Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

"They Just Needed To Be Given The Opportunity": Judicial Perspectives Of Drug/Dui Courts In South Dakota, Ryleigh A. Christopherson

Honors Thesis

Drug/DUI courts have existed in the state of South Dakota since 2007 when the state became the last to implement a drug/DUI court program. Currently, South Dakota has 17 problem-solving courts which include drug, DUI, mental health, and veterans courts. The drug/DUI court model works to circumvent participants out of the criminal justice system by targeting the root cause of their criminal behavior. The role of the judge in this model is essential. Previous research has found that how participants view the quality of their interactions with the presiding judge is one of the most influential factors for their success …

The Relationship Of Psychology And Music, Thomas Pulling

Honors Projects

This paper discusses the relationship between psychology and music, examining some of the foundational research in the field, and looks at some of the historical context surrounding the psychological study of music and of music theory. The goal of this project is to use my experience as a performing musician and psychology student to emphasize the importance of furthering research into the psychology of music.

Sexual Health Education Scope And Sequence, Sara Wadsworth

Honors Projects

Based on a significant amount of prior research, comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) has been identified to be the most effective method of teaching sexual health education (SHAPE America, 2021; World Health Organization, 2023). Comprehensive sexual health education improves healthy behaviors and outcomes, provides useful information, and is positively perceived by students (Gardner, 2015; Kirby, 2002; Robinson et al., 2022). However, the United States’ current sexual health education has not implemented this ideal method, which is shown through state laws, students’ experiences, underdeveloped skills and flawed understanding of concepts, and – most importantly – a lack of resources for teachers (Foley, …

New England High School Coaches’ Perceptions Of The Role Of Team Culture On Performance And Well-Being, Stephen Brown

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

High school sports are the most popular extracurricular activity in the United States. Coaches serve as gatekeepers to team culture and influence student athletes’ experiences in those sports. Team cultures influence performance and well-being outcomes. Those outcomes are not inherently beneficial and have caused harm to some student-athletes. Guided by a constructivist approach paired with grounded theory analysis, this study investigates how high school coaches in New England perceive the role of team culture in promoting student-athlete well-being and performance. Thirteen head varsity athletic coaches from New England schools took part in interviews via Zoom to share their thoughts on …

Implementing Choice In Treatment Modality For Adolescents With Autism Learning Daily Living Skills, Silvia Robazza

Honors Theses

Daily living skills, categorized as personal-care activities within the home, community, and school setting, are crucial components in establishing daily routines amongst adolescents (Stabel, 2013). Many of these activities require gross motor and fine motor skills, which are skills that tend to be difficult for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD;Chen et al., 2022). When trying to express their wants and needs surrounding completing day-to-day activities, individuals with ASD may engage in problem behaviors as a way to communicate (Iwata et al., 1982). Nonetheless, implementing choice in treatment has been found to significantly decrease occurrences of problem behavior (Shogren et …

Mindful Parenting And Harsh Parenting: The Indirect Role Of Maternal Stress, Heidi M. Sanders

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

This study explored associations between maternal mindful parenting (i.e., mindful discipline, being in the moment with the child), maternal parental stress, and harsh parenting (i.e., physical and psychological harsh parenting) in early childhood. A sample of 172 mothers of young children in New Mexico completed questionnaires assessing perceived parental stress, use of harsh parenting, and mindful parenting. Results of the path model analysis demonstrated that being mindful in the moment with the child was directly, negatively associated with physical harsh parenting and also negatively associated with perceived stress. Mindful discipline was directly, negatively associated with both psychological aggression and perceived …

Small Moments: Anthropological Poetry, Lee Davis

Undergraduate Theses

Have you ever perhaps overheard a conversation and thought it reminded you of your own life, or someone you knew? You most likely moved on, and you most likely completely forgot about who you overheard. This collection of poetry was written to urge thought on these secret moments of connection which most people experience every day. Every poem in the collection was written from something I overheard in public, as though I were reading prompts. The pieces are fictional in the sense that I really know so little of the full context, but real in the sense that when I …

Examining Populist Political Parties In The Baltic States, Lilly Thompson

Honors College Theses

Globally, populist political parties and leaders have been making gains over the last decade. Many of these populist leaders have been using their power to erode democratic institutions and public trust. While the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have long distinguished themselves from the other post-communist countries of Eastern Europe, they are no exception to the populist trend. Under what conditions are populist political parties in the Baltic states successful? In this paper, I analyze the distinctive variables present that can explain the popularity of populism in all three states. I argue that there is a positive correlation …

Analysis Of Circular Design Principles For The Sustainable End-Of-Life Management Of Renewable Energy Assets: Investigation Of Illinois And Germany Renewable Energy Policies And Programs., Samuel N. Nimaful

2024 Student Research and Creativity Conference

This poster presents an analysis into the integration of circular design principles within renewable energy policies, comparing the approaches of Illinois, USA, and Germany. With the global shift towards renewable energy to combat climate change, the sustainable management of end-of-life (EoL) renewable assets has become crucial. The study utilizes a thematic analysis to explore seven key policies from Illinois and five from Germany, employing NVivo software to dissect aspects such as design strategies, support for innovation, and enforcement mechanisms.

Breaking The Sound Ceiling: An Empirical Investigation Of Gender Discrimination In The Music Industry, Alexia Brandao

Honors Projects in Mathematics and Economics

This study investigates women's representation, or lack thereof, in the music industry by examining Billboard charts from 2016-2023, which corresponds with the years that Spotify began their "Wrapped" program. The studied years are also directly related to the timeline in which algorithms have generated personalized recommendations, playlists, and radio stations based on users' previous listening history and preferences. In recent years, the demographic makeup of the music industry has been benchmarked by equity imbalance and gender inequality. The research being conducted analyzes how the significance of male artist dominance brings forth the main barriers that female producers, songwriters, and artists …

Fieldwork Learning Opportunities For Trainees In Behavior Analysis: A Survey Of Current Practices, Madison Crandall, Clare Liddon, Regan Weston

Thomas C. Hunt Building a Research Community Day

Individuals seeking certification as a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA®™) by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB®™) must meet certain eligibility requirements. In addition to passing the BCBA examination, students are required to complete supervised practical fieldwork. In accruing fieldwork hours, trainees must be provided with the opportunity to complete unrestricted activities. The BACB defines unrestricted activities as “…those that are most likely to be performed by a BCBA,” and requires that 60% of fieldwork hours are comprised of these activities (BACB, 2022a). Fieldwork hours may be accrued across a number of different host sites (e.g., hospital units, schools, community locations, …

Impact Of Emotional Intelligence On Client Satisfaction In Project Management, Mousami Berawala

Harrisburg University Dissertations and Theses

This study investigates the correlation between emotional intelligence (EI) and client satisfaction in project management. It is guided by the central research question: Is emotional intelligence linked to client satisfaction? To explore this, the research is structured around Practice of EI on Leadership and Junior level and impact on client satisfaction, the impact of varying work environments, including remote, hybrid, office-based, and site-based settings, on project outcomes post-pandemic; differences in EI practices across countries and the effect of diverse work cultures; the comparison of EI application across different fields, with a focus on work-life balance and industry-specific practices in banking, …

Analyzing Stakeholder Feedback Using Ai, Nancy Susan Manoj

Harrisburg University Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this research paper is to explore the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing stakeholder feedback analysis in urban planning. This study aims to determine whether artificial intelligence can be used to increase stakeholder feedback analysis efficiency in urban planning projects. Additionally, the study will examine whether urban planning professionals are ready to adopt artificial intelligence into their practices. This study uses a structured quantitative research methodology, consisting of an online survey with Likert-scale questions to collect insights.

Based on the results of the survey, it appears that Boomers and older Gen X are more open to …

Voices Beyond Bars: A Qualitative Study Examining Occupational Participation For Formerly Incarcerated Women, Brianna Correia, Mary Smith Otd, Otr/L, Cynthia Simons Rps, Mhps

Spring 2024 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

This capstone project addressed the research question: “What are the systemic, societal, and personal barriers and facilitators to occupational participation and engagement that formerly incarcerated women experience in Texas?” The project aimed to advocate for formerly incarcerated women living in Texas by interviewing and collaborating with them to create an advocacy booklet highlighting their lived experiences. Following USAHS IRB approval, recruitment, and screening, 20 participants engaged in a semi-structured interview via Zoom. Insights on their experience post-incarceration in Texas regarding housing, employment, family, healthcare, and change were explored. The data obtained was analyzed and codes and themes were identified. When …

A Multi-Site Qualitative Analysis Of The Juvenile Justice And Child Welfare Systems: Implications For Dual System Youth, Lauren Morgan

Dissertations

Researchers have been studying juveniles who experience both child maltreatment and delinquency for decades. These studies document the prevalence, outcomes, and demographics of youth who navigate child welfare and juvenile justice systems, also known as dual system youth. However, there is a lack of investigation into the complex processes occurring at the intersection of these two systems. This dissertation aims to fill that gap by building on previous research, organizational theory, and the growing area of punishment literature in criminal justice. The goal is to better understand how juvenile justice and child welfare systems organizationally manage dual system youth. Specifically, …

A Most Despicable Hoax: Women, Crime, And Newspapers In Depression-Era St. Louis, Nancy Stiles

Theses

This paper delves into the captivating saga of Nellie Muench, a St. Louis housewife whose life intersected with the burgeoning celebrity culture, evolving media landscape, and shifting gender dynamics of the early 20th century. Muench's involvement as a co-conspirator in the 1931 kidnapping for ransom of a wealthy doctor propelled her into the spotlight, where she navigated media manipulation to attempt to craft her own narrative. Secretly obtaining a baby and passing it off as her own child to gain jury sympathy and blackmail a rich paramour took interest in her case to sensational tabloid (and legal) heights. Drawing from …

Subject Analysis Ex Machina: Developing A Subject Heading Recommendation Service For Jmu Libraries, Steven W. Holloway

Libraries

Results of a 2022 evaluation of ANNIF, open-source software designed to generate controlled vocabulary subject headings, using James Madison University Libraries resources.

A Design Science Approach To Investigating Decentralized Identity Technology, Janelle Krupicka

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

The internet needs secure forms of identity authentication to function properly, but identity authentication is not a core part of the internet’s architecture. Instead, approaches to identity verification vary, often using centralized stores of identity information that are targets of cyber attacks. Decentralized identity is a secure way to manage identity online that puts users’ identities in their own hands and that has the potential to become a core part of cybersecurity. However, decentralized identity technology is new and continually evolving, which makes implementing this technology in an organizational setting challenging. This paper suggests that, in the future, decentralized identity …

The Changing Nature Of Education In Youth Justice Centres In New South Wales (Australia), Laura Metcalfe, Cathy Little Dr, Garner Clancey Dr, David Evans Dr

Journal of Prison Education Research

Education is an important protective factor in preventing involvement in crime. For those young people that enter the youth justice system, and especially youth justice centres, education is a critical, but infrequently explored part of their time in custody following generally disrupted schooling experiences. There are currently six youth justice centres in New South Wales, Australia. Each of these centres have an Education and Training Unit which are schools funded by and staffed with Department of Education personnel. There is evidence that young people accessing these schools regard them very positively. However, this article, drawing on publicly available information, raises …

The International Lens Of Western Michigan University, Tesha Nowak

Honors Theses

The international students highlighted in this documentary have different stories with the same experience of studying in the United States. Some international students are at Western with family, making the transition easier for them whereas some are here alone, still trying to find the community that fits their identity. In this documentary, Western Michigan University’s (WMU) international students, will discuss their study abroad experience in the United States such as culture shock, negotiating native and new cultures and managing assumptions that Americans have about them or their cultures. Their stories will bring to light the reality of the study abroad …

Psychological Influences On Reaction When Faced With Failure And Difficult Experiences, Marcus Cunha

Honors Theses

The current study investigated the impact of psychological traits on emotional reactions in the face of challenges. The study employed tasks designed to induce negative psychological states, such as a Learned Helplessness (LH) task (Hooper & McHugh, 2013) and the difficult Compound Remote Associate (CRA) task (Bowden & Jung-Beeman, 2003). A correlational study was conducted using a within-subjects design. All participants were given initially the same questionnaires measuring the following predictor variables: Grit, Need for Cognition (NFC), Psychological Flexibility (PF), Trait Cognitive Fusion (CF), and Emotional Stability. Participants then engaged in the LH and CRA tasks followed by completing outcome …

Influencing Beauty: The Impact Of Tiktok Influencers On Gen Z The Cosmetic Industry, Lauren Barry

Honors Projects in Mathematics and Economics

This study analyzes the impact that influencers on TikTok have on the cosmetic industry through Generation Z. The study aims to find, through research on economic trends and purchasing behaviors of Generation Z, strategies companies can use towards marketing and production in the cosmetic industry to better understand their consumers. Data will be collected through surveys and analysis of economic trends for the popular cosmetic brand, Tarte Cosmetics. The findings and results of the data collected will offer recommendations for companies in the cosmetic industry to adjust their strategies to work along with Gen Z’s engagement on social media, focusing …

Effects Of Postural Position, Eeg Asymmetry, And Temperamental Style On Cognitive Task Performance, Taylor Cops, Christy D. Wolfe

Undergraduate Theses

The literature shows hemispheric asymmetry in individuals corresponding with temperamental style. Those with greater right-frontal activation tend towards withdrawal/inhibition and those with greater left-frontal activation tend towards approach/activation (e.g., Davidson, 1992). Other literature suggests that greater right-parietotemporal activation is associated with increased arousal (Heller, 1993; Wolfe & Bell, 2014). Temperamental style has been linked with cognitive performance with approach-oriented temperaments being associated with both higher and lower performance depending on the task requirements (Khan et al., 2024; Wolfe & Bell, 2007). Literature further suggests that postural position (e.g., sitting, standing, lying down) may influence feelings of approach/withdrawal and cognitive processing. …

"And No Birds Sing": The Environmental Ethics Of Carson, Keats, Sagan, And Oliver, Savannah Bloom

Undergraduate Theses

This project aims to create resonances and synchronicities between the works of science writers Rachel Carson and Carl Sagan and poets John Keats and Mary Oliver. It puts their environmental ethics in conversation with one another with a focus on shared literary practices and ecocritical and ecocentric sensibilities. Is the work of poetry, particularly poetry participating in the Romantic tradition, compatible with science writing? The ultimate goal is to demonstrate the symbiosis between science and literature and the necessity of bridging scientific and poetic discourse in regard to addressing climate and the environment. Each chapter pairs a science writer with …

Combating Trauma And The Immigrant Paradox In Schools, Emma Bergman

Honors Projects

Over time, research on immigrant populations has revealed a trend known as the immigrant paradox in which, the further generations get from the generation of immigration, the poorer their outcomes are in areas such as mental health, delinquency, substance abuse, and education. Though a definitive explanation for this trend has yet to be identified, prevailing theories include several social, familial, and community-based factors such as the impacts of bilingualism, parental expectations, biculturalism, co-ethnic peers, quality of schools, and community support. Little attention has been paid to individual factors such as mental health and trauma. The present study proposes the transgenerational …

Social Media Risk Messaging During The March 2023 Arkansas Tornadoes: A Qualitative Approach, Will Sappington, Andrew Rafferty

ATU Research Symposium

This study examines the social media risk communication activities of public organizations during the March 2023 Arkansas Tornadoes. The research question for this study is “what information was communicated to the public during the March 2023 Arkansas Tornadoes?” The data for the study was collected by reviewing the Facebook posts of 22 public organizations for a seven-day period (March 30 -April 5, 2023). The data thus collected was analyzed by using qualitative content analysis approach. The findings suggest that most of the organizations only communicated to the public after the tornadoes. The message content disseminated before and during the tornado …

Wildlife Trafficking And Illegal Trade In Endangered Species, Caden J. Kump

ATU Research Symposium

There has been a long endeavor with illegal trade and trafficking involving endangered species. There are ways to fix it if we put more focus into the type of punishments or boons to give to the people who do it right. There are numerous ways to fix this like better surveillance or rewards/encouragement for the people who do it by the book where it outweighs doing it illegally. Using surveillance has helped locating and identifying the lawbreakers for people like game wardens. Giving rewards or encouragement has also kept people at bay from committing these crimes because now they can …

Keynote Panel: Creative Research Methods At Govstate - Possibilities For Cross-Pollination And Collaboration, Ujvala Rajadhyaksha, Katherine Carl, Frank Czuba, Christopher A. Dignam, Megan Vangorder

Research Days

No abstract provided.

Documenting Wonderland: Conducting A Collection Survey To Inform Collecting Policies, Sara Pettinger, Anne L. Foster

Journal of Western Archives

Collection surveys and collecting policies have become standard for effective archival collection management. But in recent years, surveys have most often been used to establish processing and preservation priorities and collecting policies are often considered static documents that, once established, change little as the collections grow. The Yellowstone National Park Archives, with a mandate to update its collecting policy and limited space and resources, developed a project to survey its collections in order to inform an updated policy. With a more granular focus on analyzing collections than previous surveys have undertaken, this case study focused on defining success and fulfillment …

‘Opening The Future’ – A Reliable Funding Model For Open Access Monographs: Introducing An Innovative Approach To Publishing Oa Books Through Library Membership Funding, Kira Hopkins, Tom Grady

All Things Open

We outline the work of two university presses (Liverpool University Press and Central European University Press) who are, with assistance from Copim (Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs), running an innovative revenue model to fund open access monographs. Called Opening the Future (OtF) this model builds on library subscription models: giving library members access to a highly-regarded backlist, with the revenue then used to make the frontlist openly accessible to all.

Given the current global library environment and budget pressures, a consortial model of funding promises a cost-effective solution for OA that means no single institution bears a disproportionate burden. …