Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Re Magazine And The Politics Of The Little Magazine, Jesse Webb

Honors Theses

The little magazine played a widely significant role in the political and cultural history of Western civilization. Literary and ephemeral in nature, the little magazine gave birth to Modernism in the early 20th century by publishing the works of little known authors such as William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, and T.S. Eliot to name a few. Later, the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America recognized the influential role of the little magazine and began funding magazines that spoke to the anti- communist left in Europe and in the Americas at the beginning of the Cold War. While …

Psychosocial Care In The Syrian Refugee Crisis, Miller Richmond

Honors Theses

The Syrian civil war created millions of refugees who are internally displaced across Syria and in surrounding host countries. The use of violence and forms of warfare against the Geneva Convention make this crisis particularly traumatic for civilians, leading to high rates of PTSD and depression among the refugee population. Relying on concepts of structural violence and the ecology of health, I justify the use of a psychosocial framework to build refugee crisis response in Jordan. I performed ethnographic fieldwork to collect data in the form of stakeholder and care provider interviews and training manuals, and I analyzed and critiqued …

Loneliness, Meaning In Life, And Depressive Symptomology In College Students, Abigail Oehler

Honors Theses

The present study aimed to better understand the relationship between loneliness, meaning in life, and depressive symptoms in college students. Two-hundred and forty-seven participants, ages 18-37, completed self-report measures about their experience with depressive symptoms (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale), loneliness (UCLA Loneliness Scale- Version 3), and meaning in life (Meaning in Life Questionnaire). The following was hypothesized: 1) symptoms of depression, loneliness, and meaning in life will be significantly related; 2) meaning in life will mediate the relation between loneliness and depressive symptoms. Results demonstrated all constructs were associated as expected (ps<.001). Contrary to hypothesis, meaning in life did not mediate the relation between loneliness and depressive symptomatology. However, post hoc regression analysis illustrated that loneliness was the only unique predictor of depressive symptoms. This study suggests more research is warranted on understanding specific mechanisms relating loneliness to depressive symptoms in college students.

Millennials, Mississippians, And The 2016 Presidential Election: Implications Of Generational Differences On Voter Behavior, Bess Nichols

Honors Theses

This is a study of the voting patterns of millennial voters (predominately students at the University of Mississippi) and traditional Deep South voters, which for the purpose of this study is men and women above the age of 35. The paper seeks to answer the question: Are millennials ideologically different than their older counterparts in the state of Mississippi? I surveyed a sample of 4,000 students at the University of Mississippi (with approximately 500 responses) and a sample of traditional voters gathered from social media and employees at the University of South Alabama. Respondents were asked questions about their political …

Diversifying The Academy: Librarians Coaching Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows Through The Scholarly Research Cycle, Alexandra Chappell, Jessica D. Greene, Jennifer Thompson

Library Staff Publications and Research

Increasing diversity within the scholarly community is a priority for academic libraries. Often the focus is on diversifying our staff, programs, collections, and services. But the library can also have an important role to play in campus diversity initiatives that focus on equity and inclusion among the student body and professorate.

This poster will detail a library coaching program developed as part of a local instance of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program, a nationwide initiative to increase faculty diversity by supporting students of color to pursue PhDs and careers as professors. The coaching program pairs librarians with undergraduates in …

Standards Resources For Engineering And Technology, Margaret Phillips, Sarah Huber

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This webliography is a selective compilation of the following: major standards bodies that create or approve standards frequently used by engineers and technologists, standards database aggregators, web sites that provide free or low cost, full-text access to standards, and standards education resources. Only major standards bodies that operate in the U.S. or on an international level are incorporated, excluding non-U.S. national and regional bodies that create or coordinate standards activities in other countries. The standards education resources listed are appropriate for university-level students. All of the resources included are English language web sites. Additionally, all of the resources included are …

Consequences Of Job Stress For The Psychological Well-Being Of Teachers, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Renzo Bianchi, Peter Luehring-Jones

Publications and Research

This chapter examines research on the relationship between job stressors and mental health (depressive symptoms, burnout, and mental disorders such as depression) in teachers. Teachers are exposed daily to job stressors (e.g., student disruptiveness) that have been linked to adverse mental health effects. Epidemiologic research indicates that when compared to members of other groups, teachers experience higher rates of mental disorder, although some studies question that conclusion. Large-scale studies indicate when compared to members of other occupational groups, teachers are at higher risk for exposure to workplace violence, with its adverse mental health consequences. Longitudinal research has linked teaching-related stressors …

Intersections Of Culture And Trauma: Understanding Identities And Experiences Of Salvadoran Refugee College Students, Janette Linares, Cara Maffini

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Culture And Parenting Among Teen Fathers, Cecilia Macedo, Cara Maffini

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

‘I Feel Like I Don't Belong’: Examining The Social And Cultural Experiences Of Bicultural And Biracial College Students, Michael West, Cara Maffini

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Environmental And Climate Justice Along The Brahmaputra River In Northeast India, Costanza Rampini

Faculty Publications, Environmental Studies

The glaciers of the Himalayas are the source of all of Asia’s major rivers and are crucial to Asia’s water supply, economies, and livelihoods. The Himalayan region is uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of anthropogenic climate change, while also becoming one of the most dammed regions in the world. This case study explores the unequal distribution of the impacts of climate change and dam building along the Brahmaputra River in Northeast India. It examines how the combined impacts of these two processes negatively affect local communities and explores environmental and climate justice issues. In discussing climate change impacts and hydropower …

Investor's Sentiment In Predicting The Effective Federal Funds Rate, Artem Meshcheryakov, Stoyu Ivanov

Faculty Publications

In this article we study if investor's sentiment measured by an intensity of Google searches may be used to predict future changes of the Effective Federal Funds rate. We find that online searches for “fed funds rate”, “fed interest rate”, “fed reserve”, “fed reserve rate” and “federal interest rate” are associated with next week decrease of the Effective Federal Funds Rate. Google searches for “fed rate hike” and “fed raise rates” are associated with next week increase of the Effective Federal Funds Rate even after we control for a number of macroeconomic indicators. We also find that intensity of Google …

In The Green Classroom—Tax Policy Of Environmental Tax Rules And Incentives: New Directions In Teaching And Research, Annette Nellen

Faculty Publications

There is no shortage of tax rules that address energy and natural resources in some manner. There are taxes on most types of fuel, tax credits for energy saving devices, and various tax incentives to encourage specified activities such as use of LED lighting or energy efficient heaters. In addition, numerous proposals are offered annually by lawmakers at the federal, state and local levels that also address conservation, energy and innovation in conservation and energy-efficiencies.How do we know if existing rules and proposals are appropriate for a tax system? Principles of good tax policy can be applied to them to …

Broke But Not Without Hope: Exploring Exits From Housing First And Returns To Homelessness, Jennie Ann Cole

Theses and Dissertations

“…he succeeded in giving the impression of being broke but not without hope.”

Nels Anderson, The Hobo, 1923

Introduction: This research offers a thick and rich, multidimensional and situational look, into a Housing First program in Charlotte, North Carolina. This dissertation focuses on individuals who have experienced chronic homelessness who exit Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) programs that employ a Housing First (HF) model and return to homelessness. The ultimate goal of my research was to address the gap in knowledge service providers have in housing retention for the chronically homeless and to break the cycle of misunderstanding around why people …

Smartphone Use And Mindfulness: Empirical Tests Of A Hypothesized Connection, Darren Todd Woodlief

Theses and Dissertations

The current study is the first test of a newly developed conceptual model of the effect of smartphone use on mindfulness. Previous research has shown the capacity for mindfulness is strongly associated with increased psychological well-being (e.g. higher self-esteem and lower perceived stress, anxiety, and psychological distress). We argue that smartphones can be used in an automatic and mindless or experientially avoidant way, and that this use can lead to a decreased capacity for mindfulness, with adolescents being most vulnerable to this potential impact. Components of mindfulness, such as the capacity for sustained attention and the areas of the brain …

Anatomy Of A Social Media Movement: Diffusion, Sentiment And Network Analysis, Md Hassan Zamir

Theses and Dissertations

Social media has increased the availability of abundant user interaction data. Technology-mediated social participation tools like Twitter can inform us about collective actions and social movement mobilization. Current focus of social media and social movement research are on usage and impact of technology during historical uprisings. But online social networks are participatory mediums, and filled up with multi-dimensional user interactions, which requires more concrete attentions and need investigations at granular levels. Moreover, limited attention has been paid on how activists develop online social networks. This study stressed on Twitter’s ability of helping in making sense of online debates and present …

Sex Offender Policies That Spin The Revolving Door: An Exploration Of The Relationships Between Residence Restrictions, Homelessness, And Recidivism, Deanna Cann

Theses and Dissertations

Within the past two decades, a variety of specialized sex offender legislation has been implemented across the United States. Typically brought about in attempt to ebb the societal disquiet after notorious sexual assault cases are sensationalized in the media, these policies appear to be based on faulty assumptions, and lack any evidence-based foundation. In fact, empirical research suggests that policies such as sex offender registration, community notification, and residence restrictions do little to prevent sexual offending, and may actually work to increase the risk of these events through a number of collateral consequences. The current study critically examines the rationale …

Cocoa And Carbon: Remedying Forest Governance Through Community Participation In A Redd+Pilot In Ghana, Manali Baruah

Theses and Dissertations

Global loss and degradation of forests are well documented, and the potential role of forests in climate change mitigation is widely recognized. While forests are key to human well-being, forest resource management in the developing world is fraught with governance challenges. Despite policy discourses that emphasize the importance of local participation in the management of forest resources, it is rarely practiced. Many national governments and non-governmental organizations have set up efforts around the collaborative management of forest resources with local communities to tackle forest loss. However, the operationalization of participatory principles and the effectiveness of these collaborative initiatives are not …

Governing Terrorism Through Preemption: A Comparative Analysis Of Radicalization In Three Western Liberal Democracies, Derek M.D. Silva

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, issues related to terrorism and counterterrorism are increasingly being understood through the construct of ‘radicalization.’ At its most basic level, radicalization is most often conceptualized as a transition from “normal,” conventional political, religious or otherwise ideological beliefs towards extremist views and ultimately violence. The process is now adopted by governmental officials and politicians, police authorities, journalists, and even scientists to justify various forms of governmental intervention, such as policing, social and public policy, education, and surveillance. Notably missing from the scholarly literature is a distinctly sociological understanding of the implications of the proliferation of radicalization discourse in …

Paleodemographic And Biochemical Analysis Of Urbanization, Famine, And Mortality, Brittany S. Walter

Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization is a transitional period often associated with deteriorating population health and increased mortality, as the rapid increase of population density in urban centers facilitates the transmission of infectious diseases, unsanitary living conditions, and precarious food supplies. Research on the transition to an urban environment in the past offers a temporal depth to our understanding of the consequences of urbanization that cannot be accomplished through examination of contemporary populations. This project integrates paleodemographic (hazard analysis) and biochemical (stable isotope analysis) approaches to examine the health and diet of inhabitants in late medieval England (c. 1120-1539 CE), specifically the relationship between …

A Critical Analysis Of The Effects Of Language Policy, Curriculum, And Assessment On Arabic L1 Student Performance In An Esl 1 Classroom, Juliane Bilotta

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis offers a preliminary analysis into looking at the ways in which Arabicspeaking ESL students are inadvertently marginalized by state standardization, curriculum, and dominant forms of classroom interactions in a NJ recovery program. Specifically, this analysis addresses the absence of orthographic training and a reliance on teacher-fronted, textbook based classroom exercises as a problematic structure that limits opportunities for Arabic-speaking students to participate successfully in an ESL 1 classroom. This data was collected during six-weeks of preliminary research during the summer of 2016 in a Jersey City, NJ ESL classroom. Using transcriptions of recorded data from lessons that typify …

A Pilot Wellness Intervention For Parents Of School-Aged Children With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders: Feasibility, Acceptability, And Preliminary Impact, Marissa E. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

The present study used an exploratory sequential mixed method design to evaluate characteristics and needs of parents of children with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBDs) and what services may feasibly and acceptably promote wellness and mindful parenting and alleviate parenting stress in this population. Phase One of the study qualitatively explored the needs of parents of children with EBDs and identified factors of feasibility and acceptability of services to address these needs. Parents reported several themes surrounding their experience of parenting a child with an EBD and the types of services that would meet those needs: including 1) the hectic …

Framing Marijuana: A Study Of How Us Newspapers Frame Marijuana Legalization Stories And Framing Effects Of Marijuana Stories, Hwalbin Kim

Theses and Dissertations

The current study was initially designed to look at how the issue of marijuana legalization was presented in U.S. newspapers and how news frames could influence the audiences’ attitudes or behavioral intentions. To investigate these questions, two different types of research methods were employed: content analysis and experiment. Using framing theory as a theoretical framework, this study found that marijuana legalization has been largely described as a legislation issue or a law enforcement issue, and medical benefit and medical risk were most frequently mentioned attributes to support and oppose marijuana legalization. Findings indicated that news frame could influence the public’s …

Adult L2 Processing And Acquisition Of The English Present Perfect, Christopher J. Farina

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the second language (L2) processing and acquisition of the English present perfect via two features: boundedness and current relevance. Boundedness indicates whether an action reaches an endpoint (Smith 1997; Verkuyl 1972); it divides the functions of the present perfect into sets that denote completed situations or ongoing/iterative ones (Bybee et al. 1994; Housen 2002). Current relevance indicates the present importance of a past situation (Siemund 2004); it differentiates the present perfect from the simple past (Bardovi-Harlig 2002). Previous research has relied on offline methods (that evaluate metalinguistic knowledge); no research in SLA has investigated the acquisition of …

Is That Online Review Fake News? How Sponsorship Disclosure Influences Reader Credibility, Mark W. Tatge

Theses and Dissertations

In a randomized between-subjects design, participants (N =595) were assigned one of three online reviews containing disclosure statements (no disclosure, no sponsor, sponsored) denoting whether the author of an online review was paid by an advertiser or whether the review was independent of ad sponsorship. Hayes and Preacher’s bootstrapping procedure was used to test the indirect and direct effects of related to a hypothesized model examining the impact of review disclosure on perceived credibility and purchase intention. The impact of two covariates – involvement and media literacy – was assessed to see if these variables had a potential confounding impact …

Acculturation Stress And Depression Among First-Year International Graduate Students From China And India At The University Of South Carolina, Kyunghee Ma

Theses and Dissertations

This cohort study used a mixed-methods pretest/posttest measurement study design. The quantitative method was used to explore the relationship between acculturation stress and depression among first-year international graduate students from China and India enrolled at the University of South Carolina(UofSC), examine the role that social support plays in that relationship, and identify changes in acculturation, social support, and depression over one academic year. The qualitative method helped to further explore how Chinese and Indian international graduate students experienced acculturation stress and to what extent social support helped them cope with their stress.

The sample included 55 students. Primary data were …

Feasibility Of Introducing Investor-Owned Hospitals In Korea, Hongseok Seo

Theses and Dissertations

Since 2002, there has been active debate regarding the introduction of for-profit hospitals in South Korea: the advocates highlight the multiplication of economic value after the introduction of for-profit hospitals, whereas the opponents voice their concern about the possible negative consequences for-profit entities can create within the health care system. Various stakeholders including doctors’ associations, hospital associations, and civic groups have been for or against the introduction of for-profit hospitals, according to their interests. The government has tried to develop the national health and medicine system based on the positive and negative impacts of their introduction. In December, 2015, the …

Association Of Provider Communication And Inpatient Hospital Readmissions, Jeremy Dean Faulkenburg

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Inpatient hospital readmission rates represent an important clinical and economic problem. Clinical interventions have shown significant decreases in preventable readmissions, but are costly to implement. Another approach is to better equip patients with the knowledge and resources to manage their care after discharge. Patients receive instruction from both nurses and physicians, as well as information pertaining to post-discharge care and instructions for care while at home. This study examines the association between provider communication and inpatient hospital readmissions.

Methods: This study used survey data from the 2013 and 2014 Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS). The …

“Bajan To Gullah” Cultural Capital: Wood, Stone, Iron, And Clay 1670 To 1770, Ramona Arlen La Roche

Theses and Dissertations

British planters, merchants and other non-landholding persons from Barbados owned and transported enslaved persons to the South Carolina colonial settlement as early as 1670. However, there is minimal specific information about Africans or Barbadian Creoles selected for these voyages. To date, no empirical research has examined any data on African or African descended artisans (enslaved or free) who accompanied their owners or authorized travelers to the New World. Such historical lack provides negligible if any recognition of the skillsets rendered by specific artisans that significantly enhanced the economic development of both Barbados initially, and later during the early development of …

Investigating The Receptivity Of Counseling Students Toward Receiving Counseling, Oluwatoyin Adeyemi

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the perceptions of graduate students in counseling toward seeking counseling as part of the efforts to promote the personal and professional development. The main research question is: what are the perceptions of graduate counseling students toward receiving counseling? The secondary questions are: What are the reasons graduate students in counseling would be willing or reluctant to receive counseling? What are the perceived benefits of counseling? And, finally, what are the perceived drawbacks of counseling? The study is qualitative in nature applying a phenomenological design. The participants were purposefully selected from the Ed.S. program in Counselor Education. Six …