Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Antiracism In Higher Education: An Integrated Psychological Perspective, Rhea E. Nesbitt

Dissertations, 2020-current

Antiracism is a complicated and important term with prominent, influential voices claiming that systemic equity and the reconfiguration of white identity are the central solutions to eradicating American racism. Within the profound sociocultural effects of the existing antiracist rhetoric, there is vagueness, conflict, and incoherence. Language serves as a fundamental aspect of human experience, facilitating individual meaning-making and comprehension. Effective communication hinges on the ability to articulate subjective experiences and justifications clearly, a challenge evident in discussions surrounding antiracism. Despite advocating for antiracism as crucial and unending work, scholars recognize significant hurdles, including unclear responsibilities for implementation and entrenched structures …

Factors That Help And Hinder Experience Of Reflective Functioning In An Attachment-Based Intervention: An Enhanced Critical Incident Technique Analysis Of Parents’ Experiences, Shelly-Ann Peart James

Dissertations, 2020-current

This study explored parents’ experiences as it relates to their capacity to think about their child’s thinking and feeling, Parental Reflective Functioning (PRF), an attachment theory construct. PRF was explored in the context of an attachment-based intervention, the Secure Child Program (SCP), that focuses on children and their families. Parents’ voices were centered in this study through the employment of narrative research methodology, specifically, the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique. Participants consisted of seven parents within the SCP. A semi-structured interview developed for the study was informed by extant measures of PRF. Findings indicate helping and hindering categories with the vast …

Cancer Care Terminology In African Languages, Hannah Simba, Miriam Mutebi, Moses Galukande, Yahya Mahamat-Saleh, Elom Aglago, Adamu Addissie, Lidya Genene Abebe, Justina Onwuka

General Surgery, East Africa

Importance: Effective communication between patients and health care teams is essential in the health care setting for delivering optimal cancer care and increasing cancer awareness. While the significance of communication in health care is widely acknowledged, the topic is largely understudied within African settings.

Objective: To assess how the medical language of cancer and oncology translates into African languages and what these translations mean within their cultural context.

Design, etting, and participants: In this multinational survey study in Africa, health professionals, community health workers, researchers, and scientists involved in cancer care and research and traditional healers were invited to participate …

Press Benefits And The Public Imagination, Erin C. Carroll

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In an era when the press faces unprecedented challenges, those who believe in the importance of a free press find themselves playing defense. Press advocates have been forced to articulate, with renewed clarity and urgency, why the press is not merely important but vital to an effective democracy and why it needs to be saved from a “death spiral” and an “extinction-level event.” These arguments often focus on the crucial role the press plays—the “press function,” as lawyers call it—in informing the public, holding power to account, and facilitating democratic discourse.

Scholars and commentators generally discuss the press function through …

Training A Behavior Technician In The Implementation Of The System Of Least Prompts Using Behavioral Skills Training, Clara Wincheski

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The purpose of this study was to extend the literature base on behavioral skills training (BST) to detail its effects in assisting a behavior technician (BT) in acquisition of the skills necessary to implement a response prompting procedure, system of least prompts (SLP). This inquiry was guided by the following research questions: (1) What are the effects of BST on the acquisition of SLP across three behaviors of a BT? and (2) Does the BT accept this intervention as socially significant, and tangentially, does a Board Certified Behavior Analyst also find it to be socially significant within the context of …

Tmc Library Closed For Labor Day, Beatriz Varman

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

Please note that the TMC Library will be closed on Monday, September 2nd in observance of Labor Day.

New Resource Nejm Ai, Chad Metz

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

We're excited to announce the addition of the New England Journal of Medicine: AI to our collection. This cutting-edge resource provides in-depth coverage of the latest artificial intelligence applications in medicine.

To access NEJM AI, simply search for the title in the library catalog or visit the Find Journals link.

Save The Date: 2024 Book & Author Event, Katie Prentice

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

The Friends of the Texas Medical Center Library invite you to save the date for the 2024 Book & Author EVENT featuring Jennifer M. Ross-Nazzal, PhD author of Making Space for Women: Stories from Trailblazing Women of NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Join us Friday, October8, 20124 at 6:00 pm in the TMC Library. Details and tickets will be available soon: http://library.tmc.edu/friends-event.

An Exploratory Study Of Flora Poaching In Central Appalachia, Mckinley Bowers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of flora poaching among conservation officers, park rangers and botanists within Central Appalachia. Though some work has sought to understand poaching in other forms, such as animal poaching, little is known regarding the poaching of plants. This is especially true within the Appalachian Region. Several research questions were explored in this study, including the types of flora being poached, the characteristics of poachers, poaching tactics utilized, and deterrence measures that are currently in place. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 individuals working in the field. Findings contribute to the …

Covid-19: Change In Adjusted Gross Income From Net Migration In Nevada, 2020-2021, Ayda Atici, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet examines data on changes in taxable income and net average income as a result of net migration for each county in Nevada during the COVID-19 pandemic (from 2020 to 2021). The data illustrate which Nevada counties experienced increases in taxable income and average income, and which counties experienced losses. The data are retrieved from “Tax Data Reveals Large Flight of High Earners from Major Cities During the Pandemic,” an interactive data report by the Economic Innovation Group.

Coupling And Decoupling Of Ancestral Linkages And Current Cross-Border Economic Activities: Genetics And Policy, Suparna Chakraborty, Miao Grace Wang, M.C. Sunny Wong

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This paper studies the potential link between the biological evolution of populations and present-day economic interactions by estimating the correlation of shared ancestry among populations with cross-border capital and human flows. To this end, we employ the new concept of genetic distance, based on (dis)similarity of neutral gene alleles, to quantify shared ancestry. We then incorporate the genetic distance measure into an augmented gravity model, traditionally used to analyze the effect of geographical distance on bilateral exchange. Our analysis focuses on bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) and migration across 135 countries and we use both linear regression techniques as well …

How Threat Mobilizes The Resurgence And Persistence Of Us White Supremacist Activism: The 1980s To The Present, Pete Simi, Robert Futrell, Adam Burston

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Despite a centuries-long history of violent mobilization, white supremacist activism (WSA) has received relatively little sociological attention outside a small, specialized subfield. Disciplinary interest began to change after Trump's 2016 election; the 2017 violent attack in Charlottesville, Virginia; and the January 6, 2021, insurrection. In recognition, this review article focuses on what has been learned about contemporary WSA since the 1980s. We categorize studies by their unit of analysis—individual or micro, meso, and macro levels—to highlight analytic commonalities and distinctions and to underscore the central role that threat plays in the ebb and flow of WSA. As part of our …

Co-Rumination, Psychological Inflexibility, And Internalizing Symptoms In Adolescence, John Parigger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two risk factors for anxiety and depression in adolescence were examined: co-rumination, which occurs when friends excessively talk about problems; and psychological inflexibility, which occurs when one avoids negative feelings and fails to act on values. I hypothesized that psychological inflexibility would exacerbate the effect of co-rumination on adolescent anxiety and depression. Participants were 167 adolescents (Mage = 14.60 years, SD = 1.3; 65.7% cisgender males) who completed standard measures as part of an online survey. Results indicated no moderation effect, but there were main effects of co-rumination and psychological inflexibility on depression symptoms. Co-rumination may relate to …

Informed Consent Document Delivery: Effects On Appalachian Caregivers' Comprehension, Trust In Researchers, And Willingness To Participate, Tess A. Simpson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether altering an informed consent document (ICD), in ways that either promote or inhibit accessibility, would affect potential participants’ willingness to participate in a child development laboratory-based study. Specifically, I was interested in assessing the willingness to participate of historically underrepresented groups, especially Appalachian caregiver-child dyads. I altered three parameters of a previously approved and employed ICD to explore whether these parameters impacted Appalachian caregivers’ comprehension of the study, willingness to participate, and trust in the researchers. The manipulated parameters included reading level, utilization of illustrative pictures, and inclusion of text-to-speech …

Dengue And Climate Change: Assessing Potential Future Areas Of Concern For Transmission In The United States, Matthew Beer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Global climate change severely impacts human life, particularly health, as rising temperatures and extreme weather affect physical and mental well-being. Climate change can also alter the risk factors and epidemiology of infectious diseases, notably vector-borne diseases (VBDs), including those transmitted by mosquitoes. The Aedes mosquito, responsible for dengue, poses a significant threat due to its prevalence vector. Dengue prevention lacks effective methods beyond vector control, and the current vaccine has limitations, emphasizing the need for intensified research and prevention strategies to mitigate the expanding dengue burden worldwide. The goal of these studies was to establish a novel risk index …

The Lived Experiences Of African Canadian Custodial Caregivers Of Minors With A Diagnosis Of Autism Spectrum Disorder In Alberta, Canada, Angelina Abong Atsimbom

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompasses a broad range of symptoms, skills, impairments, or disability. It is characterized by a persistent deficit in group communication and social interaction, limited behaviors such as walking, and less interest in interacting with others and participating in social events. Existing studies suggest that there are many unique challenges associated with caring for a child with ASD. Despite growing evidence of an increase in diagnosis and greater awareness of the challenges associated with caring for children on the autism spectrum, there remains a gap in the research about the unique experiences of custodial caregivers of minors …

Is There A Relationship Between Media Sources And Public’S Perception On Police?, Rio Mancilla

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The focus of this research was to understand what type of influence media sources have on the public’s perception of police. To conduct this quantitative research, a survey was distributed to approximately 200 participants who were 21 years of age or older, U.S. citizens, and watched the news regularly or had some interaction with law enforcement. The survey distributed on Survey Monkey included questions pertaining to media consumption and perception of police. The theoretical foundations applied within this research were Gerbner’s cultivation theory, social cognitive theory of mass communication, social procedural justice theory, and social exchange theory. Results reflected that …

Experiences And Perspectives Of Healthcare Professionals With Hypnotherapy For Adult Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors, Ja'quavia Lynn Demus

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has been defined as one of the most prevalent forms of childhood trauma. Current treatment approaches for adult survivors of CSA often fail to provide timely or sufficient relief, indicating a pressing need for more diverse and innovative therapeutic approaches to achieve optimal recovery. Hypnosis is one treatment method available and has been proven to provide reliable and timely recovery for other complex traumas. The purpose of this study was to gain knowledge on healthcare professionals expressed experiences and treatment of adult CSA survivors, while also exploring their efficacy and usage of clinical hypnotherapy as a …

A Robust Optimization Approach To Mechanism Design, Jiangtao Li, Kexin Wang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We study the design of mechanisms when the mechanism designer faces local uncertainty about agents’ beliefs. Specifically, we consider a designer who does not know the exact beliefs of the agents but is confident that her estimate is within ϵ of the beliefs held by the agents (where ϵ reflects the degree of local uncertainty). Adopting the robust optimization approach, we design mechanisms that incentivize agents to truthfully report their payoff-relevant information regardless of their actual beliefs. For any fixed ϵ, we identify necessary and sufficient conditions under which requiring this sense of robustness is without loss of revenue for …

The Cultural Mismatch Between Latinas' Interdependent Self-Concept And The Independent Culture Of Stem, Maria Guadalupe Velasco

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

I assessed the role of self-concept fit, as outlined in the SAFE model (Schmader & Sedikides, 2018), in Latina college students’ feelings toward pursuing a STEM course. Research on the underrepresentation of certain social groups in STEM has mainly focused on the role of goal fit. More specifically, researchers have found that portraying STEM environments as affording communal goals promotes goal fit, which is related to positive outcomes like interest, belonging, and favorable ratings for STEM courses, careers, and lab positions (Belanger et al., 2017; Belanger et al., 2020; Diekman et al., 2011). Because Latinas are socialized within an interdependent …

Disparities Surrounding The Availability Of Feminine Hygiene Products In The Workplace, Marlene Ventura

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Menstrual inequality in the workplace continues to exist, affecting financial welfare, mental health, physical health, and access to care. Women have been enduring disparities related to menstruation, including stigma, shame, and period poverty, which are often exacerbated in the workplace. This study aims to explore the experiences of women who do not have access to free feminine hygiene products in the workplace.

The researcher conducted one-to-one interviews in person with employed women (n=9). The questions were semi-structured and based on a survey with nineteen questions addressing areas of menstrual inequality in the workplace. Seven themes were identified: 1) work performance, …

Serotonin 1a Receptor Modulation On Behavioral Flexibility In Btbr And C57bl/6j Mice, Cassandra Cavazos

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by a subset of symptoms known as restricted repetitive behaviors (RRBs). RRBs are categorized into both lower order and higher order RRBs, where the latter can be described as behavioral inflexibility. The BTBR T+ tf/J (BTBR) mouse strain has been an extensively used animal model that demonstrate the behavioral symptoms of these individuals, including inflexible behavior. Currently, there are few effective treatments for individuals with ASD that express RRBs. Past research has investigated treatments that target serotonin due its historic involvement in ASD. 8-OH-DPAT (8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamine) tetralin) is a research …

Examining Construal Level Priming As A Potentional Intervention For Misinformation Sharing, Xiangyu Cui

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Misinformation has become increasingly difficult to combat in the digital age. The current study tested a model exploring the relationships between self-regulation, habitual social media use, construal level, and propagation of misinformation. Drawing from previous research, I hypothesized that individuals with higher self-regulation would exhibit lower susceptibility to misinformation sharing. I also hypothesized that habitual social media use mediates the relationship between self-regulation and misinformation sharing. In addition, I introduced construal level priming as an experimental intervention, where individuals primed with abstract construal levels may demonstrate more discerning information processing, thereby reducing the likelihood of misinformation sharing. Results from data …

Corn Leaf Disease Prediction Using Deep Learning, Meghana Varayuri

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Corn is a widely cultivated agricultural product, serving as a cornerstone in food production and industrial applications such as biofuels, playing a crucial role in the global economy. This study explores the application of deep transfer learning to accurately classify major corn diseases from leaf images, aiming to enhance disease management strategies for improved agricultural productivity and sustainability. The customized Dense net 201 model achieved 95% prediction accuracy on an untrained dataset. Data augmentation improved the model’s accuracy from 91% to 95%. This supervised learning approach enhances the model’s performance by increasing the diversity, leading to better generalization and accuracy. …

Emotional Eating In Adolescents With Obesity: Case Series, Paula Dayan

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Childhood obesity remains a significant public health concern, with substantial implications for physical and mental well-being. This thesis aims to explore the intricate relationship between emotional eating and obesity among adolescents, with a focus on identifying emotional triggers and assessing their psychological impact. Utilizing a cross-sectional study design at a university in southern California, data were collected from two adolescents aged 13-18 years. Through surveys and body composition measurements, participants' emotional barriers to weight loss and readiness for change were assessed. The findings underscore the presence of varying degrees of emotional hurdles among adolescents with obesity, including depression, frustration, and …

Empowering Change To Shape Tomorrow: An Integrated Marketing Communications Plan For The Building Wealth Initiative, Ramtin Ranjpour

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

We are witnessing a renaissance — one where organizations are expected to be a community with a valued culture. With the rise of this wave, incorporating integrated marketing communications (IMC) into organizations is more vital than ever. This project uses the public relations theory of relationship management, and the marketing model of AIDAR (attention, interest, desire, action, retention) to craft a professional IMC plan for the Building Wealth Initiative (BWI), an Inland Empire nonprofit organization specializing in financial literacy and services. The project uses focus groups and secondary research through informal online observations to gain the essential understanding for creating …

Beyond Initial Engagement: Investigating Factors That Contribute To Continued Participation In Social Movements, Alejandro Garcia

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Historically, social movements have been important in addressing social issues and driving social change, particularly in challenging both systemic racism and structural inequalities faced by minority groups. However, these movements require sustained participation to be effective. While it is important to understand the psychological factors as to how and why one engages in social movements, few empirical studies have evaluated the psychological factors that influence ongoing participation in social movements. This study examines predictors of continued engagement in social movements among individuals who have participated in two or more in-person demonstrations. A sample of 305 participants involved in four different …

Navigating Crises In Education: A Study Of Communication Strategies In Pk-12 Public School Districts, Darian Byrd

All Dissertations

This study explores the crisis communication strategies utilized by superintendents and communication leaders in PK-12 public school districts, focusing on their structural, human resource, political, and symbolic dimensions. Employing a qualitative, multi-site, multi-case study approach, this research delves into the communication frameworks, practices, and decision-making processes during crises, providing a comprehensive understanding of effective crisis management in educational settings.

The research is anchored in Bolman and Deal’s Four-Frame Model, which offers a multidimensional perspective on organizational analysis. By integrating this theoretical framework, the study examines how different communication strategies align with structural, human resource, political, and symbolic aspects …

Graduate Socialization Experiences Of International Married Women From South Asia, Paushali Saha

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examined the graduate socialization experiences of international married women from South Asia using phenomenology. Prior research has shown that graduate socialization processes like relationships with faculty, opportunities to conduct research, and networking with others in the field are key to success in graduate school and obtaining desired positions after school. Interviews with four married South Asian women revealed that for them, faculty relationships were imperative to their success. Additionally, their husband and family support made a big difference in their ability to engage in their graduate studies and be successful. They also reported the multiple roles they hold …

Reducing Greenhouse Gases Through Food Waste Reduction: A Literature Review Of Programs And Behavior Change, Schafer Flowerday

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions significantly contribute to climate change. Methane is a potent GHG emitted in landfills as organic material breaks down. Food waste is the single most common item disposed of in Lincoln’s Bluff Road Landfill (LTU, 2022). As such, food waste disposal in the landfill is a preventable issue that could dramatically reduce GHG emissions in Lincoln. This project seeks to determine what barriers and motivations exist for reducing food waste at a consumer level. A literature review was conducted to find what behavior change campaigns and interventions have taken place nationwide to encourage residential food waste …