Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Children As Bearers Of Culture: How Authorities Interpret Law Protecting Culture In International Adoption, Erica Ditmore

Sociology Honors Projects

How is culture protected in transnational and transracial adoption? Through the examination of international, national and local laws and policies, I look at how culture is at once a global, national, racial, and individual attribute and at what aspects of these varying definitions of culture are deemed so important by adoption authorities that they are protected through policy. A content analysis of international conventions, the policies of China, Russia, Guatemala, and Native American tribes as sending countries, and the procedures of adoption agencies shows how global ideas of culture are reinterpreted to have specific meanings. I found that international laws …

Next Steps For Mentoring Program, Patrick Gray

Sustainability and Connectivity

This file provides a jump-off position for students in the fall 2017 semester who want to continue work toward a mentoring program.

The Impact Of Transformational Leadership On A Religious Congregation Of Women, Ha Nguyen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Transformational leadership is considered the most effective form of leadership. Transformational leadership aims to inspire and empower followers to reach beyond what they thought possible and elicit extraordinary results. It motivates the followers and brings the best out of them. It looks to achieve true commitment and transcend the followers’ self-interests for the sake of others. The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of transformational leadership on the outcomes of a religious congregation of women. More specifically, the study focuses on three aspects of outcomes: 1) vision statement; 2) culture of trust; and 3) performance. A quantitative …

Behavioral Sex Difference In Healthy Sprauge-Dawley Rats, Jeffrey Bagg, Jessica Obie, Fei Shang, Natalie Lista, Corinne Kiessling

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Recently, the NIH has pushed for both sexes of a species to be incorporated into behavioral experiments. This push came as a result of an unchecked exclusion of females in experimentation. In rat studies, it is a common argument that females are more variable than males due to the presence of their estrous cycle. This study set out to evaluate this claim, and provide sex differences data for a variety of motor, anxiety, and cognitive behavioral tests. No sex differences in motor or anxiety behavior were found between the sexes. Males performed significantly better on the spontaneous alternation test of …

Psychotherapy Is Chaotic— (Not Only) In A Computational World, Günter K. Schlepek, Kathrin Vol, Wolfgang Aichhorn, Marc-Thorsten Hütt, Katharina Sungler, David Pincus, Helmut J. Schöller

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective: The aim of this article is to outline the role of chaotic dynamics in psychotherapy. Besides some empirical findings of chaos at different time scales, the focus is on theoretical modeling of change processes explaining and simulating chaotic dynamics. It will be illustrated how some common factors of psychotherapeutic change and psychological hypotheses on motivation, emotion regulation, and information processing of the client’s functioning can be integrated into a comprehensive nonlinear model of human change processes.

Methods: The model combines 5 variables (intensity of emotions, problem intensity, motivation to change, insight and new perspectives, therapeutic success) and …

Effects Of System Reliability And Time Pressure On Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Operator Performance And Mental Workload, Dahai Liu, Rania Ghatas, Christina Frederick-Recascino, Dennis Vincenzi Ph.D.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are in the midst of aviation’s next generation. UAVs are being utilized at an increasing rate by military and security operations and are becoming widely popular in usage for activities such as search and rescue and weather research to homeland security and border patrol. In order for a safer integration of UAV’s within the National Airspace System (NAS), many research questions need to be addressed. This study examined the effects of system reliability and time pressure on UAV operator performance and mental workload. Twenty-four undergraduate and graduate students, male and female, from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University participated …

And That's The Word: Effects Of The Colbert Report On Political Knowledge And Participation, Nicholas Canfield

Student Research – Stevenson Center

The Colbert Report was a satirical, political, and “fake” news show that lasted for almost a decade on the Comedy Central Network. Although many scholars have argued the program was less impactful and influential than Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, phenomena such as the “Colbert Bump” show a definite impact on the political lives of many Americans. Using four quantitative surveys from 2008 to 2012, this thesis investigates the effects of watching The Colbert Report on individuals’ political knowledge and political participation. Results indicate non-Republican viewers increased their political knowledge, but not participation, from watching the show. The educational …

Information Use And Quality Service Of The Nigerian Police, Olajumoke R. Olawoyin,, Ezinwanyi Madukoma Dr., Ugwunwa Chinyere Esse

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Information use of police force occurs when information acquired by the police to satisfy an information need based on task assigned to them is actually put to use. Information is therefore useful and valuable if after receiving it, it changes things, decisions, behaviour or one’s character and solves the problem for which the information is sought.

Survey research design was adopted for the study. The study population comprised 2,305 police officers in Alimosho Local Government Police Division. Stratified random sampling method was used to select 227 police officers. Questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Data collected was analyzed …

Enhancing Cultural Competence Among Dental Students Through Active Teaching And Experiential Learning, Linda S. Behar-Horenstein, Xiaoying Feng

The Qualitative Report

Dental schools are required to utilize teaching practices that increase students’ culture competence and ensure their ability to deliver equitable oral care. This study explored the impact of active teaching, an approach that offered comprehensive engagement and experiential learning. Students participated in small group activities, conducted interviews and developed reflective writings. A QUAN→qual sequential mixed method was used to analyze their reflective writings. Quantitative results indicated that students’ cultural competence was significantly enhanced. Qualitative findings showed that students recognized their unconscious biases and reported an increase of cultural competence. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of experiential learning, particularly the addition …

Transactional And Transformational Leadership And Emotional Intelligence For Athletic Coaches, Justin Maidenberg

M.A. in Leadership Studies: Capstone Project Papers

There is limited work if any that explicitly addresses the relationship between how leadership and emotional intelligence are necessary components for success in team sports. I am utilizing this project as an opportunity to present the research for a coach to exercise transactional and/or transformational leadership within a team structure guided by emotional intelligence. There is an existing field of work in emotional intelligence that tends to fall under the category of sports psychology, but this paper intends to display the implicit relationship between the core competencies of emotional intelligence and transactional and transformational leadership, and making this relationship explicitly …

Community Collaboration: Furthering The Anchor Institution Concept Within Linda Vista, Shelby J. Smock

M.A. in Leadership Studies: Capstone Project Papers

Through University of San Diego’s new strategic plan, they seek to become a leader within higher education for community engagement. This study examines University of San Diego’s current community engagement, community engagement successes at other similar universities, and how to create a brighter future for the University and for the community of Linda Vista.

St. Francis Of Assisi Catholic Church And Center For The Deaf Sunday Bulletin, April 23, 2017

Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church and Center for the Deaf Sunday Bulletin

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in Landover Hills, MD

St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church and Center for the Deaf Sunday Bulletin Finding Aid

The Effect Of Self-Esteem On Perceptions Of Abuse, Tabitha Dibacco

Honors Projects

Intimate partner violence has been shown to have serious mental, physical, and emotional consequences for both men and women. Past research has considered low self-esteem as a risk factor, outcome, and moderator of abuse; however, less is known about whether self-esteem influences abuse perception. This study sought to examine the relationships between self-esteem, gender, and type of abuse in college students’ perceptions of abuse. The sample consisted of 207 undergraduate students (140 female, 64 male, and 3 preferred not to answer) between the age of 18-23 years (M= 19.7, SD= 2.4). The procedure included an Abusive Scenarios Survey, the Rosenberg …

Within-Session Progressive Gestural-Prompt Delay To Teach Receptive Identification, Breanne Stiemsma

Honors Theses

Receptive identification skills are important for any child to learn. Without these skills, various aspects of development can become impaired. There are many ways to teach receptive identification. This project pulled ideas from previous studies on within-session progressive gestural-prompt delays as well as the different methods of teaching receptive identification skills, simple-conditional method and the condition-only method. The student was not acquiring receptive identification skills with the traditional methods used in the classroom. Within-session progressive gestural-prompt delay was used in this project to teach receptive identification of objects. An AB single-subject design was used in this project. The student responded …

St. Mark’S Catholic Community Of The Deaf, April 23, 2017

Saint Mark's Catholic Community of the Deaf

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in Edmonton, Canada

Saint Mark's Catholic Community of the Deaf Finding Aid

Explicit Programming For Icon Rings: Visual-Based Discrimination, Samantha Borowski

Honors Theses

Instructional icons are helpful as basic direction following is the basis for complex skills needed later in life. These instructions should have a good training so that children can get the basic skills and can move on to the complex skills. The goal of the project was to increase the correct responses to instructional icons. Visuals are a good tool for learning because it attaches a picture with the event that is happening or will happen. Children with autism sometimes struggle when they are introduced to a new environment so having a system in place to help make instruction following …

Teaching Two Children Diagnosed With Autism To Tolerate Physical Contact, Kelsey Webster

Honors Theses

It was hypothesized that the fading in of a prompt hierarchy coinciding with the delivery of tangibles, edibles, and attention or praise reinforcers would decrease problem behavior and noncompliance in two male children with autism who displayed problem behavior and resistance while being physically prompted. A single-subject research design was used to present the prompt hierarchy across various conditions in a school setting. Both participants initially engaged in problem behavior on 100% of the trials but quickly reduced in intensity of problem behaviors by the end of the intervention. There is no current research conducted on how to decrease problem …

Teaching Imitation To Children With Autism Using Most-To-Least Prompt Fading In Front Of A Mirror, Giulia Avelar

Honors Theses

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder have difficulty acquiring imitative skills, which may serve as an important factor in developing social skills and language (Miller et al., 2015; Ledford & Wolery, 2010; Young et al., 1994). Research has shown that most-to-least prompting is most effective for children who do not learn quickly (Libby et al., 2008). The goal of this study was to discover whether the presence of a mirror affected the rate of acquisition of imitative behaviors compared to a no-mirror condition, using most-to-least within-session prompt fading. This study used a multiple baseline design across sets of behaviors. Sets …

Toilet-Training A Child With Autism In A School Setting, Kristianna Ferrier

Honors Theses

Children with autism and developmental disabilities typically take longer to learn skills. Specific training that requires more repetition to obtain mastery should be used to teach specific tasks (MacDuff, Kratz, & McClannahan, 2001). Toilet training is no exception and must be directly taught to children with Autism. Toilet training is a fundamental skill for independent living and greatly reduces the work load of care givers (Chung, 2007). The child in this study was chosen based on a toilet training readiness checklist. The present study is a combination of the scheduled sitting protocol by Azrin and Foxx (1971) with the omission …

Increasing Shared Attention In Children With Developmental Delays, Shelby Esman

Honors Theses

Joint attention behaviors may be essential to the development of language and social interaction skills (Whalen and Schreibman, 2003). Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often lack these behaviors which may explain the difficulty many of them have communicating appropriately with others (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Previous research has shown that prompting procedures and social reinforcement have been successful in teaching children with ASD to shift their eye gaze between an adult and the object of interest when prompted to do so (Taylor and Hoch, 2008). This present study set out to create and test a procedure designed to teach …

Using Video Modeling To Teach Functional Direction Following, Breanna Burns

Honors Theses

Many children with developmental disabilities have a hard time learning skills, such as following directions, in a small group setting. Video modeling has been shown as an effective way to teach certain skills to children with autism and other developmental disabilities (Nikopoulos & Keenan, 2004; Wu, Cannella-malone, Wheaton et al, 2016). Little research has been done on using video modeling to teach functional directions. Generalizing direction following skills to appropriate contexts is important for children to be successful in the many environments they encounter in a typical school setting. The purpose of this project was to teach functional direction following …

Increasing Vocalization And Echoic Stimulus Control, Logan Wurster

Honors Theses

Deficits in verbal behavior can be harmful to children’s growth and development of other crucial skills and can also increase problem behavior (Eldevik, Eikeseth, Jahr, & Smith, 2006; Charman, Magiati, & Howlin, 2007; Cividini-Motta, 2014). Results from previous research show that vocal imitation training, stimulus-stimulus pairing, rapid motor imitation, and mand-model approaches have been successful in teaching echoic behavior. However, there is little evidence to show that these methods are successful for children who are making little to no verbal responses. (Carroll & Klatts, 2008; Bennett & Yoon, 2000; Greer & Ross, 2003; & Hawkins & Schuster, 2007). The purpose …

The Cowl - V.81 - N.23 - Apr 23, 2017

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 81, Number 23 - April 23, 2017. 20 pages.

Grounded Theory And The Conundrum Of Literature Review: Framework For Novice Researchers, Mohamed T. El Hussein, Andrea Kennedy, Brent Oliver

The Qualitative Report

The issue of the literature review remains a conundrum and a controversy within the discourse on grounded theory methodology. Grounded theory researchers are expected to minimize preconceptions to ensure the concept of interest is grounded in data, yet at the same time are required to evaluate existing literature to support institutional ethics and scientific review of the research proposal. In addressing this dilemma, we espouse that literature review in grounded theory should comprise a multistage nonlinear approach to the literature and introduce a framework for novice grounded theory researchers. This framework offers a reflexive, dynamic and integrative process for conducting …

Teaching, Learning, And Assessment: Insights Into Students’ Motivation To Learn, Simon R. Walters, Pedro Silva, Jennifer Nikolai

The Qualitative Report

This study draws upon the perspectives of sport and recreation undergraduate students in New Zealand who were involved in the design of their own assessments, and discusses the implication of the teaching and learning environment on this process. In a previous study, student criticism had emerged of current teaching strategies and assessment methods at their institution. The purpose of this current study was to directly address some of these concerns and for lecturers and students to work collaboratively to develop a more learner-centred teaching and learning environment. Students from a second-year sociology of sport paper were invited to design their …

Exploring The Role Of Culture In Communication Conflicts: A Qualitative Study, Sadia Deep, Berhannudin Mohd Salleh, Hussain Othman

The Qualitative Report

This research article as a part of larger study intends to explore the role of culture in triggering communication conflicts among employees at the workplace. It also explores the role of Problem-based learning in resolving these culture based conflicts. Being a part of human life, conflict is a pervasive aspect of the socio-cultural and professional environment, especially at the workplace. The role of culture has one of the aspects that have played a pivotal role in initiating conflicts in the past. Using a qualitative research approach, this descriptive phenomenology study gathered data from semi-structured interviews from eighteen selected employees belonging …

Chinese Superstition And Real Estate Prices: Transaction-Level Evidence From The Us Housing Market, Brad R. Humphreys, Adam D. Nowak, Yang Zhou

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

We investigate the impact of Chinese superstition on prices paid by Chinese home buyers in Seattle, Washington. Chinese consider 8 lucky and 4 unlucky. Empirical results indicate Chinese buyers pay a 1-2% premium for addresses including an 8 and a 1% discount for addresses including a 4. These results are unrelated to unobserved property quality: no premium exists when Chinese sell to non-Chinese. Absent explicit identifiers for Chinese individuals, we develop a binomial name classifier using methods from the biomedical and document classification literature, allowing for falsification tests using other ethnic groups and mitigating ambiguity attributable to transliteration of Chinese …

Mexicans In The U.S And Hiv: Reviewing Social And Cultural Factors, Eduardo Alvarez

Annual Undergraduate Conference on Health and Society

Mexican immigrants in the United States continue to struggle with disproportionate incidences of HIV infection. Behaviors that contributed to the development of AIDS among Mexican immigrants were the lack of condom use, engaging in risky sexual behavior, and not having HIV testing (Martínez Donate, et al., 2015). While these risk factors are preventable, religious and social stigmatization present within the Mexican community generate shame and embarrassment. This discourages Mexican immigrants from seeking health services, such as HIV testing. An estimated 20% of HIV positive Mexican immigrants are unaware of their condition, and contribute to the spread of the virus (Hall …

Pendulum Of Power Versus Command And Control: Intergovernmental Relations 81 Under The Clean Air Act And Its Amendments, Yige Chen

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Development in U.S. politics has arisen through two controversial pathways: federalism and anti-federalism. Some scholars suggest that the two paths will create a balance of power over time. However, evidence from the environmental control of air pollution since the late 1960s falsifies this widely established claim. This paper examines the distribution of regulatory authority and intergovernmental relations between federal and local governments under the U.S. Clean Air Act and its Amendments.

The Redistributive Properties Of The Social Security Act Of 1935, Jordan Gagnon

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper will evaluate the current theories of intent and functioning for the Social Security Act of 1935, and from there propose a hypothesis of the act as a distributive system functioning as redistributive from the start. It will analyze this through generated information and data from the United States Census Bureau. Three studies are analyzed to look at trends over twenty-five years of program action. One test on the national budget deficit and two tests on social security benefits as a percentage of poverty threshold and income. The findings portray trends in the early years of the program that …