Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

How Do Food Shopping Behaviors Differ Between High-Income And Low-Income Shoppers In The Grand Rapids Metropolitan Area?, Alison M. Cooney

Masters Theses

Background: The social determinants of health and health equity are influenced by access, environment, and socioeconomic status (SES). Health inequities are preventable and can be avoided with systemic policy change surrounding the distribution of wealth and resources. Few studies have researched the differences in different income levels and the influence income has on food shopping behaviors.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in food shopping behaviors between high-income and low-income shoppers living in the same zip code. Subjects Sixty-eight individuals who live in the 49341 zip code which represents a small city in Kent County, …

Assessment Of Dopaminergic And Serotonergic Receptor Antagonists In Male Rats Trained To Discriminate 4-Methylmethcathinone (Mephedrone), Rachel L. Burroughs

Masters Theses

Preclinical drug discrimination studies of the synthetic cathinone, 4-methylmethcathinone (mephedrone) have demonstrated its effects are comparable to those of other popular psychostimulant drugs. Few studies have directly examined the contribution of specific neurotransmitter receptors to mephedrone’s discriminative stimulus effects. The present study investigated the role of dopamine and serotonin receptors in these effects. Eight adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to discriminate 3.0 mg/kg mephedrone from saline. After dose-response curves were determined with mephedrone (0.375-3.0 mg/kg), a series of stimulus antagonism tests were conducted with dopamine antagonists (Sch 23390, haloperidol) and serotonin antagonists (WAY 100,635, MDL 100,907, pirenperone) administered as …

A Radar And Model Based Synopsis Of Surface Soil Moisture State As It Relates To Back-Building Thunderstorm Behavior: Northern Great Plains, Skye Leake

Masters Theses

Severe thunderstorm behavior across the Great Plains of North America can result in negative economic impact, put infrastructure at risk, and pose a hazard to the lives of those calling the area home. Substantial research has been conducted throughout the Great Plains on a variety of severe weather conditions such as extreme wind, hail, tornadoes, and flash flooding, however such research is limited in the northern portion of the Great Plains. Some research has been conducted on these severe phenomena produced by thunderstorms in the northern Great Plains; however, little has been done in the realm of training/back-building of storms. …

Constructing And Experiencing The Medieval Waddenland, Hugh R. Milner

Masters Theses

Part of the intertidal zone along the southeast portion of the North Sea, the Wadden Sea Coast runs from modern Friesland and Groningen in the Netherlands, through Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, and up the west coast of Jutland to just past Ribe. This project seeks to understand medieval responses to an environment in constant contact with the sea via documentary and historical sources. The people of the Wadden Sea Coast defined their landscape and their history in part with earthworks and water infrastructure, negotiating control of both anthropogenic and natural environments.

Emotional Destruction: How Supervisors Can Transform A Subordinate’S Emotions Towards The Workplace, Diane K. Carr

Masters Theses

Workplace emotions have become an increasingly important area for researchers and organizations. Organizational structures and interpersonal interactions activate emotional responses for employees. This emotional strain can lead employees to search for outlets, such as social media, to express their emotions and seek emotional support. This thesis uses a content analysis to examine how macro level policies and procedures and micro level interpersonal interactions between supervisors and subordinates impact the messages expressed on Twitter.

Borderline Features Mediate The Association Between The Experience Of Childhood Sexual Abuse And Opioid Misuse Among Pregnant Women, Chloe T. Cohen

Masters Theses

The relationship between experiences of childhood sexual abuse and opioid misuse in adults is well documented, specifically among women, but less is known about this association in pregnancy. No studies to date have investigated processes that could be the target of interventions to help women with childhood sexual abuse histories better care for their infants. In the current study, we examined borderline personality disorder features as mediators which may explain the link between childhood sexual abuse and opioid misuse during pregnancy. We sampled N = 93 pregnant women: n = 55 were misusing opioids during their pregnancies and n = …

Albion Through Malleable Eyes: The Great Migration, Urban Renewal And Missed Opportunities, Demetrius R. Goodale

Masters Theses

Albion, Michigan’s African American community built a robust, diverse, and thriving city in the early 20th century. Jobs were plentiful and wages allowed for healthy communities to sprout up across the city’s landscape. During this period Albion’s overall population more than doubled, and its African American community grew exponentially over the course of six decades. However, for many in the African American community, societal and economic gains were overshadowed by a crippling shortage in viable housing options. Albion’s African American community experienced limited options to help remedy the community’s housing challenges. These limitations were due to discriminatory housing norms and …

Tracing Relations Between Attachment, Social Media Use, Self-Esteem, Loneliness, And Depression: A Mediation Model, Meagan Patricia Sabo

Masters Theses

An extensive amount of correlational research has well-established the link between insecure attachment style and subsequent adverse interpersonal and psychopathological outcomes. Moreover, the rise of social media has precipitated a shift in the methods by which individuals communicate; consequently, this has resulted in the shifting of preexisting dispositions toward dysfunctional behaviors to a more ubiquitous route of manifestation. Given that attachment literature has indicated notable differences in both underlying mechanisms and resulting outcomes of both avoidant and anxious attachment, examination of this alongside social media use provides valuable insight into potential relationships between the two. Further, research has examined the …

The Impact Of Political Culture On Political Reactions: A Case Study Of Eu Sanctions On Russia, Kenzie Robin De Keyser

Masters Theses

The political impact of European Union (EU) sanctions on Russia is complicated by the political culture of the Russian state and the economic interdependencies of the EU bloc and the Russian Federation. This study explores the impacts of European Union sanctions on Russian politics, using economic interdependence and the political culture of Russia to help explain both the political effects of the sanctions on Russia and the overall Russian political reaction to the scenario that is unfolding. The foundations of government, political society, and political norms within Russia can be found throughout the different bases of Russian political culture which …

Asch And Ai: Conformity To Non-Human Intelligence, Andrew Stephen Heim

Masters Theses

Conformity is the process that occurs when we submit to group pressures. These pressures can come from normative social influence, a desire to be liked, and informational social influence, the belief that the group has information that we do not. In the current study, the classic Asch line judgment paradigm is combined with virtual reality technology to study social influence in groups of both humans and artificial intelligences. Additionally, the line judgment task is varied as either unambiguous or ambiguous. The results indicated that participants were more likely to not conform to unambiguous stimuli and artificial intelligence confederates. Response times …

An Inconsistent God: Attachment To God And Minority Stress Among Sexual Minority Christians, Adam David Anthony Maughan

Masters Theses

Having a secure Attachment to God (ATG) has been found to be related to better mental health and well-being for Christian individuals and has been shown to have a buffering effect against stressful life events for this population. However, the ATG literature has failed to examine the experiences of Christians who also identify as sexual minorities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, pansexual, same-sex attracted, or another non-exclusively heterosexual identity). Sexual minority Christians (SMCs) experience unique minority stressors related to prejudice, discrimination, and stigma associated with their sexual identities, and this minority stress has negative implications for their mental health and well-being. …

Temembe And Sven: The Ethics Of Racist Mirth, Stephen Wilke

Masters Theses

You walk past a crowd of people at a bar, grouped around one person. He’s in the middle of telling a joke, the kind you wouldn’t tell your parents but is often told in the amenable company of close friends. You realize that the butt of the joke, the punchline, assumes that people of color are lazy and entitled. This is not an assumption you agree wit, but you find yourself with a feeling of mirth while scoffing at the comedian. His timing is well executed, and the turn of phrase is witty. The joke was racist, and yet emotionally …

Tweet Diffusion Over Space And Time: A Comparison Of A Winter-Weather And Tornado-Outbreak Case Study, Alyssa Margaret Cannistraci

Masters Theses

Social media allows people to receive, engage in, and share weather information. Users of the social media platform Twitter actively share weather content via tweets, which researchers can acquire through an Application Programming Interface (API). APIs return tweet content, as well as temporal and spatial characteristics (latitude and longitude coordinates). Tweets can then be mapped and studied spatiotemporally through Geographic Information System (GIS) software. For this work, I compared how tweets spread (“diffuse”) over space and time during two natural hazard events in the United States. The first case study is a winter weather event that The Weather Channel named …

"Lead Us Not": Linguistic And Exegetical Considerations For Translating The Sixth Petition Of The Lord's Prayer, Brodie Allan Robinson

Masters Theses

In 2019, the Vatican announced a revision to the Italian translation of the Roman Missal, modifying the temptation petition of the Lord’s Prayer from “non ci indurre in tentazione” (“lead us not into temptation”) to “non abbandonarci alla tentazione” (“do not abandon us to temptation”). A formal, word-for-word rendering of the petition was substituted for a freer, more interpretive one. Though such a change seems insignificant, it stands at the heart of one of the most theologically contested passages in the New Testament, a passage which appears to contradict most scriptural teaching on temptation. This thesis probes the multiple problems …

New Media Art: Curating Social Justice In Contemporary Art Museums And Arts Organizations, Kyung Eun Lee

Masters Theses

My research project includes case studies in which I interviewed nine new media art curators and directors whose curatorial practices offer historical analyses and theoretical perspectives that address the dynamics of social justice by using new media art. I investigate the ways in which social justice is presented in museums and arts organizations. Central to this project is an examination of museum practices where the use of new media art becomes a central platform to showcase issues of social justice.

Determining The Impacts Of Exercise Participation On Disaster Response, Tanya Jean Hockett

Masters Theses

There are many opinions surrounding the importance and effectiveness of emergency exercises and their influence on the response phase of emergency management. Understanding how exercises affect emergency response operations can help training and exercise programs enhance the structure and implementation of meaningful, strategic exercises. However, there is limited research available to validate this. This qualitative study analyzed the responses of 106 survey participants and found that exercise participation positively impacted the ability of individuals to respond to incidents and disasters. By analyzing and categorizing a series of open-ended responses, it was determined that the most important benefit of exercise participation …

Analysis Of Interdunal Wetlands And Ecosystem Dynamics Using Uas And Obia In Ludington State Park, Michigan, Claire Gilbert

Masters Theses

The Great Lakes sand dunes are the world's largest freshwater dune complex. There is a functional relationship between coastal wetlands and freshwater sand dune, referred to as interdunal wetlands. Interdunal wetland systems are highly dynamic and change dramatically seasonally and annually. Using geographic information systems (GIS) and unoccupied aerial systems (UAS), this thesis project is focused on understanding the spatial distribution of sparse and dense vegetation, and abiotic influence such as distance to coast, slope, and aspect influence interdunal wetland stability within a Great Lakes shoreline dune system. Object-based image analysis (OBIA) classification results extracted meaningful vegetation densities of growth …

The Color Line In Communism: The East German Ministry Of Culture’S Portrayal Of Paul Robeson’S State Visit, Colin J. Rensch

Masters Theses

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Cold War, the American Civil Rights movement, and anticolonialism combined to create a complex political, social, and economic landscape and a division of the globe into the so-called first, second, and third worlds. It is within this context that African American performer and activist Paul Robeson traveled to the GDR for an official visit in October 1960.

This visit was highly significant in light of the oppression Robeson had experienced at the hands of the US State Department. In response to Robeson’s communist sympathy, the State Department had revoked Robeson’s passport in 1950, and …

Identifying Smokestacks In Remotely Sensed Imagery Via Deep Learning Algorithms, Kenneth Moss

Masters Theses

Locating smokestacks in remote sensing imagery is a crucial first step to calculating smokestack heights, which allows for the accurate modeling of dioxin pollution spread and the study of resulting health impacts. In the interest of automating this process, this thesis examines deep learning networks and how changes in input datasets and network architecture affect image detection accuracy. This initial image detection serves as the first step in automated object recognition and height calculation. While this is applicable to general land use classification, this study specifically addresses detecting smokestack images. Different dataset scenarios are generated from the massive Functional Map …

Role Of Correlation And Statistical Distribution For Multi-Objective Conservation Investment, Young Gwan Lee

Masters Theses

A growing body of literature suggests a need to incorporate both correlation- and distribution-related information into conservation investment decisions with multiple benefits. This study identifies optimal spatial targets and their budget distributions of payments for ecosystem services (PES), as well as the tradeoff relationships under multiple-objective scenarios of maximizing forest-based carbon sequestration, maximizing forest-dependent biodiversity, and maximizing economic impact. Specifically, this study investigates how the spatial targets, their budget distributions, and tradeoff relationships are affected by correlations among multiple objectives and their statistical distributions in terms of return on investment (ROI) by focusing on 231 counties in the eight states …

Validation Of The College Planning Behaviors Scale, Katherine Danielle Cook

Masters Theses

College preparation is an important topic in the educational attainment for high school students. Much of the research on college planning focuses on the importance and timing of preparing for postsecondary education; however, little research exists that has determined which steps students actually take while preparing for college. The current study utilizes the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent et al., 1994) framework to create a validated measure to assess choice behavior. In this study, college planning behaviors (CPB), which are the concrete behaviors an individual engages in to prepare for college, were considered as choice actions within the SCCT …

Turning The Page: A Design Thinking Approach To Increasing Literacy Advocacy In West Alabama, Justin C. Walters

Masters Theses

Through the problem/solution lens of design thinking, this research critically analyzes the promotional activities and materials used by the Literacy Council of West Alabama (LCWA) to determine their effectiveness in reaching both functionally illiterate populations as well as the fully-literate population aiming to work the advocacy front with this nonprofit organization. Qualitative data was gathered through the utilization of a web heuristic evaluation, as well as the evaluation of current marketing materials for LCWA; these insights were used to guide the design and creation of new print and digital marketing materials for the organization. Results of this research aimed to …

Willing White Flag: Voluntary Militia Disarmament In The Lebanese Civil War, Daniella Maria Khoury

Masters Theses

This study examines the conditions under which militias embroiled in civil war choose to disarm. This study argues that militias more invested in domestic politics rather than engaging in regional rivalries, are more likely to choose to disarm voluntarily. The results show that after examining seven different militias in the context of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), religious affiliation is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition to cause the drastic difference in the outcome of voluntary disarmament. The theory is proven correct when accounting for domestic and international relationships and militia commitment to operating within a particular level of analysis.

Star Wars, Parasocial Relationships And Breakups, And The Force…Of Fandom, Alexandria P. Sutherland

Masters Theses

As we live our lives in an increasingly growing digital world, like-minds tend to gather. These like-minds, when gathered around a media franchise, become known as a fandom. Fandom culture can often shape an individual’s identity, as they become more heavily engrossed in the lore surrounding the media. Permeating this individual identity is the group identity, which allows for the fandom to be labeled as a community. When belonging to a very popular media’s fandom, such as Star Wars, it is rather easy to become completely engrossed in the characters and their stories, long after the credits roll, and …

Exploring The Effects Of Response Type In A Visual Working Memory Task: An Fnirs Study, Rachel Eddings

Masters Theses

Visual working memory (VWM) allows us to hold visual information in mind to be manipulated for a task. Previous research shows that performance varies based on factors such as stimulus modality and number of distractors. This study aimed to explore the effect of response type on VWM performance in 4.5- and 5.5-year-olds. A single-item probe color change detection task and a cued recall with labeling task were administered. The tasks were identical in structure until the response phase of the trial. Neural data were collected using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Both tasks used set-sizes 1-3 and six canonical colors (red, orange, …

The Remediation Of Paralinguistic Features For The Construction Of Epistemic Stance In Online Vegan Communities, James R. Shepard Iii

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I examine how members of online vegan communities construct and perform epistemic stance through exploiting the affordances of alphabetic computer-mediated communication (CMC) to remediate paralinguistic features. The data are taken from two exchanges across two different online platforms: Facebook and Reddit. Working within the constraints of alphabetic CMC and the affordances of their respective platforms, interactants discuss vegan activism in ways that mimic traditional oral communication. Utilizing unique linguistic constructions and features of CMC such as emoji and emoticons, interactants are able to clearly perform their affective and epistemic stances as well as demonstrate what McCulloch calls …

Consumer Preferences For Environmentally Friendly Disposable Dinnerware Alternatives, Mackenzie Gill

Masters Theses

In the context of growing concern surrounding the environmental impact of single-use paper and plastic waste, demand for alternatives to conventional disposables has recently increased. This study investigates factors driving consumer preferences for ecofriendly attributes in disposable dinnerware. The study subsequently measures willingness to pay for such an alternative; specifically, dinnerware molded from wheat straw. Data was collected from an online survey of 206 Tennessee consumers aged 18 and older who consider themselves to be the primary household food shopper.

The first part of this investigation uses a Multiple Indicator Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model to estimate the effects of demographics, …

Efficacy Of Creative Interventions In Virtual Reality, Matthew Thomas Richesin

Masters Theses

Engaging in creative activities is known to increase well-being by reducing levels of stress, anxiety, and improve life satisfaction. Interventions utilizing creative activities have proven to enhance therapeutic results in various mental disorders. Similarly, virtual reality has emerged as an effective method of decreasing negative aspects of mental disorders. While both creative interventions and virtual reality show promise in enhancing well-being, the efficacy of combining the two has not been explored. This study aimed to combine and compare 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional art-making on stress, anxiety, and mood in a non-clinical college student sample. To accomplish this, both physiological and self-report …

“Someone’S Got To Look Out For The People”: Exploring Donald Trump And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’S Online Performance Of Populism And Immigration Rhetoric, Taylor P. Koopman

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the performance of populism by a right- and left-wing politician in the digital sphere during the peak of the immigration crisis in 2019 using the lens of Moffitt’s populism as performance theory (performer, stage, and audience) and Baldwin-Philippi’s four methods of ‘centering the people.’ My findings show that Trump and Ocasio-Cortez’s performances of populism condemn the degradation of the U.S. and portray themselves as immigration warriors. Trump uses exclusionary rhetoric to advocate putting “America First,” and Ocasio-Cortez expresses inclusionary rhetoric to develop an “America for All,” in a way that informs their performances of …

Traumatic Clergical Ministry Leads To Vicarious Trauma, Ptsd, And Ministry Burnout, Teresa Denine Hanson

Masters Theses

The exodus of clergy leaving their positions of ministry incites the need to identify the cause; to probe the question of “why?” Though the topic of burnout is proliferous within ministry circles, the writer’s thesis is that the cause of departure lies within three areas, not isolated to the topic of “burnout.” Diversification of causes exist, broken down into three primary causes: Vicarious Trauma, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Burnout. Following diversification of cause, personality traits are identified in the section Contributing Factors. From this point, the writer first addresses external supports for those with these primary areas, followed by …