Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Pol 3345 (Contemporary International Conflict), Aaron M. Zack

Open Educational Resources

The title of the course is Contemporary International Conflict; however, since significant political violence takes place within states and is conducted by non-state actors, the course will not confine itself to conflict between states. After first considering sovereignty and the parameters of violent conflict, we shall explore three subjects in particular depth: terrorism; the actual and potential impact of nuclear weapons on global conflict; and the risk of great power war between America and China. We will also discuss transnational criminal organizations.

Violence In Prostitution, Serena Maszak

Student Theses

It is estimated that the majority of prostitutes are victims of violence, including rape and homicide. Some research has suggested that the clients of sex workers perpetrate most of these acts of violence. While several qualitative studies have examined specific incidents of violence, the prevalence and causes of violence in prostitution remain largely unaddressed by the existing literature. This study compares attitudes towards sexual violence and prostitution between men who have purchased sexual services and those who have not. Participants were 170 men recruited online, with 35 (20.6%) participants self-identifying as those who had previously purchased sex. Overall, a significant …

Use And Awareness Of Library Services Among Faculty At Two Armenian Universities, D. Aram Donabedian, John Carey, Arshak Balayan

Publications and Research

This study surveyed instructional faculty at two Armenian universities to determine use and awareness of academic library services or resources including reference, interlibrary loan, subscription databases, subject liaisons, and more. A minority of respondents reported making frequent use of the services investigated, with usage varying according to such factors as academic rank, length of employment, and full- or part-time status. Many participants also had suggestions for services not available at their libraries. These results help illuminate user preferences among faculty at these universities and could help librarians at similar institutions identify underutilized resources to promote or new services to offer.

Critical Care: The Important Role Of Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs, Douglas N. Evans, Anthony Vega

Publications and Research

Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIP) recognize the importance of supporting the needs of violence survivors and their families to help prevent retaliation and other violence from reoccurring. This report discusses the need for evaluations and further research for HVIPs as the shift towards understanding violence through a public approach increases.

The Effects Of Media Exposure On Perceptions Of Residence Restrictions, Stephanie Simeone

Student Theses

Public perceptions impact the formation of sex offender policy, yet much of what the public knows about sex crimes is based in stereotypical narratives provided by the media. The present study investigated the effects of media exposure on perceptions of sexual offending and the efficacy of residence restrictions. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three media exposure groups and then asked about their opinions about sexual offending and residence restrictions. Results indicated that participants who viewed sensationalized media reports were more likely than individuals who viewed informed media and no media to endorse more stereotypical views of individuals convicted …

Smaller Hippocampal Volume In Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Multisite Enigma-Pgc Study: Subcortical Volumetry Results From Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Consortia, Mark W. Logue, Sanne Jh Van Rooij, Emily L. Dennis, Sarah L. Davis, Lauren O’Connor

Publications and Research

BACKGROUND—Many studies report smaller hippocampal and amygdala volumes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but findings have not always been consistent. Here, we present the results of a large-scale neuroimaging consortium study on PTSD conducted by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC)–Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) PTSD Working Group.

METHODS—We analyzed neuroimaging and clinical data from 1868 subjects (794 PTSD patients) contributed by 16 cohorts, representing the largest neuroimaging study of PTSD to date. We assessed the volumes of eight subcortical structures (nucleus accumbens, amygdala, caudate, hippocampus, pallidum, putamen, thalamus, and lateral ventricle). We used a standardized image-analysis and …

Among The Palms1, Lee Haring

Publications and Research

Born out of the convergence of intellectual traditions and owning a borrowing capacity analogous to the one that engenders creole languages, the study of folklore, or folkloristics, claims the right to adapt and remodel political, psychological, and anthropological insights, not only for itself but for the humanities disciplines of philosophy, art, literature, and music (the “PALM” disciplines). Performance-based folkloristics looks like a new blend, or network, of elements from several of those. What looks like poaching, which is a common practice for folksong and folk narrative, can be examined in the PALM disciplines under names like intertextuality and plagiarism. Nation-oriented …

Fair Chase: A Cinematic Essay On Hunting In The Northeast U.S., Rahul Chadha

Theses and Dissertations

FAIR CHASE is an experimental ethnographic film examining hunting in the Northeast United States. It documents various aspects of hunting—the ritualistic preparation that precedes the hunt, the actual hunt itself, and the post-kill butchering of animals—using an observational style influenced by the direct cinema movement.

The Market, Claudia Zamora Valencia

Theses and Dissertations

The Market is a short science fiction essay film that explores ideas and values attached to the “local food” movement, and how they manifest themselves in the act of consumption at a farmers’ market in a gentrified neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.

Seid Studies Issues Of Chinese Culture And Gender, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“I am a child of an immigrant from Hong Kong. My grandparents were also Chinese immigrants to the U.S. It is common for the second or third generation to return to the culture, to study the language. I wanted to understand Chinese immigration to the US, and that has always been a very important topic to me as a scholar. Later, I found that I could study literature and media and look at Asian- American representation and at the history of how the Chinese immigrated to the U.S.” That is how Dr. Danielle Seid explains why she has such a …

The Validity Of Open-Source Data When Assessing Jail Suicides, Amanda Thomas, Jacqueline Scott, Jeff Mellow

Publications and Research

Background: The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Deaths in Custody Reporting Program is the primary source for jail suicide research, though the data is restricted from general dissemination. This study is the first to examine whether jail suicide data obtained from publicly available sources can help inform our understanding of this serious public health problem.

Methods: Of the 304 suicides that were reported through the DCRP in 2009, roughly 56 percent (N = 170) of those suicides were identified through the open-source search protocol. Each of the sources was assessed based on how much information was collected on the incident and …

Institutional Quality And Illicit Financial Flows In Developing And Developed Countries: An Empirical Assessment, Zin Kyaw Lin

Theses and Dissertations

This paper investigates the direct linkage between institutional quality and illicit financial flows (IFFs) of 47 developing and developed countries from the period of 2005 to 2014. Corruption and political stability are found to be correlated to the IFFs.

The Things They Do Here: Work And Greek Orthodox Death In New York City, Paul Melas

Theses and Dissertations

Based on six months of ethnographic research at a Greek catering hall in Brooklyn, this paper explores how death mediates and negotiates the relationship between the catering hall (and those who are employed by it), and the Greek patrons who come to mourn and celebrate their dead.

A New Estimate For Neanderthal Energy Expenditure, Stephen J. Venner

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a new estimate for Neanderthal total energy expenditure through the use of a constrained energy model. The new estimates for Neanderthal are considered within the context of some recent analyses investigating Neanderthal life history traits, genetics, and the archaeological record.

Darkness As A Positive Reinforcer In Weakly Electric Fish, Amber Lea D. Kincaid

Theses and Dissertations

Darkness was used as a positive reinforcer in 14 Gnathonemus petersii fish in an object discrimination task. One subject showed a significant learning response. This study provides preliminary support for the use of darkness as positive reinforcement in weakly electric fish and presents potential areas of interest for future study.

Still Acting Up? Voices From Actup's Oral History Project On The Current State Of The Lgbtq Community, Michael D. Mahana

Theses and Dissertations

Examination of the ACTUP Oral History Project using assimilation and activist identity theories reveals activists’ questionable presumptions about LGBTQ marriage, conflations of LGBTQ and activist identities, and nostalgia. Findings suggest a transformation from counterculture to assimilated subculture via segmented assimilation in which advantaged cohorts assimilate while others do not.

Climate Change And Threatened Heritage: Archaeology's Burden, Barry R. Gordon

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change and archaeology are currently intertwined, as more and more archaeologists around the world must deal with the effects it causes on the sites they work on. Threatened cultural resource sites are being swept away at alarming rates, and excavation projects are becoming more and more like salvage digs.

The Effect Of Parental Death On Children’S Wellbeing, Monil S. Shah

Theses and Dissertations

I study the effect of parental death on a child’s wellbeing, including workforce participation, education, marital status and health. Using propensity score matching, I find that parental death leads to worse outcomes for children who lose a parent compared to those with two parents, with negative effects exacerbated for daughters.

An Investigation Of The Phylogenetic Affinities Of Sivaladapidae Within Adapoidea, Kathleen Rust

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a phylogenetic analysis incorporating 82 dental characters to clarify the evolutionary relationships of Sivaladapidae within the broader context of Adapoidea. Results suggest that sivaladapids share a close evolutionary relationship with European adapoids.

Habit Formation In Active Avoidance, Kelsey J. Burke

Theses and Dissertations

Two studies explored feedback value in avoidance learning using rats. We show that limited, but not extended trained rats were sensitive to feedback devaluation via counterconditioning. Identical effects on motivational transfer were obtained. These results suggest that maladaptive avoidance may be established in a similar way to habits of consumption.

American Kathaks: Embodying Memory And Tradition In New Contexts, Anisha Muni

Theses and Dissertations

Kathak, a classical Indian dance, is practiced in the US by hundreds of practitioners. Through ethnographic research, this study asks how nostalgia, authenticity, tradition, and gender meet in the collective Kathak memory, examining what the study and performance of the dance symbolizes within American contexts.

A New Keynesian Approach To Estimating Welfare Losses Under Strict And Flexible-Targeting Regimes, Shawn Weber

Theses and Dissertations

How do different inflation-targeting regimes affect the monetary loss-function of a central bank aiming at stabilizing inflation around an inflation target and stabilizing the real economy? Under a basic New-Keynesian framework, this paper examines the effect of inflation-targeting regimes on the monetary loss function of a central bank.

Impacts Of Antepartum Health Status And Health Insurance Coverage, Anjelica Gangaram

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines how a woman's antepartum health and health insurance status affect her likelihood of experiencing postpartum maternal morbidity complications.

The Effect Of College Degree Attainment On Risky Health Behaviors: Smoking, Obesity, And Vaping., Sal R. Ansari

Theses and Dissertations

This paper tests the hypothesis that completing college results in better health outcomes through the causal pathway of risky health behaviors. The results imply that completing college reduces the likelihood an individual is a smoker or e-smoker. The results do not show any causal relationship between college education and obesity.

Perceived Corruption In Ukraine: A National Analysis Using Individual Level Data From 2012-2014, Cody X. Weglinski

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationship of perceived corruption in Ukraine and the factors that influence that perception. In particular, this paper investigates the idea that an influential Russian presence affects the perception of governmental corruption amongst Ukrainian business owners and managers.

The Economics Of Skin Tone In Nineteenth-Century Maryland, Yuree Kim

Theses and Dissertations

I analyze the effect of subtle differences in skin complexion on heights of free blacks in Maryland during the nineteenth century. I propose that lighter-skinned blacks were taller (indicating better nutrition) than their darker counterparts. I find the hypothesis holds - 15.9% taller for males and 16.5% taller for females.

A Mission At 311, Nan Li

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis intends to look at how the aftermath of Holocaust has a tremendous life-changing impact on the children of Holocaust survivors, and to explore how these people has carried these misfortunes and burden to be resilient and joyful in their everyday lives.

Do Osteon Morphotypes Identified In The Mid-Diaphysis Of Human Femurs Indicate The Same Torsional Load History As Chimpanzees?, Bailey A G Colohan

Theses and Dissertations

Skedros’s (2009) osteon morphotype scoring (MTS) scheme is employed to identify if humans have the same torsional load-bearing history as chimpanzees at the femoral mid-diaphysis. Humans show to have no significant difference between quadrants of this area’s MTS, congruent with what is expected in a torsional load-bearing area of bone.

Proposition 47 And Crime: A Difference In Differences Analysis Of Incarceration Rates And Crime Using Border Counties, Brian J. Fischer

Theses and Dissertations

California passed Proposition 47 by vote and changed the way the state punishes drug and theft. I find an increase in crime using a difference in differences model by computing the change in thefts with the change in inmates. This effect sides with anecdotal claims and disagrees with empirical studies.

Universal Alienation And The Real Subsumption Of Daily Life Under Capital: A Response To Hardt And Negri, David Harvey

Publications and Research

This contribution is part of a debate between Michael Hardt/Toni Negri and David Harvey on the occasion of Marx’s bicentenary (May 5, 2018). The discussion focuses on the question of what capitalism looks like today and how it can best be challenged. In this article, David Harvey responds to Hardt and Negri’s previous debate-contributions.