Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Montgomery 1960: Using Technology To Teach Empathy And Perspective Taking, Brooks M. Leftwich, Gregory T. Croisdale, Khoa T. Dang

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

A primary purpose of higher education in the U.S. is to promote personally and socially responsible graduates that can lead at work and in society (AAC&U, 2005). To successfully do so, students need coaching that intentionally develops empathy, perspective taking, intercultural agility, and the capacity to make ethical decisions (Narveaz, 2006). The holistic approaches historically used to teach these skills died with classical curriculum as the research university emerged and the risk-management culture replaced our in loco parentis relationships with students (Colby & Eichman. 2005). The current legal and political climate limits genuine discussion between college students and faculty/staff mentors …

Preterm Birth Among Opioid-Using Women And High-Risk Controls: The Potential Moderating Role Of Borderline Features, Summer Victoria Shore, Rachel Hickman

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Opioid use is a growing problem within this country (Maeda, Bateman, Clancy, Creanga, & Leffert, 2014). One implication of this is an increased incidence of preterm birth, defined as birth before 37 weeks gestation (Kramer et al., 2000; Norwitz & Robinson, 2001). Previous research supports an association between opioid use and preterm birth (Nørgaard, Nielsson, & Heide-Jørgensen, 2015). No research has evaluated the role mental health diagnoses aside from anxiety and depression (Benningfield et al., 2010) play in conjunction with opioid use in exacerbating the risk of preterm birth. In the proposed study, the focus is on Borderline Personality Disorder …

Relationship Between F Codes And Crises, Rachel Nicole Sitton

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

There is a deficit in literature on the relationship between mental health diagnoses and crises, but it has been speculated that having more than one diagnosis might increase the risk of crises. Given this, it might be beneficial to track clients with multiple diagnoses closer than other clients so that care providers can provide extra support. This study investigates if there is a relationship between the number of F codes a client has and the number of crises they experience. This study involves a secondary analysis of 2019 data from an agency in the Southeastern United States on client mental …

Terra Incognita: Post-Traumatic Infrastructural Opportunism, Zachary Corre Orig

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

In anticipation of the impending results of a world affected by climate change, architecture is now more than ever positioned to leverage its unique influence, communication, and power to fight problems that the world cannot see. Every day we turn a lamp on, start a car, or make a pot of coffee, we are engaging into a complex system of interacting with the world’s natural resources: fossil fuels. The United Nations, as of 2019, predicts we have but twelve years at most until climate change is irreversible. As the world runs out of time to cool down, global traumatic …

Reconstructing The History Of Koch Cemetery, Clare Remy

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

This project examined commingled and fragmentary skeletal remains from Koch Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri, where thousands of epidemic victims were buried in mass graves. There were two primary research objectives: 1) to use archival research to construct a site history and understand patient demographics, and 2) to decommingle and estimate collection population. Archival research used Ancestry LE and Newspapers.com to collect data on the demographics of the dead and historical social dynamics of healthcare. Zooarchaeological and forensic anthropological methods, including zonation and landmark analysis, were used to estimate the minimum number of individuals (MNI) and most likely number of …

Working Memory And Study Abroad: A Study Of Memory And Language Gains, Lauren R. Adams

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Study abroad is commonly thought to be the secret to success in learning a second language (L2). In fact, research has shown that learners who study abroad for a semester or a year tend to outperform their counterparts who stay home in various measures of linguistic development (Taguchi). However, short-term study abroad (i.e., 5-8 weeks), is more accessible due to financial and time constraints and thus has become the most popular study abroad program type in recent years (IIE, 2019). Interestingly, there are a limited number of studies in the field of second language acquisition that examine the effects of …

The Effects Of Relationships On Ans Function And Wellness, Olivia M. Maples

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

The quality of relationships and social networks plays a vital role on well-being (Feeney & Collins, 2015). Social support is linked to positive biological profiles in that social support protects against the negative effects of changes in cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and immune function. Furthermore, when exploring Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) function, higher heart rate variability has been shown to reflect a psychophysiological state compatible with social interaction (Quintana, Guastella, Outhred, Hickie, & Kemp, 2012). Social support has been shown to buffer against the negative effects of life stressors (Cohen & Wills, 1985), and ultimately, mortality (Holt-Lunstad, Smith, & Layton, 2010). In …

Disneyfication And Education, Reagan A Yessler

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Disneyfication in theater means the increase in popularity of Disney plays and the resulting reshaping of modern plays to more resemble those of Walt Disney, in order to gain viewership. In most cases, this means a shift to a musical format featuring upbeat ballads and gaudy but family-friendly costumes. While many theatre elitists frown upon such trends, this project shows how Disneyfication fosters renewed interest and enjoyment in theatre across age groups. A case study of the Knox and Sevier County school systems in Tennessee examines patterns of interest and enjoyment in the nation’s most popular plays via snowball method …

Identifying Cystic Fibrosis (Cf) Skeletally: A Proposed Differential Diagnosis, Clare Remy

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disorder that affects the mucosal lining of the lungs and digestive system due to a defective gene that causes blockages of tubes, ducts, and passageways. The type of mutation correlates with the severity of the condition, but with modern medicine individuals can live into their 50s. We propose a differential diagnosis for identifying CF in the skeleton based on bony pathologies that occur in higher frequency in CF patients. CF patients exhibit chronic sinusitis, clubbing of hands and feet, vertebral fractures/collapse and abnormal curvature, significantly shorter stature, lower bone density, rib fractures, and an …

Modern Chinese Development Of Latin America, Alexander Tripp

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

China, a rising global hegemon, has become increasingly interested in close economic and political relations with Latin America since the turn of the century. These relationships have been centered around two traits, foreign direct investment (FDI) and the export of raw materials. China has fully invested itself into the region in order to develop and maintain the production of certain goods necessary for upkeep of its massive population and industrializing economy. I test the significance of four prominent raw materials in Chinese trade with Latin America to determine their impact on Chinese FDI. Using this method, I gather and gauge …

The Effects Of Stress And Anxiety On A Cued Attention Task, Catalina L. Gonzalez

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Previous research has shown visual attention tasks like the Infant Orienting With Attention (IOWA) Task are effective in identifying individual differences in spatial attention (Ross-Sheehy et al., 2015). Given visual attention is influenced by factors like stress/anxiety (Grillon et al, 2016) it may be possible to use attention tasks to identify participants high in stress and/or anxiety. Fifty-four adults completed a modified version of the IOWA task. Participants then completed the Perceived Stress Scale and Beck Anxiety Inventory, and were divided into three groups: Low_Stress/Low_Anxiety (LSLA), High_Stress/Low_Anxiety (HSLA), and High_Stress/High_Anxiety (HSHA). A Condition x Stress Group ANOVA revealed only a …

Acute Social Defeat-Induced Neuroinflammation In The Vmpfc Of Syrian Hamsters Via Microglial Activation, Thomas Clarity

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Research suggests causal relationships between neuroinflammation and stress-related psychopathologies. Exposure to moderate or chronic psychological stress in rodents leads to increased activation of microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells. The ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is a key limbic region involved in top-down regulation of psychological stress and mediates the deleterious effects of microglial activity following prolonged restraint stress. While there is a growing body of literature indicating that chronic social defeat increases microglial activity in the vmPFC, there has been little research investigating the effects of acute social defeat stress. Here, we used an acute social defeat paradigm in …

Using Meisenbach's Typology To Classify Stigma Management Strategies And Their Effects, Lia Marjorie Lombino, Jamie Eden Shapiro

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Jamie Shapiro & Lia Lombino

There are certain traits people possess that lead to stigmatization and mistreatment by others. A stigma is traditionally defined as an identity discrediting mark on someone of questionable moral status (Goffman, 1963). Despite extensive research on stigma, there is an absence of research that studies the role of communication in stigma and the impact of utilizing different communicative strategies when managing stigma. The purpose of the current study is to validate Meisenbach’s (2010) typology of stigma management communication, which is based on accepting or challenging personal and private stigma. Meisenbach proposes four different stigma management …

Does Winning Eurovision Impact A Country's Economy?, Kendall Bard

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationship that winning Eurovision has on several different economic metrics in a particular country. Drawing between 100 and 600 million viewers every year, The Eurovision Song Contest is the longest-running televised singing competition in the world, and has occurred annually since 1956. Furthermore, Eurovision is the most popular international televised event, other than sporting events such as the Olympics and the World Cup. Despite this, limited research has been completed on Eurovision’s economic impact specifically. For this thesis, data on various economic indicators was collected through the World Bank’s World Development …

The Pricing Impact Of The Decreasing Competitiveness Of The Health Insurance Market, Lauren N. Patterson

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

The Affordable Care Act created the national insurance exchanges of qualified health plans to encourage a higher insured rate, larger risk pools, and lower prices for quality health coverage. Consolidation of insurers can have opposing effects. The insurers’ risk pools will grow, allowing insurers to better hedge for risk. However, consolidation decreases the prevalence of competition in the market, and past research shows that insurer consolidation decreases market competition and increases prices.

I examine how the number of plans offered in a set market, pricing components, and county health variables impact the monthly premium pricing of plans sold on the …

Impression Management From The Department Of Environmental Quality In The Flint Water Crisis, Haley E Boles

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

The citizens of Flint, Michigan have been at a disadvantage for decades, even before the water crisis. After Flint switched their water source from the Detroit Water and Sewage Department to the Flint Water Treatment Plant in April 2014, its citizens began to complain about foul-smelling, discolored, and contaminated water. However, government officials in Flint ignored complaints until Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha revealed an increase in Flint children’s blood-lead levels in September of 2015. After the crisis became public, Governor Rick Snyder released ninety-nine PDF files containing emails from the various government agencies involved, and Flint switched back to the DWSD …

Representation Of The Human Musculature In The Bronze Age Aegean, Emily R Brower

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Bronze Age sculptures range from abstract to realistic, but how accurate are the realistic sculptures? To answer this question, it is useful to compare three pieces of artwork: Prince of Lilies from Knossos, Kouros from Palaikastro, and the Boxer Rhyta from Ayia Triadha to a musculature replica. These pieces originate from the Bronze Age in the Aegean. What this comparison will tell us is how much the ancient peoples were studying the human body, along with the reasons as to why these sculptures were portrayed with such realistic characteristics. To accomplish this goal this paper takes the artifacts background into …

Generalizing Across Speaker And Gender During Early Word Learning: Evidence From A Statistical Learning Paradigm, Madison Newsom

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Before children can speak, they can track the likelihood that two syllables co-occur to pull words out of a continuous stream of speech. Previous research with 17-month-olds has suggested that words that have high co-occurrence statistics (i.e., high transitional probability, HTP) make better object labels than words with low transitional probability (LTP). Here we test whether infants can generalize the patterns tracked in a continuous stream of speech to a novel speaker and gender. Infants are familiarized with an Italian corpus produced by a female speaker, that contains both HTP and LTP words. Following familiarization, infants are trained to pair …

The Geography Of Opiate Addiction, Overdose, And Treatment In Tennessee, David Stanley Leventhal, Meghan Russell, Kali Williams

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Opioid addiction and overdose has become a national epidemic in the United States over the past 30 years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 20,000 Americans died from prescription drugs alone in 2014. Tennessee ranks especially high in the number of opioid prescriptions and overdoses when compared to the rest of the US. The Volunteer State is one of only 13 where doctors issued between 96-143 opioid prescriptions per 100 people. This project maps opiate prescription rates and overdose death rates in Tennessee to identify trends in the geospatial, socioeconomic, and demographic makeup of victims, …

Validating Geospatial Analysis With Community Risk Perception Survey In Big Island, Hawaii, Darcy Ann Ayers

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Military vehicle-generated particulate matter released into the atmosphere are possible concerns for human health. The author’s prior geospatial research has been to identify, using GIS analysis, the local populations surrounding a military installation in Hawaii that are most at-risk from the vehicle-generated particulate matter. A continuation of the past research, this project aims to assess the perceived impact of the identified dust pollution among local residents by conducting a survey through both qualitative and quantitative methods. The survey of health and public perception is then used to validate the model developed in the previous GIS analysis. This research is a …

Neuroanatomical Differences Between Boys And Girls With Adhd: A Critical Review And Implications For Treatment, Shelby Clouthier, Jessica Anderson

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a childhood neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; 5th ed., American Psychiatric Association, 2013). About 5% of school age children are diagnosed with this disorder and about 65% will have symptoms that persist beyond adolescence (Friedman and Rapport, 2015). Although girls with ADHD exhibit different symptoms relative to boys with ADHD, there is a lack of research on sex-differences in ADHD-related neuroanatomical structures. There is evidence, however, that girls with ADHD have a 10% decrease in total cerebral gray matter volume compared to …

Macrobotanical Analysis Of The Topper Site (38al23), Sierra Snively Roark

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

The Topper Site (38AL23) is a multicomponent precontact site located along the Savannah River in central South Carolina. Recent excavations conducted by the University of Tennessee have resulted in the identification,mapping, excavation, and processing of over 357 features of possible pits, postholes, and other traces of human activity. Fill from each feature was individually excavated and processed via drum flotation. This poster presents a detailed macrobotanical identification and analysis of the contents of a selection of these features using paleoethnobotanical standards. This project provides insight into Native American foodways, structure locations, and overall daily practices which occurred in the Woodland …

How Short Term Mindfulness Training Affects Emotion Regulation On College Students, Holly E. Flatt, Andrea Benadives, Kriston Ramsey

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Emotion regulation (ER) is the experience and expression of emotions which aids in the balancing of positive emotions and emotional processing (Gross, 2001; Hölzel, 2011). An important advancement in the field of psychology is greater understanding of how treatments can positively influence ER. One promising intervention to improve emotion regulation is mindfulness training—the practice of being aware of one’s current internal state and thoughts to provide a greater attentiveness and acknowledgement to one’s current environment (Hoffman et. al., 2010; Langer 2000). The current study examined the effect of brief mindfulness training on emotion regulation after a sad mood induction via …

Does Increased Globalization Improve Citizens' Quality Of Life?, Laura E. Hirt

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Countries are more open than ever to the outside world, however research is still undecided about what effects it will have on the country’s culture and way of life. In a world where many policy makers are worried about the expansion of free trade and cheaper foreign labor, we are not certain how a country’s strivings to reach this goal of more “open” economy will or will not give their citizens a better quality of life. I will attempt to gain insight into that question using the United Nation’s millennium goals; my research uses econometric techniques to tease out possible …

Impulsivity And The Dissolution Of Romantic Relationships, Stephanie Marie Smith, Jerika C. Norona

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

The primary aim of this study was to examine whether impulsivity is related to emerging adults’ motivations for breaking up with romantic partners. Previous findings indicate that emerging adults (ages 18-25) tend to base their decision-making on the fulfillment of their needs for independence and/or interdependence. The present study included 113 emerging adults who reported the reasons why they decided to end a romantic relationship in the past six months. These responses were coded for the presence of independence and interdependence motivations. The UPPS-P impulsive behavior scale measured five facets of impulsivity: negative urgency, lack of premeditation, …

Understanding Social Presence And Subject Position In Online Environments, Michael Miceli

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Within various fields of linguistics, language is perceived as a social mechanism, always carrying the meanings and values of community, social groups, networks, culture, identity, and more. Language is at the heart of our interaction with the world around us. In a gaming environment, this translates in discursively created actions and interactions that regulate the relationships between players and, consequently, the outcome of the game. In order to be successful in such environments, players will need to develop a strong social presence, that is to say, the ability to project themselves through their characters in the social community and present …

Word Learning In Quiet And In Noise: A Preliminary Study, Grace Marie Wholley

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Word learning involves finding words in continuous speech and mapping them onto novel objects. Previous research has demonstrated that infants can track the transitional probability (TP) between syllables (i.e., the likelihood two syllables will co-occur) in continuous speech to discover word boundaries. Here we ask whether infants can map sound sequences they have extracted from fluent speech onto novel objects. We used a naturally produced Italian corpus in which the TP between syllables was manipulated in 4 target words: two high TP (HTP; TP=1.0) words with component syllables only occurring within those words, and two low TP (LTP; TP=.3) words …

The Merry Death Collector, Benjamin Wade Murphy

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Documentary filmmaking puts life on lens and who knows what the outcome will be. The creative team chose Arnie Meredith to be the subject of the short documentary The Merry Death Collector. The oddball LaFollette, Tennessee resident collects and sells antique items from estate sales and recently purchased two buildings to house and run his business. The story follows Arnie’s struggle to open and maintain a small-town business. He attends a convention in Knoxville, Tennessee to raise funds, and even attempts to hang a biplane in one of his buildings. With his projected opening date around the corner, an exhausted …

Gendered Patterns Of Economic Marginalization And Its Implications On Women's Political Participation In Latin America, Alina Kathryn Clay

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Although women in Latin America have recently made impressive advancements in political representation by achieving high-ranking political positions, embedded economic inequalities persist and significantly hinder their political participation in activities such as voting and actively supporting political parties. Furthermore, widespread policy mechanisms are not set up and effective in fully engaging women in politics. Political and economic oppression of women in this region have historical roots and thus are deeply entrenched within society. Our research question explores how gendered patterns of economic marginalization affect the political participation and attitudes of women in Latin America. To answer this question, we have …

Using Gis To Identify At-Risk Populations Of Military-Generated Dust, Darcy Ann Ayers

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

This project uses GIS and an anthropological perspective to identify local populations surrounding Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) that are most at risk from military vehicle-generated dust. Using ArcGIS, the following data was analyzed in order to better understand impacts from dust on the local population: • Prevailing wind rose data from National Water and Climate Center under the USDA National Resources Conservation Service, • Digital Elevation Model (DEM) map of the island provided by National Elevation Dataset from USGS, and • The US Census data of the local population distribution surrounding the military base at PTA. When studying demographics, I …