Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Exploring Food Deserts And Environmental Impacts On Health In Chicago And Oregon, Sivasomasundari Arunarasu, Paulina Grzybowicz

altREU Projects

Food deserts are defined as, “an impoverished area where residents lack access to healthy foods”. This lack of access can be due to a combination of socioeconomic, geographic, and food-related variables, and has been proven to impact the health of residents in the area. In this project, several statistical and machine learning techniques are used to model the impact of food desserts and various other factors on health outcomes, including diabetes and obesity rates, in both the different neighborhoods in the City of Chicago and the various counties in the state of Oregon. The models are then used to determine …

A Covid-19 Teaching Example: Pooled Testing With Microsoft Excel, Humberto Barreto

Economics and Management Faculty publications

This paper uses pooled testing as a teaching example for undergraduate statistics, econometrics, or quantitative methods courses. It offers step-by-step instructions to create an Excel spreadsheet that uses Monte Carlo simulation to find the optimal group size for a given infection rate. A completed version of the spreadsheet, along with readings, questions, and analytical solution is available at tiny.cc/pooledtesting.

Interstate Protectionism: The Case Of Solar Renewable Energy Credits, Jed J. Cohen, Levan Elbakidze, Randall Jackson

The Nature Conservancy

Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) are financial instruments created by state policies to offer incentives for generating solar energy. In an effort to support in-state solar energy sectors and boost local employment opportunities, some states have closed off their SREC markets to out-of-state solar facilities. We examine the merits of such protectionist policy from the protectionist states perspective. We find that SREC market closure leads to higher in-state SREC prices, greater solar installation, and lower electricity prices. The study illustrates the economic incentives for protecting in-state SREC markets from out-of-state solar energy producers.

Land Suitability Analysis For Windfarm Development In Texas, Robert Laszlo Milecz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to the negative impact on the environment of conventional electric power generation methods, especially coal and oil-fired generating plants, wind power as an alternative for sustainable energy has received more attention in recent years. The purpose of this project was to apply Geographic Information System (GIS), integrated with Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM), for identifying suitable areas for wind turbine applications in Texas. Factors taken into consideration included socioeconomic criteria such as distance to highways, proximity to airports and urban areas, localized environmental criteria such as terrain slope and distance to rivers, affected waterbodies, and wildlife management areas. Also …

Vocational And Life Skills Monthly Data Update: August 2020, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Katelynn Towne

Reports

Grantees use an online data management system to submit data on participants served under their Vocational and Life Skills programming. This data is due monthly and reflects all services provided during the previous month to participants. Evaluators at the Nebraska Center for Justice Research work with grantees directly to manage data entry errors on an ongoing basis during update calls and site visits.

The current data derives from an active database, from which data is being entered and updated daily. Data values, including previously submitted information, may fluctuate depending on the duration of lag between service delivery and data entry. …

Utilizing Cognitive Assessment To Predict Exposure And Response Prevention Treatment Response, Gregory Samuel Berlin

Theses and Dissertations

Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is the first-line treatment for the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, a substantial portion of individuals in treatment may not see benefit, and efforts to find predictors of treatment outcomes have been challenging. Response inhibition (RI), which has been linked to OCD symptoms, is theoretically promising as a predictor of ERP treatment outcomes. In this study, we utilized inhibitory capabilities, measured at admission to partial hospitalization programs (PHP) at Rogers Memorial Hospital, to predict treatment outcomes in ERP. We hypothesized that worse performance in RI subdomains of action cancellation, action withholding, and interference control, as well …

Skills, Tasks, And Wages In Labor Markets, Eduard Storm

Theses and Dissertations

A key interest in labor economics is to understand quality differences between workers and why technology helped some types of labor, while hurting others. Conventional methods rely on formal qualifications such as education or experience to measure skill differences between workers. These are crude measures, however, as they assume that workers with comparable formal qualifications perform similar activities at work and thus earn similar wages. To provide remedy, this dissertation extends the task approach to labor markets, popularized by Autor, Levy & Murnance (2003), by utilizing information on tasks performed at work. This strand of the literature utilizes information on …

Factors That Push Bangladeshi Media To Exercise Self-Censorship, Abu Taib Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

Self-censorship is one of the biggest threats to press freedom. Press freedom, as well as freedom of the expression, is an indicator of a society’s freedom and democracy. If the media cannot act freely, it can impact society’s ability to function as a democracy. Journalists often face pressures from various power structures to engage in self-censorship. While journalistic self-censorship has been examined in a number of different countries, no studies of journalistic self-censorship in Bangladesh have been undertaken or no studies have been undertaken to see what factors influence journalists to exercise self-censorship or to figure out reasons that make …

Maternal Healthcare Experiences Of African American Women In Milwaukee : A Relational Dialectics Perspective, Comfort Tosin Adebayo

Theses and Dissertations

Black women are experiencing pregnancy-related complications at a significantly higher rate than women of other races in the U.S., as Black women are three to four times likely to die from pregnancy-related complications compared to non-Hispanic White women (CDC, 2019a). I applied relational dialectics theory (Baxter, 2011), a critical communication theory, to examine dominant and marginalized discourses that are present in women’s talk about maternal care. I conducted interviews with 31 African American women living in Milwaukee county, Wisconsin. Women narrated their pregnancy stories, noting how they constructed meaning through the interactions they had with healthcare providers. Through a contrapuntal …

The Role Of Ethnic Identity, Perceived Cultural Distance And Social Network Composition In Predicting Acculturative Stress Among Indian International Students In The U.S, Devyani Gore

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how ethnic identity, perceived cultural distance and cultural composition of social networks interacted to influence acculturative stress, among Indian international students studying in the United States. Acculturation models and the stress-buffering hypothesis served as theoretical frameworks. Participants consisted of 100 international students (56 % female, 44 % male; mean age = 24.72 years) who were mainly recruited with the support of Office of Student Affairs of a midwestern university. Data was collected through an online survey comprised of the Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students (ASSIS), Multigroup Measure of Ethnic Identity-R (MEIM-R), Cultural Distance Index (CDI) and …

The Association Of Aerobic Fitness With Resting State Functional Connectivity And Verbal Learning And Memory In Healthy Young Adults, Kyle Joseph Jennette

Theses and Dissertations

The beneficial effects of exercise and cardiopulmonary fitness on general health, quality of life, and reduction of mortality are well known in older adults. There is evidence to support the positive effects of exercise and aerobic fitness on psychiatric and neurocognitive function in children, adults, and older adults. Indeed, many studies have explored the positive effects of aerobic fitness on slowing cognitive decline associated with normal and pathological aging. However, comparatively fewer empirical studies in the literature exist to support and understand the effects of aerobic fitness on the developing brain, particularly during adolescence and young adulthood, especially as it …

Factors Contributing To Executive Functioning In Children With Neurofibromatosis Type 1, Brianna Yund

Theses and Dissertations

Despite variability in the neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) cognitive phenotype, attention and executive functioning (EF) difficulties are often described, and high rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have long been associated with NF1. Despite the known clinical relation between NF1 and ADHD, there is a paucity of research exploring potential factors that contribute to ADHD vulnerabilities in children and adolescents with NF1. Furthermore, recent research suggests that impairment in EF, a construct highly associated with ADHD, occurs in children with NF1 independent of ADHD diagnosis suggesting that the presence of EF impairment in children with NF1 may not be uniquely associated …

Thriving On A Faith-Based Campus: An Exploratory Study On Sense Of Belonging, Spirituality, And The Student Experience For Students Of Color, Hannah Felice

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While enrollment for students of color has increased by nearly 15% over the past 20 years, universities have struggled to retain and graduate students of color in comparison to their White peers, including Christian universities. Looking to foster success for all students, higher education has sought to better understand the factors that impact student retention and graduation, particularly for students of color. Thriving has been shown as an effective metric for understanding the student experience through a more holistic framework as it pertains to the student success. The purpose of this study is to explore the concept of thriving as …

The Economics Of Love, Débora Silva Viana

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I argue that the obligation to love based on the Christian tradition requires Christians to disperse their resources in a way that significantly evens out wealth distribution and increases social justice. Christians disagree on the terminology and some tenets of the goal of the Christian life (e.g., deification, beatific vision, communion with God, salvation). However, the requirement to practice love is common to all of these concepts, thus making love normative for Christians. I argue that when love takes such a prominent role in one’s life, then it naturally influences how one manages one’s resources. If love …

A Needs Assessment: Exploring The Unknown Needs Of The Homeless Unaccompanied Youth Within A West Texas Independent School District, Amy Grace Weiss

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT This exploratory study aims to explore the unknown needs among the unaccompanied youth population within a small urban community in West Texas. This cross-sectional study surveyed a convenience sample of 10 unaccompanied youth attending school within an independent school district. Data were collected using a social worker’s case load during the spring semester of 2020, during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Findings showed a certain level of need within this community, such as emergency shelters and further research on food insecurity for this population. This implies the need for practice and policy on multiple levels to help this population who …

Armed Resistance In Providence: How The Rhode Island John Brown Gun Club Is Preparing For An Armed Future., Jaya Sundaresh

Capstones

How the Rhode Island John Brown Gun Club is preparing for an armed future.

Stall Street Journal | August 2020, Jennifer Jacobs

Library Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Reducing Stereotype Threat In The Classroom, Todd K. Platts, Kim Hoosier

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

This brief pedagogical essay, focusing on social science classrooms, provides fellow instructors with practical strategies and advice in reducing the presence of stereotype threat in their classrooms. Techniques of task reframing, practices of positive affirmation, the providing of constructive criticism, the incorporation of marginalized groups into course content, and suggestions for meeting stereotype threat head-on are discussed as are some strategies students can adopt themselves. While the methods of stereotype threat reduction addressed in this essay can help curtail some of the negative impacts of racism’s micro-level forces, stereotype threat must also be considered a structural problem that requires structural …

Landings, Vol. 28, No. 8, Maine Lobstermen’S Community Alliance

Landings: News & Views from Maine's Lobstering Community

Landings content emphasizes science, history, resource sustainability, economic development, and human interest stories related to

Maine’s lobster industry. The newsletter emphasizes lobstering as a traditional, majority-European American lifeway with an economic and social heritage unique to the coast of Maine. The publication focuses how ongoing research to engage in sustainable, non-harmful, and non-wasteful commercial fishing practices benefit both the fishery and Maine's coastal legacy.

Maine Lobstermen’s Community Alliance (MLCA) started publication of Landings, a 24-page newsletter in January 2013 as the successor of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) Newsletter. As of 2022, the MLCA published over 6,500 copies of …

Sex Differences In Problem Alcohol Use In High School As A Function Of Recent Sexual Violence Victimization Or Perpetration, Christal L. Badour, Samuel C. Bell, Emily R. Clear, Ann L. Coker

Psychology Faculty Publications

To investigate sex differences in associations between sexual violence victimization (SVV), sexual violence perpetration (SVP), and binge drinking and/or alcohol problems among high school students. While SVV has been linked to problem alcohol use among young women, little research has addressed the unique associations of SVV and SVP on alcohol use/problems within both sexes. A cross-sectional analysis of 16,992 high school students’ self-reports of past-year SVP and SVV was used where SVV/SVP was defined by three tactics (sexual coercion, drug/alcohol-facilitated or incapacitated sex, and physically forced sex). Alcohol measures included past-month binge drinking and past-year alcohol problems. Rates of SVV …

Determining The Racial And Ethnic Differences In Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Admission Rates, Youngran Kim

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Background: Recent trends show that the utilization of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) has extended beyond severely ill infants and increased substantially across all birth weights. However, little is known about what drives the growth of NICU admission rates and whether these trends differ by race/ethnicity. Methods: The study used 2008-2018 Natality Files with restricted use of state and county-level information. Crude and risk-adjusted NICU admission rates, overall and stratified by birth weight group, were compared between black and white infants and between Hispanic and white infants. Kitagawa decomposition and Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition analyses were conducted for the temporal increase in …

August 2020, Volume 16, Number 2, Winthrop University Archives And Special Collections

Retrospect: News from the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections at Winthrop University

No abstract provided.

Final Project Report, Haobing Liu, Randall Guensler, Michael Rodgers

CTEDD Final Project Reports

No abstract provided.

Hong Kong In Brief: Children’S Subjective Well-Being, Stefan Kühner, Maggie Lau

IPS Policy Brief

The research is conducted by Professor Stefan Kuehner and Professor Maggie Lau, Lingnan University and is funded by Children’s Worlds (ISCWeB, funded by the Jacobs Foundation), completed the third wave of their international survey, asking over 128,000 children in 35 societies worldwide about their lives.

Obstacles Limitant La Détection Et La Prise En Charge De L’Hpp Par Les Prestataires De Soins De Santé À Madagascar, Breakthrough Research

Reproductive Health

Breakthrough RESEARCH partner ideas42 conducted research in June 2019 in peri-urban and rural areas of Vohipeno and Manakara districts of Madagascar's Vatovavy-Fitovinany region to identify health care providers' challenges for detecting and managing complications during childbirth including postpartum hemorrhage and identify optimal solutions. This brief summarizes the results of a behavioral diagnosis that reveals “Facility-based providers do not consistently follow best practices for the detection and management of complications during childbirth.” Low perception of risk of postpartum hemorrhage, limited review of compliance with best practices, consequences of current practices, and resource scarcity can negatively affect provider decision-making and clinical practice.

The Role Of Information Search In Creative Problem Solving, Mackenzie Harms, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Douglas C. Derrick

Psychology Faculty Publications

This study investigates the role that information search behavior plays in the process of creative problem solving. Although models of creative processing posit that information search is a necessary stage of creative problem solving, no research has separated and measured information search from earlier processes to determine the nature of the role it plays in the creative problem solving process. Two hundred twenty-one people participated in a study where active engagement in problem construction was manipulated. Participants were allowed to search for additional information that may facilitate the generation of a creative solution. Measures of information search that have been …

Resilience In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: Capacity To Overcome Disasters And Hardships. 2020 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca Vogt, Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, Brad Lubben, L.J. Mcelravy, Timothy Meyer, Steve Schulz, Jason L. Weigle

Rural Futures Institute: Publications

The definition of resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. Synonyms include toughness, perseverance and grit. Last spring’s severe weather events and this year’s ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are likely testing the resilience of rural Nebraskans. Given that, how do rural Nebraskans rate their communities on dimensions that measure their resiliency? How confident are they that the federal government or local emergency management authorities can contain infectious disease outbreaks? How do they rate their ability to help their community handle adversities? How prepared are rural Nebraskans to deal with financial emergencies? This paper provides a detailed analysis of these …

The Impacts Of Educational, Environmental And Economic Factors On The Happiness Index: Score Of A Country, Molly Mingus

Proceedings of the Jepson Undergraduate Conference on International Economics

In this paper I analyze the impacts of educational, environmental and economic factors on the Happiness Index Score of a Country through a linear regression model. By using the most updated data for 86 countries, I was able to create a well-rounded model of happiness that includes additional variables not previously used in happiness research. This model finds a positive relationship between the Percentage of a Population in Tertiary School and happiness. A negative relationship that is discovered in the model shows that there is evidence that an increase in a country’s Infant Mortality Rate has a negative effect on …

Effect Of Urbanization On Channel Platforms Of River Kaduna From 1962-2017, Kaduna State, Nigeria, Ali Williams Butu, Chukwudi Nnaemeka Emeribe, Dewingong Columbus Leke, Mamman Shaba Jibril

Jurnal Geografi Lingkungan Tropik (Journal of Geography of Tropical Environments)

The study investigated changes in channel planforms of River Kaduna. Topographic maps were complimented with Mosaic of SPOT 5 satellite and Sentinel-2 images. Results showed that except for sinuosity index and channel length, channel width, braiding and channel migration exhibited considerable changes. These changes were evident in reduced velocity and stream energy, the type of sediment being transported, the silt materials being transported in suspension and the coarse sand and gravels being moved by lift and drag processes which are easily deposited, thus causing the channel to contract and braid. Channel migration occurred as gradual bend shifts leaving no evidence …

Assessing Undergraduate Sustainability Knowledge At California Polytechnic State University, Elysa Briens

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

Sustainability education has become an important focus of many higher education institutions (HEIs), with the inclusion of many sustainability-related learning objectives for undergraduate students. As sustainability is a new, rising discipline, an increasing number of HEIs have made efforts to assess their teaching and learning effectiveness. However, most assessments fall short in determining the relationship between sustainability curriculum and the impacts on leaning outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to assess the impact of academic setting, specifically of a structured sustainability curriculum, on undergraduate sustainability knowledge, as well as analyze the implications of perceived barriers and opportunities to implementing sustainability into …