Internet of Things (IoT) devices can create value for building owners. These IoT devices also create cybersecurity risks for building owners and occupants. To mitigate these risks, owners, facilities managers, and IoT vendors must buy, maintain, and design, secure products. This project seeks to examine how IoT vendors communicate the value enhancing features and security risks of their products. The methods used to analyze this include a landscape analysis of IoT vendors marketing materials and analysis of public Requests for Proposals for IoT devices and IT services. Potential results include the variation between marketed security and value-enhancing features between start-ups and established companies. Another potential result is variation between criteria within public Requests for Proposals and marketed IoT vendor functionalities. Potential implications of this research are further analysis of IoT device functions that owners influence to pull value from IoT vendors.

When adolescents intervene in peer conflict, their decision-making process entails assessing risks and benefits which may impact the way they take action. Previous research has led to the development of the Five-Step Bystander model, in which the bystander: notices the event, interprets the situation as an emergency, assumes responsibility, knows what to do, and decides to help. As children enter adolescence, they begin to place increasing emphasis on what their peers think of them; earlier research additionally shows that perceived popularity may pose a risk when deciding to intervene in instances of bullying. Risks and benefits of bystander intervention have been studied minimally. This study aims to examine the process behind deciding to help, specifically the evaluation of risks and benefits, while also looking at the role that social status, age, and relational proximity plays in intervention. This study additionally looks at differences in risk and benefit perception and consequent action between online and in-person scenarios. The goal of this study was to ask: 1) How do adolescents identify and evaluate risks and benefits before taking part in third-party intervention? 2) Does risk perception influence the way adolescents react and behave in situations of conflict? 3) How does social status affect assessment of risks and benefits? We interviewed a sample of 4-8 adolescents, ranging ages from 16-18, asking them to assess risks in various scenarios of peer conflict, including on social media. The findings of this study contribute to understanding the conditions for pro-social behavior and the development of a sociomoral identity among adolescents.

The ability to communicate with others is integral to success throughout life. Thus, it is imperative that young children acquire language holistically and effectively. The presence of older siblings plays an important role in a child's language acquisition and cognitive development. Research has shown that the presence of older siblings has a negative effect on infant language development, likely because the language input from older siblings is of lower quality than input from adults (Havron et al. 2019). However, this effect is subject to variations as a result of the age and gender of the older siblings (ibid.). In my project, I will investigate the “sibling effect” on infant language development in the first two years of life, using a corpus of data recorded by Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) software. The data consists of audio recordings of 24 English-speaking infants' weekends, collected at the ages of 6, 10, 14, 18, and 24 months. LENA automatically identifies language input variables such as the number of adult words that the infant hears (Adult Word Count, AWC), and the number of linguistic vocalizations that the child produces (Child Vocalization Count, CVC). In this project, I will investigate the effects of CXN (other child speech), FAN (female adult speech), and MAN (male adult speech) on the CHN (key child speech). I will also track correlations between this and the number of words each infant is able to produce at each age according to parental reports (The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Developmental Inventory; Bates, Dale, and Thal, 1995). Preliminary findings suggest a weak negative correlation between CXN and CHN as well as the number of words each infant is able to produce. Extant literature has demonstrated a negative effect that is sensitive to a variety of other independent variables such as gender. My research will inform parents and early childhood educators as they oversee and optimize the language acquisition process of children in families with older siblings.

Farmworker communities are among the most vulnerable and marginalized labor forces of the United States. There are many studies that explore the multiple forms of systematic oppression among these communities. However, these studies often perpetuate paradigms of victimhood that diminish the multidimensional experience of communities, such as their resilience, enactments of food sovereignty, and the ways they work toward radical change. Additionally, this scholarship also tends to leave out a “call-to-action” that demands greater responsibility on the part of recipients of knowledge, such as students, to engage in active solidarity work. My research explores two dimensions of migrant farmworker lives and labor in a settler-colonial state: the structures and institutions that sustain this dehumanizing condition (such as the academy), and the ways farmworkers contest these conditions, demand justice, and do more than just survive. Using ethnographic, archival, and bibliographic research, and focusing on resilience as a theoretical framework, the first part of my research explores resistance and sovereignty in migrant farmworker communities. How do migrant communities enact food sovereignty and sustain an ongoing movement for their rights? How does this struggle allow them to imagine the possibility of revolutionary change; of different forms of living? Additionally, I offer a critical analysis of the Food System and Health major from the School of Public Health to explore how this major represents and engages (or not) with migrant farmworker communities. Does this major help to amplify the voices of migrant communities? Or does it instead perpetuate violence against these communities? This research hopes to highlight the ongoing resilience-work of communities who feed us and inform our thinking to help us re-imagine what social movements can look like and to actively engage in solidarity-work beyond the production of research in the academic world.

Dog training programs in correctional facilities (DTPs) where inmates groom, kennel, and train service, support, and companion dogs have become widespread. Prior research shows that DTPs are beneficial, and reported recidivism rates for DTP participants are around 30% lower than rates for the general prison population. These recidivism rates are considerably low compared to that of more traditional vocational programs in prisons. In this paper, I argue that DTPs are highly beneficial for participants due to the human-animal bond. Specifically, DTPs allow participants to build a relationship with a dog which brings them love and builds their confidence. Also, through teaching and training the dogs, inmates are able to grow personal and interpersonal skills such as proper communication, how to work through behavior, how to regulate their own emotions, and cause-and-effect relationships. Inmates’ restored well-being as well as the vocational skills and certificates that accompany DTPs, allow participants a better chance when re-entering society. In making this argument, I draw on previous literature and five interviews I conducted with women who have either worked at or taken part in Prison Pet Partnership, the DTP at the Washington Corrections Center for Women.

 In June of 2018, the ICD-11 (International Classification of Disease) formally recognized Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as two distinct and separate diagnoses through reclassification in the category of Responses Associated with Stress. A diagnosis of CPTSD includes symptomology from all three clusters of PTSD and additional symptomology from three new clusters of Disturbances in Self-Organization (DSO). CPTSD is not defined by or considered an extension of PTSD, but instead, is a separate and distinct diagnosis distinguished by unique, but partially overlapping criteria. Numerous studies document differences in mechanics and pathways of these distinct diagnoses, but limited research exists on the lived experiences. Even fewer studies examine marginalized populations with the classifications of these two psychotic disorders. Experiencing trauma often leads to a diagnosis of PTSD when symptomologies more accurately reflect that of CPTSD. A failure to diagnose or a misdiagnosis often results in a chronic cycle of stigmatization and diminished capacity for appropriate treatment, access to public health services, and educational potential. In this research I will interview women trauma survivors and refugees, two vulnerable populations prone to mental diagnoses and stigma. Data from self-assessments will be closed coded and analyzed by types of trauma as defined by revised classifications. I will use open coding to identify themes across and between categories. My expectations are to find a high percentage of those expressing CPTSD symptomologies to be underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Those defined by CPTSD symptomologies will likely report higher rates of stigmatization resulting in lower public health interaction, educational attainment, and socioeconomic position. This research contributes to our understanding of those stigmatized by a diagnosis of mental illness, encourages a re-evaluation of educational behavioral expectations and provides insights to ways of enhancing access to appropriate treatment and public health services.

As the K-12 student population in the U.S. becomes increasingly multilingual, language development in multilingual populations must be better understood. Currently, research including Chinese (Mandarin)/English bilingual children's lexical complexity is insufficient. Lexical Complexity (LC) is the sophistication and variation of word choice in an individual's lexicon. LC is the focus of the study because it is an important aspect of one’s vocabulary knowledge, which is the foundation for academic success for all school children. The current study investigates the English LC of students (Grades 1, 3, 5/6; total N = 64) who are emergent bilingual learners enrolled in a Mandarin/English dual language immersion program in an American public school. Key research questions include: Does LC vary across different grade levels? What is the relationship between LC and grade in school? The children’s LC was measured with a word definition task. In the task, each student was asked to define ten high-frequency nouns one at a time. Their responses were audio-recorded and transcribed by CLOx, a web-based transcription tool. To inspect oral discourse, CLAN, a linguistic software program, measured constructs for LC such as the Type-Token Ratio (TTR) and the Mean Length Utterance (MLU). Larger TTR and MLU scores show greater proficiency and diversity in speech. Words with higher complexity typically contain two or more morphemes and are defined by low-frequency usage. In SPSS, ANOVA and post hoc tests were conducted to investigate statistical significance. The results indicate that the 5/6th-grade student group received significantly higher TTR and MLU scores in the word definition task compared to 1st and 3rd-grade student groups. The 5/6th-grade's substantial LC is most likely due to typical language development patterns and sustained input in both languages through schooling. Implications for bilingual children’s lexical development, and potential influences from family background and instructional settings, will be discussed.