Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mapping Forest Canopy Structure With On-Demand Fusion Of Remotely Sensed Data, Gordon M. Green

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Current methods of mapping forest canopy structure often result in data products that are limited in resolution, coverage, or ease of access. On-demand processing introduces several new ways in which existing data products can be combined and re-purposed, mitigating some of these limitations. In this research, we investigate several methods of extending the spatial and temporal resolution, coverage, and accessibility of existing forest canopy datasets by processing them on demand. These methods include downscaling coarse-resolution canopy height data dynamically to estimate height at 30 m and 1 m resolution for any location within the contiguous United States. A related method …

A Gift We Can't Keep Giving: An Analysis Of The Prevalence And Consequence Of Educators' Unpaid Labor, Jared Martin Hanneman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Unpaid labor by educators is an important topic of social inquiry. With over half of all urban teachers leaving the profession within five years, it is of vital importance to examine the current U.S. educational system and take steps in minimizing the teacher burnout and attrition that is so costly to both students and the educational institutions. Most of the previous literature on unpaid labor focuses on domestic labor in the home rather than work performed by an employee above and beyond their ordinary contractual obligations - either by arriving early, staying late, or bringing work into the home. With …

Factlessness & Faultlessness: Individual Differences & Dimensions Of Philosophical Dispute, Geoffrey Scott Holtzman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project addresses the question of why philosophical disputes persist, and tackles the problem of how we might better approach them. I demonstrate empirically several ways in which personality, gender, and other factors are associated with specific philosophical beliefs. Typically, one might assume that these individual difference factors are irrelevant to philosophy, and can only serve to bias philosophical disputants. Against this view, I present four case studies, which collectively highlight the different ways in which individual differences in lived experience may be inseparable from philosophical concepts themselves.

The Shadow Banking System In The United States, Bhakti Joshi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In 2008 the United States suffered a devastating economic collapse. Millions of Americans were unemployed; families lost their homes; and long time businesses were forced to shut down. These events put the United States into an economic depression so deep that the country has yet to fully recover. The crisis was not a natural disaster but varieties of private sector agents such as banks and hedge funds were responsible for its efficient cause. Even though the housing and stock bubbles were generated largely by market forces rather than by government policies, the US government policies and institutions also played a …

The Struggle For Recognition: Muslim American Spokesmanship In The Age Of Islamophobia, Nazia Kazi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The events of 9/11/2001 intensified the hypervisibility of U.S. Muslims, making them the subject of academic, artistic, and cultural curiosity. Alongside this public hypervisibility came a campaign of institutionalized Islamophobia, manifest in such measures as the anti-Muslim legislation of the USA PATRIOT Act. The result for Islamic Representative Organizations (or IRO's) was that combatting Islamophobia became a central concern. In this dissertation, I consider the multifaceted and complicated politics of representation used by IRO's in the aftermath of 9/11. I consider both the negative, or Islamophobic, and the so-called positive, or Islamophilic, representations of U.S. Muslims in the discourse of …

How To Ask Questions In Mandarin Chinese, Woan-Jen Liing

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis re-examines the four main question-types in Mandarin Chinese, namely, particle questions, háishì questions, A-not-A questions and wh-questions, whose previous accounts are argued to be unsatisfactory due to various faulty assumptions about questions, particularly the stipulation of `Q'. Each of the four Mandarin Chinese question-types is re-accounted based on the view that questions are speech-acts, whose performance are done by way of speakers' subconscious choice of sentence-types that mirror their ignorance-types, as proposed in Fiengo (2007). It is further demonstrated that viewing questions as speech-acts instead of a structurally marked sentence-type allows a simpler and more intuitive account for …

Work-Life Experiences For People With Mobility Disabilities In New York City, Jessica A. Murray

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Work-family (or work-life) studies aim to measure interactions between the realms of work and home. It is necessary to examine these interactions within a broad context to understand external sources of tension on the work-life dynamic, including environmental, economic, and political factors. Exploratory interviews were conducted with participants of working age with a mobility disability, and when applicable, their significant others. Questions focused on work, home and transportation environments. Using Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, a model of contextual issues was constructed as the basis for an in-depth analysis of work-life issues for people with a mobility disability. Contextual research and …

Mayibuye! Let Us Reclaim! Assessing The Role Of Memorialization In Post-Conflict Rebuilding, Ereshnee Naidu-Silverman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The past decade has seen a global increase in scholarly and practitioner interests in memorialization and social memory studies. While memorialization initially gained social and political significance after the Holocaust, as it served as a symbol of recognition of the millions of victims, it gained increased recognition with the growth of the transitional justice field. Initially subsumed under the banner of symbolic reparations, memorialization has over the past few years become a transitional justice mechanism in its own right. Increasingly, victims turn toward memorialization as a mechanism for recognition, justice and healing, and more truth commissions are recommending memorialization as …

Risk Assessment Of Sexually Abusive Clergy: Utility Of Sex Offender Risk Instruments With A Unique Offender Subgroup, Anthony Perillo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sex offender risk instruments provide empirically based outlooks on recidivism risk and often serve as a critical part of sex offender management. If applied to unrepresented offender groups, these instruments may offer inaccurate pictures of risk and hinder efforts to reduce sexual violence. With little research available on sexually abusive clergy prior to the abuse scandal of the early 2000s, sexually abusive clergy are one group not represented in the research used to develop risk measures. An understanding of the validity of current risk assessment practices with sexually abusive clergy is critical and timely, as changes to the handling of …

The Second Generation's Homeland Trips: A Parental Expectation For The U.S.-Born Children Of Mexican Immigrants In The South Bronx, Alexia Raynal

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

New deportation policies in the United States are making it harder for undocumented immigrants to return home periodically (Dreby 2013a). This has a direct impact on their children. Because parents can't travel, thousands of foreign-born minors have recently been forced to travel alone in hopes of reunification. Their U.S.-born counterparts face a similar challenge: immigrants' lack of mobility places a new expectation on them to visit relatives that were left behind. Unlike their parents, these children can move freely across borders and maintain family ties. This project explores the second generation's homeland trips as experienced by a small group of …

The Historic Inability Of The Haitian Education System To Create Human Development And Its Consequences, Patrick Michael Rea

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study aims to evaluate the role that a lack of literacy and education has played in Haiti's historic and presently low level of human development. The pedagogical philosophies of two educationists, Paolo Friere and Maurice Dartigue, are used throughout the study as lenses from which to read and interpret the history of Haitian education -its many failed attempts, and recurrent challenges- in creating a literate and educated population. The author concludes that mass literacy is prerequisite if the Haitian people are to achieve self-realization and actualization, which essentially equates to what the United Nations Development Program calls "Human Development". …

Results From The Perception And Attitudes Towards Ageing And Seniors Survey (2013/2014), Mathew Mathews, Paulin Tay Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

While discussions on ageing previously centred on dependency ratios and healthcare infrastructure, there has been a growing attention to the other aspects of growing old, such as its social and emotional dimensions. There has also been a move in recent years to rethink the construct of ageing an frame it in a more positive way.In this paper we document some of the results derived from the Perception and Attitudes towards Ageing and Seniors (PATAS) survey completed in early 2014. These results delve into respondents’ beliefs about achieving successful ageing — what it constitutes how it can be achieved and respondents’ …

The Role Of Instrumental Emotion Regulation In The Emotions-Creativity Link: How Worries Render Individuals With High Neuroticism More Creative, Angela K.-Y. Leung, Shyhnan Liou, Lin Qiu, Letty Y. Y. Kwan, Chi-Yue Chiu, Jose C. Yong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Based on the instrumental account of emotion regulation (Tamir, 2005), the current research seeks to offer a novel perspective to theemotions–creativity debate by investigating the instrumental value of trait-consistent emotions in creativity. We hypothesize that emotionssuch as worry (vs. happy) are trait-consistent experiences for individuals higher on trait neuroticism and experiencing these emotions can facilitate performance in a creativity task. In 3 studies, we found support for our hypothesis. First, individuals higher in neuroticism had a greater preference for recalling worrisome (vs. happy) events in anticipation of performing a creativity task (Study 1). Moreover, when induced to recall a worrisome …

A Comparison Of Pragmatic Language In Boys With Autism And Fragile X Syndrome, Jessica Klusek, Gary E. Martin, Molly Losh

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

But Who Will Get Billy? The Effect Of Child Custody Laws On Marriage, Elaina Rose, Crystal (Ho Po) Wong

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Under the tender years doctrine in effect until the 1970’s, custody was virtually always awarded to the mother upon divorce. Gender-neutral custody laws introduced beginning in the 1970’s provided married fathers, in principle, equal rights to custody. Subsequent marriage-neutral laws extended the rights to unmarried fathers. We develop a theoretical model of the effect of custody regime on marriage and test the model’s predictions using a unique data set that merges custody law data with data from the Current Population Survey and Vital Statistics. We find that, under marriage non-neutrality, the introduction of gender-neutral laws reduced the hazard into marriage …

Planetary Improvement: Discourses And Practices Of Green Capitalism In The Cleantech Space, Jesse Adam Goldstein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is money to be made in saving the planet. A whole host of actors, such as investors, entrepreneurs, engineers, and policy makers have mobilized around our ecological problems, seeking to innovate new `green' and `clean' technologies that can serve a rapidly changing environment. The presumption that such technologies are both necessary and necessarily profitable anchors visions of a `green' capitalism that can and must be brought into existence.

However, just as free markets have never been all that free, why should we presume that green capitalism would be all that green? Instead of attempting to arbit whether or not …

Striving For Integration: Referential Activity And Object Relational Level In A Sample Of Bisexual Women, Lauren Demille

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sexuality has been theorized as a particular human experience that is driven, unmirrored in development, and enigmatic, not reaching what Fonagy describes as "second order representation." Yet, as a social being, one is expected to declare and publically live out a sexual identity. This study is situated within this point of contact between the visceral and the sociolinguistic, with particular attention paid to the experiences of bisexual women, whose potential challenges in articulating a sexual identity are considered. The study sample was comprised of forty bisexual women participating in the Dually Attracted Women's Narratives study (Levy-Warren, 2013) returning for the …

Claiming The Right To The City: Towards The Production Of Space From Below, Mehmet Baris Kuymulu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the theoretical and political contradictions surrounding the notion of the right to the city. The right to the city concept has lately attracted a great deal of attention, both from academics who have long engaged with urban theory and politics, and from grassroots activists around the globe who have been fighting on the ground for an alternative just urbanism. In addition to urbanists and grassroots urban justice activists, the right to the city concept has also drawn considerable attention from the United Nations (UN) agencies such as UN-HABITAT and UNESCO, which have organized meetings and outlined policies …

Tv Audience Fragmentation: Measurement, Causes, And Economic Consequences, Jaroslaw Marek Schellner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Modern video distribution has increased the quantity and variety of programming available to viewers. Multichannel broadcasters using high-bandwidth distribution mechanisms such as satellite and cable television are able to deliver hundreds of channels to each home. Video on demand (VOD) allows users to select and watch video content at will. Digital video recorders (DVRs) have made it possible to watch any program at any time using an electronic program guide and recording shows onto a hard disk. Yet attention remains limited, as audience members are able to watch only a limited number of programs offered by different networks. As a …

Clothing And Social Movements: The Politics Of Dressing In Colonized Tibet, Dicky Yangzom

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examines the relationship between clothing and social movements. Taking the case of Lhakar in the Tibetan Freedom Movement, it explores how Tibetans in Tibet and those in exile imagine national belonging. Second, it delineates how the multiple uses of clothing, both by the colonizing state and the colonial movement articulates its importance in serving as a symbolic boundary in nationalist identity formation. Lastly, using methods of visual analysis, the research explains how the convergence between clothing, social movements, and social media creates a non-violent transnational social movement.

Human Sexuality As A Critical Subfield In Social Work, Emily Mccave, Benjamin C. Shepard, Virginia Ramseyer Winter

Publications and Research

Human sexuality is of vital importance to social work practitioners, educators, and scholars. Yet historically, the profession’s leadership around it has waxed and waned, impacting practice. This article discusses the importance of human sexuality as a critical subfield within social work. It suggests that the mechanisms, namely textbooks, journals, and national conferences, for stimulating human sexuality social work scholarship are limited. The authors assert that the taboo of human sexuality limits the advancement of a cohesive professional discourse and contributes to the continued oppression of marginalized populations. Recommendations for providing better support for those who study, teach, and practice in …

Economic Dimensions Of The Foreclosure Crisis: A Focus On The New York City Msa, Sean P. Macdonald, Eric Doviak

Publications and Research

Employing Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data on loan originations from 2004 – 2010 and 2010 New York State preforeclosure filing notices, this study seeks to identify the correlation between some characteristics of census tracts and the distribution of pre-foreclosure filing notices and high cost loans within the New York City metropolitan area from 2006 through 2012. The findings are examined within the context of the census tracts within which borrowers resided. American Community Survey data on employment-population ratios, poverty rates, and median household income were then matched to our HMDA-PFF dataset to obtain a measure of the relationship of particular …

Conceptualization Of Autism In The Latino Community And Its Relationship With Early Diagnosis, Katharine E. Zuckerman, Brianna Sinche, Martiza Cobian, Marlene Cervantes, Angie Mejia, Thomas Becker, Christina Nicolaidis

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective—Early identification of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been linked to improved long-term developmental outcomes. However, Latino children are diagnosed later than white non- Latino children. We aimed to qualitatively assess the understanding and conceptualization of ASD in the Latino community in order to understand potential community barriers to early diagnosis.

Method—We conducted 5 focus groups and 4 qualitative interviews with 30 parents of typicallydeveloping Latino children in Oregon. Participants were asked structured questions concerning video vignettes that follow a Latina mother from the time she begins to worry about her 3-year-old son's behaviors to the time he receives an …

Structural Factors That Increase Hiv/Sti Vulnerability Among Indigenous People In The Peruvian Amazon, E. Roberto Orellana, Isaac E. Alva, Cesar P. Cárcamo, Patricia J. García

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

We examined structural factors—social, political, economic, and environmental—that increase vulnerability to HIV among indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon. Indigenous adults belonging to 12 different ethnic groups were purposively recruited in four Amazonian river ports and 16 indigenous villages. Qualitative data revealed a complex set of structural factors that give rise to environments of risk where health is constantly challenged. Ferryboats that cross Amazonian rivers are settings where unprotected sex—including transactional sex between passengers and boat crew and commercial sex work—often take place. Population mobility and mixing also occurs in settings like the river docks, mining sites, and other resource …

The All-Pay Auction With Complete Information And Identity-Dependent Externalities, Bettina Klose, Dan Kovenock

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

We derive a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of equilibria with only two active players in the all-pay auction with complete information and identity-dependent externalities. This condition shows that the generic equilibrium of the standard all-pay auction is robust to the introduction of "small" identity-dependent externalities. In general, however, the presence of identity-dependent externalities invalidates well-established qualitative results concerning the set of equilibria of the first-price all-pay auction with complete information. With identity-dependent externalities equilibria are generally not payoff equivalent, and identical players may earn different payoffs in equilibrium. These observations show that Siegel’s (2009) results characterizing the …

The Effectiveness Of Motivational Interviewing On Intimate Partner Violence Clients, Chelsea Drake

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The criminal justice response to perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) is often a rehabilitative group treatment called Batterers Intervention Programs (Bl). This thesis assesses the effects of motivational interviewing (Ml) on clients ordered to local probation for IPV. Records were collected on IPV offenders enrolled in BI, within a small city in the Southeast Criminal Justice Agency. The pre-MI data were gathered from 2006, and post-MI data from 2007-2008 after the implementation of Ml. This thesis focuses on the use of MI as an intervention to enhance clients' motivation to change. This research is guided by questions that involve …

Disaster Preparedness & Response: A Survey Of U.S. Dental Hygienists, Brenda Tallon Bradshaw

Dental Hygiene Theses & Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine dental hygienists' interests, formal education, views, comfort levels, and intentions for becoming involved in disaster preparedness and response as measured by a 21-item survey entitled "Victim Identification for Disaster Preparedness & Response: A Survey of Dental Hygienists". Methods: A nonprobability convenience sample (n=400) was recruited for an online survey. Data was analyzed for statistical significance using descriptive statistics, chisquare goodness-of-fit tests, a Mann-Whitney U test, and a paired-samples t-test. Similar themes were identified and categorized from open-ended questions. Results: A response rate of 83.5% (n=334) was attained. Regardless of years …

Regulatory Capture, The Chesapeake Bay, And Hampton Roads: What's On Your Plate, Ronnie David Gannon

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The Chesapeake Bay and its 64,000 square mile watershed are both severely impacted from excessive amounts of nutrient pollution, which contributes to a growing presence of dead zones in the Bay. What causes nutrient pollution? What are dead zones? In addition, many of the Bay's commercially valuable species of marine life have been/ are overexploited to the point of collapse / verge of collapse. Despite all of these facts, management agencies continue to weakly enforce regulations. Why?

Not to mention, much of the Bay's marine life is unsustainably caught in the contaminated waters of Hampton Roads. How, and for what? …

Rrh Library Newsletter, October 2014, Libraries At Rochester Regional Health

Rochester Regional Health authored publications and proceedings

Newsletter sections include: Enterovirus D68; Library Open House October 22; AORN Standards

Improving Social Resilience In Response To Climate Change In Far North Queensland And Torres Strait, Katie Costantini

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Currently, most approaches to decision-making in response to climate change have been based on biophysical knowledge, even though climate change is an inherently social dilemma. Social resilience involves communities’ ability to mitigate and prepare for the effects of climate change and recover to an improved state. Professor Allan Dale and his colleagues at the Cairns Institute at James Cook University developed a framework for social resilience based on four attributes: (1) Economic Viability, (2) Community Knowledge, Aspirations, and Capacity, (3) Community Vitality, and (4) Governance. They are using this framework to evaluate and monitor Far North Queensland and Torres Strait …