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Full-Text Articles in Human Ecology

Movie Reviews Sentiment Analysis Using Bert, Gibson Nkhata Dec 2022

Movie Reviews Sentiment Analysis Using Bert, Gibson Nkhata

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sentiment analysis (SA) or opinion mining is analysis of emotions and opinions from texts. It is one of the active research areas in Natural Language Processing (NLP). Various approaches have been deployed in the literature to address the problem. These techniques devise complex and sophisticated frameworks in order to attain optimal accuracy with their focus on polarity classification or binary classification. In this paper, we aim to fine-tune BERT in a simple but robust approach for movie reviews sentiment analysis to provide better accuracy than state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods. We start by conducting sentiment classification for every review, followed by computing …


Exploring Leadership In An Extreme Environment: A Haiti Farm Project, Tami Strickland Dec 2022

Exploring Leadership In An Extreme Environment: A Haiti Farm Project, Tami Strickland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined the impact Situational Leadership Theory II® has on followers in a small community in Haiti. Many studies have examined Situational Leadership Theory II® in corporate environments, but not in the low-income context of Haiti. The study focused on how the leadership characteristics and adaptability levels of an expatriate influenced the construction and the ongoing management of a Haiti egg farm project, which is timely based on the volatility currently in the country prior to and after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Using various data gathering instruments, the study explored the expatriate’s leadership …


A Quantitative Examination Of The Influence Of Social And Structural Communication Variables On The Social Connectedness Of People Experiencing Homelessness, Shawn Michael Evans Dec 2022

A Quantitative Examination Of The Influence Of Social And Structural Communication Variables On The Social Connectedness Of People Experiencing Homelessness, Shawn Michael Evans

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined the influence of social and structural communication variables on the perceived social connectedness of people experiencing homelessness in the Northwest Arkansas (NWA) and Joplin, Missouri areas. This study employed the ecological perspective of communication infrastructure theory (CIT; Ball-Rokeach et al., 2001) and a communication perspective which envisions communicative interaction as constitutive of social experience. Using survey data from 166 participants, this study examined 11 research questions and hypotheses drawn from extant literature on homelessness, social connectedness, and CIT. ANOVAs, t-tests, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed a complex relationship between individuals and the communicative environment. This study …


What Are The Economic Barriers For A More Efficient Adoption Equilibrium? Analyzing The Perceived Challenges Lgbtq+ Persons Face In The Adoption Process, Andrew Schoonover May 2022

What Are The Economic Barriers For A More Efficient Adoption Equilibrium? Analyzing The Perceived Challenges Lgbtq+ Persons Face In The Adoption Process, Andrew Schoonover

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

From understanding why adoption matters to drilling down why same sex male couples are not adopting at high rates, more questions are raised than answers found. But all of the complexities and intricacies boil down to one umbrella question: How can the economy shift the equilibrium (i.e., current state of adoption in America) to be more equitable, empowering, and efficient for everyone? Specifically, how can policy choices help increase the demand of gay couples to adopt -- helping to close the gap between gay and lesbian adoption rates? The “lowest hanging fruit” policy remedy for this problem is to alleviate …


Present Limitations And Future Projections: Food Insecurity, Housing Insecurity And Optimism Among College Students, Amber Obermaier May 2022

Present Limitations And Future Projections: Food Insecurity, Housing Insecurity And Optimism Among College Students, Amber Obermaier

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within the last decade, research has identified wide-ranging disparities in access to basic needs among university students. These differences, such as a lack of adequate food and housing during university, provide a negative environmental experience with potential to limit one’s optimism or hope for the future. This research explores how basic needs insecurity and social vulnerabilities among college students are related to subjective assessments of their prospects for the future. The present study utilizes survey data from a random sample of college students (n=300) enrolled at an urban university in the Midwest region of the United States of America. Logistic …


Rethinking Immigration Justice: Mexican Community Activism While Serving Migrants In Transit., Angélica Villagrana Jul 2021

Rethinking Immigration Justice: Mexican Community Activism While Serving Migrants In Transit., Angélica Villagrana

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research study focuses on the externalization of migration control and its effects on staffmembers of community organizations that serve Central American migrants in transit. While literature on migration enforcement places emphasis on border control and internal removals, research on new forms of migration enforcement has paid little attention to the extension of border control beyond physical borders. This study employed an ethnographic approach to address the overarching question of how community organizers have responded to the adoption of US practices on extraterritorial migration control by the Mexican government while serving migrants in transit. Data collected provide empirical evidence contextual …


Latinos In The South: Community, Family, And Identity, José Tránsito Ayala Rodriguez Jul 2021

Latinos In The South: Community, Family, And Identity, José Tránsito Ayala Rodriguez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As Latinos have migrated at high rates to the U.S. South in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the region has become known as a “new immigrant destination” and the “Nuevo South” yet political science research documenting the dynamics of Latino identity in the Nuevo South has been scarce. In this thesis I seek to understand the roles of Latino panethnic, U.S. (American) and Southern identity on factors informing the development of Latino community building. I use the 2016 Blair Center Poll to test social identity and family intimacy theories through a quantitative analysis of the effects of attachment …


Parental Autonomy-Granting And Depressive Symptoms For Adolescents With Chronic Conditions, Ashley Berghoff May 2021

Parental Autonomy-Granting And Depressive Symptoms For Adolescents With Chronic Conditions, Ashley Berghoff

Human Development and Family Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

There is currently a gap in literature regarding the transition from pediatric to adult healthcare for adolescents with chronic conditions, particularly relating to mental health and autonomy. This study aims to address this gap by looking specifically through the lens of parental autonomy-granting. This study uses data from 8,783 individuals in the AddHealth dataset to identify whether parental autonomy-granting has a mediating role between chronic health conditions and depressive symptomology, and to measure if adolescents with chronic conditions reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than their healthy counterparts. Using a t-test, it was found that youth with chronic conditions in …


Alcohol Abuse And Misuse Amongst Homeless Persons In Northwest Arkansas, Reilly Gibson May 2021

Alcohol Abuse And Misuse Amongst Homeless Persons In Northwest Arkansas, Reilly Gibson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol misuse and abuse has been found to be a detrimental risk to individuals having significant impact on their overall health and well-being. Any comprehensive attempt at examining the intersection of alcohol abuse history along with one’s risks and resources as it relates to abuse history among homeless individuals is missing. Using in-depth interviews among homeless adults in Northwest Arkansas (n=168), the current study examines the role of social vulnerabilities, individual risks, and social and psychological resources in explaining alcohol abuse history. Findings support the hypothesis that a person’s vulnerabilities and risks are associated with alcohol abuse histories. Persons who …


Geospatial Analysis Of Registered Sex Offenders: A Case Study From Pulaski County, Arkansas, Maggie Rose Bridges May 2021

Geospatial Analysis Of Registered Sex Offenders: A Case Study From Pulaski County, Arkansas, Maggie Rose Bridges

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this case study was to analyze the spatial distribution patterns of the residences of registered sex offenders in Pulaski County, Arkansas to determine the impact of state enforced residence restrictions. Density and clustering factors were used to identify census tracts of the study area with high and low concentrations of offenders. These zones were then compared to identify which characteristics were similar and dissimilar between high and low concentration zones. The results indicate that there is a non-random distribution of registered sex offenders in the study area. The findings also indicate that the residence restrictions placed on …


A Spatial Analysis Of Student Safety And Perception, University Of Arkansas-Fayetteville, Casey Goodman Jul 2020

A Spatial Analysis Of Student Safety And Perception, University Of Arkansas-Fayetteville, Casey Goodman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research lies within a community's effects upon, reactions to, and perceptions towards safety in their inhabited landscapes during various periods of the day. Through cognitive and spatial research, we can construct bridges between individuals' perceptions and reality. This study pertained to a student population sample and their views of public safety on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Questions were asked as to why they felt unsafe, and where they felt the most unsafe (or safe). The student perceptions were compared to reported crimes on the University of Arkansas campus to ascertain gaps in …


Milk And Law In The Anthropocene: Colonialism's Dietary Interventions, Kelly Struthers Montford May 2020

Milk And Law In The Anthropocene: Colonialism's Dietary Interventions, Kelly Struthers Montford

Journal of Food Law & Policy

It is widely accepted that we are living in the Anthropocene: the age in which human activity has fundamentally altered earth systems and processes. Decolonial scholars have argued that colonialism’s shaping of the earth’s ecologies and severing of Indigenous relations to animals have provided the conditions of possibility for the Anthropocene. With this, colonialism has irreversibly altered diets on a global scale. I argue that dairy in the settler contexts of Canada and the United States remains possible because of colonialism’s severing of Indigenous relations of interrelatedness with the more-than-human world. I discuss how colonialism—which has included the institution of …


Landscapes Of Danger: A Geospatial Analysis Of Perceived And Realistic Risk In Bryce Canyon National Park, Tia Francis May 2020

Landscapes Of Danger: A Geospatial Analysis Of Perceived And Realistic Risk In Bryce Canyon National Park, Tia Francis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The quantification of risk has inspired a wide breath of literature from the physical sciences, social sciences, and interdisciplinary disciplines like geography. Many attempts to estimate risk via natural hazards either focus on quantifying realistic risk or perceived risk of lay persons, with very little overlap between these paradigms. Due to this, a considerable knowledge gap exists within perceived risk and natural hazards research. This study aims to provide a comprehensive, risk estimation and assessment strategy through a multi-hazard risk assessment of Bryce Canyon National Park (BRCA). This case study analyzed knowledge of risk among visitors with perception surveys and …


Emerging Adult Career Pathways: Understanding Aspirations And Switching, Tasmiah Amreen Aug 2019

Emerging Adult Career Pathways: Understanding Aspirations And Switching, Tasmiah Amreen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emerging adulthood is a stage of life characterized by a high degree of fluctuation in identity formation and future decision-making (Arnett 2015). During this life stage, emerging adults make decisions about their future career by assessing whether they want to continue with their current career pathway or whether they intend to switch. The present study investigates this process in terms of its overall prevalence – or how often emerging adults intend to switch career trajectories – and the correlates of it. Previous studies on career switching have focused largely on educational switches. This quantitative study operationalizes career pathway by using …


Shared Perspectives Of Divided Space: Perceptions Of The Urban Environment Among Jerusalemites, Andie Duplantis May 2016

Shared Perspectives Of Divided Space: Perceptions Of The Urban Environment Among Jerusalemites, Andie Duplantis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Multidisciplinary research and philosophical discourse have long explored the complex relationship between the objective environment and subjective human perception. No two humans perceive, experience, and form attitudes about the same phenomenon in exactly the same way. Individual demographics (sex, age) and group identity (culture, religion, ethnicity, political ideology) have been shown to have a profound effect on perception of phenomena; research has also focused on the effect of the physical environment itself. Differences in perception, experience, and resulting behavior have great implications for governance, particularly in regards to planning and development. Recognizing these differences, modern urban planning increasingly seeks to …


A Comparison Of Infant And Toddler Reactions To Strangers Who Have Similar Attributes To An Established Attachment Figure Vs. Strangers Who Have Different Attributes, Jessica Hamilton May 2015

A Comparison Of Infant And Toddler Reactions To Strangers Who Have Similar Attributes To An Established Attachment Figure Vs. Strangers Who Have Different Attributes, Jessica Hamilton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A child's early attachment experiences can have a lasting impact on later development. Early attachment relationships often result in greater Social and cognitive skills, as well as better school performance (Peisner et al., 1999). For these reasons, it is important to address those components that may contribute to secure attachments with care givers in the child care setting. The current study looked at the reactions of infants and toddlers when presented with two previously unknown individuals: one who physically resembled an established caregiver with whom they had already established attachment and one who looked different from this caregiver. The study …


A Comparison Of Perceived Fit Issues Of Apparel As It Relates To Body Image And Body Satisfaction Among High School Athletes And Non-Athletes Using 3-D Body Scan Technology, Stephanie Kay Hubert May 2013

A Comparison Of Perceived Fit Issues Of Apparel As It Relates To Body Image And Body Satisfaction Among High School Athletes And Non-Athletes Using 3-D Body Scan Technology, Stephanie Kay Hubert

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objectives of this study were to first, determine whether high school students have the perception that they have problems finding clothing that fits their bodies, as well as the second objective which was to determine if the problem is common among both athletes and non-athletes or if one group finds fit of apparel more problematic. The third objective was to determine if body image and body satisfaction have an effect on the likelihood of athletes and non-athletes reporting problems with fit issues of clothing available from ready-to-wear stores. Hypothesis I and III analyzed body image, Hypothesis IV analyzed body …


Integrating Human Variables In Cross-Boundary Monitoring Of Aberdare Preserves In Kenya, Peter K. Njuguna May 2012

Integrating Human Variables In Cross-Boundary Monitoring Of Aberdare Preserves In Kenya, Peter K. Njuguna

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research critically examines extant data systems and their linkage of scientific research to policy and public education in east African highland forest conservation preserves. The research indicates that the current state of data and monitoring systems in the region imposes substantial limitations on the ability to manage these preserves. Major outcomes of those constraints manifest in unprecedented cross-boundary pressure such as encroachment and conversion of forest to agriculture, increased human-wildlife conflicts, and constrained relations among primary stakeholders. Current monitoring is biodiversity focused within preserves and fails to capture human dimensions in adjoining areas across preserve boundaries. This study proposes …


The Truth Between The Teeth: An Analysis Of Interproximal Tooth Wear At The Ables Creek Cemetery, Amy Reynolds Warren May 2012

The Truth Between The Teeth: An Analysis Of Interproximal Tooth Wear At The Ables Creek Cemetery, Amy Reynolds Warren

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current archaeological knowledge suggests that, by the Late Mississippian period, inhabitants of the southeastern United States had adopted maize agriculture and that maize was a key component of the normal diet. However, in some regions where wild food resources were easily attainable, there is evidence that the transition to agriculture was delayed or did not occur at all. This thesis examines Late Mississippian skeletal collections from two sites in eastern Arkansas, Ables Creek and Upper Nodena. Analysis of differences in interproximal tooth wear facet size and caries rates between the two populations reveals that the diets at these roughly contemporary …


Deer-Vehicle Collisions In Arkansas, Philip A. Tappe Jan 2005

Deer-Vehicle Collisions In Arkansas, Philip A. Tappe

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.


Landowner Reports Of Deer Hunter Damage In Arkansas, Richard A. Kluender, T. Bentley Wigley Jr. Jan 1991

Landowner Reports Of Deer Hunter Damage In Arkansas, Richard A. Kluender, T. Bentley Wigley Jr.

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Damage to property from deer hunters, though usually not discovered immediately, is a problem for many Arkansans. A questionnaire survey was mailed to 3,773 rural landowners in Arkansas to determine the type and cost of damage suffered from hunters. Thirty-five percent reported minor problems, and 15% reported severe damage from hunters. The most common problems caused by hunters were fence cutting (33%), severe littering (16%), road damage (13%), crop damage (10%), cattle shot (8%), gates left open (6%), and trespassing (6%). Eighty-three (5%) of the landowners reported damage costs of $500 or more; one sustained a $15,000 loss. Total state-wide …


Negro-White Differential Marital Fertility, Milton A. Lawson Jan 1952

Negro-White Differential Marital Fertility, Milton A. Lawson

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.