Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

China And The Northeast Region: Agricultural Machinery, Kelsey White

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Using Chinese government statistical data, relevant laws and policy regulations, and current market projections, this report aims to help new-to-market U.S. exporters understand the development of the agricultural machinery market in China and the Northeast region, identifying both challenges and opportunities.

With a vast land area and diverse topography, China is one of the world's top agricultural producers. Agriculture accounts for about 11% of China's GDP and more than 40% of China's employment. Over the past several years, China has been increasing its agricultural mechanization in an effort to move from traditional to modern farming. The central government has been …

Acceptance And Commitment Therapy For The Treatment Of Posttraumatic Stress Among Adolescents, Michelle R. Woidneck

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The prevalence of exposure to traumatic events among youth in the United States is alarmingly high. Trauma exposure has been linked to numerous negative outcomes, including the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and problematic posttraumatic stress symptomology. Effective trauma-focused treatments for children and adolescents have been identified; however, these treatments also possess various limitations, including a substantial number of individuals who do not respond, show minimal responsiveness, or drop out before completing treatment. Such limitations indicate that investigation into alternative treatment modalities is warranted.

In collaboration with Utah State University (USU), a psychology professor, Dr. Michael Twohig, and a …

Measuring The Environmental Cost Of Hypocrisy, Elliot Jordan Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis proposes a method for quantifying hypocrisy's environmental costs. The question naturally arises, why attempt to measure people's hypocrisy? The answer is that the possible spillover effects associated with educating people about their quantified hypocritical choices in life likely far outweigh those that would be obtained through standard price incentives. Hopefully the business adage “that which gets measured gets managed”, holds true in this case. Through deeper introspection, we would be taking personal ownership of the externalities to which we contribute, perhaps with a longer-lasting effect on our consumptive behaviors.

The survey will be administered at four different coffee …

Selected Neuropharmacology Of Resurgence, Adam D. Pyszczynski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The reemergence of problem behavior (i.e., relapse) is a key concern in most behavioral interventions. Resurgence refers to the reappearance of a previously rewarded behavior when reward for an alternative behavior is also discontinued. It is especially relevant to the reappearance of problem behavior because many behavioral interventions discontinue reward for aberrant behavior while simultaneously rewarding an appropriate response.

Understanding the underlying neuropharmacology of behavioral phenomena such as resurgence is important because it helps elucidate the neural processes at the root of such behavior, and also has implications for pharmacotherapies. Existing information about the neuropharmacology of resurgence is scarce, but …

Longitudinal Analysis Of Resource Competitiveness And Homelessness Among Young Adults, Mathew F. Prante

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Homelessness occurs when individual resources are not enough for the demands of a given environment. It is not an arbitrary state of being, or a class of individual, it is a marker that signals a person has fallen to the extreme low end of a continuum of poverty. Perceiving homelessness as a point on a spectrum versus a discrete state, leads to research and explanations concerning how someone goes from being housed to being homeless, which can lead to more meaningful results than conceptualizing the homeless population as a class of people. It allows for the exploration of identification markers …

Preventative Behavioral Parent Training In A Primary Care Context: Initial Evaluation Of A Universal Prevention Program For Disruptive Behavior Disorders, Jessica L. Malmberg

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

One of the biggest challenges parents face is effectively managing their child’s engagement in various disruptive behaviors including noncompliance, tantrums, and aggression. Typically when children begin exhibiting disruptive behaviors, parents will express their concerns to their pediatricians; however, there are significant barriers to parents gaining adequate guidance due to clinic time constraints, insurance reimbursement issues, and the limited training pediatricians receive in addressing these concerns. As such, children are generally referred to outside mental health clinics where additional barriers arise including waitlist delays and mental health stigmatization. The treatment for conduct problems (CP) that has proven most effective is referred …

Characteristics Of 4-H Participants And Their Psychosocial Development, Lauralee Lyons

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Volunteerism is an important component in the 4-H program. It was initially used as a method to help agents reach the many youth interested in participating in 4-H. Community service has since become a required component for every club project. Research shows that volunteering can impact youth in many different ways. Other research shows that 4-H youth are more likely to contribute or do some type of community service.

The present study uses the Modified Extended Version of the Object Measure of Ego Identity Status (EOMEIS), the Cognitive Autonomy and Self-Evaluation (CASE) inventory, and an instrument specifically designed to study …

Review Of How To Manage Processing In Archives And Special Collections, Jillian Cuellar

Journal of Western Archives

Learning to process archival collections as an intern or student processor constitutes many archivists’ first practical understanding of the archival enterprise. Though this experience is an excellent hands-on opportunity for many nascent archivists to sharpen their project management skills, it does not fully prepare them to manage an archival processing program. Few students in archival graduate programs receive in-depth management training, leaving many to learn effective management techniques without formal guidance. With How to Manage Processing in Archives and Special Collections, Pam Hackbart-Dean and Elizabeth Slomba set out to offer archivists a comprehensive, practical toolbox for managing a processing …

Liberalis, Summer 2013, Utah State University

Liberalis

Freedom to Think, Discover, and Create. The alumni magazine for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Utah State University.

Content And Collaboration I: A Case Study Of Bringing An Institutional Repository And A University Press Together, Michael Spooner, Andrew Wesolek

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

Profile of a Merger: In 2009, the dean of libraries and the director of the university press at Utah State University proposed a departmental merger to their central administration. They argued that through restructuring reporting lines so that the press became a department of the library at least three important benefits could be achieved. First, the central administration was at the time hoping to cut costs by consolidating operations in various parts of the university; merging the staff reporting lines of the university press into the library offered an opportunity for consolidation. Secondly, integrating the press into the library promised …

Content And Collaboration Ii: Opportunities To Host, Possibilities To Publish, Andrew Wesolek, Michael Spooner

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

The integration of the Utah State University Press and USU Libraries enhanced access to scholarly materials in a variety of ways. The press utilizes USU’s institutional repository, the Digital Commons, to facilitate the open access distribution of its works subsequent to a 12-month embargo. Additionally, the collaborative environment created by shared space within the library fosters innovation. The library benefits from the extensive knowledge of the press and applies it to its nascent library-based publishing efforts. The press has also adopted some of the open access ethos prevalent in library philosophy and practices and applied it to high-quality peer-reviewed and …

Quantified Recess: Design Of An Activity For Elementary Students Involving Analyses Of Their Own Movement Data, Victor R. Lee, Joel R. Drake

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Recess is often a time for children in school to engage recreationally in physically demanding and highly interactive activities with their peers. This paper describes a design effort to encourage fifth-grade students to examine sensitivities associated with different measures of center by having them analyze activities during recess using over the course of a week using Fitbit activity trackers and TinkerPlots data visualization software. We describe the activity structure some observed student behaviors during the activity. We also provide a descriptive account, based on video records and transcripts, of two students who engaged thoughtfully with their recess data and developed …

Digital Physical Activity Data Collection And Use By Endurance Runners And Distance Cyclists, Victor R. Lee

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

The introduction of sensor technologies to sports has allowed athletes to quantify and track their performance, adding an information-based layer to athletic practices. This information layer is particularly prevalent in practices involving formal competition and high levels of physical endurance, such as biking and running. We interviewed 20 athletes who participated in distance cycling or endurance running and also had experience using these technologies. This paper presents two cases and a number of shorter descriptive examples from these interviews that illustrate the factors salient to the introduction of these athletes to their respective sports, their continued participation in running or …

Knowing And Learning With Technology (And On Wheels!): An Introduction To The Special Issue, Victor R. Lee

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This special issue of Technology, Knowledge and Learning is dedicated to bicycles and computing. Yes, you read that correctly. The theme of the issue is really and truly bicycles and computing.

Student-Initiated Campus Sustainability: Strategies For Success, Michaela Stuver Harper

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Campus sustainability is growing in popularity throughout the United States, and also internationally. The purpose of this study was to determine whether student-run environmental sustainability initiatives are capable of succeeding, and if so, what factors and characteristics exist in successful and unsuccessful projects. Environmental sustainability initiatives are those that address at least one of the following five ares: 1) Air quality and climate change, 2) local food and sustainable agriculture, 3) land conservation and recycling, reducing and reusing, 4) renewable energy, and 5) water conservation. Success was defined as the ability of a program to continue when the initiator leaves …

The Bonds Of Organization: Zine Archives And The Archival Tradition, Rachel Woodbrook, Althea Lazzaro

Journal of Western Archives

There is a current movement amongst zine archives toward collaboration and the standardization of policies and practices. As a relatively new area of archival collecting, zine archives are progressing through core archival issues at a rapid pace; this progression provides an opportunity for them to redefine traditional archival practices in relation to their specific needs.

The community-based nature of their collections compel zine archivists and librarians to include their unique audiences in the mapping of traditional practices onto the organic structures of their largely grassroots organizations: they are translators and interpreters between archival theory and this grassroots practice. Ideally, this …

Beyond A Box Of Documents: The Collaborative Partnership Behind The Oregon Chinese Disinterment Documents Collection, Natalia M. Fernández, Cristine N. Paschild

Journal of Western Archives

This article is a case study of a collaboration between the Oregon Multicultural Archives of Oregon State University, Portland State University Library's Special Collections, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA), and the Northwest News Network to preserve and make accessible a recovered box of Oregon Chinese disinterment documents. By examining what influenced and engaged each partner, this case study offers an opportunity to better understand the motivations of diverse stakeholders in a "post-custodial era" project that challenges traditional practices of custody, control, and access.

Book Review: Archival Arrangement And Description, Tiah K. Edmunson-Morton

Journal of Western Archives

The 2013 book Archival Arrangement and Description, the first installment in SAA’s “Trends in Archival Practice,” has broad appeal for archivists with different professional duties and in a variety of repository settings. Published as both an e-book and a print edition, this book is built on flexibility and user needs. Editors Christopher J. Prom and Thomas J. Frusciano offer a great introduction for the three modules that constitute the book, calling for archivists to archivists embrace change and professional evolution. Sibyl Schaefer and Janet M. Bunde begin the book with an exploration of how standards facilitate intellectual control and …

Fruits Of Their Labors Digital Collection: A Case Study, Elizabeth Smart, Kristi Young

Journal of Western Archives

University folklore archives are expanding collections through cultural documentation projects run by students and community members. These new collections are a rich source of potential digital content. Bringing these collections online requires keeping the research audience in mind with thoughtful processing, modernizing traditional folklore archives description techniques, and working collaboratively with multiple library departments. The end results include expanded holdings and new digital resources for local historians.

Body Of Knowledge For Health Administration Education: Teaching Epidemiology In The Age Of Health Care Reform, Rosemary M. Caron, Edmond A. Hooker, Jessica Ulrich-Schad

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

As we embark on reforming the U.S. healthcare system, population-based healthcare is becoming even more important, and epidemiology is the basic science we will use to evaluate our effectiveness. Although recent research has shown that most undergraduate and graduate programs in health administration teach epidemiology courses in their curricula, the goals, objectives, and final content for such a course remain inconsistent across the programs. There are limited guiding principles (e.g., accreditation and certification criteria) on what health administration programs should expect of students studying epidemiology. To assess the similarities and differences in epidemiological content taught at the undergraduate and graduate …

Geospatial Metadata, Liz Woolcott, Kristen Jensen

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

No abstract provided.

Immigration And Farm Labor In The U.S., Philip Martin, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Hired workers comprise 33 percent of people employed on farms but do an estimated 60 percent of the work performed on U.S. farms. Most hired farm workers were born abroad, usually in Mexico, and most are believed not to be authorized to work in the U.S. Changes in Mexico-US migration flows and more restrictive immigration laws and policies have increased the vulnerability of U.S. agriculture to labor supply shocks, which could increase costs and threaten the ability of some farmers to harvest laborintensive crops. Congress is considering major changes in immigration policies. Farm employers want access to a reliable supply …

The Next Information Literacy Challenge: Partnering To Promote Deeper Engagement With Information And Better Writing, Wendy Holliday, Kacy Lundstrom, Anne R. Diekama, Sheri Haderlie

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

No Child Left Inside Week: Pilot Program, Jamie C. Clark

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This program evaluation assessed the feasibility and effectiveness of a free No Child Left Inside (NCLI) week-long outdoor program to coincide with the Utah state-designated No Child Left Inside Week. The pilot program was implemented at the community level in Cache Valley, Utah, in 2012. Families attended eleven activities throughout the week that included hands-on experience and participation. A community BioBlitz was also planned as a conclusion to the week. Survey results demonstrate increased excitement and desire to spend more time outdoors exploring and learning, accomplishing NCLI goals of laying groundwork for an environmental literacy foundation in America’s children.

Pricing And Hedging Asian Options, Vineet B. Lakhlani

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This paper will mainly focus on a path-dependent option—Asian options. The value of a path-dependent option is affected by how the price of the underlying asset was reached at the time of maturity. Unlike a vanilla European option, the pay-off of an Asian option is a function of multiple points up to and including the price at expiry. Asian options are some of the most common exotic options traded. As P. Wilmott (2006) and E. G. Haug (2007) both point out, Asian options are popular in the OTC energy markets and in other commodity markets lacking liquidity. [9]

Enhancing Solidarity And Cooperation Social Identity Theory And China's Involvement In Africa, David Thomas Aston

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

China has increasingly intensified engagement with Africa since 2000. In 2001, trade between Africa and China was at $10.6 billion. In 2011, trade had exploded to over $160 billion.1 Chinese investment in Africa has grown from tens of millions of dollars to over $10 billion.2 This surge of trade and investment in Africa has not yet been matched by any other global power. Recently, Hu Jintao doubled China’s loan commitment to Africa to over $20 billion. This increase of trade and investment reflects a growing Chinese influence in Africa.3 What caused this increased Chinese interest in a continent that has …

Presidential War Powers, Matt Scott Formisano

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Even before the framing of the Constitution, the Framers feared an executive power that would grow too strong. This fear was reflected throughout debates held before, during, and after the American Revolution. Even today, debate still continues as to what the executive power entails when it comes to acts of war and treaties. The United States Constitution was framed with the purpose of dividing power between the branches of government in order to avoid abuse and tyranny. “The Constitution bestows enormous power and responsibility on the President to protect the nation’s security and safeguard the people’s liberty” (Matheson 1). Throughout …

Channeling Don Draper: Dabbling In Database Marketing, Katie Wesolek, Gaby Lebeau, Robert Heaton

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

Utah State University Libraries' Collection Development Department embarked on a marketing campaign to increase awareness of our databases. This poster displays a small sample of the images used and discusses the impact on database usage during each marketing period. The results of our study were inconclusive, suggesting that online promotion efforts are best combined with departmental outreach, classroom instruction opportunities, and other marketing approaches.

Anti-Corruption Efforts And Russian Perceptions: Presidents Putin And Menvedev's Efforts To Influence Perceptions Of Corruption, Jeris Kendall

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The problems affecting Russia because of corruption are serious and pressing. Police officers, judges, government officials, and many others are involved in taking bribes for services or benefits they provide. These actions are contrary to the laws they are to follow, and they are preventing the rule of law from operating properly in Russia. In order to resolve this issue Russia needs to understand how corruption works against national progress, how society perceives the efforts of Russian presidents in the battle against corruption, and how those perceptions can be utilized to help improve the situation.

Explaining Conflicts In Japanese-South Korean Relations, Jonathan James Ence

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

South Korea and Japan usually cooperate but occasionally experience periods of conflict that disrupt their relationship. This paper seeks to explain those sporadic periods of conflict using a dynamic theory. This theory posits that South Korean leadership power status coupled with Japanese action on sensitive issues will lead to a period of conflict. President Kim Dae Jung’s administration serves as the case study for this paper.