Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Gendering Diaspora Across Generations: Lebanese Motherhood And Daughterhood Post-Emigration, Janan Shouhayib

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation sits at the intersection of critical diaspora studies and Arab feminism, seeking to explore how migrant Lebanese women embody, design, and understand home, examined through the lens of motherhood and daughterhood. The following opening questions guided the study: Which aspects of Lebanese culture do women preserve, adapt, and/or abandon once they emigrate from Lebanon? How do these choices manifest in mother-daughter relationships? How do Lebanese women’s relationships to their culture change over time within the diaspora? To address this complex inquiry, this study employs two methods across three datasets. The first method includes archival data that was collected …

Resting-State Eeg Microstate Features For Major Depressive Disorder Classification, George M. V. Quinn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Neuroimaging studies have revealed consistent abnormalities in functional connectivity within specific neural networks that may serve as biomarkers for major depressive disorder (MDD). It is important to find inexpensive, non-invasive techniques that target these biomarkers to make diagnosis easier and more objective. EEG microstates are quasi-stable potential topographies that are thought to reflect the quasi-stable network activity of the underlying neural generators. MDD has been shown to alter features of the four canonical EEG microstates (A, B, C, D) with some conflicting results. The most consistent network abnormalities in MDD are found in the anterior default mode network, and this …

Advanced Predictive Analytics On Financial Donations To Nonprofit Organizations, Fhamida Keya

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Non-profit organizations rely on donation contributions to carry out their social driven agenda. In the context of fundraising and donor management, it is crucial to uncover complex insights about donor behavior for optimizing strategies and enhancing donor engagement. This project employed advanced analytical techniques on the dataset Donations Received by City Agencies sourced from NYC Open Data by implementing predictive modeling, clustering segmentation, and time series analysis and forecasting. The project will attempt to uncover patterns in donation behavior, identify factors that influence donation amounts, and segment out donor profiles all of which can be leveraged to optimize strategy decisions, …

Battery Electric Vehicles: Travel Characteristics Of Early Adopters, Yunwen Feng, Jean-Daniel Saphores, Hilary Nixon, Monica Ramirez Ibarra

Mineta Transportation Institute

Do U.S. households with battery electric vehicles (BEVs) drive less or more than U.S. households with internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs)? Answering this question is important to policymakers and transportation planners concerned with reducing vehicle miles traveled and the emissions of greenhouse gases from transportation. So far, this question has not been answered satisfactorily, possibly because of the relatively low number of EVs in the U.S. until recently, but also because of methodological issues. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap by analyzing data from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS). We apply propensity score matching (PSM), …

Cultural Tightness In Organizations: Investigating The Impact Of Formal And Informal Cultural Tightness On Employee Creativity, Roy Y. J. Chua, Na Zhao, Meng Han

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper delineates cultural tightness into formal versus informal aspects to depict the strength of norms and the extent of sanctions emanating from both formal and informal norms. Organizations with high formal cultural tightness regulate behaviors through explicit written norms and official sanctions, whereas those with high informal cultural tightness regulate behaviors through uncodified norms, collective beliefs, and informal social sanctions. Through a field study across 14 diverse companies in two countries (Malaysia and the Philippines) and two experiments involving participants from the United States, we found that perceived informal cultural tightness consistently exerts a more significant impact on stifling …

It Is All Relative: Intergenerational Postsecondary Education And Economic Mobility, Leslie Jean Barrett Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the intricate relationship between intergenerational postsecondary education and economic mobility by focusing on the nuanced themes of environment and exposure, encouragement and expectation, and experience and equal opportunity. Drawing from the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), this research seeks to unravel the nuanced mechanisms through which familial and societal influences shape individuals' educational trajectories and economic outcomes across generations.

The study is conducted through an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) in which 10 participants provide meaningful insights of their interpretation of experiences in an eight open-ended question interview. Participants are postsecondary education graduates in the age range of …

The Decline And Transformation Of Smallholders In Chinese Agriculture: National Trends, Qian Forrest Zhang, Meiling Wu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Using data from official statistical sources and a nationally representative survey, we find that since 2001, China’s agricultural labor force has declined by over 50 percent—a loss of over 200 million smallholders, probably the largest in human history. This trend is the most pronounced in livestock sectors: from 2012 to 2021, 62.5 million smallholder units have disappeared. The 150 million remaining smallholders are mostly commodity producers, participating widely in commodity relations to access agrochemicals, machinery, rental land, and wage labor to produce for markets. The ageing smallholder population also face challenges in intergenerational reproduction, which will accelerate its decline.

Cover And Forewords, Steven M. Schnell

The Geographical Bulletin

Cover and Forewords

Using Willingness-To-Pay Surveys When Assessing Dam Removal: A New Hampshire Case Study, Jo Beth Mullens, Veronica Wanstreet

The Geographical Bulletin

As dams in the United States age and become obsolete and river restoration emerges as a new priority, dam removals have increased . Feasibility studies serve to detail the costs and benefits of such proposed dam removals; however, most do not consider intangibles such as the benefits derived from reconnecting seasonal fish habitat or improving the biological diversity within a river . In this research, a willingness-to-pay survey was used to assign a monetary value to intangible goods associated with the proposed removal of an historic dam on the Ashuelot River in southwestern New Hampshire . Within the town where …

Commentary: The Precarious Position Of Teaching As A Graduate Student, Candice R. Luebbering, Korine N. Kolivras

The Geographical Bulletin

Although elementary and secondary education teachers often undertake years of schooling and practice before taking charge of the classroom, graduate students can be called upon as instructors shortly after their f irst arrival to campus . With little time to review or develop course elements, graduate students are thrown headfirst into dealing with the dramatic daily role reversal of being both a student and a professor . This article, in contrast to formal pedagogy papers, provides a narrative by a graduate student intended for fellow graduate students about to assume the title of instructor . It is an informal collection …

Volume 51-2 Complete Issue, Steven M. Schnell

The Geographical Bulletin

Volume 51-2 Complete Issue

Photosystem Stress Of Understory Balsam Fir (Abies Balsamea) In Ontario, Canada As Measured By Chlorophyll Fluorescence, Shannon R. Mccarragher, David Goldblums

The Geographical Bulletin

The goal of this research was to assess the health and physiological stress of understory balsam fir (Abies balsamea) seedlings and saplings within Lake Superior Provincial Park (LSPP) in Ontario, Canada to provide an indication of the degree to which they are affected by ambient light levels . The photochemical efficiency of balsam fir photosystem II was tested by measuring fluorescence . Seedlings and saplings within four sites were sampled and measured for their daily photochemical efficiencies . It was hypothesized that the sampled balsam fir would display little, if any, light stress because balsam fir is relatively shade tolerant …

A New Technique For Predicting The Sky-View Factor For Urban Heat Island Assessment, Richard R. Shaker, Taly Dawn Drezner

The Geographical Bulletin

The urban heat island (UHI) has been documented in large and small urban areas worldwide . Many metrics have been created to model the UHI . Among these, sky-view factor (SVF) has been accepted as a robust survey technique for capturing the urban geometry associated with longwave radiation storage and thus the urban heat island . SVF assessment has improved both in collecting and processing, but has limitations for modeling the UHI, as its accuracy is limited to areas of high urban density and geometry commonly found in the arrangement of human built landscapes . This paper develops a simple, …

Cover And Forewords, Steven M. Schnell

The Geographical Bulletin

Cover and Forewords

Interview: Douglas Deur, Steven M. Schnell

The Geographical Bulletin

Doug Deur is currently a consultant and research faculty member, working with groups of native peoples on issues relating to tribal land and resource use, cultural significance of landscapes, and sense of place . Trained in cultural geography and anthropology at the University of Oregon, Simon Fraser University, and Louisiana State University, he currently dwells in the mist-shrouded forests of the Oregon coast

Volume 51-1 Complete Issue, Steven M. Schnell

The Geographical Bulletin

Volume 51-1 Complete Issue

Geolinguistics: The Incorporation Of Geographic Information Systems And Science, Shawn Hoch, James J. Hayes

The Geographical Bulletin

Modern geographic information systems (GIS) and its incorporated spatial analysis tools allow sophisticated and efficient analysis of spatial data by researchers in many fields . Although the field of linguistics has long been of interest to geographers and spatial variation of language to linguists, researchers have made little use of the power of GIS and GIScience theory to address hypotheses regarding spatial variation of language and correlated physical and social variables . Discussion of modern GIS tools for spatial analysis, quantitative analysis, and cartography in geolinguistics has been largely absent from the literature . Linguists have applied GIS technology in …

Long-Term Change Around Skytrain Stations In Vancouver, Canada: A Demographic Shift-Share Analysis, Nicole M. Foth

The Geographical Bulletin

This study examines the long-term demographic implications of the SkyTrain, a lightrail rapid transit system, on surrounding neighbourhoods in Vancouver, Canada . Using demographic Census data from 1981 and 2006, shift-share analysis shows the residents’ characteristics change over time . Results demonstrate that SkyTrain neighbourhoods near stations have become physically denser, wealthier and more educated compared to Vancouver as a whole . From these results, the article explores the contextual reasons why denser development occurred around the SkyTrain stations and the effect on residential demographics in the area

Tropical Deforestation In The Ecuadorian Chocó: Logging Practices And Socio-Spatial Relationships, Santiago López, Rodrigo Sierra, Milton Tirado

The Geographical Bulletin

This article examines the implications of forest management on biodiversity at a local level and the relationships between deforestation and its geographic and demographic contexts at a regional level in the Ecuadorian Chocó region . We evaluated the implications of logging practices on biodiversity through the comparison of two 5-ha vegetation quadrats in two areas with and without forest management . Results of the local evaluation showed that the managed forest had higher tree density, larger basal area, and more commercial tree species per hectare than the unmanaged area . Yet, forest gaps were notably large in both research sites …

Cover And Forewords, Casey D. Allen

The Geographical Bulletin

Cover and Forewords

A Note From The Editor, Casey D. Allen

The Geographical Bulletin

A Note from the Editor

Volume 59-2 Complete Issue, Casey D. Allen

The Geographical Bulletin

Volume 59-2 Complete Issue

Predicting Gypsy Moth Population Size In Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park Using A Satellite Disturbance Index, Jonathan B. Thayn, Courtney M. Ballard, Emily L. Eichholzer, Michael J. Genard, Jordan A. Hawks, John P. Richard

The Geographical Bulletin

The pattern of gypsy moth defoliation in the Apostle Islands suggests that moths arrived first to the most isolated islands, not those that are nearest the mainland or the most visited by tourists. Gypsy moths are primarily wind-dispersed, so at least some of the moths may have been blown across Lake Superior. The Porcupine Mountains, about 55 km away, are a potential source for these moths. We used a satellite image-based disturbance index to map the extent of defoliation in and around Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. Using these data and moth trap data provided by the Slow the Spread …

Analyzing Tornadic Frequency And Regional Climate Change Relationships In Kansas, 1950-2016, Michael S. Molloy, Bimal K. Paul

The Geographical Bulletin

Due to climate change, severe thunderstorms with the potential to produce tornados are expected to be less frequent and more intense over the next several decades. The goal of this research is to determine whether regional climate change is occurring and inf luencing the frequency of tornadic activity occurring in Kansas. Using decadal averages of temperature and precipitation along with decadal tornado totals, we conducted multiple regression analyses to determine if there is a relationship between tornados, precipitation, and temperature from CE 1950 to 2016. We found that four out of seven decades were above the 30-year average of 12.1 …

Relationship Of Flood Peaks To 24-Hour Rainfall In The Eastern Texas Hill Country, South-Central Texas, Richard A. Earl, Jeanett Bosarge, Heather Wooten, Sarita Hedgepeth, Joel Sherrouse

The Geographical Bulletin

The eastern Texas Hill Country is noted for its extreme storm rainfall amounts and the resulting flood discharges. The resulting flash f loods contribute to Texas leading the U.S. in automobile-related, flood fatalities. These f loods produce considerable groundwater recharge to the Edwards Aquifer. A better knowledge of relations between precipitation and peak flood discharges can improve f lood hazard warning and provide estimates of groundwater recharge from ungauged ephemeral streams. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between 24-hour precipitation amounts and peak discharge for four ephemeral streams, with drainage areas between 0.3 to 18.8 mi.2 …

Heat Reduction Capabilities Of Urban Tree Species, Renee Baker

The Geographical Bulletin

Cities are predicted to house 61% of the world’s population within the next 30 years and their ecological footprints extend much farther than the extent of developed land. In addition, they trap 15-30% more radiation than their rural counterparts, making air temperatures 0.6 - 1.3° C warmer. Higher temperatures drive chemical reactions and increases the energy expended in buildings for cooling. In this study, the thermal effects of tree species in Santa Barbara, California were observed using data from the Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) satellite on June 3, 2014, and MASTER data from June 4, 2014. A …

Review Of Emily Sun’S On The Horizon Of World Literature, Jing Yang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Chinese Ideas And American Politics: Confucius As A Guideline For Leadership, Alfred Hornung

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Chinese Ideas and American Politics: Confucius as a Guideline for Leadership", Alfred Hornung traces the influence of Chinese ideas on American politics with a focus on the works of Confucius. The more than 2.500-year-old impact of the Chinese philosopher on public conduct and his pursuit of virtuous perfection has served as a guideline for leadership emanating from China to Europe and America. For this trajectory of ideas, the historic and the new Silk Road play a decisive role. The exchange of goods along the land-based and maritime routes, which inform Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative, also …

All Men Are Brothers: Pearl S. Buck’S Translation Of Shui Hu Zhuan And Its Effects On Her Writing Career, Zhihui Sophia Geng

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article “All Men Are Brothers: Pearl S. Buck’s Translation of Shui Hu Zhuan and its Effects on Her Writing Career,” Zhihui Sophia Geng focuses on Pulitzer Prize winner and Noble Laureate Pearl Sydenstricker Buck’s All Men Are Brothers, her translation of the classical Chinese novel Shui Hu Zhuan. She examines the reception of her translation and analyzes the significance of All Men Are Brothers to Buck’s literary career. By providing the first complete translation of Shui Hu Zhuan to an English-speaking audience, Buck made a significant cultural contribution to the United States and English-speaking cultural spheres. The …

Engaging China: Beckett’S Debt To Pound, Giles, And Laloy, Lidan Lin

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Engaging China: Beckett’s Debt to Pound, Giles, and Laloy," Lidan Lin examines Ezra Pound’s influence on Samuel Beckett. In their dealings with China, Pound and Beckett are both indebted to such sinologists and cultural transmitters as Ernest Fenollosa, H. A. Giles, Louis Laloy, and Laurence Binyon who introduced Chinese culture, literature, and arts to the Western world through translation and their writings about China. Lin situates the Pound-Beckett connection in the broad cultural context of the early 20^th century. She argues that while modernism’s turn to China as a cultural paradigm was collectively brought about by …