Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Using The World As A Stage To Benefit Refugees, Rose L. Gangl

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

The present study looked at whether theatre could be used as a successful intervention for refugees living in the United States. Using Boal’s (1985) Theatre of the Oppressed model, Karen refugees from Laos and Thailand, now living in Minnesota completed a four day workshop. Before and after the theatre workshop the participants were tested on overall well-being (self-esteem and mood), creativity, and English language abilities. Significant improvements were found for overall well-being. In addition, the workshops were shown to have the greatest impact on those who had a lower English language ability to start. Overall, theatre appears to be a …

Crime, Income Inequality, And Density At The Neighborhood Level, Andrew Hovel

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

An economic model of crime gives policymakers a basis to understand how income inequality and population density relate to crime at the neighborhood level. This study reveals a negative and significant relationship between population density in Census tracts and both property and violent crime rates. It finds ambiguous results that vary by city for income inequality. This cross-sectional analysis of Census tracts in Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas uses crime and demographic data from the National Neighborhood Crime Study. This study also yields interesting results about the importance of residential stability for crime prevention and comments on possible urban …

The Jury Process: Racial Bias, Extraversion, Leadership, & Sex, Amanda Nusbaum

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

This study explored the interactions between individuals’ attitudes and group dynamics during the jury deliberation process. More specifically, whether implicit racial bias are correlated with pre-deliberation decision of innocence and which factors contribute to an individual’s tendency to take on a leadership role in a mock jury setting. 10 mock juries, consisting of groups of 4 White undergraduate students, participated in this experiment. Each participant completed an Implicit Association Test (IAT) and a self-report survey to examine racial bias, a self-report personality survey to examine extraversion, and then participated in a mock jury deliberation. Results showed that implicit racial bias …

A Lost Opportunity? Trade Between The United States And China, 1865-1914, Kathryn Gaydos

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

American trade with Asia rose from 10% of total imports in 1870 to 15% in 1913. U.S. exports to China relative to the population quadrupled over this period as well. Scholars have studied U.S.-Japan trade for this period but have done little work on U.S.-China interactions. I therefore developed bilateral trade data for the United States and China from 1865 to 1914 and analyzed these data to reveal trade patterns and terms of trade between these two countries. The terms of trade improved for the U.S. between 1895 and 1913. Cotton manufactures and mineral oil were the United States’ key …

Republicans In The Wild: Issue Realignment In The Republican Party On Public Land Policy, Stephanie Pinkalla

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

The Republican Party is often seen as the bane of protective environmental policies, and is associated with opening public land in the West to private oil interests, endorsing pipeline construction on federal lands, and permitting road development in wilderness areas. Throughout history, however, the Republican Party has not always worked for such brazen anti-environment causes, and some of America’s most formative protective land policies emerged under Republican leadership. If this is the case, how has the Republican Party realigned on protective public lands policy in the Republican electorate, government, and party organization with time? This investigation reviews the proportion of …

Are We More Racist Than We Think? Recognition Of Racism And Racial Microaggressions, Lydia Ricard

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Racism is discriminatory behavior rooted in history and fostered by institutional power. Current theory and research posits that different types of racism have developed over time, such as overt, implicit, symbolic, and aversive racism. The concept of racial microagressions has developed from these theories. Microaggressions are defined by Sue (2010) as subtle and commonplace environmental, verbal, and behavioral indignities that convey negative, hostile, or derogative slights toward people of color. This study examines the ability to recognize racism, as well as relationships between the ability to recognize racism and factors of White privilege awareness, attitudes toward diversity, and ability to …

Virtually Dead: The Extension Of Social Agency To Corpses And The Dead On Facebook, Adam Tucker

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Facebook and other social networking technologies are become vastly powerful and expansive social forces that are exerting an influence on corpses, the dead, and death communications. Since its invention in 2004, millions of users of Facebook have died, leaving durable profiles subject to the site’s changing regulatory policies and socially present for the network’s living users as well. Because of their ability to enmesh, mutate, and interact with the social interactions of the living—as well as their durability as a site of continuing bonds—Facebook profiles retain social agency consistent with the theories of agency of Alfred Gell (1998) and Bruno …

The Interaction Effects Of Aspects Of The Self On Mental Health In College Students, Elizabeth E. Peichel

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

The purpose of this study was to examine the interaction effect of the personality traits of shyness and social support and identity style on the mental health issues of rumination, anxiety, and identity distress. I distributed surveys to a convenience sample of 188 college-age students at two single-sex, rural, Catholic schools. Although there were no three-way interaction effects of the variables as they relate to rumination, anxiety, and identity distress as hypothesized, there was a two-way interaction effect of shyness and social support of friends as they relate to rumination. Low shy individuals with high social support demonstrate lower rumination …

Birds Of A Feather: The Effect Of Negatively And Positively Valenced Similarities On Compliance, Hayley Van Gelder

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Previous research has shown that individuals have a tendency to prefer things and people related to themselves. I conducted a lab experiment to replicate previous findings in that individuals who believed they shared a similarity with someone would be more likely to comply with a request from that person, as well as show more feelings of liking towards that person. Additionally, the study sought to investigate if sharing a positively-valenced or negatively-valenced similarity with the requestor would affect the likelihood of individuals to comply with the request and the amount of liking felt towards the requestor. Although the manipulations of …

Academic Library Leadership, Second-Wave Feminism And Twenty-First Century Humanism: Reflections On A Changing Profession, Marta Deyrup

Library Publications

No abstract provided.

Two Essays On Insider Trading And Option Grants Around The Filing Of Influential Patents, Liu Pan

Doctoral Dissertations

Research documents that insiders, who have access to private information, appear to trade with profits before major corporate events like mergers, bankruptcy, dividend announcements, and future cash flow news (see, e.g., Seyhun, 1990; Seyhun and Bradley, 1997; John and Lang, 1991; Jiang and Zaman, 2010). Another recent stream of studies find that the size and quality of a firm's patent portfolio are positively related to the firm's future stock returns (Hirshleifer, Hsu, and Li, 2012; Pandit, Wasley, and Zach, 2011). However, there is little systematic evidence on whether insiders act opportunistically when they possess private information about the firm's patent …

Two Essays On Insider Trading And Option Grants Around The Filing Of Influential Patents, Liu Pan

Doctoral Dissertations

Research documents that insiders, who have access to private information, appear to trade with profits before major corporate events like mergers, bankruptcy, dividend announcements, and future cash flow news (see, e.g., Seyhun, 1990; Seyhun and Bradley, 1997; John and Lang, 1991; Jiang and Zaman, 2010). Another recent stream of studies find that the size and quality of a firm's patent portfolio are positively related to the firm's future stock returns (Hirshleifer, Hsu, and Li, 2012; Pandit, Wasley, and Zach, 2011). However, there is little systematic evidence on whether insiders act opportunistically when they possess private information about the firm's patent …

Knowledge Sharing And Social Media: Altruism, Perceived Online Attachment Motivation, And Perceived Online Relationship Commitment, Will W.K. Ma, Albert Chan

Support & Other Units (THEi)

Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, have become extremely popular. Facebook, for example, has more than a billion registered users and thousands of millions of units of information are shared every day, including short phrases, articles, photos, and audio and video clips. However, only a tiny proportion of these sharing units trigger any type of knowledge exchange that is ultimately beneficial to the users. This study draws on the theory of belonging and the intrinsic motivation of altruism to explore the factors contributing to knowledge sharing behavior. Using a survey of 299 high school students applying for university after …

Nbc Peacock North Winter 2014, Peacock North Staff

NBC Peacock North Newsletter

Highlights include: Connie Chung Guest Speaker at Spring Luncheon -- Tomorrow Show's 40th Anniversary -- The Rosen Report --Marilyn and John Fider in Africa -- Peacock Apples: Jan & Greg Kasoff

Building On Good Foundations: Constructing A Research Data Management Program For A Research University, Margaret Henderson, Teresa L. Knott

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Objectives: The director of the university health sciences library (DHSL) and the new director of research data management (DRDM) must develop an eighteen-month plan to create a research data management program for the entire university. The program needs to support mandated data management plans and sharing, and encourage good data management practices throughout the institution. Methods: Collaborating with constituent groups, the DRDM worked with the DHSL to create a roadmap to deploy research data support across the university. Building on early work done at research and health sciences libraries with well-developed research data management services, the team opted not to …

Usability And Ux For Libraries, Erin White

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

This presentation provides a brief overview of user experience design principles and their applications for library web design, including heat mapping, personas, guerrilla usability studies, and analytics tools.

Research Guides: Getting Past The Home Page, Martha Roseberry

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

LibGuides, or research guides, are an essential tool for many librarians. However, students rarely navigate beyond the home page, leaving many resources unused. The purpose of this research is to determine if students fail to use secondary pages because they are not finding them or because their information needs are being met by those resources found on the home page.

Six scientific LibGuides are being studied. On three, the primary feature of the home page is a menu leading to the secondary pages. Except for one featured book, no links to resources are provided on these home pages, forcing students …

From Listening To Experiencing: Changing Evidence-Based Pharmacy Library Instruction, Barbara A. Wright, Jennifer A. Mcdaniel

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

OBJECTIVE: Adapt bibliographic instruction from a traditional 50-minute lecture format to a hands-on, small group approach to more closely align with a team-based assignment.

METHODS: First year students in the School of Pharmacy's PharmD program are assigned to teams and work together on projects for lecture-based courses. In the second year, they are introduced to Team-Based Learning (TBL). To improve library instruction for first year students, two librarians used a team-based approach with hands-on examination of pharmacy resources to provide a better student learning experience than the traditional 50-minute lecture. Librarians led 90 minute interactive sessions for two teams for …

Diversity Project: Poster Series Connects Core Values To Library Materials And Expertise, Bettina Peacemaker, Sue Robinson, Marilyn Scott

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Virginia Commonwealth University celebrates diversity as a core value, and VCU Libraries actively strives to foster inclusion and an understanding of difference. The diversity and culture poster series was envisioned as a way to connect education about diversity directly to library collections and expertise. This poster details the distribution, response, and impact of the series.

The Artist In The Library: Research Services For Creators, Kristina Keogh, John Glover

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

At Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries we serve a variety of disciplines. This poster session focuses on outreach initiatives by the Visual Arts Research Librarian and the Humanities Research Librarian to provide research services to a unique group: students and faculty who create new and unique objects and texts. The needs of artistic researchers in such diverse areas as interior design, painting, and creative writing overlap in many ways, both expected and unexpected.

Our efforts to reach out to creators and offer support for their distinctive research needs have included such activities as taking classes within particular programs and embedding ourselves …

Reach Out In A New Direction: Applying Public Relations Best Practices To Academic Outreach, Bettina Peacemaker, Sue Robinson, Marilyn Scott

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Public relations isn’t just for Fortune 500 companies or high-profile celebrities. The Public Relations Society of America defines public relations as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” Thinking about outreach in these expansive terms goes beyond simple promotional activities, media relations, or marketing tactics, and the message should resonate with librarians. Building “mutually beneficial relationships” is at the very core of public services, and serving multiple publics should also be a familiar concept as libraries strive to reach a multitude of audiences.

This poster presentation explores key public relations best practices to …

Digital Portfolio: Storytelling From Student To Professional, Kim Hanneman, Bettina Peacemaker

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

The Digital Portfolio helps employers validate skills and employability. For students, the digital presentation of creative material, skills and competencies becomes a life-long resource. This presentation, by a business research librarian and a career and industry adviser, will provide participants examples of students transitioning their digital storytelling. The presenters will share resources and strategies to coach students from simply managing a collection of digital material through to a Digital Portfolio demonstrating a professional identity.

Informationist Supplement: A Collaboration To Improve Collaboration, Julie Arendt, Martha Roseberry

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Four librarians at Virginia Commonwealth University teamed up with faculty in mathematics and biomedical engineering to receive an NIH informationist administrative supplement. The supplement supports a research team developing a mathematical model of ventilator-induced lung inflammation. Our goals are to develop workflow strategies to enhance team communication, provide information and data management services, assist with dissemination of the research results, and assess the impact of the grant. We are currently examining the team’s workflow to find data management and communication gaps and are evaluating tools for group annotation and sharing of articles and references.

Innovate At Your Library With Business Model Generation, Bettina Peacemaker

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

The Business Model Canvas has been widely adopted and adapted for use in wide range of business settings to explore innovation. This poster considers its use in the library to transform current practices and create new value for our audiences.

Librarian Speed Networking, Bettina Peacemaker, Tiffany Harris, Christian Pascasio, Terry Long

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Based on the popular speed dating format, these handouts will help guide participants through an interactive networking exercise that will allow for new connections.

Abuse Of Evidence In Persuasive Speaking: An Un-Conventional Solution, Amy Mendes

National Forensic Journal

Scholars in the forensics community have been lamenting the misuse and abuse of evidence in forensics competition for decades. Beginning with Frank’s 1983 discussion of evidentiary abuse in Persuasive speaking, authors have offered possible solutions to end the problem. However, as the ongoing focus might suggest, these solutions have not had the intended effect. In this paper, we continue the investigation into evidence use in Persuasive speaking by repeating Frank’s original study but offer an unusual solution that may finally effectively address the problem.

Full Volume, Nfa Journal

National Forensic Journal

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Randy Richardson

National Forensic Journal

No abstract provided.

Roadmap To Recovery: A Strategic Plan For Westchester County Government To Increase Office Occupancy And Revitalize The I-287 Corridor, Britta Vander Linden

Master in Public Administration Theses

No abstract provided.

Correctional Education: Society Essential For Progressive Growth Or A Detrimental Use Of Taxpayers Money?, Danilo Guy

Master in Public Administration Theses

No abstract provided.