Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Islands In The Sun: Lawfare And Great-Power Competition In The Indo-Pacific, Clayton T. Russo

MSU Graduate Theses

This thesis examines the U.S.-Japan Mutual Defense Treaty and its future considering the recent developments in the international security environment. The 2018 National Defense Strategy brought back an emphasis on Great Power Competition, fundamentally transforming the role of U.S. alliances to address new challenges. In the 2021 budget, the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI) has prioritized the People’s Republic of China as the number one pacing threat to theUnited States, drastically shifting international focus away from the Middle East and towards East Asia. In conjunction with funding new capabilities through the PDI, the U.S. will need to conceive new legal doctrines …

Long-Term Effects Of Adolescent Fluoxetine Exposure On Hippocampal Gene Expression In Male C57bl/6 Mice, Anapaula Themann

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Mood-related disorders, including depression and anxiety, are prevalent among children and adolescents. This poses a public health challenge, given their adverse impact on these young populations. Treatment with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine (FLX) is the first line of pharmacological intervention in pediatric patients suffering from affect-related illnesses. Although the use of this antidepressant has been deemed efficacious in the juvenile population, the enduring neurobiological consequences of adolescent FLX exposure are not well understood. For this reason, we explored for persistent molecular adaptations, in the adult hippocampus, as a function of adolescent FLX pretreatment. To do this, we administered …

The Effectiveness Of Faith-Based Group Life Coaching On Stress And Anxiety Levels In Spouses Of Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Esperanza Pilar Guerra Lugo

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Veterans who courageously served in the military are often diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and their spouses are at high risk of suffering in silence from stress and anxiety. Many spouses are also their Veteran’s caregiver which leaves little time for their own self-care needs. Being a Veteran’s 24-hour caregiver can lead to poor physical and mental health, aggravating spouses stress and anxiety levels which is often only treated with medication or goes untreated due to lack of mental health care access and the stigma that comes with it. The literature review explores the research gap of how online faith-based …

Mapping Out The Vietnamese American Experience: Parenting Styles And Communication Satisfaction Among Vietnamese American Generations, Angie Vo

Communication Theses

Communication is vital for all communities and is particularly relevant for families. This study explored intergenerational communication on health and political topics within Vietnamese American communities. While a large body of research explores family communication themes in Asian American (especially Chinese American) communities, little exists about Vietnamese American communities, especially on family, health, and political communication. The study surveyed 869 Vietnamese Americans aged 18 to 35 who have Vietnamese American immigrant parents, asking them questions pertaining to their family’s parenting styles, family communication styles, and willingness to communicate health and political topics. Results found that authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting …

Level Of Service For Parking Facilities Based On Search Time, Fernie Briones

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Level of Service (LOS) is a term used by transportation engineers to identify the quality of service of transportation facilities to the public. The Highway Capacity Manual has yet to provide guidance on LOS analysis for parking facilities. Parking search time has been proposed by several researchers as the indicator for the LOS criteria for parking facilities. This thesis investigated the use of search time for LOS analysis for on street and off-street parking facilities. The analysis of LOS for off-street parking focused on the measurement of parking search time. Three search time measurement methods have been proposed: the license …

Addressing Security And Privacy Issues By Analyzing Vulnerabilities In Iot Applications, Francsico Javier Candelario Burgoa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Internet of Things (IoT) environment has been expanding rapidly for the past few years into several areas of our lives, from factories, to stores and even into our own homes. All these new devices in our homes make our day-to-day lives easier and more comfortable with less effort on our part, converting our simple houses into smart homes. This increase in inter-connectivity brings multiple benefits including the improvement in energy efficiency in our homes, however it also brings with it some potential dangers since more points of connection mean more potential vulnerabilities in our grid. These vulnerabilities bring security …

The Impact Of Verb Type On The Variability Of The Comp-Trace Effect, Haydee Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The C-t effect has been extensively researched with regards to its variability, however, matrix verbs have not generally been taken into account. The present study investigates whether verbs believe, doubt, know, realize, say and think differ in the strength of the C-t effect they induce— exploring syntactic analyses, epistemicity and grammaticalization to possibly identify what characteristics of verbs dictate the strength of the C-t effect. Subjects (n=44) were asked to complete 1 of 2 Grammaticality Judgement Tasks (GJT), which asked them to rate the grammaticality of items which included matched items with that involving both subject extractions, constructions without extractions, …

Customer Satisfaction Index Of Singapore 2021: Q3 Results, Institute Of Service Excellence, Smu

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

The Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) computes customer satisfaction scores at the national, sector, sub-sector, and company levels. The CSISG serves as a quantitative benchmark of the quality of goods and services produced by the Singapore economy over time and across countries. This is the CSISG’s 15th year of measurement.

Barriers To Resource Access: The Need For Social Workers As Cultural Brokers In Hispanic Immigrant Communities, Leslie Noemy Reyna

Social Work Theses

Although the U.S. has more immigrants than any other country in the world (Budiman, 2020), there exists inequality in resource access among U.S. born and immigrants. The inequality has been created and maintained by the development of barriers such as idealization assimilation, forced acculturation, anti-immigrant sentiment and the limitations developed within immigrant serving organizations. Immigrants have tried to overcome these barriers through brokering by brokering through assimilation, brokering through their children and brokering through community health workers known as promotoras. Although the possibility of brokering exists, the question remains: how can immigrants achieve access to resources in a society designed …

The Effects Of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy On Pain Thresholds And Anxiodepressive Behaviors In A Pre-Clinical Fibromyalgia Pain Model, Cassie Mae Argenbright

Psychology Theses

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic, widespread pain disorder generally of a non-inflammatory nature. FM has many known affective and cognitive comorbidities, including fatigue, sleep disturbances, cognitive deficits, and mood disturbances. As a result, FM treatment approaches are mixed in nature and lack a robust characterization that address symptoms on a sensory, affective, and cognitive level. However, there is promise in the implementation of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for alleviating fibromyalgia pain and comorbidities, despite no work investigating the efficacy of this treatment in prominent preclinical FM models. Thus, this project aims to investigate the affective components, specifically anhedonia and anxiety, …

Is It A Boy Or A Girl? Constructing A Gendered Identity For Our Companion Animals, Jennifer Ann Wellman

Sociology & Anthropology Theses

A qualitative study of the differences in how we gender our cats and our dogs. Fifty women between the ages of 18 and 50 were interviewed, who kept cats, dogs, or both cats and dogs. Differences were found in how naming cats, with cats being given less humanized gendered names. It was found that cats are treated more as an extension of the self while dogs were given more of a gendered identity of their own.

The Effects Of Incubation Task Characteristics On Idea Generation, Adrian Abellanoza

Psychology Dissertations

The effect of short breaks on creativity and idea generation, referred to as “incubation”, has had a considerable body of work devoted to its causal mechanisms. Despite this, many issues persist in the research literature, including difficulty in testing between similar competing theoretical frameworks, mixed findings regarding incubation effects, as well as measurement and practicality issues related to the use of non-expert human raters. Therefore, the present study combines methods used in recent research to evaluate which proposed mechanisms are supported. Additionally, to explore potential solutions to rater issues, a novel research methodology is explored using text mining methods and …

Reflections On Teaching Against White Supremacy During A Time Of Social Rupture And Transformation, Erica Fonesca, Stéphanie Wahab

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Social Justice and Social Work is a foundational course required for all social work students in the master’s of social work program at Portland State University. Although the course has long focused on interrupting oppressions including White supremacy, teaching the course during the fall of 2020 required a nimble dance between our familiar modes of teaching and the need for spontaneous adaptation and creativity. The unique landscape for this course included teaching the course remotely (Zoom), inside a university embattled around the arming of its security force (that killed a Black man in 2018), in a city targeted by an …

A Proposal For Insurance To Address Offsite Injuries Accompanying Dicamba Usage, Terence J. Centner

Cornhusker Economics

Soybean producers are familiar with the special dicamba products first sold in 2017 for use on Xtend soybeans to control glyphosate-resistant weeds. Dicamba can be applied as a post-emergent spray to kill weeds that germinate after soybeans have been planted. With the control of these weeds, producers reap increased yields. However, the use of dicamba products led to significant offsite injury to vegetation including non-dicamba-resistant soybeans. Damages to neighbors’ properties from dicamba usage strained the social relations of people living in many rural communities.

An Investigation Of Anti-Black Racism Libguides At Arl Member Institutions, Gemmicka Piper, Mahasin Ameen, M. Sara Lowe

Communications in Information Literacy

This study sought to analyze anti-Black racism LibGuides created by ARL member institutions to determine strengths and weaknesses of the guides based on LibGuides best practices. Institutional and LibGuide author demographic information were also gathered to determine correlations or trends, if any. Rubric evaluation of LibGuides found that guides were strongest in areas related to guide design, materials included on the guides, and links to resources. Guides were weakest in areas related to the framing of social justice and pedagogy. Results from this study have the potential to inform the structure and revision of social justice LibGuides at a time …

Remote Reference Consultations Are Here To Stay, Emily Reed

Communications in Information Literacy

Remote reference consultations have considerably increased due to the need to provide remote services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conducting reference consultations via videoconferencing not only offers many benefits to student researchers it also presents an opportunity for librarians to embrace a learner-centered teaching mindset when approaching remote consultations by developing consultation learning goals in alignment with the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Designing consultations to be learner-centered yields benefits for students such as the student actively practicing their own searches as well as more thorough source evaluation. Additionally, videoconferencing technology allows for a more seamless information sharing …

Information Literacy For Global Inclusion: Designing An Annotated Bibliography For Global Search And Selection, Pamela A. Espinosa De Los Monteros, Elizabeth L. Black

Communications in Information Literacy

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the notion that our world is global and interdependent. Despite the ever-increasing connection of global with local, there continues to be formidable barriers in accessing information produced in different international contexts and languages. This Innovative Practices article details the redesign of an annotated bibliography assignment in an international studies course to support the inclusion of global perspectives into the information practices of undergraduate students. The redesign embedded explicit information literacy dispositions and global citizenship education competencies through the search and selection of global information sources. The authors discuss the instructional elements used, student outcomes, and …

A Perfect Meal, Stewart Brower

Communications in Information Literacy

No abstract provided.

Neither Buddhist Nor Taoist, But Both (And Even More): Exploring The ‘Hall Of Infinite Principle’ (Guangli Fotang): A Chinese Temple In The Romanian Capital, Serban Toader

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This ethnography regards the sole Chinese temple in the Romanian capital Bucharest, its people and activity, as well as the thinking that supports this new religious movement (Maitreya Great Tao,Mile Dadao 彌勒大道). It is common knowledge that Taoism, Budhism, and Confucianism appear, at least in the official discourse, as a braided rope of unified Chinese tradition, each of the three at the same time preserving their particular features. Nevertheless, Mile Dadao not only seems to implicitly unite the three traditions in one (to which other foreign or popular traditions may be added as well), but also aims to act as …

Book Review: Die Mehrdeutigkeit Geteilter Religiöse Orte: Eine Ethnografische Fallstudie Zum Kloster Sveti Naum In Ohrid (Mazedonien), Dejan Aždajić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

A review of Evelyn Reuter, DieMehrdeutigkeit Geteilter Religiöse Orte: Eine Ethnografische Fallstudie zum Kloster Sveti Naum in Ohrid (Mazedonien). Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2021, 410 pp. €45,00, ISBN 978-3-8376-5519-3.

Bringing Instagram Posts Into Being: A Study Of Fyc Students' Self-Sponsored Posting Practices And Transfer Opportunities, Jessica Kester

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Social media platforms have offered students—and all of us—more opportunities for self-sponsored writing. In response to calls from researchers to explore students' 21st-century writing practices and their relevance to college writing instruction, this dissertation articulated and applied a feminist teacher research methodology and a mixed-methods research design to explore first-year composition (FYC) students' self-sponsored writing practices, attitudes, and transfer opportunities on a popular, albeit under-examined, social media application: Instagram. This study found that students have developed elaborate, rhetorical, multimodal composing processes that include planning, drafting, evaluating, selecting, and styling images as well as planning, drafting/revising, and styling captions. Additionally, though …

Communities Of Play And Practice: Collaborating With Audiences And Coworkers In Performative Online Spaces, Paul Oppold

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This study describes an ethnographic investigation of Communities of Play within Communities of Practice. As professional 'content creators', whose 'work' is 'play', are increasingly interacting with non-professional content consumers, whose 'play' is a kind of 'work', the barriers between 'work' and 'play' are increasingly dissolving. The purpose of this study was to examine the nature and frequency of the professionals' interactions with coworkers in an office and with the content consumers while working from home. Data were collected in the form of gameplay videos uploaded by the professional streamers from January of 2017 to March of 2018, downloaded by the …

Creativity As A Resource: How Creativity Influences The Appraisal Of Work Stressors And Subsequent Strain, Alyssa Perez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Although creative behaviors are known to have positive effects on general well-being, little research has looked at the relationship between an individual's creativity and stress within the context of work. This research explored how creativity may work as a buffer against the strain of job stressors. In study 1, six vignettes were developed using Role Stressor Theory (Kahn et al., 1964) and the Challenge/Hindrance Framework of stress (Cavanaugh et al., 2000). A sample of 164 undergraduate students responded to the vignettes and results showed that trait-level creativity was directly related not only to the creativity of the solutions the participants …

The Effects Of A Tactile Display On First Responder Performance, Michael Schwartz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Firefighting is a dangerous and difficult task. Simulation affords researchers and practitioners the ability to examine performance and training in adverse conditions while preserving life, offering repeatable scenarios, and reducing costs. Multiple Resource Theory is used in this study as a model for assessing alternate sensory channels for information delivery when the optimal channel is not available. Specifically, this study tests the influence of a waist-worn vibrotactile display to assist navigation when visibility is reduced in a firefighter simulation. The present study measures participants' objective performance and self-reported workload while navigating a simulated fireground. Results from 70 research participants revealed …

The Elderly Voter As Collateral Damage: The Consequences Of Voter Restriction On Elderly American Voter Turnout, Mia Warshofsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Voting is an indispensable feature of American democracy. Voting amplifies the voice of the electorate. Not voting disempowers individuals and communities. Despite protective legislation such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, many Americans experience electoral difficulties today. Following record-breaking turnout in the 2020 presidential election and under the guise of election security, some Republican lawmakers have introduced and supported legislation that restricts the ability of many Americans to vote. Research on communities of color, low-income communities, and disabled communities demonstrates the inhibitive effect of these measures. In contrast, conventional wisdom claims that older voters are more likely to vote …

Robo-Ump: A Study Of The Prospective Impact Of Automated Strike Zone Use In Major League Baseball Games From The Perspective Of Broadcasters And Media, Bob Greene

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

A qualitative analysis of the Major League Baseball industry’s perspective on the use of technology within the game, specifically the incorporation of an automated strike zone in place of traditional umpires, through targeted survey results from current MLB broadcasters and journalists or media members. Evidence from the research suggests that though those who are in favor of umpires being replaced by technology within the game, at least in some fashion, there are concerns that the technology in place is currently ready to provide the type of experience desired for MLB play when it comes ruling on balls and strikes with …

Distillers' Grains: Past, Present, And Future Economic Analyses, Daniel E. Gertner

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis is comprised of four chapters, each of which discusses or conducts economic research related to the distillers’ grains market. The first three chapters are meant to be standalone papers. Chapter four provides potential paths forward in distillers’ grains research based on the findings of the first three chapters and concludes the thesis.

The first chapter conducts a comprehensive literature review that categorizes and summarizes economic research on distillers’ grains products. This section shows how the physical market has moved beyond the current academic understanding of market products and structure. Existing research finds that traditional distillers’ grains products positively …

The Rise Of Social Media And The Fall Of Internal Peace: How Do Media Influence People's Fear Of Mass Shootings?, Christian Grevin

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The impact of traditional versus social media on people’s fears of a mass shooting is a matter worthy of study given the scarcity of research and analysis, as well as the prominence mass shootings have gained in American society and media. Many studies have been conducted evaluating the connection between local TV news and fear, showing that the consumption of local TV news has increased people's fear of crimes. However, there have been few studies examining the relationship between social media usage and one’s fear of crime. In this paper, I will examine the correlation between fear of mass shootings …

Political Parties On Campus: College Republicans And College Democrats’ Conceptions Of Partisanship, Philip Goodrich

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This project seeks to examine College Republicans and College Democrats’ conceptions of partisanship. Specifically, I will test a theory set forth by Matt Grossmann and David A. Hopkins that claims the “Republican Party is best viewed as the agent of an ideological movement whose members are united by a common devotion to the principle of limited government” and the “Democratic Party is properly understood as a coalition of social groups whose interests are served by various forms of government activity” (2015). By performing a content analysis of College Republicans and College Democrats’ social media posts, I hypothesize that College Democrats …

Patterns Of Fear Of Being Murdered And Homicide Victimization: A Comparison Of Perceived And Realistic Risk, Madilyn Rosenson

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In this research I will be observing the fear of falling victim to murder in the United States of America. The research will include comparison between the fear of being murdered by a stranger and the fear of being murdered by someone you know, and comparisons of this data collected from Wave 2 to Wave 7 of the Fear Survey. Also discussed will be the likelihood of either event happening – being murdered by a stranger or someone you know – and other potential independent variables that may have an impact on an individual’s fear or vulnerability to the situations. …