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Stranger Danger: Analyzing Offender Behaviors Based on Victim Approach Tactics in Sexual Homicide
No full textVictims of sexual homicide may be deceived by perpetrators who use a friendly approach to gain access to them, making it difficult for the victim to assess the danger posed by the stranger. When investigating sexual homicides committed by strangers, investigators often lack direct information, including how the perpetrator gained access to the victim. To identify potential predictors of the approach method used in sexual homicides, this study analyzed the preferences and behaviors of sexual murderers who target strangers based on their approach method. The results of the logistic regression analysis showed that in comparison to offenders using “blitz” or “surprise” attacks, those using a deceptive “con” approach tended to have more male victims, exploit vulnerability, and exhibit post-crime organization by relocating the victim's body and successfully disposing of the weapon used in the crime. Their crimes also more frequently involved oral sex and had lower rates of victim beating. This study discusses the investigative implications of these findings
From Empathy to Efficiency: The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Workplace Culture
Get PDFThe topic of emotional intelligence and its emergence in different fields has been a rising subject of interest in the field of psychology within the past 3 decades. Understanding the relevance between emotional intelligence and organizational cultures is beneficial to creating more effective and happier work environments. This literature review aims to explore the existing studies on this topic and evaluate different occurrences of emotional intelligence in organizational cultures, and the outcomes. This review was conducted using the PsycINFO database through Alkek Library with Texas State University. All articles are peer-reviewed, published within the last 10 years, and are written in English. All articles reviewed include participants aged 18-65, and most articles conduct empirical studies or quantitative studies. The purpose of this systematic literature review was to evaluate existing literature to summarize where EI (Emotional Intelligence) is present in Organizational Cultures (OC). By synthesizing the findings, this review illuminates key trends and gaps in current research, suggesting areas for future exploration. The findings indicate that OCs that implement EI show higher rates of positive employee outcomes such as employee satisfaction, subjective career success, leader effectiveness while decreasing negative work behaviors.Communication Studie
Stories Matter & Japanese Stories Matter More: Anime & Manga's Massive Popularity and How it can be Used in Academic Settings
Get PDFStorytelling has always played an important role in human experience and has had massive impacts on shaping cultural attitudes and beliefs. Stories have been vessels of wisdom and knowledge that allow the audience to interpret, analyze, and reflect on the ideas and messages hidden in these stories. Each area of the world has developed their own niches and unique forms of storytelling, and none with quite the same impact as Japan’s. In this project, the Japanese forms of storytelling anime and manga will be examined and discussed on the effectiveness of implementing them in academic settings. Through its gripping popularity in American culture and media, these forms of storytelling offer American audiences new and engaging forms of media that bring them in contact with concepts, messages and ideas not readily available in Western narratives and media. When employed in academic settings, anime and manga can provide beneficial opportunities for educators and students to engage with and understand difficult philosophical and political ideas, while maintaining the allure of Japanese media. Using five specific examples of anime and manga, this project will illustrate how using anime and manga as a common media consumption source can be implemented into curriculums that will aid and facilitate greater understanding and learning of the respective concepts and themes each anime and manga story approaches.Histor
A Scholar's Journey: How Students, Colleagues, Philosophy, and Surprise Shaped Invisible Ties of Discovery over 30 Years
No full textIn this presentation Patricia Shields shares a part of my scholarly journey and emphasizes the role of students and colleagues here at Texas State as a stimulus for sustained success. It begin with what at first seemed to be annoying student questions about their research projects and is now part of articles and books that are reaching surprising places and people. It is also about her passion for bringing the ideas of John Dewey to the research methods world.Political Scienc
Promoting Student Development by Creating Safe and Welcoming Spaces
No full textTo actualize student success and professional development, we must understand how to do so with in the context of a multicultural environment. We discuss how education settings can be analyzed and changed toward the goal of ‘humanism’ and ‘liberation.’ We must be aware of our social and political condition, including the impacts of laws and policies such as SB17, Title IX, IDEA, and EAP within our institutions
Factors Driving Recreational Disturbance of Waterbirds on the Texas Coast
No full textThe number of people living and visiting global coastal regions has increased in the last fifty years. During this time, recreational disturbance to avian species has increased through human development and activities, resulting in a decrease in bird populations. While many recreationists may believe that mortality is the only type of harmful disturbance, direct and indirect anthropogenic activities as well as natural occurrences can also negatively impact species populations. Waterbirds are most sensitive to human disturbance because of the delicate nature of coastal habitats, which waterbirds rely on. This dissertation addresses the decline in waterbird populations and efforts to reduce their disturbance in three ways. Data was collected by administering a quantitative survey to anglers, boaters, and non-motorized watercraft users. Survey administration occurred in person push-to-web postcards, and via email, allowing for recreationists who are potentially responsible for the disturbance to waterbirds on Texas’ coast to be contacted. Spatial and regression analysis was conducted to sufficiently evaluate the research questions. From the spatial chapter, we analyzed data from a participatory mapping survey instrument and publicly available ArcGIS layers to establish reasonable estimates of disturbance potential of rookery islands. Findings indicate that most rookeries are within two miles of a potential disturbance source. Additionally, there are hotspots of potential disturbances grouped around two metropolitan areas, Corpus Christi and Galveston, with a cold spot cluster near the Upper Laguna Madre. Waterbird managers can use the spatial relation of disturbance locations to identify areas of concern or areas to prioritize when considering rookery island conservation and placement. The focus on self-governance identified trust in other recreationists was positively related to the perceived stated compliance of others. Thus, our research suggests the need to stimulate self-governance among Texas coastal recreationists. To do so will require activation and engagement of social norms and group behavior to improve compliance with waterbird management guidelines and regulations. Waterbird managers might incorporate preexisting pathways to communicate compliance needs in remote locations. Lastly, a focus on charisma demonstrated that likeability does not significantly impact stated compliance for management actions. The belief that there are enough regulations for waterbirds had a significant negative impact on indicated compliance. Management may utilize this information to target messaging about and toward waterbirds. The purpose of this research was to advance theory and aid in future waterbird management and conservation.Biolog
Wait, we have a wiki? Wrangling documentation with iterative design
No full textIn 2024, TXST Libraries launched the Wiki, an internal knowledge base used to organize documentation, workflows, and processes in an easily accessible and simplified way. As an academic library that serves over 40,000 students and 3,500 faculty and staff, it is a challenging ask of our own employees to dedicate time to learning a new technology and incorporate it into their daily workflow. The knowledge base team on this project knowing that it would be more than just implementing a digital solution: we tackled the complex issues of organizational management, digital adoption, technology phobias, all within a dynamic environment.
In the past year, TXST Libraries has fully adopted, integrated, and embraced the Wiki as a part of its daily workflows. As the knowledge base team entered the maintenance phase for a Wiki with over 400 pages less than 6 months after creation, the phrase "trial and error" has never been more true. Processes were rewritten time and time again, but to say that we are in the final iteration would be a lie. The Wiki, in order to fulfill its purpose of bringing transparency and clarity to the library's functions, must be flexible and iterative.
This presentation highlights the challenges, growth, and learning that occurs as part of implementing new technologies.University Librarie
Proof Comprehension Through the Students' Perspective: Investigating Proof Comprehension Strategies, Beliefs of Understanding, and Difficult Features of Proof
No full textResearch in proof comprehension has utilized the experts’ perspectives in various ways. These perspectives have been used to provide base knowledge and expertise for assessments, interventions, and alternative proof presentations. Additionally, experts have provided their insight into their expertise in students, through what they think students have difficulties with proof. In this dissertation, I expand on this knowledge by bringing insight into the students’ perspectives. My dissertation explores what students do as they attempt to understand proof, finding 30 different proof comprehension strategies to be utilized by my participants. Additionally, my participants discussed 12 indicators of what it means to understand a proof. Lastly, 3 self-reflections my participants considered when decided how difficult a proof was to understand and 6 features of proof were identified as being a part of making proofs more difficult to understand. With this knowledge, we can begin to investigate how to productively develop interventions and professional developments that utilize both expert and student perspectives. These investigations can help instructors and researchers to better support students based on how they think about concepts. That is, this dissertation informs future work to support student understanding using the strategies and meanings that are available to them while also utilizing the expert’s perspective to support students’ growth.Mathematic
Ecological and Evolutionary Implications of Diel Temporal Niche Conservatism in Afrotropical Euungulates
No full textMammalian activity patterns reflect ecological trade-offs but have been historically difficult to study at large scales. Advances in trail cameras and statistical modeling now enable investigations into diel temporal niche conservatism (Intra-DTNC) - the tendency of populations to maintain consistent daily activity rhythms across environments within a species geographical range. Understanding Intra-DTNC is key to predicting species’ adaptability to environmental change based on whether their temporal niches are constrained or flexible across populations. Using open-source trail camera data from diverse African sites, my study examined activity patterns in seven African euungulate species- ranging from small antelopes, such as blue duikers, to larger ungulates, such as African buffalo- to explore the relationship between body mass and temporal niche plasticity. I predicted that larger herbivores with low-quality diets would exhibit cathemeral activity with low directionality (no distinct peaks), while smaller herbivores eating high-quality forage would concentrate activity into shorter periods, displaying high directionality. Additionally, I tested whether populations of the same species maintained consistent diel activity patterns across sites (Intra-DTNC). Contrary to my hypothesis, I found a significant negative relationship between body mass and intraspecific DTNC: smaller herbivores maintained stable patterns across sites, while larger herbivores showed greater temporal variation. In my second chapter, I applied this framework to the gemsbok, comparing its daily activity patterns between native and non-native ranges. As predicted, the gemsbok exhibited heterogeneous activity patterns across sites, reinforcing the role of body size in shaping temporal niche plasticity. These findings highlight the importance of identifying species constrained by strong Intra-DTNC and phylogenetic legacies, as their limited adaptability may make them particularly vulnerable to climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressures on ecosystems.Biolog
Political Influencers in Presidential Campaigns: A Case Study of the Brat Summer Trend on TikTok
No full textAlthough there is a multitude of research in the realm of political communication, there lacks a deeper understanding and exploration of how the affordances of platforms like TikTok are leveraged by political influencers to help shape identities and their application within political campaigns. To gain a deeper understanding of how political influencers use identity propaganda, this study examines how three TikTok accounts leveraged the Brat Summer trend to shape political discourse and create a particular identity in alignment with Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign. Using identity propaganda theory (Horz, 2023) and thematic analysis (Bruan et al., 2017) as the conceptual and methodological frameworks, this study examines the strategic use of hashtags, visuals, and audio on the three TikTok accounts @KamalaHQ, @charlixcx, and @kelley.heyer with a focus on political related content in conjunction with the brat summer trend. In doing so, this study aims to reveal the ways in which political influencers leverage TikTok's platform to construct and perform political identities.Journalism and Mass Communicatio