Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Pronunciation Ambiguities In Japanese Kanji, Wen Zhang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Japanese writing is a complex system, and a large part of the complexity resides in the use of kanji. A single kanji character in modern Japanese may have multiple pronunciations, either as native vocabulary or as words borrowed from Chinese. This causes a problem for text-to-speech synthesis (TTS) because the system has to predict which pronunciation of each kanji character is appropriate in the context. The problem is called homograph disambiguation. In Japanese TTS technology, the trick in any case is to know which is the right reading, which makes reading Japanese text a challenge. To solve the problem, …

A Race-Police Regime: Nypd Technology And Urban Governance In New York City, Elliott Liu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation draws on three years of ethnographic and archival research to explore the relationship between technology, policing and race at the NYPD. In focusing on the ways problems are constructed and police power enacted, I explore the more-than-human entanglements in the production of race and the governance of cities under racial capitalism. My overarching claim is that urban governance works through contentious techno-political arrangements I call race-police regimes, which sanction and elicit race by enacting forms of exclusion and belonging. Racial capitalism in New York City, I argue, is governed through a technocratic mode of policing which leverages …

The Effect Of Race On Housing Stratification Among Latinos, Julia T. Gomez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Housing discrimination has been an ethical, social, and economic blight on the American society. Among the negative outcomes of this practice are higher crime rates, lower educational attainment, and concentrated poverty. Beyond the moral injustice of this practice, housing discrimination adversely affects the socio-economic mobility of those victimized and this extends across generations. The research on the intersection of race and Latino identity demonstrates the complexity of the issue and suggests that an examination such as done in this study can add to the current knowledge. The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, association race has …

Extremism In America: Explaining Variations In Ideologically Motivated Fatal Violence, Celinet Duran

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation uses data from the United States Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) to assess the nature of extremist violence between left-wing, far-right and al-Qaeda and associated movements (AQAM) inspired ideological fatal violence. It extends the empirical literature on extremist violence in three significant ways by: (1) expanding an existing database to provide a comparative component that is both timely and policy-relevant and conveys a more complete picture of the nature of domestic extremism in the U.S.; (2) systematically comparing extremist violence across the left-wing, far-right and AQAM ideologies to better assess the nuances of extremist violence; and (3) applying empirical …

Notes On Insurgent Universality In Ambedkar’S Social And Political Thought: A Critique Of Postcolonial Anti-Universalism, Sitharthan Sriharan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this thesis, we seek to take steps towards problematizing postcolonial theory and its frequent anti-universalism. Towards this end, my initial focus will be some of the productive and problematic aspects of what Getachew and Mantena term the “decolonization of political theory”. Here, we highlight how some comparative political theory scholars have methodologically overemphasized ‘difference’ in their studies of non-western political thought as an overcorrection to Eurocentrism. In supporting this claim, we review literature in comparative political theory, postcolonial theory, and modern South Asian history and historiography in order to demonstrate that a more philosophically robust, but still historically informed, …

What Is The ‘E’ In Esol? Three Papers On Linguistic Borders, Normativity, And Race In Adult English Education, Kelsey Swift

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this three-paper dissertation project, I explore how ‘English’ becomes a recognizable object within the context of adult ESOL education. Building on scholarship on named languages (García, 2019; Makoni & Pennycook, 2006), the historical construction of languages (Bonfiglio, 2010; Irvine & Gal, 2000), and raciolinguistic ideologies (Flores & Rosa, 2015; Rosa & Flores, 2017), I analyze how language, both as an abstract concept and as a collection of linguistic features, is treated within adult ESOL, looking at specific contemporary classrooms, as well as historical texts. This work culminated in the three studies I present here – focused, in turn, on …

The Impact Of Overseas Study Experiences On Chinese Students’ Attitudes Toward The United States, Xufeng Fang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The extent to which overseas study experiences increase Chinese students’ positive attitude toward the United States has triggered debates because of Chinese government’ overwhelming influence on Chinese students studying overseas, the instability of U.S.-China relations and the especially complex characteristics of Chinese students’ attitudes themselves. I will use value theory, belief system theory, and self-categorization theory to explain the unstable character of these attitudes, and the important roles of values and identity that determine attitudes’ change. After making three key hypotheses based on these theories, this paper conducts a survey on three groups of Chinese students both in China and …

Examining Past, Present, And Future Of Agricultural Labor: From The Bracero Program To The Coalition Of Immokalee Workers, Francesca Paradiso

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis is a comparative study that examines the Bracero Program and the work of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). The Bracero Program brought Mexican workers into the United States on temporary work visas from 1942-1964. The CIW is an organization of Mexican workers that was founded in 1992 as a response to the horrible working conditions that Mexican tomato pickers faced in Immokalee, Florida. In this thesis, I show that by putting these programs side by side, we can see the exploitation of Mexican farmworkers has relied on changing government tools—different forms of visas, different immigration regimes, different …

Naming Venus: An Exploration Of Goddesses, Heroines, And Famous Women, Kavya Beheraj

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Humans have been observing and romanticizing Venus for more than 5,000 years. However, mapping its surface has nearly always been impossible, since the planet is shrouded in thick clouds. A breakthrough came just fifty years ago with the invention of radar imaging, leading to the discovery (and naming) of hundreds of new features in a relatively short length of time.

The rapid naming of Venus is a case study on the impact of planetary nomenclature — the process of naming features on other worlds. While the act of naming streamlines communication and humanizes alien landscapes, it is subject to bias, …

Analysis Of Electrophysiological Markers And Correlated Components Of Neural Responses To Discourse Coherence, Kurt M. Masiello

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Constructing meaning from spoken language is invaluable for learning, social interaction, and communication. In clinical populations with developmental disorders of speech comprehension, the severity of disruption can persist and vary from limiting occupational opportunities to lower performance outcomes. Previous research has reported an event-related potential (ERP) neural positivity over right hemisphere lateral anterior sites in response to semantic and discourse processing. Although useful as a marker for clinical populations of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental language disorder (DLD), little is understood about the dynamics and neural sources of this biological marker. In addition to traditional methods of ERP analysis, …

“Investment In Inertia”: Language Ideologies Of Instructors And Students Of Spanish As A Heritage Language, Michael E. Rolland

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

When the Spanish-language skills of heritage Spanish learners are disparaged in an academic environment, these learners are at high risk of abandoning further study of Spanish and shifting entirely to English. This dissertation uses mixed qualitative and quantitative research methods, including thematic and discourse analysis, to investigate the language ideologies of instructors and students of Spanish as a heritage language (SHL) and the effects of those ideologies on students’ experiences in SHL college courses. It builds on earlier research on language ideologies in the post-secondary heritage language context (e.g., Carreira, 2011; Loza, 2017; Valdés et al., 2003). I find that …

Dendritic Spine Density And Morphology In The Dorsolateral Striatum Following A High Fat Diet, Tikva Nabatian

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Obesity rates have been dramatically rising in recent years and in 2017-2018 more than 42% of adults in the United States were obese. Obesity is associated with numerous health problems, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, insulin resistance, and type II diabetes. The prevalence of highly palatable and calorically dense foods high in fats and sugars is a significant factor in the increase in obesity rates. Many suggest that palatable food affects the brain in ways similar to drugs of abuse, reinforcing the consumption of highly palatable foods in the same way drugs reinforce drug use. While numerous weight loss programs and …

Bearer Negotiable Instruments: Addressing A Financial Intelligence Gap And Identifying Criminogenic Weaknesses, Hollis B. Kegg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Bearer Negotiable Instruments (BNI) are a long-standing category of financial instruments used to transfer large amounts of money in ways that may not be subject to regulation, reporting, tracking, review, or oversight. There is limited information available on BNIs, and no evidence that any studies have been undertaken on BNIs alone, much less reported. Increasingly, BNIs are being used for illegal purposes including money laundering. This study gathers information about their characteristics, nature, purpose, legal status, and numbers. It also focuses on the crime risks associated with BNIs, the crime opportunities they facilitate, and the criminal weaknesses in the financial …

Power And Authority In Karl Marx, Niccoló Machiavelli And Thomas Hobbes, Ekim Kilic

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The concepts of power and authority have been fundamental to political philosophy and science from the beginning. However, in much recent thinking, power’s central and defining relationship with the state has been called into question. This thesis studies the understanding of power and authority in the works of Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, and Karl Marx, in the context of the emerging trend around the world today of searching for a new social, economic, and political order. It aims to demonstrate how the works of Marx may open a path to rectify the limitations of the traditional thinking of power and …

Finding Autonomy Under The Russian Bear: Explaining Central Asia’S Response To The Invasion Of Ukraine, Ryan Hitch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Russian invasion of Ukraine was one of the most important geopolitical events of the 21^st century, which will have lasting effects on the international community. While the responses of the United States and Europe to Russia’s invasion have been extensively covered, the response of Central Asia has received relatively less attention. Russia’s extensive investments in multilateral regional organizations and Central Asia’s heavy reliance on Moscow for security and economic assistance should predict that Central Asian states would bandwagon with Russia. However, the region has thus far remained officially neutral towards the war and certain states are openly antagonizing …

Police Academy Attrition Rates: A Long-Term Analysis Of Female Candidates In California, Texas, Wisconsin, Arizona, And New Jersey, Shamus W. Smith

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Police agencies throughout the country still have an underrepresentation of women police officers. Research has shown that the benefits of hiring women police officers are many, as they have proven to be as competent as their male counterparts, less likely to use excessive force, can implement community-oriented policing, respond to calls for domestic violence effectively, bring about beneficial changes in policy for all agencies, and reduce the problems of sexual discrimination and harassment within an agency. Yet, the obstacles encountered for women are significantly different from their male counterparts. As such, this research uses secondary, non-identifiable data obtained from police …

Fostering Expertise, Confidence, And Passion In Writing Education: How A Common Sense, Nonbinary Education Policy May Serve To Enrich Teachers’ Writing Lives, Shrink The Divide Between Literacy Educators, And Finally Improve Literacy Among New York City Students, Rebecca I. Wallace-Segall

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

I examine the ongoing youth literacy crisis in New York City and, along with it, two long-standing, opposing education policies—progressive and traditional—that have sought to address it. I argue that resisting dogmatic adherence to one or the other of these approaches, coupled with teacher-centered professional development opportunities that emphasize educators’ reconnection to the personal experience of writing, will improve classroom writing education goals. Over the course of a decade and a half, I co-designed a new educational framework that combines and elaborates upon the strengths of both approaches; over the past year, I co-designed a teacher-centered professional development opportunity for …

A Novel Measure Of Narrative Self-Functioning And Its Role In The Transformative Potential Of Psychedelic Experience Across Clinical And Non-Clinical Participants, Nicole M. Amada

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The eudaimonic field of well-being is founded on the idea that self-knowledge and the realization of one’s potential is at the heart of what it means to strive for well-being. While the “self” is at the core of this perspective, theories derived from this field have yet to incorporate neurocognitive conceptualizations of the self, and account for the collection of self-referential cognitions that influence striving for well-being. Such a theory and measure could fill this theoretical gap and be applied in person centered interventions to capture change in these processes over time. One such intervention utilizes psychedelic experience as a …

How The U.S. Mainstream Media Perpetuates Cis White Masculine Hegemony, Yelena Dzhanova

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The news is important because it helps individuals understand their place in the world and make the best decisions for themselves. Throughout its strong history and presence in the United States, the journalism industry has prided itself on delivering fact-based news using an objective framework, meaning that there is an expectation that journalists communicate the news impartially and without bias. Through an examination of gendered language and visual representations published in and by recent mainstream U.S. digital and print media outlets, this paper explains how the media plays a major role in the perpetuation of cis white masculinity. This paper …

David Versus Goliath: The Power Of Weakness In Asymmetric Warfare—Lessons From History, Nicholas K. Petaludis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Under what conditions do violent nonstate actors (VNA) succeed against states? Why does David sometimes beat Goliath? Since at least the time of Thucydides and the Peloponnesian Wars, the realist narrative in international relations measures power primarily in relative, coercive, and deterrent terms. Strong states should accordingly face fewer constraints and enjoy more options while pursuing their national interests. Unconventional warfare, and its subsets of terrorism and insurgency, should—given these circumstances, end in VNA failure. Sometimes, however, VNAs find success. By comparing the literature on historical and current case studies, I propose that a set of preconditions and two mechanisms …

A Sentiment Analysis Of "Filipinx" On Twitter Using A Multinomial Naïve Bayes Classification Model, Clarisse Taboy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

On social media, the use of “Filipinx” as a gender neutral, inclusive term for “Filipino” tends to generate high user engagement, at times without regard for the original context in which the word appears. This project applies computational methods to collect a large dataset in English/Filipino from Twitter containing “Filipinx”, and to train a Naïve Bayes model to classify tweets into three sentiments: positive, neutral, and negative. My methodology takes inspiration from that of four related studies that similarly conducted sentiment analysis on English/Filipino tweets involving various topics, and whose resulting accuracy scores were compared side-by-side. Conducting sentiment analysis on …

Race, Gender, Physical Activity, And Cancer: A Quantitative Investigation, Shawna A. Townsend

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Black women are more likely to die from cancer than any other population in the United States. Physical activity is known to be associated with preventing and reducing cancer burden. However, Black women are less physically active than their White counterparts and have a higher prevalence of diseases related to lack of physical activity than any other female group. To better understand these issues, this study employed the self-and-family management framework and intersectionality as theoretical frameworks through a secondary analysis of the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) dataset and hierarchical regression modeling to examine the relative impact of (a.) …

Factors Associated With Technology Adoption By Community-Dwelling Older Adults During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Elizabeth A. Sutton

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the forefront the disparity between older and younger Americans in the utilization of information and communication technologies (ICT) when measures such as the COVID vaccine rollout were dependent on technology use. Technology adoption has implications for overall health and the continuation of disparities in technology adoption is associated with poor aging outcomes. The aim of this study was to understand factors associated with technology adoption by community-dwelling older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. A nationally representative sample of 2,954 community-dwelling older adults who completed the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) COVID-19 Questionnaire was …

The Anatomy Of A Migration Policy: An Institutional Analysis Of India’S Migration Policy From The Nineteenth Century To The Present, Ashwin Kumar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study looks at the institutional evolution of emigration governance in India from the nineteenth century to the present. Building from Agarwala’s (2022) “Migration Development Regime” framework of emigration governance based on class, I extend it to an analysis of emigration institutions through an archival study of emigration legislation in India. Using a historical-institutionalist framework, I find that legislation and the creation of emigration institutions in the country have roughly followed the migration development regime eras put forward by Agarwala, but in a lagged manner due to political expediency and institutional stickiness based on path dependence. I deviate slightly in …

Essays On Entrepreneurship, Yoshiko Oka

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores the determinants of successful entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial entry. It consists of three chapters.

Chapter 1 estimates the effect of regional concentrations of related industrial firms and business owners' cognitive and non-cognitive traits on their business survival. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and the County Business Patterns, I find that incorporated businesses that operate in a location where similar businesses are clustered together have a significantly higher chance of survival. However, the effect of location appears to be insignificant for unincorporated businesses. On the other hand, the results show that businesses that are …

Investigating Key Risk Factors Across Violent And Non-Violent Extremists In The United States, Leevia Dillon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Problem Statement: This study investigated risk factors commonly highlighted by prior studies and risk assessment tools (e.g., Violent Extremism Risk Assessment Version 2 (VERA-2) and Extremism Risk Guidance 22+ (ERG22+)). It compared the risk factors across and within two groups – violent extremists (i.e., jihadists and far-right extremists) and non-violent extremists (i.e., jihadists and far-right financial/material support crime extremists) in the U.S. Jihadists and far-rightists are the two greatest security threats facing the U.S., and the findings can aid counterterrorism efforts on assessment development, identifying effective risk factors across varying groups, and assessing violence risk. Research Questions/Objectives: This study aimed …

Defining Twice Exceptional Learners: A Study Of Self-Concept, Alyssa D. Landau

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In 2014, the first operational definition of twice exceptional (2e) learners was published in Gifted Child Quarterly to provide a clear and identifiable profile of the population (Reis, Baum, & Burke, 2014). The article defines 2e learners as, “students who demonstrate the potential for high achievement or creative productivity in one or more domains such as math, science, technology, the social arts, the visual, spatial, or performing arts or other areas of human productivity AND who manifest one or more disabilities as defined by federal or state eligibility criteria” (Reis et al., 2014, p. 222-223). Publishing an operational definition of …

Using Bayesian Generalized Structural Equation Modeling To Analyze Latent Agreement, Sydne T. Mccluskey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Rater comparison analysis is commonly necessary in the social sciences. Conventional approaches to the problem generally focus on calculation of agreement statistics, which provide useful but incomplete information about rater agreement. Importantly, one-number agreement statistics give no indication regarding the nature of disagreements, nor do they distinguish between agreement on presence versus absence of a state or trait. Latent variable models can address both problems, as well as overcoming other well-documented limitations of agreement statistics (e.g., sample dependence, inappropriate population assumptions). Whether raters exactly agree is usually not the question of interest – researchers almost never care whether the difference …

The Rent Is Too Damn High:The Spatial And Longitudinal Dimensions Of Housing Affordability, Kasey Zapatka

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As the housing affordability crisis intensifies, I content that the spatial and longitudinal aspects of housing affordability are important dimensions of affordability. While much has been written about the sources and drivers of this new housing crisis, I investigate the impact of space, gentrification, and the life course on affordability patterns. I specifically address questions about the (1) role of space in shaping affordability patterns, the (2) impact of gentrification on neighborhood and household affordability, and (3) the trajectory of affordability over the life course. Broadly, I find that neighborhoods that are gentrifying in 2013 see increased affordability in 2019, …

Examining Factors Related To Tobacco Treatment Engagement Among Tobacco Dependent Black/African American; Hispanic/Latino Cancer Patients: An Analysis Of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’S Tobacco Treatment Program, Gleneara E. Bates-Pappas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Among patients diagnosed with cancer, persistent tobacco use is associated with adverse clinical outcomes such as worse treatment side effects, decreased effectiveness of cancer treatment (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery), all increasing risk of recurrence, second primary cancers, and poor survival. Despite the clinical importance of tobacco cessation in the context of high quality cancer care, engaging Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino cancer patients in tobacco treatment programs can be challenging. Prior studies with the general adult population demonstrate that Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino smokers are referred to and accept tobacco cessation treatment at lower rates compared to non-Hispanic White smokers. This …