±8.0yr; Body fat: 24.9±7.0%) completed 3 testing sessions, separated by at least 72 hr to compare the effects of circuit (CT) versus heavy resistance training (HRT) fatigue on neuromuscular function. During Session 1, anthropometrics and familiarization trials of balance and neuromuscular …

The Effect Of A Community Resiliency Model Education On Resilience, Psychological Empowerment, And Well-Being In Behavioral Health Nurses, Lorrie Smith-Esterle

DNP Projects

Background: Resilience, well-being, and psychological empowerment are associated with improvement in job satisfaction and nurse retention rates. The Community Resiliency Model (CRM) can promote emotional regulation, well-being, and create an internal state of balance in response to work-related stressors. Educating nurses on how to use CRM enables the recognition of changes in thoughts, emotions, sensations, and internal or external stimuli, which can promote resilience, well-being, and psychological empowerment.

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to evaluate evaluate the effect of a resiliency education using the Community Resiliency Model (CRM) on resilience, psychological empowerment, and well-being of behavioral health nurses. …

Improving Nutrition Screening Practice In The Hospitalized Heart Failure Patient Population, Amanda J. Bourgeois

DNP Projects

Background: Heart Failure is a disease known to affect nearly 6.5 million adults in the United States. Characterized by recurrent hospitalizations, heart failure significantly contributes to morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs in the United States and worldwide. Because malnutrition is prevalent in the heart failure population, healthcare providers must perform nutritional assessments on admission to intervene in the case of malnutrition, prevent deterioration, and improve patient prognosis. Without intervention and early identification of malnutrition, heart failure hospitalizations will remain a significant problem.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of an evidence-based educational program for cardiac …

Utilizing Mixed Methods To Examine Black Graduate Students’ Experiences With Multicultural Supervision In School Psychology, Larraine Graham

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Multicultural supervision is essential in preparing psychologists-in-training to provide ethical, multiculturally competent practices to diverse populations. In the field of school psychology, Black graduate students remain underrepresented despite increasing diversity in schools. While there are many resources for establishing best practices in multicultural supervision in related fields, there is a lack of literature in school psychology, especially that examines Black graduate students’ experiences. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to attend to the gap in the literature and better understand Black graduate students’ experiences with the supervisory relationship, satisfaction with supervision, and multicultural competency skill development. The current …

Gender Differences In Preschool Conduct Disorder Symptoms Across One-Year, Madeline K. Petersen

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Conduct disorder is a childhood disruptive behavior disorder that exhibits striking gender differences in prevalence, comorbidities, and associated outcomes. These gender differences, particularly symptomology, remain understudied in conduct disorder despite the growing prevalence in females. This paper seeks to examine gender differences in parent rated conduct disorder symptoms in preschoolers overrecruited for disruptive behavior problems at three different timepoints across one-year. It is hypothesized that males will exhibit higher levels of physical aggression symptoms at the initial timepoint with declining rates across a one-year period compared to females, while females will exhibit lower levels of conduct problems at the first …

The 1-Back Matching/Mismatching Paradigm With Pigeons (Columba Livia): Evidence For Explicit Learning?, Daniel Peng

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

With humans, a distinction can be made between explicit and implicit learning. language can be used to describe rule-based learning commonly seen in explicit, but not implicit learning. Unfortunately, we cannot do so with animals. Therefore, a non-verbal paradigm is needed to differentiate the types of learning. One method to make such a distinction is by training animals under a conditional discrimination task such as matching-to-sample with reinforcement delayed until a choice is made on the next trial: otherwise known as a 1-back procedure. In this experiment an alternating matching/mismatching to sample task under a 1-back schedule of reinforcement was …

Neural Hyperactivity During Value-Based Decision-Making In People With Daily/Near Daily Cannabis Use, Miranda Ramirez

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Value-based decision-making involves the coordinated effort of multiple brain regions to guide future choices based on past experiences. These processes are disrupted in cannabis use disorder, where individuals continue to use cannabis despite negative consequences. Reinforcement learning (RL) paradigms can be used to capture changes in the value of available options and may inform how the brain is impacted by frequent cannabis use. This study combined fMRI with behavioral modeling of probabilistic choice task data to compare value-based choices between young adults reporting daily/near daily cannabis use (CAN) and controls (CTRL). Participants selected one of two options reinforced ($0.25) at …

Effect Of A Brief Coping Intervention On Activity Of Target Organs Of The Sympathetic And Parasympathetic Nervous Systems During Stress, Kyle P. Rawn

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Stress is a critical aspect of the human experience and how an individual responds to stress can shape future outcomes, such as physical and mental health, as well as shape the patterns of stress responding that persist throughout one’s lifespan. Coping is a central element of stress responding and can strongly influence the outcome of the stress process. Successful coping can alleviate stress, but ineffective coping may lead to less-than-optimal responding. For example, aspects of the biological stress response, such as activity of target organs for the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, have important implications for future susceptibility to health …

Influence Of Oral Contraceptives On Alcohol Use In Young Adult Women, Ashley Strzelecki

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Rates of heavy drinking and Alcohol Use Disorder are rising dramatically in young adult women, making it important to better understand female-specific risks for problematic drinking. Circulating levels of ovarian hormones are one potential mechanism influencing alcohol use in women. Many young adult women use oral contraceptives (OCs) that alter endogenous hormone levels, and little is known about how OCs and the synthetic hormones they contain may influence alcohol use. This dissertation consists of three studies that investigated alcohol consumption in women using OCs and explored potential mechanisms through which OCs may influence alcohol use. Study 1 compared self-reported alcohol …

It Takes A Village: Impact Of Lgbtq+ Community On The Relationship Between Parenting Stress, Parent Mental Health, And Child Adjustment, Kevin Mcaweeney

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

While LGBTQ+ parented families are largely the same as their cis-het parent counterparts, they still experience unique factors exclusive to them. One such factor is access to the LGBTQ+ community. While research has emphasized the importance of community within the family system, the role the LGBTQ+ community can play for LGBTQ+ parented families is largely unexplored. Additionally, LGBTQ+ research examining parents of adolescents is similarly lacking. Utilizing a sample of LGBTQ+ parents with adolescent children, and informed by ecological systems theory, self-determination theory, and the parenting stress model, I examine the influence parent’s sense of LGBTQ+ community has on the …

Characterizing Resting Cerebral Blood Flow In Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder With Arterial Spin Labeling, Hannah R. Wild

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a condition characterized by intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and ritualistic behaviors (compulsions) profoundly impacting daily functioning and quality of life. Neuroimaging studies using various techniques have revealed inconsistent resting cerebral blood flow (rCBF) patterns in OCD patients, particularly within the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuit and sensorimotor network. Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) MRI offers a promising, noninvasive method for directly measuring rCBF. This study, using data from the Yale HCP Trio study, analyzed unmedicated OCD patients and healthy controls, who underwent two consecutive resting pulsed-ASL scans. OCD patients with lower obsessional severity exhibited higher perfusion in the pre- and …

Relationship Of Criterion A Level Of Personality Functioning With Borderline Personality Disorder Over The Course Of Brief Treatment, Michelle M. Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD) housed within DSM-5 Section III posits that impairments in personality functioning, operationalized by the Level of Personality Functioning Scale (LPFS) “constitute the core of personality psychopathology” (APA, 2013, p. 762). If this is the case, there should be strong associations between LPFS and DSM personality disorders, including borderline personality disorder (BPD). BPD Compass is a comprehensive CBT-based treatment for BPD which aims to reduce BPD symptoms over the course of 18 weekly sessions. This study examined if a) LPFS would be associated with changes in BPD symptoms, b) whether LPFS has incremental validity …

Factors That Contribute To Perceptions Of Police-Civilian Interactions, Shelby Wynne

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Perceptions of police-civilian interactions have been found to be impacted by the perspective in which they are viewed, with first-person perspectives eliciting negative perceptions of civilians and positive perceptions of police. However, the nature of the relationship between race and camera-perspective has not been fully explored. Black people are more likely to harmed by police at a disproportionate rate compared to White people, and consequently, have more negative perceptions of police. Three studies investigated what factors informed perceptions of police encounters, particularly when camera perspectives differed. Results showed partial support for my prediction that Black people are as not susceptible …

The Experience And Regulation Of Posttraumatic Shame Among Women With Interpersonal Trauma Histories, Jordyn M. Tipsword

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Posttraumatic shame – an emotion stemming from harsh attitudes about the self after trauma – is central to PTSD for many women following physical or sexual assault or abuse (interpersonal trauma [IPT]). However, knowledge of the frequency, intensity, and stability of shame in the daily lives of women post-IPT is lacking. Additionally, while some work has explored shame-specific emotion regulation (ER), or processes aimed at changing emotional responses, it remains unclear which ER strategies are effective in reducing shame, and the role of PTSD severity in shame regulation also remains unexplored. This project explored daily experiences and regulation of posttraumatic …