Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Rise Of Mao: Chinese Civil War And The Role Of Sub-State Actors, 1924-1949, Jackson Trahant

Tenor of Our Times

Mao Zedong led one of the most successful peasant rebellions in human history, changing the global stage of politics forever. Analysis of the 30 year war between Mao’s CCP and the Nationalist Party regime, led by Chiang Kai-shek, reveals the vital role of the Chinese peasant class as a force for revolution. Through ideological pedagogy, Mao formed a highly loyal army that in turn transformed him into a premier political figure of the 20th century, both hated and revered. His story informs the modern field of comparative politics as to how intrastate conflicts rely on sub-state actors for their success.

Equipping Financial Coaches: Training And Resource Department At Western Kentucky University Center For Financial Success, Lily Martin

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Established in 2011, The Center for Financial Success (CFS) housed in the Gordon Ford College of Business at Western Kentucky University, seeks to aid the university and regional community in becoming financially informed and independent. This is achieved through peer-to-peer coaching and applied financial education. The student financial coaches are at the heart of this project, as they are essential to the CFS fulfilling its mission. Their responsibilities include conducting one-on-one financial coaching sessions with students, managing an applied personal budgeting experience for the Personal Finance class (FIN 161), and delivering presentations on financial literacy topics to various organizations, both …

Examining The Impact Of Political Affiliation And Related Images On False Memories, Shawn Sullivan

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The 2024 election, similar to the 2020 election, promised political divide and rampant misinformation (Pennycook & Rand 2021). Given the intensity of this polarization, the season provided a unique opportunity to gain insight into public perceptions and false memories. False memories can impact how we view and disseminate mass media; further contributing to the emergence and circulation of misinformation, leading to significant implications for digital literacy. This study aims to understand how individuals' self-identified political affiliation contributes to their susceptibility to misinformation. Furthermore, I aim to understand how viewing related images may influence the memory of fictional events. Although both …

Gender, Victimization, And Delinquency: Examining Gendered Pathways To Crime Among Juveniles, Caitlin Hinds

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The intersection of gender, crime, and victimization is a critical area of study within criminology, particularly as it relates to understanding the differing pathways men and women take into criminal behavior. Historically, crime statistics have shown a significant male predominance, particularly in violent offenses. Feminist criminology has played an essential role in reframing the narrative around gender and crime, emphasizing the need to examine the gender pathways that shape male and female experiences differently. While men may employ violence more overtly, women often rely on more subtle strategies to navigate criminal activities, avoiding physical confrontation when possible. Feminist criminologists argue …

Exploring The Role Of Bingocize® Workshops In Enhancing Health And Well-Being In Older Adults, Kaitlyn Gray

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

As the population of older adults grows, the need for better health and well-being also grows, making it necessary to implement effective strategies for healthy aging to improve the length and quality of life of older adults (CDC, 2024). This study evaluates the effectiveness of a Bingocize^® Workshop in improving the physical health of older adults. Bingocize^®, a unique program combining bingo with exercise, is designed to increase physical activity. Eleven (11) participants aged 68.55 ± 6.235 attended a ten-week workshop, two times per week focusing on physical exercises tailored to their abilities. The primary objective was …

Construction Workforce And Business In Nebraska, Josie Gatti Schafer, Tara Grell, Ignacio Ruelas Avila

Publications

A skilled and readily available construction workforce is crucial for Nebraska’s growth and vitality. This workforce not only builds and maintains the infrastructure that supports communities but also creates jobs and addresses essential housing and business needs. This brief provides an overview of Nebraska’s construction workforce, highlighting opportunities and challenges to foster a robust labor force for the construction industry.

I To I (Insights Into Islamic) Financial Literacy Among Secondary School Students, Nur Syamilah Md Noor, Nor Hanim Elias, Mardziyah Mohd Isa Mohd Isa, Muhammad Abrar Bahaman, Razinda Tasnim Abdul Rahim

International Conference on Business and Management Research (ICBMR)

Financial literacy is a crucial life skill that enables individuals to manage resources responsibly and make informed economic decisions. In the context of secondary school students, early exposure to financial education provides a foundation for future financial stability and resilience. This study, Insights into Islamic (I to I) Financial Literacy Among Secondary School Students in Perlis, explores the level of awareness, understanding, and practice of financial literacy from an Islamic perspective. The research emphasizes core Islamic financial principles such as the balance between needs and wants, the significance of saving and investing through permissible means, and the prohibition of riba …

Forgiveness Of Self And Others: A Group Approach To The Treatment Of Ptsd And Other Trauma Related Experiences, Jarrod A. Mask

Psychology Doctoral Specialization Projects

Forgiveness is often misinterpreted as the act of forgetting what happened or offering one’s offender the ability to redeem themselves for their wrongdoings. This is simply not the case. Rather, forgiveness is the process of the individual making the unprovoked choice to release their resentment in their own voyage towards living a free and happy life without being imprisoned from the emotions un-forgiveness produces. Forgiveness, as it may be a necessary process for the individual is to attain a sense of peaceful acceptance and liberation from their pain, is not an easy process. Providing a peer-based support system in the …

The Thing With Feathers: An Introduction To Hope-Efficacy Affective Reappraisal Training (Heart), David Bishop

Psychology Doctoral Specialization Projects

Hope is an essential cognitive state as it relates to motivation and aspirations and allows one to feel efficacious in pursuing desired outcomes in life. When used ineffectively, it may also have negative effects on well-being and quality of life in the disappointment that follows from unmet expectations. Hopelessness (aka despair), on the other hand, occurs when one loses hope, and when one is unable to recover from despair, the consequences may be extreme. Despair may result in negative impacts to well-being and mental health and may also present in individuals’ behaviors. Those who experience extreme, severe, and frequent despair …

All The World’S A Stage: The Implementation Of Creative Arts Therapy Utilizing Psychodrama In Prison Populations, Rachael A. Yeager

Psychology Doctoral Specialization Projects

Incarceration rates continue to increase in the United States every year. Federally, the FIRST STEP ACT was passed to assist in rehabilitative programming and to reduce recidivism rates. Psychology programs intervene in areas such as trauma, a highly prevalent concern amongst adults in custody, and utilize evidence-based recidivism programming. Creative Arts Therapies (CATs) have been implemented in prisons in the United States, while Psychodrama is a psychotherapeutic technique generally utilized in European and Asian countries. The World’s Stage (TWS) is a treatment modality that provides psychoeducation on trauma and trauma responses in a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy format and integrates the …

Review Of Platform Power And Libraries, Michael Kirby

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Indirect Requests: Sociopragmatic Aspects Of Non-Conventionalised Indirect Directives, Hammed Mohammadpanah

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations - Archive

Directives are divided into three types, corresponding to different levels of explicitness. To get a hearer who has left the front door open on a cold winter night while taking off their shoes, one can use a direct directive (e.g., Close the door!), a conventionalised indirect directive (e.g., Can you close the door?), or a non-conventionalised indirect directive (e.g., It’s –15 outside.). Inherently implicit in nature, non-conventionalised indirect directives (NCIDs) have been understudied due to being the most context-dependent and form-independent type of directives, which underscores the central role of context-based inferencing and contextual salience in processing and studying them. …

Reducing Stress Related To Injection Therapy: A Zen Bundle Approach, Valoree Bowen

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects - Archive

Background: Needle fear and stress are common barriers preventing adults from seeking necessary medical treatments, including intramuscular (IM) injection therapy. Research highlights the need for evidence-based interventions to mitigate this fear and improve patient experience.

Objective: This evidence-based pilot project included a Zen Bundle—an intervention incorporating shared decision-making, aromatherapy, and distraction—to evaluate the impact on stress reduction and patient satisfaction in a retail vitamin shop in North Texas.

Methods: The project utilized a pre-and post-intervention design over eight weeks. Participants completed pre-surveys assessing stress levels using a Visual Analog Scale before choosing an intervention (aromatherapy, distraction, or both) during IM …

An Application Of The Transtheoretical Model To Vaping Cessation: Measure Development For The Processes Of Change, Autumn Tamlyn

Open Access Master's Theses

Statement of the Problem: An estimated 18.6% of individuals aged 18-24 and 15.9% of individuals aged 25-29 are vaping, with approximately half of the individuals in each of these groups reporting daily use. With vaping behavior on the rise, the current study aims to provide valuable information to understand patterns of vaping behavior to support intervention development and implementation.

Method: The aim of the current study was to develop a Processes of Change (POC) measure for vaping cessation in a young adult population in the United States. Previous POC measures, extensive qualitative literature review, and review of existing …

A Systematic Review Of The Role Of Emotion Regulation In Predicting Behavioral Inhibition Symptoms Among School-Aged Youth, Anne C. Nields

Open Access Master's Theses

Mental health challenges represent a key construct to focus on in support of childhood and adolescent well-being. Mental health challenges represent the leading cause of disability among children and adolescents. Recent research on critical periods in brain development shows that early childhood and adolescence mark times in which behavioral, neurodevelopmental, and mental health features arise. Anxiety disorders, which involve the excessive presence of fear and anxiety, are among the most common psychiatric disorders affecting youth and adults today. Emotion regulation (ER) and behavioral inhibition are important constructs correlated to anxiety which may be leveraged to predict and intervene on the …

Adam Smith And The Division Of Labor, Maria Pia Paganelli

Economics Faculty Research

For Adam Smith, people need to be free to receive the fruits of their labor both because it is their right and also because it will give incentives to produce more and innovate more. Increased production and innovation will generate the prosperity that brings people out of absolute poverty. They create the means to support a growing population, and a cheerful society.

The Role Of Socioeconomic Indicators On Child Behavior And Academic Outcomes During Elementary School, Ashlee Mineau

Open Access Master's Theses

The impact of a child's socioeconomic status (SES) impacts all aspects of development. Children’s SES will be examined to determine the potential impact they may have on children's academics and behavior. The SES variables that will be examined are parent education, parent occupation, and household income. Parent education is one of the strongest predictors of child school achievement (Martinez et al., 2022). Children who come from a lower SES household are more likely to display externalizing behaviors (Barry et al., 2022). This study in particular looks at its impact for academic achievement in reading, math, and science and external problem …

Impact Of Adverse Childhood Experiences And Hostile Attribution On Adult Romantic Relationship Dynamics, Richeila Lora

Open Access Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine whether experiencing ACEs and hostile attributions led to engaging in conflict behaviors in adult romantic relationships. Additionally, it was examined whether hostile attributions served as a moderator in the relationship between experiencing ACEs and engaging in conflict behaviors. Participants were adults (N = 3.684) from the German Family Panel dataset. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the associations between experiencing ACEs, hostile attributions, and conflict behaviors. It was found that both experiencing ACEs and hostile attributions were related to engaging in conflict behaviors. However, hostile attributions did not serve as …

The Intersection Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Alcohol Use In Rhode Island High Schoolers From Marginalized Backgrounds, Sydney Iacoi

Open Access Master's Theses

Objective: Adverse childhood events (ACEs) are pervasive, affecting more than half the United States’ population. A large body of research has described an association between an increased number of ACEs and negative outcomes, including the development of a substance use disorder later in life. Further, ACEs are disproportionately experienced by individuals from historically marginalized groups. Thus, the interaction between ACEs and substance use may disproportionately impact individuals from historically marginalized groups (i.e., based on ethnicity and sex). The present study’s main aim was to examine the interaction of group differences, specifically based on sex and ethnicity, on the associations …

Using A Self-Report Survey To Determine Students’ Self-Concept, Math Attitudes, And Achievement In Ability-Grouped Math Classrooms, Jessica T. Blake

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Ability grouping is a common practice in the United States that aims to acknowledge differences in student ability by dividing students into more homogeneous groups. Numerous studies have examined factors associated with ability grouping such as self-concept, math achievement, and attitudes toward math, but there is little empirical research exploring these three factors simultaneously. The current study examines the differences in achievement level, achievement gains, math self-concept, and attitudes toward math in middle school students enrolled in math classes based on student ability. Participants included 407 middle school students across two schools that use between-class ability grouping for math. Students …

Plastic Gerontologies: Epigenetic Clocks As Instruments Of The Profitable Medicalization Of Aging, Hans T. Purisch

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Epigenetic clocks are algorithms that use epigenetic biomarkers of aging to calculate an organism’s ‘biological age.’ Through discursive analysis of commercially available epigenetic clock marketing materials, scientific articles, and interviews with actors in the longevity biotechnology industry, this study examines the commercialization of epigenetic clocks in the form of consumer test-kits. The study argues that longevity biotechnology companies leverage the malleable and fluid qualities of epigenetic markers of biological age to extend the domains of profitable therapies. It shows that epigenetic clock companies market the dynamic qualities of epigenetic biological age measurements to redefine health around the project of optimizing …

Lust, Labor, & Legitimacy: Visibility And Precarity In Platformed Sex Work, Sable J. Augustyn

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This thesis examines the labor of platformed sex workers, positioning their experiences as a site for understanding the entanglement of multiple intersecting economies. Through qualitative interviews, it explores how sex workers navigate platform infrastructures, manage audience engagement, and contend with visibility as both an economic necessity and a site of risk. Drawing on theories of emotional labor, visibility labor, and platform governance, the project highlights how sex work on digital platforms is shaped by overlapping systems of economic extraction, technological constraint, and cultural regulation. Platformed sex work emerges here as a layered and context-specific practice—embedded within creator ecologies, attraction economies, …

Woke-Lahoma: Anti-Trans Ideology On The Frontlines, Sarah H. Fogel

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

The past decade (2015-2025) of American politics has been marked by a sharp rise in anti-trans politics. Indeed, during this period, anti-trans rhetoric and legislation have become central to American conservative politics more broadly. As the Republican party under Donald Trump works daily to remake the federal government in its image, studying the recent past of Republican-controlled states like Oklahoma offers a window into the future of anti-trans politics at the national scale. This thesis uses a mix of discourse analysis of anti-trans media and participant observation at 2SLGBTQ+ Pride events to analyze the ideological underpinnings of the present-day anti-trans …

Spatializing The Tax Code: Using Property Records To Locate The Fiscal Face Of Rentiership, Michael J. Mccanless

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This dissertation analyzes how the tax code shapes housing financialization in mid-sized US cities. Employing a mixed-methods approach that integrates critical computational analysis with qualitative fieldwork in Memphis, I examine the role of public rent-seeking in shaping housing financialization in U.S. cities. The first article analyzes the property tax appeal strategies of corporate landlords and their implications for public revenues and municipal budgets. The second article explores how the IRS 1031 exchange provision—which allows for capital gains deferrals when the proceeds of a property sale are reinvested in a ‘like-kind’ property—facilitates the movement of capital from high-cost coastal markets into …

The Houston Climate Justice Museum As A Catalyst For Environmental Justice: Exploring The Intersection Of Art, Activism, And Creative Placemaking In Houston, Texas, Aylin Castro

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This thesis explores how the Houston Climate Justice Museum (HCJM) functions as a site for environmental/climate justice education through art and community engagement. Drawing on interviews, participant observation, and document analysis, this research examines how the museum’s curating practices generate new understandings of environmental in/justices, fosters local partnerships, and creates a welcoming space for community dialogue. Findings show that the HCJM does more than exhibit art, it demonstrates how art can be leveraged to advance both activist and educational projects. This study positions the HCJM as a model for how local and justice orientated museums and cultural spaces can contribute …

Making Slums Legible, Visible And Calculable: Geospatial Technologies And The Governance Of Urban Land In Mumbai, Sanjana Krishnan

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This dissertation examines how geospatial technologies are used to make slums in Mumbai legible, calculable, and hypervisible, and how these practices reshape urban land governance. It situates mapping, remote sensing, and algorithmic systems within their political-economic contexts, showing how technologies intending to see the city often function as instruments of dispossession. The research has three interconnected empirical chapters. The first empirical chapter traces the history of slum mapping in Mumbai, from their absences in early development plans to their selective hypervisibility under the contemporary governance regimes. Using critical cartographic methods, it highlights how novel technologies such as remote sensing, biometric …

Analyzing Agency In Online News Reporting Of The Events Of January 6th, 2021: A Corpus-Based Investigation, Matthew W. Abernethy

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

Over the last decade or so, politics in the United States has become increasingly polarized. A central focus of this polarization has been the news media, including both traditional print news, online news, and television news. Results of this have been a rapid rise in misinformation, disinformation, the demonization of news (especially political) providers as purveyors of ‘Fake News’, and distrust in mainstream news outlets. The central focus of this thesis is bias in news reporting, leading naturally to the question of how widespread this bias really is. This thesis uses corpus linguistic and discourse analytic methods to pursue this …

Trashing Gender Scripts: Indexical Misrecognition In The Zine "Galatea's Naked", Jules Blank

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

Zines, short for ‘fanzines’ or ‘magazines,’ refer to physical, printed, self-published creations that can consist of a single sheet of paper or many, fastened together. These artifacts are rich with meaning—and, thus, can be read as tangible manifestations of the ideologies and identities of the creator(s).

This thesis focuses on the way zines are used as tools of resistance. Additionally, it shows that the creation and circulation of zines are highly pragmatic acts that solidify social bonds and enable individuals to perform and reinforce their emergent identities within a collective—explicitly making a claim about who they are and what they …

Cognate Facilitation And Processing In English-Speaking Learners Of German, Kaitlin L. Young

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

Within the field of second language acquisition, research finds that increased exposure to input results in improved proficiency, especially when those activities are challenging yet manageable for the language learner’s current level. Because of this, listening exercises and speech processing are considered integral to language acquisition, even leading to recommendations of frequent, authentic use of the target language (TL). Instructors’ TL authenticity is, however, sometimes stunted by the demand for comprehensible input and facilitation of classroom activities; they make use of simpler syntax, stronger enunciation, and more cognates (words sharing origins, meanings, and form across languages) than in casual speech. …

Orthographic Errors For Dysgraphic Second Language Learners In Russian And Hebrew, Kyra O. Morgan

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

Students of Second Languages might be asked to learn new writing systems in the classroom. This study is interested in how dysgraphic students, that is, students with a specific learning impairment with regards to written expression, make errors in comparison to their peers. These errors revolve around orthography, spelling, and spacing. However, this study will take a turn and focus on how all of the respondents understood the prompt and what that says about their relationship with writing in the classroom.