Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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

Theses and Dissertations

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

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

Theses and Dissertations

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

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

Theses and Dissertations

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

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

Theses and Dissertations

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

A Mission At 311, Nan Li

Theses and Dissertations

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

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

Theses and Dissertations

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

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

Theses and Dissertations

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

Assessment Of The Socio-Environmental Impacts Of The Urban Expansion Using Gis And Remote Sensing In The City Of Guayaquil, Ecuador., Erika P. Jimenez Rivera

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the impacts of the urban expansion from 1990 to 2010 in Guayaquil, Ecuador using geospatial technologies. It incorporates census and land cover data to identify the social and environmental repercussions through Hot Spot Analysis, land cover classification, and Markov chains model.

Do Homebuyers Care About Good Grades? Evaluating The Effect Of Nyc School Accountability Program On Housing Values, John I. Campagna

Theses and Dissertations

This paper looks at the effect of the New York City school accountability grades on the residential property market. Grades by themselves are found to have some effect on residential property market, but the inclusion of test scores along with grades diminishes the strength of their effect.

Where’S The Fair Use? Participatory Culture, Creativity, And Copyright On Youtube, Joseph Daniel Barden

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how citizens used YouTube to air concerns about copyright law and its influence on content creation. It studies the “Where’s the Fair Use?” (#WTFU) movement that was formed in February 2016 and used YouTube videos to oppose the site’s copyright systems. Using textual and discourse analysis, this thesis examines seven different videos and their respective comment sections. It analyzes how video is used to express dissent, it analyzes the movement’s discourse about fair use, and it examines how YouTube’s copyright systems influence participation. Among the findings, this thesis argues that videos are framed much like television news …

Three Essays On The Housing Market And Financial Intermediaries, Majid Haghani Rizi

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation utilizes the valuable information present in forward looking financial intermediaries and effects of the housing market on macroeconomy. In the second chapter, I study the dynamic relationship in the shadow banking system. Particularly, I investigate theshort-runandthelong-runrelationshipamongthefinancialassetsofthemoneymarket funds, the commercial paper, and the repurchase agreement markets by undertaking a cointegration analysis of quarterly data over the 1985-2013 period. The evidence suggests that there exists a common long-term cointegrating trend among these three components of the shadow banking system. Any disequilibrium in this long-run relationship among these variables is corrected by movement in the financial assets of the money market …

Individual Demographic Transitions And Financial Hardship, Martin Erik Meder

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two essays on the relationship between individual demographic transitions, major life events that alter how an individual may be categorized by demographers, and financial wellbeing. Recent literature on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) has reported an absence of substitution behavior between SSDI and other social insurance programs, which is unexpected considering the observed countercyclicality of SSDI awards. In the first chapter, I decompose the increase in the SSDI enrollment rate over the period surrounding the Great Recession, finding that 54.9% of the increase in the enrollment rate can be attributed to individuals who did not previously …

Agents Of Change: Scholarly Intervention At The Science-Policy Nexus, Daniel Card

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines an emerging “engaged rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine” (ERSTM)—an effort to ensure rhetoric’s “broader impacts” by more directly engaging the practices of science and sociotechnical policymaking. Through careful analysis of engaged rhetorical practice, I identify divergent conceptualizations of both rhetoric and engagement and subsequently draw on new materialist rhetorical theory and empirical research on science communication and public engagement to advance “problem-oriented rhetorical catalysis” (PRC) as a mode of engagement capable of advancing rhetoric’s institutional value and ethical commitments without abandoning its core disciplinary expertise and areas of inquiry. I further suggest the PRC is uniquely …

A Return To Dark Shamans: Kanaima & The Cosmology Of Threat, Tarryl Janik

Theses and Dissertations

Kanaima in Amazonia has been theorized within anthropology as “assault sorcery,” “dark shamanism,” and “anti-structure.” Among the Patamuna Indians of Guyana kanaima have been theorized as “cultural expression” of “hyper-traditionality” in response to an encroaching state, its industry and development, evangelism, and modernity (Whitehead; 2002). Kanaima is a mode of terror and violence, of healing, enhancing power, and performing masculinity—a symbol that operates in Patamuna mythology, cosmology, and place-making. Kanaima is intimately entangled with jaguar identity and the wildness of the Pakaraimas, functioning as the ultimate symbol of terror and control over the Patamuna and outsiders. The threat of kanaima …

Nicotine Effects On White Matter Microstructure In Male And Female Young Adults, Megan M. Kangiser

Theses and Dissertations

Nicotine use is still widely prevalent among adolescents and young adults. Nicotine use is associated with white matter microstructural changes as measured by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a magnetic resonance imaging technique that measures the diffusion of water in the brain. In adults, nicotine use is generally associated with poorer white matter microstructure, exhibiting lower fractional anisotropy (FA), but in adolescents/young adults, microstructure appears healthier, as indicated by higher FA. No study has examined gender differences in the effects of nicotine on white matter microstructure in young adults. 53 subjects (18 nicotine users [10 female] and 35 controls [17 female]) …

Fluid Functionality: An Examination Of Shifting Identities Using North American Indian German Silver Brooches At The Milwaukee Public Museum As A Case Study, Victoria Catherine Pagel

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the social lives of Woodland silver and German silver brooches

beginning in the late 18th century up to the present day using examples from the collections at the

Milwaukee Public Museum. As a popular trade item introduced by Europeans, silver brooches

provided a new medium for personal adornment in North American indigenous communities

throughout the Woodland region. Brooches were fastened on clothing as singular items and

occasionally worn in the hundreds to display wealth, status, and other aspects of identity. The

majority of brooches used for this project originate from Canada, New York, and Wisconsin.

Also included …

Masculinity In American Television From Carter To Clinton, Bridget Kies

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines American television during a period I call the long 1980s. I argue that during this period, television became invested in new and provocative images of masculinity on screen and in networks’ attempts to court audiences of men. I have demarcated the beginning and ending of the long 1980s with the declaration of Jimmy Carter as Time magazine’s Man of the Year in 1977 and Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993. This also correlates with important shifts in the television industry, such as the formation of ESP-TV (later ESPN) in 1979 and the end of Johnny Carson’s tenure as …

How Does Anxiety Affect Cognitive Control? Proactive And Reactive Control Under State Anxiety, Youcai Yang

Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive control is a construct that prioritizes how we process stimuli and information and execute behaviors to flexibly and efficiently adapt to internal goals and external environmental changes. A recent theory, the Dual Mechanism of Control (DMC), distinguishes this phenomenon by two distinct cognitive control operations: proactive control and reactive control (Braver, 2012). Anxiety increases the allocation of attentional and working memory resources to threat-related stimuli, which impairs cognitive performance (Sarason, 1988), but additional work is needed to assess how anxiety impacts these two distinct forms of cognitive control. In this study, I examined how state anxiety affected proactive control, …

Overwhelmed: A Qualitative Study Of The Mental Health Experiences Of Mothers Of Minor Children After Release From Jail And Prison, Ann Elizabeth Stanton

Theses and Dissertations

Mass incarceration in US jails and prisons is a major public health concern. Over one million women are released from US jails and prisons each year. Incarcerated women experience disproportionately high rates of mental health issues and most incarcerated women are mothers of minor children. Mothers of minor children who leave jails and prisons with mental health issues face increased risks of experiencing substance use, risky behaviors, homelessness, and recidivism. Their children are also at increased risk for adverse mental health, behavioral, and social outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore the mental health experiences of mothers of …

Population Change In Times Of War: Biodistance Analysis Of Medieval And Early Modern Skeletal Populations From Adriatic Croatia, Lindsey Jo Helms Thorson

Theses and Dissertations

Research by doctoral candidate Lindsey Jo Helms Thorson, under the supervision of Dr. Patricia Richards, investigated population during the Ottoman expansion into Croatian territories to determine whether migration contributed significantly to changes in the biological make-up of the population. The study focused on phenotypic trait variation, using cranial and dental metric and nonmetric data, in two skeletal samples from the Medieval (pre-Ottoman) period and two skeletal samples from the Early Modern (Ottoman) period in the central Dalmatian region of Croatia, curated at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts – Anthropology Center. Historical narratives suggest that as the Ottoman Empire …

Death In Anonymity: Population Dynamics And The Individual Within The Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery, 1882–1925, Brooke L. Drew

Theses and Dissertations

Prior to hospital construction in late 1991 and early 1992, and again in 2013, archaeologists were called upon to excavate 1,649 and 831 burials, respectively, from the unmarked Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery. The individuals disinterred during these field seasons represent what remains of a much larger indigent population buried by Milwaukee County between 1882 and 1925 in what has been designated as Cemetery II. Long before the expanding facilities at Wauwatosa’s Milwaukee Regional Medical Center threatened these graves, however, the very nature of pauper burial grounds caused the identities of these disenfranchised individuals to be systematically obliterated.

The research …

Fitting A Complex Markov Chain Model For Firm And Market Productivity, Julia Ruth Valder

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis develops a methodology of estimating parameters for a complex Markov chain model for firm productivity. The model consists of two Markov chains, one describing firm-level productivity and the other modeling the productivity of the whole market. If applicable, the model can be used to help with optimal decision making problems for labor demand. The need for such a model is motivated and the economical background of this research is shown. A brief introduction to the concept of Markov chains and their application in this context is given. The simulated data that is being used for the estimation is …

Establishing Quality Standards For Applied Behavior Analytic Skill- Acquisition Interventions: A Translational Model With Undergraduate Students, Samantha Cj Bergmann

Theses and Dissertations

Treatment integrity is the extent to which components of an intervention are implemented as intended (Gresham, 1989). Recent behavior-analytic literature has begun to evaluate the effects of impaired treatment integrity on efficacy and efficiency of skill-acquisition interventions. We extended current literature on the effects of errors of omission and commission of reinforcement on the acquisition of conditional discriminations. We used a translational research model to replicate and extend Hirst and DiGennaro Reed (2015) to investigate the effects of impaired treatment integrity with undergraduate students. We compared the efficacy and efficiency of instruction implemented with varying degrees of integrity in a …

An Evolving Experiment In Community Engagement: The Philippine Co-Curation Partnership At The Field Museum, Sarah E. Carlson

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last decade, Field Museum staff have worked to build enduring partnerships with local Filipinx-American community members. These partnerships engage participants in the stewardship of the collection, reinterpreting entangled object meanings and connecting the Museum’s collection to the lived experiences of modern communities. Through collaborative digitization efforts and events the Philippine Co-Curation partnership works to confront a colonial past while offering a gathering space for local Filipinx-Americans. As an emerging approach to collections management, it aims to embody the ideals of modern museology, bringing both partners and staff into uncertain territory and inspiring important questions about how collaborative relationships …

Market Power And The Nonprofit Sector, Gabriel Courey

Theses and Dissertations

The first chapter of this dissertation is composed of three related notes on spatial price discrimination under convex production costs. First, I consider upstream monopoly when two firms downstream have convex production costs. I find that the reduction in social welfare associated with the location distortions from upstream monopoly remain but are reduced under convex costs. This first section has been published (Courey, 2016). Second, I consider sequential location choice by two firms with convex costs (without a upstream monopoly). I find that when the slope of the marginal cost curve is steep enough, sequential choice can yield locations with …

An Anti-Deficit Approach To Examining The Career Choice Of African American Men In College, Gary Young

Theses and Dissertations

Awareness of congruence and discrepancies within an individual’s pathway from career interest to occupational choice offers significant insight into the process of conciliation and foreclosure (i.e., psychological disposition toward a circumscription of career options). Given the significant role of careers, understanding the career developmental process is of particular importance. Career interests to occupational choice mediated by self-efficacy are key components in the process of attaining career related goals. Lent, Brown, and Hackett (1994) proposed in the social cognitive career theory (SCCT) that under optimal conditions, career interests give rise to congruent occupational choice goals. Altogether, this leads to goal action …

Negotiating Matters Of Concern: Expertise, Uncertainty, And Agency In Rhetoric Of Science, Danielle Devasto

Theses and Dissertations

Debates over GMOs, vaccines, and climate change are but a few examples that highlight a growing body of high-stakes scientific controversies and the manifest difficulties inherent in communicating about them. Addressing these and similar issues requires navigating a wide array of competing scientific, technological, social, democratic, environmental, and economic exigencies. The development of scholarly approaches that can account for the complexity and dynamism of these cases is an essential part of ensuring effective, ethical interaction between scientists and publics. In this dissertation, I explore one such case, the L’Aquila earthquake controversy, in which seven technical experts were charged with manslaughter …

The Mothers Of Family Place: The Role Of Trust And Support Among Homeless-Mother Families, Heather L. Duncan

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the dynamics of network exchange and trust experience in becoming homeless and the influence of these conditions on life in the shelter for women who are homeless with their children. The plight of homeless mothers in twenty-first century Chicago echo those of poor mothers in the eighteenth century, with families and singles alike enduring inadequate affordable housing, both in quantity and quality. So too did the provision of poor relief prove inadequate throughout the past two hundred years. I examined theories of trust and network and exchange theory, challenging the adequacy of their application to homeless families. …

Social Media's Influence On Political Communication: A Content Analysis Of Donald Trump's Tweets In The First 100 Days Of His Presidency, Priscilla L. Flores

Theses and Dissertations

Evolving technologies allow politicians to directly reach large audiences to increase interaction. Nevertheless, the average American’s attention span fell from twelve to eight seconds in the last decade; creating a gap that traditional media could not fill. Modern social media fills the gap by allowing information to be more accessible, direct, and permanent. Now, politicians can address audiences more frequently and directly through mobile devices - a tactic which creates a perception of immediacy unseen in past political climates. Donald Trump demonstrated that Twitter can be just as effective - if not more so - than traditional means of political …

The Impact Participation In School Actvities, Events And Organizations Has On The Veterans' Ability To Assimilate To Campus Culture, Eric Scott Fagan

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between student veterans’ self-perceived level of participation in school activities/events and school organizations and the association his/her participation has with his/her level of assimilation to college life. This study serves as the basis for follow up research, aiming to discover innovative tools and resources that will assist veterans facing difficulty with assimilating to college life. Subjects in the study are one hundred student veterans from a southwestern university and college. The instruments for the study are the Veteran Involvement Questionnaire (VIQ) and the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ). The results of the study reveal …