Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Death Penalty: Recent Trends In Exonerations And Recommendations For Further Improvements, Brittany Wakefield

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The death penalty has had many regulations placed since its first use in America to make the process more equitable, but people are still being wrongfully sentenced to die. Using a data set of 139 exonerations over a period from 1980 to 2021, the current study examined some prominent factors in wrongful death penalty convictions and how these factors have changed or endured over time. The major findings revealed that racial disparity still exists in the legal process, but it is declining. Exonerees are more likely to have three or more contributing factors (perjury or false accusation, official misconduct, false …

The Dangers Of The Social Drinker: An Analysis Of Adolescent Drinking Habits At Social Gatherings, Mason Seitz

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Adolescent alcohol consumption is a topic that has been well-researched to date due to the dangers it can pose. A variety of factors may work to contribute to the habits these adolescents develop. One factor that has not been extensively studied is the impact of locations on drinking decisions. Location provides a perspective on how various social factors can intersect to dictate where and when young people will choose to consume alcohol. Most previous literature has focused on the alcohol usage found at parties or bars, but the current research wishes to expand this idea to other locations, such as …

The Past And Present: Issues Of Male Patriarchy Throughout Historic Literature And Dominance In Media Today, Leah Moore

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Women’s subjugation to the objectification of men is a traced theme throughout the history of Western culture. In this thesis, the attributes of the male gaze will be explored via the patriarchal pioneers of literature: Dante to Petrarch to Shakespeare. The solidification of the male gaze takes place during the late middle ages as Dante Alighieri writes an infatuated love for Beatrice throughout La Vita Nuova and Inferno, demonstrating the virgin-whore dichotomy with Francesca. Similarly, Francesco Petrarch’s poetry of Rime Sparse describes the objectification and dismantling of woman for erotic pleasure and patriarchal power. The shift from early to …

An Exploration Of Skills And Competencies To Develop Tiny Tasks For A Sustainability Mindset, Migielia Ga De Rooij

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The Journal of Environmental Psychology and Human Ecology Review have produced various articles about the relationship between values, environmental attitudes, happiness, and sustainable lifestyles. Research shows that a change of individual behaviors and lifestyles is generally considered to be of vital importance for making the transition to a sustainable society. This project explored the individual skills and competencies that are needed to develop a Sustainability Mindset, also referred to as the 12 Sustainability Principles in the book The Sustainability Mindset Principles: A Guide to Developing a Mindset for a Better World written by Isabel Rimanoczy in 2021. The first result …

Developing A Prototype Of A Playfulness Toolkit, Hanneke Hovels

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Playfulness is the ability to reframe situations, seeing new possibilities. A playful mind-set increases our mental flexibility, resilience, empathy, and our overall well-being. Unfortunately, growing up most of us lose part of our playfulness. How can we facilitate adults to live a (more) playful life? To ignite playfulness in adults’ lives, we first have to raise awareness for the benefits of playfulness, and then help people to develop a playful mind-set and integrate playfulness into their lives. In this project I combine my knowledge of creativity and playfulness with my experience in service and behavior design. I developed a prototype …

Practical Skill Building And Application Of Sketchnoting And Visual Thinking, Troy Schubert

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Practical Skill Building and Application of Sketchnoting and Visual Thinking

In the ever-quickening stream of information flowing toward us, how do we connect and engage with that stimulus in meaningful ways? Where does the new information fit in the mosaic of knowledge we already hold? Sketchnoting and visual thinking are methods that work in harmony with the way our brains work, allowing for deeper absorption and recall. The goal of this project was to build foundational skills in sketchnoting and visual thinking, and then find opportunities to begin applying those skills in real-world situations. This document chronicles the journey and …

A Content Analysis Of The Equal Rights Amendment, Ashley Smith

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced to Congress in 1923, passed through both houses of Congress in 1972, but failed to be ratified by the number of states necessary to become a Constitutional amendment. There are numerous social, political, and economic factors that have contributed to the successes and failures of the ERA over the years, but little research has been done to determine how these individual instances influence one another long term. Utilizing the qualitative method of path dependency and research rooted in feminist theory, I examine the timeline of the ERA as it fits within the greater …

The News And Social Media Algorithms: An Evaluation Of Serendipity In The Infosphere., Libby Petrie

Journalism Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study investigates consumer responses to a theoretical solution to many of the problems facing today's infospheres, including but not limited to echo chamber behaviors, misinformation, and polarization. The solution, conceptualized as the “Architecture of Serendipity,” proposes that media platforms tweak their existing algorithms to introduce a threshold of “serendipity,” or random and varied content in order to diminish the effects caused by the over-personalization of today's most relevant information systems (Sunstein, 2017). While there is a belief among certain academics that the architecture can prove to be incredibly impactful at diminishing these negative consequences, there is no commentary on …

Care, Job Guarantee, And Revisiting “Socialization Of Investment”: Insights From Institutional Economics, Zdravka Todorova

Economics Faculty Publications

The paper discusses commitment to full employment in light of institutional theory and offers a renewed examination of Keynes’s "socialization of investment" concept. The discussion builds on Veblen's theory of human development, predation, and capitalism. It highlights contemporary institutional inquiry in a discussion of ongoing issues of care and social disparities. Based on this, the article formulates problems for a broader inquiry about socialization of investment. The article provides insights about Job Guarantee based on original institutional economics concepts.

An Oral History On Material Culture In Greencastle, Indiana: Investigating The Importance Of Movable Objects To Individual, Familial, And Community Relationships, Brenna Milligan '22

Honor Scholar Theses

If things could talk, what would they tell us? Specifically, what do the things within the walls of our own homes, or tucked away in a box for safe-keeping, or stuffed in our backpack—things of ordinary value or small-scale worth— say about life in the 21st century? While objects displayed in museums provoke visitors to consider the mastery of artistic skill, or the desirability of rare materials, what does the family photograph in the pocket of the museumgoer signify about human relations to things? This project explores why everyday things and personal artifacts are worthy of academic research. Specifically, it …

Collegiate Football Players Perception Of The Covid-19 Virtual College Experience, Cole L. Laliberty

Leadership Education Capstones

The world was faced with chaos as the COVID-19 virus surged impacting the lives of everyone around the world. Quickly, nations and states began to lockdown as people were required to stay inside and socially distance from one another. The pandemic changed the lives of collegiate football players’ drastically. It left collegiate football players stranded away from teammates, coaches, families, and resources. The research design was a mixed method design consisting of both qualitative and quantitative data. The data obtained from this research focused on major themes of how collegiate football players perceived the pandemics virtual college experience, the challenges …

Himmelfarb Headlines - May/June 2022, The George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Himmelfarb Headlines (2009 - present)

News, information, and resources relating to Himmelfarb Library that is of interest to patrons.

A Full Universal Basic Income For The United States, Kevin Rogers

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation is to estimate whether a "full" Universal Basic Income (FUBI), within or without a single-payer Universal Health Care (UHC) system, would be both sufficient to eliminate income poverty and affordable without increasing federal borrowing or decreasing federal discretionary spending in the United States.

In Chapter 1, I elaborate on the components and benefits of a FUBI. In Chapters 2 and 3, I present the results from a static, behavioral, partial-equilibrium, micro-simulation model that analyzes household responses to changes in mandatory spending, sources of tax revenues, and tax expenditures. These changes include introducing a FUBI in …

The Effects Of Counterfactual Thinking On Everyday Meaning, Wynn Tan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Meaning-making literature largely focuses on predictors of global meaning rather than situational meaning. This is insufficient as both levels of meaning are necessary for a sustained sense of meaning. Past studies found evidence that downward counterfactuals can enhance the meaningfulness of events. However, those findings may be due to existing studies’ focus on major events and did not study how meaning could change over time. For everyday events, upward counterfactuals were proposed to be more apt in enhancing meaning. Using a multiphase diary study, this paper examined whether upward counterfactual thinking predicted event meaningfulness, and more specifically if it was …

Essays On International Trade, Shenxi Song

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Reciprocity is a key principle governing the negotiations under the GATT/WTO agreement, which calls for a balance of concessions among the WTO members. In recent years, however, various politicians across the world have voiced concerns about their country's excessive obligations under the WTO and a lack of reciprocation by their trading partners. The objective in the first chapter is to evaluate the degree to which the pattern of applied tariffs across WTO members deviates from a balanced-concession condition. To this end, we employ a quantitative trade model and use alternative definitions of reciprocity (based on market access or welfare) to …

Redeveloping Homeless History And Chronicity Documentation: A Study For Heartland Family Service, Rachel Riede

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

In recent months, the Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) program at Heartland Family Service (HFS) has seen substantial delays during their intake process, specifically when it comes to verifying a client’s HUD-required homeless history. This has led to an increase in program vacancies, fewer clients served, and an underutilization of the program’s budget, which could also induce more permanent defunding in the future. While the agency is working to address this problem by retraining all of their case managers on how to collect homeless histories, this project seeks to instead identify and address the problem through the case managers’ perspective. Through …

A Spatiotemporal Analysis Of Food Pantry Accessibility In Washington County, Arkansas, Coleman Warren

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Food pantries are an essential resource for impoverished and food insecure communities. Washington County, Arkansas has a food insecurity rate of 14.3% as compared to the national average of 10.9% (Feeding America, 2019). The Northwest Arkansas Food Bank has a robust pantry network in Washington County to support families and individuals who struggle with food insecurity.

We conducted a spatiotemporal analysis of food pantry accessibility in Washington County, Arkansas to evaluate the effectiveness of the food pantry network in Washington County at supporting communities with the most need. This analysis was conducted using the Two-Step Floating Catchment Area (2SFCA) method …

[Aphm] Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2022, Raquel Estrada, William Flores, Samantha Bustillos

Library Display Posters

Collection of posters created celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2022.

Contributing Factors To Drug Abuse In The Appalachian Region, Will Holcombe

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Appalachian region faces wide scale drug use and opioid addiction that exceeds the national average, and the crisis needs more attention in order to properly address the epidemic. Many previous studies have documented the problems Appalachian residents face regarding opioid addiction and other diseases of despair. However, this study focuses on two specific contributing causes of the opioid crisis: a lack of access to medical care and over-prescription of opioids. Additionally, while the problems of substance abuse, particularly opioid abuse, are well represented in media accounts, there is an under-representation of drug recovery and the positive aspects of the …

The Shape Of Things: A Theatrical Examination Of The Progression Of Emotional Manipulation, Kylee Lorio

Honors Projects

In Neil LaBute's work, The Shape of Things, graduate art student Evelyn Thompson meets security guard and future muse, Adam Sorenson, in an art museum during his late-night shift. Their meeting poses the question of just how far humans are willing to go for love. In less than two hours, LaBute’s insight regarding manipulation between intimate partners calls the integrity of our own interpersonal relationships into question. This project encapsulates the materials of Bridgewater College student Kylee Lorio while directing this production during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Diagnostic Featural Detection Or Filler Siphoning: A Red Box Study, Brynn Schuetter

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The current study is a replication and extension of previous research by Colloff and Wixted (2020). In their study, they created a novel identification procedure called the simultaneous showup. They found support for the diagnostic feature detection theory over the filler siphoning theory. The current study was interested in seeing if covert filler siphoning was still occurring in their novel procedure by asking participants how photos of fillers influenced their identification decision. Participants of the study viewed two crime videos and completed an identification task. If they were assigned to the simultaneous showup task, they were asked if and how …

How Flow Regime Affects Predator-Prey Relationships Of Stream Darter And Shiner Species, Anna E. Richardson

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Analysis of the interactions between abiotic and biotic factors of environments and ecosystems is a highly valued area of research. This study focuses on the interactions between the biotic component of predation and foraging of certain stream fish species and the abiotic component of the flow regime that those species reside in. Gut content analysis followed by statistical calculations in the form of t-tests and chi -quared tests were performed on two fish species who both inhabited a stream with a groundwater flashy flow regime as well as a stream with a runoff flashy flow regime. The research showed that …

The Future Is Female? Evaluating The Utility Of Female Professional Networking Organizations, Lily Arbuckle

Communication Undergraduate Honors Theses

In today’s competitive global market, harnessing the individual strengths of all organizational members is crucial for success. Organizations across all industries need diverse representation and contributions. However, women and other groups continue to be disadvantaged, lacking the same representation that majority and advantaged groups enjoy. The prevalence of gender bias in the workplace not only hinders professional success for women, but also the success of their organizations. To combat some of these issues, networking organizations are forming to help support women through mentorship and relationship building. Most studies in the academic sphere investigate female networking organizations at the professional level. …

Effects Of Retail Case Environment And Led Lighting Temperature On Color And Oxidation Of Previously Frozen Ground Beef Patties, Devin Elaine Whiteside

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate different environments of retail cases and LED lighting temperatures to observe how these conditions affect oxidation of previously frozen ground beef patties. Coarse ground beef (85% lean) was purchased from a commercial beef processor, fine ground through a 10 mm grinder plate, and then formed into 1/3-pound patties with an automatic patty forming machine. Patties were then randomly assigned to four different treatments: open-front display cases with 3000 K lighting (OPEN3000), open-front cases 3500 K lighting (OPEN3500), reach-in door display with 3000 K lighting (CLOSED3000), and reach-in door display at 3500 K …

The Effects Of Water With Anti-Inflammatory Capabilities (Wac) On Circulating Inflammatory Biomarkers At Rest And Following Resistance Exercise, Brittany Martin

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses

Purpose: To determine the effects of waters with anti-inflammatory capabilities (WAC) influence circulating inflammatory biomarkers at rest and following resistance exercise. Methods: Participants completed a heavy lifting protocol and drank water with anti-inflammatory capabilities for a total of six weeks. Blood samples were taken at different at 9 different time intervals to assess concentrations of anti-inflammatory markers and to quantify inflammatory biomarkers. Those time intervals included pre-AHREP 1 and post-AHREP 1, 24-hr post-AHREP 1, 48-hr post-AHREP 1, 3-week check-up, pre-AHREP 2, post-AHREP 2, 24-hr post-AHREP 2, and 48-hr post-AHREP 2. Background: The biomarkers that were focused on were: IL-6 …

Transmission Risk Of Malaria Via Gas Flares In Africa, Elle Blake

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses

Gas flaring occurs at oil drilling sites around the world. It is a method to get rid of the extra gas, as well as to release pressure in emergency situations. The pollutants that are contributed to the air through routine gas flaring can be extremely harmful. Chemicals such as sulfur dioxide and methane are burned into the air we breathe (Baker Hughes, 2019). Not only does this have a direct impact on our health, but also on greenhouse gas emissions. The effects on greenhouse gas emissions impact diseases such as Malaria by increasing the temperature of our planet. The purpose …

Effects Of Recess On Educational Outcomes In Elementary School Children, Katelyn Whitham

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses

Introduction: Because physical activity is beneficial for physical and mental health, the declining opportunities to implement adequate recesses in schools are devastating for children. If educational outcomes are positively affected by increased recess time or quality, schools are more likely to receive funding for programs and resources that support this renovation to recesses, providing research in lacking topics. Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review is to find related, academic articles for cross examination of data collected on the effects that recess has on educational outcomes so that schools may use this as a resource to receive funding to increase …

Print News Media And Prisoner Reentry: An Exploratory Study Of Local Newspapers In 2018, Sydney Gaughan

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

In hopes to fill gaps on this subject, the current study uses ethnographic content analysis on newspaper articles while investigating the following research questions: (1) How does local news media portray recidivism by reentering prisoners? and in turn, (2) What are some characteristics of those news articles associated with the likelihood of local media using specific portrayals or “frames”?

There are several reasons to examine these research questions. First, this research aims to convey how local news media might use their positions to create narratives for public consumption that foster worry and panic. This study can shed light on the …

Unequal Treatment: An Exploration Of Immigrant-Related Factors And Likelihood Of Discrimination In The United States, Sophia Woods

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Despite the rapid and considerable growth of the Latino population in the United States, the continual xenophobic rhetoric surrounding Latino immigration along with the nativist public policies set in place have led to higher rates of discrimination. Latino immigrant discrimination has shown to have consequences on mental health, social isolation, physical health, and trust of law enforcement. Using data from the Pew Research Center, I explored the specific factors associated with Latino immigrants that increase the likelihood of experiencing discrimination in the United States. In line with much of the prior literature, age, ethnic identity, English proficiency, Mexican origin, fear …

Can Violent Political Rhetoric Influence Bias Homicide Rates? Analyzing The Trump Effect, Tyler Joseph Patrick Ford

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

The founding document of the United States declares that all men are created equal. However, history has shown that this is not the case. Citizens in this country have been discriminated against since its inception based on their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, and many other factors. The first Federal Legislation passed to prevent discrimination against citizens in the United States did not come until 1968, which “made it a crime to use, or threaten to use, force to willfully interfere with any person because of race, color, religion, or national origin” (United States, Department of Justice). It …