“PŪʻALI KALO I KA WAI ʻOLE”: HARM, CARE, AND THE UNEVEN GROWTH OF A HOUSELESS COMMUNITY

This work is a longitudinal ethnographic study of Kīpuka ʻAineamalu, a self-organized houseless community in Waiʻanae, Oʻahu. It explores how people living at the margins of state support construct systems of care, governance, and moral order through everyday acts of pilina (relational connection), kuleana (responsibility), kōkua (aid) and pono (ethical balance). Drawing on 2+ years of immersive, participatory fieldwork from 2020-2022, the study traces how village residents navigate overlapping experiences and histories of abandonment, interpersonal harm, and institutional betrayal – and how they build fragile but meaningful forms of collective relational life. Rather than framing care and harm as opposites, this study traces their entanglement. The very systems that offer refuge can also wound; practices of care can become coercive; and structures of support can reproduce the logics of control. Similarly, autonomy and control are not framed as static opposites but dynamically linked: residents sought freedom from surveillance, paternalism, and harm even as collective life in the village required some level of mutual accountability and shared obligation which shifted in their intensity. The village’s moral order emerged through this tension – between freedom and kuleana, care and enforcement – and was continually reshaped by internal strain and external scrutiny. This paper engages and extends three theoretical frameworks: relational sociology, dissipative structures theory, and charismatic authority. It argues that authority in such communities emerges not just from formal roles, but from relational presence and ethical action; that governance unfolds not through institutional stability but through adaptive reconfiguration, particularly to external pressures and scrutiny; and that care, though vital, can become strained under pressure to perform legitimacy and compliance. Leadership, pilina, and moral authority were not fixed assets but relational effects – grown, tested, and sometimes lost in the rhythms of everyday life. Through close analysis of daily life, leadership dynamics, and moments of strain, this study contributes to the sociology of homelessness, care, governance, and grassroots movements. It challenges dominant policy logics that equate success with compliance or exit, and instead calls for frameworks that recognize dignity, presence, and participation as vital metrics of social life. The ʻōlelo noʻeau that titles this work – Pūʻali Kalo i ka Wai ʻOle ("Taro grows misshapen when it lacks water") – names a core insight: communities can endure even when those who populate them have coped with a dearth of foundational care and when the community itself is under duress, but what grows in such conditions is inevitably strained. Still, even misshapen kalo strives toward the light. It does not always thrive, but most of the time, it survives.Sociolog

Healthcare experiences of sexual and gender minoritized people with intellectual and developmental disabilities Scoping Review Search Strategy

Sexual and gender minoritized (SGM) people and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/D) face barriers including but not limited to stigma, discrimination, inadequately trained healthcare providers and unnavigable built environments/infrastructures that result in inadequate experiences receiving healthcare. Extant literature to date that has centered the experiences of these populations to understand healthcare experiences has done so without jointly considering these identities. Thus, there remains a need to understand how interlocking power structures of oppression, including transphobia and ableism, synergize to produce unique barriers to healthcare navigation and access for SGM people with ID/D.Temple University. College of Education and Human DevelopmentTemple University. LibrariesBrown University, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, School of Public HealthInstitute on DisabilitiesTo identify studies to include or consider for this scoping review, the review team worked with a librarian (RF) to develop detailed search strategies for each database. The PRISMA-ScR extension was followed for search reporting. The librarian (RF) developed the search for PubMed and translated the search for every database searched. The PubMed search strategy was reviewed by the research team to check for accuracy and term relevancy. All final searches were peer-reviewed by another librarian (TN) following the Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies (PRESS checklist). The databases included in this search are PubMed (NLM), CINAHL (EbscoHost), Web of Science Core Collection (Clarivate Analytics), APA PsycInfo (EbscoHost), and GenderWatch (ProQuest). The databases were searched using a combination of keywords and subject headings. A grey literature search included ProQuest Dissertations & Theses and TRIP Pro. All final searches were performed on January 12, 2024 by the librarian and were fully reported on January 15, 2024.RayyanRayyan, Covidence, Abstrack

ORTHODONTISTS’, SENIOR DENTAL STUDENTS’ AND LAYPERSONS’ PERCEPTION OF ESTHETICS OF PATIENTS TREATED ORTHODONTICALLY WITH MAXILLARY CANINE SUBSTITUTION, MAXILLARY PREMOLAR SUBSTITUTION AND LOWER INCISOR EXTRACTION

Introduction: Orthodontic treatment can camouflage the unesthetic dentalproblems such as, congenitally missing teeth, impacted teeth, skeletal-dental discrepancies, or a combination (Canut, 1996; Chawla et al., 2011). Orthodontic canine substitution is a procedure performed on patients with missing lateral incisors. This is a viable option for patients who elect not to prosthetically restore the missing teeth. In the process, canine teeth are moved into the lateral teeth positions, and the premolar teeth are positioned next to the canines (Kokich & Kinzer, 2005; Mazzini & Torres, 2017). Premolars may replace canines in conditions of impacted or untreatable pathological canines, where the impacted canines are determined to interfere with the development of adjacent teeth, or when the success of surgical exposure and orthodontics is unpredictable (Chawla et al., 2011). Similarly, lower incisors may be extracted and orthodontically replaced by adjacent teeth in to camouflage skeletal discrepancies, eliminate a Bolton discrepancy, relieve edge-to- edge anterior occlusion, correct Class III malocclusion, or to eliminate a severely blocked- out incisor (Bayram & Ozer, 2007). This study aims to investigate how different groups of individuals perceive the esthetic results of such treatments. Materials and Methods: A survey was administered to 15 orthodontists, 15 senior dental students and 15 laypeople via iPad. The survey requested subject gender and ethnicity, and used a Likert scale to rate the esthetics of different images of dentition post- treatment (3 canine substitution, 3 premolar substitution, 3 lower incisor extraction, and 3 control images of non-extraction dentition post-treatment). The Likert scale used was a continuous sliding scale from 0-10. Post-treatment photographs chosen utilized the frontal view in maximum intercuspation of patients who were treated at Temple University’s iii Orthodontics Clinic. Median scores were compared across groups using Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results: There were no significant differences across all three groups of subjects’ median ratings for all four types of treatment. There were no significant differences in preferences between genders and ethnicities. For all median ratings except for Canine 2 and Canine 3, all male scores were higher than female scores. For two of three canine images, females rated them higher than males. The image with the overall highest median rating across all subjects was Control 1. The camouflage treatment image with the overall highest median rating is Premolar 3. The camouflage treatment image with the overall lowest median rating is Canine 3. Though, none of these differences were significant. Conclusion: Orthodontists, senior dental students, and laypeople had no specific esthetic preferences. Orthodontic treatment outcomes were equivocally satisfactory for all surveyed subjects. Gender and ethnicity did not influence the degree of satisfaction. The orthodontist scores reflected their knowledge of the complexity of the case, whereas, the dental students paid attention to gingival margin heights and midlines, and color and shape of teeth. Straightness of teeth was preferred by the laypeople. Orthodontic camouflage treatment outcomes were equivocally satisfactory for all surveyed orthodontists, senior dental students, and laypeople, and there were no significant differences across all subjects’ median ratings.Oral Biolog

Healing Minds on Campus: Addressing Trauma and Loss in College Mental Health

The prevalence of mental health challenges among college students has surged in recent years, with nearly 60% reporting overwhelming anxiety and 40% experiencing depressive symptoms (American College Health Association, 2021). Despite the availability of campus mental health services, little is known about their effectiveness for students facing intersecting challenges such as common college stress, secondary trauma, and grief. This study examines how college students experience death, dying, and grieving, focusing on the impact of mental health support systems on their holistic well-being. This research investigates the relationship between cultural, religious, and socioeconomic factors and how they influence students’ coping mechanisms during grief. It also evaluates the accessibility and effectiveness of available mental health resources, including Temple University’s Tuttleman Counseling Center, the Wellness Resource Center, and the Resilience Center, comparing them to similar programs at other institutions. The study seeks to answer key questions: How do diverse cultural and religious backgrounds impact the grieving process? What resources are available to support students during grief, and are they effectively utilized? By examining gaps in institutional support and the intersections of cultural, social, and institutional factors within the university setting, this research aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how college campuses can better address the mental health needs of grieving students. Findings from this study will help inform improvements in campus support systems to ensure they meet the diverse needs of students from various backgrounds.Temple University. College of Public HealthSocial Wor

Disinformation on Youtube: A Dataset of Youtube Comments on Videos Related to Claims Made by Trump and Vance on Haitian Immigrants

The YouTube Disinformation Comments Corpus provides 71,025 comments to 23 YouTube videos posted by US news organizations on the false claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were stealing and eating neighborhood pets, which was picked up and amplified by the 2024 Republican presidential ticket of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. Additionally, the YouTube Disinformation Comments Corpus features metadata associated with each YouTube video, including video titles, descriptions, transcripts, like counts, and YouTube content tags. This dataset is useful for people studying (1) natural language processing, (2) network textual analysis, (3) the circulation of dis- and misinformation on YouTube; (4) the reception of dis- and misinformation on YouTube; (5) news framing effects on YouTube and (6) public discussions of US immigration. TFIDF analysis is used to provide an overview of the variations across comment data.Temple University. College of Liberal ArtsEnglis

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL COHESION ON ENTREPRENEURIAL BEHAVIOR

The context in which the entrepreneurial process is embedded plays a crucial role in determining its success. While past work has looked at the role of multiple and diverse contextual factors, the focus has been on studying the role of the visible and objective side of the contexts, like the environmental conditions in which the entrepreneurial action takes place. More recent research has recommended expanding our study of context to more invisible and subjective aspects of contexts. In this dissertation, I focus on one such factor: the social cohesion in the environment in which entrepreneurial behavior takes place and its role in the relationship between the drivers of entrepreneurial behavior and its outcomes. I explore cohesion at two levels: 1) within the geographic community where entrepreneurship happens and 2) within the Top Management Team (TMT) in a large organization. In the first chapter, I look at how geographic community-level cohesion arising from norms can impact the ability of a venture with a hybrid mission to raise funds. We find that hybrid entrepreneurs can mitigate the difficulties of fundraising by situating themselves in congruent communities. The second chapter looks at how group-level cohesiveness with the TMT can impact the ability of executive compensation to encourage exploratory innovation at the firm level. We see that the power of stock options in driving executive compensation is higher when the cohesiveness among the members of the team is higher. This dissertation contributes to our understanding of the role of an invisible factor of social cohesion in enabling entrepreneurial behavior.Business Administration/Strategic Managemen

An ecological momentary assessment examination on the role of rumination and positive affect on non-suicidal self-injury

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), the deliberate and direct damage of one’s body tissue without suicidal intent, is a pervasive public health concern often leading to clinically significant long-term consequences (e.g., permanent scarring, hospitalization) that is theorized to be facilitated by negative affect and emotion dysregulation. The Emotional Cascade Model proposes that NSSI partially functions to disrupt the reciprocal and rapid amplification of negative affect driven by rumination. However, limited research has focused on state rumination and the distinct contribution of maladaptive and adaptive rumination subtypes, as well as the role of positive affect within this framework. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to replicate and explore the independent influences of overall and momentary (1) positive and negative affect and (2) rumination on NSSI acts and urges, as well as (3) the extent to which rumination moderates the relationship between affect and NSSI. To do so, rumination, affect, and NSSI urges and acts were assessed 4 times daily via ecological momentary assessment for 21-days among thirty undergraduate participants with past month NSSI. Our results partially replicated existing literature, such that overall negative affect was associated with greater overall NSSI urge strength and momentary negative affect and rumination predicted stronger NSSI urges at the next alert, with increased momentary rumination strengthening the relationship between momentary negative affect and NSSI urge. Exploratory investigations of overall and momentary positive affect showed some negative associations with NSSI urges and behaviors, with no moderating effect of rumination. Data did not support the independent examination of maladaptive and adaptive rumination subtypes. Taken together, this study highlighted the importance of exploring state rumination (in addition to trait) and affect in understanding NSSI thoughts and behaviors, and calls for future studies to further investigate distinct properties of rumination to understand its impact on specific emotions that maintain NSSI engagement.Psycholog

FROM LADY SOLDIERS TO BROTHERS IN ARMS: WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES, 1972-1992

As the Vietnam War extended into the 1970s, concerns arose in Washington about the decreased number of men enlisting in the armed services. Conscription kept the ranks full temporarily, but the draft’s end precipitated a crisis. Due to the increased need for humanpower, the military broke with precedent and disbanded its female auxiliary organizations, admitting women as full-fledged members. This dissertation explores the first twenty years of women’s service after integration, from 1972 (the year that the last draft calls were issued) to 1992 (just after the First Gulf War) to examine the experiences of American women in uniform and how they affected a gendered military structure. In doing so, it argues that servicewomen were seen as both “ladies” and “brothers.” It explores how these contradictory identities affected women’s military experiences, striving to tell this story in the voices of the women involved by drawing on previous interdisciplinary scholarship, supplemented by archival research and oral historiesWomen’s experiences in the United States military were inherently different than men’s. This dissertation seeks to determine how concepts of gender changed in the military, and how those changes impacted servicewomen’s experiences. Just as important is an assessment of how female veterans viewed their own experiences after they returned to civilian life. Sexual harassment and assault will loom large as examples of some of the gendered obstacles women faced. Since those two transgressions concern power, not sex, most of these incidents involve men exerting control over women. This dissertation therefore looks at the ways in which sexual harassment and assault affected the lives of servicewomen: how the military and the women themselves conceptualized their experiences as gendered or not. Despite the marked change in servicewomen’s status, the Defense Department maintained a policy that pretended there was no role for them in combat. The United States would rather cling to the fantasy that women had not served under fire than admit that they were in dangerous situations. This dissertation offers case studies that challenge the fiction that women did not enter combat until the 21st century. Beginning with the invasion of Grenada, women saw themselves as warriors in a combat zone, regardless of the military’s blinkered point of view. In exploring women’s service during the 1980s and the First Gulf War, I am contributing to the recent historiographical trend that challenges the idea of women as noncombatants. These women’s roles, in fact, blurred the line between combatant and noncombatant. Setting the creation of the All-Volunteer Force (AVF) in the context of liberalized women’s participation in the armed services, this dissertation explores the unappreciated changes that transformed the military during the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. While the AVF marked the beginning of increased opportunities for women in the United States military, the backlash against women that occurred in the 1980s did not impact only civilian affairs. The military therefore reflected both positive and negative changes that swept the civilian world. This dissertation will assess how women navigated those changes and explore why they occurred by attempting to create a comprehensive historical narrative of women’s military experiences that traces the service and lives of military women from the end of Selective Service through their active involvement in the First Gulf War.Histor

Reimagining the Transplant Evaluation Process: A review of the Ethical and Evidentiary Basis Behind the Psychosocial Evaluation of Lung Transplantation

Despite decades of changes in allocation policies for lung transplantation, the field is plagued by outdated and ethically problematic processes that impact candidate selection. Transplant centers screen potential organ recipients with a psychosocial evaluation in an attempt to identify potential barriers to post transplant success. Professional guidelines note the problematic nature of basing transplant candidacy on social factors. The prohibitive nature of the process in conjunction with the coercive pressures of impending demise forces individuals and their social support systems to make concessions that directly impact their individual dignities. Precluding eligible candidates based upon nonadherence does not improve clinical outcomes and thus does not benefit the net population. Psychosocial evaluation needs to be reimagined. The current practice, as it stands, fails to meet national ethical standards, but with its diverse widespread utilization, the psychosocial evaluation can become a tool to identify potential gaps and empower transplant teams to support individuals in addressing perceived deficiencies.Urban Bioethic

Unpacking Social Impairment in those with Opioid Use Disorder: Linking Impulsivity, Childhood Trauma, and the Prefrontal Cortex

Background: Challenges with social functioning, which is a hallmark of opioid use disorder (OUD), are a drawback in treatment adherence and maintenance. Yet, little research has explored the underlying mechanisms of this impairment. Impulsivity, a known risk factor for OUD, and corresponding neural alterations may be at the center of this issue. Childhood adversity, which has been linked to both impulsivity and poorer treatment outcomes, could also affect this relationship. This study aims to understand the relationship between impulsivity and social functioning in those recovering from OUD. Differences in the prefrontal cortex will be analyzed, as well as potential moderating effects of childhood trauma. Methods: Participants with (N=16) and without (N=19) social impairment completed a survey (e.g., social functioning, Barrat’s Impulsivity Scale, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and cognitive tasks while undergoing neuroimaging. Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a modern, portable, and low-cost neuroimaging technology, was used to measure prefrontal cortex activity during a behavioral inhibition task (Go/No-Go task). Results: The socially impaired group (n=16) was significantly more impulsive (t(33)= -3.4, p< 0.01) and displayed more depressive symptoms (t(33) = -2.8, p <0.01) than those without social impairment (n=19). Social functioning was negatively correlated with impulsivity (r=-0.7, p<0.001), such that increased impulsivity corresponded to decreased social functioning. Childhood trauma emerged as a moderator of this relationship, but only when controlling for the effects of depression, B=-0.11, p=0.023. Although both groups had comparable Go/No-Go task performance, the socially impaired group displayed greater activation in the dorsolateral (F(1,100.8)=7.89, p<0.01), ventrolateral (F(1,88.8)= 7.33, p<0.01), and ventromedial (F(1,95.6)= 7.56, p<0.01) prefrontal cortex during impulse control. Conclusion: Beyond being more impulsive, individuals with social impairment exhibited differential activation in the prefrontal cortex when controlling responses. Furthermore, the impact of impulsivity on social functioning varies depending on ACEs demonstrating that it must considered in treatment approaches. These findings have implications for addressing social needs and impulsivity of those in recovery, highlighting the importance of a more personalized, integrative, and trauma-informed approach to intervention.Livingstone Undergraduate Research Award in STEM DisciplinesTemple University. College of Liberal Art