Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Threat Communication As It Relates To Perception Of Victimization: A Study Of Awareness Of Concealed Weapon Permit Issuance, Cody Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Concealed weapon permit issuance is one of the most contentious topics debated in modern politics today. The primary point of disagreement within this debate hinges on whether these permits serve to increase violence by those who possess them, or whether they decrease crime through the deterrent effect of their presence in society. Using responses of residents of a large southeast correctional facility this study analyzed the reported inclination of criminals to commit direct contact crimes under several specific scenarios, based on their exposure to various levels of information relating to issuance of concealed weapon permits. By comparing the responses across …

Agent-Based Simulation Of Mass Shootings: Determining How To Limit The Scale Of A Tragedy, Roy Hayes, Reginald Hayes

VMASC Publications

An agent-based simulation was created to examine key parameters in mass shootings. The goal of the simulation was to examine the potential effectiveness of Senator Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) assault weapons and high-capacity magazines bill. Based on the analysis, the proposed law would have a negligible effect on the number of people shot during mass shootings. The assault weapons portion of the proposed bill will have no effect on the number of people killed or wounded in a mass shooting. The assault weapons ban does not seek to decrease the rate of fire of any firearm. Of the parameters tested a …

Toward A Formalism Of Modeling And Simulation Using Model Theory, Saikou Y. Diallo, Jose Padilla, Ross Gore, Heber Herencia-Zapana, Andreas Tolk

VMASC Publications

This article proposes a Modeling and Simulation (M&S) formalism using Model Theory. The article departs from the premise that M&S is the science that studies the nature of truth using models and simulations. Truth in models and simulations is relative as they seek to answer specific modeling questions. Consequently, truth in M&S is relative because every model is a purposeful abstraction of reality. We use Model Theory to express the proposed formalism because it is built from the premise that truth is relative. The proposed formalism allows us to: (1) deduce formal definitions and explanations of areas of study in …

A Hybridized Approach To Validation: The Role Of Sociological Research Methods In Pedestrian Modeling, Erika Frydenlund, Terra Elzie, Andrew Collins, R. Michael Robinson

VMASC Publications

Pedestrian and crowd-movement models are difficult to validate using traditional empirical methods because of data-related issues such as generalizability, collection ethics, and costs. Commonly used validation methods make strong assumptions about emergence and the importance of crowd structure, leaving a gap in validation literature. The paper reviews the most common methods of validating pedestrian models and proposes a hybridized qualitative approach to validating models that covers more complex group dynamics and possible situations of panic.

Do Groups Matter? An Agent-Based Modeling Approach To Pedestrian Egress, Andrew Collins, Terra Elzie, Erika Frydenlund, R. Michael Robinson

VMASC Publications

Festivals in city parks attended by individuals and families are a universal feature of urban life. These venues often have the common attributes of vendors and other obstacles that restrict pedestrian movement through certain areas, as well as fixed number of exits. In this study, the authors build an agent-based model (ABM) that incorporates group cohesion forces into this type of pedestrian egress scenario. The scenario considered was an evacuation of 500 people through a single exit. This allowed an investigation into the use of two different simulated pedestrian's heading updating rules.

A Study Of Personal Cloud Computing: Compatibility, Social Influence, And Moderating Role Of Perceived Familiarity, Murad Moqbel, Valerie L. Bartelt, Mohammed Al-Suqri

Information Systems Faculty Publications

Building on a research framework based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Innovation Diffusion Technology (IDT), and the Technology Adoption Model (TAM), we propose a model integrating compatibility, social influence, and perceived familiarity given the implicit uncertainty of personal cloud. Our model emphasizes the moderating effect of perceived familiarity on the relationships between both perceived compatibility and social influence on behavioral intention. PLS-based structural equation modeling is employed to test the related propositions empirically. Results from a survey, involving 265 university students, reveal that perceived compatibility explains a larger proportion of the variance in behavioral intention; perceived familiarity plays …

Impacts Of The Recovery Movement On Treatment Adherence For Individuals With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, Kelly J. Campanile

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The recovery movement presents a shift in the treatment of severe mental illness to a more person-centered approach. The current researcher hypothesized that the more recovery-oriented a treatment was perceived to be, the more participants would have attended appointments and adhered to their psychiatric medication regimen. The variables of empowerment, recovery assessment, attitudes toward treatment, and participatory decision-making were explored in relation to their possible correlation with increased treatment adherence. An archival data set was used. Participants included 215 adults who met criteria for a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. The participants generally rated their treatment as high on all four of …

Visual Efficiency And The Relationship Between Reading And Behaviors Indicating Difficulties In The Classroom In Elementary School-Age Children, Patricia A. Broadbent

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a relationship between visual efficiency, reading levels and behaviors indicating difficulties in the classroom. The sample consisted of thirty–three school-aged children, from four elementary schools. Visual efficiency was measured through a multi-step vision screening process, the Visual Efficiency Rating (VERA) software program. Behaviors indicating difficulties in the classroom were measured using the Behavioral Indicator Checklist, Indicators of Visual Performance Difficulties. This behavior checklist is part of the VERA process and is completed by the classroom teachers. The students’ reading levels were reported by the participating schools. The students were …

An Examination Of The Moderating Effects Of Perceived Quality Of Life On The Relationship Between Empathy, Motivation, And Specialty Choice Among Medical Students, Michael B. Klein

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The number of medical students opting to specialize in primary care has decreased in recent years. Research suggests that empathy, perceived quality of life, and motivation are significant factors in choosing a specialty. The purpose of this study was to determine whether perceived quality of life moderates the relationship between level of empathy and motivation among medical students, and how that affects their final specialty choice. Participants included 174 third- and fourth-year medical students between the ages of 22 and 36 years at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Medical students were given an online survey, which included a demographic …

The Medicine Of War: Imf Structural Adjustment, Ethnic Politics, And Armed Civil Conflict, Yanyu Ke

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

The dissertation research answers the question of what explains the variation across countries where the IMF SAP implementation is associated with the onset of armed civil conflict in some countries but not in others. Do SAPs increase the likelihood of the outbreak of armed civil conflict in recipient countries? By what causal mechanism could SAPs increase the probability of the onset of armed civil conflict? This study contributes to extant literature by taking actors’ preferences and ethnicity in recipient countries into account. I argue that the effect of SAP implementation on armed civil conflict is conditional on the ethnic characteristics …

Labor Versus Learning: Explaining The State-Wise Variation Of Child Labor In India, Priyam Saharia

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

What explains the variation of child labor rates across Indian states? This dissertation explores why certain states in India, which are not necessarily the wealthiest, have been able to reduce child labor significantly in the past few decades, while child labor continues to increase at alarming rates in other states. Previous economic and cultural explanations, which focus on household-level poverty or the hierarchical social stratification of Indian society fail to adequately explain variation in child labor rates across Indian states. This research project explores how systematic regional differences in bureaucratic performance and patterns of civic engagement have influenced child labor …

Perceptions Of The Counseling Profession: From Health Science Graduate Faculty And Students, Kaprea F. Johnson, Christianne Fowler, Karen Kott, Margaret Lemaster

Ellmer School of Nursing Faculty Publications

Counseling is considered a newer healthcare profession and possibly unknown to others. This study uses a post-positivist phenomenological approach exploring healthcare faculty and students' perceptions of counseling professionals after participating in a semester long interprofessional health promotions and maintenance course. Results indicated most professions are unaware of counselors, their scope of practice, and their benefit to interprofessional teams. Participants showed growth in their knowledge. Results indicate the importance of interprofessional education and need for advocacy awareness.

Great Indexing News For Psi Chi Journal, Melanie M. Domenech-Rodriguez

Psychology Faculty Publications

The success of scientific journals is measured by many markers, among them, whether or not they are indexed in well-known databases. Our Journal was already indexed in EBSCO Academic Search Complete, which has over 13,690 journals and content dating to 1887 (EBSCO, 2014). Now, I am excited to say that Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research is also listed in PsycINFO, which has nearly 2,500 journals and coverage dating back to 1597 (APA, 2014). The process of being considered for indexing in PsycINFO included a careful review of a year's worth of issues for high-quality content considered of interest to …

The Emergence Of Behavioral Addiction In Dsm-5, Gina B. Polychronopoulos, Kristy L. Carlisle, Robert M. Carlisle, Andrea J. Kirk-Jenkins

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

The release of the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) has sparked continuous debate about the structure, organization, and inclusion or exclusion of mental disorders. The term addiction made its first appearance in the manual with the category of Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders, after much anticipation from mental health professionals. With the emergence of behavioral (process) addictions in the diagnostic manual such as gambling disorder, it is likely that other mental disorders with similar features will follow suit. Speculation about other behaviors that could potentially be addictive includes Internet use, sex, shopping, exercise, and …

Voices At The Table: Collaboration And Intertextuality, Sue C. Kimmel, Kathryn Kennedy (Ed.), Lucy Santos Green (Ed.)

STEMPS Faculty Publications

While we often associate reading aloud with children and particularly younger children, the practice of reading aloud has historically been a way for a community to share texts for information and enjoyment. Findings from a year-long study of a school librarian collaborating with a team of second grade teachers demonstrates the value of reading aloud in building background knowledge and vocabulary, modeling, understanding curriculum, creating common texts, and reading for enjoyment. Reading aloud brought other voices to the table in a clear example of intertextuality. Implications are shared for school librarians interested in similar practices as well as future research …

Direct Stratospheric Injection Of Biomass Burning Emissions: A Case Study Of The 2009 Australian Bushfires Using The Nasa Giss Modele2 Composition-Climate Model, Robert Field, Mike From, Apostolos Voulgarakis, Drew Shindell, Mike Flannigan, Peter Bernath

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Direct stratospheric injection (DSI) of forest fire smoke represents a direct biogeochemical link between the land surface and stratosphere. DSI events occur regularly in the northern and southern extratropics, and have been observed across a wide range of measurements, but their fate and effects are not well understood.

DSIs result from explosive, short-lived fires, and their plumes stand out from the background concentrations immediately. This makes it easier to associate detected DSIs to individual fires and their estimated emissions. Because the emissions pulses are brief, chemical decay can be more clearly assessed, and because the emissions pulses are so large, …

Needed Research On The Englishes Of Appalachia, Bridget L. Anderson, Jennifer Cramer, Bethany K. Dumas, Beverly O. Flanigan, Michael Montgomery

English Faculty Publications

Information about the 79th annual meeting of the Southeastern Conference on Linguistics (SECOL) organized by Jennifer Cramer at the University of Kentucky on April 2012 in Lexington, Kentucky. Topics discussed at the meeting includes current state of research studies on linguistic processes in Appalachia, traditional dialectological and ethnographic. The meeting also featured panel experts including Bridget L. Anderson, Michael Montgomery and Walt Wolfram.

Compulsory Sexuality, Elizabeth F. Emens

Faculty Scholarship

Asexuality is an emerging identity category that challenges the assumption that everyone is defined by some type of sexual attraction. Asexuals – those who report feeling no sexual attraction to others – constitute one percent of the population, according to one prominent study. In recent years, some individuals have begun to identify as asexual and to connect around their experiences interacting with a sexual society. Asexuality has also become a protected classification under the antidiscrimination law of one state and several localities, but legal scholarship has thus far neglected the subject.

This Article introduces asexuality to the legal literature as …

Mind Playing Tricks: Individualism, Upward Mobility, And The Commitment To Self-Determination Among The Urban Poor, Will Bryerton

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The ethos of the American Dream offers a popular and straightforward prescription for success: Work hard, rely on yourself before others, avoid bad choices, and prosperity will follow. It is a decidedly optimistic, largely undefined, and intensely individualistic promise with serious implications for Americans’ views on achievement and upward mobility. For all of these reasons, the validity of this ethos has come under attack. Philosophically, it is seen as illusory, ambiguous, and unrealistically demanding of individual exceptionalism. Sociologically, it is admonished for being too dismissive of structural constraints, systemic inequalities, and the value of relationships, social embeddedness, and mutual dependence. …

Evaluating The Efficacy And Acceptability Of Videoconferencing In School-Based Behavioral Consultation, Aaron Jason Fischer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

School-based behavioral consultation is a way of providing psychological services to students through their teachers. This indirect service delivery model has been shown to be effective for improving academic and behavioral concerns. Typically, school-based behavioral consultation is conducted face-to-face (in-vivo) between consultants (psychologists) and consultee’s (teachers); however, current technologies have provided an alternative medium to communicate, via videoconferencing. Videoconferencing has been shown to be an effective alternative to face-to-face communication across many different practice domains and applications. Videoconferencing in schools, particularly for school-based behavioral consultation, may be a viable alternative. The proposed study evaluated the efficacy and acceptability of videoconferencing …

Subjugated Territory: The New Afrikan Independence Movement And The Space Of Black Power, Paul Karolczyk

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I study the black revolutionary nationalist geography of the New Afrikan Independence Movement (NAIM) and the anti-racist space of Black Power. I adapt social theorist Henri Lefebvre’s concept of representational space to show how New Afrikan revolutionary nationalism intersects with space, place, and scalar politics in a representational space of black radicalism that confounds dominant notions of race, cultural identity, and national belonging in the United States. NAIM originated in 1968 when several-hundred black nationalist delegates met at the National Black Government conference in Detroit to create the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika. New …

Working Memory, Processing Speed, And Academic Achievement In Adults With Adhd, Alyse Barker Blanchard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In Barkley’s (1997a, 1997b) model of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), he proposes that working memory deficits resulting from ADHD may cause impairments in reading comprehension. ADHD has been associated with poorer processing speed and working memory as well as academic underachievement in some studies. However, more research is needed examining the relationship between ADHD, working memory, processing speed, and academic achievement in adults to help elucidate the neuropsychological correlates of ADHD and their potential impact on academic functioning. The aim of the current study is to examine the relationship between ADHD, verbal working memory performance, processing speed, and academic achievement in …

Differential Examination Of Disgust In Spider, Blood-Injection, And Contamination Fear: Self-Reported And Attention-Based Assessment Of Differences, Whitney Shay Jenkins

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Biased attention toward threat has been demonstrated across anxiety disorders as well as among nonclinical samples. While such studies have produced findings of attentional bias for fear-related or threatening stimuli, other types of emotionally laden stimuli have been ignored. This study sought to examine the experience and impact of disgust on individuals experiencing various types of anxiety, which may play a more significant role than fear in some disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and some specific phobias. Specifically, this study examined self-reported disgust and attentional bias in relation to disgust and threatening stimuli. A modified dot-probe task with pictorial …

Ways Of Being In Trauma-Based Society: Discovering The Politics And Moral Culture Of The Trauma Industry Through Hermeneutic Interpretation Of Evidence-Supported Ptsd Treatment Manuals, Sarah Peregrine Lord

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

One hundred percent of evidence-supported psychotherapy treatments for trauma related disorders involve the therapist learning from and retaining fidelity to a treatment manual. Through a hermeneutic qualitative textual interpretation of three widely utilized evidence-supported trauma treatment manuals, I identified themes that suggested a particular constitution of the contemporary way of being—a traumatized self—and how this traumatized self comes to light through psychotherapeutic practice as described by the manuals. The manuals included: 1) a trauma focused cognitive-behavioral therapy for children; 2) an eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy for adults; and, 3) an early intervention and debriefing therapy series for post-traumatic stress …

The Relationships Between Attachment Style And Boundary Thickness, Dore Lavering

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Despite the multitudes of research on attachment and many different aspects of relational structures, only one study to date has researched the relationship of adult attachment to boundary thickness. The possible benefits to understanding this relationship would provide therapists and clients a better conceptualization of individual's internal working model of attachment. This study investigated the relationship between the Hartmann Boundary Questionnaire (HBQ), a measure of boundary thickness, and an adult romantic attachment measure, the Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory-Revised (ECR-R) two dimensions of attachment. This study theorized that attachment anxiety would be related to thinner boundaries and conversely attachment avoidance …

The Complexity Of Quest In Emerging Adults’ Religiosity, Well-Being, And Identity., Kaye V. Cook, Cynthia N. Kimball, Kathleen C. Leonard, Chris Boyatzis

Faculty Journal Articles

The construct of quest as measured by the Quest Scale raises complexities that this study addressed with online surveys measuring religiosity, ego identity, and well-being of graduates from two Christian colleges. Intrinsic questers (those above the scale midpoint in intrinsic and quest scores but below the extrinsic midpoint) made up over half of those high in intrinsic religiosity and did not differ in Christian orthodoxy, religious identity, religious coping, or well-being from the pure intrinsics (those high in intrinsic religiosity). Indiscriminately pro-religious questing individuals (those high in intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and quest) were less religious and showed poorer coping …

Transnational Marriage: Modern Imaginings, Relational Realignments, And Persistent Inequalities, Coralynn V. Davis

Faculty Journal Articles

In the context of shifting cultural anchors as well as unstable global economic conditions, new practices of intimacy and sexuality may become tactics in an individual’s negotiation of conflicting desires and potentials. This article offers reflection on the interface between global forces, powerful transcultural narratives, and state policies, on the one hand, and local, even individual, constructions and tactics in regard to sexuality, marriage, migration, and work, on the other. The article focuses on the life trajectory of Gudiya, an ambitious young Hindu woman who started out life with little social capital and few economic resources in a dusty corner …

The (Statistical) Power Of Mechanical Turk, Amelia Kimball

Purdue Linguistic Association Symposium

In this paper, I argue for the use of Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) in language research. AMT is an online marketplace of paid workers who may be used as subjects, which can greatly increase the statistical power of studies quickly and with minimal funding. I will show that—despite some obvious limitations of using distant subjects—properly designed experiments completed on AMT are trustworthy, cheap, and much faster than traditional face-to-face data collection. Not only this, but AMT workers may help with data analysis, which can greatly increase the scope of research that one researcher may carry out. This paper will first …

A Unified Analysis Of Classifiers And Reduplication Across Nominal And Verbal Domains, Charles Lam

Purdue Linguistic Association Symposium

This paper discusses the use of classifiers and reduplication in Cantonese. I propose a unified account for the syntax-semantics of both nouns and verbs, based on two functional layers: individuation and quantification. I demonstrate an abstract semantics that handles the interaction between classifiers and reduplication without reference to syntactic categories. Quantification (reduplication) and individuation (classifiers) can be treated as general semantic functions that subsume category-specific functions. The analysis also separates quantification from individuation to provide a natural explanation of durative readings of reduplicated unbounded events.

The Role Of The Input In Young Children’S Speech Production Is Modulated By Syllable Position, Yuanyuan Wang

Purdue Linguistic Association Symposium

The aim of the current study is to investigate the role of the input on an English-speaking child’s production of fricatives in onset and coda positions. Transcript data from a child-mother dyad from Providence Corpus (Demuth, Culbertson & Alter 2006) in CHILDES database (MacWhinney 2000) was examined. The child and the adult production frequency of fricatives in both onset and coda positions were calculated. The results suggested the role of the input in child’s production was modulated by syllable position; more specifically, the child’s production of fricatives was predicted by the mother’s input frequency better in coda position than in …