Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Measured Expectations: An Examination Of Urban Agriculture Development And Operations In Milwaukee, Wi, Jamison Ellis

Theses and Dissertations

Urban agriculture has begun to shape urban spaces throughout the United States. Building from research on urban agriculture projects in Milwaukee I argue that in order for researchers to better understand urban agriculture, they must more thoroughly examine the various developmental and operational strategies that urban agriculture nonprofit organizations implement. The research questions that guides my thesis are the following: first, how do the developmental and operational strategies of urban agriculture projects differ? Second, how do different stakeholders perceive the implications of these approaches for creating positive and negative effects? To do this, I collected data through interviews and participant …

An Investigation Of Autism Support Groups On Facebook, Yuehua Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

Autism-affected users, such as autism patients, caregivers, parents, family members, and researchers, currently seek informational support and social support from communities on social media. To reveal the information needs of autism- affected users, this study centers on the research of users’ interactions and information sharing within autism communities on social media. It aims to understand how autism-affected users utilize support groups on Facebook.

A systematic method was proposed to aid in the data analysis including social network analysis, topic modeling, sentiment analysis, and inferential analysis. Social network analysis method was adopted to reveal the interaction patterns appearing in the groups, …

Look Again—Traditional Women As Nontraditional Students: A New Face In Higher Education, Candi Jones Newell

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the experiences of 13 culturally traditional women who returned to higher education as nontraditional students. An individual unstructured interview, with guiding questions, was held with each woman. This provided the opportunity for these women to articulate their experience. The interviews were transcribed and interpreted using a synthesis of qualitative methods based upon Kvale's method. Seven themes emerged: (a) participants would tell a woman considering a return to school to "do it!" (b) participants saw spousal support as significant in their ability to return to school, (c) participants saw their families as generally supportive of their return to …

Video Prompting Delivered Via Augmented Reality To Teach Transition-Related Math Skills To Adults With Intellectual Disabilities, Giulia Cacciatore

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a video-based instruction packet as a method of teaching math-based vocational skills delivered through augmented reality to three adults with intellectual disabilities. The dependent variable was the percentage of steps performed correctly to solve each selected type of math problem. The independent variable was the video-based math intervention delivered via augmented reality, which modeled the individual steps for solving three different multi-step math problems: (1) adjusting a recipe to serve a different number of people, (2) calculation of salary, (3) calculation of unit prices. Visual and statistical analysis demonstrated …

Neuroimmune-Mediated Alcohol Effects On Ventral Tegmental Area Microglia And Infiltrating Leukocytes, Travis Jonathan Clarke

Theses and Dissertations

Microglia are the primary immune cell in the central nervous system and are known as the “resident” macrophages in the central nervous system (CNS). While microglia are classically known as the immune cells of the CNS, their role has more recently been shown to extend far beyond immunity. The effects of ethanol on the brain are closely linked to neuroimmune responses mediated by microglia that are present in the healthy brain from the time of development. Though microglia have been classified as the “resident” immune cells of the CNS, new research suggests that other immune cells may be implicated in …

Minnesota Multiphasic Inventory-2 Restructured Form (Mmpi-2-Rf) Personality Characteristics Of Parents Evaluated For Child Neglect, Emily Burch

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to examine Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Assessment-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) profiles of parents who underwent psychological evaluation subsequent to substantiated claims by the Florida Department of Children and Families of child neglect. A second purpose was to assess profile differences between this sample and a sample of parents with substantiated claims of child physical abuse, with a particular focus on evaluating comparative levels of internalizing factors, externalizing factors, and defensiveness. Samples were also compared in regards to their levels of substance usage, as this was shown in prior literature to be a salient psychosocial factor …

Parent Reported Executive Functioning Does Not Predict Memory Dysfunction In Pediatric Epilepsy And Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Nicole J. Norheim

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: Epilepsy and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) children are vulnerable to executive functioning and memory difficulties. The interaction between EF and memory is important to consider as EF impairments may put children at risk for experiencing memory difficulties which can impact their academic performance and quality of life. However, the evidence for the impact of EF on memory is very limited with only two studies to date focusing on this association (Rzezak et al., 2012; Sepeta et al., 2017). This was the first study to research the impact of executive dysfunction on memory in the pediatric epilepsy and ADHD population. Method: …

Alzheimer's Disease And Diabetes: A Transgenic Mouse Model In Behavior, Mri, And Cells, Kevin Sage Steed

Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, afflicting almost 5 million patients in the US, and impacting millions more, financially, physically and emotionally. Coming in as the 6th leading cause of death in the US, and showing no signs of slowing its annually increasing rates, the world is in desperate need of improved understanding of the disease's multifaceted pathogenesis and progression, more accurate forms of detection and diagnosis, and more effective prevention and treatment. While many are focused on the noble pursuit of understanding the genetic contributions to the appearance of the pathological amyloid beta (Aβ)) plaques …

A Graph Theoretical Analysis Of Functional Brain Networks Related To Memory And Healthy Aging, Ty Alvin Bodily

Theses and Dissertations

The cognitive decline associated with healthy aging begins in early adulthood and is important to understand as a precursor of and relative to mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease. Anatomical atrophy, functional compensation, and network reorganization have been observed in populations of older adults. In the current study, we examine functional network correlates of memory performance on the Wechsler Memory Scale IV and the Mnemonic Discrimination Task (MST). We report a lack of association between global graph theory metrics and age or memory performance. In addition, we observed a positive association between lure discrimination scores from the MST and right …

A Dual Examination Of Learning Through Pedagogical Training And Alzheimer's Disease Pathology, Donielle Breanna Hutchinson

Theses and Dissertations

Active learning strategies are important for facilitating deep learning that may be carried throughout life, but which is still finding its way into the college setting. Educators are not often trained in effective learning practices, which reduces the cognitive and proficiency gains of their students. By providing such guidance in the formative years of a teacher’s training, we hypothesize that the learning environment will be greatly enriched and enhanced. On the opposite end of the spectrum of life and cognition, the plague of dementia also warrants examination. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), an incurable neurodegenerative disorder progressing from the medial temporal lobe, …

The Impact Of Translation On Constructed Action And Constructed Dialogue In Asl Texts, Beth C. Gray

Theses and Dissertations

Depiction, a phenomenon similar to iconicity, involves representing what something "looks like or is like" (Streeck 2008:289). Because depiction is used more heavily in sign languages than spoken languages (Dudis 2007), people interpreting or translating spoken/written texts into signed languages struggle to use depiction naturally (Thumann 2011). This thesis analyzes constructed action (CA) and constructed dialogue (CD), two types of depiction in which the signer's hands represent those of a discourse participant. Using Tannen (1989) & Metzger's (1995) framework of non-directly-quoted CACD and Quinto-Pozos & Mehta's (2010) degrees of CA, I examine differences between narratives originally composed in ASL and …

Modest Dress As Literacy Practice In English-Speaking Conservative Mennonite Groups, Megan Lois Mong

Theses and Dissertations

English-speaking conservative Mennonites exercise a distinct set of dress practices that are not often understood by people outside the community. Advances in New Literacy Studies pave the way to understand their dress practices as a type of literacy. Multiple literacies work together to inform conservative Mennonite dress practices. One of these literacies is the reading and writing of religious texts. A second literacy is a form of heritage literacy where clothing functions as a multimodal text. Conservative Mennonites use their clothing to codify their Christian identity, gender roles and church affiliation. They intend their clothing to represent who they are …

A Phonology Of Hill (Kone-Tu) Asho, Daniel Tignor

Theses and Dissertations

Asho (ISO 639-3: csh) is a Tibeto-Burman language in the Southern Chin branch of Kuki-Chin. It is spoken by about 170,000 people, primarily in western and west-central Myanmar (Simons & Fennig 2018). Although Asho received some early attention in the studies of Tibeto-Burman languages (Houghton 1892; Joorman 1906), it has remained mostly unstudied for the past century. Current data confirm the traditional distinction of two basic dialects of Asho (Hill and Plains), and this paper focuses on the Hill or "Kone-tu" dialect. The Hill dialect has 26 consonants (compared to 29 in the Plains dialect), and both dialects have 14 …

Yes Means Yes But Does It Work?: An Empirical Investigation On The Performance Of Affirmative Consent Policies On Heterosexual Sexual Assault Scenarios, Kathryn Labore

Theses and Dissertations

Affirmative consent seeks to clarify when sexual assault occurs by framing consent in terms of agreement through positive verbal and non-verbal communication (Little, 2005). Affirmative consent can theoretically account for college students’ limited ability to identify sexual assault outside stereotypical rape scenarios (i.e. stranger rape) (Hammock & Richardson, 1997), thereby decreasing a common barrier to reporting confusion (Brubaker, 2009; McMahone, 2008). Fifteen states are currently considering passing a statewide mandate requiring affirmative consent (the affirmative consent project, 2015); however, universities lack agreement on whether or not affirmative consent should be required to include either verbal or behavioral affirmations, or both …

Gender-Exclusive Language: Women’S Perception Of Linguistic Ostracism, Voice, And Power In Politics, Michelle Roxanne Grzybowski

Theses and Dissertations

Gender-exclusive language is a type of subtly sexist language that makes reference to a single gender group thereby excluding other gender groups (Stout & Dasgupta, 2011). Two studies examined how the use of gender-exclusive language impacts the experiences of women who were elected members of county boards. Specifically, the studies surveyed county board members in the states of Illinois and Wisconsin to determine whether the naturally occurring variation between the use of gender-exclusive language (e.g., using chairman to indicate both men and women) or gender-neutral language (e.g., chair or chairperson) was related to perceptions of ostracism and a sense of …

Future Melting Away: Water Stress As A Threat To Human Security In Bangladesh And The Role Of International Community, Farzana Afroz Chowdhury

Theses and Dissertations

Bangladesh is considered as one of the frontline states in the global climate change; its policy agendas attempt to respond to the perceived security threats emanating from such changes. Water stress is one of the key problems the country is facing. Yet, links between glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, Bangladesh’s climate, growing water stress, and its implications for human security have seldom been studied. Drawing on the concepts of climate change, human security and water stress, the thesis examines the causes of Bangladesh’s freshwater crisis and its contribution to the human insecurity. Here in this study, the influence of …

An Analysis Of Innovate Training With Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus), Raymond John Van Steyn

Theses and Dissertations

The National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland conducted a training program in 2014 to develop a gestural command for their dolphins called “innovate”. This training paradigm was developed to resemble the seminal research by Pryor, Haag and O’Reilly (1969), as well as more recent efforts of Braslau-Schneck (1993) and Kuczaj and Eskelinen (2014) of training dolphins to offer “creative” behaviors not developed through conventional methods of behavioral modification, such as shaping. The goal of the present study was to observe records taken during the National Aquarium’s training procedure as well as data collected ~3 years after said training in order to …

Project Pan: Relationship Between Physical Health, Psychiatric Correlates, And Engagement In Non-Suicidal Self-Injury, Alexander Jaffe

Theses and Dissertations

Background: As evidenced by the literature, there is an abundance of research on undergraduate students and mental health. One reason for this is due to the collegiate environment, which has previously been found to increase students' stress levels. When undergraduate students experience these increased levels of stress, they cope with the stress in different ways. Non-Suicidal self-injury (NSSI), one way in which students negatively cope, is an intentional act of harming oneself without suicidal intent. Cutting, burning, hitting oneself, and severe scratching are common ways that individuals self-injure. The Experiential Avoidance Model of Deliberate Self-Harm explains that non-suicidal self-injury …

Using Context Specific Measures Of Maximizing Tendency To Reduce Inconsistency In Findings, Thomas Holzhauer

Theses and Dissertations

The relation between maximizing tendency, the tendency to search for alternatives to make the highest quality decision, and its theorized outcome, regret, has mixed support in previous maximizing tendency literature. In the current study, it was hypothesized that measuring maximizing tendency in different contexts, as opposed to measuring maximizing tendency globally, could reduce this inconsistency. This hypothesis was tested by administering measures of maximizing tendency from different contexts and maximizing tendency without context and using the results in hypothesized models. The models were tested using confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and path analysis. Results showed that using context specific …

Attitudes And Acceptability Of The Stepped-Care Model Of Depression Treatment In Primary Care Patients And Providers, Krista L. Herbert

Theses and Dissertations

Primary care has become the first and only point of contact for a majority of individuals experiencing depressive symptoms. One alternative model of care that has been adopted in international primary care settings as an alternative to standard care is the stepped-care model. Emerging evidence suggests that the stepped-care model is at least as effective as standard care for depression; however, little is known about attitudes of patients and providers regarding this model, especially within the US. The current study utilized a cross-sectional survey to inquire about general attitudes towards the stepped-care model, the individual steps, and the treatments offered …

Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces) And Timely Bachelor's Degree Attainment, Carolina Otero

Theses and Dissertations

It is well established that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are linked to health and emotional outcomes. But less is known about the relationship between ACEs and educational attainment—a potentially important feature of educational stratification in America. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a nationally representative youth study of 7-12th grade students in the 1994-95 school year, I investigate whether ACEs is linked to post-secondary attainment and examine the role of health and socio-emotional factors as mediators. Results confirm that there is a graded relationship between ACEs and timely bachelor's degree attainment. I find that …

The Beef Basin Occupation As An Extension Of The Northern San Region: An In-Depth Analysis Of The Ceramics In Beef Basin, Utah, Jaclyn Marie Eckersley

Theses and Dissertations

This paper is a summary of the methods and key results of my analysis of 7,997 sherds from 14 sites in Beef Basin, Utah. I discuss physical attributes of the collection, the results of mean ceramic dating, the results of neutron activation analysis, and the results of refiring a sample of nips in an oxidizing atmosphere. I briefly summarize the architecture at each site , as well as possible Fremont cultural material found in and near Beef Basin. I conclude that Beef Basin was likely occupied in the early Pueblo III period and that the occupation was sudden and brief. …

Autism, Alexithymia, And Anxious Apprehension: A Multimethod Investigation Of Eye Fixation, Kevin G. Stephenson

Theses and Dissertations

Reduced eye fixation and deficits in emotion identification accuracy have been commonly reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (AS), but are not ubiquitous. There is growing evidence that emotion processing deficits may be better accounted for by comorbid alexithymia (i.e., difficulty understanding and describing one's emotional state), rather than AS symptoms per se. Another possible explanation is anxiety, which is often comorbid with AS; emotion processing difficulties, including attentional biases, have also been observed in anxiety disorders, suggesting that anxiety symptoms may also influence emotion processing within AS. The purpose of the current study was to test the …

Associations Among Different Types Of Prosocial Behavior Toward Friends, Friendship Quality, And Mental Health Outcomes During Adolescence, Daye Son

Theses and Dissertations

The current study used a multidimensional approach to prosocial behavior by a) exploring various types of adolescent prosocial behavior toward friends (physical helping, sharing, defending, emotional support, including) using both qualitative and quantitative data, and b) examining longitudinal associations among prosocial behavior toward friends, friendship quality, and mental health (anxiety, life satisfaction, depression). The data were taken from Waves 8, 9, and 10 of the Flourishing Families Project. Participants at Wave 8 consisted of 470 adolescents (M age = 18.4 years, SD = 1.04, 49% male, 32% high school students, 33% single-parent families) from the United States. Results revealed that …

Does Dietary Behavior Mediate The Association Between Hedonic Hunger And Bmi In Overweight/Obese Adolescents?, Kirandeep Kaur

Theses and Dissertations

Heightened reward associated with palatable food, a construct referred to as hedonic reward, can promote excessive energy intake among adults. However, no known studies have examined the influence of hedonic reward on adolescents' eating behavior and weight status. The present study examined whether there was an association between hedonic hunger and weight status in overweight/obese adolescents and whether dietary behavior (caloric consumption) mediated this association. Baseline measures of body mass index, hedonic food reward, and dietary intake were collected from one hundred overweight and obese adolescents. Data were analyzed using mixture modeling. Mediation at varying levels of hedonic hunger was …

Backward Transfer Of Apology Strategies From Japanese To English: Do English L1 Speakers Use Japanese-Style Apologies When Speaking English?, Candice April Flowers

Theses and Dissertations

When learning a second language, there are elements of a learner's native language that can transfer and are exhibited during production in the second language. This can extend not only to the way things are said but even to gestures that are language- and speech-act-specific. However, there is evidence that the same can occur backwards, that is to say that elements of a second language can be exhibited during production of one's native language (Pavlenko and Jarvis, 2002). This study focuses on English L1 learners of Japanese who have spent significant time both in country and learning the language to …

Uniting And Dividing Influences Of Religion On Familial Relationships, Heather Howell Kelley

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research suggests that religion can be both helpful and harmful. However, much of the research on religion and families has employed relatively simple, distal measures of religion and has predominantly focused on only one side of the dualistic nature of religion. Drawing upon interviews with 198 religious families (N = 476 individuals), the purpose of this study is to better understand how religion can have both a unifying and a dividing influence on familial relationships. Three overarching themes are presented, accompanied by supporting primary qualitative data from participants. These themes include: (1) How religious beliefs unite and divide families; …

A Content Analysis Of The Journal Of Adolescent Health: Using Past Literature To Guide Healthcare Research Of Us Ethnic Minority Adolescents, Kate Amanda Handy

Theses and Dissertations

Ethnic minority research in the U.S. is important given the increase in ethnic minority populations, particularly within the adolescent population. Content analyses are useful in guiding researchers as they document representation and progress of research on ethnic minorities within many fields, including healthcare. The Journal of Adolescent Health was coded for the following variables: ethnic minority focus, article topic, article funding by topic, geographic location of sample, and inclusion of measures (ethnic identity and acculturation). The results indicated that the percentage of published articles focused on each specific ethnic minority group were lower than the current U. S. percentages, including …

Përdorimi I Gjuhës Së Urrejtjes Në Mediat Ndërkombëtare Dhe Tek Mediat E Reja Në Kosovë, Laura Bilalli

Theses and Dissertations

Përdorimi i internetit çdo ditë e më shumë po zë pjesë të rëndësishme në përditshmërinë e njeriut. Pa dyshim që shumica e njerëzve informacionet e para rreth ngjarjeve ditore i marrin nga portalet. E për dallim nga mediat tradicionale të cilat kontrollohen nga redaktorët dhe kryeredaktorët, shumica e mediave në internet nuk janë të kontrolluara, si pasojë aty mund të hedh informacion kushdo dhe çfarëdo lloj informacioni. Përveç anëve pozitive që këto media kanë në jetën tonë të përditshme, ne kemi edhe anët negative të cilat duhet të evidentohen dhe përmirësohen në funksionimin e këtyre mediave. Gjërat elementare në të …

Navigating Conflicts Between Religious And Professional Values: Psychologists' Experiences, Michael Ray Williams

Theses and Dissertations

The issue of psychotherapists' values in psychotherapy has become increasingly challenging as philosophers have questioned the viability of concepts such as objectivity and relativism. Historically, psychotherapists have relied on notions such as bracketing or suspending their own values to avoid the moral and ethical implications that such values might be active in psychotherapy. Acknowledging that psychotherapists' values are active in psychotherapy raises a host of important issues, including how to appropriately navigate value conflicts. This study explored the experience of psychotherapists as they navigate conflicts between their religious and professional values. Qualitative interviews with eight religiously committed psychologists were transcribed …