Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Recommender Systems And Reinforcement Learning For Human-Building Interaction And Context Aware Support: A Text Mining-Driven Review Of Scientific Literature, Wenhao Zhang, Matias Quintana, Clayton Miller

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

The indoor environment significantly impacts human health and well-being; enhancing health and reducing energy consumption in these settings is a central research focus. With the advancement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), recommendation systems and reinforcement learning (RL) have emerged as promising approaches to induce behavioral changes to improve the indoor environment and energy efficiency of buildings. This study aims to employ text mining and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to thoroughly examine the connections among these approaches in the context of human-building interaction and occupant context-aware support. The study analyzed 27,595 articles from the ScienceDirect database, revealing extensive use …

Insights For The Future Of Car Rental And Ridesharing: Driving Behavior Across Different Levels Of Automation, Pranav Meda, Aubrey Victoria Contreras, Wei-Hsiang Lo, Gaojian Huang, Yue Luo

Mineta Transportation Institute

Autonomous vehicles are reshaping the car rental and ridesharing industries, potentially leading to a unified model of on-demand transportation suitable for both uncommon (e.g., business trips) and daily commuting. An exploratory study of human behavior towards autonomous vehicles can uncover the challenges and opportunities inherent in different levels of vehicle automation. This study aims to (a) identify behavioral differences in drivers operating vehicles at various levels of automation and (b) explore how these behaviors vary with different assistance feature styles, specifically between risky and conservative modes. Human-subject experiments were conducted among twelve participants (aged 21 to 29, including four women) …

Understanding The Prevalence Of Mental Health And Behavioral Distress In Transit Assaults And Presenting Targeted Response And Mitigation Methods To Reduce Victimization Trends, Kathleen Moore, Emilie Ellenberg, Melissa Carlson, Jodi Godfrey, Lisa Staes

Mineta Transportation Institute

This research project was performed to better understand the prevalence of mental health and behavioral distress in transit assaults and present corresponding targeted response and mitigation methods to reduce victimization trends. It includes a literature review, a data presentation and overview of reported public transit assault-related events, an examination of the contributing factors to those events, and documentation of 10 transit agency case studies. The literature review discusses some of the misconceptions of mental illness and associated stigmas and discrimination that can occur in response to these misconceptions. It discusses various approaches and strategies that transit agencies have used to …

Voices From The Field: Mental Health Therapists' Perceptions Of Collaboration With Child Protective Services Workers, Tamara P. Fields

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The child welfare system in the United States requires collaboration across various agencies in the provision of services. Although collaboration between mental health therapists and state agencies is fundamental when the goal is to provide quality care and achieve positive outcomes for families involved with Child Protective Services (CPS), the system is characterized as complicated and fragmented. Using Bronstein’s 2003 model of interprofessional collaboration to understand the dynamics of collaboration between mental health therapists and CPS workers in Texas, this qualitative descriptive research study described mental health therapists’ perceptions of collaborating with CPS workers in delivering therapy services to CPS-involved …

Childhood Sexual Abuse Among Asian American Adults: Prevalence, Cultural Barriers, And Mental Health Implications, Kruti S. Chaliawala, Liliana Rojas-Guyler

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Childhood sexual abuse represents a significant public health concern, particularly within minority populations, where adversities and complications are prevalent but understudied. This study aims to investigate the mental health of Asian American childhood sexual abuse survivors and explore the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse among Asian adults. A secondary analysis of the 2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data was conducted, including a final sample of 1,894 Asian adults (0.16% of the total sample size of N = 401,958). Among these participants, 16.8% (n = 1,894) reported experiencing CSA. The most common forms of abuse were inappropriate touching …

Respuesta A Una Crítica Política Y A Un Ataque Personal Contra Un Informe De Las Naciones Unidas Que Presenta Nueva Evidencia Sobre La Prostitución Como Causa Y Consecuencia De La Violencia Contra Las Mujeres Y Las Niñas, Reem Alsalem

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Reem Alsalem, Relatora Especial de las Naciones Unidas sobre la violencia contra las mujeres y las niñas, sus causas y consecuencias, responde a las acusaciones falsas y infundadas y a los ataques personales sobre su informe sobre Prostitución y Violencia contra la Mujer, presentado ante la 56ª sesión del Consejo de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas en Ginebra, 2024. Presenté nueva evidencia sobre la relación entre la violencia contra las mujeres y las niñas y la prostitución. Utilizando el derecho de los derechos humanos, el informe describe la prostitución como un sistema de abuso, explotación y violencia contra las …

Tale Of Two Requesters: How Public Records Law Experiences Differ By Requester Types, A. Jay Wagner, David Cuillier

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

The journalism industry was central to the materialization of U.S. freedom of information (FOI) laws, yet journalists frequently voice dissatisfaction with the state of FOI laws. The study surveyed 330 public records requesters on their experiences with FOI laws, finding public-interest requesters (journalists, academics, nonprofits, and private individuals) reported a significantly different experience, including a lower likelihood of receiving records, than for-profit requesters (commercial requesters and lawyers). For-profit requesters were less likely to believe FOI laws positively impact government accountability or improve society. The findings suggest reassessing whom the laws serve and whether they meet their original democratic objectives.

'Reciprocal' Tariffs: What's In A Word, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

On 13 February 2025, President Trump released a memorandum announcing his intention to impose “reciprocal tariffs” under the Fair and Reciprocal Plan (FRP). The plan does not operate under a reasonable definition of reciprocity, is illegal under World Trade Organisation (WTO) law, would damage both the United States and its trading partners and could trigger reactions that would bring an end to the international trading system as we know it.

Black English For Lawyers: A Primer, L. Alexander Walker Iii

Faculty Scholarship

Lawyers do not know as much about Black English as they should, and people’s freedom hangs in the balance. Differences between language varieties in sounds and grammar can change and have changed the outcome of cases: “He at work” and “He be at work” mean two completely different things. To reduce misinterpretation and therefore wrongful outcomes, this Article provides a primer on the sounds, words, grammar, and social context of Black English targeted directly at legal practitioners. It begins by explaining key concepts in linguistics and making the case for why lawyers must foreground accurate description over normative prescription when …

Struggles Around Transgenderism In Hungarian Feminism: An Autoethnographic Account, Dalma Feró

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

In this autoethnography, I am using my personal experiences as data to examine the inextricable personal, political, social, and cultural aspects of one of the most decisive ruptures in Hungarian “progressive” activism of the second half of the 2010s. In the mid-2010s, I was part of an informal collective of women that started to outline a feminist approach critical of mainstream individualistic renditions of women’s rights as social progress, thereby diverging fundamentally from the country’s institutionalised feminism. As I and the circle of women I worked with focused on women’s reproductive autonomy, we encountered central feminist questions about sex and …

Response To A Political Critique And Personal Attack Against A United Nations Report That Presented New Evidence About Prostitution As A Cause And Consequence Of Violence Against Women And Girls, Reem Alsalem

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Reem Alsalem, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls, Its Causes and Consequences, responses to the false and unfounded accusations and personal attacks on her Report on Prostitution and Violence Against Women presented before the 56^th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, 2024. I presented new evidence regarding the relationship between violence against women and girls and prostitution. Using human rights law, the Report described how prostitution is a system of abuse, exploitation, and violence against women and girls. The Report’s goal was to clarify concepts and terminology, …

The Operator Algebras Mentor Network: Impact Of Community-Based Mentoring, Anna Duwenig, Kari Eifler, Priyanga Ganesan, Lara Ismert, Viviana Meschitti, Sarah Plosker, Karen Strung

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The Operator Algebras Mentor Network (OAMN) is an international mentoring initiative that offers support in small groups to women and minority genders in the particularly male-dominated field of operator algebras (OA) in mathematics. Expected advantages of membership include raising awareness of the lack of gender diversity in this field, providing advice to mentees by mentors (e.g., pertaining to career or work/life balance), broadening one’s network in OA, etc. In this project, we set out to determine if membership within the OAMN is beneficial to its members. To this end we sent a questionnaire to OAMN members and a control group …

What Does Randomization Do?, Michael A. Lewis

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In the health and social sciences, when it comes to causal inference, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are considered the gold standard. The justification for granting RCTs this status is the claim that random allocation to different treatment groups addresses the problem of confounding variables by ensuring that any differences in observed outcomes across treatment groups can be attributed only to differences in treatment. I contend that this is a misunderstanding of what random allocation does and that once we see where this argument goes wrong, it becomes clear that the difference, concerning causal inference, between a single observational study versus …

Teaching Mathematics For Labour Emancipation: An Autoethnography Of A Math Teacher In Mykonos, Dimitris T. Maris, Konstantinos P. Christou

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

A wealthy society does not necessarily ensure a good education for its students, just as it does not guarantee wealth for its workers. In this paper we visit a junior high school mathematics classroom on the Greek island of Mykonos, where a significant number of students are employed. In this context, we explore how a mathematics teacher, inspired by social justice mathematics, can empower students in their work environments. We adopt an autoethnographic approach in our narrative, presenting the process of designing and implementing specific mathematical activities aimed at revealing the issue of labour exploitation in the touristic Greek islands. …

Behind The Leaders: An Assessment Of Principal Supervisor Practices, Carla Roberts Austin, Kristie Roberts-Lewis

The Guardianship Journal

This research study explored the effects of district size and region on the roles of principal supervisors. Key factors examined include district region, span of control, and allocation of time for support and development by principal supervisors. The researcher compared principals’ perceptions of support they receive from their principal supervisor across different school district sizes and district types (regions) in Georgia, framed within the sociocultural learning theory. Participants selected currently serve as principals in Georgia’s rural, urban, and suburban school districts. A total of seventy-five principals agreed to participate in this study. Data were collected through a survey instrument. Descriptive …

Drivers And Barriers To Financial Transparency In Georgia’S Local Governments, Min S. Kim

The Guardianship Journal

This study investigates the determinants of financial transparency in local governments, specifically measured by the availability of financial documents on official websites. Hypotheses were developed to examine the relationships between financial transparency and three categories of influencing factors: community environmental characteristics, governance structures, and financial conditions. Using empirical analysis on a sample of 159 counties in Georgia, the findings reveal varying levels of support for the proposed hypotheses. Key determinants of financial transparency include population size, median household income, and the size of the board of commissioners. Conversely, financial condition factors were not found to significantly influence financial transparency. These …

University Student Organizations: Influence On Leadership Skills In The Workforce, James W. Ebert, Tomicka N. Williams, Aline K. Major, Kristi Pitts, Donna Yohman, Jodi Levit, Thomas Anderson

The Guardianship Journal

The modern-day workforce is ever-changing, and so are the required leadership skill sets for employees to be successful in the workplace. University student organizations (USOs) offer students opportunities to develop their leadership skills in preparation for the workforce. The purpose of this research is to conduct an empirical study that uses distributed leadership theory (DLT) as a lens to explore how USOs influence a student's leadership capacity in the workforce. Exploring the various components of DLT (autonomy, accountability, and leadership capacity) using an empirical research method approach is plausible in understanding the unique approach USOs offer students while simultaneously preparing …

Exploring Modern Data Accessibility Surrounding Police-Involved Killings Of Black Citizens, Chloe Robinson, Jenna L. Borseth

The Guardianship Journal

The need for greater data transparency regarding police-involved killings has been a recurring issue raised by scholars in the field. With limited means of using official policing data, research in the area of police-involved fatalities and other critical policing issues has relied on alternative data sources. While the government has historically failed to instill a mechanism for systematically collecting this information, the development of the Use-of-Force Data Collection in 2019 was an initial step in improving data transparency. The current study seeks to reassess the accessibility and utility of various data sources following the publication of the Use-of-Force Data Collection. …

Building A Global Partnership Through A Shared History, Lisa Lacross, Shawn Dillard, Bri Ard, Kern Jackson

International Journal of Transformative Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Effective global partnerships in higher education promote intercultural awareness (Delong et al., 2011) and influence future study and work abroad experiences by articulating the value of global learning (Lewin, 2009). Seeking to broaden global engagement opportunities for minoritized students, specifically African Americans, one institution developed a virtual exchange program through a global partnership of stakeholders from Ghana, Togo, Benin, Cape Verde, and the United States. Grounded in a shared history of the 2019 discovery of the last reported ship to bring enslaved West Africans to the United States, students from Mobile, Alabama and Cotonou, Benin participated in virtual discussions that …

Pass It Along: Learning About Health Inequities Through Project-Based Learning And A Student-Developed Workshop, Marcy S. Ekanayake-Weber, Deanna Cunha, Kristi L. Fung, Sydney Macgregor, Nicole Ribeiro, Nicholas Smith

International Journal of Transformative Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

People in marginalized communities experience reduced quality of healthcare due to complex interactions between implicit bias, stereotypes, and structural inequities, but future healthcare providers remain unprepared to confront these problems. To address the issue of health inequities in health sciences education, a project-based learning seminar for undergraduates called “Biology of Inequity” was developed and offered by the Department of Anthropology at [redacted] University in Spring semester 2022. Following the project-based learning (PBL) framework, the course was extremely interactive, culminating in a project where students were asked to “materially improve health inequalities out in the real world.” The students responded by …

Correspondence, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Note from Kingston Polytechnic asking about Shaikh’s tenure and mentioning his upcoming thesis defense (May 1979)

• Letter to Audrey L. Johnson urging the Executive Committee of the New School Alumni Association to support the faculty proposal to reconstitute the Graduate Faculty (May 19, 1979)

• Letter from Lars Mjöset requesting copies of Shaikh’s papers and discussing the problem of “gold production” (March 12, 1979)

• Letter to Mjöset discussing the relationship between gold production and the Marxian problem of the price level (April 20, 1979)

• Letter to Donald J. Harris discussing compensation and various articles and papers (August 24, …

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Personal Correspondence, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Letter from Dimitri B. Papadimitriou regretfully informing Shaikh that they could not continue to support his position at the Levy Economics Institute until a PhD program is begun (June 5, 2006)

• Card from Maria José thanking Shaikh for a wonderful weekend (June 28, 1999)

Correspondence - Green, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Letter from Jove Rosa Nación thanking Shaikh for his help and discussing economic theories (June 10, 1997)

• Letter from Ruth Haines at Blackwell Publishers regarding the advance payment for Shaikh’s book Marxian Economic Analysis (June 10, 1997)

• Letter from Blackwell Publishers requesting Shaikh to repay the advance on Marxian Economic Analysis (January 1997)

• Letter from Sue Howard and Philip Arestis inviting Shaikh to contribute to the Dictionary of Dissenting Economists (October 25, 1989)

• Letter to Romesh Vaitilingam discussing the Resnick/Wolff manuscript Radical Economics: A Tradition of Theoretical Differences (June 4, 1990)

• Letter from Vaitilingam requesting that Shaikh …

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Bolstering The Startup Sector In Palestine And Its Potential Impact On Public Finance, Rabeh Morrar, Rand Jibril

An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)

Objective: This study aimed to analyze of the ecosystem surrounding startups in Palestine in general, with a particular focus on public finance; specifically, how public authorities can enhance the regulatory framework and adopt incentive policies for startups and entrepreneurship to create a positive long-term impact on both the overall economy and public finance. Methodology: The study's methodology primarily involved conducting in-depth interviews with a sample of all stakeholders related to the Palestinian startup ecosystem. This included government entities, relevant public bodies, startups, entrepreneurs, accelerators, incubators, venture capital funds, universities, innovation centers, and legal entities. Results: The study reached several important …

Structural Transformation And Employment Trends In Jordan, Omar M. Alshrydeh, Taleb M. Warrad

An-Najah University Journal for Research - B (Humanities)

Historical experience suggests that improving employment and working conditions is not achievable without structural transformations in the economy. Through these transformations, surplus labor in informal sectors and activities can be moved to higher-productivity economic activities. In this research paper, the trends in the relationship between structural transformation and employment in Jordan during the period 1990-2022 were analyzed. The research highlights several key findings from the analysis. First, it identifies long-term equilibrium relationships between structural transformation and employment fluctuations. Secondly, the main research variable total production (LY) is statistically significant in all models, but it varied in terms of magnitude and …

Leadership Practices For High-Performing Teams: Insights From Senior Military General Officers And Flag Officers, Kimberly Mitchell

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods study was to identify and describe how senior military general officers and flag officers (GOFOs) used the three competencies of high-performance teams (HPTs; clarity, connection, and communication) to achieve objectives in their organizations. The second purpose of this study was to determine the degree of importance that senior military GOFOs perceived the three high-performance team effect (HPTE) core competencies impacted their leadership for creating HPTs.

Methodology: This mixed methods study identified and described nine senior military officers’ perceptions of strategies to lead HPTs while focusing on the three core competencies: clarity, connection, and …

Minor Role Iii: Youth Under Age 18 And New York City Violence, Jeffrey A. Butts, Gina Moreno

Publications and Research

Researchers at the John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center analyzed NYPD arrest data from 2006 to 2024 to assess trends in felony assault, felony robbery, and felony weapon offenses across age groups. The study examined whether New York’s “Raise the Age” law, which shifted most youth under 18 out of adult court, influenced violent crime patterns. Although arrests rose across all age groups following the COVID-19 pandemic, trends among youth under 18 generally mirrored those of older age groups. The findings suggest no clear evidence that the law caused a youth-specific increase in violent crime.

The Determining Factor Of Inconsistencies In French Feminist Foreign Policy In The Field Of Protection Against Women’S Violence, Sheila Salma Az-Zahra, Raden Maisa Yudono, Musa Maliki, Nurmasari Situmeang

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

Stratégie internationale de la France pour l'égalité femmes-hommes (2018-2022) is an international strategy on gender promoted by the French Government. It aims to promote the value of gender equality and women's empowerment, especially in protecting women's rights from any acts of violence in the European Union. Unfortunately, the French Government has shown inconsistencies in the implementation of the feminist foreign policy, which has increased the number of violence from the beginning of this policy until nowadays. This research was conceived by a liberal feminism approach and conceptualized under the feminist foreign policy and patriarchy concepts to prove the determining factor …

Repositioning North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato): The New Security Dilemma On Trans–Atlantic Relations Amid Shifting Global Geopolitics, Daniel C. George, Indra Alverdian

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

The shifting global geopolitics have led to a new security dilemma in Europe, especially in trans–Atlantic relations. NATO as the vanguard of the trans–Atlantic defense pact is faced with transitional conditions of non-conventional threats that return to conventional threats. Due to the shift in the new global order, these threats require a repositioning for NATO to counter the new security dilemma amidst shifting global geopolitics. By referring to the three asserted pillars–the return of conventional warfare on the European continent; a more assertive Russia in the European continent under Vladimir Putin; and the geopolitical of China's rise impacted trans–-Atlantic …

The Transformation Of Thailand's Diplomatic Relations After The Bowring Treaty Of 1855: From Under The Chinese Diplomatic System To The Modern Diplomatic System, Kotchaphop Kornphetcharat

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

The Bowring Treaty of 1855, formally known as the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce between the British Empire and the Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand), marked a pivotal moment in Siam’s integration into the global economy. Prior to the treaty, Siam's international trade was primarily conducted under the Chinese tributary system, which significantly shaped its economic and diplomatic interactions. The 1855 treaty, however, dramatically shifted Siam's foreign relations by diminishing China’s dominance as the regional power and opening Siam to increased European influence and trade. This research delves into the multifaceted impact of the treaty on Sino-Thai relations, examining its …