Digital Commons Network^™

Accounting For Gender In International Refugee Law: A Close Reading Of The Unhcr Gender Guidelines And The Discursive Construction Of Gender As An Identity, Johanna N. Tvedt

Master's Theses

This thesis conducts a close reading of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ “Guidelines on International Protection: Gender-Related Persecution within the context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees” – a document that explains how legal definitions of refugee status might take into account gender issues. In it, I investigate the relationship between gender identity and the refugee status to understand how gender is constructed in relation to other terms or identity categories that determine whether an individual will be granted asylum. Performing a close reading of this text, …

Between Mobility And Stability: Immigration, Free Trade, And Human Rights In The Context Of The Latino Immigrant, Joseph M. Stosberg

Master's Theses

This work takes a multi-dimensional approach to understanding human rights abuse toward Latino immigrants. It is argued here that the opening up of Mexico and Central American countries to free trade, and the restricted movement across borders has increased human rights abuse toward immigrants. In order to investigate these issues this research looks at: the opening up of Mexico and Central American countries to free trade; a pervasive narrative that portrays the Latino immigrant as a threat; and U.S. immigration policy. I use these respective bodies of literature to guide the discussion of the Latino immigrant experience, from the decision …

Re-Visiting Homosexuality In Cameroon: Effective Advocacy On The Path From Homophobia To Dignity And Equality, Jean Cedric Ndzomo

Master's Theses

Cameroon, one of the countries in the world that continues to criminalize homosexuality, has been on the news recently due to the torture and murder of young journalist and gay activist, Eric Ohena. This paper examines the discrimination faced by the LGBTI community in Cameroon by exploring the origins of homophobic violence, the role played by Cameroon's legal system, and the struggles of LGBTI Cameroonians in their fight for a better life. The analysis includes a review of the work by scholars on colonialism and sexuality in Africa, and questions the roots of violence and abuse against the LGBTI community …

The Plight Of Kenyan Domestic Workers In Gulf Countries, Caroline Muthoni Gikuru

Master's Theses

Kenya’s economy remains the regional leader within the East African Community (EAC) and among East African countries at large. However, political instability such as the 2007 post-election violence and the region’s social and political instability trickling into Kenya, have negatively affected the country’s economic growth. To bridge the economic gap, Kenyan women are seeking employment in the domestic service sector in the Gulf Countries, with Saudi Arabia being the most popular destination. At their destination countries, some domestic workers are subjected to various forms of abuse by their employers, leaving the worker without recourse due to the lack of legal …

Land Grabs And Implications On Food Sovereignty And Social Justice In Senegal, Joanna Lafrancesca

Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on the case study of Senegal to examine the implications of large- scale land acquisitions on the livelihoods of small-scale farmers. I investigate the diverse perspectives of market enthusiasts, human rights organizations, peasants, the state, and international financial organizations on large-scale land acquisitions. Based on primary research, I argue that the state of Senegal plays an active role in permitting “land grabs” and that they pose a threat to food sovereignty among Senegalese host communities. Lastly, I argue there needs to be a broader understanding of long-term consequences and risks to insure social justice in areas affected …

Pretreatment Predictors Of Weight Loss In A Comprehensive Behavioral Weight Loss Program, Erin M. Lenz

Master's Theses

There is considerable variability in response to behavioral weight control treatment. Identifying pretreatment health behaviors that predict an individual’s weight loss success has the potential to assist with assignment into more appropriate treatment settings (i.e., standard behavioral program versus comprehensive home environment program) that are likely to yield greater weight loss outcomes over time. Participants (N= 201; 48.9 ± 10.5 years; 78.1% women) enrolled in a study comparing a standard behavioral weight loss program (BWL; n=99) to a home-environment focused weight loss program (BWL+H; n=102) completed baseline questionnaires assessing individual control variables (i.e., dietary restraint, self-weighing) and control over the …

Evidence And Implications Of Weight Clustering Among Adolescents, Jennifer C. Acker

Master's Theses

Both obesity and eating disorders (ED) are increasingly conceptualized from an ecological model of health, which emphasizes the importance of individual and contextual variables. The peer context is particularly important for understanding adolescents’ weight related attitudes and behaviors; however, specific peer processes that impact obesity and EDs are unclear. Because social comparison is common during adolescence, how teens view their body in comparison to the body size of their close friends may be influential. The purpose of this study is to examine how adolescents’ perceptions of their friends’ body sizes relate to their weight-related cognitions, behaviors, and mental health symptoms, …

The Effects Of Poor Maternal Nutrition On Muscle Development In Lambs, Joseline Raja

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Friction Ridge Dysplasia And Its Preponderance In The Afghanistan Population, Chelsea Elyse Woullard

Master's Theses

Friction Ridge Dysplasia is a rare genetic disorder in which the friction skin ridge units do not fuse together to form continuously flowing friction ridges. The skin affected by Friction Ridge Dysplasia is generally localized to one area and gives a similar appearance of the pebbled state of skin on the snout of a dog. Many authors have briefly discussed Friction Ridge Dysplasia in their publications; however, in-depth reflection as to the cause and rate of occurrence of Friction Ridge Dysplasia has not been documented. The objective of this study is to determine whether or not Friction Ridge Dysplasia is …

The Tweet Delete Of Congress: Congress And Deleted Posts On Twitter, Theresa Loraine Cardenas

Master's Theses

Since 2006, increasingly more politicians have joined , and are active on, social media networks, in order to reach out to constituents. However, politicians, such as Anthony Weiner, have started to find themselves in the middle of Twitter scandals and criticism, since their posts are openly available to the public. These ramifications may be leading politicians to delete their tweets, but thanks to the Sunlight Foundation and its website Politwoops, deleted tweets by politicians are now archived and ripe for political research. This raises the question Which members of Congress are deleting tweets and why? Thus, I conduct the first …

Building Women’S Solidarity To Advance Women’S Rights In Bolivia, Luzdary Hammad

Master's Theses

This paper takes a historical look at the deep-seated ethnic and class divisions between women in Bolivia. It also examines the cultural challenges that help explain the status of women in Bolivia and the obstacles women face to become politically active. It provides the theories of decolonization and depatriachalization as practical ways Bolivia can move past their colonial and patriarchal history. It also looks into what feminism means overall in Latin America and what strategies Latin American women have used to make change for women. It then provides a political history of Bolivia from 1994 to the present giving the …

Alcohol Consumption And Unwanted Sexual Experiences Among College Females: The Mediating Role Of Protective Behavioral Strategies, Kayla Darlene Moorer

Master's Theses

The narrowing gender gap regarding consumption has resulted in more alcoholrelated consequences specific to females. Compared to males, females report more sexual consequences, such as doing something they later regret, as a result of alcohol consumption. For this reason, there is a vital need for researchers to identify active methods that females can engage in while consuming alcohol in order to reduce the risk of unwanted sexual experiences (UWS). Protective behavioral strategies (PBS) have been shown to decrease overall alcohol-related consequences, but further investigation is needed to determine which strategies are most influential in reducing the occurrence of specific alcohol-related …

Influence Of Parenting Styles And Protective Behavioral Strategies On College Students' Alcohol Use And Alcohol-Related Consequences, Saarah Danielle Kison

Master's Theses

The current study examined the relationships between parenting styles, protective behavioral strategies (PBS), alcohol use and negative alcohol-related consequences in college students. While parenting styles have been associated with alcohol use, there are no studies which have investigated the relationship between parenting styles and negative alcohol-related consequences. Further, while alcohol use and negative consequences have been related to PBS, no studies have investigated the relationship between parenting styles and PBS. The current study hypothesized that PBS will be a partial mediator between parenting styles and alcohol use. The current study also hypothesized that PBS will be a partial mediator between …

Maladaptive Personality Traits And Sex Addiction Profiles, Jonathan Knute Jore

Master's Theses

How do pathological personality traits relate to specific expressions of compulsive sexual behaviors? Previous studies have concluded that there are only small relationships between these two constructs, but such studies have usually conceptualized sexual compulsion as a unidimensional construct. The current study used a correlational design to evaluate the relationship between pathological personality traits and six general domains of sexually compulsive behaviors and cognitions in an inpatient and outpatient clinical sample (N = 540) of males seeking treatment for sex addiction. The pathological personality trait results were assessed using the MMPI-2 Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) domain and facet traits. The sexually …

Anticipated Life Role Salience And Career Decision-Making Difficulties, Emily A. Schedin

Master's Theses

With the dual-earner population increasingly becoming the norm, undergraduate students are forced to consider the ways in which their career choice may affect their future family life, as well as how their family life may affect their career. Research has shown that undergraduate students may alter their vocational aspirations or adjust their future family plans to avoid work-family role conflict thus implying that students are making career decisions based on their prioritization of anticipated future life roles. The present study sought to investigate how the salience of different life roles may factor into the level of career decision-making difficulty (CDMD) …

Stimulant Use, Associated Psychopathology, And Eating Disordered Symptomatology, Tiffany Ann Hopkins

Master's Theses

The current study developed profiles of eating disorder, personality, and other psychopathological symptoms related to the use of central nervous system stimulants versus other types of drug use. Participants included 124 women in residential treatment for substance use with and without comorbid eating disorders. Symptomatology was measured by the Eating Disorders lnventory-3 (EDI-3), Millon Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III), and Personality Assessment Inventory (PAl). The current study utilized a series of six multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) and discriminant analyses to determine patterns of psychopathology separating stimulant use from other drug use. Results indicated that women who used stimulants were primarily separated …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between Measures Of Service Quality And Satisfaction Of Golf Spectators In A Korean Ladies' Professional Golf Association Tournament, Jaemon Sun

Master's Theses

A variety of spectator sports, leisure activities, and internet media developments have changed the sport market environment into a serious global competition. In this sport market environment, it is necessary to execute customer satisfaction management to meet the wants and needs of sport spectators. Understanding which service quality factors best predict customer satisfaction is an important issue in the sport events industry. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction for spectators in attendance at a Korea Ladies' Professional Golf Association Tournament event. A secondary purpose of the study was to …

Development And Validation Of A Human Knee Joint Finite Element Model For Tissue Stress And Strain Predictions During Exercise, Spencer D. Wangerin

Master's Theses

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative condition of cartilage and is the leading cost of disability in the United States. Motion analysis experiments in combination with knee-joint finite element (FE) analysis may be used to identify exercises that maintain knee-joint osteochondral (OC) loading at safe levels for patients at high-risk for knee OA, individuals with modest OC defects, or patients rehabilitating after surgical interventions. Therefore, a detailed total knee-joint FE model was developed by modifying open-source knee-joint geometries in order to predict OC tissue stress and strain during the stance phase of gait. The model was partially validated for predicting the …

Investigating The Relationship Between Operations Efficiency And Customer Satisfaction, Monica Jane Reinwald

Master's Theses

The importance of efficiency in the service industry has continued to grow with the increase of services in today’s society. As a result, services must maintain efficient operations in order to achieve positive customer satisfaction and retain their customers. The fear of receiving negative customer satisfaction often results in a firm owner’s reluctance to improve efficiency operations because he or she believes it will hurt sales. This thesis provides a background on restaurant operations efficiency and customer satisfaction and discusses a case study used to explore the effect of efficiency on customer satisfaction. The case study consisted of a time …

Women And The Second Estate In 16th Century Zambezia: Gendered Powers, A 'Puppet' African Queen And Succession In Vakaranga Society, 1500–1700, George G. Levin

Master's Theses

Women in vaKaranga society of the 15th to 17th centuries have been portrayed as oppressed by an "extremely patriarchal" system, but the reality, while still fitting the simple classification of a 'patriarchal' monarchy, indicates quite a bit more negotiation of gendered powers than women, as a class, experienced in the Mediterranean or East Asia. The vaKaranga were the architects of Great Zimbabwe, the capital of a growing state, colonizing their cousins of the Zambezi river, which their Kusi-Mashariki Bantu forefathers had traversed southward a millennium before. Civil war had (apparently) split one nation into two states, Mutapa (Monomotapa) and Khami …

A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of American And Chinese College Students' Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help And Expectations About Counseling And Counselors, Xiaowei Qiao

Master's Theses

The number of international students in the U.S. has increased steadily since the early 1990s. Based on this trend, the current study compared American and Chinese college students� attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help and expectations about counseling and counselors. In addition, it compared the stress levels of these two groups and examined Chinese international students� specific stressors. A total of 100 American and 71 Chinese students from a small Midwestern university participated in this study. ATSPPH-SF (Attitudes toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help � Short Form), EAC-BF (Expectations about Counseling � Brief Form), PSS (Perceived Stress Survey), and QSSCSCIS (Questionnaire …

The Steps To Growing Up Healthy Study: Barriers To Initial Behavior Change In A Primary Care Based Obesity Prevention/Reversal Program For Young Children, Dominica B. Hernandez

Master's Theses

BACKGROUND: Children of color are disproportionately affected by obesity creating a need for effective prevention/reversal programs. This study investigated a first dose response to a pediatric primary care-based obesity prevention program (Steps to Growing Up Healthy) targeting Hispanic and Black children. We examined whether mothers experienced barriers to behavior change and if maternal, child, environmental, or intervention variables predicted barrier status.

METHODS: Hispanic and Black mothers and their children (N=234; 51%F; 88.9% Hispanic; 35.4±8.7months) were recruited from an urban pediatric primary care clinic. The intervention utilized brief motivational counseling delivered by clinicians and nurses with the goal of …

Effects Of Racism And Discrimination On Personality Development Among African American Male Repeat Offenders, Tiffany Nicole Lockett

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Effects of Racism and Discrimination on Personality Development among

African American Male Repeat Offenders

Tiffany Nicole Lockett

Throughout history in the United States, the African American community has consistently been the victim of social policies put in place to disenfranchise this population (Mauer & Chesney-Lind, 2002; Painter, 2007; Parham, White & Ajamu, 1999). With a longstanding presence of systemic racism and discrimination, the criminal justice system and the dominant culture continues to pathologize this minority group and advocate for increased penalties which further stigmatize African Americans, particularly males in this group (Reiman, 1996; Russell, 1998). Though most criminology research …

Workplace Incivility At The Daily Level: The Effects Of Rumination On Performance And Revenge Motives, Jenna Shapiro

Master's Theses

Ruminating about stressful experiences at work may have negative effects for employees and the organization, but has been widely overlooked in organizational research. In order to address this gap, I examined the process by which incivility affects performance and revenge motives in the workplace. A meditational model was tested, in which stress reactive rumination mediates the relationship between incivility and performance, as well as between incivility and revenge motives. These mediated relationships were examined at the intra-individual level, such that data-points were nested within employees over time. I surveyed 108 healthcare professionals daily over a two-week study period. The data …

Effect Of Warm-Up Activity On Vertical Ground Reaction Forces In Basketball Players During Drop Jump Landings, Jacob Wesley Hinkel-Lipsker

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Effect of Warm-Up Activity on Vertical Ground Reaction Forces in Basketball Players During Drop Jump Landings

Jacob Hinkel-Lipsker

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of certain warm-up activities on vertical ground reaction forces (GRF_v) during a drop jump landing. Methods: Eight women and twelve men (mean age 22.6 ± 1.82 years) completed three warm-up activities on three separate days in a counterbalanced order: a passive stretching warm-up, a dynamic warm-up, and a no warm-up control. After completing each activity, participants were asked to perform eight drop jump landings on a force platform. …

The Distinct Roles Of First Impressions And Physiological Compliance In Establishing Effective Teamwork, Andrea M. Bizarro

Master's Theses

Objective measures of team dynamics would be valuable complementary tools for researchers and practitioners to use along with subjective measures when deciding which individuals work together most effectively as a team, or when designing training or task environments to promote more effective teams and teamwork. Consistent with control theory, the present study investigates how first impressions and physiological compliance early during team formation impact team effectiveness outcomes including: team satisfaction, work-related flow experiences, team processes, and performance outcomes. In a theory-driven attempt to objectively measure the extent of mutual control during teamwork, physiological compliance was calculated as root-mean squared (RMS) …

Relating Naturalistic Global Positioning System (Gps) Driving Data With Long-Term Safety Performance Of Roadways, James Michael Loy

Master's Theses

This thesis describes a research study relating naturalistic Global Positioning System (GPS) driving data with long-term traffic safety performance for two classes of roadways. These two classes are multilane arterial streets and limited access highways. GPS driving data used for this study was collected from 33 volunteer drivers from July 2012 to March 2013. The GPS devices used were custom GPS data loggers capable of recording speed, position, and other attributes at an average rate of 2.5 hertz.

Linear Referencing in ESRI ArcMAP was performed to assign spatial and other roadway attributes to each GPS data point collected. GPS data …

Effects Of Perceived Individualism-Collectivism And Self-Consciousness On The Self-Disclosure In Social Networking Sites, Hongliang Chen

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Adolescent Narcissism And Prosocial Behavior As A Function Of Peer, Parent, And Self-Perception, Rebecca Lynn Kauten

Master's Theses

The association between narcissism and aggression has been empirically supported in adults and adolescents, but it is unclear whether narcissism might also be related to prosocial behavior. The current study aimed to investigate different facets of narcissism in adolescents and their association with self-, parent-, and peer-reported prosocial behavior. In a sample of 175 at-risk adolescents ages 16-18 (151 males, 24 females), it was expected that reports of the individual's engagement in prosocial behavior would vary as a function of the informant and the specific facet of narcissism (i.e., adaptive or pathological). However, no main effects or interactions emerged with …

Sandcastles In The Sand: Liminality At The Seashore In Carolyn Wells's Marjorie At Seacote, Olivia Jeanne Bushardt

Master's Theses

The American beach at the turn of the twentieth century became a popular site for middle-class families to escape the urban squalor of the cities and play during the summer months. Although relatively unknown today, Carolyn Wells's 1912 novel Marjorie at Seacote depicts how the beach as a liminal space destabilizes the traditional adult and child roles and creates discomfon and ambivalence over these new roles. I first discuss Carolyn Wells and Marjorie at Seacote in terms of historical context and within the framework of girls' series fiction published at the turn of the century. I then explain how the …