e-Publications@Marquette

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  Yunus Abdullah - Use of Social Media by Businesses: A New opportunity For Consulting Services by Accounting Firms

  Yunus Abdullah

  In the last 10 years, social media has been restructuring business policies and practices creating new business models. These models are shaping the internal and external aspects of businesses, improving efficiency, and hopefully yielding higher profits while reducing costs. At the same time, social media is being implemented in such internal operations as employee training, recruiting, communication within organizations, and building business loyalty. Businesses are becoming more dependent on social media, making social media an inevitable expectation of effective business models. The millennial are the new generation of adults who are taking over the business world. This generation of young adults grew up using such social media networks as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google +, and LinkedIn. To sustain good relationship with their clients (millennial), businesses must meet people's expectation of the practices and plan their policies accordingly. This paper will examine how the use of social media by businesses is leading to a new service being offered by accounting firms, social media consulting. Experts in internal controls, accounting firms, will have the resources and capacity to offer services in social media consulting. The large accounting firms such as Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst &Young, and PWC have already entered social media consulting market.

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  Nataly Aguirre - Stress, Risk, and Reward in Financial Decision-Making: The Roles of Probability and Magnitude

  Nataly Aguirre

  Considerable research suggests acute stress influences decision-making. There has, however, been a lack of research examining the possibility that separable components of the stress response may influence decision-making differently: the sympatho-adrenomedullary (SAM) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axes. In the current pilot study, participants engaged in a gambling task where they made choices between decisions of varied probability and magnitude for potential gains of money after being exposed to acute stress (via a variant of the cold pressor task). Further, the timing of the stressor was varied to allow examination of SAM and HPA effects separately. Cortisol and skin conductance were measured. Given the task was in the gain frame only, in support of past research on framing results indicated that individuals made significantly more conservative or risk-averse choices in the gambling. Further, risk-taking scaled to the expected value of a decision. Males made more risk-seeking choices as compared to females. Divergent from the original hypothesis, however, stress of neither type had an effect on individuals’ risk-taking overall, nor as a function of probability or magnitude. This suggests that decisions framed as potential gains may not be influenced by stress as readily as decisions framed as potential losses, and that stress may not alter how people perceive the probability or magnitude associated with a decision. Methodological flaws highlighted by the pilot study which may have contributed to the lack of a stress effect will also be discussed.

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  Guadalupe Avalos - Filling Caskets More Quickly than Cribs?: A comparison of Infant Mortality in Milwaukee and Costa Rica

  Guadalupe Avalos

  Metropolitan Milwaukee had infant mortality rates at 9.5 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2010, according to the Milwaukee Health Department. This rate is a reversal of earlier decades. Between 2005 and 2008, Milwaukee experienced its highest infant mortality rate at 11 deaths per 1,000 live births. Disparities are most evident between African-Americans and Whites. Therefore, most explanations of infant mortality rates are compared between the two backgrounds. Since 2008, infant mortality rates have dwindled; however, the rates remain unacceptably high. A rate of 9.5 deaths per live births is detrimental and a public health issue.

  By analyzing causes that contribute to infant mortality, such as SIDS/SUDI, high levels of stress due to poverty and unemployment, and poor prenatal care, we realize most are highly preventable. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has committed to addressing the public health issue, promoting immunizations, access to prenatal care, and hosting crib drives for safe sleeping. Milwaukee’s infant mortality is compared to Costa Rica, a developing country. This unique perspective will be a valuable contribution to the other studies being conducted. An emphasis on social factors is made rather than solely looking at the health causes. Findings revealed that socioeconomic status is not a direct cause of infant mortality. Instead it is a contributor to consequences endured by women of high stress and thus causing premature births. A healthier community is also necessary to lower infant mortality rates. Milwaukee lacks social stability and it is contributing to the shockingly high infant mortality rates.

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  Aisha Bano - The Role of KCNQ (Kv7) Potassium Channels in Schizophrenia Deficits

  Aisha Bano

  For years, studies have been conducted to treat the positive and negative symptoms and cognitive deficits of schizophrenia; it has allowed to treat the positive symptoms through regulation of dopaminergic neurons and dopamine pathways; however, we still do not know how to treat the negative symptoms and cognitive deficits. The reason we cannot treat them is due to a lack of adequate understanding of the underlying pathology which manifests itself in the behavior. Over the years, there have been multiple proposed hypotheses regarding the underlying pathology, and accordingly, medication were developed to regulate the variety of pathways in the brain but each of them has failed. Under the mentorship of Dr. Behnam Ghasemzadeh, experiments are being conducted to regulate the activity of KCNQ potassium ion channel to ameliorate the negative symptoms and cognitive deficits of schizophrenia. The experiments are being conducted using animal-models of schizophrenia like-effect. The results suggest that decrease in the activity of the KCNQ potassium channels, leading to an increase in the neuronal activity, may be able to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia.

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  Brittany Bernal - Sensorimotor Adaptation of Vowel Production in Stop Consonant Contexts

  Brittany A. Bernal

  The purpose of this research is to measure the compensatory and adaptive articulatory response to shifted formants in auditory feedback to compare the resulting amount of sensorimotor learning that takes place in speakers upon saying the words /pep/ and /tet/. These words were chosen in order to analyze the coarticulatory effects of voiceless consonants /p/ and /t/ on sensorimotor adaptation of the vowel /e/. The formant perturbations were done using the Audapt software, which takes an input speech sample and plays it back to the speaker in real-time via headphones. Formants are high-energy acoustic resonance patterns measured in hertz that reflect positions of articulators during the production of speech sounds. The two lowest frequency formants (F1 and F2) can uniquely distinguish among the vowels of American English. For this experiment, Audapt shifted F1 down and F2 up, and those who adapt were expected to shift in the opposite direction of the perturbation. The formant patterns and vowel boundaries were analyzed using TF32 and S+ software, which led to conclusions about the adaptive responses. Manipulating auditory feedback by shifting formant values is hypothesized to elicit sensorimotor adaptation, a form of short-term motor learning. The amount of adaptation is expected to be greater for the word /pep/ rather than /tet/ because there is less competition for articulatory placement of the tongue during production of bilabial consonants. This methodology could be further developed to help those with motor speech disorders remedy their speech errors with much less conscious effort than traditional therapy techniques.

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  Aaron E. Bledsoe - The Man Behind the Mask: The Progression of Masculinity in African American Male Characters as seen in films Awarded the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Pictur

  Aaron E. Bledsoe

  This qualitative study will examine the way in which the masculinity of African American men is portrayed in films through a textual analysis of the leading male character in movies that have been awarded the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture. I’ll be performing a textual analysis of the following movies: “Flight”, “Book of Eli”, and “The Great Debaters”. Through the analysis of the main character, I discuss the following: types of marginalization experienced in the film, interactions/relations with (African American) women, as well as the importance that his education and/or occupation will play in his identity as a man. Using these factors, I argue that these characters are able to preserve their masculinity as a means of escaping the emasculation created in a society that marginalizes men of color in film. Donald Bogle points out that in the past, Black men have been portrayed as either “childlike, docile or happy as the role of a servant,”, or as an extremely violent threat to society. Using the studies of Stuart Hall, I’ll be able examine the extent to which representation affects the portrayal of a cultural group and how organizations like the NAACP Image Awards help in providing more of a positive acknowledgement of people of color in the media.

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  Toni M. Conley - An Empirical Analysis of How Purchase Decision Makers Arrive at a Fair Price for Subscription-Based CRM

  Toni M. Conley

  Internet based technologies have played an important role in the development of modern CRM applications over the last several years. They have been the critical driving force behind the rise of on-demand CRM, and have also enabled on-premise CRM vendors to dramatically simplify deployment and administration. As a result of this, business purchase decision makers are in the midst of a recent and accelerating shift in how they acquire marketing support solutions for their enterprises. They are moving from a CAPEX (capital expenditure) to an OPEX (operational expenditure) model. Many time, marketing support solutions acquired via an on-demand model (OPEX) are called hosted or cloud-based solutions, where service providers own, maintain and upgrade the software applications on their servers at their locations. Customers then access the solutions using web browsers and broadband Internet connections at their offices. This research is an analysis of how purchase decision makers actively weigh a cloud-based approach to CRM versus a premises-based approach. It’s an exploration of how IT and marketing decision makers optimize the profitability of acquiring marketing support solutions using price analysis for these two approaches? Out of the criteria used to select an approach, we want to know how important is price in that decision. We have interviewed 5 executives in the greater Milwaukee area, who have recently deployed a CRM solution for their businesses to better understand the role of price in their decision.

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  Ericka L. Daniels - Distinguishing between Risk Factors for Aggression Perpetration, and Victimization in Adolescent Dating Relationships

  Ericka L. Daniels

  Objective: Aggression in adolescent romantic relationships occurs at a substantial rate and has negative effects on victims. This study will investigate risk factors that may anticipate a person’s role as a victim or perpetrator of aggression in dating relationships. Also, this study will examine whether males or females are more likely to perpetrate or be victimized by dating aggression. Expanding research on relationship aggression is important because TDV can cause significant mental and physical health problems (e.g. distress, physical injuries, and panic attacks). We focused on risk factors in four general categories: family, cognitions, emotions, and alcohol use. Some of these risk factors include: exposure to relationship violence, whether between the child and a parent or between parents, internalizing cognitions and behaviors, depressive symptoms, alcohol use, and hostility.

  Methods: Participants were undergraduate students from a private institution. Data was collected through a number of questionnaires completed online.

  Results: We found that majority of the predictors were common to both victimization and perpetration, such as alexithymia, callous, interparental and parent-child conflict. We also found unique predictors of both victimization and perpetration, which were alcohol use, and relationship quality with one’s partner. Also, attitudes accepting and justifying dating aggression uniquely predicted perpetration only.

  Conclusion: Our findings suggest that each unique predictor should be considered when developing strategies to reduce or prevent aggression in romantic relationships. Our study implies that couples should use alcohol moderately, find satisfaction in one’s relationship partner, and evaluate one’s beliefs about dating aggression in order to avoid TDV.

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  Ricardo Diaz - Latino/a Mass Incarceration in relation to the “War on Drugs”

  Ricardo Diaz

  Michelle Alexander, in The New Jim Crow, argues that the American legal system is a racial caste system maintained by unequal drug laws, what she terms, “The New Jim Crow” laws. This essay explores the limits of her thesis in relation to Latino/a population in the United States. Specific attention is paid to the Latino/a population in Wisconsin where racial disparities in the penal system are the greatest in America. Analysis of government data suggests that Alexander’s research reproduces the tendency of the American legal system to define race in binary terms: black and white. In effect this leaves Latino/a Americans without accurate representation within the American legal system.

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  Maribel Gamon - Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis in India: Solving a Problem by Reconstructing the Public Health Infrastructure

  Maribel Gamon

  Mycobacterium tuberculosis, commonly referred to as TB, is responsible for causing about 630,000 cases per year of infectious diseases worldwide. Recently, multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has become an alarming public health concern. In addition, many developing countries lack effective treatment programs. India is one of those countries with a high prevalence of TB, seemingly affected by disconnectedness in their public health infrastructure. India, although a developing country, is still burdened with both chronic and infectious diseases, and there is a reactive public health system that must place focus on long-term effects of emerging resistant strains of TB. It is important to develop rapid drug susceptibility testing for quick diagnosis and treatment of monitored TB levels. According to a 2013 article published by Lancet, countries with well-run public health programs, supported by early diagnosis and access to quality drugs, have better treatment outcomes and compliance. Compliance must be maximized in developing countries to prevent the continuing emergence of MDR-TB. India’s public health infrastructure must be reshaped and empowered with implementation of treatment programs and surveillance frameworks similar to those seen in countries with low rates of MDR-TB levels. It is important that India strengthen their framework for combating MDR-TB, with emphasis on increasing health literacy among community leaders, informing government agencies of the necessity of research and surveillance, strengthening rapid TB diagnostic systems, and providing culturally-appropriate TB treatment programs. Using intervention strategies from other communities may help India develop an appropriate solution for decreasing the prevalence of MDR-TB.

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  Vanessa Lopez - Family Ties: Exploring Familial Relationships for Individuals with a Felony Conviction

  Vanessa Lopez

  This qualitative study explores the difficulties released prisoners and their families encounter through the reintegration process. The reentry process into society is a challenge for both released prisoners and their families to overcome, since the social stigma of a criminal conviction creates barriers. The challenging component of the social stigma essentially prevents individuals with a criminal conviction from sustaining themselves financially and finding a place to live. Besides the stress of overcoming the barriers of judgments created by society; many of these individuals have to face the rejection of their children, partners, and extended kinship groups. Existing literature has focused on how families provide help and assistance to released prisoners without recognizing ways in which families can also be harmful. Little is known about how gender shapes the ways in which individuals experience the reentry process with their families. This study, which includes 30 in-depth interviews of Milwaukee residents, explains that both genders maintain a different relationship with their children. Women who are ex-convicts can quickly reintegrate themselves into their children’s life because they did not lose contact with their children while incarcerated. Unlike women, a role reversal was seen amongst the men and their children. The results demonstrated that men were not fulfilling their role as a parent. Instead, children were the individuals caring out the paternal role. Additionally, the study demonstrates that families can provide financial, emotional and motivational support. However, relationships with family members can also adversely impact an individual’s reentry in a negative way.

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  Tamiah N. McCoy - African American Women’s Birth Stories as Told To African American Women Interviewers

  Tamiah N. McCoy

  Background: A woman’s birth story allows each woman to tell her own perspectives about her experience of bringing a child into the world. As healthcare providers, it is always important to value listening to and learning from our clients. Researchers systematically analyzing birth stories can yield insights on ways to improve birthing experiences for women. This is especially important for African American women, who differentially encounter the most numerous health disparities of any racial group, with twice as much infant mortality than other groups.

  Purpose: This study examined birth stories of African American women in order to gain insights from them to better meet their needs. In this way, healthcare providers may learn strategies to address health disparities.

  Methods: A secondary analysis of five African American birth stories was conducted.

  Findings: Three themes were identified from the women’s stories: (a) desire for continuous labor support, (b) preference for certain characteristics of healthcare providers (such as gender and race), and (c) reliance on spirituality for coping.

  Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of listening to and learning from women.

  Clinical Relevance: Healthcare providers can likely improve the care of their patients by incorporating these themes into their methods of care. Understanding and taking action towards the unsaid needs of African American women experiencing childbirth can ultimately help health disparities get addressed.

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  Darriellé S. Mitchell - Emotional Motivators that Influence Teacher Activism: Chicago Public School System Strike and School Closings

  Darriellé S. Mitchell

  Recent education reform efforts, such as school closings, have encouraged teachers to mobilize in protest. Various emotions will motivate activism, accompany activism, and evolve during the activism itself. Michalinos Zembylas' (2006) theory on the politics of emotions describes how emotions influence the "power relations, resistance, and transformation" of education. Zembylas' (2010) theory of spaces for coping aimed to "identify the spatiality and politics of emotional relations and understanding of teachers' responses to educational reform." This qualitative study seeks to examine the emotional influences that shape how teachers from the Chicago Public School (CPS) district define, become involved in, and respond to activist efforts. The sample consists of four teachers, ranging in age from 28-54 years old, who participated in voluntary in-depth interviews. The interview questions focused on their personal definitions of activism, their involvement with activism efforts in Chicago, and the emotions that motivated and changed their activism in response to the CPS teachers’ union’s strike and school closings. Preliminary results support Zembylas' theories on the politics of emotions and spaces for coping, further indicating that emotions are not only essential to the evolution of activism among teachers but they are socially and politically charged. Three main themes emerged from the collected data: (1) Anger & Fear, (2) Joy & Unity, (3) Hopelessness & Resignation. This study is not generalizable to all CPS teachers; however, it identifies some emotional motivators that may be key to understanding the mobilization of and educational reform efforts of teacher activists.

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  Amber J. Powell - Blaming the Victim: A Look at Sexual Assault Adjudication in the Milwaukee County Courthouse

  Amber J. Powell

  Even though several studies explore common themes in victim-blaming strategies amongst adult sexual assault cases, very few address how these techniques are used to blame and discredit child sexual assault victims. Therefore, this study compared the cultural narratives used by defense attorneys to blame adult and child sexual assault victims in the courtroom. The study sample consisted of 18 sexual assault cases (5 adult victims and 13 child victims) in three branches of the Milwaukee county courthouse in Milwaukee Wisconsin. The defendants and victims in these cases represent a various ethnicities, ages, and social economic backgrounds. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this study used ethnographic observational data, archival research, and secondary data analysis to compare victim-blaming strategies during jury trials and sentencing hearings. Observational data was collected between May and June 2013, while secondary data was collected between September 2011 and May 2012. Archival data was provided by Consolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP) and shows records of cases in the Wisconsin Circuit Courts. Jury trials and sentencing hearings play an important role in comprehending victim blaming because defense attorneys often use those times as an opportunity to discredit the victim. Results show that the narratives utilized work to hold adult and child victims as unbelievable across a variety of themes relating to consent, reliability, and corroboration. A narrative of rebelliousness was also invoked particularly as it pertained to child victims. The importance of these findings is elaborate in the discussion.

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  Andrew I. Thompson - From Tragedy to Policy: Representations of Muslims and Islam in U.S. Mainstream Media

  Andrew I. Thompson

  Following the terrorist attacks of September 11^th came a flood of criticism of Islam and Muslims in the U.S. media. Many saw Islam as the root cause of the attacks, but failed to assess the political or social issues in the Middle East, or even the United States’ role in the region. An example of this is the New York Times’ section that ran immediately after the attacks entitled ‘A Nation Challenged,’ which included titles such as: “Yes, this is about Islam,” “This is a religious war,” “Barbarians at the gate,” and “The one true faith.” This project analyzes the mainstream print media’s—New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, and USA Today—representation of Muslims and Islam from September 11, 2001 to December 31, 2001 and its relation to U.S. foreign policy. My assertion is that the mainstream media employed rhetorical emulating, and sometimes mimicking, of Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations theory when representing Muslims and Islam, which in turn supported aggressive military action in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. In support of my assertion, I find that Huntington’s clash of civilizations absolves the US of all guilt regarding the attacks. Once the theory is adopted it becomes a given, something intrinsic to politics, thus making the ‘clash’ seem inevitable. The Clash of Civilizations theory also supports aggressive military action because of the implicit and explicit denunciation of all ‘civilizations’ that are not ‘Western.’

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  Rafael Torres, Jr. - Does the United States Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission case affect the voluntary departure of United States Senators

  Rafael Torres Jr.

  The United States Supreme Court decision in the case of Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission raised concerns about how unlimited independent expenditures by organizations would influence campaigns and elections. This concern has been expressed through media and politicians, but research on the subject is conflicting. One argument is that protecting unlimited contributions as free speech gives a disproportionate amount of speech to non-voting entities. The other argument is that speech does not directly influence elections and it is ultimately the voter's decision on which candidate to choose. Laws that affect elections also affect departures. The connection between campaign finance and Senate departures is that a change in the law will affect election outcomes causing more Senators to voluntarily depart from Congress in anticipation of a contentious election. I am studying the 108-113th Congresses to determine if there is a difference in Senate departures before and after the decision. Voluntary departure includes retirement, resignation, and moving to another public office. The differences in departure will be determined by changes in the rate of departure and the profiles of voluntarily departing Senators. If the court's decision has made elections more competitive then there should be an increase in Senate departures. The study examines the differences before and after the Citizens United ruling based on age, the number of years of service in the Senate, and the last election win margin. I will lastly discuss possible future empirical research on Congressional retirements as well as post-Senate career profiles.

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  Christian Villanueva - Trauma Exposure Reported By Women Recently Deported from the U.S. to Mexico

  Christian Villanueva

  In 2012 the U.S. deported approximately 200,000 individuals to Mexico; a significant proportion of these individuals were women. The combined effect of previous traumatic experiences with that of being deported to Mexico is detrimental to women’s health. The trauma suffered through this process results in high levels of stress that lead to a variety of mental and physical health problems for Mexican women, disproportionally compared to men, who entered into and are deported from the U.S. The purpose of this study is to describe the life history of trauma exposure of women who have recently been deported from the U.S. to Mexico. The results of this study will inform the development of interventions to improve the health of these women being deported to Mexico. Data concerning life trauma exposure was recently collected quantitatively from 25 women who have been newly deported from the U.S. to Mexico at Casa Nazaret in Nogales, Mexico. These descriptive quantitative data were collected using The Life Stressor Inventory- Revised (LSC-R). The LSC-R instrument operationalized the life history of trauma exposure of the sample of women. The responses on this instrument were transcribed onto a Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) spreadsheet. These data were then cleaned for missing responses. Qualitative responses on the LSC-R instrument were translated to a Likert scale, in order to create numerical ranks for the responses given by the women. The data was analyzed to provide a demographic description of the women and quantitative statistics were used to address the research questions.