Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

In The Cities, There Is Violence : Do Higher Levels Of Police Militarization Correlate With Police Use Of Lethal Force?, Brennan B. Sumner

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Police violence has become a pressing issue in the United States. The topic of police militarization, as a consequence, has entered the public consciousness, and its effects have become a topic of concern. This paper will examine whether there is a correlation between higher levels of police militarization and higher rates of police use of lethal force from multiple perspectives. This paper will utilize a mixed methods research approach, combining historical analysis, critical literature review, and data analysis from thirty American cities. This paper will also discuss the public policy implications of police militarization and offer critiques therein.

Leadership Style On Shared Leadership And Team Performance Via Followership Style, Pasquale Alexander Tosto

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Recent work has demonstrated a strong link between shared leadership and team task performance. Despite these findings, there is still yet to emerge research on the degree to which leadership style on the part of a designated leader predicts the emergence of shared leadership in the established relationship between shared leadership and team performance. The present study aims to address this literature gap by manipulating leadership style in a teamwork study in order to observe the effect of directive versus participative leadership on the emergence of shared leadership, and its subsequent impact on team performance. Furthermore, the present study also …

Servant Leadership Oriented Leadership Development For Leaders On The Autism Spectrum : An Exploratory Study, Nikita Elizabeth Williams

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

As autistic individuals are increasingly joining the workforce, there is a need to better understand leadership development in autistic individuals as they progress through organizational hierarchies. This thesis introduces a servant leadership component to a traditional leadership development model and conducts a needs assessment for tailoring this model to a neurodiverse population. The servant leadership oriented assessment challenge support (SLO-ACS) is a model of leadership development that utilizes the popular Assessment Challenge Support model of leadership development with a focus on developing another individual and practicing servant leadership. Qualitative interviews were conducted with autism SMEs in leadership roles, a majority …

Mediation Of Intergenerational Trauma Transmission By Family Variables In Children Of Rwandan Survivors Of The 1994 Genocide Against The Tutsi, Jessica L. Bonumwezi

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Twenty-eight years after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, children of survivors are being increasingly documented to show increased risk for adverse mental health outcomes. However, no studies in Rwanda have empirically explored psychosocial factors underlying this intergenerational transmission of trauma. We investigated family factors that could underlie this transmission in 285 adult Rwandan children of survivors (mean age = 23.31; 50.2% female) who completed an online survey. We found that 42.2% of participants had clinically significant secondary PTSD symptoms and 37.8% had clinically significant symptoms of depression or anxiety. For participants with survivor mothers (n = 187), …

Community-Based Programs As Spaces For Critical Consciousness, Not Containment : Exploring The Perspectives Of Black Youth, Carrie Bergeson

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Historically Black youth have been labeled as needing to be “saved” and “fixed” because they are “at-risk,” “broken,” and more likely to subscribe to deviant behavior. This deficit rhetoric frames community-based education programs (CBEPs) that serve Black youth as vital spaces that must prevent and save Black youth from subscribing to undesirable behaviors. Therefore, this study builds on the paucity of literature regarding CBEPs as spaces that view Black youth as valuable and worthy and encourage youth to critically examine the world around them, often withholding opportunities and resources. With critical consciousness (Freire, 1968) as the framework, this qualitative study …

The Relationship Between Racial Microaggressions, Mental Health, And Academic Self- Efficacy In Black College Students : Is A Supportive Mentor Protective?, Devanté J. Cunningham

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Racial microaggressions are daily, often subtle, verbal, environmental, and behavioral slights and insults targeted at a person or their race. Racial microaggressions can have deleterious effects on the mental health and academic outcomes of Black college students. As research on this relationship increases, it is essential to assess factors that may moderate, or lessen, the impact of racial microaggressions. There is evidence that mentoring, a form of social support, may attune the adverse effects of racial microaggressions on mental health and academic outcomes. The current study explored the relationship between racial microaggressions and mental health and academic outcomes (social anxiety, …

Validation And Measurement Invariance Of A First-Generation College Student Identity Scale, Kelsie K. Allison

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

First-generation college students (FGCS) comprise approximately 56% of the U.S. post-secondary institution population, yet they face substantially more academic, financial, and additional unique issues than continuing-generation college students. Research on FGCS has been steadily growing in recent years, however, literature on identity for this population is sparse. To address these gaps in the literature, the aim of the current study was to adapt, validate, and establish full factorial measurement invariance across Black and White FGCS for a multidimensional quantitative measure of first-generation college student identity. The final sample included 425 current FGCS (81.2% female; M_age = 24.4 years, SD …

Addressing Public Perceptions About Cell-Based Meat And Cellular Agriculture Through Metaphors, Yvette Emma Hubbard

English Theses & Dissertations

Today’s food movement places organic, holistic, and natural foods as priority. The idea aims for better human health, a farm-to-table community, and environmental sustainability. Soon a new meat alternative will become part of the ongoing food movement. What is it? Cell-based protein. It is a protein alternative to livestock protein. It is real protein from a real breathing animal. Cell-based beef for example is grown in a lab with cells from a living cow that does not have to die or be slaughtered. It is destined to become the new protein architecture on the horizon. Parts of this paper are …

Guilty As Not (Re)Charged: Calling, Work-Recovery Guilt, And Their Effects On Recovery Experiences, Jeffrey Drake Terry

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Public and scholarly interest in the concept of work as a calling has grown considerably over the past few decades (Thompson & Bunderson, 2019). Much of this research has focused on the positive outcomes of calling, including increased work engagement (e.g., Dobrow Riza et al., 2019) and job performance (e.g., Park et al., 2016). However, a few studies have focused on the negative outcomes of calling, such as limited psychological detachment from work (Clinton et al., 2017). According to Work as Calling Theory (WCT; Duffy et al., 2018), psychological climate and individual differences may help to explain why some individuals …

Russia, Europe And Central Asia Energy Security And Pipeline Politics, Mehmet Kınacı

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Energy Security will continue to remain as one of the top security concerns for Europe. Depleting reserves and growing energy demand have increased European dependence on external energy resources. Today, Russia is by far the largest supplier of oil, coal and the natural gas to Europe. Oil and natural gas revenues have played a vital role to rebound the Russian economy and have supported Putin’s ambitions to reestablish Russia as a great power, increasing its influence over the former Soviet space. This complex energy relationship has increasingly been a cause of concern.

The main question this study seeks to answer …

Blood Lead Levels In Minority Children: A Case Of Environmental Racism, Erick Rivera

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Racial minorities in the United States have suffered from being disadvantaged. Among these disadvantages is environmental racism. This includes minority communities being ‘sacrifice zones’ for toxic waste and being exposed to lead poisoning. The purpose of this study is to examine differences in blood levels between white children and children of color. This research will follow a bivariate model for the first research question, “Do youth of color (under the age of 18) have higher BLLs than white children?” The bivariate model will look at the relationship between ethno-racial group and BLLs. Specifically, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be …

Exploring The Workplace Climate At Police Agencies During Civil Unrest And The Factors Influencing Officers' Participation In Black Lives Matter Protesting, Joshua R. Ruffin

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Scholars have long documented the negative relationship between police and communities of color. While these findings are of great importance, research remains limited on how connected police officers are to social justice movements (e.g., Black Lives Matter, or BLM for short) and the purposes behind why they exist. Furthermore, many studies focusing on police officer experiences tend to examine officer experiences with protesters, with limited studies focusing on their experiences with other officers during civil unrest and on the factors that influence their participation in protest movements when off duty. To help fill this gap, this study utilized semi-structured interviews …

Data-Driven Framework For Understanding & Modeling Ride-Sourcing Transportation Systems, Bishoy Kelleny

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Ride-sourcing transportation services offered by transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft are disrupting the transportation landscape. The growing demand on these services, along with their potential short and long-term impacts on the environment, society, and infrastructure emphasize the need to further understand the ride-sourcing system. There were no sufficient data to fully understand the system and integrate it within regional multimodal transportation frameworks. This can be attributed to commercial and competition reasons, given the technology-enabled and innovative nature of the system. Recently, in 2019, the City of Chicago the released an extensive and complete ride-sourcing trip-level data for …

Rape, Consent, And The U.S. Military, Siris Fernandez

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The military’s sexual assault prevention and response program is unable to effectively eliminate or even minimize occurrences of sexual assault in the service. This program focuses primarily on the elimination of sexual assault through yearly mandatory education on the current policies and procedures that occur when a victim comes forward. The Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) program is reactionary and unequipped to tackle a culture that continues to promote a climate in which sexual assault and harassment exist without fear of retaliation. This thesis explores these issues and provides suggestions for changes in future revisions of the SAPR program. …

Disaster Victim Identification Competencies: A Comparison Of Dental Hygiene And Dental Assistant Students, Samantha Clara Vest

Dental Hygiene Theses & Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess cognitive and affective learning outcomes of allied dental students following a disaster victim identification (DVI) multi-media learning experience. Methods: A convenience sample (n=41) of senior dental hygiene and dental assisting students from two institutions completed an IRB-exempt DVI learning experience which included a multimedia intervention with a pretest/posttest survey to assess cognitive and affective changes. The multimedia intervention was a PowerPoint presentation with educational text, audio/video recordings, and presented in a virtual synchronous format by one of the researchers. After completing the learning experience, participants were presented with 10 sets of …

Tiktok As A Digital Activism Space: Social Justice Under Algorithmic Control, Brittany Haslem

Institute for the Humanities Theses

TikTok, a video sharing application, has become the center of viral internet culture. The app has risen in popularity so quickly that scholarly literature investigating its vast societal impact is still nascent. TikTok is not only used to discuss popular culture topics and create trends, but also being utilized as a tool for social justice activism in the United States in the wake of a tumultuous year with major events such as the coronavirus pandemic, a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the 2020 presidential election. TikTok activism is not without critiques, ranging from concerns of foreign government …

Other Transaction Authorities: Evaluating Innovation Policy Impact Of Alternative Contract Vehicles In The Department Of Defense, Dolores Kuchina-Musina

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Since 1958, government agencies have used Other Transactions (OT) to encourage innovation and the development of new technology. OTs' purpose is to help government agencies acquire leading-edge technology from private sector sources in a flexible, goal-oriented manner. This dissertation is a pilot study assessing whether innovation policies, specifically 10 USC 2371b (Pub. L. No. 114-92, 2015) that authorizes DoD prototype OTs, influence the Department of Defense (DoD) alternative contracting activities to promote the development of innovative technologies and products. Using existing literature and interrupted time series analysis, this dissertation examines publicly available contract data to answer the following research question: …

Pedestrian Evacuation: Vulnerable Group Member Influence On The Group Leaders’ Decision-Making And The Impact On Evacuation Time, Terra Lynne Elzie

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As pedestrian evacuations of buildings, outdoor venues, and special events occur, dynamic interactions between pedestrians and vehicles during egress are possible. To model pedestrian and vehicle evacuations, simulation models have evolved to incorporate more realistic crowd characteristics and behaviors to provide improved results. Past studies using modeling and simulation, specifically agent-based modeling, have explored pedestrian behaviors such as decision-making, navigation within a virtual environment, group formations, intra-group interactions, inter-group dynamics, crowd behaviors such as queuing and herding, and pedestrianvehicle interactions. These studies have led to relevant insights helpful to improving the accuracy of evacuation times for normal and emergency egress …

Tap Dance As A Nonverbal Language For Autism Spectrum Disorder, J Sydney Rhane Burtis

Honors College Theses

Through elements of sound and movement, tap dance employs rhythm as a universal language for nonverbal communication through the medium of music. Through three distinct but related elements, (a literature review, an artist’s statement, and a performance piece), this thesis will explore tap dance as a form of nonverbal language. For individuals with autism spectrum disorder, tap dance may help to achieve further attunement with themselves and the outside world. Due to autistic people’s impaired communicative, interactional, and skilled abilities, experiencing the relationships formed through tap dance may facilitate improvement. The literature review begins with a brief definition of nonverbal …

The Effect Of Female Representation On Revenue: A Study Of Gender Within The Film Industry, Riley Pranian

Honors College Theses

The art of film has captivated the world for generations — a central component of the captivation is the actors showcased on-screen. But unfortunately, the film industry is male-dominated. Since 1970, the consumption of media by adults and adolescents has increased (Vogel, 2020). This study will determine the relationship between a cast's female-to-male ratio and a film's revenue. The initial hypothesis is that the more women present in the cast, the higher the revenue - this relationship is assumed through increased demand for movies and the need for role models among women. This study’s foundation is the presence of a …

The Economic Impact Of U.S. Drone Strikes On Pakistan, Cavika Prashad

Honors College Theses

Drone strikes have a detrimental impact on the region of a nation, especially when the contact is not the targeted threat. When drone strikes are sent out, they result in consequences such as death, infrastructure damage, and consequently, unemployment increases. While proponents of drone strikes say they are precise weapons with little disruption to civilian life, this paper shows that in Pakistan, U.S. drone strikes have had an economic impact, particularly by increasing unemployment. Using an OLS model, the drone data from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and individual survey data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics were used to …

The Information Edge - Library Newsletter - May 2022, Sarah Burns-Feyl, Jennifer Rosenstein

University Library Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Testing The Effectiveness Of Data- And Narrative-Based Messages In Mitigating Racial Bias In Size And Threat Judgments, Alexandra Brosseau

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Racial bias in threat perception has long been a phenomenon of concern within the social sciences, and more recently, researchers have begun to focus on the role that biased judgment of physical size may impact such perceptions. In the wake of highly publicized police killings of unarmed Black civilians, there have been increased calls for creating systemic and cultural reform to address the disproportionate violence inflicted upon the Black population. Simultaneously, political conservatives have mounted increasing resistance to discussions of racial equality and have recently begun enacting laws that would limit or prohibit teaching and workplace discussions on the topic. …

Does Target Race Moderate The Effect Of Trustworthiness On Face Memory?, Sharon Ada Kobinah

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Multiple factors can influence how accurately people remember the faces of others. Social group membership, and particularly race, is a well-studied influence. People tend to show better memory for racial ingroup faces than racial outgroup faces, a phenomenon known as the Cross Race Effect. Some other work has examined the influence of factors like facial trustworthiness in memory, finding that people may remember untrustworthy faces more accurately than trustworthy faces. The present study examines the joint influence of these two factors in order to determine whether target race moderates this untrustworthiness advantage in memory. White and Black participants encoded an …

Susceptibility To Online Disinformation, Ryan Christopher Lesica

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

In this article, I address the importance of finding tangible and viable solutions in minimizing susceptibility to online disinformation. I identify three main types of causal factors that lead to susceptibility: political, psychological, and technical; recognizing the implications of political polarization, news media, cognitive phenomena, algorithms, and online behavior that leads to saturation and susceptibility to false information. I argue that by thoroughly compartmentalizing causal variables into three main factors, each can then be addressed and solved in their own unique way. I analyze each factor, deriving reinforcing theories and evidence from various articles, experiments, and publications. I propose that …

Examination Of Social Cognition Impairments In Adults With Traumatic Brain Injury Through The Awareness Of Social Inference Test Performance, Brea Lenae Rivera

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Social cognition focuses on how people process, perceive, and apply information in social context in order to understand and infer their own behaviors and that of others. Impaired social cognition is a common, and often chronic, outcome of many neurological and psychiatric disorders, including traumatic brain injury (TBI). By lacking these social skills, there is a major disadvantage for social integration with others. In order to assess social cognition deficits in adult TBI populations, Part 1 and 3 of The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) were administered to examine social cognition impairments. A sample of 58 participants (28 TBI, …

“Don’T Call Me A Crouton” : A Case Study On The Use Of Humor In Organizational Relationships On Twitter And Facebook, Hannah Grinberg

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

An organization using humor on social media can potentially engage in dialogue through participatory boundary-work that creates an in-group between themselves and their online user publics. The ability for an organization to use humor to form that in-group, where dialogic communication is achievable, is based on the organization’s ability to produce an instance of shared mirth with their online publics. The shared experience of mirth not only determines if the organization reaches shared meaning with their receiver publics, but also indicates who the humor is intended for, and who will be left out of the in-group created. To determine the …

Screen Time, Sleep, And Anxiety, Michael Edward Turner

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Prior literature has found evidence for a connection between screen time and a variety of negative health outcomes. These negative health outcomes include symptoms of both generalized and social anxiety, as well as sleep issues involving poorer sleep quality and less sleep overall. There is also evidence that screen time has dramatically increased as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The present research project investigated the relationship between smartphone screen time and anxiety, both generalized and social, as well as sleep duration and sleep quality. This research project breaks down screen time into four separate domains, social media, video …

Multiple Risk Factors For Schizotypy In A Non-Clinical Population : Exploring The Continuum Of Psychosis Two Years Later, Jill Del Pozzo

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Schizotypy is a multidimensional construct that refers to a collection of cognitive and personality traits, impairments, and experiences thought to lie on a continuum for psychosis, which place an individual at increased risk for developing schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The expression of schizotypy varies along this continuum of psychosis (i.e., from healthy, to subclinical and prodromal symptomatology, to clinical and severe psychosis) and is dependent on several biopsychosocial factors and their interactions. Accordingly, it is important identify factors that correlate with higher levels of schizotypy over time, toward ascertaining knowledge about developmental pathways of risk and resilience for psychotic disorders. To …

Telecommuting Antecedents And Outcomes Within A Turbulent Global Context : The Incremental Explanatory Utility Of Technostress And Role Strain, Renata Garcia Prieto Palacios Roji

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Due to a confluence of pre-existing trends, legislative action, and global health considerations, the nature of work arrangements is transitioning toward greater worker accommodation in the form of telecommuting. The current study focused on explaining telecommuter outcomes (job satisfaction, intent to quit, and general well-being) via retention of a general input-process-output (IPO) model. Within this framework the effects of role strain were explored as potential mediators of the relationships between telecommuting attitudes, networks of support, workload, and telecommuter outcomes. As an additional novel contribution, the presence and prevalence of technostressors was further specified as a potential moderator of these associations. …