Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Using Eeg To Examine The Top Down Effects On Visual Object Processing, Joseph D. Borders

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Object recognition entails a complex interplay between top-down and bottom-up signals. Yet, limited research has investigated the mechanisms through which top-down processes, such as task context and behavioral goals impact the neural basis of visual object processing. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we studied the temporal dynamics of task and object processing to identify how early the impact of task can be observed. We recorded ERPs from participants as they viewed object images from four categories spanning animacy (Inanimate: roller-skate, motorbike; Animate: cow, butterfly) and size (Large: motorbike, cow; Small: roller-skate, butterfly) dimensions under four task conditions comprising conceptual (naturalness, size) and …

Evaluating Kentucky State Pension Plans In The 2000s And Best Practices Moving Forward, Sarah Alegria

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Commonwealth of Kentucky sponsors three different pension retirement systems. This includes Kentucky Employee Retirement System, Teacher’s Retirement System, and Kentucky’s Judicial Form of Retirement System. Kentucky has one of the worst funded pension retirement plans and is currently facing shortfalls of about $43 billion (PEW, 2013). Between 1998-2008, Commonwealth of Kentucky’s legislators made many detrimental policy decisions that negatively affected its Pension Retirement System. The most impacting includes:

• Enhancements of Benefits in the Nineties
• Changing Final Compensation from the average of five-years to the average of three-years
• Mandated Yearly Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA)
• Not requiring the State to …

Legalizing Recreational And Medical Marijuana In The State Of Kentucky: A Tax Revenue Recommendation, Drew Barker

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

No executive summary.

An Analysis Of Kentucky School Activity Fund Requirements For Internal Controls And Segregation Of Duties Compared With National Standards And Requirements In Surrounding States, Marla J. Carnes

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Across the United States, K-12 school systems receive and disburse a significant amount of funds at the school level. These funds are classified as school activity funds and may be broken into two distinct categories: 1) student activity funds and 2) district activity funds. Student activity funds are generally derived from fundraising activities of students to support a particular student group or organization such as the Y-Club, senior class, or student council. District activity funds are generated in the normal course of school business and may include funds such as locker fees, parking permit fees, school picture sales, or vending …

Evaluating The After Effects Of Successful Hazard Mitigation: Calculating The Social Benefit Of London, Kentucky’S Post-Mitigation Creation Of Public Park Space, Christopher Greyson Evans

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

After receiving FEMA hazard mitigation grants to improve weather and water management infrastructure, many communities are able to complete additional capital improvement projects that would not have been possible without the improvements facilitated by FEMA grants. FEMA projects often convert tracts of land to greenspace, or stabilize flood-damaged lands. Many communities then build public parks on such lands as a direct result. Although these parks or greenspaces create a benefit for their communities, FEMA’s methods for post-project evaluation, known as “Loss Avoidance Studies,” do not typically take the costs and benefits of new parks or greenspaces into consideration. From 2011-2015, …

Analyzing The Presence Of State-Run Retirement Plans For Private Sector Employees, Ruthann Froberg

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

State-run retirement plans for non-covered private sector employees are a rapidly growing area of state policy. Since 2010, the majority of states in the U.S. have moved to either examine, enact, or implement these plans. This policy intends to increase private savings in an effort to reduce future reliance on public assistance and Social Security. Despite the current public policy interest, there is a lack of research evaluating the impact of plans or common state characteristics that are associated movement in this policy area. This capstone focuses on answering the latter question. Using state-level demographic, pension, welfare, and policy data, …

Evaluation Of A Palliative Care Initiative On The African Continent: Responsibly Improving Access To Pain Treatment, J. Spencer Hirschi

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The African continent today faces a crisis of inadequate palliative care, in spite of the growing level of suffering of its citizens who are faced with debilitating diseases and injuries. Much of this problem stems from deeply ingrained attitudes towards opioids: while the American continent grapples with the effects of opioid overprescribing, physicians trained in Africa are taught that opioids are inappropriate for virtually all scenarios, and therefore they come to fear and avoid their use or simply remain untrained on them altogether. Patients fail to advocate for themselves out of submission to the doctor’s authority, governments remain apathetic to …

Everybody’S Working (But The Weakened): An Assessment Of Medicaid Work Requirements And Their Administrative Burdens, Samuel Misleh

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Although Medicaid work requirements are currently halted in both Arkansas and Kentucky, this analysis utilizes the data available to make an assessment and estimate of what Kentucky’s Medicaid enrollment will look like if work requirements similar to those Arkansas had are ever implemented. The relative severity of the administrative burden of such requirements provide a tool for comparison, and a difference-in-differences analysis of the change in Medicaid enrollment between Arkansas and West Virginia, a state that has not implemented and currently has no plans to implement Medicaid work requirements, provide the bases for this estimate. After coding the work requirements …

Does The Emission Trading System Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions & Coal Consumption And Lead To An Increase In Renewable Energy? – Evidence From Oecd Member Countries, Pilmu Ryu

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Emission Trading System (ETS) on greenhouse gas (GHG) is a climate change policy well-known as a market-based mitigation mechanism. However, policymakers have faced strong opposition of many stakeholders and failed to persuade them in the process to introduce the ETS. Objective evidence on ETS impact not only provides information to policymakers but also may help alleviate controversy between stakeholders and policymakers. Also, empirical results on ETS will be able to contribute to the theoretical economic study of cap-and-trade. In this context, this research aims at empirical analyses of ETS impact with regard to GHG emissions, coal consumption, and renewable …

A Study On The Determinants Of Childbirth In Primary Local Government Districts In South Korean ‘Do’ Metro Provinces, Seungmin Kim

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Korea is experiencing a very serious low fertility rate. As of 2017, Korea has a fertility rate of 1.05, which is the lowest among the G20 countries. The low fertility rate can lead to pension burden problems and economic recession problems. In particular, the Primary Local Government Districts ((PLGDs) in "Do" Metro provinces in Korea may have a problem of a decrease in the agricultural population, and the reduction of organizational and administrative functions due to the reduction of fiscal income. To solve the low fertility rate, we need to identify factors that affect childbirth, and to engage in policy …

The Local Government Financial Response To Natural Disasters In Kentucky, Lucas Taulbee

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This study seeks to estimate the effect of disasters on the total receipts and total spending of county governments in Kentucky. In addition to estimating the effects of disasters on total receipts and total spending, this study also seeks to estimate the effects of disasters on specific categories of revenue (taxes, intergovernmental, etc.) and spending (transportation, recreation, general government, etc.). These effects are estimated using data on county budgets for 2007 through 2017 from the Kentucky Department for Local Government (DLG) and data on disaster declarations and public assistance grants from FEMA.

The principle findings of this study suggest that: …

An Exploratory Comparison Of Kentucky Public School Districts That Primarily Select The “Compensating Rate”, Andrew J. Wells

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Public school districts in the Commonwealth of Kentucky are primarily funded from federal, state, and local sources. While the proportion of each of these funding sources differs from district to district, the local property tax is one source that is within the control of locally-elected officials: the members of the local Board of Education. While some Boards of Education choose to increase local tax rates to increase local revenue, others do not. This research suggests that property value assessments and median incomes of districts that choose not to increase tax rates are similar. A majority of the counties studied are …

Evaluating The Impact Of Fine Particulate Matter Pollution Standards On Mortality Rates In The Southeastern United States, Lauren Wice

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continuously monitors six criteria pollutants that are known to have impacts on public health and welfare. One of these pollutants, fine particulate matter, or PM_2.5 (which includes particles that are smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter), is easily inhalable and can enter the lining of the lungs and the bloodstream, posing a great risk to human health. Standards for allowable concentrations of PM_2.5 were amended in 1997, 2006, and again in 2012, becoming increasingly stringent each time. According to the EPA, health organizations, and other research studies, these particles can specifically contribute to …

A Needs Assessment Of Providers For The Integration Of Behavioral Health Services At A Safety-Net Clinic, Anna Kathryn Hayburn

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The availability of behavioral health services within primary care meets the high patient need for mental health care within a familiar setting, which is especially impactful in safety-net settings where patients face higher levels of stress and psychosocial barriers that impact health outcomes (Kamimura et al., 2014). Behavioral health consultants (BHCs) may encounter challenges to successful integration of services, but adapting to the unique clinic environment, assessing needs, and facilitating effect collaboration with providers can lead to greater success (Hunter, Goodie, Oordt, & Dobmeyer, 2017). A needs assessment was conducted with volunteer providers at the safety-net clinic Reach Out of …

Beyond Shame: A Therapeutic Mobile Application For The Development Of Shame Resilience, Eleanor D. Tripp

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Shame is an intensely painful emotion that underlies many forms of psychopathology and maladaptive behavior. As a result, researchers have sought to gain a more thorough understanding of this self-conscious emotion and how it impacts functioning. Several evidence-based treatment modalities have been identified as helpful in the treatment of shame and in the development of shame resilience. However, there continues to be a need for this information to be more readily accessible. The current project involved developing the content and design for Beyond Shame, a mobile application (app) aimed at helping English-speaking adults to develop shame resilience. The mobile app …

Sexual Minority Women And Lifetime Risk Of Alcohol Use Disorder, Jennifer Smith

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Sexual minority women demonstrate higher rates of Alcohol Use Disorder, or AUD, compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Factors that potentially impact how likely a sexual minority woman is to develop an AUD during her lifetime has received limited attention in existing research. These include sexual minority stress, stress and cognitive appraisal, and hardiness theories. While many factors are suggested, and some supported, no consistent risk or protective factors have emerged. This study sought to change that by testing whether proposed risk and protective factors for stress, both in general and unique to sexual minority individuals, impacted the likelihood of the …

Attitudes On Legal Insanity And The Impact Of Race, Jerie J. Bolin

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Jurors, representatives of the communities from which they are selected, are tasked with the responsibility of reaching a verdict in an impartial, unbiased manner. Previous research has found that bias and negative attitudes impact juror decision-making, despite practices that are in place to dismiss potentially biased jurors, such as voir dire. Studies have found a correlation between racial biases and juror verdicts. Additionally, a correlation has also been found between insanity defense attitudes and a juror’s propensity to favor (or not favor) a Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) acquittal. However, there has been limited examination of the impact …

Misdiagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder: Does Setting Bias And Gender Bias Influence Diagnostic Decision-Making?, Gillian Christina Larue

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Inaccurate diagnoses due to clinician bias may lead to the facilitation of inappropriate mental health treatment and poor prognosis for treating clients presenting concern, as the cause of the disordered behaviors that led to their incarceration are not being addressed. The current study sought to determine whether clinician gender bias and clinician setting bias affects the diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder amongst clients in correctional settings. Determining whether bias affects diagnosis of these disorders amongst clients in correctional settings is important in order to assure clients are receiving appropriate mental health treatment. Incarcerated individuals who receive …

Prevalence Visual Search: Optimal Performance And The Description-Experience Gap, Hanshu Zhang

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Real-world visual search differs significantly from the laboratory task. One distinct feature is that most targets in real-world visual search are low prevalence. Considering the important practical connections between the laboratory study and applied research, there has been a resurgence in exploring prevalence effects on visual search performance, especially the effect that targets are more likely to be missed when they have low prevalence. Though there is a consensus that target misses are due to a liberal criterion, previous studies failed to consider the potentiality of optimal performance from the perspective of Signal Detection Theory, which also predicts a the …

Neurobehavioral Effects Of Multi-Tasking, Elizabeth Lynn Fox

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The progression of technology and adaptive automation has shown tremendous promise in reducing both physical and mental task demands, while allowing the maintenance or improvement of overall performance. Consequently, a user is able to maintain task performance with relatively more ease and reallocate spare time and energy to additional tasks. Quantifying the resources that one has left is an ongoing, relatively open, research objective for human factors psychologists. Here, we created a standardized, individual-level metric to serve as an estimate of multi-tasking efficiency. We go beyond just rank-order, or categorical labels of suffering from, benefiting from, or adequately maintaining performance …

Learned Helplessness In Industrial-Organizational Psychology: Relationships With Locus Of Control, Self-Efficacy, And Feedback-Seeking Behavior, Nicholas Kovacs

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Researchers have suggested that self-efficacy and feedback-seeking behavior (FSB) are effective in enhancing performance. To improve performance in the workplace, research should focus on how psychologists can enhance these constructs in employees. Though locus of control (LOC) relates to self-efficacy and increased FSB, research has revealed issues in LOC (e.g., failure to predict performance, range restriction, failure to predict behaviors). The current study examined the effects of perceived “lack of control”, learned helplessness, over LOC on both self-efficacy and FSB in two different samples: a student sample (N = 321) and a work sample (N = 794). Learned helplessness accounted …

Freedom And Prison: Putting Structuralism Back Into Structural Inequality, Anders Walker

All Faculty Scholarship

Critics of structural racism frequently miss structuralism as a field of historical inquiry. This essay reviews the rise of structuralism as a mode of historical analysis and applies it to the mass incarceration debate in the United States, arguing that it enriches the work of prevailing scholars in the field.

Adolescent Girls' Voices On Enhancing Their Own Productivity In Pakistan: Highlights 2019, Iram Kamran, Tahira Parveen, Rehan M. Niazi

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Of the 11 million girls aged 15 to 19 years in Pakistan, nearly half (47 percent) are “not in education, employment, or marriage” (NEEM). This brief presents highlights from a qualitative study conducted in Punjab province of Pakistan to probe the lives, perspectives, and aspirations of NEEM girls regarding education and involvement in economic activity and identify locally acceptable ways in which their lives may be positively transformed through access to education and safe and fair work opportunities.

Assessment Of In-Service Training And Continuing Education (Ist/Ce) For Frontline Health Workers In Bauchi And Cross River States, Nigeria, Ekechi Okereke, Iliyasu Zubairu, Udoh Nsekpong, Godwin Unumeri, Ibrahim Suleiman, Aisha Jibril

Reproductive Health

Training contributes tremendously to the development and sustenance of health workers’ competencies for quality healthcare services. Although Nigeria has a higher stock of human resources for health compared to other African countries, the World Health Organization argues that its distribution is highly skewed toward urban areas. Building and maintaining staff capacities requires continuing professional development through in-service training (IST) and continuing education (CE). This study assesses current IST and CE for health workers in Bauchi and Cross River states to provide evidence to inform policy and planning and improve implementation of capacity-building for health workers in Nigeria.

Tracing Change In Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Shifting Norms And Practices Among Communities In Narok And Kisii Counties, Kenya—Brief, Dennis Matanda, Chantalle Okondo, Caroline W. Kabiru, Bettina Shell-Duncan

Reproductive Health

This policy brief summarizes key findings from a study that examined whether there are shifts in norms and practices related to FGM/C among communities in Narok (predominantly inhabited by Maasai) and Kisii (predominantly inhabited by Abagusii) counties in Kenya. Although Kisii and Narok are FGM/C hotspots, practicing communities in these counties are reassessing norms and traditions in light of the current social and legal climate. These changes may provide a useful starting point for intervention programs that seek to create dialogue and critical reflection on the practice of FGM/C in an effort to accelerate its abandonment. Programmatic recommendations include: engaging …

"No To Circumcision": The Road To Effective Social Marketing Campaigns In Egypt, Salma Abou Hussein, Sarah Ghattass

Reproductive Health

To inform the design and scale up of initiatives that can drive a change in attitudes and behaviors toward FGM/C abandonment, there is a rising need to understand the perspectives of individuals who are exposed to social marketing campaigns (SMCs), which are a key intervention to promote the abandonment of the practice. This working paper presents the findings of a study that sought to understand how, where, and why SMCs for FGM/C abandonment are working, and with what impact, to inform design and scale-up of campaigns that can foster new perspectives, expectations, and behaviors.

Meeting Report Of The International Conference On The Great Lakes Region's Regional Training Facility: Working With The Police Sector To Meet The Needs Of Sexual Violence Survivors In The Great Lakes Region, Nathan Byamukama, Chi-Chi Undie, Sharon Asiimwe, George Odwe, Nachela Chelwa, Harriet Birungi, Michael Mbizvo

Reproductive Health

For over a decade, the Population Council and its partners (the Africa Regional SGBV Network) have provided technical assistance and conducted research to strengthen the evidence base of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) programming in Africa’s East, Horn, and Great Lakes regions. Under the Africa Regional SGBV Network, the Council and partners developed and tested an intervention including police response to sexual violence survivors, with police provision of emergency contraception (EC) for survivors and referrals to health facilities. This model has been successfully tested in Zambia and Malawi. Studies reveal that EC provision by trained police to sexual violence survivors …

Table Of Contents, Academy Editors

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

ความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างความผูกพันกับสัตว์เลี้ยงและความเหงาในวัยรุ่นโดยมีการสนับสนุนทางสังคมด้านอารมณ์เป็นตัวแปรส่งผ่าน, พนิดา จุลมณฑล

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

การวิจัยครั้งนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างความผูกพันกับสัตว์เลี้ยงและความเหงาในวัยรุ่น โดยมีการสนับสนุนทางสังคมด้านอารมณ์จากครอบครัว จากเพื่อนในกลุ่มคนเลี้ยงสัตว์ และจากสัตว์เลี้ยงเป็นตัวแปรส่งผ่าน กลุ่มตัวอย่างเป็นวัยรุ่นที่มีอายุระหว่าง 14- 19 ปี (M = 16.9 ปี, SD = 1.54) ที่มีสัตว์เลี้ยงไม่ต่ำกว่า 6 เดือน อาศัยอยู่ในเขตพื้นที่กรุงเทพมหานครและปริมณฑล จำนวน 140 คน ใช้วิธีการคัดเลือกกลุ่มตัวอย่างแบบตามสะดวก (Convenience sampling) เก็บข้อมูลผ่านแบบสอบถามออนไลน์ วิเคราะห์ข้อมูลโดยใช้สถิติวิเคราะห์การถดถอยอย่างง่าย (Simple regression analysis) และวิเคราะห์การทดสอบตัวแปรส่งผ่าน (Mediation Analysis) โดยใช้โปรแกรม Process ผลการวิจัยพบว่า 1. ความผูกพันกับสัตว์เลี้ยงมีความสัมพันธ์ทางลบกับความเหงา ในวัยรุ่น อย่างมีนัยสำคัญทางสถิติ (ꞵ = -.182, p = .032) โดยความผูกพันกับสัตว์เลี้ยงสามารถอธิบายความแปรปรวนของความเหงาได้ร้อยละ 3.3 2. การสนับสนุนด้านอารมณ์จากครอบครัว จากเพื่อนในกลุ่มคนเลี้ยงสัตว์ และจากสัตว์เลี้ยงไม่เป็นตัวแปรส่งผ่านของความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างความผูกพันกับสัตว์เลี้ยงกับความเหงาในวัยรุ่น

External Actors In Forming National Ict Policy In Malawi: A Cause For Concern In Low-Income Countries?, Gregory Kunyenje 4928781, Wallace Chigona

The African Journal of Information Systems

The paper examines external actors in the formulation of national Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policies. It questions how external actors overtly or covertly influence formulation of national ICT policies following that, of the nearly 84% of the countries in Africa that have formulated national ICT policies, most of which have been influenced by external actors. The paper uses Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice to analyze the effects of external actors’ influences in developing countries by using Malawi as a case study. Document analysis is used to analyse external actors’ influences in policy documents, the minutes of policy actors’ meetings, and …