Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

San Francisco's Response To Sexual Assault: Pathways To Creating A Survivor-Centered Criminal Justice System, Bianca Rosen

Master's Projects and Capstones

This research examines the process when adult sexual assault survivors in San Francisco decide to pursue legal justice and how survivors experience the local criminal justice system. My analysis exposes the mistreatment of survivors who participate with local law enforcement and recommends survivor-centered policies that could support the wellbeing of survivors pressing charges. The purpose of this research is to encourage law enforcement practices that prioritize survivors’ self-determination and welfare.

Examining The Effects Of Policy Interventions On Increasing Electric Vehicle Adoption In California, Ethan G. Mcdermott

Master's Projects and Capstones

Any significant effort to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gasses must address the growing concern of the transportation sector’s inability to meaningfully reduce its emissions contribution. A major shift in the primary fuel used in the sector away from petroleum-based fuel to electricity is one potential way the sector can lower its emissions and transition into a sustainable future. However, a number of barriers face the electric vehicle market, including competing against an already mature vehicle market, battling consumer preferences, and overcoming technical challenges. This paper examines several policy proposals to combat these barriers and examines the impact similar policies …

Communication Accommodation In Maternity Care: A Qualitative Analysis On How Patient-Provider Communication Affects Labor And Delivery Decisions, Gabriele Cafone

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Background. Over 4.3 million mothers and newborns receive maternity care in the United States each year (Sakala & Corry, 2008). Childbirth is the leading reason for hospitalization yearly in the United States, with 23% of all individuals discharged from hospitals being either a mother or a newborn. The most common operating room procedure is cesarean section, and six of the fifteen most commonly performed hospital procedures are associated with childbirth (Sakala & Corry, 2008). Women may be led to believe that these medical interventions during labor and delivery are necessary without ever being properly educated, resulting in an intervention filled …

Nicole Brown, Nicole Brown '99, Meg Miner

All oral histories

Dr. Nicole Brown, Class of 1999, recalls her days as a leader of the Black Student Union, lessons learned from the corporate world and goals as the Director of Multicultural Affairs. She further relates examples of IWU’s lack of progress on lasting change with regard to hiring and retaining Black faculty. In each portion of her IWU affiliations, Brown recalls the achievements and frustrations she experienced.

Emotions And Behavior Regulation In Decision Dilemmas, Joaquín Gómez-Miñambres, Eric Schniter

ESI Publications

We introduce a dynamic model of emotional behavior regulation that can generalize to a wide range of decision dilemmas. Dilemmas are characterized by availability of mutually exclusive goals that a decision maker is dually motivated to pursue. In our model, previous goal pursuant decisions produce negative emotions that regulate an individual’s propensity to further pursue those goals at future times. This emotional regulation of behavior helps explain the non-stationarity and switching observed between so-called “preferences” revealed in repeated decision dilemmas (e.g., by choosing A over B at time 1, then choosing B over A at time 2). We also explain …

Are We Out Of The Woods Yet? How Democrats And Progressives Need To Rethink Their Message Framework, Lauren E. Feuerborn

Master's Theses

The aftermath of the election revealed that the Democratic Party made critical errors and had structural issues that made executing our messaging more difficult. The Democratic Party needs to return to a set of principles that prioritizes all people and their wellbeing to win elections. What do Democrats and progressives need to fix so they can deliver better messages? To better understand the dynamics that impact the Democratic Party’s capacity to create messaging I believe one must look at the relationship between the Democratic Party as an institution and the art of political messaging. The research of this paper focuses …

Do Marketing Strategies Impact Condom Sales In Uganda?, Meyhar Mohammed

Master's Theses

What attracts people to buy condoms? HIV/AIDS remain one of the biggest health dangers of the world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. A lot of efforts have been pursued in the past two decades to drastically reduce prevalence of HIV and increase awareness about preventive mechanisms. In order to prevent relapse of success achieved so far, it is important to recognize transformation of consumer behavior due to growth in social networks, education and awareness over time. There are a lot of behavioral triggers captured by social marketing interventions in the field of public health. In an attempt to investigate the role …

Inentives And Education: Experimental Evidence From Medellin, Colombia, Theodore D. Wisinski, Alessandra Cassar

Master's Theses

This research uses an experimental design to investigate how incentive structure influences goal achievement among disadvantaged high school students in Medellin, Colombia. Of particular interest is how treatment effects influence school performance as well as how this may vary with differing key characteristics of the participants. Medellin, Colombia, like much of South America suffers from high levels of inequality in the city proper. Improving educational outcomes in impoverished neighborhoods is essential for the growth of these neighborhoods and the greater community in which they are located. The model used in this experiment is inspired by the Family Independence Initiative (FII). …

Aspirations As A Component Of Life Satisfaction: A Look At Female Microfinance Borrowers In Oaxaca, Mexico, Joseph E. Kemler

Master's Theses

This research is an extension to the Oaxaca Hope Project by B. Wydick and T.J. Lybbert. How does an individual gauge her own satisfaction with life? Previous research has noted that many domains make up overall life satisfaction, i.e. career satisfaction, family life satisfaction & social life satisfaction. A burgeoning topic in this regard is the role that aspirations play in life satisfaction. Using survey data from female microfinance borrowers in Oaxaca, Mexico this project attempts to analyze the affect previous aspirations have on life satisfaction. By creating an “aspirational window” we objectively attempt to gauge the relationship between “high” …

The Rise Of The Maquiladoras And Crimes In Mexico, Christelle K. Bamona

Master's Theses

While it is generally argued that a stronger labor market is negatively associated with crime, there exists a “consensus of doubt” around the relationship between employment and crime. This paper examines the impact of the rise of female labor participation in manufacturing on various types of crimes in Mexico from 1998 to 2012. A fixed effects specification and an instrumental variable approach with regional and time fixed effects are employed to compare the crime rates in municipalities that were heavily exposed to local factory openings to municipalities that did not receive a labor shock of the same magnitude. By introducing …

Generating Prevalence Estimates Of Sensitive Behaviors Through List Randomization: Survey Experiment Among Indian Males, Abha Indurkar

Master's Theses

Survey respondents may under-report or misreport sensitive behaviors due to social desirability bias. List randomization is an indirect way of asking questions which allows respondents to answer sensitive questions without the surveyor knowing their actual response. This has emerged as a new technique to ask sensitive questions as it reduces respondent’s discomfort while reporting sensitive behaviors. In this study, we apply list randomization to generate prevalence estimates of sensitive behaviors and perception related to homosexuality, molestation of women and notion of partner purity in the sample of young, college educated Indian males. Our findings are consistent with the literature on …

Income Shocks And The Acceptance Of Intimate Partner Violence In Indonesia, Matthew N. Krupoff

Master's Theses

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive issue affecting 1 in 3 women worldwide. Despite the negative welfare impacts, it is still seen as acceptable in some parts of the world, even amongst women. This paper examines how elastic these accepting attitudes towards IPV are to changing economic conditions. Specifically, this paper focuses on changes in intra-household resources from negative shocks to male-sourced income. The setting and context takes place in coastal communities in Indonesia, where fishing is a main source ofincome generated primarily by men. This paper uses satellite-derived fishing conditions to measure how women's attitudes towards IPV change …

La Madre Competitiva: An Experimental Study Of Women's Competitiveness In Medellin, Colombia, Miranda I. Lambert

Master's Theses

Abstract: This project is a follow up to Cassar, Wordofa, and Zhang (2015), which aimed at testing whether extending incentives beyond cash would alter the estimated competitive tendencies of men and women. Here we extend this work to an urban Colombian setting. In the previous study conducted in China, men have proven more competitive than women; however, once the incentive changes to a child-benefitting voucher, women increased their likeliness to compete. This research uses statistical and regression analysis to test whether or not women become more competitive when competing for a voucher, which directly benefits their child as opposed to …

Competitive Mothers: An Experimental Study Of Female Competitiveness And Polygamy In Togo (West Africa), Aminata Cissokho

Master's Theses

Are women in a patriarchal society like Togo as competitive as men? How does being a parent, in a polygamous vs. monogamous marriage and having high income affect one’s willingness to compete? With an incentivized experiment, we explore whether there are gender differences in selecting into competitive environments, especially when the incentives switch from cash to voucher. This experiment is conducted in Togo, West Africa, with 428 subjects including females-males, parent-non parent. Overall, the findings reveal no significant differences between the females and males’ willingness to compete. Female parents are more competitive than male parents regardless of the incentive. Subjects …

Financing And Productivity: Evidence From Indian Manufacturing Industry, Tingyi Wu

Master's Theses

India grows rapidly in recent years, not to mention its high-technology industry. What are secrets behind this fast-growing situation? This paper intends to find the answer using a firm-level panel data in India and examine the loan-productivity relationship via both contemporaneous and lagged models. I find positive and statistically significant results that loans play an important role in firms’ performances.

Political Intrusion On Firms: Effects Of Elections On Bank Lending In India, Shivprasad Prabhakar Gunjal

Master's Theses

This paper examines the intrusion of political system on performance of Indian firms, employing state and constituency level financial borrowing panel data by firms from domestic banks from 2010 to 2015. Using conditional logistic and fixed effects regression models, the results suggests that firms located in regions aligned politically with the ruling party enjoy possible preferential access to financing from banks. We find average productivity efficiency loss of 2.77% in the short term as a result of politically motivated redistribution of scarce capital. These political effects are statistically robust to the inclusion of region fixed effects, time fixed effects and …

The Art Of Discord: Organization And Planning Among Internet Trolls, Paige Miller

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Within recent years, there has been a significant increase in popular commentary on internet trolls and what they mean for online interactions. Significant attention is often paid to framing trolls as individual, pathological, and atypical. While there is much one-sided dialogue occurring in the media, however, the literature on internet trolling remains scarce. This exploratory study contributes to the developing literature by addressing internet trolls directly. Drawing on interviews with a self-identified troll and content analysis, this thesis aims to understand how trolls operate, interact, and make meaning while highlighting the role of identity and emotions. This study finds that …

Flesh And Blood, Clayton Petras

Graduate School of Art Theses

In my work, I look for ways to visualize and document the degenerative mental disease of Parkinson’s and transform it into portrayals of the disease itself, its effects, and those it afflicts. Being a physical breakdown of the body, both popular culture and my own corporal understanding influence my interpretation and representation. This document outlines those influences and their buildup towards a shared understanding of the interests behind the work, as well as implies what the work does through these contexts.

How do we give identity to a disease that is difficult to diagnose or view on medical technology, currently …

Essays On Financial Intermediation, Yong Kyu Gam

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

Chapter 1 investigates a regulatory spillover effect of the Basel III liquidity standard on the real economy through a series of difference-in-difference estimations. Since the Basel Committee’s official endorsement for the new liquidity regulation in December 2010, a bank exposed to high liquidity risk reduced its loan proportion significantly, making a negative real effect on its surrounding economy via a bank-lending-channel. The new regulation also induced a bank with a weak liquid balance sheet to raise its deposit rate aggressively, generating a liquidity problem in a nearby local bank through a deposit-competition-channel and ultimately curbing an expansion of the local …

Agricultural Technology Adoption And Adaptation Under Climate Change: Microevidence From Niger, Berenger Djoumessi Tiague

Master's Theses

Many regions of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are experiencing fast increases in human population pressure and urbanization. By 2050, feeding a planet of 9 billion people will require an estimated 50 percent increase in agricultural production. Farmers in in the Sahel are exposed to a highly variable weather over time, and to their limited adaptive capacity, therefore often use livestock as income generator, export earnings, and as insurance against weather risk. There is an increasing demand for livestock products, which increase pressure on crop residues use on the land. In this study, I use panel socio-economic data combined with village rainfall …

Goal Effectiveness In Achieving Educational Outcomes: Experimental Evidence From 9th Graders In Medellin, Colombia, Daniel Salicath, Alessandra Cassar

Master's Theses

Does goal setting among low-income ninth graders leads to higher average goal achievements of educational outcomes? This question is explored by a field experiment motivated by the acknowledged California-based Family Independence Initiative (FII), to analyze the effectiveness of individual goal setting, incentives and self-help groups on the achievement of educational goals. By randomizing treatments and control with the cooperation of the Secretary of Education in Medellin, different classrooms were assigned to five different experimental groups that met systematically for five months. The results show that goal setting is a cost-effective method to help low-income students achieve educational outcomes. Setting a …

Financial Sector Development And Agricultural Productivity, John J. Onoja

Master's Theses

Global concern is rising about the performance of the agricultural sector in view of its integral role in poverty alleviation, economic development and meeting an ever-increasing nutritional demand. At the epicenter of the concern is declining productivity due to poor financial inclusion of the sector leading to low investment and returns to agriculture. A cursory examination of the existing literature on the subject reveals quite varied dimensions to the analysis of agriculture productivity-financial development nexus. Focusing on the role of financial sector development as a catalyst to agricultural productivity, we employ panel data and advances fixed-effects econometrics approach to empirically …

Drawings From Syria's Lost Generation: Psychological Impacts Of The Refugee Crisis, Rafael Panlilio

Master's Theses

Since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, more than 11 million people have been forcibly displaced and exposed to violence. Even if the civil war were to end tomorrow, the refugee crisis will be expected to last for decades more. With nearly half of the refugees being children, the impact of the loss of health, education, social networks, and home environments on children have resulted in what is being called Syria‟s lost generation. A potential solution in mitigating these psychological impacts is the reintegration from refugee camps into non-camp host communities or the resettlement into other countries. …

To Laugh Or Cry: Examining Intergroup Attitudes Through Humor, Katlin Bentley

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Collaborating On Description And Digitization: The Perry Special Collections Land Indentures Project, Rebecca A. Wiederhold, Ryan K. Lee, Shanna Bessendorfer

Faculty Publications

A unique collection of English land indentures from the 16th to 20th centuries is at the center of a large undertaking at BYU’s Perry Special Collections. Born of a simple faculty digitization request, a much larger project with the potential to benefit other classes and researchers developed through the collaboration and coordination of multiple departments and individuals. This project required close collaboration between the faculty member who made the original digitization request, the Special Collections curator, our Collection Management team, the Conservation lab, our Manuscripts Cataloger, the digital lab, our Metadata Cataloging Specialist and multiple student workers. This presentation gives …

Proliferating A Culture Of Fear: Islam In A Post 9/11 America, Setareh Motamedi

Political Science Student Papers and Posters

The threat of terrorism perceived by the American public has been shaped by a series of traumatic events over the past decade. In the years following the attacks of September 11, 2001, fear of terrorism has extended beyond the threat of terrorist groups. Much of the American public considers not only terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, but the entire religion of Islam to be a security threat. In much of this security discourse, ideas of hatred, violence, and terror have become associated with Islam. This study explores that association, and aims to identify what motivates existing stereotypes. Drawing on research from …

The Demilitarization Of Costa Rica, Patrick Buscone

College Honors Program

Costa Rica is one of the few developed countries in the world to be completely demilitarized. In the first chapter, this thesis explores why the country decided to demilitarize and how effective their demilitarization has been. Further statistical analysis is applied in Chapter 2 to determine the effect military spending has on growth in Latin America. With Costa Rica experiencing great stability and growth following their demilitarization and the statistical analysis showing military spending to have a negative impact on growth in Latin America, the third and final chapter explores other Latin American countries that could benefit from demilitarization.

Children In Trouble With The Law And The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child, Jennifer L. Swick

Theses and Dissertations

Children in trouble with the law are the focus of much research in the US, but when the scope broadens to include these children across the world, few studies can be found. The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) articulates a set of universal rights for children. For children in trouble with the law, there are seven articulated rights across Articles 37 and 40; these are: protection against cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment; the right not to be detained in jails or prisons with adult convicts; the right to maintain contact with family …

Dynamic Modeling Of Problem Drinkers Undergoing Behavioral Treatment, Rebecca A. Everett

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Real Time Learning Level Assessment Using Eye Tracking, Saurin S. Parikh, Hari Kalva

MODVIS Workshop

E-Learning is emerging as a convenient and effective learning tool. However, the challenge with eLearning is the lack of effective tools to assess levels of learning. Ability to predict difficult content in real time enables eLearning systems to dynamically provide supplementary content to meet learners’ needs. Recent developments have made possible low-cost eye trackers, which enables a new class of applications based on eye response. In comparison to past attempts using bio-metrics in learning assessments, with eye tracking, we can have access to the exact stimulus that is causing the response. A key aspect of the proposed approach is the …