Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Association Between Uncertainty, Reproductive Distress, And Avoidance In Assigned Female At Birth Adolescent And Young Adult (Aya-F) Cancer Survivors, Devon Ann Pons

Doctoral Dissertations

Family building and fertility is a complex component of survivorship for assigned female at birth Adolescent and Young Adult’s (AYA-F’s), often accompanied by a mix of cognitive uncertainty, emotional uncertainty, reproductive distress, and avoidance. These psychological components present in survivorship for AYA-F’s can impact coping, identity development, and individualized care plans throughout survivorship. This novel examination of data from a cross sectional study shed light on the associations between reproductive distress, uncertainty, and avoidance and how they are experienced differently by various subgroups within the sample.

Results demonstrate that reproductive distress fully mediated the association between emotional uncertainty and avoidance, …

Essays On Environmental And Natural Resource Economics, Annaliese R. Winton

All Dissertations

This dissertation explores how markets and producers respond to environmental risks that are becoming more severe due to climate change. It is comprised of two essays that empirically quantify the economic impacts of two water-related risks: storm surge flooding and groundwater depletion. In the first chapter, I estimate the price differentials associated with single-family homes in hurricane evacuation zones in Miami-Dade County, Florida, using two near-miss hurricanes as a source of exogenous information. The second chapter estimates the impacts of groundwater depletion, as captured through declining well capacity, on irrigation decisions in the Colorado portion of the Republican River Basin.

Dendrochronological Analysis Of The Duncan Tavern, Paris, Kentucky, Usa, Delaney Ballard, Maegen Rochner

Undergraduate Research Events

Duncan Tavern is a historical structure located at 323 High Street in Paris, Kentucky in Bourbon County. The structure currently serves as the headquarters for the Kentucky Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (KSDAR). KSDAR maintains that Duncan Tavern was originally built in the mid-1790s; the land was purchased in 1792 by Joseph Duncan, a civilian armorer in the Revolutionary War. Although Duncan Tavern has been listed on the National Register of Historical Places since 1973, a dendrochronological study of this structure was requested to quantitatively examine the legitimacy of archival and anecdotal claims about the construction history. …

Deterministic Global 3d Fractal Cloud Model For Synthetic Scene Generation, Aaron M. Schinder, Shannon R. Young, Bryan J. Steward, Michael L. Dexter, Andrew Kondrath, Stephen Hinton, Ricardo Davila

Faculty Publications

This paper describes the creation of a fast, deterministic, 3D fractal cloud renderer for the AFIT Sensor and Scene Emulation Tool (ASSET). The renderer generates 3D clouds by ray marching through a volume and sampling the level-set of a fractal function. The fractal function is distorted by a displacement map, which is generated using horizontal wind data from a Global Forecast System (GFS) weather file. The vertical windspeed and relative humidity are used to mask the creation of clouds to match realistic large-scale weather patterns over the Earth. Small-scale detail is provided by the fractal functions which are tuned to …

Bundling In Advance Sales: Theory And Evidence From Round-Trip Versus Two One-Way Tickets*, Diego Escobari, Paan Jindapon, Nicholas G. Rupp

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications and Presentations

We theoretically derive an optimal price for a bundle of two goods that are sold in advance to risk-averse buyers. The theory predicts that a round-trip ticket is less expensive than two one-way tickets when demands for the outbound and the inbound are uncertain and positively correlated. Using a unique airlines dataset, we find evidence that is consistent with the theory; round-trip bundle discounts exist and they are larger for passengers who buy early in advance, stay on a Saturday night, and have higher valuations. We also find that the bundle discounts decrease with competition.

The Walking Threat: Traits Of Pathogen Avoidance, Pathogen Threat Proximity And Functional Flexibility, Lahai Alexander Massaquoi Wicks

Doctoral Dissertations

The threat of infection to humans is unwavering, and it is increased through social interaction, which human life is based around. This has been demonstrated through the recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, where social distancing was recommended to prevent the spread of the virus. Therefore, it is important to understand both the behavioral and physiological defenses that we possess against illness. However, the characteristics of the relationship between the behavioral immune system (BIS) and the physiological immune system (PIS) are still murky. This dissertation sought to better understand how the BIS considers the costs of mounting an immune response via functional flexibility …

The Role Of Awe In Risk-Taking And The Exploration Of The Unknown, Matthew Thomas Richesin

Doctoral Dissertations

Much has been learned about awe through scientific inquiry in the last twenty years, however, few researchers have looked to understand the adaptive function. Recent work has suggested that the function of awe is cognitive in nature. This view argues that the function awe plays is linked to how individuals respond to uncertainty. This approach proposes that awe should be linked to various epistemic dispositions such as curiosity, impulsivity, intolerance to uncertainty, and existential thinking. It further suggests that awe will have a distinct effect on risk-taking behaviors compared to fear and curiosity. The current project consists of three studies …

The World Reborn: A Phenomenological Study Of 12th Unnamed Cave, Tennessee Through Photogrammetry, 3d Gis, And Archaeoacoustics, Jordan L. Schaefer

Doctoral Dissertations

Traditional methods for analyzing rock art locations within caves tend to rely on two-dimensional (2D) mapping methods. While useful, these techniques do not effectively capture the phenomenology, or experiential characteristics, of caves as physical spaces. This dissertation therefore adopts a three-dimensional perspective to study the distribution of rock art inside 12th Unnamed Cave, a dark-zone cave art site in Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau region, with the goal of identifying why certain types of images appear in their respective contexts. Photogrammetry is used to produce a three-dimensional (3D) model of the cave’s interior, on which surveyed rock art locations are georeferenced for …

Three Essays In Environmental Economics, Ryan Swartzentruber

Doctoral Dissertations

The first chapter of this dissertation analyzes how policy uncertainty affects electric utility investment rates. Policy can either positively or negatively impact firm profits, as seen in the difference between subsidies and taxes. Using a real option theoretical model, I show how uncertainty over these two types of policies can have positive or negative impacts on investment rates. Empirical results using investment data for electric utilities provide evidence in support of differential effects of uncertainty. I find a positive effect of policy uncertainty on electric utility investment rates using my preferred measure of policy uncertainty. This suggests that policies applicable …

Discriminative Nursing Care Practices Towards Patients With Opioid Use Disorder In The Hospital Setting: How Knowledge And Social Attitudes Impact Care Delivery, Jeanne Adam Bernier

Doctoral Dissertations

Discriminative nursing care (DNC) practices towards patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) is a current phenomenon negatively affecting patient care and patient outcomes. It leads to delays in care, insufficient pain control, and feelings of guilt and shame, and it is linked to self-isolation, social isolation, social rejection, and even unemployment and housing disruption which perpetuate a dangerous cycle of inequity that is hard to overcome. In some cases, OUD stigmatization even increases morbidity and mortality rates. OUD stigmatization and discrimination are real problems in today’s health care climate due to the vast number of people affected by OUD and …

Help-Seeking Tendencies And Motivations Among College Students In The Utilization Of Professional Psychological Services, James Louie Cartee Iii

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines and analyzes the help-seeking motivations of college students who experience psychological distress. Many young adults consider and utilize professional psychological services in these decision-making moments. The process behind these motivations and decisions warrants investigation to successfully assist students in hopes of avoiding tragic outcomes, such as suicidal ideation. Multiple forces affect why individuals choose to utilize professional services or otherwise avoid them.

Through a grounded theory approach, twenty-eight young adults were interviewed based on specific criteria that established two sets of questions. One set of questions addressed the five participants who only seriously considered the use of …

Topics In Energy, Trade And Environmental, And Public Economics, Ivan Peter Anich

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three papers, one each in energy economics, the environment and trade, and public economics. The first chapter generalizes the classical concept of the Lindahl allocation, a normative standard by which a theoretical provision of public goods is judged. The generalization, called a Generalized Lindahl Equilibrium (GLE), requires a personalized tax schedule to be assigned to each consumer, rather than a single personalized tax. This allows for non-linear taxation, redistribution of consumer surplus, and a more `just' provision of public goods. The second chapter studies how trade policy and environmental policy affect the timing of adoption of …

Someone To Keep Me: Emotions, Labor, Trauma, And Orphanhood In Haiti, Hannah Mackynzie Archer

Doctoral Dissertations

In Haiti, the orphan occupies an important place in humanitarian discourse and practice as the key figure underlying the institution of the orphanage. Crucial to the orphanage and the orphan is work done by house mamas as nannies for the children, drawn primarily from the same communities and economic backgrounds as orphans. This ethnography explores how interactions between orphans, nannies, and volunteers are woven into a system of emotions produced by orphans, managed by nannies, and consumed by volunteers. Furthermore, how the intricacies of racial, gendered, and age-based inequalities, underlying these emotional exchanges, presume to reproduce discourses about the proper …

Rapport And Collective Attention: How We Predict Others Will Share Knowledge, Andrew S. Heim

Doctoral Dissertations

When we observe people playing cooperative games together, there are several factors such as their rapport, attention, and theory of mind reasoning ability that might influence the information we think they will prioritize. On the one hand, we might expect players to clear up uncertain information. On the other hand, we might expect them to instead share information that is unknown to their partner. Participants observed two players in a cooperative game and predicted how the players would choose to go about prioritizing the sharing of information. We found that participants generally chose to discuss private knowledge. Additionally, it appears …

Essays On The Economics Of Federal Programs, Diego A. Guerrero

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays in public economics and the political economy of the public sector. The document contributes empirical evidence on the impact of public policies on households, firms, and government. This first essay revisits the evidence on the intergenerational effects of the earned income tax credit (EITC) on the adult income of individuals who received the tax credit during childhood. The empirical strategy exploits formulaic changes localized across socioeconomic status in the tax schedule, and finds that tax credit transfers during early childhood increase adult income between 1.7 and 2.7 percent per \$1,000. Furthermore, the paper links …

A Relational Ontological Framework For Identifying Unstated Assumptions In Scientific Datasets, Kathryn Elizabeth Knight

Doctoral Dissertations

Every field of modern science relies on data as something foundational, the basic material that provides researchers with evidence of all recordable phenomena. Data carries an epistemic weight, linking various sensory experience as proof to our propositions, supporting scientific pursuit to get to the truth of something and justify scientific belief. However, to measure or count amounts to categorization, and the categories we create emerge from the models and cognitive schemes constructed in the minds of human beings. Our data is collected, measured, divided, and otherwise organized according to how we think about the world, and retains inherent unstated assumptions …

Engineering Team Success: Evaluating Perceptions Of Teamwork Processes And Emergent States Effects On Team Outcomes, Lauren Kistler

All Dissertations

The increasing reliance on teams in modern organizations demonstrates the value and relevance of teamwork in the professional world (Porter et al., 2003). Despite the substantial amount of team research focused on team effectiveness (Mathieu et al., 2008), further investigation is warranted to provide more nuanced insight into team dynamics. The present study examined perceptions of team processes and emergent states to assess how they impact perceptions of team satisfaction and potency. Perceptions of strategy formulation, role clarity, team monitoring and backup, monitoring goal progression, coordination, trust, psychological safety, team potency, and team satisfaction were measured with a sample of …

Policy Solutions For Juvenile Cyber-Deviant Behaviors: Insights From Criminological Theory, Holly Verity Williams

All Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to develop a deeper understanding of online deviance as a phenomenon among juveniles, both in terms of engagement and victimization, by applying Attachment Theory, Social Learning Theory, and Self-Control Theory. Throughout the literature, Attachment Theory, Social Learning Theory, and Self-Control Theory have been attributed as key criminological theories in the explanation of juvenile deviance offline, but little research has been applied to online deviance in this way. This thesis seeks to apply the same criminological theories to the phenomenon of online deviance among juveniles and compare outcomes to both online and offline deviance among …

The Machine In The Rice Field: A Spatial Analysis Of Mechanized Rice Processing Infrastructure Along The Cooper River, 1780 - 1830, Jacob Hockenberry

All Theses

This thesis examines the spatial and physical characteristics of mechanized rice processing infrastructure along the Cooper River in South Carolina’s Lowcountry between 1780 and 1830. Historic rice plantation plats and modern geospatial data provided new information regarding the location of rice processing machines in relation to other plantation landscape features. This research analyzed seven rice plantations that contained these machines. Each plantation plat was georeferenced using ArcGIS Pro to support a detailed spatial analysis of these processing sites. While literature has extensively detailed the social, economic, environmental and enslaved aspects of rice culture in the Lowcountry, little research has specifically …

Residents’ Perceptions Of Use On Community Interface Areas At Protected Areas’ Boundaries: A Comparison Between Users And Non-Users, Louis Santiago Brevan

All Theses

Over the past fifty years, Protected Area (PA) management has gradually transitioned from the traditional top-down approach toward a more collaborative and participatory management model, which integrates the needs and perspectives of local communities. This quantitative study used a questionnaire to assess the perceived constraints of visitation, the attitudes toward tourism development, and the level of involvement in decision-making among community members residing near a community interface area on a PA’s boundaries. Structural constraints were the most prominent barrier to visiting (i.e., the poor state of the road and facilities). Residents indicated strong support towards tourism development and nearly half …

The Effect Of Workload On Trust Repair: Testing A New Model Of Trust Repair, Jada Lester

All Theses

Given the importance of trust in human-automation interaction, there has been intense activity in understanding trust repair (Esterwood & Robert, 2021). However, despite the numerous trust repair studies, there is no coherent understanding of when and why trust repair works. A recently proposed theoretical model identified two unique categories of trust repair (central and peripheral) and the factors that might affect their success (Pak & Rovira, 2023). The current study tested a specific hypothesis arising from the theoretical model: variations in workload will affect central trust repair efficacy, but peripheral trust repair will be unaffected by workload. Participants engaged in …

The Post Pandemic Learner: How Spatial Dynamics & Accessibility Impact The Learning Experience, Erikka Misrahi

All Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic had unprecedented impacts on Generation Z (Gen Z) in regard to mental wellbeing and learning impacts. While the world shut down in March 2020, the majority of students who have since entered college were forced to attend some portion of high school using remote learning platforms. This transition, while necessary at the time, has had repercussions that are still being felt in higher education. These impacts, combined with the challenges that Gen Z were already experiencing due to the pressures of social media, and the impacts that technology has had on attention spans, have changed their learning …

Online Political Participation Among Younger Generations: A Case Study Of The Nigerian Presidential Election, Bowale Odukale

All Theses

The 2023 presidential elections in Nigeria represented a significant milestone in the nation's democratic progression, capturing the interest of observers both within the country and abroad. This study identifies the key online opinion leaders who participated in the electoral discourse, their generational affiliation, and the role of social media in facilitating youth engagement throughout the political process. Using Sprinkl, an online monitoring tool to harvest publicly available tweets containing the hashtag #NigeriaDecides2023 from February 11 to March 15, coupled with interviews, the study identified the prominent opinion leaders with significant influence, their types of messages and the motives behind youth …

Division-I Student-Athletes’ Socialization Out Of Sports: The Role Of Exit Circumstances And Interpersonal Support On Wellness, Hannah J. Gertz

All Theses

Student-athletes who compete at the Division-I level typically receive much public exposure and attention during their athletic careers, often leading them to form a high athletic identity. As such, they often need help transitioning away from the athletic competitor role following their retirement. This process, known as socialization out of sport (SOS), is characterized by a loss of purpose and identity for student-athletes and can harm their overall well-being and quality of life. Establishing the empirical associations between SOS's proposed characteristics/features (e.g., the impetus of SOS, educational status, athletic identity, and sense of closure) and former student-athletes’ subsequent life experiences …

The Fans Have Spoken: Understanding Survivor Fandom Through Semi-Structured Interviews, Ben Katarzynski

All Theses

Survivor is an American competition-based reality television show in which contestants compete with and against one another in physical and social challenges while being stranded in remote parts of the world. In the end, the last contestant standing is awarded a one-million-dollar grand prize. Since premiering in 2000, Survivor now has over 40 completed seasons in its catalogue which has allowed for the show to develop many fans over the past two and a half decades. However, not every Survivor fan thinks or behaves in the same way. For this thesis I paired Henry Jenkins and Janet Staiger’s fan action …

An Economic Analysis In Relation To Aspects Of Kale And Rice Agricultural Production In South Carolina And The Broader Southeastern U.S., Shane Behler

All Theses

Agriculture has been crucial to the economic and cultural well-being of South Carolina throughout the state’s storied history. This importance has not diminished in our contemporary world. Agribusiness, which includes the agriculture and forestry sectors, is the largest industry in the state, providing nearly 260,000 jobs and 51.8 billion in annual economic impact. Almost 25,000 working farms encompass 4.8 million acres of land in South Carolina .

It is no stretch to claim that South Carolina’s agricultural industry affects almost every individual in the state. If not directly involved in the agriculture industry, it is nearly certain all residents have …

Resource Wealth And Micro-Insurgency Duration, Michael Trevett

Dissertations

Why are some insurgencies small in scale but long-term in duration, particularly those involving natural resource wealth? This dissertation identifies and defines a specific type of intrastate conflict, the micro-insurgency. I then examine how and why micro-insurgencies fought over natural resources are almost always very long-term conflicts, often lasting decades. Two data sets from previous research, one by Michael Ross and the other by Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler, are refined and then analyzed and tested using Fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (FsQCA). Findings from the FsQCA testing and analysis reveal that ancestral lands and actual, or existing and exploitable, …

Examining Young Adult E-Cigarette Users By Device Type: A Latent Class Analysis, Mufazzela Tabassum

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses

Examining Young Adult E-Cigarette Users by Device Type: A Latent Class Analysis

Purpose. This study examined which factors influence the type(s) of e-cigarette devices someone uses and if there are heterogeneous groups of young adult e-cigarette users.

Methods. This study first quantitatively explored if there are heterogeneous groups of e-cigarette users by utilizing data from an online cross-sectional survey. E-cigarette users (n = 595) were able to participate in the survey if they were 18-29 years of age, used an e-cigarette for 1-5 days in the past 30 days, own their own e-cigarette, and live in the United States. Participants …

Adventist Human Subject Researchers' Association Research Conference: May 22-25, 2024, Andrews University

Human Subject Research Archive

Program Book

New Perspectives On Peace Settlements: The Significance Of Power-Sharing And Hierarchies On Negotiation Dynamics, Alejandra Vásquez Gutiérrez

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

By examining the impact of the commitment problem between the FARC and the Colombian government, this paper seeks to answer the following question: What led the government and the FARC to finally agree to end the conflict through a peace accord? This research addresses a notable gap in the literature by examining the pivotal role of power-sharing arrangements and hierarchical structures on negotiation dynamics. I conducted in-depth interviews with public officials in Colombia, complemented by the utilization of secondary data. I aim to ascertain whether power-sharing arrangements mitigate the commitment problem and to advance our current understanding of whether rebel …