Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Strong Women Breaking Ground: Roles Of Women In Agriculture In Michigan, April L. Shirey

Masters Theses

Agriculture in Michigan is changing. While the number of farms and farmers continue to decrease, women are increasingly taking on the role of farmer instead of the “farmer’s wife”. The number of female producers increased from 8,275 to 26,059 where the number of producers in Michigan decreased from 56,014 to 47,641 from 2007 to 2017 (USDA, 2007, 2017). Women are becoming the face of farming in Michigan, yet little research examines the impacts of these shifts. In this research, I conduct semi-structured interviews with female farmers throughout lower Michigan beginning in the summer of 2020 to learn more about these …

Extreme Cold Event Perception And Preparedness Of Western Michigan University Students, Connor J. Landeck

Masters Theses

Preparing for disasters at universities differs throughout the country but taking preventative measures is the first step in reducing loss of life and recovery measures. This research examined differences among undergraduate students regarding perceptions when it comes to extreme cold events at Western Michigan University (WMU). The main focus of the thesis was to determine if there is a lack of awareness and/or preparation measures of extreme cold events. Data were collected online using a specially designed questionnaire through Qualtrics. Survey questions were coded and analyzed using SPSS software using standard univariate descriptive statistics and/or multivariate statistical tests deemed appropriate. …

Evaluation Of Α-Pyrrolidindovalerophenone (Α-Pvp) And Its Isomers In Male And Female Sprague-Dawley Rats Trained To Discriminate Mdpv, Kaley Cargile

Masters Theses

Recreational use of synthetic cathinones, 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) and α‐pyrrolidinovalerophenone (α‐PVP), has become increasingly popular, thus prompting characterization of their behavioral and neurochemical effects. MDPV has been studied for several years now, though there is still much unknown about α‐PVP, and its isomers. The primary objective of this study was to characterize the discriminative effects of α‐PVP and its isomers in comparison to MDPV. Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to discriminate 0.5mg/kg MDPV from saline injections under a fixed ratio 20 (FR 20) schedule of food reinforcement. Substitution tests were conducted with MDPV (0.05-0.5mg/kg), α‐PVP (0.05-0.5mg/kg), (S)-α‐PVP (0.05-1mg/kg) and …

Considerations For Acquiring Excess Military Equipment By Police Leaders, Michael P. Mendenhall

Dissertations

Police departments across the United States have been able to acquire excess military equipment from the 1033 program since 1997. Although several studies have examined police militarization, including the 1033 program, this is the first study that has surveyed police leaders at the local level to understand the determinants of 1033 acquisitions in Michigan. Using an open systems framework, this dissertation will examine both the internal and external factors that contribute to police leaders’ decisions to acquire or not acquire equipment for their departments. These determinants include internal factors such as budgetary considerations, perceptions of the profession, and knowledge of …

Spatiotemporal Distributions Of Sargassum On Grand Cayman, Graeme Timmeney

Masters Theses

This mixed methods research examines individual perceptions of Sargassum on Grand Cayman’s beaches in 2020 using participant mapping, and semi – structured interviews. Results from the participant mapping are compared to satellite detection of sargassum. Sargassum poses health risks to both humans and the natural environment. Decaying Sargassum produces sulfuric gas and prevents young turtle hatchlings from reaching the ocean. Since 2011, Sargassum has diffused beyond the Sargasso Sea into entirely novel locations, spanning from the west African Coast to the Gulf of Mexico. Increased biomass has proven to be overwhelming for many Caribbean Islands, including Grand Cayman where hundreds …

A Systematic Review Of The Literature On The Assessments Used For Social Communication In The Diagnosis Of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Rachel E. Kim

Masters Theses

This review of the literature aims to analyze the current assessments available for clinicians, parents, and other professionals to use during the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) that specifically addresses social communication. Although ASD can be diagnosed as early as the age of 2, children are often not diagnosed until the age of 4-5 years old. Especially for children who would be diagnosed with ASD and require Level 2 and/or Level 3 supports, early diagnosis can lead to early intervention which can help to provide the necessary support for both the child and family. Early intervention can help to …

Laugh Until It’S No Longer A Scandal: The Use Of Humorous Apologia To Reframe Crisis Narratives On Saturday Night Live, Vanessa S. Hills

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the role of humor-based apologia as a crisis communication strategy for celebrities. Using a rhetorical method, it explicates the role that humor plays in shaping crisis narratives in response to kategoria within the context of Saturday Night Live. Four case study analyses determine whether the generic parameters of apologia include the use of a humor-based apologia or whether humorous apologiae should be classified as a unique subgenre. These findings further the body of research on apologia and highlight the need for additional research on the effectiveness of humor as a crisis communication strategy.

As Different As Black And White: A Comparison Between Interracial Divorce And Endogamous Divorce, Abigail Constance Lewandowski

Masters Theses

Black and White race relations have been a point of interest in the United States for hundreds of years, and one way to look at these is to examine the similarities and differences between the two groups. Many studies have looked at Black and White interracial marriages to study how members of the two racial groups form and maintain marriages in comparison to endogamous marriages, but only a few studies have looked specifically at Black and White interracial divorce to see what similarities and differences present themselves to aid in understanding the complexity of interracial relations. At the time of …

Mental Health And Well-Being Of College Students Of Color, Raquel Rice

Honors Theses

This paper reviews the mental health and well-being of students of color at a Midwestern public university. The paper presents data from the Healthy Minds Study and combines this information with findings from a focus group of students of color at the university. The focus group was conducted as part of the university’s involvement in the Equity in Mental Health Framework Implementation Pilot Project. The Equity in Mental Health Framework was created through a partnership of The Steve Fund and The JED Foundation, and identifies ten strategies and recommendations for universities to implement to support students of color on campus. …

Xenophobia In The Covid-19 Era, Joanne Jeya

Honors Theses

COVID-19 has altered people's daily lives across the globe and heightened tensions in response to changing economic, social, and political conditions. In the United States, xenophobia has seemingly escalated in the COVID-19 era, particularly towards Asians and people of Asian descent. The assumed reasoning for this rise in anti-Asian sentiment is tied to the presumed origins of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome‐Coronavirus‐2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, first detected in Wuhan, China, prompting some to initially call the disease the Wuhan or Chinese virus, among other racialized terms like the "Kung-flu." It remains to be seen if xenophobic acts have increased throughout the …

Temperature Scale Influence On Perceptions Of Climate Risk, Chelsea Spaman

Honors Theses

This study explored how the use of the temperature scales Fahrenheit and Celsius in climate science communication affects climate change concern. The study specifically targeted Americans due to their familiarity with the Fahrenheit scale, which is not the primary temperature scale used in scientific communication. The study employed a survey, in which the anonymous participants read a short introduction about climate change and temperature rise and then answered a series of questions regarding levels of climate change concern. These questions covered concerns about climate change in general and its potential to harm individual survey participants, flora and fauna, future generations, …

“Police Perceptions Amid The Black Lives Matter Movement”, Eadoin Grim

Honors Theses

In 2014, following the police-involved deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, researchers focused their attention on the existence of a “Ferguson Effect,” such that rising homicide rates could be attributed to a reduction in proactive policing due to concerns over heightened public scrutiny. While UCR data would eventually refute the existence of such an Effect, previous research has found that there does appear to be evidence of a perceptual belief in the Ferguson Effect among municipal officers. To date, very little research concerning officer perceptions or experiences has been conducted with campus police departments, creating a substantial gap in …

Gis Based Analysis Of Neighborhood Transit Characteristics: A Case Study Of The Vine In Kalamazoo, Mi, Shealyn Lach

Honors Theses

This paper introduces an evaluative framework to analyze residential neighborhoods and draw conclusions regarding the safety and convenience of public transit options. Transit quality indicators included elevation, service areas, intersection crash statistics, and bus stop infrastructure. Within this research, a case study of Vine Neighborhood in Kalamazoo, MI was used to test the effectiveness of the framework; neighborhood data was retrieved, analyzed, and spatially modeled with ArcGIS Pro, then discussed to draw conclusions. Ultimately, it was determined that while neighborhood residents may be in close physical proximity to a stop, high elevation changes and pedestrian crash rates indicate Metro transit …

Racial Representation For Faculty In Higher Education, Joo Ning Lim

Honors Theses

Diversity and representation for faculty in higher education are crucial to cater to the needs of diverse student populations in the 21st century. A significant factor that contributes to faculty diversity is the retention and recruitment of underrepresented minority faculty members. This study aims to provide valuable insights into the current state of racial representation of faculty in higher education institutions and identify solutions to improve the retention of underrepresented faculty. Specifically, this study investigates faculty retention and welfare by comparing data across five public, research institutions in the Midwest. Findings revealed that the racial representation of faculty within the …

The Effects Of Virtual Feedback And Virtual Environment On Productivity, Sadie Martin

Honors Theses

Feedback is a procedure frequently used in organizational behavior management across a variety of settings, and it was the most commonly used independent variable within the first three decades of publication in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (1977-2009; Balcazar et al., 1989; Nolan et al., 1999; VanStelle et al., 2012). Despite the popularity of feedback in businesses, there has been little research analyzing the effects of virtual feedback and virtual environment on productivity. With technological advances in today’s society, more companies are opting for remote work, and this trend will likely increase with events such as the COVID-19 pandemic …

Anti-Police Movement Survey, Julia Peisker

Honors Theses

Due to many highly publicized instances of excessive use of force by the police, namely those associated with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, law enforcement agencies have recently come under much public watch and criticism. Although anti-police movements have existed since long ago, there has been a new wind of them since these events. This backlash and outrage that have come as a result from these instances of police excessive use of force have led to many changes within police departments across the country, which has likely had far-reaching effects on police officers. Through the use of an online, anonymous …

The Influence Of Japanese Immigration Policies On The Duration Of Foreign Nationals' Residency In Japan, Jeremy R. Byma

Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

The Association Between Social Support And Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among Survivors Of Betrayal Trauma: A Meta-Analysis, Vanessa Tirone, Daria Orlowska, Ashton M. Lofgreen, Rebecca K. Blais, Natalie R. Stevens, Brian Klassen, Philip Held, Alyson K. Zalta

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

Background: Betrayal traumas have a particularly deleterious effect on mental health. Although social support is a robust predictor of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, it is not clear what factors may impact this relationship among betrayal trauma survivors.

Objective: This study sought to describe the association between social support and PTSD symptom severity among survivors of betrayal trauma and examine whether methodological, sample, trauma, and social support characteristics moderated this association.

Method: A comprehensive search identified 29 studies that assessed the cross-sectional association between PTSD symptom severity and social support among 6,510 adult betrayal trauma survivors.

Results: The average …

Discovering Constance: Reconstructing The Life Of The Illegitimate Daughter Of John Paston Ii, Jane Clayton

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

The Paston Letters contain one letter from Constance Reynyforth, the mistress of Sir John Paston, and one reference to her ‘bastard’ daughter, Constance Paston. The subsequent life of Constance Paston has, until now, remained obscure. My research, which outlines these discoveries for the first time, reveals that, not only was she acknowledged and cared for by the Pastons, but she also married into a local gentry family, had children, and lived a normal lifespan.

Precarious Manhood: Adolescence And Group Rape In Late Medieval Europe, Michelle Armstrong-Partida

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Sexual assault, through coercion or violence, was omnipresent at every level of medieval society and perpetrated by males from all socio-economic backgrounds. This article argues that a specific type of sexual violence—group rape—committed by two or more individuals, was a phase of men’s social development. It explores the connection between adolescence and sexual aggression to show that collective rape was a feature of male youth culture used a form of recreation to gain sexual experience, forge bonds with peers, and publicly prove masculinity as adolescents transitioned from childhood to adulthood. Many young males first learned to rape in groups before …

The Visual Research Task: A Faculty/Library Collaboration Combining Information Literacy With Artistic Assessment, Lofton L. Durham, Michael J. Duffy Iv

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Presentations

This session features a librarian and faculty member sharing their collaboration on the “Visual Research Task,” which is an assignment designed to provide information literacy instruction with an emphasis on visual resources to theatre majors in a course on collaborative theatre production. Students are given a scenario in which they act as the assistant to a theatrical designer, working with limited information, must assemble a curated portfolio of ten images to support the design or conceptualization for a theatrical design, with descriptions and citations. Each student is given a different topic from a wide range, including for example, “royal pageantry,” …

Alchemical Word-Magic In 'The Winter’S Tale', Rana Banna

Accessus

Within alchemical writing there is both a religious and scientific register in simultaneous coexistence. The linguistic symbols of alchemy are themselves to be understood as chemical matter embedded in the world by divine providence: a principle manifest in the doctrine of signatures. The natural world offers a complex but ultimately resolvable hermeneutic challenge to the natural scientist, whose job it becomes to be a reader of the book of nature wherein the Creator has inscribed a legible, if often allusive, meaning and purpose. This paper will proceed to explore how early modern alchemical-thinking impacted attitudes towards language and meaning …

Self-Reported Ptsd Symptoms And Social Support In U.S. Military Service Members And Veterans: A Meta-Analysis, Rebecca K. Blais, Vanessa Tirone, Daria Orlowska, Ashton Lofgreen, Brian Klassen, Philip Held, Natalie Stevens, Alyson K. Zalta

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

Background: The mental health burden of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is high in U.S. military samples. Social support is one of the most robust protective factors against PTSD and a recent meta-analysis indicates that this relationship is even stronger in military samples compared to civilian samples. Yet no meta-analyses have explored factors impacting this association in veterans and military service members (VSMs).

Objective: The current meta-analysis examined demographic, social support, and military characteristics that may moderate the relationship of PTSD severity and social support among U.S. VSMs.

Method: A search identified 37 cross-sectional studies, representing 38 unique samples with a …

Reconceptionalizing The Knowledge Base Of Social Work: The Imperative For Critical Theories And Perspectives In Social Work Education, Kristie L. Seelman, Elizabeth L. Beck, Shane R. Brady, Karimah Dillard, William Lane

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

As the U.S. continues to grapple with the need for a racial reckoning, and with a growth of progressive voices and movements—especially those lead by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color—now is an important time to re-examine social work’s knowledge base. Students, researchers, and practitioners need the tools to challenge hegemony, inequity, injustice, and White supremacy from a structural position. Critical theory is an important tool for such work, yet it is not well integrated into social work textbooks, and many students still have limited exposure to it. In this paper, we explore critical theory’s roots and evolution and discuss …

Journal Of Sociology And Social Welfare Vol. 48, No. 2

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Complete issue of Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare Volume 48, Number 2

Examining Moderators Of The Relationship Between Social Support And Self-Reported Ptsd Symptoms: A Meta-Analysis, Alyson K. Zalta, Vanessa Tirone, Daria Orlowska, Rebecca K. Blais, Ashton Lofgreen, Brian Klassen, Philip Held, Natalie R. Stevens, Elizabeth Adkins, Amy L. Dent

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

Social support is one of the most robust predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet, little is known about factors that moderate the relationship between social support and PTSD symptom severity. This meta-analysis estimated the overall effect size of the relationship between self-reported social support and PTSD severity and tested meaningful demographic, social support, and trauma characteristics that may moderate this association using both cross-sectional and longitudinal effect sizes. A comprehensive search identified 139 studies with 145 independent cross-sectional effect sizes representing 62,803 individuals, and 37 studies with 38 independent longitudinal effect sizes representing 25,792 individuals. Study samples had to …

Aacsb Accreditation Standards: What They Mean For Business Librarians Past, Present, And Future, Lumarie Guth, Ilana Stonebraker

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International), which accredits over 840 business schools globally, released a new business school accreditation standards document in 2020. In this paper, we briefly give a retrospective of library references in the AACSB standards over time and an overview of the development of the new standards. We then analyze sections of the new standards where business librarians can play an important role and outline how business librarians can use them in their collaboration with business faculty by mapping library information literacy to the programmatic goals of business schools.

Importance Of Education As A Coping Strategy To Sudanese Refugee Women: A Qualitative Study From Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya, Jessica Gladden, Allyson Dykstra

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Research shows the level of importance that education plays in refugee youths’ lives. However, most research is completed with refugees who have resettled to a developed nation and rarely examines the needs and desires of refugee women living in refugee camps. This sub-section of a study examines the importance of education, as well as a hope of education, in a population of young Sudanese women living in Kakuma Refugee Camp. This study shows that the younger refugee women’s primary goal was education, although most were not able to participate in formal education at the time of the study. A hope …

The Drama Of Information Literacy: Collaborating To Incorporate Information Literacy Into A Theatre History Curriculum, Dianna Sachs, Michael J. Duffy Iv

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

Information literacy (IL) has been studied extensively, but little has been written about IL applied to the study of theatre. This study addresses that lacuna by evaluating the success of a librarian-faculty collaboration to integrate IL throughout a year-long course of study. Using a pre- and post-test methodology, researchers assessed students’ knowledge on a range of IL concepts. The results were used to modify the IL curriculum to place greater emphasis on IL concepts that students struggled with, and to de-emphasize IL concepts for which students demonstrated adequate incoming knowledge. This paper will provide recommendations for librarians and other instructors …

Development Of Palestinian Social Work In Israel: The Formative Years (1968–1982), Ibrahim Mahajne, Anwar Khatib, Arnon A. Bar-On

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Based on primary and secondary sources and interviews with Arab social workers employed in welfare bureaus during the time under review, the article describes the development of Palestinian social work in Israel in its formative years (1968–1982). The primary finding is that this development took place under a "policy of contempt" towards the Palestinian community's needs. The authorities acknowledged these needs but perpetuated a discriminatory allocation of resources in meeting them compared to Jewish Israelis and disregarded the society's narrative by maintaining a dual welfare system: one for the country's Jewish citizens and a lesser one for their …