Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Impact Of Semantics And Syntax On Lexical Retrieval In Individuals With Aphasia, Marta M. Korytkowska

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Nearly all people with aphasia (PWA) report difficulty with lexical retrieval (i.e., anomia). While there are several tasks used to measure lexical retrieval, each poses different degrees and types of challenges. For example, some studies have found that PWA performance varies depending on the type of lexical retrieval task. The tasks that have been used include lexical retrieval in isolation tasks (such as picture-naming), lexical retrieval in sentence level tasks (such as narration tasks), and lexical retrieval in sentence-completion tasks. Some studies have found no differences between the accuracy of lexical retrieval in isolation and at the sentence level (e.g., …

A Gift To My Self: A Psychoanalytic Approach To Understanding The Experiences Of Women Who Choose Not To Have Children, Irina D. Tchania

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although motherhood has long been a normative female experience, individual decisions regarding bearing and mothering children vary among women. Partly due to shifts in gender roles and contemporary societal expectations, the conflation of womanhood with motherhood – and the centrality of motherhood within female identity – is being increasingly challenged. Women who choose to remain childless make up a growing, unique, and understudied population group. Decisions regarding intentional childlessness have been considered through the lenses of sociology and feminist critique, while psychologically and psychoanalytically oriented scholarship is more limited. This study aimed to further our understanding of the voluntarily childless …

Numbered, Weighed, Divided: Revolution And/As Apocalypse In The Modern Liberal Tradition, Asher J. Wycoff

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A long-standing political-theological critique contends that liberalism lacks the capacity to address theological challenges, and qualitative political challenges more generally. This charge is prevalent in our current age of crises, when the capacity to address such challenges is essential to any political tradition’s self-legitimation. I argue that the liberal tradition, broadly conceived, has long contended with theological challenges, particularly during modern revolutionary periods. Theological discourses, especially eschatological ones, circulate widely in these moments. Modern political actors impute cosmic significance to the events of their present, with a central analogy crystallizing between revolution and apocalypse. Reading major theorists of three modern …

Older Adults In The Great Recession: Labor Force Transitions, Perceived Workplace Ageism And Life Satisfaction, Duygu Başaran Şahin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Until the global economic crisis caused by the Covid19 pandemic, the Great Recession (GR) of 2007-2009 was the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression in the U.S. History. Previous research argues that older adults were relatively protected from the GR’s harshest impact because their unemployment rates were relatively lower compared to younger adults. However, the focus on unemployment rate as the ultimate indicator of a recession’s impact might have downplayed older adults’ experiences. Indeed, some studies showed that despite relatively lower unemployment rates, once unemployed, older adults took significantly longer to be reemployed compared to adults in younger …

Examining The Role Of Evidence-Based Suspicion In Racial Disparities In Wrongful Convictions, Jacqueline Katzman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There are clear racial disparities in the rates of wrongful convictions, with Black exonerees disproportionately represented among the population of those exonerated, in DNA and non-DNA exonerations alike (National Registry of Exonerations, 2022; Innocence Project, 2022). This racial disparity also exists for those exonerees who were wrongfully convicted, at least in part, because an eyewitness mistakenly identified them. For decades, when eyewitness scholars explored racial bias, they focused on the cross-race effect or own-race bias among eyewitnesses, a bias positing that witness performance suffers when a witness is asked to make an identification of a cross-race face (Lee & Penrod, …

Understanding The Relationship Between Working Memory And Long-Term Memory, Kelly Cotton

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

How lasting memories are created is a question that has driven much research into human cognition. An area of renewed research interest concerns the relationship between working memory and long-term memory. Recent research has investigated how the processing that occurs while information is held in working memory influences successful long-term memory creation. Both working memory consolidation and maintenance have been identified as critical in long-term retention, but the mechanisms underlying the working memory/long-term memory relationship remain unclear. The present dissertation examined different working memory mechanisms and their impact on long-term memory in a broader context by addressing two questions: 1) …

Algorithmic Sovereignty: Machine Learning, Ground Truth, And The State Of Exception, Matthew Martin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the influence of algorithmic security technology on political theories of sovereignty and the state of exception. In computer science, an exception is a special circumstance that prevents a program from terminating normally. In political theory, the state of exception, as theorized by Carl Schmitt and Giorgio Agamben, cannot be encoded within the normal liberal legal order. With states’ increasing turn toward algorithmic answers to questions of ‘security,’ which, per Agamben, is the long-term form of the political state of exception, the relationship between the concept of the exception in these two disciplines comes to the fore. In …

The Politics Of Expertise And The Articulation Of Authority In Democracy: Cognitive Style And Intelligibility In The Education Of Problem-Solving And Professional Decision-Making In The Domain Of Law, Michael W. Raphael

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Computational complexity refers to the representational aspect of problem-solving. This representational aspect is commonly understood to describe the regularities that organize the definition of the problem-situation, the qualities that designate its difficulty, either in terms of the process of arriving at a definition of the problem or in the process of arriving at a solution. It is for this reason, that it is commonly said that “representational design precedes computational efficacy.” The point of this maxim is to serve as a reminder that an efficient use of resources begins with the design of near decomposability, the specification of the properties …

The Lived Experience Of Using Opiates Among Young Adults, Catherine Mbewe

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research study is to explore the lived experience of using opiates, as described by young adults aged 18 to 25 years. Over the last 2 decades, opioid use disorders (OUDs) and opiate overdose deaths have increased dramatically in the United States. What used to be a problem primarily contained to minority groups in poor inner-city areas is now increasingly common in all races, genders, ages, and classes. There has also been an alarming increase in opiate use—including fentanyl, both legal and illegal—among young adults. While much of the literature has been focused on the opiate use …

Reimagining The Inner Ear: A Morphometric Modeling Approach For Establishing Shape Change In The Evolution Of The Human Otolith System, Christopher M. Smith

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Our sense of balance is among the most central of our sensory systems, particularly in the evolution of human positional behavior. The peripheral vestibular system of the inner ear comprises the organs responsible for this sense; the semicircular canals (detecting angular acceleration) and otolith organs (utricle and saccule; detecting linear acceleration, vibration, and head tilt relative to gravity). The vestibular organs are often considered a single system, with most research focusing on the semicircular canals. The otolith organs, by comparison, remain largely unexplored despite their central role in balance. Consequently, this lack of knowledge limits understanding of vestibular functional morphology …

Extinction Of Threat Memory Via Reconsolidation Interference: A Behavioral Intervention Meta-Analysis, Chris M. Andrae

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Threat memories are created when an aversive stimulus is paired with other stimuli such that the associated stimuli elicit the same reaction as the unpleasant one. Anxiety disorders are usually treated with exposure to aversive stimuli. Emotional memories can be altered through a process called reconsolidation interference. Consolidated memories are dynamic: reminders of previous experiences prompt the reactivation of a previously-encoded memory; destabilization of the memory opens it to update. While a memory is updating, it is labile. If extinction training occurs during reconsolidation (i.e., shortly after reactivation), the conditioned stimulus will no longer elicit the conditioned response. Thus, previously-encoded …

Permanent Shelter In The Empire City: Youth Experiencing Family Homelessness And Navigating The Homeless Industrial Complex With A Narrative Inquiry Approach, Henry O. Love

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Many studies have examined unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness; however, a relative silence persists about the lives of youth and young adults (YYA) while in family homeless shelters. This study aims to fill the gap in the literature about the lives of youth residing in family shelters and to learn about successful transitions from adolescence to young adulthood while experiencing family homelessness. This transition interacts with various social collectives (family, peers, community), political institutions (municipal, state, and federal), and an overwhelming economic system (global racial capitalism). These complex perspectives are considered with a narrative activity-meaning system research design to understand the …

A Consecutive Case Series Evaluation Of Tummy Time With And Without Preferred Items, Rika Ortega

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Tummy time is an activity for infants to practice their early motor skills. Although most pediatricians recommend tummy time, parents may avoid the procedures due to infant discomfort during this period. The present study investigated whether a preferred item functioned as a reinforcer to increase head elevation and decrease crying during tummy time with 16 consecutive, typically developing infants. The study compared the preferred items selected from a preference assessment to that of caregiver attention. In addition, we directly evaluated parental choice by allowing the mothers to select which tummy time treatment they would like to implement. We found that …

Muscling Through: Athletic Women In Victorian Popular Representation, 1864–1915, Julia G. Fuller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Muscling Through” reconstructs an overlooked history of strong female bodies in the nineteenth century. It argues that popular representations of athletic women introduced a new category of identity that was distinct from women’s traditional relational and social roles. The project’s central figure is the hyper-able “Sportswoman,” who bridges the gap between two familiar versions of the Victorian woman’s body: the mid-century ideal of docile, domesticated femininity and the sturdy, capable women who enter universities, professions, and public spaces en masse just before the turn of the century. Representationally, the Sportswoman figures a range of attitudes, from anxious to aspirational, toward …

Fighting The Invisibility Of Domestic Violence, Yesenny Fernandez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Analyzing the invisibility of domestic violence in New York City as 32% of women in the city experience intimate partner physical violence. In this project, domestic violence refers to all different kinds of violence that occur in a home between all the members who live there regardless of whether they are intimate partners or not. The data focuses on all the daily calls received by the New York Police Department (NYPD) and NYC Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV) regarding domestic violence related incidents such as physical, psychological, emotional, and sexual violence, or murder. Even though many …

The Relationship Between Democratic Measures, Lgbtiaq* Rights Acceptance, And U.S. Foreign Aid Allocation In The Global South, Jacqueline Biergans

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

U.S. democratization efforts abroad are sometimes framed as motive for U.S. aid allocations to Global South countries. In that regard, Jasbir Puar (2007 and 2013), Cynthia Weber (2016), and Laura J. Shepherd (2006) critique U.S. foreign policy for using LGBTIAQ* rights as an empty rhetoric rather than as benchmark by which to identify and reward countries’ level of democratization in the Global South. However, Claire Apodaga and Michael Stohl (1999) explain that the United States is prioritizing economic and security interests instead, whereas countries receive military support despite their human rights abuses at home. In this thesis, the relationship between …

Memetic Epidemiology: A Mathematical Model For Tracking The Spread Of Linguistic Features Across Western Europe, Benjamin Shavitz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The goal of this dissertation is to introduce a powerful new method for demonstrating the role of contact in potential cases of linguistic contact spread, Memetic Epidemiology, that can facilitate extensive future research. This dissertation introduces and demonstrates the use of this method on examples from Western and Central Europe.

Part I begins by providing theoretical background for Memetic Epidemiology using understandings, including Memetics, and Evolutionary Phonology and its extensions. Part I proceeds to lay out the objective of Memetic Epidemiology: to provide a new means of demonstrating that contact influenced the rise of linguistic features in certain languages during …

An Inaugural, Qualitative Examination Of The Relationships Between People With Gender Nonconforming Expression And Social Anxiety, Chrystiana Jones

Dissertations

The focus in this research was on the experience of social anxiety associated with people with gender nonconformity. The study involved consideration of the issues people with gender nonconformity face as well as the mental impact that often occurs as a result of the rejection of other people in their lives, including their family and friends, as well as how and in what ways gender nonconforming people are affected by negativity in their environment. Data related to the problems that develop with such people, in particular the impact of stigmatization, discrimination, and social anxiety on people with gender nonconformity were …

Perceptions Of The Veterans Administration And Mental Health Treatment Seeking Intentions Among Veterans, Hilary Hines

Dissertations

Among the veteran population there is a trend of underutilizing mental health services despite the higher number of veterans with mental health diagnoses. Though previous research has examined barriers to mental health care such as stigma and a warrior mentality, there may be additional barriers that emanate from the system to which veterans are entitled and encouraged to use, the Veterans Administration (VA). This study examined the mediational relationships among perceptions of the VA, attitudes about seeking mental health treatment at the VA, and intentions to seek mental health treatment at the VA among veterans. Data from 96 veterans were …

The Effects Of Type Of Recall On Memory Accuracy In An Eyewitness Case Vignette, Ketura Mccroy

Dissertations

Memory and recall play an essential role in determining convictions in cases of eyewitness testimony. Eyewitnesses can appear confident in their statements, yet one’s memory and recall of a witnessed event can become distorted or manipulated in the process given that it is highly susceptible to various errors, biases, and misleading information such as suggestive questions. The purpose of this study was to further examine how two types of recall (i.e., cued and free) effect eyewitness testimony. In this study, 43 participants read a hypothetical case vignette of a murder crime scene; they were then randomly put into either a …

Advising Communication In Finance, Jordan J. Schumann

Communication Studies

Communication is an important factor in relationships. When it comes to financial advising and the advisors’ relationship with their clients, it is no different. However, the driving factor of what makes a client choose one advisor over another remains in question. As such a question builds: what does an advisor do to maintain a client and promote gaining new ones? This study examines the experiences current advisors have had in their respective careers. To examine this topic, communication theories (Social Cognitive Theory, Source Credibility Theory, and Uncertainty Reduction Theory) are called upon to inform the outcomes of advisors' experiences. The …

Bike Share: A Discussion And Case Study Analysis Including Recommendations For Cal Poly And The City Of San Luis Obispo, Gabrielle N. Delavallade

City and Regional Planning

Since 2015, micromobility has swiftly expanded to new cities across the United States. Micromobility is defined as a category of transportation services that are shared-use, lightweight, and personal use such as electric scooters (escooters), shared bicycles, and electric bicycles (e-bikes). Micromobility vehicles can be person powered, electrically powered, or a combination of the two (CRCOG, 2022; BTS, 2022). One form of micromobility that is gaining popularity is known as bicycle share. In 2020, the North American Bikeshare and Scootershare Association (NABSA) 2020 State of the Industry Report found that an estimated 83.4 million trips were taken in North America alone …

Filters For Fiji: A Modified Cracker Box Biosand Filter For Rural Fiji, Geneva Newell, Cameron Lowrey, Thomas Burt, Lexie Caterine

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Water quality remains a major issue throughout rural Fiji, as current solutions rely on outside organizations providing money or technology. The goal of Filters for Fiji’s research was to develop a sustainable water filtration method for the people of rural Fiji, through ethnographic and biological research. In order to be sustainable, the filter had to be inexpensive (less than USD$15), simply built and maintained, and suitable for the end-user. The driving question of the research was: can a plastic, modified biosand filter be constructed from materials that could be sourced locally in rural Fijian communities? To answer this question, feedback …

Benefits Of Having A Disability Cultural Center At Cal Poly, Chau Nguyen

Political Science

All colleges and universities in the United States are legally required to accommodate their students with disabilities. However, many schools do not support their disabled student body in ways that go beyond what they are legally required to provide under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Though every university and college in the United States has a dedicated ADA compliance office, students with disabilities still express that their holistic needs are unmet and that they feel unsupported by their schools. Establishing Disability Cultural Programs and Centers is one method that colleges and universities …

Transforming Together: Developing A Professional Learning Community Of Information Literacy Educators, Rachel Dineen, Stephanie Evers, Natasha Floersch, Darren Ilett, Brianne Markowski

University Libraries Publications

No abstract provided.

Notes For The Stalled, V15n11, June/July 2023, University Of Northern Iowa. Rod Library.

Rod Library newsletter: Notes for the Stalled

Contents:

--- Did You Know . . .?
--- Alumni Database Access
--- The Learning Center (TLC)
--- Rod Library Featured in Spiderverse

Adolescent's Perceptions Of The Parent's Marital Relationship And The Impact On Their Suicide Risk, Savannah Heaton Hurt

Theses and Dissertations

Suicide risk is rapidly increasing in children and adolescents. It is vital that research explores the causes in child and adolescent suicide risk. Research has failed to identify if the marital relationship may be correlated with this increase in suicide ideation in children. This study set out to determine if a child's perception of their parents' marital conflict impacts the child's suicidal risk. Using the Family Foundations of Youth Development project this study analyzed 1,692 parent and child participants to test if the child's perceptions of the marital conflict impacted their suicide risk and if the parent's own report of …

(Re)Envisioning Factors Contributing To Black Men’S College Success: An Ecological And Critical Reflection Using Photovoice, Collette Brown Rogers

Dissertations

This research uses modified photovoice combined with an ecological and antideficit approach to amplify the voices of Black men who have completed college degrees. The study explores the question: What factors contribute to college completion for Black men? Using a qualitative approach and the Ethos platform to collect images, photo captions, and critical reflection data from a purposive sample of five Black men. Data analysis included inductive and deductive coding, data organization within the ecological systems, and member checking to validate the findings. The study acknowledges the unique challenges Black men face in pursuing higher education. It emphasizes the importance …

Adverse Childhood Experiences(Aces) And Nonverbal Reasoning Skills, Monika Malinowska

Dissertations

Severe stress and interpersonal traumatic experience in childhood have a cascade effect on an individual's physical and mental health. There is evidence that people with complex adverse childhood experiences have diminished cognitive abilities. However, there are few studies on the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) on non-verbal reasoning skills. This study aimed to assess the relationships between ACEs, non-verbal reasoning skills, and academic achievement.

Parenting And Students' Gpa In The Latino Population: An Exploratory Study, Carolina Arboleda

Dissertations

The present study experimentally investigated Latino high school students’ grade point averages (GPA) and the parenting styles used by their parents based on Baumrind’s (1968, 1971, 1989, 1991) theory of parenting behaviors. Participants (N=52) were asked to take a survey of 62 questions total addressing three parenting dimensions as measured by the Escala Parental Breve to categorize their parents’ behaviors into parenting styles. Participants also responded to demographic questions such as English proficiency, household income, parents’ education level, and other relevant factors impacting parenting and GPA. Results from the study were limited as there was a limited number of participants; …