Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Hipsterevolution, Alessandra Malito

Capstones

The hipster is part of an ever-present subculture rapidly taking over metropolitan areas, regardless bias or perception. It is an old word with a deep history, and those who follow it – consciously or subconsciously – are bringing the subculture to the forefront of urban life, and impacting every aspect from social to economic through the increase of housing prices, the introduction of big-name brands in otherwise small neighborhoods and the pushing out of residents who had been there long before the new kids on the block, but won’t be there after. So who are they -- and where are …

The Diary Of An Ex-Con, Erica Edwards

Capstones

Evelyn Litwok talks about abuse that incarcerated people experience in prison and the punishment inmates face when they attempt to address it with administration.

The Country Club Sport: The Decline Of African-Americans In Baseball, Elijah Stewart

Capstones

This season Major League Baseball announced that African-American players only comprised 8.3% of rosters on this year’s Opening Day. This would be tied for the lowest number ever recorded by the Institute of Ethics and Diversity in Sports since 1990, their first year of research. In 1990, TIDE reported that 17 percent of the players were black; other tallies have put the high mark as 1986, when the figure was 19 percent. The rise in popularity of basketball and football, along with a lack of funds and interests interest in baseball amongst the black community has caused the decline; but …

Iron Tower, Laura Bult

Capstones

The current state of higher education in prisons in the U.S., as a reflection of our changing attitudes about the purpose of incarceration, as told by the story of Clyde Meikle, a man with a life sentence in Connecticut who is a student in Wesleyan's Center for Prison Education, a liberal arts program.

Counterfeit Ed, Meral Agish, Sarah Barrett, Mark Fahey, Audrey Mcglinchy, Jacob Naughton, Oresti Tsonopoulos

Capstones

This investigative project explores the abuses of for-profit colleges in New York City in the context of what federal, state and city bodies have done to regulate these schools. We focused on two for-profits in the city, ASA College and TCI College, whose practices typify the criticisms of for-profit schools: targeting low-income people of color, funding the school from mostly federal student loans and issuing pricey degrees that yield few field-specific jobs.

Qatari Foreign Policy And The Arab Spring: From Mediation To Intervention, Basma Mahmoud Eletreby

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the controversial role that Qatar has been playing in the Arab Spring, specifically from 2011 to 2013. Evidently, Qatari foreign policy will be assessed to comprehend the power this small state has been gaining in Middle East politics in a region plagued by never ending manifestations of power struggles and turbulent developments. The case studies of Egypt, Libya and Syria in which Qatari foreign policy involvement deployed the same rationale will be investigated to examine the increasing involvement of Qatar in Middle East politics. It concludes that the foreign policy of Qatar was both opportunistic and pro-Islamist …

Economic Development In The Massachusetts Life Sciences Cluster: Shared Prosperity Or A Big Tradeoff?, Brandynn Holgate

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Policies aimed at economic development can be judged by two criteria: efficiency and equity. -Policies that result in both greater efficiency and greater equity lead to shared economic prosperity for a region. The innovation economy includes some of the fastest growing industries which generate new wealth in the U.S. Within this context, the life sciences industry has been a prime target for economic development for individual states. This case study examines the economic development agenda in the Massachusetts life sciences industry and whether these efforts result in both sustaining competitive advantage (i.e., continuous innovation that improves productivity and product and …

Cognitive Processes And Moderators Of Willingness In Individuals With Social Anxiety Disorder And Non-Anxious Controls In Response To A Social Performance Task, Lauren P. Wadsworth

Graduate Masters Theses

The present study investigated differences between individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and non-anxious controls (NAC) on measures of thought processes and anxiety responses surrounding an anxiety-provoking situation. Participants gave a spontaneous speech to an audience and reported their anxiety throughout. Measures of trait decentering and anxiety, situational anxiety, negative thoughts and believability, and willingness to repeat the task were administered. Compared to NAC, individuals with SAD reported a higher prevalence of negative thoughts, found the thoughts more believable, reported lower levels of trait decentering, and reported less willingness to repeat an anxiety-provoking task. Collapsing the groups, we found an …

Seeing Red: Characterizing Historic Bricks At Sylvester Manor, Long Island, Ny 1652-1735, Martin John Schmidheiny

Graduate Masters Theses

The goal of this project is to develop a basic material characterization of the bricks excavated at the site of Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island, New York. In the early Manor period of 1650-1690, this early Northern provisioning plantation supplied Barbadian sugar operations and pursued mercantile interests independent of state control. Accounting for the range of production defects and material characteristics of the bricks suggests on-site or local manufacture as a regional ceramic industry developed. Qualitative visual analysis and petrographic thin-sections were used to characterize the internal composition, variation and production evidence in the bricks. Interpreting the results of this …

Parents' Gender Ideology And Gendered Behavior As Predictors Of Children's Gender-Role Attitudes: A Longitudinal Exploration, Hillary Paul Halpern

Masters Theses

This longitudinal study examined the association between parents’ early and concurrent gender ideology and gendered behaviors and their children’s gender-role attitudes at age six. Specifically, parents' global beliefs about women's and men's "rightful" roles in society, as well as their work preferences for mothers, were considered in relation to the gender-role attitudes held by their first-graders. In addition, parents’ gendered behaviors, including their division of household and childcare tasks, division of paid work hours, and job traditionality were examined as predictors of children’s gender-role attitudes. Based on previous research, it was hypothesized parents’ early and concurrent behavior and ideology would …

Using Yoga Practice To Empower Psychotherapists’ Interpersonal Process, Jennifer Paz

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Yoga practice promotes awareness and acceptance, and serves as a body-centered medium for developing deepened self-understanding. Among patient populations, a growing body of evidence suggests that the benefits of yoga practice extend to both physical health and psychological well-being. However, the psychological impact of yoga practice on psychotherapists’ interpersonal responses, while potentially promising, has received little attention in the literature. This paper provides a historical overview of contemplative practices and discusses the role that yoga can play in developing certain interpersonal characteristics of the psychotherapist that are hypothesized to empower the therapeutic relationship and facilitate constructive behavior change on the …

California Community Colleges Child Development Laboratory Schools, Shari Yates

Dissertations

Community colleges in California are the primary source for preparing the early childhood care and education (ECE) workforce. The California child development lab school mission is to prepare ECE practitioners, provide a laboratory where college students can study and research child development/education, and offer a service to children and families. There are many benefits that are derived from laboratory schools but many community college lab schools have been reduced and/or closed over the past three years. The purposes of this Delphi study were (a) to examine the most pressing issues, problems and barriers facing California community colleges child development labs …

The Relationship Between Head Coaches’ Influence And Student Engagement Of Ncaa Di Women Basketball Players: Implications For Student-Athlete Success, Kiki Baker Barnes

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recently passed new legislation highlighting the critical role coaches play in student-athlete success called the Head Coach’s Academic Progress Rate (APR). The APR measure does not calculate the actions of the head coach and is therefore an inadequate measure of coaches’ influence. There are numerous verbal accounts of the influence of the coach on student-athlete success, but there is little quantitative data to support this claim. As a result, this correlational study explored the relationship between head coaches’ influence and student engagement among a sample of 135 women basketball players at National Collegiate Athletic …

The Croatian Community Of Southeastern Louisiana: Immigration, Assimilation And The Retention Of Ethnic Identity, Renee Danielle Bourgogne

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This work is a study of a community of Croatian immigrants to Southeast Louisiana in the twentieth century. Drawn from a multidisciplinary approach that included spatial analysis of settlement patterns, quantitative analysis of seafood industry data, the records of voluntary associations, and guided by the oral histories of men and women of Croatia who immigrated to Louisiana, this work reveals a community that has managed to maintain close ties despite its distribution both in urban New Orleans and rural coastal Louisiana through links created by and supportive of the state’s seafood and restaurant industries. The study points out how the …

Fifty Years Of Weathering The Storm: Are The Louisiana Gulf Coastal Parishes Prepared For Another Major Hurricane?, Danielle L. Boudreau

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study examines ten major storms that have affected Louisiana in the last fifty years, beginning with Hurricane Betsy in 1965. The goal is to determine if the nine coastal parishes are prepared adequately for another major hurricane impact. It examines storms that have affected the state physically, in terms of property and ecological damages. It also considers storms that provided non-physical influences, by way of mitigation policy changes and social, economical, ecological, and political policy alterations. The main focus is on the transformations, if any, of social vulnerability in light of emergency preparedness in the areas impacted, particularly along …

The Influence Of Dopamine On The Magnitude And Duration Of The Placebo Effect, Steve T. Brewer

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A placebo effect is a real and beneficial psychobiological phenomenon following the administration of a substance or procedure that has no inherent power to produce an effect. Nocebo effects, on the other hand are genuine and detrimental psychobiological phenomenon following the administration of and inert substance or procedure. These effects have been extensively studied but are not well understood. Central to the development of a placebo effect is the anticipation of benefit or the anticipation of harm. Indeed, expectancy and conditioning are thought to be the two primary mechanisms involved in the acquisition of the placebo effect. The neurotransmitter Dopamine …

Site Visitation: School Leaders' Perceptions Of A Diagnostic Tool For School Improvement, Mary Shannon C. Chiasson

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This case study explored the use of site-visitation as a diagnostic tool for school improvement. Nine charter schools in New Orleans were selected for the study. Based on qualitative research and systems theory, a within- and cross-case analysis of nine semi-structured interviews with school leaders were conducted. The school leaders’ experiences with the state-run site-visitation model and their use of the findings for school improvement was explored. The findings led to the development of a hybrid accountability model that encompasses the components school leaders believe will lead to school improvement. This study aims to assist educators, policy makers, and researchers …

Parents’ Concerns About Their Gay And Lesbian Children: An Attachment Perspective, Danielle Desnoyers

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the concerns of parents upon learning about their children’s gay or lesbian sexual orientation from the conceptual framework of attachment theory. Personal and contextual factors such as parents’ attachment anxiety and avoidance, parent and child gender, length of time since disclosure, and parents’ prior interpersonal contact with gay and lesbian person(s) were examined to see how they influence parents’ concerns. Members of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) support groups were electronically surveyed using the Experiences in Close Relationships - Short Form (ECR-S; Wei, Russell, Mallinckrodt & Vogel, 2007) and …

Crescent City Nightingales: Gender, Race, Class And The Professionalization Of Nursing For Women In New Orleans, Louisiana, 1881-1950, Paula A. Fortier

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Through the examination of primary sources largely overlooked by historians, this dissertation traces the professionalization of nursing in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1881 to 1950 while placing this localized history within the context of national trends. In the late nineteenth century, nursing developed into a middle class profession for women inspired by the careers of Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton. This dissertation investigates the process by which women became professional nurses while a complex intersection of issues related to gender, race, and class at times advanced, and at other times, hindered their progress towards professionalization. New Orleans serves as a …

An Empirical Study Of Semantic Similarity In Wordnet And Word2vec, Abram Handler

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis performs an empirical analysis of Word2Vec by comparing its output to WordNet, a well-known, human-curated lexical database. It finds that Word2Vec tends to uncover more of certain types of semantic relations than others -- with Word2Vec returning more hypernyms, synonomyns and hyponyms than hyponyms or holonyms. It also shows the probability that neighbors separated by a given cosine distance in Word2Vec are semantically related in WordNet. This result both adds to our understanding of the still-unknown Word2Vec and helps to benchmark new semantic tools built from word vectors.

Two Essays In Financial Economics, Line Valerie Goss

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Chapter 1 of this study investigates the link between a firm’s capital structure and their industry competitive behavior. Given the competitive behavior in certain markets, Cournot or Bertrand, we investigate if there are any inborn characteristics of these markets’ competitive behavior that would create an incentive for Cournot firms to have a different strategic debt level than Bertrand firms. Related theories argue that any industry’s competitive behavior, whether it is Bertrand or Cournot would typically consist of a certain type of debt and pursue a certain type of competitive strategy, based on its classification. In this study, we investigate the …

Testosterone Reactivity And Neural Activation In The Mid Task, Yoojin Lee

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the project was to determine if testosterone reactivity and neural changes could be observed in response to a reward-seeking competitive task, respectively, and whether testosterone was related to neural activation. Forty nine undergraduate students were recruited playing the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID). We found that a subset of participants (N=20) showed testosterone reactivity to the task (ps < .05). During the EEG analyses, cue had a main effect on FRN amplitude in a trend level (p = .084): The large incentive cue triggered smaller (less negative) FRN amplitude than the small incentive cue did (p < .05), especially during the second reward seeking block (A’) (p = .065) and especially within males (p < .05). Testosterone level and reactivity were not further associated with FRN amplitude (ps > .1). Taken together, results show both testosterone and …

The Role Balance Experience Of Black Female Counselor Education Doctoral Students Maintaining Full-Time Employment And Significant Relationships, Ariel Encalade Mitchell

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological research study explored the role balance experience of five Black female counselor education doctoral students who were balancing education, full-time employment, and significant relationships. Purposeful and snowball sampling were used to elicit participants who met these criteria: enrolled as a full-time doctoral student, employed full-time (30 or more hours weekly), and involved in a self-defined significant relationship.

The participants in this study individually provided insight into their respective perceived role balance experiences of balancing education, work, and significant relationships. The primary research question for the study was: “What is the role balance experience of Black female counselor …

Parcel-Level Green Stormwater Management Policy: What New Orleans Can Learn From Philadelphia’S Parcel-Based Utility Fee, Spence Riggs

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan promotes the ideology of integrating green infrastructure into the City’s water management strategy to cultivate resiliency. In order to develop enough green infrastructure to have a significant impact on the hydrological functioning of the area, New Orleans officials are investigating different options for encouraging property owners to manage their stormwater on-site. Philadelphia Water Department’s parcel-based stormwater utility fee has been offered as a model for working within the constraints of the municipal government’s regulatory authority to increase the water retention capacity of individual properties. This thesis provides an analysis of Philadelphia Water Department’s …

Through The Eyes Of The Homeless, Aisha M. Soto

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

When reviewing the entire project from start to completion, I can honestly say, Through the Eyes of the Homeless is a play about ten women and their plight. It illustrates their dealings with everyday issues of hurt, disappointment, abuse, love, and hope. I believe the true impact of this play is the undeniable prayer for help and hope within each monologue. Despite the horrors that are unveiled and released through hidden secrets, the undertone of betterment is truly resonating. My own expectation for this play is simply to strike awareness and understanding in the eyes of the people. It is …

The Association Between Trauma Exposure, Maladjustment, And Aggression In Detained Boys, Kelli R. Thompson

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated an association between violence exposure and aggression; however, research exploring the association between violence exposure and the forms and functions of aggression is scarce. The aim of this study was to explore the associations between trauma exposure with both reactive and proactive functions of aggression by examining two potential mediators (e.g., psychopathic traits and emotional dysregulation). Participants included 132 male juvenile offenders mandated to treatment in a residential facility (M = 16.78 years old; SD = 1.25). Results indicate emotional dysregulation partially mediated the association between trauma exposure and reactive aggression while controlling for proactive …

We Wear The Mask: Exploring The Talented Tenth And African American Political Philosophy In 21st Century Politics, Lauryn T. Minter

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have suggested that Blacks who express linked racial fate are ideologically liberal. Given the prominence of Black philosophical thought and salience of race, I suggest that linked racial fate results in conservative ideology, which exists on a separate ideological dimension than the traditional conservative ideological dimension. This new ideological dimension, referred to as conservatism among Blacks, is vital to understanding Black political thought in the 21^st century. Using data from the 1996 National Black Election Study, 2008 National Annenberg Election Study, and focus group data I argue that the conservative ideas espoused by Blacks, specifically members of the …

Private Diplomats, Mediation Professionals, And Peace Activists: Can Non-Governmental Actors Bring Peace To Civil Wars?, Christina Kiel

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how actors without the means of state power can affect the behavior of warring parties in order to end civil conflicts. Drawing on the intervention and mediation literature, I propose a theoretical framework that presents causal mechanisms for various forms of non-state conflict management to contribute to conflict resolution. The research distinguishes between direct mediation, capacity-building, and problem-solving approaches, and analyzes the approaches’ potential contributions to shorter wars and more sustainable peace.

On the one hand, non-state actors can be substitutes for governmental or inter-governmental mediators. They derive legitimacy from long-standing relations with the conflict parties, and …

The Narratives Of Young Women With Brca 1/2 Gene Mutation: A Qualitative Analysis, Drew D. Reilly

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A narrative qualitative research design was used to understand the stories of young women diagnosed with BRCA1 and BRCA 2 genetic mutation. Four participants were selected who met the following criteria: (a) the participant is diagnosed with BRCA1 or BRCA2 genetic mutation, b) is within the age range of 18 to 35, (c) is without a cancer diagnosis, and is (d) not currently pregnant and does not have children. The four participants were interviewed through open-ended inquiry. The participants’ narratives proved both similar and dissimilar. The themes were organized into within-case narratives and across-case narratives. The narratives revealed that young …

A Stable Isotope Analysis Of Faunal Remains From Special Deposits On Ontario Iroquoian Tradition Sites, Laura Booth

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The deliberate interment of bears, deer, and dogs on Ontario Iroquoian Tradition sites (900-1650 AD) suggests these animals had social and ideological meaning. This thesis uses stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis from bone collagen of faunal remains from both special and refuse contexts on eight sites in Southern Ontario to investigate the possible relationship between an animal’s burial context, diet, and value. Results indicate that most animals consumed a diet typical for their species regardless of context, suggesting the ideological value of specially deposited animals was augmented through human-animal interactions other than dietary manipulation. Bears from the Dorchester site …