Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Media Quiteracy: Why Digital Disconnection Belongs In The Media Literacy Curriculum, Katie Day Good

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

In this essay, we introduce media quiteracy, which we use to conceptualize and describe the valuable learning that can happen through the refusal to take up new media or the act of pausing or ceasing its use. We see media quiteracy as an active and generative approach to learning and argue for its inclusion in the media literacy curriculum. We trace the history of critical engagement with technologies within education and then articulate what media quiteracy can look like in practice. We surface and discuss three potential obstacles to teaching media quiteracy, which include the ways in which it problematizes …

Reflections On Preparing Regional Chapters For Nca5, Abby Frazier, Allyza R. Lustig, Michael Chang, Emile H. Elias, Renee A. Mcpherson, Victoria W. Keener, Zena N. Grecni, Henry P. Huntington, Ellen L. Mecray, Kimberly M. Wood, Kathie D. Dello, Patricia Chardón-Maldonado

Geography

Regional chapters in the National Climate Assessment (NCA) report provide a comprehensive synthesis of how climate change is impacting United States regions and are extensively used to support climate change decision-making by local communities and policymakers. The regional chapter author teams are tasked with assessing the climate trends, risks, and responses across a range of sectors and across a vast and diverse geography, while making content locally relevant. Regional chapters have evolved in many ways since the third NCA (NCA3), often shifting from focusing on climate stressors and hazards to addressing more diverse human-centric impacts (e.g., human health), inequities, and …

Best Practices For Applying And Interpreting The Total Operating Characteristic, Tanner Honnef, Robert Gilmore Pontius

Geography

The Total Operating Characteristic (TOC) is an improvement on the quantitative method called the Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC), both of which plot the association between a binary variable and a rank variable. TOC curves reveal the sizes of the four entries in the confusion matrix at each threshold, which make TOC curves more easily interpretable than ROC curves. The TOC has become popular, especially to assess the fit of simulation models to predict land change. However, the literature has shown variation in how authors apply and interpret the TOC, creating some misleading conclusions. Our manuscript lists best practices when applying …

Analyzing Social Media Trends In Cosmeceuticals: Insights From Google Trends And Tiktok Analytics, E. Correia, Jenna Mandel, Stephanie R. Jackson Cullison

Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVE: Social media usage has surged, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Dermatology invokes intense interest on social media, and cosmeceuticals are among the most trending topics, offering a unique space for dermatologists to share their expertise. By using tools like Google Trends and TikTok viewership, we aim to capture cosmeceutical trends to guide dermatologists' educational efforts.

METHODS: A Google Trends search from January 2004 to December 2023 was performed on retinol, bakuchiol, salicylic acid, glycolic acid, azelaic acid, hydroquinone, niacinamide, vitamin C serum, and hyaluronic acid. Trend lines were created for each term, and yearly percent differences in relative search …

Right-Sizing The Smart City In Southeast Asia, Prerona Das, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

The idea of right-sizing, or the process of adjusting the size of a city to maximise the efficient use of resources, has traditionally been used in strategic management and the resizing of shrinking cities to promote efficient urban development. Concurrently, in contemporary discourse, the sizing of smart cities has emerged as a critical topic, as size impacts the implementation of smart initiatives. Smaller cities offer the advantage of serving as cost- effective testing grounds for innovative solutions; however, they also need to be sizeable enough to attract private investments and build a robust smart city ecosystem. In this paper we …

Evaluation Of Long-Term Performance Of Transportation Earthworks Prone To Weather-Driven Deterioration Under Changing Climate, Amr Morsy, Emma Varela

Mineta Transportation Institute

Embankments are key transportation infrastructure features providing essential support for long, linear stretches of transportation infrastructure, including highways and railways, in California and globally. Clay embankments are susceptible to weather-related deterioration processes that can gradually compromise their stability and, in some cases, lead to unexpected failures. Climate change, along with the associated shifts in weather patterns, is projected to adversely impact weather-related deterioration processes, leading to exacerbated failures and/or shorter service life. This study evaluated the impact of climate change on the rate of weather-driven deterioration of embankments in two locations in California: Los Angeles and Sacramento. Specifically, a multi-phase …

Latent Active Transportation Methodology, Maria Chierichetti, Fatemeh Davoudi Kakhki

Mineta Transportation Institute

Understanding and estimating latent demand for active transportation, such as walking and cycling, is essential for designing infrastructure and policies that promote sustainable mobility. Unlike traditional demand models that focus on observed trips, latent demand estimation seeks to quantify the unrealized potential for active travel due to barriers such as inadequate infrastructure, safety concerns, or lack of connectivity. This study develops a comprehensive latent demand model tailored for California, integrating geospatial analysis and multimodal accessibility assessments. The methodology employs a GIS-based corridor analysis approach, utilizing spatial accessibility metrics and distance decay functions to evaluate potential demand. It incorporates employment and …

Book Review: Justice Batted Last, Darlene A. Kluka, Aaron Livingston

Global Sport Business Journal

Book Review of Don Zminda's (2025) Justice Batted Last: Ernie Banks, Minnie Miñoso, and the Unheralded Players Who Integrated Chicago's Major League Teams

Generative Ai And Journalism: Hype, The Always Already New, Hype, And Directions For Scholarly Imagination, Nik Usher

Communication: Faculty Scholarship

This essay pushes against hype about generative AI in both journalism and journalism scholarship. Emergent questions around the black box nature of AI, concerns about information disorder, and problems with the theft of intellectual property are recontextualized with a new focus – one that demands scholars think outside of the newsroom, center the natural and the cultural elements of journalism, and ultimately, remain critical about the always already new of new technologies and powerful companies looking to devalue human labor. A warning is issued about generative AI and journalism more generally, pushing us to study the importance of remembering unequal …

Internal Communication And Organizational Culture: A K–12 District Office Phenomenological Study, Jessica Coleman Scogin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study utilized motivating language theory to explore the experiences that K–12 district office staff had with internal communication. The purpose of the study was to find how these experiences impacted an employee’s feelings of safety, value, and positive emotions in the workplace. The lens of motivating language allowed for a view of how empathetic language, meaning-making language, and direction-giving language shaped experiences for employees. Communication is an integral part of the culture of an organization; yet it is often overlooked as an influencing factor in job satisfaction and well-being. In fact, poor internal communication can lead to negativity …

The Influence Of Leadership Behaviors On School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists' Perception Of Burnout, Emily A. Lambert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current research on burnout and attrition of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) focused on the reason for attrition, which has remained relatively consistent across time. Despite identifying the factors contributing to attrition, minimal research has focused on how SLPs can prevent burnout or how to improve SLP retention rates in schools. Self-determination theory, fulfillment of competence, autonomy, and relatedness increase intrinsic motivation. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify how SLPs employed in Texas school districts described the factors contributing to their resilience in remaining employed in the schools. Fifteen SLPs participated in semistructured interviews about their perception of …

2025 April, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for April of 2025.

The Use (And Misuse) Of Tariffs In North America: A New Trade War?, Maroula Khraiche, Armando R. Lopez-Velasco, Jean-Baptiste Tondji

School of Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

Trade wars may have started. At the time this report was published, the Trump administration had threatened, then paused, a 25 percent tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods. Before the pause, Mexico and Canada were preparing retaliatory tariffs. After the pause, Trump ordered a 25 percent import tax on all steel and aluminum entering the United States to start in March 2025 and announced a plan for tariffs on US trading partners. In this brief, we document the different perspectives and economic consequences of North American trade wars and beyond.

Arab American Well-Being And Impacts Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Rawan H. Atari-Khan, Katrina S. Rbeiz, Lawrence H. Gerstein

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African Americans experience various forms of racial–ethnic trauma in the United States, including historical and intergenerational trauma (IGT). The population has been migrating to the United States since the 1800s, and the number of migrants has risen in recent decades due to war, persecution, and family reunification. As a result, the children of these migrants may be exposed to IGT, with research suggesting that descendants of individuals who have experienced trauma are more susceptible to poor mental health outcomes. Using semistructured interviews, alongside the art of storytelling and empowerment through critical consciousness, this study investigated …

Discrimination And Adverse Birth Outcomes Among Latina Women: The Protective Role Of Social Support., Sabrina R. Liu, Kimberly D'Anna-Hernandez, Curt A. Sandman, Elysia Poggi Davis, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Interpersonal discrimination has been associated with adverse birth outcomes among Black populations, but few studies have examined the impact of discrimination among Latinx/Hispanic populations in the United States, especially in conjunction with resources that could be protective. The present study examined (a) if exposure to discrimination is associated with adverse birth outcomes for Latina/Hispanic women and (b) if prenatal social support buffers these links. Method: In two independent prospective studies of Latina/Hispanic women in Southern California (N = 84 and N = 102), the relation between maternal experience of discrimination and birth outcomes (length of gestation and birth weight) …

Commentary: Caring About Caregivers And The Importance Of Refining Methodology In Caregiver-Focused Studies, Johanna Michlig, Astrida S. Kaugars

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Significant progress has been made in advancing caregiver wellbeing research and clinical application in the last decade (Salley et al., 2024). This commentary on the work of Badovinac et al. (2024) will highlight the importance of more comprehensively examining context in caregiver responses. Caregivers live within the push and pull between social and family demands, and it is vital to expand our view to gain a more comprehensive understanding of their experience. Consequently, the methodology of future studies with caregivers must reflect those demands and complexities.

Pandemic-Related Stress Increases Ptsd And Depression Risk In Traumatic Injury Patients: A Comparative Study Of Pre- And Peri-Pandemic Trauma Cases, Juan Pablo Zapata, Carissa W. Tomas, Sydney Timmer-Murillo, Terri A. Deroon-Cassini, Christine Larson, Lucas Torres, Amber Brandolino, Timothy J. Geier, Hason Khan, Andrew T. Schramm

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the psychological well-being of the general population. However, there are limited studies that examine its mental health effects on patients who have experienced traumatic injuries and tracked their recovery over time. This study aimed to: (1) compare the rates and severity of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression between patients who sustained traumatic injuries before the COVID-19 pandemic (pre-pandemic) and those injured during the pandemic (peri-pandemic); and (2) assess whether the degree of pandemic-related stress (e.g., worry about infection, social isolation, loss of home/job) predicted the severity of PTSD or depression symptoms. Participants (N …

Navigating Food Insecurity: Families’ Coping Strategies, Challenges, And Insights For Educators, Ndũcũ Ngũgĩ

Theses & Dissertations

Food is essential for life. It fuels growth, well-being, and stability. Yet, food insecurity -uncertain or inadequate access to sufficient food- remains a jarring reality for millions. In the U.S. alone, 47 million people, including 14 million children, experience food insecurity despite government efforts. Addressing this crisis is essential for public health, socioeconomic progress, and societal welfare. This narrative study’s main objective was to understand the lived experiences of food-insecure families by examining how they navigate the challenges they face, their inventive coping mechanisms, and the insights they can provide for educators. While research has shown the adverse effects of …

To Sleep – Perchance To Dream: Does Reducing Social Media Use Improve Sleep Quality?, Meredith E. David, James A. Roberts

AMTP Proceedings 2025

It is surprising given the increasingly high use of social media use among young adults and the likely relationship between it and deteriorating sleep quality that more research is not focused on the relationship between these two variables. The present study results supported our two a priori hypotheses. Social media use and sleep were inversely associated (H1). Further, our data showed that the level of social media use impacted sleep quality - a causal relationship is indicated between the two variables (H2). The treatment group that reduced its use of social media over a 10-day period reported higher levels of …

From A Learning To A Smart Nation: The Rise Of The Digitalization Megatrend And Singapore's Development, Siu Loon Hoe

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to discuss the “learning nation” concept and examine the characteristics and implications of using the “learning” premodifier in this nation-building program. Design/methodology/approach: This article reviews how the “learning” aspect is inter-related to a series of national information and communication technology masterplans and includes a comparative analysis of the related premodifier “smart” as Singapore sets forth its ambition to become a “smart nation” as part of the digitalization megatrend. A print media indicator and Google Trends form part of the methodology to ascertain the rise of digital technology over a certain period. The former …

Trait Mindfulness Is Associated With Enhanced Daily Affectivity And Cognition Independent Of Daily Stressors Exposure: Insights From Large-Scale Daily Diary Studies In The Us And Singapore, Yi Jing Chua, Andree Hartanto, Nadyanna M. Majeed

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Trait mindfulness has been linked to various adaptive outcomes, including attenuated affective and cognitive responses to laboratory-induced stress. However, the role of trait mindfulness as a resilience factor against daily stressors exposures is less established. Across 2 studies, multilevel analysis was used to examine the relationships between trait mindfulness and daily affect and cognition, as well as affective and cognitive reactivity to and recovery from everyday stressor exposure. Trait mindfulness was significantly associated with higher daily positive affect in both studies, lower negative affect and cognitive failure, and lower cognitive reactivity to daily stressor exposure in Study 2. However, trait …

Registered Replication Report: Study 3 From Trafimow And Hughes (2012), Sean C. Rife, Et Al

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Terror-management theory (TMT) proposes that when people are made aware of their own death, they are more likely to endorse cultural values. TMT is a staple of social psychology, featured prominently in textbooks and the subject of much research. The implications associated with TMT are significant because its advocates claim it can partially explain cultural conflicts, intergroup antagonisms, and even war. However, considerable ambiguity regarding effect size exists, and no preregistered replication of death-thought-accessibility findings exists. Moreover, there is debate regarding the role of time delay between the manipulation of mortality salience and assessment of key measures. We present results …

Ageing In Place: The Key To Receiving A Superaged Society, Paulin Tay Straughan, Yi Wen (Chen Yiwen) Tan, Qi Ting, Zidane Tiew, Zeyu Zheng, Rachel Wen Yi Ngu, Wei Tin Hiah

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Ageing in place is the ability to remain in one’s community, where living conditions foster a sense of attachment that enhances holistic well-being. To facilitate this, both the built and social environments within which the home is nested must be conducive to successful ageing. This paper deconstructs the merits of ageing in place, specifically how attachment to the lived environment contributes to holistic well-being. We analysed data from 6020 participants in the Singapore Life Panel® using path models, where we examined three dimensions of ageing in place: place identity, continuity, and social inclusion. Five path analyses show that two dimensions …

Constructive Trusts In Malaysia: A Methodological Reappraisal, Hang Wu Tang, Ying Khai Liew

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In recent times, Malaysian courts have resorted to a ritual incantation of unconscionability and the notion of a remedial constructive trust to justify a declaration of a constructive trust. This methodology is unhelpful for approaching constructive trusts and has led the law to develop in an unprincipled and unpredictable fashion. Our central thesis is that the key Malaysian decisions could have been decided on the basis of pre-existing legal principles upon which English and Commonwealth courts have declared a constructive trust. We argue that future courts ought to realign their methodology with the orthodox tradition of incremental development of the …

The Insurgent Smart City: How A Social Movement Created An Alternative Imaginary Of The Smart City, Andrew Stokols

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Urban scholars have critiqued smart cities for their association with neoliberal governance, narrow focus on quantifiable aspects of urban systems, and failure to incorporate citizens’ needs or aspirations. The “smart city” remains a contested concept and as such is subject to reappropriation. Here, I analyze the case of an urban social movement, the 2019–2020 Hong Kong Anti-ELAB protests, as an alternative, “insurgent smart city.” Following from an earlier network analysis of Telegram channels used during the protests, I show how the communications system underpinning much of the protest action simultaneously enabled coordination while also remaining open to grassroots decision-making and …

A Novel Method For Semi-Quantitative Detection Of Hpv16 And Hpv18 Mrna With A Low-Cost, Open-Source Fluorimeter, Kathryn A Kundrod, Mary E Natoli, Chelsey A Smith, Jackson B Coole, Megan M Chang, Emilie Newsham Novak, Elizabeth Chiao, Elizabeth A Stier, Jane R Montealegre, Michael E Scheurer, Philip E Castle, Kathleen M Schmeler, Rebecca R Richards-Kortum

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Despite global calls to eliminate cervical cancer, rates of cervical cancer incidence and mortality remain high in resource-limited settings, where it is challenging to implement and sustain screening, diagnosis, and treatment programs. The presence of high-risk HPV mRNA in cervical cells is a sensitive and specific biomarker of cervical precancer. Yet, current testing methods are too costly and complex for use in resource-limited settings. Here, we present a novel method for semi-quantitative detection of HPV16 and HPV18 mRNA with minimal infrastructure requirements. The assay relies on isothermal reverse transcription recombinase polymerase amplification (RT-RPA) with real-time fluorescence readout, demonstrated on rugged, …

Crispr/Cas9 Gene Therapy Increases The Risk Of Tumorigenesis In The Mouse Model Of Hereditary Tyrosinemia Type I, Tong Chen, Mercedes Barzi, Nika Furey, Hyunjae R Kim, Francis P Pankowicz, Xavier Legras, Sara H Elsea, Ayrea E Hurley, Diane Yang, David A Wheeler, Malgorzata Borowiak, Beatrice Bissig-Choisat, Pavel Sumazin, Karl-Dimiter Bissig

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Background & aims: The therapeutic potential of CRISPR gene editing has been demonstrated in various animal models; however, little is known about its long-term consequences. This study seeks to bridge this gap by investigating the lasting consequences of CRISPR gene therapy in an animal model of hereditary tyrosinemia type I (HT-I). We compared the standard of care-nitisinone, a small molecule inhibitor of hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPD)-with the deletion of the Hpd gene by CRISPR gene therapy. Both treatments block flux through tyrosine catabolism and thereby prevent the accumulation of toxic catabolites in HT-I.

Methods: We assessed the efficacy and safety of …

Amniocentesis In Pregnancies At Or Beyond 24 Weeks: An International Multicenter Study, Roni Zemet, Mohamad Ali Maktabi, Alexandra Tinfow, Jessica L Giordano, Thomas M Heisler, Qi Yan, Roni Plaschkes, Jenny Stokes, Jennifer M Walsh, Siobhán Corcoran, Erica Schindewolf, Kendra Miller, Asha N Talati, Kristen A Miller, Karin Blakemore, Kate Swanson, Jana Ramm, Ivonne Bedei, Teresa N Sparks, Angie C Jelin, Neeta L Vora, Juliana S Gebb, David A Crosby, Michal Berkenstadt, Boaz Weisz, Ronald J Wapner, Ignatia B Van Den Veyver

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Background: Amniocentesis for genetic diagnosis is most commonly done between 15 and 22 weeks of gestation but can be performed at later gestational ages. The safety and genetic diagnostic accuracy of amniocentesis have been well-established through numerous large-scale multicenter studies for procedures before 24 weeks, but comprehensive data on late amniocentesis remain sparse.

Objective: To evaluate the indications, diagnostic yield, safety, and maternal and fetal outcomes associated with amniocentesis performed at or beyond 24 weeks of gestation.

Study design: We conducted an international multicenter retrospective cohort study examining pregnant individuals who underwent amniocentesis for prenatal diagnostic testing at gestational ages …

Ethical Considerations For Sharing Aggregate Results From Pragmatic Clinical Trials, Stephanie R Morain, Abigail Brickler, Joseph Ali, Patricia Pearl O'Rourke, Kayte Spector-Bagdady, Benjamin Wilfond, Vasiliki Rahimzadeh, Caleigh Propes, Kayla Mehl, David Wendler

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

A growing literature has explored the ethical obligations and current practices related to sharing aggregate results with research participants. However, no prior work has examined these issues in the context of pragmatic clinical trials. Several characteristics of pragmatic clinical trials may complicate both the ethics and the logistics of sharing aggregate results. Among these characteristics include that pragmatic clinical trials may affect the rights, welfare, and interests of not only patient-subjects but also clinicians, meaning that results may be owed to a broader range of groups than typically considered in other research contexts. In addition, some pragmatic clinical trials are …

Changes In Household Composition And Their Effects On The Academic Achievement Of Orphans And Vulnerable Children Affected By Hiv In Rural Zambia, Mei Tan, Nan Li, Ackim Mungo, Philip E. Thumac, Elena L. Grigorenko

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

The African kinship system facilitates the movement of children and adults between households to mitigate hardship, yet few studies have documented membership changes in rural African households over time and addressed the effects of these household dynamics on the developmental outcomes of children. We used a household inventory instrument to document the number of changes in household membership experienced by 93 households in rural Zambia between two timepoints (∼2 years apart). We then used multilevel models to evaluate the effects of migration and household change on the academic learning of the children affected by HIV residing in these households, positing …