Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Relationship Between Recidivism Rates And Post Release Employment, Richard Louis

Theses and Dissertations

The Relationship Between Recidivism Rates and Post Release Employment. Richard Louis 2018: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education. Keywords: Ban the Box; Conviction, Incarceration, and Recidivism; Disparate Impact; Human Resources and Negligent Hiring; Parole, Probation, and Ex-Offenders

This applied dissertation was designed to study the relationship between recidivism rates and post release employment. This study utilized three survey instruments with human resource or hiring officers, probation or parole officers, and direct service providers as the respective participants. The survey instruments were distributed anonymously to each of the populations via Survey Monkey. The research study and …

Internalizing Outcomes Of Self-Objectification As Predictors Of Behavior In Sexual Situations, Kyla Marie Cary

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to examine various outcomes of self-objectification by creating latent variables encompassing several outcomes. Self-objectification was expected to predict self-surveillance, the behavioral manifestation of self-objectification. Self-surveillance was then expected to predict a latent variable termed internalizing states which encompassed: body shame, appearance anxiety, and sexual self-esteem. Finally, the latent variable of internalizing states was expected to predict a latent variable termed behavior in sexual situations which encompassed: sexual assertiveness, control over sexual encounters, and risky sexual behavior. The participants were 383 undergraduate women between the ages of 18 and 25. The majority of participants …

Assessing Working Memory In Mild Cognitive Impairment With Serial Order Recall, Sheina Emrani

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Working memory (WM) is often assessed with serial order tests such as repeating digits backward. In prior dementia research using the Backward Digit Span subtest (BDT) only aggregate test performance was examined. The current research tallied primacy/ recency effects; out-of-sequence transposition errors; perseverations and omissions to assess WM deficits in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: Memory clinic patients (n= 66) were classified into three groups - single domain amnestic MCI (aMCI), combined mixed domain/ dysexecutive MCI (mixed/dys MCI), and non-MCI where patients did not meet criteria for MCI. Serial order/ WM ability was assessed by …

“After-Ozymandias”: The Colonization Of Symbols And The American Monument, H. R. Membreno-Canales

Theses and Dissertations

After-Ozymandias examines the visual rhetoric of American patriotism through its many symbols, including flags and monuments. My thesis project consists of photographs of empty plinths, objects, products and archival materials. Countless relics remain today memorializing leaders and empires that inevitably declined, from antiquity to modern times. Looking back at distant history feels like a luxury, though: the question for our time in America is whether we have the strength of mind as a society to scrutinize our history, warts and all.

Migrating Birds, Dwelling Friends: On The Radical Possibilities Of Friendship, Soha Mohsen

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I would like to explore the notion of friendship in contemporary Egypt, as a contingent relationship born and maintained among various conditions of political, economic and urban precarity and uncertainty. Particularly, I'm interested in looking at the affective and creative modes of attachment, relating and belonging that people constantly invent and experiment with, when life is too messy for categories to hold. By following, tracing and accompanying friends and networks of friendship emerging in and across the biggest two cities of Egypt; Cairo and Alexandria, my goal is to co-construct an ethnography about the contemporary meanings, forms …

The Effects Of Technical Language And Individual Differences On Evaluating Interventions For Autism Spectrum Disorders, Jillian R. Reiher

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has identified many interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Some of these interventions are evidence-based; others are not. However, previous research has also found that people select interventions for their children with ASD based on several factors other than the evidence base. Other research has found that the language used when describing interventions also influences people’s perceptions of them. The current study examined several factors that may influence how people evaluate two widely used ASD interventions: Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Sensory Integration (SI). ABA is an evidence-based intervention, but SI does not have any empirical support. The …

Fair Chase: A Cinematic Essay On Hunting In The Northeast U.S., Rahul Chadha

Theses and Dissertations

FAIR CHASE is an experimental ethnographic film examining hunting in the Northeast United States. It documents various aspects of hunting—the ritualistic preparation that precedes the hunt, the actual hunt itself, and the post-kill butchering of animals—using an observational style influenced by the direct cinema movement.

The Market, Claudia Zamora Valencia

Theses and Dissertations

The Market is a short science fiction essay film that explores ideas and values attached to the “local food” movement, and how they manifest themselves in the act of consumption at a farmers’ market in a gentrified neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.

The Influence Of Therapist-Patient Religious/Spiritual Congruence On Satisfaction With Therapy: A Review Of Research, Tammy E. Henderson

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this review was to examine the relationship between mental health and religion and/or spirituality. Specifically, it was believed that religion and spiritual congruence had a positive influence on satisfaction with therapy. Indeed, the literature reviewed suggests that therapists should be more open to addressing a patient's religious and/or spiritual beliefs as it could lead to more attuned therapeutic sessions. The importance of congruence between patient and therapist is a factor that can impact the therapeutic alliance, based on the literature, this concept appears to hold true for those that are or are not religiously and/or spiritually inclined.

More Than Just A Job: A Social Enterprise's Response To Homelessness, Molly Cook

Theses and Dissertations

For the first time since 2010, the number of individuals experiencing homelessness increased in the United States in 2017 (HUD 2017). A lack of affiliations with family and friends has been suggested as a cause of homelessness (Burt 1992; Jencks 1995; Lippert and Lee 2015). This study employs affiliation theory, thematic coding, and 21st century coding methods to examine social enterprise employment as a solution to ending homelessness and increasing the number and types of affiliations individuals gain while working at a social enterprise. Seven interviews were conducted at one case study social enterprise with the goal of employing the …

A Critical Interpretation Of Study Abroad, Participant Identity, And Second Language Learning, Laura Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

In this study I explore the history of study abroad as a sojourn for the privileged, notions of whiteness, institutional racism and inequality, and nationality and linguicism, and apply theory from critical applied linguistics and post-colonialism to analyze and interpret data collected from five participants of either a semester or year-long study abroad at the Centre International d’Études Françaises (CIDEF) in Angers, France. The principal research questions are: What is the nature of how students negotiate their identities (racial, national, and gender), L2 learning, and engagement (or lack of) with various communities of practice while studying abroad in a non-English …

The Effect Of College Degree Attainment On Risky Health Behaviors: Smoking, Obesity, And Vaping., Sal R. Ansari

Theses and Dissertations

This paper tests the hypothesis that completing college results in better health outcomes through the causal pathway of risky health behaviors. The results imply that completing college reduces the likelihood an individual is a smoker or e-smoker. The results do not show any causal relationship between college education and obesity.

Do Osteon Morphotypes Identified In The Mid-Diaphysis Of Human Femurs Indicate The Same Torsional Load History As Chimpanzees?, Bailey A G Colohan

Theses and Dissertations

Skedros’s (2009) osteon morphotype scoring (MTS) scheme is employed to identify if humans have the same torsional load-bearing history as chimpanzees at the femoral mid-diaphysis. Humans show to have no significant difference between quadrants of this area’s MTS, congruent with what is expected in a torsional load-bearing area of bone.

Impacts Of Antepartum Health Status And Health Insurance Coverage, Anjelica Gangaram

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines how a woman's antepartum health and health insurance status affect her likelihood of experiencing postpartum maternal morbidity complications.

Proposition 47 And Crime: A Difference In Differences Analysis Of Incarceration Rates And Crime Using Border Counties, Brian J. Fischer

Theses and Dissertations

California passed Proposition 47 by vote and changed the way the state punishes drug and theft. I find an increase in crime using a difference in differences model by computing the change in thefts with the change in inmates. This effect sides with anecdotal claims and disagrees with empirical studies.

Habit Formation In Active Avoidance, Kelsey J. Burke

Theses and Dissertations

Two studies explored feedback value in avoidance learning using rats. We show that limited, but not extended trained rats were sensitive to feedback devaluation via counterconditioning. Identical effects on motivational transfer were obtained. These results suggest that maladaptive avoidance may be established in a similar way to habits of consumption.

A Mission At 311, Nan Li

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis intends to look at how the aftermath of Holocaust has a tremendous life-changing impact on the children of Holocaust survivors, and to explore how these people has carried these misfortunes and burden to be resilient and joyful in their everyday lives.

Still Acting Up? Voices From Actup's Oral History Project On The Current State Of The Lgbtq Community, Michael D. Mahana

Theses and Dissertations

Examination of the ACTUP Oral History Project using assimilation and activist identity theories reveals activists’ questionable presumptions about LGBTQ marriage, conflations of LGBTQ and activist identities, and nostalgia. Findings suggest a transformation from counterculture to assimilated subculture via segmented assimilation in which advantaged cohorts assimilate while others do not.

American Kathaks: Embodying Memory And Tradition In New Contexts, Anisha Muni

Theses and Dissertations

Kathak, a classical Indian dance, is practiced in the US by hundreds of practitioners. Through ethnographic research, this study asks how nostalgia, authenticity, tradition, and gender meet in the collective Kathak memory, examining what the study and performance of the dance symbolizes within American contexts.

Institutional Quality And Illicit Financial Flows In Developing And Developed Countries: An Empirical Assessment, Zin Kyaw Lin

Theses and Dissertations

This paper investigates the direct linkage between institutional quality and illicit financial flows (IFFs) of 47 developing and developed countries from the period of 2005 to 2014. Corruption and political stability are found to be correlated to the IFFs.

The Economics Of Skin Tone In Nineteenth-Century Maryland, Yuree Kim

Theses and Dissertations

I analyze the effect of subtle differences in skin complexion on heights of free blacks in Maryland during the nineteenth century. I propose that lighter-skinned blacks were taller (indicating better nutrition) than their darker counterparts. I find the hypothesis holds - 15.9% taller for males and 16.5% taller for females.

The Effect Of Parental Death On Children’S Wellbeing, Monil S. Shah

Theses and Dissertations

I study the effect of parental death on a child’s wellbeing, including workforce participation, education, marital status and health. Using propensity score matching, I find that parental death leads to worse outcomes for children who lose a parent compared to those with two parents, with negative effects exacerbated for daughters.

The Things They Do Here: Work And Greek Orthodox Death In New York City, Paul Melas

Theses and Dissertations

Based on six months of ethnographic research at a Greek catering hall in Brooklyn, this paper explores how death mediates and negotiates the relationship between the catering hall (and those who are employed by it), and the Greek patrons who come to mourn and celebrate their dead.

A New Estimate For Neanderthal Energy Expenditure, Stephen J. Venner

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a new estimate for Neanderthal total energy expenditure through the use of a constrained energy model. The new estimates for Neanderthal are considered within the context of some recent analyses investigating Neanderthal life history traits, genetics, and the archaeological record.

Climate Change And Threatened Heritage: Archaeology's Burden, Barry R. Gordon

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change and archaeology are currently intertwined, as more and more archaeologists around the world must deal with the effects it causes on the sites they work on. Threatened cultural resource sites are being swept away at alarming rates, and excavation projects are becoming more and more like salvage digs.

Darkness As A Positive Reinforcer In Weakly Electric Fish, Amber Lea D. Kincaid

Theses and Dissertations

Darkness was used as a positive reinforcer in 14 Gnathonemus petersii fish in an object discrimination task. One subject showed a significant learning response. This study provides preliminary support for the use of darkness as positive reinforcement in weakly electric fish and presents potential areas of interest for future study.

An Investigation Of The Phylogenetic Affinities Of Sivaladapidae Within Adapoidea, Kathleen Rust

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a phylogenetic analysis incorporating 82 dental characters to clarify the evolutionary relationships of Sivaladapidae within the broader context of Adapoidea. Results suggest that sivaladapids share a close evolutionary relationship with European adapoids.

A New Keynesian Approach To Estimating Welfare Losses Under Strict And Flexible-Targeting Regimes, Shawn Weber

Theses and Dissertations

How do different inflation-targeting regimes affect the monetary loss-function of a central bank aiming at stabilizing inflation around an inflation target and stabilizing the real economy? Under a basic New-Keynesian framework, this paper examines the effect of inflation-targeting regimes on the monetary loss function of a central bank.

Perceived Corruption In Ukraine: A National Analysis Using Individual Level Data From 2012-2014, Cody X. Weglinski

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationship of perceived corruption in Ukraine and the factors that influence that perception. In particular, this paper investigates the idea that an influential Russian presence affects the perception of governmental corruption amongst Ukrainian business owners and managers.

Do Homebuyers Care About Good Grades? Evaluating The Effect Of Nyc School Accountability Program On Housing Values, John I. Campagna

Theses and Dissertations

This paper looks at the effect of the New York City school accountability grades on the residential property market. Grades by themselves are found to have some effect on residential property market, but the inclusion of test scores along with grades diminishes the strength of their effect.