Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Digital Griots Playing Lottery Tickets: A Study Of Hip Hop And Social Transformation In Ghana's #Fixthecountry Movement, Jaime M. Kowlessar

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

On June 28, 2021, activist Ibrahim Mohammed (Macho Kaaka) was murdered in Ejura, Ghana, after using social media to criticize government failures. When protesters demanding justice were shot by security forces, politically engaged Ghanaian hip hop artists refused silence, contributing to Ghana’s #FixTheCountry movement—the nation’s largest youth mobilization in a generation. Yet scholarly debates about how hip hop contributes to social change remain unresolved, divided between those celebrating its activist potential and those critiquing its limitations. This dissertation introduces the lottery ticket theory as an alternative framework for understanding cultural activism’s relationship to political transformation. Rather than asking whether hip …

From Margin To Mandate: Examining Community Development Strategies That Support Black Lgbtq+ Youth Experiencing Homelessness, Martel Okonji

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Black LGBTQ+ transitional-aged youth (TAY) experiencing homelessness navigate intersecting systems of marginalization that shape their access to safety and stability. While community development organizations play a critical role in addressing these inequities, limited research examines how these strategies are implemented. This study explored how a community development organization supports Black LGBTQ+ TAY experiencing homelessness. Using a qualitative single case study design, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with leadership, staff, and youth, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Grounded in community development theory and ethical leadership, the study examined how organizational practices shape outcomes. Findings revealed an affirming, relational approach centered …

Illuminating Secrets Of Harmful Supervision: A Narrative Inquiry Into The Lived Experiences Of Marriage And Family Therapy Supervisees Of Color During Clinical Supervision And The Effects On Their Personal And Professional Identity, Danielle Garcia Gomez

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Harmful supervision is a critical yet often underexamined issue for supervisees of color (SOC), whose lived experiences are underrepresented in clinical supervision literature. Given the hierarchical and evaluative nature of clinical supervision, power dynamics are placed at the center of professional training, thereby creating conditions where unchecked supervisory power can lead to harm. Within Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT), research on harmful supervision is limited, despite the profession’s emphasis on relational dynamics. This qualitative study aimed to amplify the voices of SOC victim-survivors of harmful supervision and to answer the research question: How have harmful supervision experiences affected the personal …

“I May Flourish In Spite Of The Obstacles": A Deaf Queer Minority Stress Model, Maya E. Weaver

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The current study explores the intersectional experiences of individuals who identify as both d/Deaf and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer/Questioning, among other marginalized sexual identities. Historically, both Deaf and queer communities have faced significant oppression and discrimination; yet little research has examined the unique challenges encountered by those living at the intersection of these two identities, with most of the existing deaf literature focusing on heterosexual individuals and most of the queer literature centering around non-Deaf individuals. This study sought to address that gap by, within an exploration of their unique form of minority stress, investigating how identifying with both …

Beyond The Rabbit Hole: Dmt, Death, And The Hereafter, Abby Molina

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation explores a proposed relationship between death and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) within the context of contemporary clinical psychology and the current psychedelic renaissance. Building on Rick Strassman’s hypothesis that DMT may be released at the moment of death and Imants Barušs’ conceptualization of death as an altered state of consciousness, this project examines the phenomenological similarities between DMT-induced experiences (psychedelic “trips”) and near-death experiences (NDEs). Through review of neurobiological research, psychedelic-assisted therapy literature, religious and cultural ceremonial practices, and documented DMT trip and NDE reports, this work evaluates the plausibility that endogenous DMT contributes to altered states of consciousness observed …

Hospitality As A Philosophy Of Care, Freddy Clark

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study examines hospitality as a philosophy of care and a practice of social justice, particularly within marginalized communities. While hospitality is often understood as a gesture of kindness or a function of the service industry, this research reframes it as an ethical and relational practice grounded in human dignity, mutuality, and community formation. It explores how hospitality extends beyond transactional exchanges to become a transformative expression of care that challenges exclusion and affirms belonging. Drawing on interdisciplinary frameworks, the study integrates biblical narratives, including the Good Samaritan and Matthew 25:35–40, philosophical perspectives from Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida, and …

Dancing With The Void: A Cultural Exploration Of Nihilistic Musical Identities And Their Experience In Psychotherapy, Zachary Marciano

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation examines the profound existential paradox faced by individuals who have identified with nihilistic beliefs and ideas while attempting to seek meaning through therapy. Nihilism, characterized by the belief in the inherent meaninglessness of existence, poses a significant challenge to the traditional therapeutic framework, which often centers on the pursuit of meaning and purpose. This dichotomy poses a unique conundrum for individuals who embrace nihilistic perspectives shaped by identification with nihilistic lyrics and themes in alternative music genres such as metal, goth, grunge, and punk. Alternative music culture often serves as a vehicle for expressing and internalizing nihilistic beliefs, …

The Journey To Generative Conflict: An Action Research Study In A Community Action Agency, Maya Townsend

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Countries around the world face unprecedented levels of polarization and discontent, creating conditions that encourage organizational conflict as employees replicate patterns present within the environment. Organizational conflict can be a source of anxiety, a distraction from work, and an impediment to innovation, sound decision making, and quality outcomes. However, conflict need not be destructive. With that background, this dissertation is guided by the following primary research question: How can an organization develop a generative conflict culture that strengthens relationships and contributes to positive outcomes? The single-case study follows one community action agency as it seeks to develop and implement more …

Green Space: Investigation Into The Role Pocket Parks Play In Biodiversity And Human Well-Being, Jacalyn Speicher

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Natural communities and the birds that inhabit them are essential to the physical and emotional well-being of human residents in urban settings. The action research undertaken in this study addresses the social and environmental justice issues of equity, accessibility, and diversity afforded avian and human communities in the design of pocket parks within the urban landscape. As urbanization consumes the natural landscape, people and birds must adapt to the novel challenges of a changing environment. I studied 10 pocket parks identified in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between January and June 2026. This time frame spanned the seasons from winter to …

Good News For The Poor And More: Reclaiming Martin Luther King, Jr.'S Radical Gospel Of Economic Justice In Pursuit Of The Beloved Community, Lester A. Mccorn

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation, Good News for the Poor and More: Reclaiming Martin Luther King Jr.’s Radical Gospel of Economic Justice in Pursuit of the Beloved Community, argues that Martin Luther King Jr.—one of the most transformational American leaders of the 20th century—should be best understood as a central figure within the Black Social Gospel tradition whose rhetoric constitutes a sustained socio-political and theological critique of economic injustice. Moving beyond interpretations that limit King to racial integration and civil rights, this study demonstrates that his preaching confronts the structural realities of poverty, racial capitalism, and militarism as interrelated forms of systemic …

Improving Parental Self-Efficacy In An Integrated Primary Care Setting, Leo Parini

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

A pediatric mental health crisis in the United States has strained integrated primary care, leaving providers with high volumes of requests for psychotherapy. Low parental self-efficacy (PSE)—reduced caregiver confidence in supporting children's emotional and behavioral needs—may contribute to this demand. This study examined whether a brief, 4-week parent training curriculum informed by Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE), targeting child anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and delivered by a clinical psychologist within an integrated primary care setting, would increase PSE. Using secondary, de-identified data, PSE was measured before and after the course with the Brief Parental Self-Efficacy Scale; 19 …

Confession Contamination And Dna Exonerations, 1989-2025, Brandon L. Garrett

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Between Care And Protection: Constraints On Political Authority In Kamala Harris's 2024 Presidential Campaign, Marissa Barbara Pax

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Competing expectations about strength, care, and protection shape how presidential leadership and authority are constructed in contemporary U.S. politics, particularly for members of marginalized communities. This thesis examines Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign as a case study to explore how candidates negotiate competing understandings of political authority through appeals to Lakoff’s (2002, 2008) Strict Father Morality and the Nurturant Parent Morality. An analysis of her campaign reveals that Harris repeatedly appeals to both moral frameworks, constructing authority through empathy, mutual responsibility, and care while also emphasizing threat identification, protection, discipline, and moral strength. Although Harris successfully mobilizes the rhetorical resources …

Gvsu Undergraduate And Graduate Catalog 2026-2027, Grand Valley State University

Course Catalogs, 1963 - Current

Grand Valley State University 2026-2027 undergraduate and graduate course catalog. Course catalogs are published annually to provide students with information and guidance for enrollment.

Barriers To Healthcare For Traditionally-Aged Lgbq+ College Students, Parker Long

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Seeking and receiving high-quality healthcare are key components of healthy living. Greater access to high-quality healthcare is associated with higher quality of life (Bunker, 2001). Despite the many benefits of quality healthcare, many people face barriers to accessing quality healthcare, resulting in poorer physical and mental health outcomes (Jatrana & Crampton, 2021). Individuals who identify as LGBQ+ face serious health disparities as a marginalized group. The current research was designed to examine and address these specific barriers to accessing high-quality healthcare among LGBQ+ traditionally-aged college students in order to inform ways to improve access to care. Specifically, this study investigated …

2025 Oregon Statewide Homelessness Estimates, Minji Cho, Jacen Greene, Marisa Zapata, Franklin H. Spurbeck

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

The Point-in-Time (PIT) Count is a census of people experiencing both sheltered and unsheltered homelessness on a single night in January. The federal government requires this at least every other year as a condition of funding it distributes to Continuums of Care (CoCs), networks of government agencies and service providers that manage homelessness services and funding in specific regions. In 2025, all Oregon CoCs conducted an unsheltered count and submitted both unsheltered and sheltered PIT Counts data.

This report provides county-level unsheltered and sheltered totals for all Oregon counties and across the state, as well as the Housing Inventory Count …

Gendered Punishment? How The Corruption Of Female Politicians Affects Public Opinion Of Female Political Leadership, Byung-Deuk Woo, Mi-Son Kim, Tracy Osborn

Political Science Faculty Publications

Does the corruption of a woman politician decrease public support for other women political leaders? To answer this question, this article examines how the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, the first female president of South Korea, affects people’s perceptions of women’s political leadership in South Korea. We argue that in South Korea, the high-level political corruption scandal of the first woman president led to lower evaluations of women’s political leadership because of the intense and gendered media coverage of Park’s failure. Using the two waves of the World Values Survey conducted in South Korea before and after Park Geun-hye’s impeachment in …

The Interplay Between Loneliness, Cortisol, And Nk Cell Function: The Role Of Cortisol In Nk Cell Dysfunction, Abhinav Saurabh, Yvonne Baumer, Laurel G. Mendelsohn, Elizabeth M. Aquino Peterson, Dana Sadler, Shirley J. Lopez De Leon, Ayushi Dave, Andrew S. Baez, Lola R. Ortiz-Whittingham, Mario A. Pita, Manuel A. Cintron, Hannatu A. Tarfa, Sandy T. Reynolds, Shelby R. Hicks, Sonal Sharda, J. Eleanor Seo, Maria Lopez-Ocasio, Pradeep K. Dagur, Skyler A. Kuhn, Neelam R. Redekar, James F. Troendle, Ayanna L. Wells, Marie Marah, Katherine J. Tolentino, Michael J. Corley, Alika K. Maunakea, Lynnette K. Nieman, Marcus R. Andrews, Tiffany M. Powell-Wiley

Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences Faculty Publications

Chronic psychosocial stressors contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and related risk factors, particularly in under-resourced communities. Psychosocial stressors activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, leading to sustained cortisol action on immune cells. Natural killer (NK) cells are altered in distribution and function in cardio-metabolic diseases; however, pathways linking cortisol as a marker of chronic stress to NK cell dysfunction remain understudied. We recruited 186 African American women from the Step It Up Community-Engaged, Digital Health Physical Activity Intervention study and collected cortisol, NK cell measures, and psychosocial stress measures using validated questionnaires, including chronic stress and loneliness. Plasma cortisol levels were …

Inferential Statistics For Industrial Organizational Psychologists: A Practical Guide For Testing Hypotheses Using R, Caitlin Lapine

Open Touro Created

2026

This text aims to provide a practical guide for students in industrial organizational psychology or related fields to complete inferential statistics using R open-source programming language. It provides information about when to use particular statistical analyses and how to perform those with statistical software.

Zero-Sum Thinking, Meritocratic Beliefs, And Preferences For Basic Income And Universal Healthcare, David Chavanne

Economics Faculty Publications

This study uses survey responses to explore how support for basic income and universal healthcare is linked to zero-sum thinking and meritocratic beliefs. Consistent with earlier work, I find that zero-sum thinking and weaker meritocratic beliefs both lead to greater levels of support for basic income and universal healthcare. Using a path analysis, zero-sum thinking is also found to strengthen support for basic income and universal healthcare along two separate channels -- one via zero-sum thinking’s direct effect on policy support and a second via an indirect effect, whereby zero-sum thinking is attached to weaker beliefs in meritocracy, which in …

Smallholder Farmers' Willingness To Pay For The Farmbetter Mobile App-Based Agricultural Extension: Evidence From A Bdm Experiment In Tanzania And Burkina Faso, Cool Dady Mangole, Kelvin Mulungu, Christian Kamala Kaghoma, Maurice Tschopp, Menale Kassie

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Financial contributions from farmers are increasingly acknowledged as a sustainable mechanism for funding extension services. However, the literature on willingness to pay (WTP) for digital agricultural extension is limited. Conducting a thorough assessment of WTP for digital extension is critical for designing effective pricing policies and ensuring financial sustainability. This study examines the WTP for a novel digital extension platform named farmbetter, leveraging primary data collected in Tanzania and Burkina Faso. The Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) experiment was used to elicit the amount farmers are willing to pay. We applied the Lasso machine learning to predict the relevant drivers of WTP and …

Examining Inclusive Computing Education For Blind Students In India, Akshay Kolgar Nayak, Yash Prakash, Md Javedul Ferdous, Sampath Jayarathna, Hae-Na Lee, Vikas Ashok

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The growing demand for computer professionals, driven by the expanding Information Technology industry, has led to numerous inclusive computing education efforts. These efforts have even included blind or visually-impaired (BVI) students, who are being increasingly encouraged to pursue education and a career in computing, despite the visually-oriented nature of the discipline. Extant literature has predominantly focused on identifying and addressing the accessibility barriers faced by BVI students to promote more inclusive learning environments. While few studies have also investigated the accessibility of computing education from the perspectives of BVI learners and instructors, these have been primarily situated in the Global …

Voxvista: Enhancing Screen Reading Experience For Online User Comments, Yash Prakash, Akshay Kolgar Nayak, Mohammed Shoaib Alyaan, Sampath Jayarathna, Hae-Na Lee, Vikas Ashok

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Online discussions have become integral to how people exchange ideas, form opinions, and participate in collective deliberation. While sighted users can comfortably engage with online discussions, blind users who are dependent on screen readers are forced to listen to long threads narrated in a single, monotonic voice that lacks prosodic variation, rhythm, or emotion. This robotic auditory experience not only deteriorates the user engagement with the content but also increases cognitive strain, by making it difficult to remain attentive and discern meaning beyond literal words. In an interview study, most blind participants reported that monotonous narration hindered their ability to …

Towards Supporting Real-Time Estimation Of Vehicle Fuel Consumption And Co2 Emissions In Smart City Applications, Abrar Alali, Stephan Olariu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

This paper evaluates a simplified physics-based energy demand model designed to estimate vehicle fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions—a critical tool for sustainable transportation planning and smart city applications. Unlike data-driven regression models that lack generalizability for user-defined conditions or complex physics-based approaches that rely on extensive, often proprietary data, the simplified model is distinguished by its minimal parameter requirements, depending primarily on a single, overarching powertrain efficiency value. A key contribution is the comprehensive empirical evaluation of the simplified model against official Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) test data across multiple driving cycles and vehicle types, providing a rigorous validation previously …

Exploring Marshall–Olkin Models Through Bibliometric And Topic Modeling Approaches Uses Latent Dirichlet Allocation (1981-2025): A Study Based On Scopus Data, Humberto Llinás, Brian Llinás, Carlos López, Daniela Nuñez

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The Marshall–Olkin family of distributions has gained increasing attention in fields such as reliability engineering, survival analysis, financial risk modeling, and actuarial science because of its flexibility in modeling dependence among events and its wide range of extensions. Despite its growing relevance, a systematic understanding of how research on Marshall–Olkin models has evolved over time is still limited. This study addresses this gap by combining bibliometric techniques with topic modeling to analyze the structure and evolution of the scientific literature on Marshall–Olkin models. The analysis includes all 266 peer-reviewed publications on Marshall–Olkin models indexed in Scopus between 1981 and 2025. …

Finding The Signal In The Noise: An Exploratory Study On Assessing The Effectiveness Of Ai And Accessibility Forums For Blind Users' Support Needs, Satwik Ram Kodandaram, Jiawei Zhou, Xiaojun Bi, Iv Ramakrishnan, Vikas Ashok

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Accessibility forums and, more recently, generative AI tools have become vital resources for blind users seeking solutions to computer-interaction issues and learning about new assistive technologies, screen reader features, tutorials, and software updates. Understanding user experiences with these resources is essential for identifying and addressing persistent support gaps. Towards this, we interviewed 14 blind users who regularly engage with forums and GenAI tools. Findings revealed that forums often overwhelm users with multiple overlapping topics, redundant or irrelevant content, and fragmented responses that must be mentally pieced together, increasing cognitive load. GenAI tools, while offering more direct assistance, introduce new barriers …

An Explainable Transformer Framework For Sentiment Analysis In Aviation Workforce Data, Sovon Chakraborty, Protiva Das, Fahmid Al Farid, Fuyad Hasan Bhoyan, Farig Yousuf Sadeque, Jia Uddin, Hezerul Abdul Karim

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Aviation is one of the predominant sectors that contribute significantly to the global economy. With the advent of technology, this industry is witnessing a paradigm shift towards data-driven approaches. The morale of the airline employees is barely noticed, which causes fatigue and depression. Furthermore, these mental health issues can be active reasons for destructive accidents. In this research, the authors are focused on collecting insightful information on aviation employees from Glassdoor.com. Moreover, the authors focus on analyzing the sentiments of the employees of renowned aviation companies. Primarily, the authors scraped necessary data from Glassdoor.com and created a dataset named JetJobJoy …

Biosecure-Llm Framework: Protecting Llms From Cyberbiosecurity Threats And The Case For Independent Ai Safety Governance, Xavier-Lewis Palmer, Lucas Potter, Srdjan Lesaja, Sotirios Karathanasis, Mohammad Ghasemigol

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Large Language Models (LLMs) are becoming critical infrastructure in scientific, healthcare, and governmental contexts. As frontier AI laboratories increasingly partner with government agencies, a fundamental question arises: Who should control the safety and policy-enforcement layers that constrain model behavior? Current safety mechanisms (LLM guardrails) are typically designed for generic "harmlessness" and operate by detecting semantic patterns and refusing requests. However, they are inadequate governance instruments because they cannot implement auditable, domain-specific controls tied to external regulatory policy objects (e.g., control lists or rules governing personally identifying information). Even a perfectly aligned model is not able to express institution-specific policy without …

Open Scholarly Information Systems: Status Quo, Challenges, Opportunities, Hannah Bast, Guillaume Cabanac, Paolo Manghi, Jian Wu, Marcel R. Ackermann

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Over the past 30 years, a rich ecosystem of scholarly information systems has developed that openly provide their services to the scientific community. These systems include aggregators of bibliographic metadata (e.g., DBLP, OpenCitations, OpenAIRE Graph, OpenAlex, ORKG, Semantic Scholar, CiteSeerX, and CORE); publication, data, and software repositories (e.g., Arxiv.org, Figshare, Zenodo, Software Heritage, and Dataverse); and PID authorities (e.g., ORCID, ROR, Crossref, and DataCite). This interdisciplinary Dagstuhl Seminar "Open Scholarly Information Systems: Status Quo, Challenges, Opportunities" (25381) was the first of its kind to bring together practitioners from this ecosystem, as well as researchers investigating related questions or relying on …

Susceptibility To High-Fidelity Misinformation: An Eye-Tracking Analysis, Yasasi Abeysinghe, Gavindya Jayawardena, Enkelejda Kasneci, Sampath Jayarathna

Computer Science Faculty Publications

With the rise of online misinformation and AI-generated text, understanding human perception of news truthfulness is critical. In this study, we examine visual attention and cognitive processing using eye-tracking measures as individuals read fake and real news articles sharing nearly identical structure and imagery, differing only in subtle textual changes. Using the public FakeNewsPerception dataset, we analyze advanced gaze measures, including scanpaths, AOI transitions, and luminance-corrected pupil measures, beyond basic gaze features, in relation to news truthfulness and perceived believability. Results show that, given the high fidelity of the fake news, readers exhibited comparable visual scanning patterns, attention allocation across …