Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

How Covid-19 Impacted The Suicide Rates: A Qualitative Research Analysis, Midline Pierre

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Every 40 seconds, a suicide occurs somewhere around the globe, resulting in over 800,000 deaths annually. The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a cascade of crises extending beyond the health sector and intensifying this alarming global suicidal trend. The current dissertation aims to illuminate the intricate factors contributing to the surge in suicide rates amidst the pandemic. This dissertation delves into the complex and interwoven factors that escalated the rate of suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic. This exploration underscores the urgent necessity for multifaceted prevention strategies and emphasizes the critical role of multi-sectoral conflict management interventions. The pandemic posed a global …

When Speaking Up Fails: Experiences Of Unsubstantiated Equal Employment Opportunity Allegations On The Workforce, Scottie Visser

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Many organizations have long encouraged employees to speak up about wrongdoing, promoting cultures of open communication to ensure just environments; however, each year a significant proportion of workplace allegations are deemed unsubstantiated as a result of various factors, such as lack of evidence, subjectivity, false claims, and investigative limitations. Because researchers have focused on substantiated claims and reasons for reporting, they have discovered little about either the experiences of employees who speak up and have their claims deemed unsubstantiated or the potential impacts of such outcomes. This interpretative phenomenological study involved exploration of the lived experiences of 10 employees who …

Bluegrass Backstory: Connecting People To Local History Through Podcasting, David Hunter Hartlage

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Kentucky has a rich cultural identity, built upon a storied local history. Unfortunately, certain aspects of local cultural history, such as the origins of Kentucky vernacular music or how the bourbon industry has promoted growth in Kentucky’s communities, are not readily apparent. The increasing popularity and accessibility of podcasting offers local historians an opportunity to address this problem.

The goal of this project was to create a podcast program which makes information regarding the history, culture, and identity of Kentucky accessible to all in a scholarly—but engaging—way. I researched podcasting equipment and how to use it, then purchased that equipment …

A Study Of Public Opinion: The Importance Of Mental Illness Diagnosis And Perceptions Of Recidivism On Parole Eligibility, Emily Pedigo

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The present study examined the impact a mental illness diagnosis has on parole eligibility mediated by the participants’ perceptions of whether the prospective parolee would commit future crimes if released. Participants watched a video vignette of an individual charged with second degree manslaughter and diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, or bipolar disorder while incarcerated. Results indicated that a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder indirectly reduced parole success compared to bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder when mediated by participants’ perceptions of whether the convict would recommit a crime following release.

Taiwanese Women In And Out Of The Workforce: Perceptions Of Working Mothers And Their Roles, Josie Coyle

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This thesis explores how Taiwanese citizens perceive women in the workforce and at home, with a specific focus on how working mothers in Taiwan are perceived. The first section provides a literature review of perceptions of women in and out of the workforce in Taiwan and how policies surrounding maternity leave and breastfeeding can impact these perceptions. The second section will detail the findings of an original survey that asks the Taiwanese respondents their opinions regarding women in the workforce, division of labor in the home, breastfeeding, and gender roles. The data shows that there may be a greater level …

Successful Crisis Teams: Targeting Themes Related To Well-Being And Productivity, Dana Rae Vessio

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

While high staff turnover rates within the suicide prevention field negatively impact service delivery, they are poorly understood. Hotlines and other crisis-focused organizations cannot pinpoint what impacts well-being and productivity reliably across organizations or, rather, what creates an intersection of high points of productivity and well-being. This study employed a qualitative phenomenological approach to identify the impact of well-being and productivity amongst current and former crisis workers at a statewide hotline. Results revealed three major themes expressed by participants surrounding well-being; management support, communication, and self-regulation. Specific to productivity, participants expressed skill set and empathy as important themes related to …

Ukraine’S Quest For Justice: Accountability For Atrocities Committed In The Russia-Ukraine War, Tetiana Karpus

Dissertations and Theses

The Russian Federation's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has been marked by numerous documented atrocities, potentially falling under the categories of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This thesis aims to explore whether these apparent human rights and humanitarian law violations merit international prosecution. It also assesses the suitability and feasibility of various mechanisms, such as establishing national courts, "internationalized" or "hybrid" tribunals, or resorting to the International Criminal Court (ICC), drawing insights from past experiences in transitional and retributive justice.

Predicting Implementation Citizenship Behavior Rating Discrepancies Between Supervisor-Subordinate Dyads, Alexandra Kandah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), defined as behavior that is discretionary and not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, has gained significant interest in the literature over the past few decades. Recent OCB research has begun to address more specialized facets of citizenship behavior that target behaviors that support specific strategic goals in the organization. One form of OCB encompasses those behaviors that assist with the implementation of new practices or innovations in the organization, above and beyond typical implementation. This study extends both the general OCB literature and the newer literature on implementation citizenship by examining factors …

How The “Black Criminal” Stereotype Shapes Black People’S Psychological Experience Of Policing: Evidence Of Stereotype Threat And Remaining Questions, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Cultural stereotypes that link Black race to crime in the U.S. originated in and are perpetuated by policies that result in the disproportionate criminalization and punishment of Black people. The scientific record is replete with evidence that these stereotypes impact perceivers’ perceptions, information processing, and decision-making in ways that produce more negative criminal legal outcomes for Black people than White people. However, relatively scant attention has been paid to understanding how situations that present a risk of being evaluated through the lens of crime-related stereotypes also directly affect Black people. In this article, I consider one situation in particular: encounters …

Governing Smart Cities As Knowledge Commons - Introduction, Chapter 1 & Conclusion, Brett M. Frischmann, Michael J. Madison, Madelyn Sanfilippo

Book Chapters

Smart city technology has its value and its place; it isn’t automatically or universally harmful. Urban challenges and opportunities addressed via smart technology demand systematic study, examining general patterns and local variations as smart city practices unfold around the world. Smart cities are complex blends of community governance institutions, social dilemmas that cities face, and dynamic relationships among information and data, technology, and human lives. Some of those blends are more typical and common. Some are more nuanced in specific contexts. This volume uses the Governing Knowledge Commons (GKC) framework to sort out relevant and important distinctions. The framework grounds …

Sustainability In Public Procurement, Corporate Law And Higher Education (Introduction), Paolo Davide Farah

Book Chapters

Lela Mélon’s edited collection brings a fresh perspective to the intricate relationship between corporations and sustainability. The book focuses on the role of state actors in boosting environmental protection and the increasing importance of state awareness on environmental crises. Whether it is procurement, or education or corporate governance, we are witnessing a proactive stance of the state that is balancing economic growth with ecological concerns. The difficulties faced in forcing a particular conduct in the private sphere is reviewed in detail in the book, along with national laws and regulations that, rather than promoting environmental protection, have had the opposite …

Us Trade Policy, China And The Wto (Foreword), Paolo Davide Farah

Book Chapters

In ‘U.S. Trade Policy, China and the WTO’, Nerina Boschiero addresses a key topic in contemporary international economic law and global governance. By focusing on a turning point in global politics and the shaping/framing of trade policy in the U.S.– the election of President Donald Trump sheds light on the tumultuous process of reshaping of global governance. The crisis of multilateralism has been discussed at length in academia and mainstream media. However, little attention has been paid to how the U.S. is reacting to the rise of China in the global order, in practical terms. In particular, focus …

Muslim Prisoner Litigation: An Unsung American Tradition (Introduction), Spearit

Book Chapters

For most Americans, “prison jihad” may sound frightening and conjure images of religious militants, bearded, turbaned, and under the spell of foreign radical networks…. While this may be the immediate impression, there is nothing like that happening in American prisons. However, there has been a different type of jihad taking place, one that is real and identifiable. This is not the sensational jihad of headline media; rather, this jihad is uneventful and quiet by comparison and has persisted since the 1960s with hardly any public notice.

Despite little attention and recognition, Muslims in prison occupy a unique spot in the …

The Intenational Crimial Court (Icc) As A Mechanism For Global Justice And Rule Of Law, Paolo Davide Farah

Book Chapters

Throughout history, institutions have been the chosen platforms for governing and regulating society. However, in the twenty-first century, with unprecedented connectivity and interdependence, working toward multilateral solutions for global challenges, whether in climate change through the UNFCCC or in trade via the World Trade Organization, has become increasingly complex. This rise in complexity within the international landscape has not been met with proportional attention to cooperation, conflict resolution, and harmonizing human values.

It is relevant to highlight the intersection between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and broader questions within international humanitarian law, (IHL) its interconnections and intertwinement with International Criminal …

Science, Technology, Society, And Law, Paolo Davide Farah, Justo Corti Varela

Book Chapters

Traditionally, science and technology have been granted as sources of knowledge and objective truth. However, much more recently, they are also seen as human activities, conducted in a social environment. This new approach focuses on the intersections between science, technology and society, and particularly their regulation by the law. Concerns on how to best regulate the interaction come up in modern societies, and when either their use or their impacts are global, international law and international organizations become involved. The impact of the fourfold relation is so high that science and technology are seen as one of the reasons for …

The Intersections Among Science, Technology, Policy And Law: In Between Truth And Justice, Paolo Davide Farah, Justo Corti Varela

Book Chapters

Different visions on the interaction between science, technology, policy and law have been presented. As common axe, we can detect the continuous search for truth and justice. Science and Law as social constructs, the distinction between truths and opinions through procedural method based on evidence and rationality, or how natural science “things” became facts, and consequently “truth”, are examples of this search. The evidence-gathering process that integrates scientific evidence into trial (sometimes by procedure and other times by a more substantive approach) is another possible approach. Of course, that the game of mutual influence among the four elements creates contradictions …

The Interlinkages Science-Technology-Law: Information And Communication Society, Knowledge-Based Economy And The Rule Of Law, Giovanni Bombelli, Paolo Davide Farah

Book Chapters

This chapter focuses on the circular and complex relationship between science, technology, society, and law. The technology/society connection focuses on the democratic deficit issue. The democratic deficit would be a consequence of the lack of adaptability of western democracy to complex (information) societies, where technology (and the increasing access to data that it permits) is separating the connection between information and knowledge (as well as the classical legitimacy couple of democracy-truth) moving these societies towards a technocracy. On one hand, the technology-law circle deals with the progressive reduction of law to a normative technique (since the law is always late …

Artificial Intelligence And Contract Formation: Back To Contract As Bargain?, John Linarelli

Book Chapters

Some say AI is advancing quickly. ChatGPT, Bard, Bing’s AI, LaMDA, and other recent advances are remarkable, but they are talkers not doers. Advances toward some kind of robust agency for AI is, however, coming. Humans and their law must prepare for it. This chapter addresses this preparation from the standpoint of contract law and contract practices. An AI agent that can participate as a contracting agent, in a philosophical or psychological sense, with humans in the formation of a con-tract will have to have the following properties: (1) AI will need the cognitive functions to act with intention and …

Gender And The Law: Revisiting The Legacy Of A Feminist Icon, Deborah L. Brake

Book Chapters

Justice Ginsburg attained celebrity status in her later years as the voice of feminism from the bench, but her influence on law and gender was not always so venerated. For much of her career, feminist scholarly criticism of her gender jurisprudence was sharp. Critics called the approach “formal equality,” pointing out that it benefited those women most similarly situated to men. The criticism echoed that leveled against her strategy as a litigator representing male plaintiffs. In recent years, Justice Ginsburg’s legacy has been burnished by a fresh interpretation crediting it with a more robust vision of gender equality than previously …

The Impact Of Supreme Court Make Up On Rulings Towards Administrative Agencies, Hannah N. Cothern

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study investigated whether or not the membership of the United States Supreme Court affects the way the institution rules in cases regarding federal administrative agencies by collecting and comparing votes from 2018-2019 and 2020-2022. It found in the first section that justices showed an anti-deferential attitude towards agencies and in the second section a deferential attitude towards agencies, despite the conservative majority being larger in the second section. The result is likely due to the types of agencies and content of cases involved.

Personality And Social Media Use, Joshua Pearson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study seeks to examine the connection between social media usage and the Enneagram personality model. This connection will aid in a better understanding of what motivates individuals to use social media. The information found in this study will be applied to understanding behavioral addiction. This understanding will allow more personalized treatment for individuals already subject to these behaviors and preventive treatment for those more susceptible to behavioral addiction to social media. In order to find the connection between social media use and the Enneagram personality model, a survey including an Enneagram personality inventory, a social media use inventory, and …

The Prevention Of Sexualization Of Girls, Sarah P. Thomas

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Sexualization can affect individuals of all ages, colors, sexualities, and genders. Sexualization may affect women and girls more commonly and intensely, however. Sexualization occurs when one's value is placed solely on their appearance. Sexualization has been observed to happen through two main sources: the media and interpersonal relationships. Consequently, a third source may arise when girls internalize the sexualization. It has been demonstrated that sexualization can have negative and positive consequences for adolescent girls. Though sexualization may have positive consequences, such as sexual agency, the negative consequences seem to outweigh them. Despite the amount of attention this topic has received, …

Population Differences In Human Mandibular Growth, Madison Hubbart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Mandibles are one of the most common bones encountered in the human archaeological record. Variation in mandibular morphology is often associated with differences in subsistence strategy as masticatory stresses influence bone growth and development. Bone growth is stimulated by bone modeling, the process by which formation and resorption occur through the uncoupled activities of osteoblasts and osteoclasts, respectively. There is a limited understanding of bone modeling patterns in humans due to a lack of quantitative data and small sample sizes. The aim of this research was to address the question: is there a shared bone modeling pattern in the mandible …

Male Pornography Viewers' Perceptions Of Asian Women, Caitlyn M. Koerner

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Objectification and sexual aggression are common themes in pornography. However, there are only a handful of quantitative studies that examine the role of race in pornography that included Asian women, a population that has been fetishized extensively and historically portrayed as hypersexual in mainstream media. There were also no studies on the self-reported attitudes of viewers around this topic. 96 male university students took a survey measuring the frequency and perception of their pornography use, their acceptance of sexual aggression myths, their objectification of Asian women, and their propensity to agree with microaggressions about Asian women. Results indicated that while …

Democracy In Latin America, Democracy Everywhere, Jamie L. Mantilla Vale

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The obstacles that hinder democracy in Latin America are the topics of interest of this research. Loopholes within Latin American democratic systems of governance are a cause for concern, but also intrigue. In this research the specific loopholes and strengths of democracies in Latin America will be spotted and explained. More specifically, this research features a series quantitative method to help explain and evaluate the characteristics of strong democracies in Latin America as well as the characteristics of weak democracies in Latin America. A series of regression models show a causal relationship between rule of law and the overall democratic …

Individual Behavioral And Neurobiological Markers Associated With A Vulnerable To Ethanol Use Phenotype, Kelsey M. Alimandi

Honors Theses and Capstones

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic relapsing brain condition that is characterized by excessive alcohol consumption, continued use when faced with negative consequences, and a negative emotional state associated with withdrawals (anxiety, irritability, depression). The main challenge to treating AUD is preventing relapse. The purpose of this study was to use a prolonged-exposure model to allow rats to self-administer ethanol to determine the brain regions active during relapse events. The rats performed multiple behavioral tests such as economic demand, negative consequences, and an elevated plus maze. These tests determined how hard rats were willing to work for an ethanol …

Impact Of Accent On Receptive Language Assessments For Bilingual Children, Katherine Stariknok

Honors Theses and Capstones

Language assessments are used to screen and diagnose children with language disorders. Many speech-language pathologists (SLP) practicing in Spanish in the United States do not speak Spanish as their first language, so they are administering these assessments in accented speech. This study aims to find what effect an SLP’s accent will have on a bilingual child’s language assessment. Initial findings show that participants were largely able to understand words in the L2 accent, with most of the errors due to several repeating consonantal features (i.e., voicing alone; place and manner of articulation). The broader impact of this work is to …

N-Gram Text Classification On Standard Croatian, Bosnian And Serbian, Kegan Messmer

Honors Theses and Capstones

This study attempts to use three different kinds of n-gram text classification models to differentiate the standard forms of Croatian, Bosnian, and Serbian. These three languages, along with Montenegrin, were once considered one language, collectively termed “Serbo-Croatian”. These languages share a common South Slavic ancestry, and there is an argument to be made that their novel status as distinct languages is due to non-linguistic factors, such as culture and politics. This study uses 300,000 sentences from each language, sourced from Wikipedia pages written in the standard forms of each language. Three different classifiers were used: one unigram, one bigram, and …

Using Historical Thinking Strategies For Improving Elementary Students’ Content Knowledge And Attitudes Towards Social Studies, Lydia Burnett, Joshua Cuevas Dr.

Georgia Educational Researcher

Instructional time spent on elementary social studies is often marginalized due to the emphasis placed on other content areas. Therefore, social studies teachers must employ meaningful instructional strategies that will engage students while promoting content acquisition. This quasi-experimental study responds to this challenge by guiding a sample of 44 fifth grade students to use the historical thinking skills of sourcing, contextualizing, and corroborating that encourage engagement with a variety of primary sources through the lens of Jerome Bruner’s learning theories. The control group used traditional instructional methods including close-note taking, vocabulary review, and independent reading from social studies texts. Both …

Divergent Representations Of Africa: A Qualitative Analysis Of Georgia Social Studies Textbooks, Bailey A. Brown, Amber R. Reed

Georgia Educational Researcher

The Georgia Department of Education has clearly defined standards for learning about Africa in the seventh grade. However, there exists great variation in how textbooks present this material and address these standards. Using a qualitative content analysis approach, we assess the presentation of Africa in three widely used Georgia social studies textbooks. We document and analyze coverage of Africa across Georgia’s seventh grade world studies learning domains. Our research demonstrates: 1) that, despite widespread calls for decolonization of education and strengthening of multicultural education, Euro-American perspectives on Africa are still prevalent; 2) textbooks vary widely on how they choose to …