Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Testing Visual Ecology Hypotheses In Avian Brood Parasite-Host Systems: The Role Of Uv-Light Perception And Egg-Nest Contrast In Foreign Egg Rejection, Zachary Aidala

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Color signals are highly important features of animal communication systems, particularly among birds, which possess exquisitely complex visual perception systems. Birds possess tetrachromatic vision, and some species are sensitive to ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. Because human and avian visual systems dramatically differ (i.e. humans are not sensitive to UV wavelengths), biologically relevant sensory models are necessary to accurately assess the function of avian color signals. In this dissertation, I primarily use brood parasite-host interactions as a model for studying the behavioral function of avian-perceivable visual stimuli. In Chapter 1, I review the importance of employing biologically relevant sensory-perceptual visual models when …

Effects Of Native Language On Perception And Neurophysiologic Processing Of English /R/ And /L/ By Native American, Korean, And Japanese Listeners, Lee Jung An

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The perception of English liquids /r/ and /l/ is challenging for native Korean and Japanese adult speakers because these sounds are not phonemic in these languages. The Korean language has a partial phonetic model (intervocalic [ɾ]-[11]) that could potentially facilitate processing of English /r/ and /l/ but the Japanese language does not. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of native language on the neurophysiologic processing of English intervocalic /r/ and /l/ by native American, Korean and Japanese listeners using several event-related evoked potentials (ACC, MMN, & P3a) along with behavioral identification and discrimination. Three specific aims …

Electrophysiological Markers Of Short-Term Visual Adaptation: An Examination Across The Schizophrenia Spectrum, Gizely N. Andrade

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The experiments comprising this dissertation sought to contribute to the understanding of basic sensory processing in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and risk-liability. We leveraged the sensitivity of visual processing deficits along with widely reported sensory-gating deficits (in other modalities) to develop a new paradigm assaying short-term visual adaptation to repetitive stimuli. In the first experiment, adaptation properties of the visual system were characterized in neurotypical adults using a classic "paired adaptation paradigm" and a more taxing "block adaptation paradigm," using high-density EEG. In the second experiment, we deployed our new visual adaptation assay in a clinical population. We replicated classic early VEP …

Por Uma Vida Sem Catracas: The 'June Uprising' And Recent Movements In Brazil, Matthew Binetti

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The protests in Brazil in June 2013 which gained attention after a proposal to raise bus fares or what have come to be referred to as the `June Uprising' and those that have since continued, far exceed the issue of bus fare in their significance. These events are only part of a series of movements and trends that are united by a common desire to create alternatives based on ideas of autonomy, solidarity, and horizontalism. This paper focuses on groups who are at the center of this struggle such as The Free Fare Movement, The Popular Committees for the World …

Blessed Disruption: Culture And Urban Space In A European Church Planting Network, John D. Boy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

New Protestant churches are being founded in cities around the world. They are the product of a conscious effort on the part of evangelicals to found, or ``plant,'' new churches in urban areas. Behind this effort are a whole host of actors, including denominations, churches, seminaries, and parachurch organizations, who come together in church planting networks to establish theologically conservative churches that will speak to young urban professional audiences. The hope is that these efforts will scale up and turn into a movement bringing about religious revival among culturally influential groups. Among the focal areas for these efforts are European …

Factors That Affect Treatment Compliance Among Individuals With Mental Illness, Marsha Brown

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Approximately 6% of the American population suffers from a severe mental illness such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Treatment compliance in individuals with severe mental illness is imperative as without treatment these individuals may experience homelessness, unemployment, and a decreased life expectancy of up to 34 years. Consequently, researchers have increasingly examined factors that may affect overall compliance among these individuals, such as insight, social support, symptom severity, and substance abuse. However, many of these studies focus on compliance with prescribed medications and few examine compliance with recommended psychological treatment. The current …

Leveraging Capacity: Technical Solutions To Hunger In The Era Of Neoliberalism, Elizabeth Perry Bullock

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Leveraging Capacity: Technical Solutions to Hunger in the Era of Neoliberalism takes the Global Seed Vault and the value of "global crop diversity" as a point of departure for raising questions about the influence of digital technology on the seed and about the solution to hunger known as "global food security." Discussions about food security among food studies scholars highlight either the failures of global public health advocates to regulate the food and beverage industry or they view food security, like earlier campaigns against global hunger, as an instrument for U.S. foreign policy. On either side of this debate, the …

Three Essays On Income And Wealth Inequality, Damir Cosic

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three essays on income and wealth inequality. The essays examine various aspects of this complex feature of the economic system.

The first essay shows that the distribution of firm sizes in an economy is an important determinant of wage distribution. I use data from the U.S. Current Population Survey and the ExecuComp between 1992 and 2012 to construct a new dataset and estimate wage distribution and various measures of wage inequality. I decompose differences in wage inequality across firm sizes and over time by using semi-parametric methods. In 1992, wages were distributed more unequally in small …

The Spark That Lit The Flame: The Creation, Deployment, And Deconstruction Of The Story Of Mohammed Bouazizi And The Arab Spring, Elizabeth Ann Cummings

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The story of Mohammed Bouazizi is credited with being the "spark that lit the flame," first of the Tunisian Revolution, then the Arab Spring as a whole, creating a domino effect that brought down the Tunisian, Egyptian, Libyan and Yemeni leaders, and threatened to topple still more. In this thesis I explore the narrative structure of the Tunisian revolution, how the story of Mohammed Bouazizi represented that structure and how the narrative sparked the Arab Spring. I also ask how narrative is created and what role social media played in allowing this particular story to become a part of the …

The Ones Left Behind: Making The Connection Between Poverty And The Achievement Gap, Audrey Davis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The achievement gap has been a major issue plaguing the education system in the United States for decades. There has been much research conducted with the goal of identifying the reasons for the achievement gap. One of the main reasons for the achievement gap is poverty. In fact, I argue that there is a direct correlation between academic achievement and poverty, in other words school and society are inextricably connected. The focus of this paper will be the elementary school level as there is an abundance of information on elementary schools in New York City. To further demonstrate the fact …

The Relationship Between Social-Emotional Development, Academic Achievement And Parenting Practices In Young Children Who Attend Head Start, Emily A. A. Dow

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

During the preschool years, children develop social-emotional skills -- such as cooperation and self-regulation -- which predict later academic achievement. Research shows that parents play an important role in the development of these skills. However, it remains unclear how specific parenting practices may facilitate the relationship between social-emotional development and academic success. Often, children who grow up in low-income families are at risk for a variety of cognitive and emotional problems. Head Start is a federal program offered to low-income families that provides services, including early childhood education programs, to help offset these risks. Using Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory, the purpose …

Densidad Léxica En La Prensa Hispana De Ee.Uu. E Hispanoamérica: Un Estudio Comparativo, Luana Ferreira

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation focuses on a quantitative and comparative analysis of lexical density in Spanish print news in the United States and Latin America. Lexical density is the statistical measure that calculates the percentage of terms in relation to the total number of running words contained in a text. Within the context of Spanish in the United States, questions arise pertaining to the level of lexical compatibility and variability in contact situations, as well as in situations where the convergence of different varieties of the Spanish language coexist. Because most existing lexical density studies of Spanish media are descriptive, there is …

Carbon Emission Policy In The United States: State Patchwork Vs. National Policy, Samuel T. Frank

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The lack of a national law in the United States to mitigate climate change has prompted many states and cities to take the lead in implementing policies to reduce their carbon emissions and adapt to the threats posed by a warming planet. This project adopts two established systems that classify states by their relative involvement in climate policy (Wheeler 2010; Lutsey et al. 2008) and combines them into a single, six-point ranking scale. States are then cross-tabulated against EPA data showing the amount and trajectory of each state's carbon emissions from the electrical power sector over the period 2005-2010. States …

A Syntactic Treatment Of Adjectival Non-Intersectivity In English, Alexander Funk

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Natural language has long been observed to be rife with apparently 'non-intersective' modification constructions (false teeth, huge flea, heavy smoker, etc.), whose apparent non-compositionality poses difficulties for formally-articulated theories of language. Bolinger's (1967) demonstration of the extent and significance of the issue ushered in several lines of investigation, first in semantics (most notably Kamp 1975, Siegel 1976, Partee 2009), but more recently in syntax as well, with the insights of Larson (1998) and Bouchard (2002) informing approaches to the nominal domain such as that in Cinque (2010). However, 'semantics-only' accounts of non-intersectivity phenomena have limited explanatory …

Apple Picking: The Rise Of Electronic Device Thefts In Boston Subways, Kendra Gentry

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As mobile technology advances and the demand for WiFi and phone coverage increases, electronic device theft is becoming an international problem in metropolitan public transportation systems. Using transit police reports, this dissertation applies crime opportunity theories to understand which factors increased electronic device theft in Boston subway stations from 2003-2011.

This approach addresses previous studies regarding crime on public transportation, robbery and larceny on subways and electronic device theft - as none have focused on this problem as the theft of a "hot product" within a "hot environment." Negative binomial regression, crime script analysis, sign tests and temporal pattern identification …

Nepantla And Ubuntu Ethics Para Nosotros: Beyond Scrupulous Adherence Toward Threshold Perspectives Of Participatory/Collaborative Research Ethics, Monique Antoinette Guishard

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Participatory Action Research (PAR) refers less to a method and more to a continuum of approaches to collaborative inquiry. Within PAR, ideally, some phenomenon has been identified as a mutual area of concern to researchers and community members; working together they design, conduct, analyze, and disseminate the findings of a shared piece of research and coordinate action(s) aimed at using research to redress injustice. If PAR is embraced holistically boundaries inevitably blur as research team members become enmeshed in each other's lives. This blurring while momentous can give rise to ethical quandaries that IRB centered research ethics are inadequate to …

Employee Environmentally Friendly Behaviors In And Out Of Organizations And Across Cultures, Lilia Hayrapetyan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A rising number of organizations are making changes to minimize their impact on the environment. In order to successfully implement such changes for the long term it is important for organizations to not only address operational, structural and process factors, but also their employees' environmentally significant behaviors (e.g., Siero et al., 1996). Unfortunately, there remains a general lack of understanding of factors affecting employees' environmentally friendly behaviors. In an effort to reduce this gap, the present study employed the Values Beliefs Norms theory (Stern et al., 1999, Stern, 2000) to gain a comprehensive understanding of individuals' environmentally friendly behaviors in …

Negotiating Limits: Boundary Management In The Bondage/Discipline/Sadomasochism (Bdsm) Community, Karen Marie Holt

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study sought to gain insight into the attitudes, beliefs, and values that shape Bondage/Discipline/Sadomasochism (BDSM) activities and how participants negotiate and maintain boundaries in order to engage in mutually satisfying BDSM activities. Additionally, this study explored the degree and consequences of unintended or non-negotiated harms, including physical, emotional, and sexual coercion. A qualitative approach consisting of semi-structured interviews and ethnography was used in order to develop an in depth exploration of the lived experiences of participants. Grounded theory was employed to reveal common themes which all supported a symbolic interactionist / dramaturgical understanding of the protective and predatory processes …

"To Organize The Sovereign People": Political Mobilization In Pennsylvania, 1783-1808, David William Houpt

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Political mobilization is the connective tissue between the people and their government. Whether through petitions, voting, parades or even riots, it is the tool political actors use to engage in the deliberative process. Scholars have explored a variety of facets of the political culture of the early American republic and have noted the importance of certain forms of political mobilization such as parades and fêtes. These studies have not, however, fully explained how elections emerged as the primary means for citizens to express their will and the boundaries of political expression changed accordingly. This dissertation explains the evolution of Americans' …

Maturation Of Speech Discrimination And Attentional Requirements In Late Childhood, Judith Ann Iannotta

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The ability to perceive speech sounds and contrasts continues to be refined throughout the course of development. While emerging models suggest that development is characterized by shifts from an attentionally demanding mode of processing speech sounds to one that occurs relatively automatically, the specific developmental time-course of these changes remains unclear. The present work reports the findings of two experiments that aimed to provide insights into the time-course by which neural processes underlying speech discrimination in children and adolescents becomes automatic. The experiments used event-related potentials (ERP) measures, with a particular focus on mismatch negativity (MMN) - a developmentally-sensitive index …

Do Cultural And Perceptual Factor Matter?: An Investigation Of Factors Impacting Intelligence Test Scores Of Latinos/Hispanics In The United States, Mary E. Ignagni

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper examined societal and cultural explanations regarding the score differences seen between Latinos/Hispanics and Whites on intelligence tests through focusing specifically on possible explanations for the scores obtained by Latino/Hispanic test-takers. In this paper, it was argued that additional unique factors may impact the test scores of Latino/Hispanic test-takers. Specifically, racial and ethnic self-identification, ethnic centrality, acculturation, cultural distance, test perceptions, and ethnicity were explored as possible unique factors. In addition, an attempt was made to explain within group differences. A non-experimental study was utilized in which a final sample of 194 participants completed an intelligence test and measures …

A Gender Approach To Vulnerability And Natural Disasters, Ema Izquierdo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A natural disaster is a major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the earth that overwhelm local response and affect the social and economic development of the affected region. Natural disasters have been seen as situations that create challenges and difficulties mainly of a humanitarian nature. Still, progressively, it has come to be recognized that a gendered approach to humanitarian response is essential for vulnerable populations such as girls and women. Even though information about particular cases is scarce, evidence indicates that women are more likely to die after a natural disaster not because of biological reasons but because …

Sensitizing Jurors To Factors Influencing The Accuracy Of Eyewitness Identification: Assessing The Effectiveness Of The Henderson Instructions, Angela M. Jones

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Recently, the New Jersey Supreme Court determined that jurors may not be able to effectively evaluate eyewitness evidence (New Jersey v. Henderson, 2011). Research generally supports this contention, finding that jurors do not take into account factors surrounding the commission of the crime and identification when determining the reliability of an identification (Devenport et al., 1997). Courts have implemented various safeguards to assist jurors in evaluating eyewitness evidence, including judicial instructions and expert testimony. The New Jersey Supreme Court proposed the use of judicial instructions and suggested their use would reduce the need for expert testimony. The current …

The Voting Rights Act Under Siege: The Development Of The Influence Of Colorblind Conservatism On The Federal Government And The Voting Rights Act, Melanie Adrienne Jones

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Recent activity by state governments to change voting rights law to limit access to the polls by minority voters, and directly challenge the legislation that protects voters from discrimination based on race, reveals an unsettling trend: states are increasingly comfortable challenging the federal mandate promulgated by the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965. The Voting Rights Act was once hailed as a crown jewel in the constellation of legislation born of the Civil Rights movement. Its implementation had a significant positive impact, expanding the integration of polls and elected offices. Reauthorized four times since 1965, the VRA appeared to have …

Black Like Me? A Narrative Study Of Non-Anglophone Black U.S. Immigrant Selves In The Making, Yvanne Joseph

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The passage of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act abolished discriminatory national origin quotas that favored European immigrants. The U.S. has since experienced steady flows of immigrants of color. These diverse groups have brought their racial, social, cultural and historical experiences, which adds greater complexity to the existing Black/White and ingroup/outgroup models that shape group relations, and psychological theorizing about identity. This dissertation focuses specifically on the smaller, less visible, yet growing segments of these immigrant populations. It presents a study of the lives of ten individual immigrants of African descent originating from a non-Anglophone country within Africa, Latin America …

The Odyssey Of North Korean Defectors: Issues And Problems In The Migration Process, You Gene Kim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the Great Famine in the 1990s, many North Koreans have emigrated in search of better lives in South Korea or other countries. However, they face hardship and peril in every phase of this odyssey. In China, North Korean defectors suffer from the constant threat of being arrested and deported by the Chinese authorities. Furthermore, the Chinese government has refused to grant refugee status to North Korean defectors because of its desire to maintain positive diplomatic relations with North Korea. Consequently, most of the defectors aim to go to South Korea, though some young and educated North Koreans prefer the …

Psychosocial Sequelae Of Homicide Among Murder Victims' Family Members: An Appraisal Of Depression, Grief, And Posttraumatic Stress, Sarah Kopelovich

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The current investigation explored what is known regarding the psychological sequelae of the post-homicide experience for murder victims' family members and friends (MVFM). Participants were also asked about whether they felt they had attained closure, a term which populates anecdotal and theoretical accounts of MVFM's experience. Previous literature guided a theoretical definition of closure as a dimensional construct that represents adaptive functioning following a murder, and includes (1) absence of disabling symptomatology, (2) absence of ruminations about the event or murder victim, and (3) subjective return to baseline functioning. This quasi-experiment consisted of a between-subjects cross-sectional design. The dependent variable …

Attenuation Of Methamphetamine And Nmda-Induced Toxicity By Leptin In Murine Striatum, Nawshin Hoque Kutub

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Methamphetamine (METH) is an addictive illicit psychostimulant that is neurotoxic and causes permanent brain injury. METH-induced neurological damage affects areas of the brain that mediates emotions, motivation, cognition and critical thinking. In the striatum METH neurotoxicity intertwines several factors such as dopamine (DA) overflow, glutamate signaling, and free radicals formation causing oxidative stress. In addition, excessive dopaminergic innervation leads to severe reduction in DA terminals, DA transporters (DAT), and vesicular monoamine transporters (VMAT)-2. METH use causes permanent damage which cannot be recovered even after three years of abstinence. Understanding the mechanism of METH-induced neurodegeneration will provide an avenue towards identifying …

Rebellion Under The Palm Trees: Memory, Agrarian Reform And Labor In The Aguán, Honduras, Andres Leon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

On December 9, 2009, the Unified Peasant Movement of the Aguán (Movimiento Unificado Campesino del Aguán; MUCA) occupied over 20,000 hectares of oil palm covered lands in the Aguán region in the Honduran northern coast. This was the latest, and probably most dramatic, chapter in the region's tumultuous recent history. This dissertation explores this history and the process of creation of the Aguán region from the perspective of a set of impoverished peasant families that migrated from different parts of Honduras towards the Aguán from the 1970s onwards, in search of a better present and future.

It asks about the …

Effectiveness Of Psychological Techniques In Increasing Deviant Sexual Fantasy Self-Disclosures, Christian Maile

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The assessment of deviant sexual fantasy and interests is an important component in sex offender risk assessment and subsequent treatment planning. However, clinicians and researchers have long acknowledged that sex offenders often distort or underreport details related to their sex offenses, particularly details relating to offense-related deviant sexual fantasy and interests. Some of the common methods used to minimize underreporting of deviant sexual fantasy and interests include the use of phallometry (or plethysmography) and polygraphy; however, not all assessment/treatment facilities or private practitioners providing services to sex offenders have access to such resources. Thus, the development of more efficient, cost-effective …