Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Vision Zero And The Bay Area Response: Traffic Fatalities And Perceptions Of Pedestrian Safety In Local Politics And Public Policy, Christopher Farrell

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this study, I examine how the "Vision Zero" traffic safety plan has been implemented in the cities of San Francisco and San Jose and, employing qualitative interviews, I explore the perceptions of local elected officials and community leaders of local advocacy groups to understand their emergent appraisals of how effectively the policy is working, as well as assess the political implications and impact of the initiative. I find that local elected leaders have a range of perceptions, but the majority of local elected leaders and community leaders agree that getting more cars off the road, improving public transportation, and …

Exploring The Relationship Between Emotion Recognition, Autistic Traits, And Alexithymia Traits In College Students, Luis E. Sanchez

Theses and Dissertations

Accurately recognizing and interpreting the emotions of others face, voice, and body language is a crucial component for successfully building good social skills with peers. This study explores emotional recognition in individuals with autistic traits, measured by the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), and individuals with alexithymia traits, measured by Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20). Individuals are presented with various complex emotions using Genova Emotion Recognition Short version (GERT-S). This present study examines the relationship between AQ and TAS-20 and determine if there is any interaction between them for emotional recognition. The researcher found that there was a negative correlation between autistic …

Asians And The Study Habits Of Non-Asians In The United States, Sabrina Tang

Honors Scholar Theses

In the United States, Asian American students spend an hour more per day studying than non-Asians (Hofferth et al. 2020). Chen and Stevenson (1995) attribute this to parents and peers who hold higher standards for Asian students. Compared to other races, Asian Americans tend to place a high value on education as a marker of achievement. This thesis explores whether Asian culture impacts non-Asian work ethic by examining whether non-Asians study more in geographic areas with larger Asian populations. I find statistically significant, but small increases in the study time of non-Asians where there is a greater population of Asians.

Online Projects For Adventist Youth During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Valentyna Kuryliak, Mariia Ovchar

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article explores and presents the first online projects that were organized by young people who are members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ukraine. It was found that the initiators of the launch of the projects were the believing youth themselves, who, faced with the problem of the lack of weekly offline communication in churches, resorted to alternative methods of interaction. Online communication was developed in a youth style and focused on the interests and problems of young people, such as finding a life partner, learning to organize their time, complications in the development of spiritual life, etc. During …

Taxes And The Incentive To Work Under Flat And Progressive Tax Systems In Slovakia, Orkhan Nadirov, Bruce Dehning, Drahomira Pavelkova

Accounting Faculty Articles and Research

This study examines the impact of taxes on the incentive to work under flat and progressive tax systems. Of particular interest are the changes from progressive-to-flat and flat-to-progressive tax conditions. To measure the impact of taxes on the incentive to work under both scenarios, we relate hours worked with the effective marginal tax rates. Using national accounts data and the Prescott’s (2004) labor market model, Slovakian work hours were examined at points in time around the adoption of a flat tax system in 2004 and a progressive tax system in 2013. In Slovakia, there was a transition from a progressive …

Kiss The Soul: Ways To Empower Creative Change Leadership And Intuition In Organizations Starting By Creating A Training Module For A Consultancy, Ernee C.P. Ten Anscher

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

One way to Kiss the Soul to empower Creative Change Leadership and Intuition in organizations is by training. This project is about the development and implementation of a new online training module in March 2021 to a small group of an Amsterdam consultancy. It consisted of four two and a half hour zoom sessions on Thursday evenings. The training is placed in a context of kissing the soul for new unexpected beautiful and meaningful organizational impact. This original concept of Kissing the Soul means: making loving contact with what matters deeply to yourself and sharing this with other people to …

Exploring Socialization Processes For Leisure-Based Esports: A Qualitative Study., Joseph R. Brewer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed the perspectives of leisure-based esports participants from a Facebook group dedicated to a popular fighting game as esports. This study used a grounded theoretical approach, and several orienting theories/concepts (Serious Leisure, Recreation Specialization, social worlds, and the performance ethic) were used to study socialization into – and through – leisure-based esports participation. Based on ten interviews conducted from September through October 2020, this study found that if individuals were introduced to esports from the performance ethic, they tended to be socialized into social themes associated with the activity and vice versa. Through esports, participants were taught thoughts, …

Defending Judge Roy Moore: A Case Study Of Persuasion Resistance Strategies., Stephen F. Brockman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored what kind of persuasive resistance strategies people used when faced with information that was contrary to their existing belief system. A typology of resistance strategies as articulated by Fransen, Smit, & Verlegh (2015), was used to guide the development of a coding system. I coded the public quotes of supporters of a political candidate after sexual misconduct allegations came to light. The first research question investigated was: What kinds of persuasion resistance strategies were Roy Moore supporters most likely to use? The second was: What kinds of persuasion resistance strategies used tended to co-occur? The most important …

Conceptualizing The Psychosocial Elements That Should Be Assessed In Candidates For Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: Social Workers' And Psychologists' Perspectives., Jill Randall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: In the United States, approximately 23,000 hematopoietic cell transplantations (HCT), also known as a bone marrow transplant, are performed annually. Patients who undergo HCT are among the most acutely ill and medically vulnerable oncology populations. Given the arduous nature of HCT, patients undergo an extensive pre-transplant evaluation that typically includes psychosocial assessment. The literature lacks a well-defined conceptual framework of the psychosocial elements that should be assessed in HCT candidates. This has led to practice variation, which has in turn inhibited high quality psychosocial research. Method: Social workers and psychologists in HCT were recruited to participate in a concept …

Parents' Perceptions Of Leisure Constraints And Facilitators In Elite Youth Soccer: A Phenomenological Approach., Chelsea C. Police

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine perceived constraints and facilitators among parents and guardians as key stakeholders in elite youth soccer clubs. Specifically, this study identified constraints and facilitators affecting continued participation, negotiation strategies employed to help overcome constraints, demonstrated the role of parents and guardians play in organizational success, and illustrated their stakeholder salience. The present study utilized leisure constraint and stakeholder theories as the theoretical foundation. Leisure constraint theory outlined the three categories of constraints (and facilitators), which are intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural. Stakeholder theory described how constituent groups affect organizational success by examining their specific …

Presence Of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 In Urban Streams Receiving Sewer Overflow, Louisville, Kentucky, Usa., Cullen Hunter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pathogens may enter surface waters as they are shed in human feces and potentially delivered to surface waters via sewer overflows, particularly in the eastern United States. This study examined of the presence of fecal indicators in two forks of Beargrass Creek in Louisville, Kentucky. Surface water grab samples (N=30), sediment samples, water quality, and a paired wastewater surveillance study were analyzed. SARS-CoV-2 was detected in a single stream sample despite ubiquitous presence of the virus within the area in wastewater and consistent evidence of a human fecal indicator. These findings demonstrate the need for more green and gray infrastructure …

A Spatial Analysis Of Supply-Demand Of Public Transportation In Jefferson County, Kentucky., Nastaran Abdoli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public transportation is important as it serves individuals, especially the transit-dependent population, by providing a basic mobility service to these people and all others who rely on public transportation. This research utilized estimating public transportation demand and supply to analyze the spatial patterns of public transportation in Jefferson County, Kentucky. The study focuses on the transit-dependent population, and it considers indicators of age, poverty status, vehicle ownership, and foreign-born population with less than five years residency in the United States. This study conducted a public transit supply-demand analysis to identify areas with imbalanced supply and demand in Jefferson County at …

The Lived Experience Of Women With Head & Neck Cancer And The Impact On Close Relationships., Georgia Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Head and neck cancer (HNC) is emotionally and physically burdensome to people who are diagnosed with this disease. In the United States, nearly 30% of people diagnosed with HNC are women. Studies about depression and anxiety in this population have been conducted for decades; however, there are no studies that specifically examine the psychosocial implications of this disease from the perspective of women. Method: Women diagnosed with HNC were recruited from two academic medical centers in the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana tri-state area to explore the lived experience of women with HNC and how this disease impacts their close relationships. Semi-structured interviews …

Incidental Exposure, Political Activity And Perceived Trust., Brianna Berry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study examines the concept of incidental versus traditional exposure to information through the context of a police brutality incident. Incidental exposure on social media is when a person is exposed to information or imagery without prior warning. It is hypothesized that 1) individuals who are incidentally exposed to a graphic police brutality event will be more likely to participate in politics and 2) will have lower perceived trust in the government. This randomized study utilizes two treatments (incidental exposure and traditional exposure) and a control group. Analysis of the data shows that support for H₁ is only …

Shifting Sands., Rachid Tagoulla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shifting Sands is a re-exploration of the presentation of North Africans in colonial postcards, an examination of identity, and a critique of the modern Western museum. Since the inception of photography, colonizers used this medium- especially in the form of postcards- to categorize and exoticize Eastern peoples in order to more easily subjugate them. Shifting Sands is a series of reconstructed colonial postcards which challenges colonial-era stereotypes of North African peoples. The colonial gaze, represented by the camera lens, is subverted through a lensless image-making process in which sand is used to remove the subject from the colonial gaze and …

The Rise Of The Nones: Religion, Leaners, And Their Connection With Partisanship In America., Kevin C. Orr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is based on the rise of the so-called “nones” in America - those who do not identify as religious - which has been a rapidly increasingly subgroup in the country. Along with the increase of the nones, religious belief and religious behavior have also been decreasing, showing a larger trend across the nation of a society detaching from religion. Nonetheless, religion in politics is still very visible. Additionally, another subgroup of America, the “leaners” - those who identify as Independents who lean towards Democrat or Republican - are a similar type of group to the nones in their …

Black Men Wanted: An Instrumental Case Study Exploring The Situational Factors Related To The Retention Of African American Male High School Teachers., Christopher Kevin Flores

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the nation’s high school student population becomes increasingly diverse, the declining number of minority teachers, particularly African American male teachers is becoming an area of concern. This instrumental case study of African American male high school teachers in the Fayette County Public School system in Lexington, Kentucky sought to identify the motivations for teaching, the barriers prior to and during teaching, as well as the roles these individuals are asked to fulfill in their schools. Using purposeful sampling, 10 individuals participated in semi-structured interviews aimed at providing insight to the three research questions related to motivations, barriers, and roles. …

The Relation Between Socioeconomic Status And Neuroanatomy Of Language Regions In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Lauren Tra

Senior Honors Theses

Socioeconomic status (SES) is defined as a multifaceted index of a person’s financial resources, education, and relative social status and is dictated by parental education, income, and occupation. SES has been known to impact neurocognitive abilities, such as language acquisition and development through distal systems, which includes variations in household income and education. These systems in turn affect language regions in the brain due to disparities in word exposure, exposure to chronic stress, and disparities in the exposure of varying complexity of words, causing language deficits. Language deficits are a core feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and several studies …

Relationship Of Early Life Maltreatment To Self Regulation During An Affective Stroop Task, Sophie Tonjes

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Background: Previous research has found that childhood maltreatment is associated with emotional regulation difficulties, as well associations with brain structures, such as the amygdala and hippocampus. However, there are individual differences in the effect of maltreatment on emotional regulation, and this relationship may be dependent upon amygdala or hippocampal volume. The present study hypothesized that amygdala or hippocampal volume would moderate the relationship between maltreatment and emotional regulation. Method: Forty-nine college students were assessed for their history of parenting and participated in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study. Moreover, to measure emotional regulation skills, participants completed the Affective Stroop task, …

Power, Privilege, And Fraternity Men's Perceptions Of Sex And Sexual Violence: A Phenomenological Study, Justine Diener O'Leary

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Sexual violence is a prevalent concern on college campuses (see Washington Post & Kaiser Family Foundation, 2015; Cantor et al., 2015). Men are the primary perpetrators of sexual violence (Black et al., 2011), with particular groups, such as fraternity men, particularly prone to perpetrating sexual violence (Foubert et al., 2007). The CDC (2014, 2021) recommends utilizing a social-ecological model of prevention that address risk factors at four levels: individual, relational, community, and societal. The purpose of the present transcendental phenomenological pilot study was to explore fraternity men’s perceptions of systemic influences on sex, consent, and sexual violence. Utilizing a modified …

Keeping The Child In Mind: A Mixed Methods Study Of Reflections On Parenting Among Families In Shelter, Ann Matthews

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Homelessness among families is a growing problem across the United States (Beard, 2020). Homelessness is associated with stressful and impoverished caregiving environments that contribute to problematic parent-child relationships and increase children’s risks for poor health and academic outcomes (e.g., Perlman et al., 2012).

Responsive caregiving may protect children from adverse outcomes and foster resilience during periods of homelessness (Labella et al., 2019; Miliotis et al., 1999; Perlman et al., 2012). A parent’s capacity to understand their own and their child’s behavior as a function of internal mental states supports such responsive caregiving (e.g., Fonagy & Target, 1997; Slade, 2005) and …

Exploring Supervisor Experiences Of Hope In Clinical Supervision: A Phenomenological Approach, Robert Byrom Jr.

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Supervisory experiences have been identified as one of the primary resources for the clinical training of psychotherapists with respect to both the development of necessary skills and the ability to cope with encountered difficulties. This phenomenological study explored the experiences of clinical supervisors in a current supervisory relationship with one or more supervisees. Specifically, this study explored how supervisors experience their supervisory relationships, how supervisors conceptualize hope as it relates to supervision, how supervisors express hope for their supervisees, and how supervisors promote hope within supervision. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with between 3 to 15 individuals recruited from counseling psychology …

Attachment Injury-Related Responses From The Offending Partner And Forgiveness In Romantic Relationships, Shruti Pillai

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Attachment injuries in romantic relationships carry the potential for several negative outcomes for the injured partner, the offending partner, and the relationship. Forgiveness can serve to repair the damage caused by such an injury. The concept of forgiveness, however, has predominantly only been studied as the responsibility of and of primary interest to the injured partner. There is a growing need for closer examination of what the offending partner can do to promote forgiveness. The Attachment Injury Resolution Model (AIRM) proposes eight distinct steps including actions for each partner that can lead a couple towards recovery. This study examined the …

Census Tracts, Racial Separation, And The Landscape Of Higher Education, Aaron Scholl

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation centers on research at the intersection of labor, public, and urban economics. Chapter 1 details the role, process, and history of census tract delineation prior to each Decennial Census, and investigates short- and long-run implications of neighborhoods that receive further delineation, or become “split”. Using a difference-in-differences empirical design, I exploit Decennial Censuses from 1980 to 2010 to find that “split” census tracts increase in their proportion of Black residents and these effects persist decades. Further evidence suggests that the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program may play a role in concentrating residents in areas with greater census tract …

Considerations For Science Communications In A Changing Media Landscape, Emily Stine

Doctor of Plant Health Program: Dissertations and Student Research

Technology development has radically shaped science communication techniques. Science communicators should be prepared to face these changes as they provide valuable new methods for increased engagement. Currently, communicators rely on deficit models (top-down transmission) and dialogic models (bottom-up transmission) to present information. The decision on which model to use is reliant upon the communicator’s skill level and impression of the relationship between scientists and the general public. Developing effective communication relies on communicators determining goals (long-term aspirations) and objectives (short-term aspirations) while maintaining a clear view of the public’s attitudes and evaluation frames. The tools available to science communicators and …

The Relationship Between Quality Of Life, Extreme Climatological Conditions And Social Unrest In India, Daniel Schaefer

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Scholars have grown increasingly interested in the association between climate conditions and social unrest. Though no consensus exists regarding the specific mechanisms that connect both phenomena, scholars have found a links between rising temperatures, precipitation, or the magnitude of disasters and social unrest. However, is unclear to what extent deviations from historical trends rather than absolute levels might serve as important indicators of unrest. Moreover, it remains unclear how effectively socio-demographic factors like quality of life and ethno-religious fragmentation can explain trends on unrest, net of climatological indicators. This project tests the extent to which deviation from historical trends in …

Metacognitive Function In Moderate To Severe Traumatic Brain Injury, Grace Amadon

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an injury to the brain caused by a bump, blow, jolt to the head. Individuals with TBI demonstrate decreased awareness of their own potential deficits and functional abilities. These deficits have critical implications for recovery as self-awareness is important for those recovering from TBI in the implementation and engagement of rehabilitative processes after TBI. The following study analyzed 18 individuals with TBI approximately 11 years post injury to document metacognitive functioning after injury. Participants completed a metacognitive working-memory paradigm where they made judgements of their future and past performance on identifying a target shape and …

Leaders Of The Pack: The Effect Of Companion And Livestock Animal Ownership And/Or Management On Leadership Skills In College Students, Laurel E. Dhority

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Having and maintaining good leadership skills should be an important way of life for most college students. As these individuals search for their first jobs and employment outside of the university experience, many businesses and employers will utilize these leadership traits and officer positions within specific clubs and organizations to select who to extend a job offer. Many student associations which place their focus on animals, both agriculturally raised livestock and companion animals, take pride in the skills and proficiencies they teach their members. This study utilized a survey of both multiple choice and Likert Scale styled questions in order …

Exploring How Maternal Phosphorus Status Affects Calf Growth And Performance, Elizabeth Lafferty

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study will focus on how maternal phosphorus status of beef heifers affects the growth and performance of their calves. Heifers have been offered free-choice mineral with either 0 or 4% supplemental phosphorus from 30 days after weaning until calving. A study by H. Hilfiker, a University of Arkansas honors student, investigated the effects of these treatments from 30 days after weaning until 60 days after the breeding season when heifers were confirmed to be bred or open. For this developing heifer project 64 crossbred Angus heifers were assigned randomly into 8 groups (8 heifers/ group) before assigning each group …

Modeling The Relationship Between Perceptual And Stimulus Space In Category Learning, Clay Killingsworth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Learning to categorize visual stimuli is a fundamental cognitive skill underlying both everyday functioning and professional competencies in domains such as radiology and airport security screening. Categories may be very simple or highly complex, with accurate categorization dependent on multiple interacting features. General recognition theory (GRT) models uniquely allow examination of feature dimension interactions, but basic questions remain about the applicability of such models and the 2x2 categorization tasks (four-alternative forced choice) employed in studies which use them. Findings in several studies that factorially combine 2 levels of 2 stimulus dimensions indicate a common pattern of perceptual advantage for the …