Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Lawrence Kaplan (14 April 1926-6 March 1918), Emily Kaplan

Andean Past

This is an appreciation of the life and work of archaeobotanist Lawrence Kaplan, a specialist in domesticated beans.

Death Notices-Joerg Haeberli, Laura Laurencich Minelli, Ursula Wagner, Nancy Ellen Kirkhuff Porter, Billie Jean Isbell, Lynn Ann Meisch, & Bernard While Bell Jr., Catherine J. Allen, Monica Barnes, Davide Domenici, Frances M. Hayashida, Vincent R. Lee, Carla Minelli, Carolina Orsini, Izumi Shimada, Ann Pollard Rowe, Sofia Venturoli

Andean Past

This consists of short biographies of deceased scholars Joerg Haeberli, Laura Laurencich Minelli, Ursula Wagner, Nancy Ellen Kirkhuff Porter, Billie Jean Isbell, Lynn Ann Meisch, and Bernard White Bell Jr.

The Lost Emerald Mines Of Ecuador: Contrasting Patterns Of Emerald Use In Native South America, Warwick Bray

Andean Past

The author presents evidence for a now-lost Pre-Columbian emerald source within the territory of present day Ecuador.

The Monoliths Of Chumbivilcas, Cusco: A New Focus On Pukara Culture, Rainer Hostnig, Francois Cuynet

Andean Past

Carved monoliths pertaining to the Pukara culture of the Lake Titicaca region are described, illustrated, and analyzed.

The Settlement History Of The Lucre Basin (Cusco, Peru), Brian S. Bauer, Miriam Araoz Silva, Thomas John Hardy

Andean Past

This article reports the results of archaeological survey from Oropesa to Andahuayllilas, Peru.

The Ayllus Of The Chanka Heartland: An Interdisciplinary Assessment, Lucas C. Kellett

Andean Past

This article discusses Chanka kinship and social organization in the light of settlement pattern studies, bioarchaeology, and the need for defense.

Transforming Trees, Transcending Binaries: Gender In Augustan Poetry, Kendall Swanson

College Honors Program

Humans have been inextricably linked to nature since before the rule of Emperor Augustus in Ancient Rome. Nature feeds humans, it gives people the tools to build a society. Because of this relationship, it is no surprise that authors, both ancient and modern, incorporate various themes of the natural world into their works. Additionally, nature appears linked to human conceptions of gender, as seen in literature and real-world experience. According to the United Nations, one goal to accomplish in order to achieve sustainable development is gender equality in all countries. Gender and nature work together: when inequality exists, environmental degradation …

Home/Sick, Elizabeth P. Fontenot

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper is a supporting document that discusses the conceptual and technical aspects of the artworks in the accompanying exhibition, HOME/SICK. The work in the exhibition consists of selections from different series of work that are inspired by related subject matter. The content driving the work responds to anecdotal experiences of people living in communities near oil refineries and chemical processing plants and how events at these facilities affect their way of life. Many times, these are communities of color which strive to voice concerns and protect homes from harmful toxins. In one series, original and appropriated imagery serves as …

A Policy Analysis Of The Endangered Species Act, Kendall Beggs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis was to identify and analyze common characteristics that are shared by recovering species listed in the Endangered Species Act (ESA). NatureServe population data was used to determine which listed species were recovering, and a logistic regression analysis was performed to identify which aspects of the ESA most contribute to recovery. Of the 747 species tested, only 24% had a population that was stable or improving. Time listed and classification group were found to significantly influence recovery, and recovery plan presence and critical habitat designation also increase the odds of recovery. The analysis found no relationship …

Covid-19’S Effects On Mortality Salience, Death Anxiety, And Worldview Defense, Sahvannah K. Shavers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since late-2019, the world has been trying to overcome an invisible killer: COVID-19. With near constant reminders of the virus the knowledge that a tiny viral particle has potential to harm or even kill has become overwhelming for many. Terror Management Theory (TMT) suggests that when individuals are reminded of their own death people take part in culturally appropriate activities and defend their own culture as ways to alleviate this increased death anxiety. The current study aims to identify whether 1) reminders of COVID-19 prime death thoughts, 2) reminders of COVID-19 increase death anxiety, and 3) increased death anxiety from …

Popular Protests And Democratization In Post-Soviet Countries: An Analysis Of Why Some Democracy Movements Failed And Others Succeeded, David Mcdonald

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to analyze pro-democracy movements in post-Soviet countries through the lens of existing theories of democratization to determine why a particular protest movement succeeded or failed. Through a qualitative analysis of theories of democratization and four case studies – Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Belarus – this thesis finds that the theories of democratization are ultimately applicable and helpful in understanding these case studies, albeit in different ways. Whereas the theories and their predictions might be proven correct in the cases of Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, the opposite is true in Russia and Belarus, where authoritarian regimes have taken steps …

Communicating Through A Crisis: An Analysis Of The University Of Mississippi's Initial Covid-19 Crisis Communications, Sydney Waitley

Honors Theses

This thesis, in effort to examine modern-day crisis communications, focuses on the analysis of University of Mississippi’s initial crisis communications during the COVID-19 pandemic during March 2020. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the university’s communication efforts during this crisis in order to determine the effectiveness of the University of Mississippi’s initial COVID-19 crisis communications. First, the researcher analyzed historical case studies on three notable crisis communications (the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol Crisis of 1982, the United Airlines Crisis of 2017, and the Crock-Pot Crisis of 2018). From these case studies, qualities of good crisis communications were determined …

The American Prosecutor And The Carceral State: An Analysis To Address Prosecutorial Power And Discretion In An Effort To Reduce Overincarceration In The United States, Olivia Jordan

Honors Theses

There is perhaps no other actor within our legal system that shares more power and control over the carceral state than the American prosecutor. This thesis examines the powers of the prosecutor at every stage of criminal procedure, how these powers contribute to the carceral state, and how prioritizing prosecutorial policy reform can effectively reduce persistent mass incarceration in the United States. This thesis uses three criteria- effectiveness at reducing overincarceration, feasibility of implementation, and ethical impact- to critically evaluate several proposals for addressing prosecutorial power and discretion. Ultimately, the thesis recommends a combination of three proposals for a more …

Amlo And Huachicoleo: The Effects And Implications Of The Fuel Theft Crackdown In Mexico, Samuel Starr

Honors Theses

On December 20th, 2018—less than three weeks into new president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term—the Mexican federal government initiated a crackdown on fuel theft, or huachicoleo. The crackdown was intensive and nationwide. Its implementation was costly: gas stations throughout the country shut down as fuel pipelines were closed, the newly established National Guard was deployed to protect fuel infrastructure, and cartels threatened acts of terror against the government. The crackdown ended in April of 2019, with the López Obrador administration calling it a success. The overarching goal of this study is to test that assertion empirically by investigating the crackdown’s …

Homeland Calling: Myths As Mobilizers Of Conflict In The Zapatista Rebellion And The Kosovo War, Catherine E. Williamson

Honors Theses

How do conflict myths mobilize actors in insurgencies? This thesis aims to answer this question by exploring how insurgent leaders engage in revolutionary mythmaking in its messaging to combatants, members of the nation, and the international community, in order to incite and sustain their rebellions. I compare the Zapatista Army of National Liberation of the 1994 Zapatista rebellion and the Kosovo Liberation Army of the 1998 Kosovo war in order to examine the kinds of myths propagated in each case. This study argues that revolutionary mythmaking is not a mere feature of some insurgencies but a necessary condition for an …

Milner Monitor, May 2022, Milner Library

Milner Library Newsletters

Internal newsletter produced by Milner Library staff between 2018 and present.

“Who Says Lowriders Are Only For Men?”: Lowriders In Las Vegas, Nevada, Alejandra Herrera

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since its creation, Las Vegas, Nevada, has been associated with casinos, nightlife, drinking, and neon lights. Las Vegas is not associated with Lowriders. Historically, lowrider vehicles are associated with crime, gangs, and male drivers. When lowriding comes to mind, Lowriders are associated with major cities in California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. Lowriders are not usually visualized as having female participants or as being present in Las Vegas. This thesis highlights members of the Lowrider community (especially Christal Leyva, Ivelys Franco, and Juanita Salazar) through the use of oral interviews and personal correspondence. The Lowriders interviewed for this thesis …

Regaining Effort-Based Food Motivation: The Drug Methylphenidate Reverses The Depressive Effects Of Tetrabenazine In Female Rats, Deanna Pietrorazio

Honors Scholar Theses

Tetrabenazine (TBZ), a vesicular monoamine transporter type 2 (VMAT-2) inhibitor, depletes dopamine and induces motivational deficits and other depressive symptoms in humans. Methylphenidate (MPH) is a dopamine transport blocker that is used to enhance motivational function. Previous studies have shown that in male rats, TBZ induces a shift in effort-related choice such that a low-effort bias is induced. In male rats this occurs at a dose range of 0.75-1.0 mg/kg TBZ, and this effect is reversible with co-administration of MPH. Recent studies have shown that females need a higher dose of TBZ (2.0 mg/kg) to show the low-effort bias. The …

Case Study: Effects Of Ultrasonic Vocalizations On Rat Behavior And Place Cell Remapping In The Hippocampus, Qingli Hu

Honors Scholar Theses

Spatial information is known to be encoded in the hippocampus, and small changes in the environment can alter the way that it is represented by our hippocampal place cells in a process called remapping. Hearing is an important sense that can be used to orient ourselves and react to the environment accordingly. In this case study, a rat model is used to test the effects of emotional auditory stimuli, behaviorally significant ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) (50 kHz, emitted during play; 22 kHz, emitted during danger), on rat behavior on a linear track and place cell remapping in the hippocampus. Behaviorally, it …

The Influence Of Tetrabenazine On Operant Behavior And Binge-Like Eating Model In Rats, Reileigh Fleeher

Honors Scholar Theses

Tetrabenazine (TBZ), a vesicular monoamine transporter-2 (VMAT-2) inhibitor that preferentially depletes dopamine (DA), produces depressive symptoms including motivational symptoms in humans. In rodents, it reduces selection of high-effort effort alternatives in effort-based choice tasks, but does not affect food intake or preference (Nunes et al. 2013; Yang et al. 2020). However, no studies have focused on the effects of TBZ on binge-like eating to determine if it would influence “hedonic eating”. The current study used both binge-like eating and effort-based operant tasks in rats. To assess effects on binge-like eating, non-food restricted rats (n=8) were exposed to chocolate over 12 …

“And We’Re Happy, So Happy, To Be Modern Women”: Dissociative Feminism On Screen And In Literature, Michaela Elizabeth Flaherty

Honors Scholar Theses

On-screen and literary works have increasingly represented a new, digital-age wave of postfeminism: dissociative feminism, which rejects happy-go-lucky, sex-positive fourth-wave feminism, instead embracing nihilism. Fleabag, the titular character of the hit BBC miniseries Fleabag (2016–9), embodies dissociative feminism, though she ultimately comes to reject this darkly relatable perspective. However, social media largely ignores this latter, essential aspect of her character arc and has taken to romanticizing Fleabag’s feminist ideology, effectively constructing a harmful and dangerous virtual echo chamber of dissociative feminism. Participants in this online discourse should instead turn to the HBO limited series I May Destroy You (2020) for …

Mechanisms For Funding Biosecurity And Declared Pest Management In Western Australia - Report By The Biosecurity Council Of Western Australia, Biosecurity Council Of Western Australia

Biosecurity published reports

There are five legislated funding mechanisms used for biosecurity-related purposes in wa declared pest rates, Industry Funding Schemes (IFSs), fees for service through the Agricultural Produce Commission (APC), specified area rates and the Modified Penalties Revenue Account. Of these, three were assessed as sustainable sources of biosecurity funding:

• Declared pest rates (DPRs) - rates chargeable on land in a prescribed area. The funds collected via this mechanism are matched dollar-for-dollar from the State's Consolidated Account and used for activities to control declared pests, including biosecurity threats.
• IFSs - schemes that enable agricultural industries to collect funds from producers. The funds …

Variation And Efficiency Of High-Frequency Betas, Congshan Zhang, Jia Li, Viktor Todorov, George Tauchen

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper studies the efficient estimation of betas from high-frequency return data on a fixed time interval. Under an assumption of equal diffusive and jump betas, we derive the semiparametric efficiency bound for estimating the common beta and develop an adaptive estimator that attains the efficiency bound. We further propose a Hausman type test for deciding whether the common beta assumption is true from the high-frequency data. In our empirical analysis we provide examples of stocks and time periods for which a common market beta assumption appears true and ones for which this is not the case. We further quantify …

Probabilistic Fixed Ballot Rules And Hybrid Domains, Shurojit Chatterji, Souvik Roy, Soumyarup Sadhukhan, Arunava Sen, Huaxia Zeng

Research Collection School Of Economics

We study a class of preference domains that satisfies the familiar properties of minimal richness, diversity and no-restoration. We show that a specific preference restriction, hybridness, has been embedded in these domains so that the preferences are single-peaked at the “extremes” and unrestricted in the “middle”. We also study the structure of strategy-proof and unanimous Random Social Choice Functions on these domains. We show them to be special cases of probabilistic fixed ballot rules (introduced by Ehlers, Peters, and Storcken (2002)).

Political Exclusion: Examining Anti-Lgbt+ Movement Results In Tennessee, Symantha K. Gregorash

Masters Theses

Social movement theory and research has produced ample works on national movements and progressive movements, but gaps persist in our understanding of conservative advocacy as social movements and the ways in which groups which hold power organize to identify and address challenges to their positions. Through analyzing state-level conservative social movements, we can examine the marginalizing legislation which continues to be passed at the cost of LGBT+ groups and the ways in which conservative social movements form coalitions and support action on conservative issues. While national-level funding analyses have called attention to the ways class connections maintain power, there is …

Investigating The Efficacy Of Mental Health App Features On Depressive Symptoms And Adherence: The Airheart Pilot Study, Stephanie G. Six

All Theses

Mental health apps have shown promise for improving mental health and quality of life in a variety of contexts, such as depression, anxiety, and stress. However, a limited amount of research aimed at understanding how app features and design can optimize the therapeutic benefits and adherence of such mental health apps exists. Consequently, the primary purpose of the current pilot study is to investigate the effect avatar customization on depressive symptoms, adherence, and motivation to use a mental health app. Furthermore, the secondary aim of the current pilot study is to examine whether specific app features, including journaling, mood tracking, …

A Cross-Cultural Trek Of Nomadism Through Metaphoric Criticism, Gabrielle Wilkosz

All Theses

How has the worldwide phenomenon of nomadism—present day, recent past, and ancient past—been characterized through metaphor by writers, orators, and auteurs? Using metaphoric criticism, I show how the rhetoric of twenty-first-century "van-lifers" builds on a long global history of displacement that ranges from Central Asia to Malaysia to the Grand Canyon. This project’s three case studies span two decades each, comprising the Kitan people of Central Asia (1207-1227); Bukat people of Borneo in Malaysia (1930-1950), and contemporary "van-lifers" of the US (2001-21). This MA thesis parses a newfound connection between the language of nomadism and Burkean “truth”; the language of …

Reflecting Back To Forge The Path Forward, Robert M. Capraro, Mary Margaret Capraro, Chance Lewis, Melva R. Grant, Marlon James, Eduardo Mosqueda, Jamaal Young, Jemimah Young, Ali Bicer, Tarcia Hubert, Alesia Mickle Moldavan, Susan Ophelia Cannon, Michael S. Rugh, Miriam Sanders, Jonas Chang

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The JUME editorial team provides an update of the journal's health and progress during the 2021 calendar year and discusses coming changes and opportunities for growth.

Development And Validation Of The Muslim Identity Socialization Scale (Miss), Mamona Butt

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Racial ethnic socialization (RES) practices are the messages youth receive on race, racism, and prejudice. This paper aimed to extend racial-ethnic socialization (RES) literature to Muslim American families to understand youth identity development. In Study One, focus groups (k = 3, n = 15) were conducted to understand common RES practices in Muslim young adults and create initial items for the scale. Thematic analyses revealed parents promoted their Muslim American youth to have other Muslim friends, however there was a consensus that parent did not prepare them for bias. Additionally, participants varied on cultural socialization and egalitarianism practices. Study two …

The Role Of Coaches To Assist Collegiate Student-Athletes For A Career After Athletics, Austin Thiessen

Leadership Education Capstones

This paper explored the importance of how coaches can assist student-athletes transitioning from an athletic career to a career outside of sports. The purpose of this study is to better understand the best methods for coaches to use to complete a successful, out of sport transition. This research focused on a Division III university in the Midwest. The research design was a combination of qualitative and data collected through interviews and surveys. The data from this study focused on a survey sent out to student-athletes along with separate interview questions to student-athletes and coaches who decided to participate. Student-athlete participants …