Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Investigating Workplace Management Conditions Influence On Interpreter Motivation And Interpretive Program Performance, Jessica M. Henry

All Theses

Organizations, including non-profit and government agencies such as the National Park Service and nature centers, that provide informal education (also known as interpretation) seek ways to achieve their mission and enhance their organizational performance (Anderson et al., 2022; Weiler & Ham, 2010). For informal education organizations that provide interpretation to visitors, one measure of organizational performance is the achievement of an organization’s desired visitor outcomes. Theory suggests that positive organizational performance is associated with positive workplace management conditions and high employee motivation. Thus, this study explored the relationships between interpreters’ perceptions of workplace management conditions, motivation, and performance on interpretive …

Crafting Well-Being: Specialty Coffee As Leisure, Leah C. Dodge

All Theses

This thesis explores how individuals engage with specialty coffee as a leisure practice in Upstate South Carolina. Drawing on Flow Theory and Craft Consumption Theory, it examines how meaning is constructed through everyday interaction. Using semi-structured interviews with 15 self-identified enthusiasts in South Carolina, the study analyzes how participants describe their involvement with specialty coffee, reflect on its value, and situate it within local contexts. Findings suggest that specialty coffee encourages sustained engagement in which well- being is created through personal investment, community involvement, and awareness of global contexts. The research contributes to scholarly discourse by conceptualizing leisure as a …

Learning To Be Trauma-Informed: An Examination Of Individual-Level Factors Predicting Perceptions Of And Response To Trauma-Informed Practice Trainings, Kelly Daniel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Trauma is a substantial threat to public health. As such, significant effort has been exerted into developing interventions which mitigate the consequences of trauma. Trauma-informed practice (TIP) aims to alleviate the effects of trauma by building policies and practices focused on safety, trust, transparency, support, collaboration, and empowerment. This study investigated how individual-level factors, including readiness for organizational change, perceived benefit of TIP training, and personal trauma history affect one’s ability to apply a TIP lens in a sample (n =100) of members of a graduate-level college. Further, it explored if one’s perceptions of and response to trauma-informed practice training …

Bud On The Ballot: A County-Level Analysis Of Citizen Support For Cannabis Legalization, Amelia G. Jennings

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cannabis research has often emphasized usage rates among certain groups of citizens, focusing mostly on demographic factors. A less studied topic within the cannabis literature pertains to the predictors of voting patterns of legalization referendums. Past research on this topic has examined states with similar characteristics, which calls into question the generalizability of results. The current study attempts to broaden the scope of knowledge in this area by partially replicating a previous study that explored county-level voting patterns, while also exploring the potential influence of the declining agricultural industry in predicting support for cannabis legalization. This was accomplished by analyzing …

Borderplex Business Barometer, Volume 9, Number 12, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

Motivation And Productivity Of Female Employees In China With Scoliosis Pain, Shauna-Kay Reeves

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A scoliosis diagnosis can impact an individual’s work performance, particularly if there is a lack of proper ergonomics or workplace accommodations that might lead to increased pain and discomfort. Organizational leaders must understand this impact as an indicator of employee motivation and productivity. The purpose of this qualitative, interpretative phenomenological analysis was to explore the lived experience of female employees in China with scoliosis pain and its impact on their motivation and productivity. The theoretical foundations used in this study were the job demands-resources model and the self-determination theory. The participants consisted of eight female employees with scoliosis pain working …

Research On The Impact Mechanism Of The Development Level Of Smart Agriculture On Farmers' Income, Baoping Liu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Agriculture is a fundamental and strategic industry essential to national food security and farmers’ well-being. Faced with global population growth, climate change, and resource constraints, the traditional high-input agricultural model is unsustainable. Smart agriculture, empowered by IoT, big data, and AI, has become critical for agricultural transformation and sustainable development. However, existing research overemphasizes technical efficiency and neglects how smart agriculture systematically affects farmers’ income, especially its transmission mechanism and regional heterogeneity.

Against China’s rural revitalization and digital village strategy, this study investigates how smart agriculture development influences farmers’ income, using a hybrid framework of macro empirics and micro analysis. …

Investigating The Role Of Motivation On The Effectiveness Of Computerized Cognitive Training Among At-Risk Youth, Emely N. Lugo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Student motivation plays a central role in academic success, influencing persistence, engagement, and performance across grade levels. Within situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT), motivation is shaped by students’ beliefs about their ability to succeed (expectancy), the importance or usefulness they assign to a task (value), the perceived effort or trade-offs involved (cost), and the situational context in which learning occurs. Although the link between motivation and academic performance is well known, there is limited research on how motivational factors, like those proposed by SEVT, influence the extent of cognitive gains from school-based cognitive interventions designed to improve abilities related to academic …

Untangling Familicide: A Comparison Of Three Definitions, Lesley M. Vega

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Familicide is generally defined as the killing of multiple family members by a relative. However, there is no single, universally accepted definition of familicide, and different studies use varying definitions with different inclusion criteria. Sometimes, very restrictive definitions are used that exclude many similar cases (e.g., father kills spouse and children). Conversely, broader definitions sometimes overlap with other phenomena, such as mass murder. Only a few studies have examined this phenomenon, primarily from an exploratory standpoint.

Case data was collected from the Gun Violence Archive, an online database that records shooting incidents in the United States, for familicidal events that …

A Narrative Review Of Dual Loyalty Conflicts In Custodial Settings And Implications For Community Practice, Michelle Suh, Marc David Robinson, Holland Kaplan

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Dual loyalty dilemmas are conflicts between health care professionals' obligations toward their patients and third-party interests. These conflicts are more common and starker in custodial settings, such as jails and prisons, military detention facilities, immigration detention centers, and involuntary psychiatric institutions. Despite encountering patients in custody, health care professionals (HCPs) in community settings have limited knowledge and training. In this narrative review, we examined dual loyalty conflicts faced by HCPs working in custodial settings and then applied the identified themes to community-based hospitals where HCPs care for patients in custody. We searched databases for original papers relating to patients in …

Survey Of U.S. Reproductive Medicine Clinicians’ Attitudes On Polygenic Embryo Screening, Rémy A Furrer, Dorit Barlevy, Aayushi Gandhi, Shai Carmi, Todd Lencz, Stacey Pereira, Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Polygenic embryo screening (PES) is used to screen embryos for their genetic likelihood of developing complex conditions and traits. We surveyed 152 U.S. reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialists (REIs) on their views of PES. While most respondents (97%) were at least slightly familiar with PES, general approval of PES was low (12%), with the majority expressing disapproval (46%) or uncertainty (42%). A majority (58%) believed risks outweigh benefits, while only 16% felt benefits outweigh risks. Most clinicians (85-77%) were very or extremely concerned about low accuracy, confusion over results, false expectations, and eugenics. Nonetheless, when asked to vote on whether …

Addressing Critiques Refines Global Estimates Of Reforestation Potential For Climate Change Mitigation, Kurt A. Fesenmeyer, Erin E. Poor, Drew E. Terasaki Hart, Joseph W. Veldman, Forrest Fleischman, Pooja Choksi, Sally Archibald, Mohammed Armani, Matthew E. Fagan, Evan C. Fricke, César Terrer, Natalia Hasler, Christopher A. Williams, Peter W. Ellis, Susan Cook-Patton

Geography

Reforestation is a prominent climate change mitigation strategy, but available global maps of reforestation potential are widely criticized and highly variable, which limits their ability to provide robust estimates of both the locations and total area of opportunity. Here we develop global maps that address common critiques, build on a review of 89 reforestation maps created at multiple scales, and present eight reforestation scenarios with varying objectives, including providing ecosystem services, minimizing social conflicts, and delivering government policies. Across scenarios, we find up to 195 Mha (million hectares) are available (2225 TgCO2e (teragrams of carbon dioxide equivalent) per year total …

A Pan-Amazonian Dataset Integrating 20 Years Of Respiratory, Cardiovascular, Zoonotic And Vector-Borne Disease Cases And Landscape Changes, Julia Rodrigues Barreto, Florencia Sangermano, Ana Filipa Palmeirim, Farah Carrasco-Rueda, Benoit De Thoisy, Adrian González-Chaves, Maria Eugenia Grillet, Victoria Morpurgo-Dest, Catalina Zuluaga Rodríguez, Nerida Nadia H. Valero, Paula R. Prist

Geography

As anthropogenic pressures continue to impact the environment, human health is expected to be subsequently affected. This dataset provides a comprehensive view of the trends and burden of infectious diseases, along with environmental metrics, across the Amazon biome between 2000 and 2019. The dataset includes health indicators for respiratory, cardiovascular, and major zoonotic and vector-borne diseases (Chagas disease, hantavirus, cutaneous leishmaniasis, visceral Leishmaniasis, rickettsial diseases, and malaria), compiled as annual case counts at the municipal level. The innovation of this dataset lies in its unprecedented assembly of data for this transboundary biome—much of it requiring ground-level collection beyond available in …

Real-Time Malaria Detection In The Amazon Rainforest Via Drone-Collected Edna And Portable Qpcr, Yin Cheong Aden Ip, Luca Montemartini, Jia Jin Marc Chang, Andrea Desiderato, Nicolás D. Franco-Sierra, Christian Geckeler, Mailyn Adriana Gonzalez Herrera, Michele Gregorini, Meret Jucker, Steffen Kirchgeorg, Martina Lüthi, Elvira Mächler, Frederik Bendix Thostrup, Guglielmo Murari, Marina Mura, Paola Pulido-Santacruz, Florencia Sangermano, Tobias Schindler, Claus Melvad, Stefano Mintchev, Kristy Deiner

Geography

Zoonotic malaria risk at human-wildlife-environment interfaces requires surveillance that integrates signals from reservoirs, vectors and the environment. We coupled a drone-based environmental DNA (eDNA) canopy swabbing approach with portable quantitative PCR (qPCR) to detect Plasmodium DNA in situ during a 24-h field exercise in the Amazon rainforest. Drone-lowered sterile swabs into the canopy, which were then extracted and subjected to a multiplex pan-Plasmodium assay targeting five human-infecting Plasmodium species (limit of detection 0.2 parasites μL−1). Of 12 samples (10 canopy swabs, 2 field blanks; 13 total runs including repeats), one canopy swab amplified in duplicate (Ct = 28.7 and 29.23), …

A Gis Method To Analyze Trajectories Of Gross Changes Through Multiple Temporal Resolutions With An Application To Brazilian Soybean Cultivation, Thomas Mumuni Bilintoh, Robert Gilmore Pontius, Gustavo Oliveira, Julia Shimbo

Geography

Our manuscript presents Trajectory Analysis, which is a novel method to characterize patterns of gross changes during a time series of raster maps. This manuscript is our first article to elaborate on concepts and features of Trajectory Analysis that are necessary to analyze more than two time intervals. The method computes up to eight trajectories and three components of change: Quantity, Exchange, and Alternation. Quantity is the absolute net change between the two time points that bound the temporal extent. Exchange is the additional gross change between the same two time points. Alternation is the additional gross change that derives …

Acculturation, Values, And Acculturative Stress For Autistic Latino Emerging Adults And Spanish-Speaking Parents Participating In The ¡Iniciando! La Adultez Program, Antonio F. Pagán, Miriam Ortiz, Erin Bernal, Katherine A. Loveland, Ana Esparza, Cecilia Montiel-Nava, Ron Acierno

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Latino families with emerging adults diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) face unique challenges during the transition to adulthood, influenced by cultural values, acculturation, and systemic barriers. Acculturation and acculturative stress are particularly relevant in this population, as they navigate cultural adaptation while maintaining traditional values like familismo (family) and respeto (respect). These dynamics are further complicated by disparities in access to resources and culturally responsive interventions. This study explores the interplay of cultural values, acculturation, and acculturative stress among Latino emerging adults with ASD and their Spanish-speaking parents participating in a culturally adapted and translated intervention. Using a cross-sectional …

Interpersonal Communication: A Mindful Approach To Relationships 2nd Edition, Jason S. Wrench, Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter, Katherine S, Thweatt

Milne Open Textbooks

Interpersonal communication is the way we connect with others. Whether engaging with a spouse, a coworker, a close friend, or a stranger, our daily lives are defined by the messages we send and receive. Interpersonal Communication guides students through the complex landscape of human interaction, helping them navigate relationships in the twenty-first century.

A Mindful Perspective

What distinguishes this textbook is its integration of mindfulness into the study of communication. Moving beyond simple skills training, the text encourages students to engage in mindful awareness and mindful practice. By learning to be fully present, open, and non-judgmental, students develop the …

The Future Is Now: Empowering Society Through Ai Literacy, Jason S. Wrench, Sanae Elmoudden

Milne Open Textbooks

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept—it is the reality of the present. From the algorithms shaping our social media feeds to the generative tools transforming our workplaces, AI has permeated every aspect of modern life. The Future is Now moves beyond the hype to provide a comprehensive roadmap for understanding, navigating, and shaping this technological revolution.

Demystifying the Machine

This textbook serves as a user-friendly guide to the “black box” of AI. It breaks down complex technical concepts—from machine learning and neural networks to large language models—making them accessible to students across all disciplines. By establishing a …

Overcoming Title 42 And The 2022-3 Venezuelan Migrant Expulsion Spectacle: A Border Securocracy Case Study, Terence M. Garrett, Arthur Sementelli

School of Political Science, Public Affairs, Legal and Security Studies Faculty Publications

On October 12, 2022, the Biden administration abruptly changed course and announced that Venezuelan refugees would be immediately subject to Title 42—the policy that effectively means that those migrants would be summarily forced to return, or expelled, to Mexico. For FY 2022, Customs and Border Protection apprehended and/or expelled a total of 2,766,582 enforcement actions (CBP FY 2022). The resulting media spectacle illustrates another example of border securocracy—defined as the globalized border industrial apparatus oppressing the masses from the global south. We construct a case study based on Boje's narrative approach to illustrate how guided discussions of Title 42 …

Chasing The Dream And Buying The Promise In A Conceptual Framework For Consumer Decision-Making, Casey H. Prentice

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

The American dream is a concept that is echoed across our society, and while the data show Americans do not overwhelmingly believe in the dream, marketers continue to pair it and the issue of economic prosperity in their agendas. Through a novel framework that overlaps a deeply studied mass communication theory with a decision-making framework used in marketing, this paper demonstrates a new lens to understand how marketers identify strategies and tactics, build agendas, and make sales by touting the American dream. As separate entities, decision-making models and agenda setting theory are powerful, but together can create an environment that …

The Lived Experiences Of Clinicians Who Treat Black Males Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence, Gifty A. Acheampong

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global issue that negatively affects humanity. The harmful effects of IPV often result in lifelong consequences for victims. Researchers have consistently identified women and children as the primary victims of IPV, although men can also be affected. The social stigma around men seeking formal help as victims is that they must endure physical, emotional, financial, sexual, and psychological abuse in intimate relationships. Because psychological abuse is the most common form experienced by male IPV victims, there is a higher prevalence of IPV within the Black community. However, research on help-seeking behaviors among Black men …

Coaching Hero: An Investigation Of Psychological Capital In Black Women Entrepreneurs, Deana Diana Kennedy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The disparity of psychological capital (PsyCap) among diverse cultures and genders in the entrepreneurial area weakens access to the economic and social resources required to develop and sustain entrepreneurial ventures. Black women entrepreneurs continue to lag behind their counterparts in other ethnicities in generating revenue from entrepreneurial efforts, hindering U.S. business maturity. The purpose of this qualitative, constructivist grounded theory study was to explore how coaching facilitates the development of PsyCap among Black women entrepreneurs and the perceived socioeconomic barriers that influence this development. The social cognitive theory and a positive psychology conceptual framework grounded this study. The participants comprised …

“The Moment You Are Disabled; You Are Cut Off From Society.” Assessing The Experiences Of Disabled Ghanaians And The Rights Enshrined In The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities (Crpd)., Solomon Sackey Amoatey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As Ghana continues to pursue inclusion and equality for disabled citizens, considerable tension remains between international human rights frameworks and local social, legal, and cultural practices. Guided by social constructionism and Critical Disability Theory (CDT), this qualitative, chapter-based study examined how disability is constructed through law, policy, and culture in Ghana. It also explored how these constructions influence the interpretation and implementation of disability rights. To achieve this, the study employed semi-structured interviews and document analysis to examine how law, policy, and cultural beliefs intersect to influence the implementation of the CRPD and lived experience of disabled Ghanaians.

Findings show …

Risk And Protective Factors For Suicidal Thoughts And Behaviors For Black Adolescent Males With Exposure To Adverse Experiences Post-Covid 19 Pandemic: Findings From The 2023 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey., Amanda Minogue

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents aged 10-24 in the United States. In 2022, 784 Black adolescent males died by suicide. Recent studies have found that traditionally common associations of risk factors of suicidal thoughts and behaviors are not experienced by Black adolescents, challenging how to determine and detect risk. This dissertation reviewed the variables in the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey that closely align with risk and protective factors of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and the interaction between these and adverse experiences in Black adolescent males. Results of this study found that among the 9 …

Perceived Organizational Support Of High-Performance Support Staff Members In Professional Soccer Organizations., Erica B. Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore perceived organizational support among high-performance support staff (HPSS) within professional soccer organizations. Specifically, this study examined how HPSS define organizational support, identified factors that shape their perceptions, explored organizational challenges they experience, and analyzed how those challenges intersect with their perceptions of support. Organizational Support Theory (OST) and its central construct, Perceived Organizational Support (POS), served as the theoretical framework guiding this study. OST assumes employees form global beliefs about the extent to which their organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being. To address the study’s purpose, a basic interpretive …

Understanding Social And Cognitive Influences In Medical Students' Learning Processes For Step 1: An Interpretivist Case Study., Ashley Elaine Triplett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative interpretivist case study explores, at a singular institution, medical students’ perspectives on the social and cognitive factors influencing the learning process as students prepare for the Step 1 examination. While prior research regarding medical students Step 1 preparation have focused primarily on wellness, stress, and career outcomes, limited studies have examined medical students' lived experiences to navigate what occurs during the learning process while they prepare for this critical exam. Utilizing a qualitative case study approach, this dissertation draws on fourteen student interviews, seven that passed Step 1 on their first attempt, and seven that failed. Findings reveal …

The Important Of Female Coaches: What Barriers They Face, Why They Stay, And What Can Be Done To Attract More., Hayley E. Yourous

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

After the passage of Title IX, there has been an increase in the number of females participating in sports; however, the same cannot translate to women in coaching or leadership positions (Acosta & Carpenter, 2014; Hart et al., 1986; LaVoi & Baeth, 2018). The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of females who had served as head coaches in the high school setting with at least eight years of experience as a head coach. The NCAA (2022) reported in 2020 that female coaches accounted for 41.3% of female teams' head coaches, both intercollegiate and …

Hkc03 - Leading A Horse To Water: Understanding The Potential Consequences Of Ordeals In Subsidized Tariff Pricing, Evan Plous Kresch, Carlota Loran Lopez

Oberlin College Kasper Economics and Business Working Paper Series

Water utilities attempting to balance widespread network access with financial stability in providing services often employ Increasing Block Tariffs (IBTs), where volumetric rates increase nonlinearly with water consumed. The widespread adoption of IBTs by utilities across the world is partly attributed to their ability to cross-subsidize smaller monthly users; however, this often leads to the undesirable outcome that large poor households are shifted into higher tariff blocks. To address this, water utilities often adopt a“social tariff”, with significantly lower rates specifically targeted at poor households. However, most of these social tariff policies require households to opt-in or apply to the …

The Personality Profile Of U.S. Vice President Jd Vance, Aubrey Immelman, Logan Butler

Psychology Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of an indirect personality assessment of U.S. vice president JD Vance, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data relating to Vance were collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, and DSM-5-TR.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed in accordance with interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Vance’s primary personality patterns were found …

Ignite The Spark: A Multi-State Collaboration For Engaging And Retaining 4-H Volunteers, Meggan Franks, Ken Culp, Karla Knoepfli, T. Ashley Burns, Breanna Wade

Journal of Youth Development

Volunteers are critical to 4-H program delivery; however, volunteer retention remains a persistent challenge within youth development organizations. To address this concern, a coalition of 4-H volunteer specialists from the Southern region designed and delivered a five-part webinar series titled Ignite the Spark: Strategies for Engaging and Retaining 4-H Volunteers. This series provided professional development on volunteer engagement and retention for 4-H youth development professionals across the United States. Topics included personal and program readiness, recruitment, engagement, and retention strategies. More than 450 extension professionals from 12 states participated in the live sessions, with an additional 228 completing asynchronous, …