Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Effect Of Localized Temperature Change On Vigilance Performance, Jessica Spencer Pack

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This study examined the influence of localized temperature change on vigilance performance. Additionally, the effect of stressor appraisals on the relationship between localized temperature change and vigilance performance was investigated. A total of 36 male and female participants between the ages of 18 and 45 completed a stressor appraisal scale before completing a 40-minute simulated air traffic control vigilance task. Depending on the condition, either a hot, cold, or neutral temperature change was induced using a thermoelectric pad and blanket 20 minutes into the vigilance task. Although localized temperature change did not have a significant effect on vigilance performance 25-30 …

The Influence Of Flow On Standard And Adaptive Performance In Teams, Jennifer N. Baumgartner

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The purpose of this study was to examine flow as it relates to different types of performance in teams. Participants (N = 165) in teams of five engaged in an airport simulation that included an unforeseen change during the second session. Flow was expected to be positively correlated with standard and adaptive performance and predict performance along with cognitive ability and personality. Positive affect was expected to mediate the relationship between flow and performance. Flow was positively correlated with the number of aircraft departed under standard conditions, negatively correlated with aircraft departed under adaptive conditions, and positively correlated with subjective …

A Study Of Exercise: Intentions And Behavior, Michael Raymond Hoepf

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Health concerns associated with obesity are becoming an increasingly large societal problem. Engaging in physical exercise is one effective way to combat obesity, but most people do not exercise enough to derive significant health benefits. In order to increase participation in exercise activities, it is first necessary to have a good understanding of why people are not exercising. The current research builds on prior research by investigating the proposition that conflict from work, family, and school roles can reduce time spent exercising. To accomplish this goal, I created exercise conflict scales by taking existing items from the work-family conflict literature …

Why The Rise In Drones, Sean David Duffy

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What are the reasons for the increasing number of drone strikes between 2002 and 2012 by the United States? This study examines the various aspects of the United States government which led to this increase in the number of strikes. Specifically, this study examines the military capabilities, the military leadership bureaucracy and presidential aspects of drone use. Through the division of this time period into three sections, this study seeks to find explain the events which led to the increase in the use of drones by the United States. This study concludes with a discussion on what the future may …

The Effects Of Merging Proactive Cctv Monitoring With Directed Police Patrol: A Randomized Controlled Trial., Eric L. Piza, Joel M. Caplan, Leslie W. Kennedy, Andrew M. Gilchrist

Publications and Research

Objectives: This study was designed to test the effect of increased certainty of punishment on reported crime levels in CCTV target areas of Newark, NJ. The experimental strategy was designed for the purpose of overcoming specific surveillance barriers that minimize the effectiveness of CCTV, namely high camera-to-operator ratios and the differential response policy of police dispatch. An additional camera operator was deployed to monitor specific CCTV cameras, with two patrol cars dedicated to exclusively responding to incidents of concern detected on the experimental cameras.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial was implemented in the analysis. A randomized block design was used …

Risk Terrain Modeling For Spatial Risk Assessment., Joel M. Caplan, Leslie W. Kennedy, Jeremy D. Barnum, Eric L. Piza

Publications and Research

Spatial factors can influence the seriousness and longevity of crime problems. Risk terrain modeling (RTM) identifies the spatial risks that come from features of a landscape and models how they colocate to create unique behavior settings for crime. The RTM process begins by testing a variety of factors thought to be geographically related to crime incidents. Valid factors are selected and then weighted to produce a final model that basically paints a picture of places where crime is statistically most likely to occur. This article addresses crime as the outcome event, but RTM can be applied to a variety of …

Integrating Human Factors Engineering And Information Processing Approaches To Facilitate Evaluations In Criminal Justice Technology Research, Anthony V. Salvemini, Eric L. Piza, Jeremy G. Carter, Eric L. Grommon, Nancy Merritt

Publications and Research

Background: Evaluations are routinely conducted by government agencies and research organizations to assess the effectiveness of technology in criminal justice. Interdisciplinary research methods are salient to this effort. Technology evaluations are faced with a number of challenges including (1) the need to facilitate effective communication between social science researchers, technology specialists, and practitioners, (2) the need to better understand procedural and contextual aspects of a given technology, and (3) the need to generate findings that can be readily used for decision making and policy recommendations.

Objectives: Process and outcome evaluations of technology can be enhanced by integrating concepts from human …

Feminist Erasures: The Development Of A Black Feminist Methodological Theory, Alex J. Moffett-Bateau

Publications and Research

Within the social sciences, and particularly in political science, feminist methods and theory are seen as valuable only within its own disciplinary boundaries, and limited to its own departments or program, often named women’s studies, gender studies, and/or feminist studies. While the move within the academy to formalize the study of women, gender, and feminism is an important one, these disciplinary boundaries unfortunately have the result of rendering the study and practice of feminist intellectual work invisible to the rest of the academy. Too often, feminist theory and methodological practice is only carried out by one or two female academics …

Investigating Differences In How The News Media Views Homosexuality Across Nations: An Analysis Of The United States, South Africa, And Uganda, Amy Adamczyk, Chunyre Kim, Lauren Paradis

Publications and Research

While there is a wealth of information about the extent to which people across the world disapprove of homosexuality, we know a lot less about the lenses through which they view same-sex relations. The aim of this study is to understand better how homosexuality is framed in the public press, and how religion and economic development may combine to shape this discourse. Through an analysis of almost 400 newspaper articles, this study compares how homosexuality is framed in Uganda, South Africa, and the United States. Because these nations have high levels of religious belief, but differ in their level of …

Explaining Attitudes About Homosexuality In Confucian And Non-Confucian Nations: Is There A 'Cultural' Influence?, Amy Adamczyk, Yen-Hsin Alice Cheng

Publications and Research

The majority of research on attitudes about homosexuality has concentrated on the global North and on Christian and Muslim majority nations. Little research attention has been given to the factors that shape tolerance in societies with a Confucian heritage. Residents of Confucian counties are less tolerant than Europeans and Americans. One reason given for this difference is the emphasis on Confucian values in many Asian societies. Using data from the World Values Survey, we examine whether values that could be described as Confucian influence attitudes in Confucian and non-Confucian nations. We find a unique Confucian cultural effect, which can partially …

Investigating The Applicability Of Macro-Level Criminology Theory To Terrorism: A County-Level Analysis, Joshua D. Freilich, Amy Adamczyk, Steven M. Chernak, Katherine A. Boyd, William S. Parkin

Publications and Research

This exploratory study examines if causal mechanisms highlighted by criminology theories work in the same way to explain both ideologically motivated violence (i.e., terrorism) and regular (non-political) homicides. We study if macro-level hypotheses drawn from deprivation, backlash, and social disorganization frameworks are associated with the likelihood that a far-right extremist who committed an ideologically motivated homicide inside the contiguous US resides in a particular county. To aid in the assessment of whether criminology theories speak to both terrorism and regular violence we also apply these hypotheses to far-right homicide and regular homicide incident location and compare the results.

Tokens In A Man’S World: Women In Creative Advertising Departments, Jean M. Grow, Tao Deng

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Creative Women In Peru: Outliers In A Machismo World, Marta Mensa Torra, Jean M. Grow

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

Gender segregation begins early and is reinforced within the workplace. Advertising creative departments appear to have extreme gender segregation with women representing just 20% of all those working within creative departments worldwide. Yet, creativity does not depend on gender. Thus, the underrepresentation of women is particularly troubling. In Peru women comprise 3% to 10.4% of all people working in advertising creative, which suggests the situation for creative women in Peru is dire. In order to understand this phenomenon, and with the hope of finding solutions, this study uses in-depth interviews to explore the experiences of Peruvian women working in advertising …

Examining The Effects Of Ecotourism In The Lashi Lake Wetlands, China, Caitlin K. Toner

Geography Honors Projects

The rapid development of ecotourism in Asia encourages new strategies to simultaneously attract tourists and preserve natural environments in formerly isolated and underdeveloped regions. Since the introduction of China’s policy of an open economy in 1978, China has recognized the opportunity to promote tourism in order to foster economic development. Compared to China’s coastal cities, the inland provinces contain few industrial cities and transportation infrastructure. For economic development, inland provinces have taken advantage of their natural areas and ethnic minorities as a commodity to attract foreign and domestic tourists in their region. While the literature addressing ecotourism often focuses on …

Retelling Ebola's "Outbreak Narrative" Through Media Coverage Of The 2014 West African Epidemic, Anoushka Millear

Geography Honors Projects

The 2014 Ebola Virus Disease epidemic, unprecedented in magnitude, has been the focus of worldwide media attention. How does media coverage of the epidemic seize on anxieties of an interconnected world to reinforce longstanding perceptions of Africa as dangerous and chaotic? I compare this media coverage to the model Ebola "outbreak narrative," using critical discourse analysis to contextualize representations of Africa within an increasingly interconnected world. I argue that media coverage reproduces a constructed Western understanding of Africa that will persist long after the epidemic is brought under control.

Bridging The Gap: Exploring The Need For Better System Representations In Higher Education, Corinne P. Wright

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Higher education constitutes a sociotechnical system. Some students enter with cultural experiences that support the new endeavor whereas others are woefully under-supported. Student preparedness often is tightly coupled with student background. Some ethnic minorities and students from impoverished backgrounds enter the university setting with a high risk of not persisting or completing their higher education pursuits (e.g., Kuh, Kinzie, Bridges, & Hayek, 2007). Traditional conceptualizations of risk identify immutable factors, such as SES, with little opportunity for immediate mitigation. Traditional interventions to mitigate risk include either fitting the student to the system (e.g., Tinto, 1993) or fitting the system to …

Self-Determination In The People's Republic Of China: Elite Responses, 1949-2012, Hanna M. Tarbert

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This work addresses the historical response of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to perceived irredentist threats in its contested territories. This is assessed through a comparative case analysis. The four cases are Taiwan, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet. The response of the first four generations of CCP leaders: Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, are analyzed through a framework that evaluates domestic and international priorities, domestic self-determination sentiment, strength of domestic self-determination movements, and the status of self-determination. The findings of this framework are used to project the response of current CCP leader and President of the …

Detecting Structure In Activity Sequences: Exploring The Hot Hand Phenomenon, Taleri Lynn Hammack

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Can humans discriminate whether strings of events (e.g., shooting success in basketball) were generated by a random or constrained process (e.g., hot and cold streaks)? Conventional wisdom suggests that humans are not good at this discrimination. Following from Cooper, Hammack, Lemasters, and Flach (2014), a series of Monte Carlo simulations and an empirical experiment examined the abilities of both humans and statistical tests (Wald-Wolfowitz Runs Test and 1/f) to detect specific constraints that are representative of plausible factors that might influence the performance of athletes (e.g., learning, non-stationary task constraints). Using a performance/success dependent learning constraint that was calibrated to …

Free To Hate Freedom And The Survival Of Liberalized States Confronting The Emergence Of Political Islam; Effective State Solutions To The Rise Of Islamic Political Violence In Democratic Societies, Lauren R. Bowen

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The following research addresses the susceptibility of liberalized nations to encounter Islamic political violence associated with the behaviors they direct toward Islamic minorities. Democratic values, theoretically, weaken the ability of free regimes to defend against the emergence of Islamic extremism and terrorism. Experiences with these phenomena are, however, specific to multicultural or assimilationist democratic states that esteem civil liberties and individual freedom. This study presents diverse data sets to understand the interaction of state behaviors shaped by the adoption of multiculturalism or assimilationist polices concerning Islamic minorities and violent outcomes. The findings suggest that state behaviors affecting Islamic populations are …

Understanding Paths Toward Strategic Success In Nvr Campaigns: A Comparison Of Palestinian And South African Resistance, Archibald A. Grieve

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The following paper fills a gap in the literature of nonviolent resistance (NVR) by investigating when and under what circumstances it is necessary for nonviolent resistance campaigns to enlist the support of outside actors in order to achieve strategic success. Using Gene Sharp's pillars of power theory as a comparative framework, the author pairs the method of process-tracing with a most-similar-systems design in order to fashion a time-series experiment measuring the strength of each pillar of power propping up the target regimes of South Africa and Israel. The results reveal that these variables are interacting. The paper also reveals that …

Testing In Adoption Evaluations: Selections And Usage Determined From Surveying Psychologists, Erin Marie Sylvester Nichting

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A significant amount of children are adopted each year both within the United States and internationally. In fact, the United States Department of State reported that 242,602 international adoptions had taken place from 1999 to 2012 and also indicated that in 2012 alone, 52,035 children had been adopted domestically. However, research is lacking in many areas of the adoption process. One such area includes an absence of knowledge in regards to adoption evaluations, even though they may be required for both prospective parents and adoptive children during the adoption process. Another area includes how psychological instruments are incorporated into these …

The Effectiveness Of "The Tunnel Of Oppression": An Exposure Approach To Increasing Awareness Of Oppression Among Freshman Students At Wright State University, Jennifer B. Stoyell

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While diversity-training programs have gained popularity in the US, limited research has been done to establish the effectiveness of these programs in increasing awareness of oppression. The present study explored the effectiveness of the Tunnel of Oppression in increasing awareness of oppression among freshman students at Wright State University. Participants (N= 1736) were given a survey before and after participating in the Tunnel where they rated their awareness of levels of oppression for nine different oppressed groups. Data for this survey was analyzed employing descriptive and non-parametric statistics to determine significance in change of scores (Wilcoxon Signed-Rank and Wilcoxon Rank-Sum) …

The Predictive Power Of Non-Pathological Psychological Variables In Weight Loss Surgery, Tiffany Milligan

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According to the World Health Organization and National Institutes of Health, obesity is a global health problem. Worldwide, obesity is the fifth-leading cause of death. Weight loss surgeries such as gastric banding, sleeve gastrectomy, and gastric bypass surgery have become increasingly popular methods to manage intractable obesity in the United States. Such surgeries have inherent risks, both medical and psychosocial, and as a result, candidates for weight loss surgery routinely undergo pre-surgical evaluations to determine their suitability for weight loss procedures. The current study was done in partnership with Kettering Bariatrics in Kettering, Ohio, and is an analysis of the …

Cognitive Analysis Of Multi-Sensor Information, Elizabeth Lynn Fox

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Multispectral imagery can supply an observer with different components of information to, in combination, lead to critical decisions. Human observers can be presented with two fusion techniques: 1) cognitive fusion presents the two sensor images within 5 degrees of visual angle and 2) algorithmic fusion aims to enhance image quality by combining relevant information from two individual sensor images into one composite image. Researchers have used methods such as comparing performance across different algorithms or comparing algorithmic fusion to a single-sensor image. However, cognitive fusion is a technique that provides all of the sensor information and, if utilized efficiently, may …

Once Careless, Always Careless? Temporal And Situational Stability Of Insufficient Effort Responding (Ier), Kelly Ann Camus

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In the current paper, I examined insufficient effort responding (IER) as a substantive construct rather than as a methodological nuisance as other researchers have done. Specifically, I focused on the relationship between personality traits and IER and the temporal and situational stability of IER. I hypothesized that agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and extraversion would be negatively associated with IER and that neuroticism would be positively related to IER. Also, I predicted that the extent to which a given participant engages in IER would be relatively stable across time and across tasks. The current sample (N = 288) consisted of students from …

A Fight For Equity: School Desegregation, Public High Schools, And Why African-American Males Have Lower Academic Achievement, Tanisha S. Pruitt

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The objective of this thesis is to examine the lowered academic achievement of African- American males since the Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka Kansas court decision that ruled in favor of school desegregation. The research shows that school desegregation was intended to allow African Americans educational equity with their White counterparts. Since Brown v. Board, there has been increased academic achievement for African-American females and lowered achievement among males. Predictions were made that poverty and low motivation affect academic achievement for African-American males. Regression analyses yielded results showing poverty and motivation were statistically significant; however, neither of the variables …

Pluralism And Its Perils: Navigating The Tension Between Gay Rights And Religious Expression, Nan D. Hunter

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The conflict between gay equality claims and religious liberty claims permeates debates over marriage equality and LGBT civil rights. Using as its centerpiece a decision that forced Georgetown University to provide benefits for a gay student organization, this article examines both the doctrinal underpinnings of how courts resolve the tension between gay rights and religion and the principles of pluralism that are at stake.

The Georgetown case is rightly understood as an exemplar of judicial minimalism. This article argues that the values of learning things undecided, while real, may be outweighed by lost opportunities for advancing principles that also foster …

The Abiding Exceptionalism Of Foreign Relations Doctrine, Carlos Manuel Vázquez

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In their article The Normalization of Foreign Relations Law, Professors Ganesh Sitaraman and Ingrid Wuerth argue that “[foreign affairs] exceptionalism . . . is now exceptional,” and that this is a good thing. I agree with much of the authors’ normative argument for “normalization” of foreign affairs doctrine (as they define the term). But the authors overstate the extent to which such normalization has already occurred. There have indeed been some recent Supreme Court decisions that seem to lack the exceptional deference to the Executive that had characterized judicial decisionmaking in the foreign affairs area in previous years. But foreign …

A Snohomish Telling Of “The Seal Hunters”, Deryle W. Lonsdale

Faculty Publications

Oral-based indigenous cultures have stories that persist over time, though some variation may exist in various details and in overall context. Related cultures in particular have similar stories, and assessing the similarities and differences across their tellings of these stories provides valuable historical and cultural background. In the case of endangered languages and cultures, every telling of every story provides important insight. This article presents a recently discovered archived account of a Snohomish version of “The Seal Hunters”, a captivating story that has many variant forms across Salish cultures. The story was written down in the nineteenth century by an …

Separate Phonemes /Ɔr/ Merging? The Cord-Card Merger In Real-Time, Joseph A. Stanley

Faculty Publications

In sociolinguistics, when analyzing language change across time, studies in apparent time are the norm with the assumption that language does not change in adult speech (Chambers & Trudgill 1998). However, some research has provided evidence that change does occur within the individual during their lifetime (Prince 1987; Harrington, Palethorpe & Watson 2000). This study shows further evidence by analyzing the cord-card merger over 40 years of speech from a Utah native.

Two mergers combine what was historically a three-way distinction of /or/, /ɔr/, and /ɑr/ to just two, with /ɔr/ either merging upward in the hoarse-horse merger, or downward …