Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Exploring Eating Disorders In Athletes: A Literature Review And Analysis Of Prevention Strategies, Emily Schotzko

Honors Program Theses

Both clinical and subclinical eating disorders (ED) are marked by body image disturbance and preoccupation with food, weight, and body shape, and lead to harmful weight management behaviors if not prevented or treated (Bratland-Sanda & Sundgot-Borgen, 2013). While there is a multitude of risk factors that influence the likelihood of developing an ED, one particular factor that has garnered significant attention recently is participation in athletics. Studies show that while athletics can build self-esteem and promote overall well-being,there is evidence that athletes are at an elevated risk for ED development (Hinton & Kubas, 2005). Researchers suggest this risk can be …

Literature Review: Improving End-Of-Life Care And Creating A Good Death, Erna Smlatic

Honors Program Theses

The need for quality end-of-life care has increased drastically around the world in the last few centuries due to a surge in life expectancy. As people are living much longer, they are developing and succumbing to chronic progressive diseases which can significantly decrease quality of life. But what exactly does it mean to care for the aging population who are nearing death? Defining quality care at the end-of-life is important but also differs for individuals based on a variety of factors including age, culture, and life experiences. End-of-life care does not come as “one size fits all” and it challenges …

The Influence Of Gain-Loss Framing And Its Interaction With Political Ideology On Social Distancing And Mask Wearing Compliance During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jordan Steffen

Honors Program Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of cases and over half a million deaths in the United States.While health experts urge citizens to adopt preventative measures such as social distancing and wearing a mask, these recommended behaviors are not always followed by the public. To find a way to promote preventative measures, the present study examined the role of gain-loss framing of COVID-19 related messages on social distancing and mask wearing compliance. Moreover, the study also tested potential moderating effects on framing with three individual characteristics: political ideology, subjective numeracy, and risk attitude. A sample of 375 U.S. adult residents …

Exploring Voting Habits And Attitudes Of Lgbtq+ College Students In The United States, Jordan Weber

Honors Program Theses

Citizens of the United States are regularly reminded of the importance of voting in elections. However, data shows the youngest voters turnout at the polls in far fewer numbers than older generations. The same cannot be said for marginalized and minority groups, such as members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) community. Past studies have shown that these individuals are more likely to vote than their peers who are not members of this community. While there is information about voting habits of both the youngest voters and LGBTQ citizens, there has been little research done about the …

Reasons For Self-Mutilating Behavior In The 21st Century, Zhiqing Yaw

Honors Program Theses

Self-harm, also known as Self-Mutilating Behavior (SMB) has emerged as a major concern in this era of globalization as the prevalence rate of self-mutilating behavior has increased drastically. The statistic usually depends on self-report as SMB are often done in private. There was a total of one hundred and six participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk) and each participant was given $1.00 for their time. The survey was administered via Qualtrics. In the result, 90 participants have reported to be involved in SMB and 67 were males while 28 were females. The age range of the participants were …

A Critical Examination Of Corporate Ideology In Educational Policy And Practice: The Real Cost, Grace Brady

Honors Program Theses

In this thesis, I provide a historical background and conceptual analysis of how we arrived at our current educational policy landscape. By tracing educational policy and practice through the 20th century, I offer a critical perspective on contemporary educational policy and practice. Specifically, I assess how corporate culture and corporate ideology influenced contemporary educational policy. Additionally, I explore alternatives and possible recommendations for reforming education in both policy and practice through preservice teacher education and funding for public schools.

Multicultural Education And Attitudes Towards Immigrant Groups In The United States, Anika Marie Lillegard-Bouton

Honors Program Theses

Individuals with higher levels of education tend to have more positive attitudes towards immigrant groups as well as immigration in general (Hainmueller & Hiscox, 2007). This study examined the relationship between one particular type of education and attitudes towards Arab, Chinese, and Mexican immigrant groups in the United States. As a part of a larger, ongoing study on attitudes of college students towards immigrant groups, participants completed measures of their multicultural education experiences. I hypothesized that individuals with higher levels of multicultural education experiences would report more positive attitudes towards Arab, Chinese, and Mexican immigrant groups and that attitudes towards …

Toward The Development Of Deep Learning Analyses For Snow Avalanche Releases In Mountain Regions, Yunzhi Chen, Wei Chen, Omid Rahmati, Fatemeh Falah, Dominik Kulakowski, Saro Lee, Fatemeh Rezaie, Mahdi Panahi, Aref Bahmani, Hamid Darabi, Ali Torabi Haghighi, Huiyuan Bian

Geography

Snow avalanches impose a considerable threat to infrastructure and human safety in snow bound mountain areas. Nevertheless, the spatial prediction of snow avalanches has received little research attention in many vulnerable parts of the world, particularly in developing countries. The present study investigates the applicability of a stand alone convolutional neural network (CNN) model, as a deep learning approach, along with two metaheuristic algorithms including grey wolf optimization (CNN-GWO) and imperialist competitive algorithm (CNN-ICA) in snow avalanche modelling in the Darvan watershed, Iran. The analysis was based on thirteen potential drivers of avalanche occurrence and an inventory map of previously …

Effects Of Bark Beetle Outbreaks On Forest Landscape Pattern In The Southern Rocky Mountains, U.S.A., Kyle C. Rodman, Robert A. Andrus, Cori L. Butkiewicz, Teresa B. Chapman, Nathan S. Gill, Brian J. Harvey, Dominik Kulakowski, Niko J. Tutland, Thomas T. Veblen, Sarah J. Hart

Geography

Since the late 1990s, extensive outbreaks of native bark beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) have affected coniferous forests throughout Europe and North America, driving changes in carbon storage, wildlife habitat, nutrient cycling, and water resource provisioning. Remote sensing is a cru-cial tool for quantifying the effects of these disturbances across broad landscapes. In particular, Landsat time series (LTS) are increasingly used to characterize outbreak dynamics, including the presence and severity of bark beetle-caused tree mortality, though broad-scale LTS-based maps are rarely informed by detailed field validation. Here we used spatial and temporal information from LTS products, in combination with extensive field data …

Rising Above The Stigma: Developing Young Leaders Through Peer Mentoring, Shawn Miller

Graduate Research Papers

Permanence is ideally the ultimate goal of the child welfare system, however it is unrealistic to believe that every young adult transitioning out of care will not only find a permanent home, but have had the opportunity to build the social capital needed for a successful transition in today’s society (Scannapieco, Smith, Blakeney-Strong, 2015).

The Atmospheric Carbon And Transport (Act)-America Mission, Kenneth J. Davis, Edward V. Browell, Sha Feng, Thomas Lauvaux, Michael D. Obland, Sandip Pal, Bianca C. Baier, David F. Baker, Ian T. Baker, Zachary R. Barkley, Kevin W. Bowman, Yu Yan Cui, A. Scott Denning, Joshua P. Digangi, Jeremy T. Dobler, Alan Fried, Tobias Gerken, Klaus Keller, Bing Lin, Amin R. Nehrir, Caroline P. Normile, Christopher W. O'Dell, Lesley E. Ott, Anke Roiger, Andrew E. Schuh, Colm Sweeney, Yaxing Wei, Brad Weir, Ming Xue, Christopher A. Williams

Geography

The Atmospheric Carbon and Transport (ACT)-America NASA Earth Venture Suborbital Mission set out to improve regional atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) inversions by exploring the intersection of the strong GHG fluxes and vigorous atmospheric transport that occurs within the midlatitudes. Two research aircraft instrumented with remote and in situ sensors to measure GHG mole fractions, associated trace gases, and atmospheric state variables collected 1,140.7 flight hours of research data, distributed across 305 individual aircraft sorties, coordinated within 121 research flight days, and spanning five 6-week seasonal flight campaigns in the central and eastern United States. Flights sampled 31 synoptic sequences, including …

Atmospheric Carbon And Transport – America (Act-America) Data Sets: Description, Management, And Delivery, Y. Wei, R. Shrestha, S. Pal, T. Gerken, S. Feng, J. Mcnelis, D. Singh, M. M. Thornton, A. G. Boyer, M. A. Shook, G. Chen, B. C. Baier, Z. R. Barkley, J. D. Barrick, J. R. Bennett, E. V. Browell, J. F. Campbell, L. J. Campbell, Y. Choi, J. Collins, J. Dobler, M. Eckl, A. Fiehn, A. Fried, J. P. Digangi, R. Barton-Grimley, H. Halliday, T. Klausner, S. Kooi, J. Kostinek, T. Lauvaux, B. Lin, Christopher A. Williams

Geography

The ACT-America project is a NASA Earth Venture Suborbital-2 mission designed to study the transport and fluxes of greenhouse gases. The open and freely available ACT-America data sets provide airborne in situ measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, methane, trace gases, aerosols, clouds, and meteorological properties, airborne remote sensing measurements of aerosol backscatter, atmospheric boundary layer height and columnar content of atmospheric carbon dioxide, tower-based measurements, and modeled atmospheric mole fractions and regional carbon fluxes of greenhouse gases over the Central and Eastern United States. We conducted 121 research flights during five campaigns in four seasons during 2016–2019 over three regions …

Joint Co2 Mole Fraction And Flux Analysis Confirms Missing Processes In Casa Terrestrial Carbon Uptake Over North America, Sha Feng, Thomas Lauvaux, Christopher A. Williams, Kenneth J. Davis, Yu Zhou, Ian Baker, Zachary R. Barkley, Daniel Wesloh

Geography

Terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) play a key role in the detection and attribution of carbon cycle processes at local to global scales and in projections of the coupled carbon-climate system. TBM evaluation commonly involves direct comparison to eddy-covariance flux measurements. We use atmospheric CO2 mole fraction ([CO2]) measured in situ from aircraft and tower, in addition to flux-measurements from summer 2016 to evaluate the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford-Approach (CASA) TBM. WRF-Chem is used to simulate [CO2] using biogenic CO2 fluxes from a CASA parameter-based ensemble and CarbonTracker version 2017 (CT2017) in addition to transport and CO2 boundary condition ensembles. The resulting “super ensemble” …

Stagnation In Psychotherapy: A Transtheoretical Approach, Kristine Mccormick

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Doctoral training in clinical psychology emphasizes the importance of utilizing empirically supported psychotherapy methods in pursuit of effective psychotherapy. When treatment is stagnant or ineffective, the focus of training and supervision is often geared toward searching the evidence-base for alternative psychotherapy approaches, or referring to a provider with expertise in a specific method. Using a case example, this paper offers guidance on possible roadblocks to effective psychotherapy treatment, and clear areas to explore before concluding whether psychotherapy is the most helpful intervention for a patient.

Field-Scale Soil Moisture Bridges The Spatial-Scale Gap Between Drought Monitoring And Agricultural Yields, Noemi Vergopolan, Sitian Xiong, Lyndon Estes, Niko Wanders, Nathaniel W. Chaney, Eric F. Wood, Megan Konar, Kelly Caylor, Hylke E. Beck, Nicolas Gatti, Tom Evans, Justin Sheffield

Geography

Soil moisture is highly variable in space and time, and deficits (i.e., droughts) play an important role in modulating crop yields. Limited hydroclimate and yield data, however, hamper drought impact monitoring and assessment at the farm field scale. This study demonstrates the potential of using field-scale soil moisture simulations to support highresolution agricultural yield prediction and drought monitoring at the smallholder farm field scale. We present a multiscale modeling approach that combines HydroBlocks a physically based hyper-resolution land surface model (LSM) with machine learning. We used HydroBlocks to simulate root zone soil moisture and soil temperature in Zambia at 3 …

Biocybersecurity: A Converging Threat As An Auxiliary To War, Lucas Potter, Orlando Ayala, Xavier-Lewis Palmer

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Biodefense is the discipline of ensuring biosecurity with respect to select groups of organisms and limiting their spread. This field has increasingly been challenged by novel threats from nature that have been weaponized such as SARS, Anthrax, and similar pathogens, but has emerged victorious through collaboration of national and world health groups. However, it may come under additional stress in the 21st century as the field intersects with the cyberworld-- a world where governments have already been struggling to keep up with cyber attacks from small to state-level actors as cyberthreats have been relied on to level the playing field …

The Contribution Of Adverse Childhood Experiences To The Interplay Between Insecure Attachment Characteristics, Trait Emotional Intelligence, Difficulties In Emotion Regulation, And Personality Organization, Kseniia Gvozdieva

Dissertations and Theses

There are well-established connections between unfavorable attachment experiences and subsequent personality pathology. Individuals with adverse attachment experiences and those with personality pathology have been found to have difficulty with emotional awareness and emotion regulation. Attachment characteristics inform emotional intelligence and emotion regulation, while emotional intelligence and emotion regulation capacities can be protective against personality pathology and serve as a potential mechanism of positive change in one’s attachment. Complex trauma disrupts attachment and the subsequent development of emotional intelligence, emotion regulation, as well as personality structure.

In this dissertation, we examine the ways in which individual attachment patterns can be linked …

Examining Cultural Orientation As A Moderator: Attachment Style, Forgiveness, And Depression, Linghsi Liu

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of cultural orientation on the relation between attachment style and forgiveness and between forgiveness and depression. It was hypothesized that a secure attachment style would be associated with greater dispositional forgiveness of both self and others. Specifically, for those high in collectivism, insecure attachment will be associated with greater other-forgiveness and for those high in individualism, insecure attachment will be associated with greater self-forgiveness. It was also predicted that self and other forgiveness would be associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Specifically, for those high in collectivism, other forgiveness will …

Does Social Media Promote Disordered Eating?, Carly Feldstein

Dissertations and Theses

Hispanic people are the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the U.S. with a total of 18.5% of the U.S population being of Hispanic descent (United States Census Bureau, 2020). Although eating disorders (ED), particularly those involving binge eating, comprise a significant health concern, EDs are often overlooked in the Hispanic culture (Higgins et al., 2016; Opara & Santos, 2019). Hispanic individuals have comparable rates of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and an even higher rate of binge eating disorders compared to non- Hispanic (NH) White individuals (Higgins et al., 2016). Within Hispanic adults, the lifetime prevalence of EDs is higher …

Military Industry And The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Military Aid, Technology, And Barriers To Peace, Brandon A. Sandoval

Dissertations and Theses

This study reviews the current US and Israel militarized response to Palestine, the negative impacts on the Palestinian and Israeli people that result from this policy, and the military-industrial complex that benefits from the US-Israel relationship. I also note that the military industry profits from the Israel-Palestine conflict and, thus, has an incentive for the conflict to continue. I argue that despite billions of US dollars that have been appropriated by the U.S. Congress for Israel’s security, the US and Israel have failed to build peace in the region, ultimately wasting funds and exacerbating current conflicts. I also argue that …

A Review Of Data Protection Regulations And The Right To Privacy: The Case Of The Us And India, Chrisann Campbell

Dissertations and Theses

Since 1948 and the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the concept of privacy has grown more complex with the rise of technology and a shift to the internet. In particular, the unregulated use of technologies that can capture individuals' personal data without their knowledge or consent poses a threat to their right to privacy and other additional human rights. The protection of the collection, storing, and transfer of users' personal data against data breaches also ensures that the right to privacy is guaranteed. Through examining two countries, the U.S. and India, on the idea of privacy, personal …

The Internal Determinants Of International Organization Actorness: The European Union And Climate Change?, Vanessa West

Dissertations and Theses

Climate change mitigation and adaptation requires global, coordinated responses. Each region/country must do its part, led by multinational, multilateral actors and organizations on the local, national and regional level. The European Union (EU) is the region’s representative. The effectiveness of the Union, as an actor has been the subject of constant debate and scrutiny. A review of existing International Relations (IR) theories and literature outlines the many factors and conditions that influence and facilitate the EU’s ability to exert power and authority on this issue. Drawing on that existing body of knowledge, this paper will argue the EU’s capacity as …

Ethnic Conflict In Côte D’Ivoire, Ayouba Doumbia

Dissertations and Theses

Since the early days of independence, the African continent has been the theatre of many ethnic conflicts. While people, in general, assume these conflicts to be political and blame the conflicts on authoritarian regimes, they dismissed the fact that conflict between ethnicities is a phenomenon that has occurred for hundreds of years and in all corners of the Earth. Entire countries have been devastated by years of ethnic strife. Once ethnic conflict breaks out, it is difficult to stop. Conflicts in the Balkans, Rwanda, Chechnya, Iraq, and Darfur are among the deadliest examples from the late 20^th and early …

Exploring A Mediational Model Of The Relationship Between Skin Color And Mate Selection In Desi Young Adults, Rabiya Ahmed

Dissertations and Theses

Skin color bias is present in South Asia and is especially apparent within the Desi (i.e., South Asian) marriage market, where explicit preferences for fair-skinned marital partners are made and lighter skin is perceived as more attractive. It is also known that, through the halo effect, attractive people are perceived to possess positive personality traits. The present study aimed to determine if skin color is associated with long-term mate preference among U.S.-based Desi adults as it is among Desi in South Asia, and if so, if that relationship is mediated by perceived attractiveness. It also aimed to determine if, in …

Timing Of Sexual Minority Identity Developmental Milestones And Well-Being Among Three Generations Of Gay Men, Joseph R. Hillesheim

Dissertations and Theses

Social and political changes during recent decades have contributed to a more accepting environment for sexual minorities (non-heterosexual individuals) in the U.S., but recent evidence suggests that these shifts may create a “developmental collision” for younger generations (Meyer et al., 2021; Russell & Fish, 2019). Younger generations of sexual minorities “come out” and reach other sexual identity milestones earlier than older generations, and earlier timing of sexual identity development may contribute to increased vulnerability to stigma. The present study aimed to contribute to limited research on the relationship between the timing of sexual identity development milestones and well-being among three …

Protecting Civilians In Un Peace Operations: The Need For Enhanced Training, Allison S. Haddad

Dissertations and Theses

The present study shows that the protection of civilians (POC) tasks implemented in multiple United Nations (UN) peace operations have not always been executed as intended and, as a result, are accompanied by a number of dysfunctions. Among these dysfunctions are inadequate community engagement, peacekeeper misconduct stemming from the lack of proper training mechanisms, and lack of resources. In consideration of these issues, UN peace operations would profoundly benefit from enhancements offering plausible and beneficial change to the field. Such changes involve the responsibility of the UN, the responsibility of national actors, field implementations, and the psychological well-being of peacekeepers. …

The Intersectional Perspective On Women And Girls With Disabilities: A Comparative Analysis, Kathryn F. Guzmán

Dissertations and Theses

People, including women and girls with disabilities have faced oppression and exclusion in society for centuries due to negative beliefs, stereotypes and attitudes that have led to stigma, discrimination and lack of support for them. For women and girls in particular, having a disability has historically meant that they were no longer considered beautiful and were seen as being incapable of meeting social and cultural expectations like marriage and motherhood. In recent decades, however, some progress has been made towards combating disability-based discrimination and promoting inclusion and full participation in society. Additionally, the adoption of the United Nations Convention on …

Reassessing The Ranging Behavior Of Black-And-White Ruffed Lemurs (Varecia Variegata) In Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar, Jelisa R. Oliveras

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigates black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata) space use and movement using autocorrelated kernel density estimation (AKDE), a new methodology available from the continuous-time movement model (ctmm) package in R. Data were collected from 24 adults and subadults (10 males, 11 females, 3 subadult males) living in two adjacent V. variegata communities at Mangevo bush camp in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar (RNP) for 11 months (February – December 2008) to estimate annual and seasonal patterns of individual and community-level range use. Autocorrelated kernel density estimates generated in this study are compared to earlier kernel density estimates from …

The Impact Of The International Monetary Fund’S 2016 – 2019 Loan To Egypt On The Country’S Development, Anasimon Takla

Dissertations and Theses

The primary objective of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is growth. The organization and its programs can enable the development of nations across the globe and stimulate growth. However, due to weaknesses in its system with conditions that are offered as blanket solutions for unique problems as well as unequal bargaining terms, the IMF can exacerbate the situation in nations that are already suffering with crises. Following years of unrest after the Arab Spring, Egypt finds itself in an unwieldly position having both vowed to increasing its development as well as introduced major reforms based on IMF recommendations in order …

The Push Factors That Impact Sex Trafficking In The Former Soviet Union, Liliya Kenzhebayeva

Dissertations and Theses

Sex trafficking is a global problem that has been denounced by the international community as a human rights abuse and determined to be a modern form of slavery. Through a comparative analysis of the experiences of Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine as they were a part of the Soviet Union the study identifies the push factors of sex trafficking in women as forced labor with particular emphasis on the role of weak legal systems and state institutions, corruption, social and economic factors, and environmental problems that are linked to organized crime (the Russian mafia) from 2001 to 2019. The thesis supports …