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Articles 1 - 19 of 19
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Agricultural Land Usage In Mansfield, Connecticut: An Analysis Of The Town’S Past And Present Agricultural Landscapes And Recent Farmland Conservation Efforts, Julia Tillinghast
Agricultural Land Usage In Mansfield, Connecticut: An Analysis Of The Town’S Past And Present Agricultural Landscapes And Recent Farmland Conservation Efforts, Julia Tillinghast
Honors Scholar Theses
The town of Mansfield has a long history within the agricultural sector of Connecticut, from producing the first successful silk mill in the state to housing Mountain Dairy, a dairy supplier which sells to local consumers. This paper examines the history and progress of agricultural land usage within Mansfield, beginning with an overview of farmland in the town’s first century and ending with the current status of resident farms. At the start of settlement by English colonists in the 1700s, the town was deforested to make space for farms, housing, and general expansion. Moving forward to the 20th century, industrialization …
The Disproportionate Impact Of Covid-19 On Women, Ava Stallone
The Disproportionate Impact Of Covid-19 On Women, Ava Stallone
Honors Scholar Theses
The impact of COVID-19 is placing a large strain on women. This can be seen through reports of mental health and financial concerns. Women are more vulnerable to COVID-19 related economic effects due to existing gender inequalities, which in turn may also have a negative effect on mental health. Through this study gender disproportion is looked at between mental health and COVID-19 financial concerns among women and men. The aim is to asses how COVID-19 financial concerns may be contributing to stress, anxiety, and depression. It is hypothesized that; women will report worse mental health and greater economic concerns than …
Explaining Reproductive Health Disparities: Violence In The “Colorblind” Institution Of Medicine, Chineze Osakwe
Explaining Reproductive Health Disparities: Violence In The “Colorblind” Institution Of Medicine, Chineze Osakwe
Honors Scholar Theses
Medical policies have resulted in violence that has a formal role in regulating the reproductive rights of women of African descent in the United States from the Jim Crow era (circa 1965) to present day (2021), resulting in significantly racialized reproductive health disparities regardless of social or economic influences. This thesis explores why reproductive violence against African-American women persists, regardless of women’s own class and educational background. I have focused on the potential impact of two structural components that I hypothesized contributed to the perpetuation of reproductive violence against Black women and persistent health disparities. The two factors explored in …
Knowing China, Losing China: Discourse And Power In U.S.-China Relations, Shankara Narayanan
Knowing China, Losing China: Discourse And Power In U.S.-China Relations, Shankara Narayanan
Honors Scholar Theses
The U.S. government’s 2017 National Security Strategy claimed, “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.”[1] Three years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the U.S. foreign policy community’s discursive shift towards Realist competition with China, with officials from the past three presidential administrations coming to view China as a threat to democratic governance and America’s security posture in Asia. The discourse underpinning the U.S.-China relationship, however, remains understudied. During key moments in the relationship, U.S. policymakers’ Realist intellectual frameworks failed to account for Chinese nationalism, suggesting a problem embedded within …
The Effect Of Social Comparison And Fear Of Missing Out On Anxiety Symptoms In Late Adolescents, Olivia Adams
The Effect Of Social Comparison And Fear Of Missing Out On Anxiety Symptoms In Late Adolescents, Olivia Adams
Honors Scholar Theses
Social comparisons between peers are generally adaptive in that they facilitate social learning. However, certain forms of social comparison, especially upward comparison in the form of fear of missing out (FoMO), are posited to relate to both depression and anxiety. Empirical evidence supports that increased FoMO is associated with increased depression in adolescents, both in terms of trait-like aspects as well as in daily fluctuations. However, scant evidence exists for ties to anxiety. This study examined social comparison in the form of FoMO and anxiety in late adolescents to examine potential daily relationships between the two constructs across time. Ninety …
Does Anodal Tdcs Over The Left Prefrontal Cortex Using The F3-Rso Montage Improve Cognitive Control?, Sydney Darling
Does Anodal Tdcs Over The Left Prefrontal Cortex Using The F3-Rso Montage Improve Cognitive Control?, Sydney Darling
Honors Scholar Theses
Cognitive control is the ability to focus on relevant stimuli while disregarding irrelevant stimuli and is thought to be supported by the prefrontal cortex (see Miller & Cohen, 2001). Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive brain stimulation technique that modulates the activity of underlying cortex regions through an electric current provided by two or more electrodes on the scalp. This study looks to determine whether anodal tDCS over the left prefrontal cortex can be used to increase cognitive control in healthy participants. Using an F3-RSO montage in a mixed between and within subjects design (with sham vs. anodal …
The Development And Evaluation Of Novel Da Transport Inhibitors And Their Effects On Effort-Related Motivation: A Review, Mukund Desibhatla
The Development And Evaluation Of Novel Da Transport Inhibitors And Their Effects On Effort-Related Motivation: A Review, Mukund Desibhatla
Honors Scholar Theses
Depression is a debilitating disorder that can cause motivational deficits such as psychomotor retardation, anergia, apathy, and fatigue. Recent research indicates that these motivational deficits, and potential pathways of therapeutic intervention, can be studied in animal models involving rats and mice. Treatments with the VMAT-2 inhibitor tetrabenazine (TBZ) and cytokine interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) can create a low-effort bias and impair effort-related motivation (Nunes et al. 2013, 2014). A number of high-affinity DA transport inhibitors such as d-amphetamine, methylphenidate, and cocaine can restore extracellular DA, albeit with the cost of undesirable effects such as high abuse liability. These observations have led researchers …
Effects Of Hippocampal Inactivation With Dreadds On Water Maze Performance, Julia Levin
Effects Of Hippocampal Inactivation With Dreadds On Water Maze Performance, Julia Levin
Honors Scholar Theses
The hippocampus is an elongated brain structure related to processing episodic memory and spatial navigation. The dorsal hippocampus plays an important role in spatial tasks (Lee & Kesner, 2003), while the ventral hippocampus is known to be involved with emotion (Fanselow & Dong, 2010). Previous work in our lab has shown that the dorsal and ventral sections within the same hemisphere work together during navigation (Lee et al., 2019). The lab is currently determining how activity in the dorsal hippocampus impacts place cell firing in the ventral hippocampus. To accomplish this the dorsal hippocampus will be inactivated using Designer Receptors …
The Microfinance Experiment: An Evaluation Of Programs And Effectiveness In St. Louis, Maxwell Miller
The Microfinance Experiment: An Evaluation Of Programs And Effectiveness In St. Louis, Maxwell Miller
Honors Scholar Theses
Widespread poverty remains a reality for many in both developed and developing countries. Policymakers, charitable organizations, and entrepreneurs have introduced diverse strategies to provide individuals and communities opportunities to rise from poverty. One such method is microfinance, a system developed by Muhammad Yunus in the early 1970s to provide small loans and financial services to borrowers too impoverished or otherwise lacking in credibility or collateral to be considered by traditional means of credit.
Since its inception, microfinance has spread among other countries to mixed success. While many researchers claim microfinance has proven to be an effective tool to combat poverty, …
Environmental Policy And Employment: The Effect Of The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative On The Labor Market, Kelly-Anne Moffa
Environmental Policy And Employment: The Effect Of The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative On The Labor Market, Kelly-Anne Moffa
Honors Scholar Theses
This paper estimates the impacts that the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, implemented in 2009, has had on labor market outcomes within the policy region. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a carbon cap-and-trade program that consists of ten states in the Northeast. Using a difference-in-difference framework, I found that, overall, there was no significant impact on the annual employment growth rate because of RGGI. When broken down into industry-specific effects, most industries still had no significant employment effects, although the mining industry did see a weakly significant 0.09 percentage point decrease in its annual employment growth rate. These estimates are …
Changing Fashion: An Analysis Of Social Media Activism Targeting The Fashion Industry, Grace Scully
Changing Fashion: An Analysis Of Social Media Activism Targeting The Fashion Industry, Grace Scully
Honors Scholar Theses
The fashion industry is a primary contributor to the climate crisis. Fast fashion in particular has accelerated the industry’s harm to the environment by encouraging exceedingly fast production, greater consumption, and the disposability of clothing. It also has social impacts - the working conditions of and wages paid to garment workers consistently endanger their health and well-being, as well as the well-being of their families. Industry-wide changes are needed to solve these environmental and social issues. Collective action plays a crucial role in movements pursuing large-scale change. The environmental movement would benefit greatly from a focus on collective action, but …
Deconstructing Urban Sprawl: Differing Perspectives On A Pervasive Problem, Angela Simonetti
Deconstructing Urban Sprawl: Differing Perspectives On A Pervasive Problem, Angela Simonetti
Honors Scholar Theses
Urban sprawl, broadly defined, describes the uncontrolled geographic expansion of cities and towns, oftentimes resulting in haphazard developments with relatively low-density land use and heavy dependence upon automobiles. This is, however, only one of many definitions, as urban sprawl, while an increasingly popular term in many disciplines, does not seem to have a standard definition. This poses numerous problems for those who wish to delve deeper into understanding it and its implications. Consequently, this project offers a discussion and analysis of the various conceptions of urban sprawl throughout an array of different academic disciplines with an emphasis on the environmental, …
Asians And The Study Habits Of Non-Asians In The United States, Sabrina Tang
Asians And The Study Habits Of Non-Asians In The United States, Sabrina Tang
Honors Scholar Theses
In the United States, Asian American students spend an hour more per day studying than non-Asians (Hofferth et al. 2020). Chen and Stevenson (1995) attribute this to parents and peers who hold higher standards for Asian students. Compared to other races, Asian Americans tend to place a high value on education as a marker of achievement. This thesis explores whether Asian culture impacts non-Asian work ethic by examining whether non-Asians study more in geographic areas with larger Asian populations. I find statistically significant, but small increases in the study time of non-Asians where there is a greater population of Asians.
The Impact Of Information Shocks And Partisanship On The Evolution Of Covid-19 In Connecticut, Joslin Valiyaveettil
The Impact Of Information Shocks And Partisanship On The Evolution Of Covid-19 In Connecticut, Joslin Valiyaveettil
Honors Scholar Theses
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all aspects of life within the United States since early 2020. How people decided to behave during this time heavily influenced the trends that followed, triggering both health and behavioral economic concerns. Those trends seemed to vary based on the area and the beliefs of those constituents. This paper explores how partisan beliefs had an impact on the changes in case rates that occurred within the top 30 most populated towns in the state of Connecticut. In July 2020, former President Donald Trump sent out a tweet publicly endorsing face masks for the first time. …
Exploring Emotion Regulation As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Benefit-Finding And Measures Of Stress In Cancer Survivors, Sarah W. Chen
Exploring Emotion Regulation As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Benefit-Finding And Measures Of Stress In Cancer Survivors, Sarah W. Chen
Honors Scholar Theses
Chronic stressors due to cancer can cause a considerable amount of distress for individuals throughout their treatment process and even months to years after their cancer experience. The psychological health of this population post-treatment can therefore be measured by the presence or absence of distress or negative psychological responses as well as the presence or absence of positive psychological responses. Positive psychological responses include coping efforts that promote resilience and well-being. One such factor is benefit-finding, which could include “positive change in relationships, a greater appreciation of life and a change in life priorities” (Mols, 2009). Identifying positive coping strategies …
Salir Adelante: Exploring The Systems Of Support Of First-Generation Latinx College Students In Their Pursuit Of Higher Education, Jenifer Gaitan
Salir Adelante: Exploring The Systems Of Support Of First-Generation Latinx College Students In Their Pursuit Of Higher Education, Jenifer Gaitan
Honors Scholar Theses
This thesis explores both the obstacles and systems of support of first-generation Latinx college students as they complete their undergraduate education. The history of the Latinx community in the US and their fight for education is detailed. An analysis is provided of the impact of social, cultural, and economic conditions and the role of immigration in the lives of this student demographic. Finally, this thesis contributes to this area of study through the analysis of ten qualitative interviews that were conducted of first-generation Latinx college students. Several obstacles that students faced were related to finances, gendered expectations, serving as the …
Evaluating Urban Parks Accessibility And Equity: A Case Study Of Hartford, Ct And New Haven, Ct, Natalie Roach, Mara Tu
Evaluating Urban Parks Accessibility And Equity: A Case Study Of Hartford, Ct And New Haven, Ct, Natalie Roach, Mara Tu
Honors Scholar Theses
Public parks provide cities with environmental benefits, positive health effects, recreational opportunities, community building, educational spaces, and public amenities. However, certain populations have been systematically denied their fair share of these benefits because of unjust practices in the creation and maintenance of urban parks. With a lens of environmental justice, the goal of this research was to assess park quality and accessibility of two Connecticut cities, Hartford and New Haven, by gathering publicly available information as well as using GIS tools.
The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has an existing ParkScore rating system that evaluates the quality of a city’s …
Assessing Rat Behavioral Response To Novelty, Neha Mathew
Assessing Rat Behavioral Response To Novelty, Neha Mathew
Honors Scholar Theses
The hippocampus is the part of the brain that is involved in memory and navigation. Neurons in the hippocampus, known as place cells, fire in specific locations within this region of the brain as the subject navigates through their environment. As these cells fire, they create a map-like representation of this environment. However if the environment is altered in any way, the place cell firing pattern is adjusted to incorporate this new information. This adjustment will inevitably cause subjects to take more time to complete their task. The goal of our testing was to assess how various manipulations, both spatial …
Darkness Falls Upon America’S Backyard: An Evaluation Of Central Appalachia’S Past Economic Woes And A Blueprint For The Region’S Future Economic Development, Jack Bergantino
Honors Scholar Theses
The United States prides itself as a nation that offers equity and opportunity to its citizens. However, in recent decades, regions of relative wealth and poverty have come to define the American landscape. Coastal communities have fared well with consistently declining rates of unemployment and increasing rates of college graduation. In contrast, Central Appalachia, which comprises parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, continues to falter with diverging employment and income levels relative to other areas of the country.
This report discusses the economic history of the Appalachian region and considers three case studies, concentrated in McDowell, Harrison, and …