Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Competing Narratives: The Struggle For The Soul Of Egypt, Ahmed El Mansouri

Dissertations and Theses

In January 2011, Egypt witnessed an uprising against ex-military president Hosni Mubarak, which resulted in his removal after ruling Egypt for thirty years. Yet, while the revolution targeted Mubarak, it also targeted to end the era of military rule, which started in 1952 with President Gamal Abdel Nasser, then was passed down to Anwar Sadat in 1970 and later to Hosni Mubarak in 1981. Thereafter, dissatisfied with existing national policies, political leaders and revolutionaries battled to redefine Egyptian national identity by contesting the writing of a new Egyptian constitution. The debates over the constitution exhibited an ample of destructive communication …

Crania Japonica: Ethnographic Portraiture, Scientific Discourse, And The Fashioning Of Ainu/Japanese Colonial Identities, Jeffrey Braytenbah

Dissertations and Theses

Japan's colonial activities on the island of Hokkaido were instrumental to the creation of modern Japanese national identity. Within this construction, the indigenous Ainu people came to be seen in dialectical opposition to the 'modern' and 'civilized' identity that Japanese colonial actors fashioned for themselves. This process was articulated through travel literature, ethnographic portraiture, and discourse in scientific racism which racialized perceived divisions between the Ainu and Japanese and contributed to the unmaking of the Ainu homeland: Ainu Mosir. The resulting narrative was used to legitimize Japanese imperialism, transforming the Empire of Japan into the only non-Western member state …

Glacial Meltwater Modeling To Simulate Lake Water Budget (1996-2013) In Taylor Valley, Antarctica, Julian Michael Cross

Dissertations and Theses

The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV), the largest ice-free region (4,500 km²) in Antarctica, are a polar desert with an average annual temperature of -18ºC. In Taylor Valley, one of the MDV, closed-basin, perennially ice-covered lakes occupy the valley floor. Their water balance is controlled by inflow from glacial meltwater runoff and loss due to sublimation, making them sensitive indicators of climate. In this study, a physically-based model of glacier meltwater and lake ice sublimation is adapted to explain modern (1996 to 2013) lake-level variations. Meltwater model results were improved by the inclusion of MODIS remotely-sensed albedo measurements (E …

From Neoliberalism To Socialism: Reimagining Socialism In Africa, Kiiru Gichuru

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract. For many scholars, pundits, policy makers, and citizens alike, Africa’s persistent maldevelopment has continued to defy the usual International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and foreign aid prescriptions that are, at times, peddled as silver bullets to the African conundrum. Beginning in the late 1970s, loans from the IMF and World Bank required African governments to implement certain conditions that were supposed to address public sector mismanagement, illiberal trade policies, low foreign investment, and state development. These austerity measures were designed to usher in an era of financial growth that would enable Africa to join the ranks of developed …

Emergent Women's Global Political Leadership: Progress Despite Constraints, Aoife Meehan

Dissertations and Theses

“Emergent Women’s Global Political Leadership: Progress Despite Constraints” seeks to trace why and how female political leaders emerge at the global level. Evidence points to certain cultural factors, often expressed by laws, constraining or supporting women as they seek political advancement. Data shows women leaders are emerging more and more, though slowly, as political leaders around the world. Reviewing women’s participation and representation regionally and nationally in parliaments, as ministers, and as heads of governments and states confirms that women can and do emerge as political leaders. Finally, learning about and examining women leaders themselves, their style and substance, proves …

Political Representation For Indigenous Peoples In The Andes, Jessica Yepez

Dissertations and Theses

For years, there has been a lack of representation for indigenous peoples in communities, and most importantly in parliament. This is a very common trait in the South American Andes, which houses the largest number of indigenous groups in the continent. This thesis focuses on Ecuador and Bolivia due to their indigenous population and their history, or lack thereof, with indigenous people in parliament. For my hypothesis, I argue that parliamentary representation of indigenous peoples, can help ensure that their rights are protected, and their unique interests are heard and translated into relevant policies, while at the same time preventing …

Counterterrorism: The G5 Response Efforts To Combat Terrorism In The Sahel Region, Ndeye Fatou Ndiaye

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

Africa’s Sahel suffers from multidimensional challenges that require robust solutions to address the issues. The regional crisis is aggravated by multiple factors that include climate risks, poverty, unemployment, water shortages, weak governance, lack of rule of law, food security to cite a few. Thus, a combination of factors greatly contribute to the Sahel crisis, resulting in severe security threats. This study attempts to analyze the role of the G5 Sahel states and the international community in counter-terrorism efforts. However, the region has emerged as the new battleground for terrorism along with a growing threat of violent extremism and other …

Zoning – Neighborhood Character And Historic Overlays In Lexington, Ky, Taylor S. Price

Dissertations and Theses

Zoning has a significant impact on our built environment. Overlay zoning, an additional form of restrictive zoning, is a tool that municipalities utilize to control development and changes to neighborhoods. This study analyzes the impact that historic district (H-1) and neighborhood character (ND-1) overlays have on home sale prices in Lexington, KY. Results suggests that overlays have a significant positive impact on home values. Results also suggest that that overlays exhibit spatial impacts that extend further than the homes included in the overlay.

Does Overweight/Obesity Moderate The Association Between Adhd And Internalizing Difficulties In Young Adults?, Breanna Badripersaud

Dissertations and Theses

This study’s objective was to investigate if ADHD symptoms and BMI are associated with internalizing impairments of depression, anxiety, stress and lower self-esteem in college students. It was predicted that higher ADHD symptoms would be associated with elevated depression, anxiety, stress, and low self-esteem, especially if BMI fell in the overweight/obese range. Undergraduate students [N= 580; Mean (SD) age= 20.7 (3.10)] from an urban campus completed an online survey comprising self-report measures of demographics, height/weight, attention and hyperactivity/impulsivity (Barkley Deficits Executive Functioning Scale ADHD- Executive Function Index), depression, anxiety, stress (all using the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale) and self- …

Socioeconomic And Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Adhd And Alcohol Use Among College Students, Laurie Pierre-Paul

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

The Modern Formulation Of Chinese Art History And The Building Of A Nation In Early Twentieth-Century China, Chennie Huang

Dissertations and Theses

At the dawn of the twentieth century, the Chinese formulation of art history underwent dramatic changes. It moved away from the traditional narratives that did not follow a strict chronology to adopt the Western linear model which emphasizes progress and national identity. Based on the premodern tradition, the modern formulations of Chinese art history began as a political strategy for nation building amid the political upheavals, including military attacks on China that led to the end of Qing imperial rule and the beginning of the Republican era (1912-1949).

In the early 1900s, while exiled in Japan, Liang Qichao 梁啟超 (1873-1929), …

The Battle For The Battle Of Adwa: Collective Identity And Nation-Building, Joseph A. Steward

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

On March 1^st, 1896, an Ethiopian army lead by Emperor Menelik II dealt a shocking defeat to the invading Italian forces in the Battle of Adwa. In victory, Menelik was able to exert his authority over a vast territory which included both the historical, ancient kingdoms of the northern and central parts of Ethiopia, and also the vast, resource-rich territories in the west and south which he had earlier conquered. The egalitarian nature of the victory united the various peoples of Ethiopia against a common enemy, giving Menelik the opportunity to create a new Ethiopian nation.

The …

The Epidemiology Of Somatic Depression And Eating Disorders: The Relationship Between Depressive Subtypes And Symptoms Of Disordered Eating, Anita M. Sicignano

Dissertations and Theses

Depression is known to affect females in much greater numbers than males, with about three times as many women having the disorder as men (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). A similar gender disparity can be seen in eating disorders, where up to nine in ten sufferers are female (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Studies have shown that most of the gender difference in depression occurs as a result of women experiencing a form of depression involving a number of body-centric symptoms, including headaches, weight changes, fatigue, and insomnia, which has been termed “somatic depression” (Silverstein et al., 2013). Some of the symptoms, …

Mechanisms Of Value-Biased Prioritization In Fast Sensorimotor Decision Making, Kivilcim Afacan-Seref

Dissertations and Theses

In dynamic environments, split-second sensorimotor decisions must be prioritized according to potential payoffs to maximize overall rewards. The impact of relative value on deliberative perceptual judgments has been examined extensively, but relatively little is known about value-biasing mechanisms in the common situation where physical evidence is strong but the time to act is severely limited. This research examines the behavioral and electrophysiological indices of how value biases split-second perceptual decisions and the possible mechanisms underlying the process. In prominent decision models, a noisy but statistically stationary representation of sensory evidence is integrated over time to an action-triggering bound, and value-biases …

Motivation And Perceived Barriers For Underrepresented Students Interested In Art Therapy, Michael A. Jesson

Dissertations and Theses

Substantial racial and gender disparities exist in art therapy (AT), with 90% of U.S. art therapists identifying as White and female. This has been identified as a major concern of both practitioners and educators, though little research has been performed. To understand the role of student motivation and barriers to the field, this study recruited 116 undergraduate students academically exposed to AT. Student interest in the field, psychological needs defined by Self-Determination Theory and perceived educational and career barriers were measured. Autonomy, relatedness and competence regarding studies in AT as well as financial barriers were significantly related to interest in …

Free-To-Play? An Examination Of Intrinsic Motivation And Gaming Behaviors In U.S. Female Mobile Gamers, Margot Goldblum

Dissertations and Theses

The prevalence of U.S. female gamers has skyrocketed in recent years, largely due to the popularity of mobile games; however, this population is underrepresented in academic research. The present study aimed to close this gap in the literature by focusing on the motivations and behaviors of adult female mobile gamers in the U.S. It also aimed to capture changes in gaming motivation and behavior resulting from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. An online sample of 354 American women 18 to 77 years of age (M = 36.79, SD = 12.38) were surveyed about their motivations for mobile gaming, …

Mindfulness As A Moderator Of The Relation Between Acculturative Stress And Body Dissatisfaction/Eating Disorder Symptoms In Latinx Students, Ariana J. Mackson

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to test the theory that mindfulness is an effective coping strategy for reducing acculturative stress and body dissatisfaction/eating disorder symptoms. It was hypothesized that acculturative stress would be associated with more body dissatisfaction/eating disorder symptoms, but this relation was expected to be moderated by mindfulness. It was also predicted that mindfulness would be associated with less acculturative stress and less body dissatisfaction/eating disorder symptoms. Thirty-eight Latinx students were recruited from The City College of New York, CUNY, through the web-based survey participation pool SONA. Participants answered questions assessing their levels of acculturative stress, mindfulness, …

Does Resilience Moderate The Impact Of Children’S Experiences Of Racial And Ethnic Discrimination On Internalizing Problems?, Dahlia Abbas

Dissertations and Theses

This study’s objectives were to investigate how children’s experiences of discrimination impact the severity of their internalizing symptoms, and whether the relation between discrimination and internalizing symptom severity is moderated by resilience. It was predicted that children who had experienced more discrimination would have more severe internalizing symptoms, especially when they have low levels of resilience. Children [N=20; Mean (SD) age= 11.83 (2.50)] receiving low-cost music lessons in northern Manhattan were recruited into a larger study examining how learning music affects cognitive and emotional development. Children were interviewed in-person about experiences of discrimination because of their race/ethnicity using the Perceptions …

Financial Development And Economic Growth, Chiau-Jiun Jiang

Dissertations and Theses

This paper purposes to discuss the relationship between the financial development and economic growth. In the past, most studies related to the influence of financial development on economic growth used cross-sectional analysis or time series analysis. However, the cross-sectional analysis cannot explain the long-term trend of the time series, and the time series is unable to explain the multiple samples of the cross-section. Based on Arellano and Bond (1991), and Arellano and Bover (1995), this paper utilizes the panel data model to discuss financial development and economic growth. The results point out that bank credit in total GDP and capitalization …

Contemporary Art And Food: An Examination Of Three Case Studies Using Anthropology And Diaspora As Key., Viridiana S. Mayagoitia

Dissertations and Theses

Food-related artworks are as crucial to understanding culture as other mediums in art like painting, installation, sculpture, and drawings. From Greek and Roman mosaics, Egyptian banquet scenes, to Renaissance frescoes and Flemish still-life paintings, the depiction of food and meals has had multiple meanings. Food as a medium in Western contemporary art was introduced in the 1930s by the Italian Futurists’ banquets, which celebrated modernity and technology underlying social and political commentary. It continued throughout the 1960s with performance art, conceptual art, and happenings, and in the 1970s with the Fluxus movement’s exploration of the boundaries between art and life. …

Legal Frameworks For Protecting Cultural Heritage In Conflict Zones, Marcie M. Muscat

Dissertations and Theses

Cultural heritage has always been at risk during times of war. UNESCO first endeavored to address the issue shortly after World War II, in 1954, when it passed the first of three signature conventions to protect against the damage, destruction, and pillage of cultural property in times of armed conflict. Lacunae and other deficiencies in their frameworks, however, rendered these conventions difficult to enforce and largely ineffectual. This study offers an assessment of the strengths and limitations of the UNESCO system of cultural-heritage protection, with a particular focus on the 1954 Hague Convention. It is argued that, by superseding certain …

To Disclose Or Not To Disclose? Self-Disclosure Of Mental Health In The Workplace, Samantha Margaret Reynolds

Dissertations and Theses

When making the decision to disclose a mental illness, individuals may be met with a number of factors that impact disclosure. This study examines the relationship between self-stigma, psychological safety, social support and self-disclosure of mental illness in the workplace. The present study surveyed 756 participants and found a positive relationship between stigma and self-disclosure as well as a positive relationship between social support and self-disclosure. For work outcomes, there was a negative relationship between both job satisfaction and productivity in relation to self-disclosure. This study potentiates the antecedents and consequences of self-disclosure of mental illness and how it impacts …

Ethnonational Identity And Detached Lives In A Serbian Province: A Study Of Parallelism Among Vojvodina's Hungarian Community, Uros Prokic

Dissertations and Theses

Current theories of interethnic relations generally posit assimilation, integration and marginalization as possible outcomes between minority and dominant groups in Eastern Europe. However, there may be cases that are not adequately described by any of these existing interethnic relations paradigms. This dissertation explores one alternative, dubbed parallelism, which can be described as institutionally-driven self-isolation and detachment leading to communities living side by side on parallel trajectories and not interacting. Using the Hungarian ethnonational minority community in Serbia's autonomous northern province of Vojvodina as a case study, the author examines the institutional factors that have led to parallelism. Primary data from …

The Combined Effects Of Parent And Teacher Involvement On The Development Of Adolescents' Academic Engagement, Nicolette Paige Rickert

Dissertations and Theses

The current dissertation includes two related studies designed to examine the combined effects of parent and teacher involvement on the development of adolescents' academic engagement as they transition to middle school. Previous studies have demonstrated the positive, individual effects of parent and teacher warm involvement on adolescents' engagement in school. However, this research is limited in its focus on only one social partner. Adolescent development is embedded within multiple, dynamic systems, necessitating the examination of both parent and teacher influences. The few studies that have examined parents and teachers together suggest that their combined effects are both cumulative (additive) and …

Systems Isomorphisms In Stochastic Dynamic Systems, Rajesh Venkatachalapathy

Dissertations and Theses

The identification of isomorphisms between disparate systems is an important focus of systems science. Such isomorphisms have not only conceptual and pedagogical value to systems science, but they also provide pragmatic value to specific disciplines by suggesting new ways to model familiar phenomena and by serving as reference models that show how even simple models can generate complex behavior. Specifically, this dissertation looks at certain classes of stochastic dynamic systems (SDS) and shows that similar equations can model phenomena in sociology and psychology. In both disciplines, what is modeled by these SDS isomorphisms is a certain type of reliability, defined …

A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Corpus Data From Reddit Discussions Of "Gay Voice", Sara Elizabeth Mulliner

Dissertations and Theses

In the last decade, there have been a number of public discussions about "gay voice" and "sounding gay." These two phrases often serve as a shorthand for the belief that a listener can determine the sexuality of a speaker based on phonetic qualities found in a speaker's vocal output. However, these expressions are more accurately described as "catch-all" terms for speech that may contain features associated with non-gender conforming stances and personae. Notions about gender and sexuality could be intertwined in complicated ways in this language ideology. Investigating popular discussions of gay-sounding voices could provide information on what people are …

Acceptability Of A Vaginal Ring To Prevent Hiv And Pregnancy: Integrating Multiple Qualitative Methods, Dana Watnick

Dissertations and Theses

Heterosexual vaginal sex can simultaneously put women at risk for unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV, disproportionately impacting poor women around the world. Both unintended pregnancy and HIV are persistent public health concerns associated with negative outcomes for mothers, families and communities. The current mix of prevention tools available to women to protect against unintended pregnancy and HIV is limited. Multipurpose Prevention Technologies (MPTs) are innovative products that simultaneously offer protection against pregnancy and HIV. However, MPTs will only be effective in reducing unintended pregnancy and incident HIV if women are willing to use them. With an …

A 30-Year Climatology Of Meteorological Conditions Associated With Lightning Days In The Western United States, Dmitri Alexander Kalashnikov

Dissertations and Theses

A 30-year climatology of lightning and associated synoptic meteorological patterns are characterized across the Western United States (WUS), utilizing a comprehensive composite analysis. Results generally show a preferred synoptic meteorological setup with positive 500-hPa geopotential height anomalies to the northeast of the location experiencing a lightning day, and negative sea level pressure anomalies co-located and to the northwest. Variation in preferred anomaly patterns across the western US reflects the divide between those areas affected by the North American monsoon system and areas outside the monsoonal core. Locations in the western Great Basin and northern Rocky Mountains, which are outside the …

Explaining The Sectarian Violence In The Middle East: A Conflict Analysis Of The Case Study Of Saudi Arabia And Iran, Ahmed Elsayed Eltally

Dissertations and Theses

The Middle East has been rife with conflicts, extremism, and sectarianism in recent decades. Many explanations attribute the rise of sectarianism in the Middle East to the historical divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims, while others attribute it to power or identity concerns. This thesis explores the factors that contributed to the rise of contemporary sectarianism in the Middle East through the case study of Saudi-Iranian rivalry. Drawing on the literature on the history of the Middle East, Islam, theories of international relations, and conflict studies, it underlines how Saudi Arabia and Iran use sectarianism to further their interests. This …

Recruitment Marketing: How Do Wellness And Work-Life Benefits Influence Employer Image Perceptions, Organizational Attraction, And Job Pursuit Intentions?, Amy Christine Pytlovany

Dissertations and Theses

A global talent shortage is motivating employers to change the way they approach recruitment. To stay competitive, business leaders are strategizing new ways to attract employees and market their organizations to prospective employees. This research examined the impact of work-life and wellness programs on employer image perceptions (instrumental, symbolic, and experiential) and recruitment outcomes (organizational attraction and job pursuit intentions). It integrated these literatures to inform evidence-based organizational decision-making.

Study materials were developed with pilot testing conducted using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Pilot 1 (N = 40) assessed the value of 32 types of benefits across traditional (e.g., health …