Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Baby ‘A’ And Another V Attorney General And Others [2014] Eklr, Samiselo Kayombo

SAIPAR Case Review

On or about 3rd May 2009, Baby A (1st Petitioner) was born as an intersex child.2 On 10th May 2009, Kenyatta National Hospital (2nd Respondent) conducted various medical tests on the 1st Petitioner and on one of the documents that captured the 1st Petitioner’s details, inserted a question mark ‘?’ in the column that indicated the child’s sex. The Petitioners claimed that the entry of a question mark to indicate the sex of Baby A violated the rights of the child to legal recognition, dignity and freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment. These rights were guaranteed in Section 4 of …

Savenda Management Services Limited V Stanbic Bank Zambia Limited And Gregory Chifire Selected Judgment No. 47 Of 2018, Elliot Mfune

SAIPAR Case Review

The case of Savenda Management Services Limited v Stanbic Bank Zambia Limited and Gregory Chifire is significant in that it raises the question whether Zambian judges have virtually unbridled power to move on their own motion to punish for contempt of court any person who criticises their judgements. In addition, the case reinforces the traditional struggles associated with distinguishing civil from criminal contempt, the consequences of which are entirely based on the distinction. The case is also important as it exposes inadequate sentencing guidelines in Zambian contempt laws, the effect of which has led to excessive and unwarranted sentences. A …

The Relationship Between Classroom Variables And Academic Achievement Across The Preschool Year, Olivia M. Leblanc

Honors Theses

Preschool education is designed to foster social, cognitive, and academic gains for three- to five-year-old children before they enter kindergarten. Preschool education provides three- to five-year-old children with opportunities to participate in structured educational activities and to interact with groups of peers. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between specific elements of successful preschool classrooms and student outcomes across the preschool year utilizing data from 125 preschool classrooms in the Midwest. Controlling for demographic information, it was found that the implementation of social-emotional learning was significantly positively correlated with the development of self-regulation and literacy abilities, and increased …

Beyond The Politics Of Climate Change: How Education And Income Level Affect Environmental Values, Joanna Falla

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Human-caused climate change has been acknowledged for decades, but public opinion on its validity and severity has been consistently questioned in the United States. Despite the overwhelming evidence pointing towards fossil fuel emissions and unsustainable practices as the leading causes of global climate change, its politicization during the beginning of the century has seriously slowed down America’s path towards a green future. Because this has become a partisan issue for many voters, considerable research has been done on the affiliation between party identification and public opinion on climate change. Although party identification has been studied as a major factor, other …

Measuring Perceptions Of Various Forms Of Rehabilitation And Re-Entry Programs On Various Types Of Offenders And Reducing The Likelihood Of Recidivism: A Qualitative Study Of Criminal Justice Professionals In Ohio, Jasmine H. Riechmann

Honors Theses

Research suggests that rehabilitation and reentry programs reduce rates of recidivism for various types of offenders. The study, based on the constructivist paradigm, will use a phenomenological strategy to explain criminal justice professionals’ perceptions of rehabilitation and reentry programs. Participants with experience working with at-risk populations in Ohio were selected for inclusion in the study. Participant experiences and feedback were analyzed to answer the research questions posed in the study. Data collected from each interview and the researcher’s field notes were compared to identify themes.

The Multi-Sensory Design Of A Synesthete's Everyday Experience, Madeline M. Spicer

Honors Theses

Perception, which can be defined as becoming aware of occurrences in the world through the senses, is different for every person (Merriam-Webster). My thesis deals with perception in the form of a condition called synesthesia and the communication of this condition using graphic design. Synesthesia is a condition that involves the involuntary crossing of the senses, resulting in multi-sensory experiences every time a synesthete absorbs the world and visible language. Utilizing the field of graphic design, I created several projects to communicate my three goals of conducting research on synesthesia, sharing what I experience every day, and educating others about …

Sustainable Stories: Linking Graphic Design And The Environment To Inform, Educate, And Inspire, Shannon M. Stanforth

Honors Theses

The importance of the field of graphic design lies in its ability to communicate with others. It can serve to transcend barriers, to clarify messages, and to deepen universal understanding. Similarly, sustainability encompasses the three spheres of the environment, society and economy—demonstrating its interconnected complexities and multifaceted applications. In pursuing my Honors Thesis, I aimed to develop a project which would reflect the ideals of sustainability while simultaneously serving to educate about the importance of caring for the natural world. Furthermore, my research explores how the disciplines of sustainability and design overlap and interact, searching to discover ways in which …

How To Defend Those Who Defend: An Examination Of The Underfunding Of The Public Defender System, Selma M. Newbill

Honors Theses

The public defender system in the United States is in an indigent defense crisis because it is often unable to provide adequate representation to the citizens that the United States Constitution requires them to give. The growing attention on the system today is shedding light on public defenders’ stifling caseloads and on the people who are failing to receive the legal representation to which they are entitled by the constitution. The lack of political prioritization, the systemic inequities throughout the criminal justice system, and the underfunding of the public defender system has often rendered public defenders unable to provide their …

College Students’ Use Of Social Media And Its Effects On Well-Being During Covid-19, Virginia Pressly

Honors Theses

Beginning in the late 2000s, social media began its ascent into mainstream media. Today, it has become a part of our daily routines. Due to its prevalence and nature, social media has been directly linked to deteriorating mental health in teens and young adults for some time. Many of the studies previously conducted studied Millennials. However, today’s generation of young people, Gen-Z, has a very different relationship with social media and the internet. In 2020, when the world was hit with the COVID-19 pandemic and most work and school went virtual, social media became that much more prevalent in our …

The Reagan Administration And The Aids Epidemic: The Relationship Between Rhetoric And Marginalization, Leah Pimm

Honors Theses

The use of rhetoric can be a powerful tool to persuade individuals. Politicians are no stranger to using this tool and often employ it when speaking to their constituents. One politician who utilized his own forms of rhetoric is former President Ronald Reagan. Reagan used rhetoric to discuss major issues with the American public, including the AIDS epidemic. This thesis analyzes Reagan and his administration’s use of rhetoric regarding the AIDS epidemic in order to answer the research question: How did the Reagan administration’s use of rhetoric further marginalize the risk groups associated with the AIDS epidemic? Although previous literature …

Effects Of Patient’S Race On Pain Perception And Treatment In Nursing Students, Christian J. Phillips

Honors Theses

This study investigates whether a patients’ race affects how nursing students evaluate the patient’s pain. Undergraduate and graduate nursing students (N = 117) recruited from the University of Southern Mississippi School of Nursing were presented with a clinical vignette detailing a 35-year-old man in the emergency department presenting with extreme left shoulder pain. They were randomly assigned to either a Black or a White patient condition. The patient’s race was revealed through an attached photograph, with each condition represented by one of eight unique photographs. Participants evaluated the patient’s current pain level and time to be triaged; the patient’s …

Unraveling The Mummy: The Effects Of Natural Mummification On The Recovery And Degradation Of Dna, Marissa Gandolfo-Muller

Honors Theses

As demonstrated through casework and research studies (Hawass et al., 2010; Gielda & Rigg, 2017), anthropogenic mummification and modern-day embalming can expedite degradation of DNA. Current research in the field of forensic mummification is sparse and little research has been done on quantifying naturally mummified DNA (Leccia et al., 2018; Shved et al., 2014). This research focuses on observing and quantifying the differences in the recovery and degradation of DNA from specimens that have been naturally mummified. This research on natural, forensic mummies is a blend of experimental archeology and postmortem DNA analysis.

In this study, two control specimens and …

Framing Race: An Analysis Of Media Coverage Of The Racially Motivated Murders Of Emmett Till And Trayvon Martin, Chloe Jackson

Honors Theses

In August 1955, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago, was brutally murdered by two white men for “wolf whistling” at a white woman. Fifty-seven years later, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a neighborhood watchman on February 26, 2012. The unwarranted killings of these two Black boys caused uproars across the entire country. This study examines how the media framed and represented Till and Martin in the cases of their racially motivated murders. Prior research shows that Black male youth are framed in the media as deviant and lawless, continuously being represented as criminals. However, there …

The Impact Of Graduate School Ranking On An Economics Professor’S Annual Earnings, Shailee Manandhar

Honors Theses

What are the economic returns to attending a more selective college? This thesis adds to the growing literature on college choices and economic returns by analyzing the effects of graduate school ranking on the annual earnings of economics professors in the United States. In order to answer this question, the author collected an original data set using publicly available salary information from a number of US-based institutions. The data in this paper uses McPherson’s ranking of US Economics Departments, h-index, and other factors collected from the individuals’ CVs to estimate the economic returns. The results from Ordinary Least Squares regression …

Perceived Support And Connectedness In Greek-Letter Organizations During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Julia Bishop

Honors Theses

The goal of this project is to assess whether or not students involved in the fraternity and sorority life community at The University of Southern Mississippi feel supported and connected in their respective chapters. To understand students’ perspectives in this area, a survey was developed. The survey included questions pertaining to the experiences of Greek-letter organization members with the chapter environment, efforts of chapter leadership, and personal feelings of connectedness during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was sent out to all 26 fraternity and sorority chapter presidents at The University of Southern Mississippi, including the College Panhellenic Council, National Pan-Hellenic …

The Role Of Parenting Practices In Adolescent Aggression And Impulsivity, Elizabeth G. Payne

Honors Theses

Parents have an influential role in adolescent development. Previous findings have found a relationship between parenting practices and adolescent behavioral problems. The purpose of this study was to analyze different parenting practices’ influence on impulsive and aggressive behaviors in adolescents. This study uses data gathered from a unique population of at-risk adolescents from a military-style bootcamp who were asked about their parents’ behaviors and their own behaviors. Findings from this study expand upon previous research on parenting practices by analyzing a specific population of at-risk youth and looking at specific forms of impulsive and aggressive behaviors. Data was collected through …

An Investigation On The Relationship Between Religious Coping Styles And Death Anxiety, Hailey Bates

Honors Theses

This study evaluated the respective relationships between death anxieties and religious coping, of both the positive and negative variety. Two independent samples were collected included the Multidimensional Orientation Toward Dying and Death Inventory (MODDI-F) and the Religious Coping Scale (R-COPE). This data supported the hypothesis by confirming a positive correlation between negative religious coping and Fear of Death. In other words, more death anxious participants also reported more questioning of their faith and their relationship with God in response to stress. In contrast, positive religious coping shared no significant correlations with any death anxiety variables. Because of the clear relationship …

A Systematic Review Of Factors That Impact College Student Stress, Cailyn Papp

Honors Theses

Over the past few years, the effects of college student stress have received increased attention. Even so, there is still no unified model for addressing and understanding its impact. The purpose of this study was to systematically review and analyze the literature on college student stress to discover what factors have the most impact on it. A literature search using EBSCOhost yielded 20 eligible articles to include in this research. The results of this study demonstrate a need for a more unified model of college student stress. Further, results identify the factors that significantly influence college student stress and highlight …

Leadership, Job Stress And Uncertainty Among Nurses During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Impacts And Implications In Lieu Of Pertinent Theoretical Constructs, Davis Woodson

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on practicing nurses in the United States. The study considered the effect of communication, self-efficacy, intolerance to uncertainty, and life satisfaction on nurses’ job satisfaction; additionally, this study considered the extent to which nurses perceived organizational response efficacy was predicted by their perceptions of communication and perceived threat susceptibility. A total of 191 nurses participated in the online survey. The study revealed that life satisfaction was positively predicted by communication, self-efficacy, and life satisfaction in multiple regression analyses. Perceived communication positively predicted perceived organizational response efficacy …

Emotional Intelligence As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Psychopathic Personality Traits And Relational Aggression, Aria T. Smith

Honors Theses

Psychopathy is a robust predictor of aggressive behavior and psychopathic personality traits have been shown to predict relational aggression in non-clinical samples of college students. Given the manner in which emotional intelligence appears to be useful in navigating complex social interactions, some have suggested that it may be involved in certain forms of deceitful or manipulative behavior, including those that may be part of relational aggression. The current project evaluated the role of psychopathic personality traits and emotional intelligence in the prediction of relational aggression among college students. In addition to examining the direct relationship of these variables to relational …

Season Pass: Southern Miss Sports Report, Mackenzie Hamilton

Honors Theses

Season Pass: Southern Miss Sports Report is a creative activity investigating the process of producing and releasing a weekly sports report. The series is composed of twenty-four two-to-three-minute episodes that recap the highlights, scores, and performances of Southern Miss Athletic teams. In addition to the sports reports, the show includes feature stories that provide insight into the lives of Southern Miss Athletes and Athletic Staff outside of the sports world.

Season Pass aired weekly on Southern Miss Athletics’ Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts from the beginning of September 2020 through mid-March 2021. In this manuscript, I detail the pre-production, production, …

Effect Of Natural Environment Training And Discrete Trial Training On Adaptive Behaviors, Amelia Yanchik

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Rising numbers in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnoses lead to concerns about resources and personnel to support these children in home and school settings. Early intervention and ABA therapy has been demonstrated to show the most beneficial outcomes for children diagnosed with ASD (Peters-Scheffer et al., 2011, Eikeseth et al., 2007). The literature has yet to review the differential effects Natural Environment Training (NET) and Discrete Trial Training (DTT) on adaptive skills. A sample of 110 children diagnosed with ASD or a Developmental Disorder between the ages of 16 and 35 months was collected. The participants either received DTT, NET, …

School Of Law Grad Walk & Virtual Ceremony 05/21/2021, Roger Williams University School Of Law, Michael M. Bowden, Jill Rodrigues

School of Law Commencement (1996- )

No abstract provided.

Final Vestiges Of Existence: The Survival And Protection Of Cemeteries As Landscapes Of Grieving And Cultural Memory In Louisiana, Ryan M. Seidemann

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In many contexts, cemeteries are an afterthought, both in terms of their design and situation in the landscape as well as in terms of what to do when they are encountered during development or other activities. How these sites have been managed and treated, at least historically, often has been a function of who is buried in them. In such situations, considerations regarding the preservation or protection of marginalized peoples’ final resting places were often nonexistent and, consequently, these sites were violently erased from the landscape. Indeed, archaeological evidence has recently demonstrated substantial deviations in practice from de jure legal …

No More Shade: Deforestation And Rural-Urban Migration In Nigeria, Kambre Sims

Master's Theses

Some of the most well-documented motivating factors of migration in Nigeria include education, employment opportunities, and cultural conflicts. However, as the deforestation crisis has not improved and Nigeria has maintained its spot as the country with the most deforestation on Earth, access to critical forest resources may be in danger. In light of this crisis, this paper attempts to determine if deforestation has become a new motivating factor for migration as those in rural communities seek other avenues of obtaining those vital resources. Subsequently, Nigeria is also experiencing a housing crisis within its rapidly growing urban centers; obtaining and keeping …

The United States And Its Coercive Democratization Attempts In Japan And Iraq, Noah Shepardson

College Honors Program

The United States engaged in coercive democratization (bringing democracy to a country via coercive measures such as occupation) endeavors in both Japan and Iraq, achieving drastically different results. The democratization of Japan is typically regarded as the gold standard of coercive democratization due to Japan’s rapid social and economic development following the United States’ occupation of the country in the years after World War II. The United States’ democratization effort in Iraq, on the other hand, has failed to create such prosperous conditions and has arguably made Iraq more unstable. This thesis seeks to identify why coercive democratization worked in …

Ecology And Vegetation In A Passively Managed Urban Park In Worcester, Ma, Raphaella Mascia

College Honors Program

As urbanization continues to expand globally, urban parks are becoming critical habitats for human and non-human species alike. Understanding the various contexts and conditions of local parks prompts improved management and conservation efforts for such expanding urban habitats. Therefore, I assess the ecology and vegetation of a local park, Cookson Field, located in Worcester, MA, US, through a comprehensive series of vegetation surveys and examine its urban context through an examination of land-use history. I find that Cookson Field is primarily an oak (Quercus sp.) woodland with an ericaceous understory consisting mainly of blueberry (Vaccinium sp.) …

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letter - May 2021, George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letters

No abstract provided.

Getting Started: Training Modules For New Employees Of The Uno Bookstore, Abigail Kane

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) Bookstore does not currently have an established training program to help new employees integrate into the organization. Inconsistency in training can cause unnecessary stress on employees and management. This capstone project aimed to alleviate some of this stress by creating four training modules specifically tailored to the needs of the organization. A needs assessment was conducted with input from the management team and employees to identify module topics that meet the UNO Bookstore’s exact needs. The following topics were identified: Onboarding Information, Conflict in the Workplace, Inter-organizational Communication, and Use of Technologically Mediated Communication. …

The Impact Of Service-Learning On General Chemistry Ii Students At The University Of Nebraska At Omaha, Kayla Rud

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Service-learning has been shown to enhance academic and leadership skills while promoting community engagement and exposing students to different career opportunities (Esson et al., 2005). While the benefits of service-learning courses are clear, few STEM courses include service-learning components (Esson et al., 2005). Here, students in a totally online 2nd semester UNO chemistry course completed a service-learning project where they remotely led a live, inquiry-based STEM activity for Girl Scouts. To quantify the impact of service-learning on professional development, future career plans, and future volunteerism, a series of pre and post surveys were administered. Paired-sample t-tests revealed a statistically significant …