Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Storytelling For Fundraising: Assessing The Impact Of Personal Stories On Donation Behavior, Kate Mccarthy

Jepson School of Leadership Studies Research Symposium

In fundraising, some nonprofits have sought to channel the power of personal stories by including them in appeal letters. Are stories an effective tool in soliciting donations? In this study, participants read one of three appeals from an unnamed abortion fund. Two conditions contained a personal story, either an “unapologetic” or a “safe, legal, rare” narrative, about a woman who underwent an abortion; one condition did not include a story. Participants were then asked questions regarding the appeal and the organization before being given a “bonus” dollar, and offered the option of donating a portion of that to an abortion …

Farm Management Practices Used By Wheat Producers In The Western Great Plains: Estimating Their Productivity And Profitability, Jeffrey Vitale, Pilja Park Vitale, Francis Epplin, Kris Giles, Norm Elliott, Frank Peairs, Paul Burgener, Sean Keenan, Gerald Michels, Gary Hein

Journal of Applied Farm Economics

Changes in government farm programs and the introduction of new technology offer wheat producers in the western Great Plains a variety of management practices to alleviate biotic and agronomic constraints inherent in a wheat monoculture. Producers have adopted alternative tillage systems, crop diversification, and insect-resistant varieties in response to the hot, semiarid growing conditions and increased pest pressure. The objective of this study was to determine if those practices generated positive impacts on wheat yield and corresponding net returns. Panel data collected from a group of 141 producers over a four-year period (N = 564) were analyzed using econometric models. …

Improving Beef Cattle Profitability By Changing Calving Season Length, Christopher N. Boyer, Andrew P. Griffith, Ky G. Pohler

Journal of Applied Farm Economics

We determined the impacts of calving season length on net returns and variability in net returns for spring-and fall-calving herds in Tennessee. Weaning weight as a function of calving date was estimated using a 19-year data set and simulation models generated distributions of net returns for 45-, 60-, and 90-day calving periods with and without using hypothetical improved reproductive management (IRM) practices. Shortening the calving period from 90 days increased expected net returns in the spring-and fall-calving herds. The 45-day fall-calving period with IRM maximized profits, but an extremely risk-averse producer would select a 45-day fall-calving period without IRM.

Financial Implications From Contracting Avian Influenza In A U.S. Broiler Operation, Jordan M. Shockley, Tyler Mark, Kenneth H. Burdine, Levi Russell

Journal of Applied Farm Economics

This essay evaluates the on-farm financial impacts of an avian influenza outbreak on a U.S. commercial broiler operation. It investigates how the timing and length of the outbreak impacts farm financial performance for two different farmers, beginning and experienced. Results indicate that a beginning farmer is more susceptible to significant financial losses. Both farmers are financially impacted more when avian influenza is contracted early in the investment and when the contamination and eradication of the virus was prolonged. Furthermore, this essay highlights the problems of using standard financial measures for analyzing disease outbreaks under production contract arrangements and presents alternative …

Poetry, Sort Of: My Experience Using Library Of Congress Subject Headings And The Supplemental List Of Seventh-Day Adventist Subject Headings, Daniel J. Drazen

Journal of Adventist Libraries and Archives

The Library of Congress Subject Headings, for all its seeming comprehension, has not always been up to the task of covering Seventh-day Adventist subject matter better than the Supplementary List of Subject Headings published by the Loma Linda University Libraries as used by the Seventh-day Adventist Periodical Index. More important, there has been, and continues to be, a need to coin new terms as they are needed. To rely primarily on one source for assigning index terms, however comprehensive it might seem generally, is too inflexible a strategy to be realistic. Relying on both the LCSH and the …

The Ontogeny Of Sex-Typed Social Strategies Among East African Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodyes Schweinfurthii), Kristin H. Sabbi

Anthropology ETDs

Although many differences in the behavior of men and women resemble those of other mammals, their developmental roots remain hotly debated due to the strong force of culture, including gender socialization, on human behavior. However, we can examine alternative and complementary mechanisms by studying chimpanzees, a closely-related species with complex sociality but without gender socialization. This dissertation comprises a multi-year, observational study of wild chimpanzee development examining three potential drivers of sex-typed social behavior: social experience, underlying differences in attention, and hormonal physiology. Immature chimpanzees experienced differential aggressive exposure that was shaped by their own early-emerging behavioral patterns. Both sexes …

Virtual Commencement & Celebration Of Graduates, Hannah Gallant

Andrews Agenda: Campus News

No abstract provided.

Political Parties And Demographic Transformation In Nevada, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Demography

This Fact Sheet presents projections of demographic change in Nevada’s political party coalitions using data provided in the report “States of Change: How Demographic Change is Transforming the Republican and Democratic Political Parties.” Using the composition of the two parties’ electorate in the 2016 presidential election as a baseline, researchers explore age, race, and education characteristics of voters in 14 U.S. swing states to predict the demographic makeup of voting groups in future elections. This Fact Sheet makes comparisons to other swing states, but focuses primarily on Nevada data.

Systems Of Meaning In Place Attachment, Emily Routman

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Numerous scholars agree that contact with natural landscapes has benefits for the landscape and the person experiencing them, including increased environmentally-responsible behaviors as well as psychological, cognitive, physiological, and social benefits. People develop a sense of place in outdoor landscapes while experiencing the physical environment, and sense of place is strengthened by place attachment – one’s emotional ties to a place. According to Williams and Patterson (1999), place attachment is perceived through four systems of meaning: 1) aesthetic/inherent, 2) goal-directed/instrumental, 3) cultural/symbolic, and 4) individual/expressive. The present study sought to understand which of these four systems of meaning are the …

Memorialization On College Campuses Today, Virginia Thornton

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

This study uses the theoretical basis of placemaking and memorialization to examine the placement of memorial landscapes on college campuses. The research is based in case study analysis of other college campuses. It looks specifically at where and what is memorialized and what elements of placemaking are incorporated. The main postulate of my research is that the location of the memorialization of the suspected slave burial ground and history of slave labor on Richmond’s campus is appropriately placed in the Eco-corridor. The research suggests this postulate is not true, as the majority of other memorials have been placed in more …

Stormwater Management For A Healthier Campus Watershed: The Value-Add Of Green Stormwater And Watershed Management To The University Of Richmond’S Campus Landscape, Nia Cambridge

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Increasing competitiveness, educational opportunities and available funding, investment in sustainable infrastructure can be an immense value-add to the modern-day college campus. This paper explores the use of green low impact development to mitigate the effects of stormwater runoff on the University of Richmond (UR) campus. Rich in sediment, nutrients, heavy metals, bacteria and other organic matter, stormwater runoff is one of the main non-point sources of pollution in urban water bodies and a key area of opportunity for UR to improve stewardship to the nearby James River. A review of academic and industry literature was conducted to determine whether or …

Liking And Listening: Impression Formation And Information Processing In Presidential Debates, Lauren H. O'Brien

Jepson School of Leadership Studies Research Symposium

Participants were asked to watch, listen to, or read a transcript of the opening statements from the first presidential debate of 1960 between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Afterwards, participants were asked to recall three moments in the debate, both list and identify quotes from each candidate, and indicate impressions of each candidate’s personality. My research aimed to see if there is any connection between debate format, how participants process information, and how participants form impressions of a leader’s personality. I hypothesized that participants who listened to the debate would best process information. While there were few situations where …

Learning To Check Yourself: Improving Civic Engagement Through Duties, Better Voting Practices, And Combatting Group Loyalty, Katherine Brumond

Jepson School of Leadership Studies Research Symposium

This project examines civic engagement. It is divided into three chapters: apathy, voting, and group loyalties. In the first section, I derive two duties, a duty to care and a duty to reason well, that serve as a framework for community engagement aimed at facilitating moral progress. In the second section the main topic is voting. Voting as it currently stands poses several difficulties when conforming to the duties of caring and reasoning well. Instead of arguing for abstaining from voting, I argue for strategies that we can vote well by being more rational. The third section of this project …

A License To Kill: The Institutional Failure Of The Legal System To Hold Police Accountable, Eliana Fleischer

Jepson School of Leadership Studies Research Symposium

In recent years, police shootings of unarmed African American men have become nationally visible. With few exceptions, the police officers involved in those shootings have escaped any criminal penalties. This paper addresses the question: Why is it that so few police officers are convicted after shooting unarmed African Americans? This paper takes an interdisciplinary approach in answering this question. First, prosecutorial power and lack of accountability allow prosecutors to advocate for accused police officers to further their own career prospects. Second, the Supreme Court has adapted the qualified immunity and excessive force doctrines to become nearly all-encompassing legal shields for …

The University Of Richmond: Leadership During Crisis, Gabby Beneducci, Josie Bossidy, Ben Castellano, Lexi Cobbs, Phoebe Cook, Westen Doran, Caroline Dzenitis, Taylor Fine, Evie Hanson, Sophia Hartman, Maha Hassan, Katelyn Inkman, Grace Jamin, Matt Kalady, Mimi Laws, Regan Mccrossan, David Nadwodny, Kathryn Reda, Savon Smith, Brian Taylor, Arden Tierney, Lauranett L. Lee

Student Publications

Throughout history, we have experienced numerous points of difficulty, tension, and conflict. Although they vary widely in their cause, context, and intensity, these points in history are considered times of crisis. How humans have reacted to these events and moments having created influential turning points in human history. This presentation explores various crises in American history, and the role of leaders and leadership during these times. This presentation looks at these crises, past and present, from the perspective of the collegiate institution, specifically, the University of Richmond.

Grain Marketing 2020: Survival And Covid-19, Robert Tigner, Jessica J. Groskopf

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

First paragraph:

Let’s state the obvious: this isn’t a typical year and we all know it. For farmers, it is a survival year. Why? And what might be done to make it through to the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic? This article will discuss how to build a marketing strategy to assure that the farm continues to the next crop year.

Conclusion

This year is shaping up to be a survival year for crop producers. Crop producers need to know at what crop price they will recapture all of the cash they will spend this year. Implementing a marketing …

The Art Of Distancing: A Review Of How To Do Nothing, David J. Mulder, Leah A. Zuidema, Matt Drissell

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

In this symposium style review, Matt Drissell (Associate Professor of Art), Leah Zuidema (Vice President for Online & Graduate Education), and Dave Mulder (Associate Professor of Education) each bring perspectives from their area of expertise.

Posting about the book How to Do Nothing-Resisting the Attention Economy from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/the-art-of-distancing-a-review-of-how-to-do-nothing/

Senior Bonner Reflection, Emily Shiplett

Bonner Presentations

The mission of the Bonner Program is to transform the lives of students and members, their campuses, their local communities, and the world through service and leadership. The Bonner Program is designed to heighten the overall education students and members receive by asking them to engage in ongoing service work and helping them develop the experience, skills, knowledge, and values necessary to make that work meaningful and lasting. In this presentation, Emily Shiplett describes the people and experiences which were most meaningful to her throughout her years in the Bonner Program at Ursinus College.

Scholars' Mine Quick Facts April 2020, Nancy S. Krost

Scholars’ Mine Statistics

Scholars' Mine Quick Facts are monthly reports of downloads, page hits, and other information about works in the institutional repository of Missouri S&T. A map with downloads by region is also included.

Library Guide: Doctor Of Missiology Program, Terry Robertson

Library Administration and Marketing

Orientation brochure for library services prepared to support the Doctor of Missiology program.

Fertility Preferences And Behaviors Among Younger Cohorts In Egypt: Recent Trends, Correlates, And Prospects For Change, Nahla G. Abdel-Tawab, Shadia Attia, Nourhan Bader, Rania Roushdy, Shatha El-Nakib, Doaa Oraby

Reproductive Health

After years of steady decline, Egypt experienced an increase in the total fertility rate (TFR) from 3.0 births per woman in 2008 to 3.5 in 2014, which was coupled with an increase in desired family size among young people. To better understand this increase in fertility as well as prospects for change, the Evidence Project/Population Council conducted secondary analyses of quantitative data from the Egypt Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) and the Survey of Young People in Egypt (SYPE) and collected qualitative data from young people and key informants. This report examines the changes in fertility preferences and behaviors among …

Spartan Daily, April 30, 2020, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2020

Volume 154, Issue 40

Options For Unemployment Insurance Structural And Administrative Reform: Proposals And Analysis, Stephen A. Wandner

Upjohn Institute Policy Papers

The unemployment insurance (UI) program is broken. UI benefits and taxes are out of balance, with benefit payments tending to exceed tax revenues, while the program is unable to provide adequate reemployment services to permanently separated UI recipients. The current crisis in the UI program has been building over the past four decades. Although UI and Social Security were both enacted as part of the Social Security Act, reforms to the programs have diverged sharply. Congress has frequently amended the Social Security program to increase benefits and taxes, and then in 1972 it enacted a permanent annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) …

A Behavioral Analysis Of Intimate Partner Violence Victims, Maryssa Presbitero

Honors Theses

This study derived from the stories of eight women from varying backgrounds who have experienced intimate partner abuse. My analysis focuses on identifying themes across the transcripts of their qualitative open-ended interviews. I was specifically interested in how intimate partner abuse impacted the women’s behavior in terms of surviving the relationships and navigating escape. Given that the interviews included life histories, I was able to also examine themes related to childhood victimization as well. Patterns that arose from their experiences include exposure to violence in the home as children, escalation of abuse in their adult intimate relationships, various struggles to …

A Behavioral Analysis Of Intimate Partner Violence Victims, Maryssa Presbitero

Honors Theses

This study derived from the stories of eight women from varying backgrounds who have experienced intimate partner abuse. My analysis focuses on identifying themes across the transcripts of their qualitative open-ended interviews. I was specifically interested in how intimate partner abuse impacted the women’s behavior in terms of surviving the relationships and navigating escape. Given that the interviews included life histories, I was able to also examine themes related to childhood victimization as well. Patterns that arose from their experiences include exposure to violence in the home as children, escalation of abuse in their adult intimate relationships, various struggles to …

Adapting The Asset Exercise For Humanitarian Contexts, Women's Refugee Commission, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

As a guiding program theory, asset-building centers on the idea that skills, knowledge, relationships, and concrete resources can all constitute assets, or “stores of value,” that girls can, in turn, mobilize to make healthy choices, seek support, navigate institutions, and access entitlements. This approach is inherently multisectoral, rooted in a commitment to prioritize understanding of and respond to the diversity of girls’ needs, capacities, and experiences. The Asset Exercise operationalizes the concept of “asset-building” into concrete terms. The exercise consists of a deck of 100 “asset cards,” and eight “age cards.” Asset cards reflect both intrinsic qualities, concrete knowledge, and …

Rdc Data Alternatives: Conducting Research During Covid-19, Kristi Thompson, Elizabeth Hill

Western Libraries Presentations

Recent physical distancing protocols pertaining to the COVID-19 Pandemic have meant that RDC researchers need to find alternatives ways of carrying out their research. The Real Time Remote Access (RTRA) program offers one alternative way to access confidential Statistics Canada data. Other options include using the Statistics Canada public use files and analyzing data from other sources.

The presenters, data librarians from Western Libraries will discuss the differences between the data that can be accessed through the RTRA the RDC. RTRA data is a very useful option for some types of questions but also has some important limitations. We will …

The Cowl - V. 84 - N. 19 - Apr 30, 2020

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 84 - Number 19 - April 30, 2020. 8 pages.

Body Language: Avatars, Identity Formation, And Communicative Interaction In Vrchat, Cristina Montemorano

Student Research Submissions

What meanings do actors attach to their avatars in virtual reality platforms? How does a person’s relationship with their selected avatar impact their communications with other persons in virtual reality settings? In this thesis, Montemorano seeks to answer these questions through qualitative, ethnographic fieldwork that she conducted in 2019 in the virtual reality space known as VRChat, and in connection with anthropological literature on embodiment, sociality, and personhood. This thesis details the author’s research findings, provides a brief historical background on virtual worlds and avatars, and discusses several noteworthy ethnographic studies of virtual worlds such as Boellstorff’s Coming of Age …

Evaluating The Diverted Attention Condition In A Trial-Based Functional Analysis, Kyle Frank

Thesis Projects

The diverted attention condition of a functional analysis is similar to the standard attention condition; however, instead of the therapist engaging in another task and ignoring the participant, the therapist provides attention to a confederate while diverting attention away from the participant. Contingent upon the occurrence of problem behavior, attention is diverted back to the participant. This study evaluated the diverted attention condition using a trial-based functional analysis format. Results of the standard functional analysis for both subjects were undifferentiated, whereas results of the trial-based functional analysis showed an attention function for one subject through the use of a diverted …