Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Reimagining Care: Experiences Of Trauma-Informed Approaches And Deinstitutionalization In Caribbean Child Welfare, Sarah L. Subhan

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study explored the perceptions and experiences of child welfare professionals on trauma-informed care and implications for deinstitutionalization in Trinidad and Tobago. The qualitative study utilized research interviews from 21 participants to inform findings. The participants included professionals from various agencies who work with children in care and protection. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data, yielding six overarching themes (1) the need for training and capacity building in child protection, (2) systemic and organizational challenges to trauma informed care, (3) cultural and community factors impacting child protection, (4) the need to support family units as a pathway to …

Cleansing Our Recycling Failures: How Guilt And Outrage Lead To Different Types Of Pro-Environmental Behavior, Cody D. Packard

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Most Americans view recycling as “the right thing to do,” yet U.S. recycling rates lag behind other developed countries, and Americans are quick to justify why they do not recycle more (e.g., laziness, inconvenience). Recent messaging has highlighted recycling failures in the U.S., but how effective are these messages, and do they create individual behavioral changes? According to research on moral self-regulation, failing to act morally can threaten a person’s moral self-concept, eliciting moral emotions (i.e., guilt and outrage), and motivating compensatory behavior (such as increased recycling). Three studies examined whether watching a video about poor recycling in the U.S. …

Humans Among Giants: Urban Vitality And Implications Of Vertical Development In Hong Kong, Laura Jaramillo

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis explores the complex relationship between vertical urbanism and street life, using Hong Kong as a case study to investigate how human-scale urbanism persists and adapts amidst the dominance of skyscrapers. While vertical structures symbolize modernity, economic growth, and global influence, they often overshadow the vibrancy and social connectivity that characterize ground-level spaces. This research draws on the theoretical frameworks of Jane Jacobs, David Harvey, and David Sibley to examine the interplay between vertical urbanism and street life, focusing on how spatial design impacts community engagement and cultural vibrancy. By analyzing the coexistence of modern skyscrapers and traditional street-level …

The New Urbanism In New York City: A Case Study Comparing Battery Park City And Alphabet City, Lena Farley

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis examines two Manhattan neighborhoods, Battery Park City and Alphabet City, through the lens of New Urbanism—an urban planning approach developed in the 1990s. New Urbanist principles prioritize walkability, connectivity, mixed-use development, diversity, varied housing options, architectural quality, green transportation, sustainability, and accessible green spaces. While Battery Park City represents a top-down, master-planned New Urbanist neighborhood based on a 1979 plan, Alphabet City emerged from the 1811 Manhattan grid with significant community-driven design, notably through community gardens and grassroots initiatives. Using a mixed-methods approach including residential surveys, qualitative, and quantitative analyses, this research investigates how these neighborhoods embody New …

Huchum: The Legacy Of Fire Suppression, Indigenous Land Management, And Media Representation, Carolyn Coyne

Pomona Senior Theses

In my thesis, I examine how various forms of news media from the 1900s to present day in Ohlone territory have framed a particular hegemonic ideology around fire that matches early colonial journal entries – an ideology that is fueled by fear, sensationalism, and exclusion and directly commits violence against the Ohlone people. I investigate this time period because this is when modern news corporations, like The New York Times, rose into prominence. Specifically, I question how media representations of fire inform regulations over controlled burns; what are the similarities in discourse between media framing and policy? What tactics are …

Rwanda's Natural Remedies: A Fresh Look At The Fight Against Malaria, Leandre Nsabimana Ndisanze

Pomona Senior Theses

Malaria remains one of the most devastating parasitic diseases globally, disproportionately affecting sub-Saharan Africa, where Rwanda continues to face high transmission rates and rising resistance to conventional interventions. Despite decades of control efforts, the emergence of drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum and insecticide-resistant Anopheles mosquitoes threatens to reverse recent gains. This research responds to the urgent need for sustainable and culturally relevant alternatives by exploring the therapeutic potential of Rwandan traditional medicinal plants. These indigenous remedies, long used by local healers, offer an underexplored reservoir of bioactive compounds that may provide the basis for novel antimalarial drugs.

The central hypothesis of this …

Alive For The Wake, Anna Kate Powell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the year 2046, bacteria strain B. bibitor has rendered all petroleum hydrocarbon compounds unrefinable. Paramedic Amanda Bailey finds hope in the resilience of humanity but struggles when she learns the powers that be would rather concentrate their efforts on fighting B. bibitor—restoring infected hydrocarbons to their previously refinable (and profitable) nature—rather than investing in already-developed clean firm energies and renewable material manufacture.

Echoes Of Heritage: Understanding The Impact Of Subtractive Bilingualism On Emotional Well-Being And Bicultural Identity In First- And Second-Generation Immigrants, Anna Reszewicz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The effects of emotional well-being and cultural identity have been widely examined, yet little research has examined these outcomes among subtractive bilinguals. This study aimed to fill the gap in the literature by exploring the relationship between emotional well-being and bicultural identity among first- and second-generation immigrants in the United States who were identified as subtractive bilinguals and non-subtractive bilinguals. Subtractive bilinguals are defined as individuals who learn a second language (L2) while experiencing a decline in proficiency or usage of their heritage language (L1). Using self-report measures, 170 participants were recruited and completed an eligibility survey that included the …

The Heart Of The University: Student Clubs And The American Colonization Of The Pacific, Eli Arnold

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Students have travelled across the Pacific Ocean to study at the University of Montana for over a century, and the contributions of these students deserve to be studied. This thesis explores the educational and community building roles that the historic International Club and Filipino Club, as well as the contemporary Pacific Islanders Club fulfilled. Students from the Philippines and Hawaiʻi provide clear examples of the potential for college campuses to be gathering places for broader community. This thesis is also a study of the global phenomenon of colonialism as seen from Filipino and Native Hawaiian students who travelled to Missoula …

Shall I: Do The Motivations For Breakup Sex Differ Across Different Scenarios?, T. Joel Wade, Zoe Macuto

Faculty Journal Articles

This research investigated endorsement of the 4 motivators (relationship maintenance, ambivalence, hedonism, miscellaneous) for engaging in breakup sex across three relationship breakup scenarios, i.e., a breakup occurred due to: general reasons, infidelity, and being in a long distance relationship using an online questionnaire with a primarily White, primarily heterosexual sample (n = 304, Mage = 20.67). Results indicated that women are more likely than men to engage in breakup sex for relationship maintenance reasons when the breakup is due to general reasons, and for a long distance breakup scenario, non-heterosexuals engage in breakup sex for relationship maintenance reasons, and overall …

The Influence Of Familial Nudging On Attitudes Toward Climate Change And Monetary Contributions: An Exploration Of Ease And Difficulty With Evidence From Japan, Canada, The Usa, And Norway, Hidenori Komatsu, Hiromi Kubota, Kenji Asano Asano, Yu Naga, Catherine Salmon, David Widman, Elisabeth Oberzaucher, T. Joel Wade, Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair, Maryanne L. Fisher, Rebecca Burch, Ryoko Takikawa, Samara Rice

Faculty Journal Articles

Climate change countermeasures require monetary investment for implementation through regulations, often in the form of public taxes. Therefore, public opinion on climate change is an important factor in achieving carbon neutrality (CN). How public perception is formed, leading to motivation to fund measures for CN, needs to be identified. This study aimed to identify the causal structures of attitude change leading to financial investment through two surveys in multiple countries using nudging messages emphasizing familial support (familial nudging), which is effective in promoting pro-environmental attitudes. Study 1 (2023) examined how familial nudging moderates risk-averse attitudes toward climate change. Despite successful …

The Role Of Social Media In Students’ Learning: Perceptions From The Us And China, Jia Pang

CGU Theses & Dissertations

In an era where digital technologies permeate nearly every aspect of daily life, social media emerged as a powerful yet contentious tool in education. This study aims to addresses the broader challenge of understanding how social media reshapes student learning experiences, both positively and negatively, in an increasingly interconnected and information-driven world. The theoretical framework of this qualitative study is built on the principles of connectivism and Phillips’s Model. The data sources for this study include interview data from 30 participants in the United States and China, as well as university policy documents related to social media usage from universities …

The Power To Commission: Exploring The Evaluation Capacity And The Transformative Role Of Evaluation Commissioners In The International Development Sector, Ann Marie Castleman

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Evaluation commissioners play a central role in evaluation practice by generating demand for evaluation through issuing calls for evaluation services and managing evaluation contracts (Lemire, Nielsen et al., 2018; Nielsen et al., 2018b), particularly in the international development sector. Yet few competency sets specify the knowledge and skills needed to conduct this work. Even less is known about the evaluation marketplace in the international development sector and the contract mechanisms used to procure evaluation services.

This research explored the capacity to commission evaluation among international nongovernmental organization (INGO) evaluation commissioners, including individual competencies and practices for commissioning an evaluation, factors …

Declarative Design For Spatial Analysis Models, Yassine Elouri

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have become indispensable tools in addressing complex spatial challenges across diverse domains, including urban planning, environmental conservation, and climate change. However, the technical expertise required to use GIS effectively, particularly proficiency in general-purpose programming languages (GPLs), remains a significant barrier to broader adoption. Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) have proven to lower this barrier by offering tailored abstractions that simplify problem-solving in specific domains. Despite their potential, the GIS domain lacks a formal DSL framework that bridges the gap between the design of spatial analysis models and their practical implementation. This research addresses this gap by proposing Gaia, …

Market Implied Risk-Free Rates: An Analysis Of The Put-Call Parity Implied Rate, Silviu Velovici

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This study investigates the interest rate implied by put-call parity as an alternative, market-based proxy for the risk-free rate. Studying the implied risk-free rate from option prices is important because it provides insights into how market participants collectively perceive short-term financing conditions, independent of official Treasury-Bill yields. Since Treasury securities and the LIBOR are conventionally used as proxies for the risk-free rate, any persistent discrepancy between the put-call parity implied rate and the Treasury-Bill rate, or the put-call parity implied spread, can be interpreted as a signal of market frictions, investor behavior anomalies, sentiment-driven pricing dynamics, or information asymmetries.

By …

Cognitive Biases As Interrupters In Evidence Based Practice Decision-Making: Online Appendix, Jonathan Eldredge

Publications

No abstract provided.

Cognitive Biases As Interrupters In Evidence Based Practice Decision-Making: Dataset, Jonathan Eldredge, Deirdre Hill

Publications

No abstract provided.

Traditional And Non-Traditional Behavioral Tests Demonstrate The Attenuation Of Cognitive Deficits By Therapeutic Hypothermia In A Rat Model Of Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy, Angela Saadat, Cortney Kaszowski, Haree Pallera, Frank Lattanzio, Richard A. Britten, Asna Sulaiman, Stephanie Newman, Alireza Hosseini, Tushar Shah

Department of Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Introduction: Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is neurological disease caused by the deprivation of oxygen and blood flow to the brain during the developmentally-critical perinatal period. Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) is the standard of care treatment for HIE, though cognitive deficits can persistent throughout life despite treatment. The nature of these deficits, and the impacts of TH and sex are not well understood, and this presents a key barrier in the development of novel therapeutics.

Methods: The goal of this study was to enhance the characterization and measurement of cognitive outcomes with tasks that measure spontaneous behaviors in a rodent models of …

Factors Affecting The Quality Of Life Of Residents In The United States: Lessons From Virginia, Daniel K. Pryce

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Evaluating community members' views about their quality of life is important for improving quality of well-being in society, as most societies are interested in the collective well-being of the people. Moreover, quality-of-life research helps public officials to understand how well they are meeting the needs of the electorate. Using the theoretical framework of Maslow's Developmental Perspective, which argues that the higher the need satisfaction of the majority in a given society the greater the quality of life of that society, I explore the effects of multiple variables on quality of life in the Hampton Roads region of Southeast Virginia (this …

Spanking And Children's Approaches To Learning: Estimates From A Longitudinal Matched-Sample Design, Jeehye Kang, Christina M. Rodriguez

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

One form of corporal punishment commonly used in the United States is spanking. Spanking is a well-known risk factor for adverse child development, although its influence on children's approaches to learning (ATL) has been largely overlooked. Existing research is particularly limited in inadequately considering multiple confounds and selection biases in children's exposure to spanking. This study examined the links between spanking and children's ATL, using a matched-group design to strengthen causal estimates among children aged 5 to 7.5 (N = similar to 12,800) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011. Entropy-balanced matching mitigated selection and confounding biases, …

They Never Saw It Coming: Frames Of Intimate Partner Homicide On Crime Science Investigation (Csi), Tracy Sohoni, Julie Snell, Elizabeth Harden

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

While portrayals of intimate partner homicide (IPH) in news media have been extensively studied, research on depictions of IPH in television crime dramas has been largely absent despite the fact that crime-dramas have a wide audience and have been shown to have a significant influence on viewers' social attitudes.

Methods

We conduct a thematic content analysis of portrayals of intimate partner homicide across four seasons of the crime-drama Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) and compare these depictions to research on common warning signs and patterns of IPH.

Results

Similar to research on news media, CSI depicts IPH in ways that …

Is The Defendant Mad Or Bad? The Association Between Mental Health, Race And Sex In Sentencing In Federal Courts, Tracy Sohoni, Sylwia Piatkowska, Briana Paige

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Although US courts regularly sentence individuals with mental health problems, to date, there has been little research on whether mental health indicators are related to sentencing decisions. The focal concerns perspective suggests that sentencing decisions reflect perceptions of the blameworthiness of the defendant, concerns about protecting the community, and practical considerations. Potentially, mental health issues could serve as a mitigating factor in sentencing decisions by making defendants seem less culpable for their actions and more deserving of assistance rather than punishment, and/or due to concerns about practical considerations related to higher costs of incarceration or of exacerbating current mental health …

A New Deepfake Detection Method With No-Reference Image Quality Assessment To Resist Image Degradation, Jiajun Jiang, Wen-Chao Yang, Chung-Hao Chen, Timothy Young

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Deepfake technology, which utilizes advanced AI models such as Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), has led to the proliferation of highly convincing manipulated media, posing significant challenges for detection. Existing detection methods often struggle with the low-quality or compressed press, which is prevalent on social media platforms. This paper proposes a novel Deepfake detection framework that leverages No-Reference Image Quality Assessment (NRIQA) techniques, specifically, BRISQUE, NIQE, and PIQUE, to extract quality-related features from facial images. These features are then classified using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) with various kernel functions. We evaluate our method under both intra-dataset and cross-dataset settings. For …

U.S. Residents' Current Attitudes Towards Immigrants And Immigration: A Study From The Life In Hampton Roads Survey, Daniel K. Pryce

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Immigration is a fiery topic in U.S. society, as it generally brings to a boil native-born citizens’ disparate attitudes toward immigrants and immigration. While immigration has its fierce supporters and opponents alike, the topic provides fodder for politicians who use it to stoke the fear of an impending “immigrant invasion” among citizens. This is why scholars must regularly undertake empirical studies to assess community members’ views about immigrants and immigration in U.S. society. To add to the contemporary immigration debate, I analyze data from a random sample of 610 respondents who reside in the seven cities that make up the …

A Bibliometric Analysis Of Ai-Driven Healthcare Literature Containing Kos Keywords: Trends, Themes, And Gaps, Julaine Clunis, Eric Asare

STEMPS Faculty Publications

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in healthcare applications, concerns have emerged around the trustworthiness, interpretability, and context-awareness of these systems. Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS) hold considerable potential to address these challenges by supporting semantic standardization, explainability, and domain alignment. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of scholarly publications referencing both AI and healthcare concepts to examine how KOS are positioned within this evolving discourse. The findings indicate that while early literature frequently and explicitly referenced KOS—such as ontologies, controlled vocabularies, and classification systems—their visibility has declined relative to newer paradigms such as machine learning and large language models. …

Patterns Of Exclusive, Dual And Poly Tobacco Products Use Among Cancer Survivors In The United States, Ateeqa Ijaz, Miranda E. Gehris, Paul T. Harrell, Aditya Chakraborty, Rime Jebai, Wei Li, Olatokunbo Osibogun, Seyedeh Yasaman Alemohammad, Ziyad Ben Taleb, Ebbie Kalan

Department of Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Purpose

Identifying tobacco products use (TPU) patterns among cancer survivors (CSs) is critical to optimize survivorship care. This study examines exclusive cigarette/e-cigarette, dual (two tobacco-products) and poly (≥ 3 tobacco-products) use among CSs (vs. no cancer history) and its sub-types: smoking-related-cancers (SRCs) vs. non-smoking-related cancers (NSRCs) while also exploring socio-demographic factors.

Methods

The study analyzed 86,551 adults from the 2021–2023 National Health Interview Survey, including 10,846 (9.7%) CSs. Participants were categorized and analyzed based on their CSs status and TPU patterns. Weighted logistic regression models assessed the relationship between TPU and CSs status while adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics.

Results

CSs …

Comprehensive Benchmarking Of Several Machine Learning And Bayesian Models For Early-Stage Diabetes Risk Prediction: A Large-Scale Comparative Study, Md. Iqbal Hossain, Najila Alam Porno

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

Diabetes remains a critical global health challenge, with early detection is crucial for effective management. This study presents a comprehensive benchmarking analysis of 14 diverse machine learning and Bayesian models for early-stage diabetes risk prediction using clinical data [2] from Sylhet, Bangladesh. This research evaluated traditional methods (Logistic Regression, Decision Trees), ensemble techniques (Random Forest, XGBoost, LightGBM), Bayesian approaches (BART, Bayesian Logistic Regression), and advanced neural architectures (Deep Belief Networks) using both 70-30 train-test splits and 10-fold cross-validation. The results demonstrate that ensemble methods consistently outperformed other approaches, with Random Forest(RF) achieving the highest cross-validated AUC (0.9951) and accuracy (0.9699). …

A Decision-Space Model Explains Context-Specific Decision Making, Dirk W. Beck, Cory N. Heaton, Luis D. Davila, Lara I. Rakocevic, Sabrina M. Drammis, Danil Tyulmankov, Atanu Giri, Shreeya Umashankar Beck, Qingyang Zhang, Michael Pokojovy, Kenichiro Negishi, Alexis A. Salcido, Neftali F. Reyes, Andrea Y. Macias, Serina A. Batson, Paulina Vara, Raquel J. Ibáñez Alcalá, Safa B. Hossain, Graham L. Waller, Laura E. O'Dell, Travis M. Moschak, Ki A. Goosens, Alexander Friedman

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

Optimal decision-making requires consideration of internal and external contexts. Biased decision-making is a transdiagnostic symptom of neuropsychiatric disorders. We created a computational model demonstrating how the striosome compartment of the striatum constructs a context-dependent mathematical space for decision-making computations, and how the matrix compartment uses this space to define action value. The model explains multiple experimental results and unifies other theories like reward prediction error, roles of the direct versus indirect pathways, and roles of the striosome versus matrix, under one framework. We also found, through new analyses, that striosome and matrix neurons increase their synchrony during difficult tasks, caused …

The Return Of War In International Politics, Chick Edmond, Nkenglefack Dessailly Forku

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

This article examines the resurgence of war in international politics after the Cold War. It contends that interstate wars have declined after 1990 and there was high optimism for stability and a cooperative international order, but contemporary conflicts have evolved into complex intrastate and asymmetric confrontations involving non-state actors, ethnic and religious divisions, resource competition, and geopolitical rivalries. The paper uses a constructivist approach and secondary qualitative data to identify and explore key drivers of this trend such as the rise of terrorist and insurgent groups, the politicization of identity, disputes over scarce resources, erosion of international norms, and intensifying …

Norfolk Core Redevelopments And Population Disruption Dispersal, Sumner Darling

Institute for the Humanities Master's Papers, Projects, and Capstones

This project is an analysis of the racial impacts of the redevelopment of the downtown area of Norfolk, Virginia in the period of 1939-1959. The overall goal is to understand the ethnic and racial impacts of redevelopment and how populations were treated differently during the two styles of redevelopment that were employed in the city. The existing research on this topic tends to focus on the segregation of the education system in the city over the community population segregation. This makes it difficult to find sources that show the impacts of other factors like redevelopment of minority communities. Through research …