Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Communicating With The World: History Of Rhetorical Responses To International Crisis And The 2007 U.S. National Strategy For Public Diplomacy And Strategic Communication, Laurel R. Berryman

Communication Theses

Following the events of September 11, 2001, we have seen a revival in American public diplomacy. I argue the U.S. continues to rely on similar rhetorical responses to crisis that are an essential part of American public diplomacy interconnected through history, from the birth of our country to the recent 2007 U.S. National Strategy for Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communication. Tracing this recurring rhetorical process from our founding to the Carter Administration illustrates our reliance on similar rhetoric despite changing contexts. I use Burke’s concept of identification and the interrelated use of ethos and enemy construction to demonstrate the rhetorical …

Imagining Queerness: Sexualities In Underground Films In The Contemporary P. R. China, Jin Zhao

Communication Theses

In response to the globalizing queerness argument and the cultural specificity argument in queer cultural studies, this thesis examines the emerging modern queer identity and culture in the contemporary People’s Republic of China (PRC) in an intercultural context. Recognizing Chinese queer culture as an unstable, transforming and complex collection of congruent and/or contesting meanings, not only originated in China but also traveling across cultures, this thesis aims to exorcise the reified images of Chinese queers, or tongzhi, to contribute to the understanding of a dynamic construction of Chinese queerness at the turn of a new century, and to lend insight …

Facebook Friendships Between College/University Instructors And Students: Deciding Whether Or Not To Allow Students As Friends, Communicating With Students, And The Individual Differences That Influence Instructors' Impression Management On Facebook, Melissa S. Plew

Communication Dissertations

This research examined Facebook friendships between college/university instructors and students. Based on the development of instructor-student dual relationships, this study described instructors’ Facebook use with students. This included explanations for allowing/not allowing students, communication with students, and ethical concerns. Rooted in the theories of impression management, self-monitoring and role conflict, plus the concept of ambient awareness, hypotheses predicted relationships between instructors’ individual differences and Facebook use: (1) self-monitoring would be positively related to role conflict; and (2) self-monitoring, (3) role conflict, and (4) ambient awareness would be positively related to instructors’ self-presentation, impression management behaviors, and privacy management. Emails were …

La Vida Online: The Parallel Public Sphere Of Facebook As Used By Colombian Immigrant Women In Atlanta, Michaelanne M. Dye

Anthropology Theses

This thesis examines how Colombian women within the city of Atlanta utilize Facebook as a parallel public sphere, a cultural phenomenon through which the silenced use mediums of popular culture to discuss private and public dilemmas (Dewey 2009). Through ethnographic research in Atlanta, I analyze how these young women use Facebook as they negotiate their identity through the multiple contexts of their everyday lives. Drawing from feminist critiques, I explore whether Facebook provides an alternative to the traditional public sphere, while also investigating how power structures influence freedom of expression online. Through an international network of friends, these women tackle …

Relationships Among Processing Speed, Attention, And Biochemical Features In Children Identified With Mitochondrial Disease, Jihye S. Chang

Psychology Theses

Mitochondrial Diseases (MD) are disorders of function in cellular oxidative phosphorylation caused by diverse nuclear DNA and mtDNA mutations and seen in 1/5,000 births. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships across medical indices, biochemical measures, and neurobehavioral functioning in children with MD. Findings from Western Blot, Native Gels, High Resolution Respirometry, and the Nijmegen diagnostic criteria were assessed in relation to children’s processing speed and attention, based on the prediction that impaired functioning of proteins, complexes, and cellular respiration, that are critical in ATP production, will impact neurodevelopment and related neuropsychological processes in children with MD. Twenty-five …

Labor And Identity: Latina Migrant Women And The Service Industry Of Atlanta, Kaitlin E. Case

Anthropology Theses

This thesis explores the work experiences and life histories of a group of Latina migrant women who work in specific sectors of the service industry in Atlanta, Georgia. I focus on janitorial/custodial as well as domestic labor in order to confront the social issue of the continued devaluation and exploitation of feminized wage work. This ethnography reveals how education and English proficiency tie into how migrant labor is viewed in the United States specifically, and asks how Latina migrant women might be able to achieve labor legitimacy in the future. My findings are based on in-depth interviews that I collected …

Regulating Healthy Gender: Surgical Body Modification Among Transgender And Cisgender Consumers, Elroi J. Windsor

Sociology Dissertations

Few bodies consistently portray natural or unaltered forms. Instead, humans inhabit bodies imbued with sociocultural meanings about what is attractive, appropriate, functional, and presentable. As such, embodiment is always gendered. The social, extra-corporeal body is a central locus for expressing gender. Surgical body modifications represent inherently gendered technologies of the body. But psychomedical institutions subject people who seek gender-crossing surgeries to increased surveillance, managing and regulating cross-gender embodiment as disorderly. Using mixed research methods, this research systematically compared transgender and cisgender (non-transgender) people’s experiences before, during, and after surgical body modification. I conducted a content analysis of 445 threads on …

The Impact Of Psychological Acceptance And Sibling Relationship Quality On Depression And Perceived Stigma For Youth Living With Hiv, Kara E. Snead

Psychology Dissertations

Compared to their uninfected peers, youth living with HIV experience greater distress related to a multitude of stressors they face. In order to enhance the lives of youth who are living with HIV, it is important to identify the personal and social resources that these individuals might bring to coping with their disease. Using the compensatory hypothesis and resiliency theory as conceptual frameworks, the present study examined the function of both psychological acceptance and sibling relationships for youths in managing depression and HIV-related stigma. In addition, the current study investigated the interactive effects of psychological acceptance and sibling relationship quality …

Labor Agency Beyond The Union: The Coalition Of Immokalee Workers And Faith-Based Community Organizations, Michael Husebo

Geosciences Theses

Labor geographers have identified multiple strategies through which workers assert their demands in an era of global production networks. In this thesis I examine the strategic organizational actions of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a community-based organization representing immigrant farm-workers in southwestern Florida. Central to the successes of the CIW is its strategy to organize and embed its agency in civil society. Social actors have proved to be of vital importance as they enabled the CIW to position itself strategically in important locations of the production network to contest capitalist geographies more effectively. Using qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews …

Constructing Asian/American Women On Screen, Charleen M. Wilcox

Communication Theses

Asian/American women occupy a highly circumscribed subject position in popular Western culture that entails a unique reading of our bodies. My discussion of this group will gain greater depth and scope by using Black body theory as a theoretical framework to better understand how Asian/American bodies become a site to enact a multitude of fantasies, fears, and anxieties. I will examine three case studies: the construction of the interracial “romance” featuring Asian/American women produced in classical Hollywood cinema, interracial pornography featuring Asian/American female performers, and the independent works of Asian/American feminist filmmakers. Topics interrogated include the over-determination of non-White bodies …

The Flow Of The Water: Contemporary American Realisms, Justin Horton

Communication Theses

"Realism" is one of the enduring theoretical problems of the cinema. This study aims to broaden the parameters of the term by focusing on an often overlooked strain of thought that flows throughout the work of a number of prominent and seemingly incongruous thinkers such as Bazin, Kracauer, Benjamin, Barthes, Buñuel, and others. Realism, I contend, is undergirded by something far more elusive and irrational than verisimilitude or social commentary. To demonstrate, I will examine a body of contemporary American films that I will cast—perhaps provocatively—as realist. I rely heavily upon Deleuze to discuss how free indirect discourse and the …

The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence, Transformational Leadership, And Effectiveness In School Principals, Elizabeth B. Hebert

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

In the rapidly changing school environment effective principals are needed to make necessary changes while also developing a culture of shared responsibility and community (Hallinger & Heck, 1998; Leithwood & Jantzi, 1999). The correlation between transformational leadership and emotional intelligence was investigated in this quantitative study of school principals. Also included in the research was the investigation of the relationship between each construct and effectiveness as perceived by their teachers. The research sample was composed of 30 elementary, middle, and high school principals and five to seven teachers who worked with each principal from schools within the United States. An …

Evaluating Changes In Attentional Biases Following Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Social Phobia, Martha R. Calamaras

Psychology Theses

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate changes in attentional biases following CBT for Social Phobia. It was found that 1.) consistent with previous investigations, the overall sample displayed vigilance toward threatening facial stimuli prior to receiving treatment, and 2.) participants’ pattern of responding to threatening facial stimuli changed following treat-ment, but only when the sample was divided into those who were vigilant and those who were avoidant prior to treatment. Findings provide support for the presence of two distinct sub-groups with differing attentional styles, one with a tendency for vigilance toward social threats, and a second with …

The Game Of Unity?: The 2007 Cricket World Cup As A Catalyst Toward Caribbean Identity Construction, Peta-Gaye J. Wiggan

Communication Theses

It was paramount for the English-speaking Caribbean to host a successful 2007 Cricket World Cup and field an outstanding West Indian cricket team for the international sporting mega-event. For CARICOM and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), there were two principle goals – first, to exhibit regional Caribbean identity, and second, to be triumphant under the leadership of the West Indian cricket team’s captain, Trinidadian Brian Lara. Identities are multifaceted and intricate, negotiated and renegotiated, based on a history of economic, political and cultural forces. This thesis interrogates Caribbean identity through textual analysis of the broadcast of the opening ceremony …

Three Essays On The Search For Economic Efficiency, Jason J. Delaney

Economics Dissertations

The chapters of this dissertation examine efficiency failures in three areas of applied microeconomics: experimental economics, public finance, and game theory. In each case, we look at ways to resolve these failures to promote the public good. The first chapter, “An Experimental Test of the Pigovian Hypothesis,” looks at two different policies designed to reduce congestion in a common-pool resource (CPR). We present an experiment with training and a simplified decision task and find that subject behavior converges to the Nash prediction over a number of periods. A Pigovian subsidy effectively moves subject behavior to the pre-subsidy social optimum. Finally, …

Nadya Suleman And Kate Gosselin In The Media: Exploring Images Of Motherhood And Reproductive Technology, Lisa A. Hanna

Communication Theses

This project examines how Nadya Suleman and Kate Gosselin were represented in the media following the births of their higher order multiples by conducting a critical textual analysis of newspaper and entertainment magazine articles to answer the following questions: How were Suleman and Gosselin portrayed as mothers? And how were they portrayed as recipients of reproductive technology? The findings illustrate that race and class combined with gender to play an important role in determining who has a right to be a mother and what that mother should look like. Traditional stereotypes within media coverage about good mothers and bad mothers …

Aging Of The Lumbar Vertebrae Using Known Age And Sex Samples, April K. Smith

Anthropology Theses

The dimensions of the lumbar vertebrae are examined in order to determine if these measurements can be used to predict the age of an individual, and if the lumbar vertebrae exhibit sexual dimorphism. Various statistical techniques were utilized to analyze several dimensions of the lumbar vertebrae. Aging patterns in the lumbar elements are distinct between males and females, and females exhibit compression of the L3 element, which may be related to vertebral wedging. Some dimensions of the lumbar vertebrae are sexually dimorphic.

The Effects Of High Density Septic Systems On Surface Water Quality In Gwinnett County, Georgia, John R. Anderson Ii

Geosciences Theses

Gwinnett County, Georgia experienced rapid growth in the 1970’s without the infrastructure so septic systems were installed for residential homes. The number of septic systems grew to over 85,000 with a density of 487 septic systems per square mile. This study mapped the distribution of septic systems to determine regions of potential pathogen surface water. This study addressed what potential health risks do high density septic systems have on surface water quality and how can the history of Gwinnett County assist in future development in the Metropolitan Atlanta area? It was found that the density of septic systems has reduced …

The Revolving Door: How Leaders Push Teacher Turnover, Suzanne B. Miller

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

THE REVOLVING DOOR: HOW LEADERS PUSH TEACHER TURNOVER

by

Suzanne Kay Bryant Miller

In today’s age of accountability leaders of schools cannot afford to lose quality teachers. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requiring schools to staff all classrooms with “highly qualified teachers” creates a major challenge. Today, more than ever, school systems need to retain their experienced and effective teachers.

While many reasons have been attributed to the revolving-door phenomenon known as teacher turnover, this research suggests that school leaders’ behaviors play a major role in the issue. This qualitative inquiry focused on the perceptions of veteran …

The Paranoid Style In An Age Of Suspicion: Conspiracy Thinking And Official Rhetoric In Contemporary America, Chara Kay Van Horn

Communication Dissertations

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 are two events that scarred America and its people. In the aftermath of the assassination and the terrorist attacks, the American public was forced to sift through competing messages existing in the public sphere in order to make meaning out of the events. Although the American government, within a few days of both events, released who was ultimately responsible (Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy and Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda were responsible for 9/11), the people were still left with coming to terms …

Modeling Phonological Processing For Children With Mild Intellectual Disabilities: The Relationship Between Underlying Phonological Abilities And Associated Language Variables, Robert Michael Barker

Psychology Dissertations

The structure of phonological processing for typically developing children has been debated over the past two decades. Recent research has indicated that phonological processing is best explained by a single underlying phonological ability (e.g., Anthony and Lonigan, 2004). The current study had two goals. The first goal was to determine the structure of phonological processing for school-age children with mild intellectual disabilities (MID). The second goal was to determine the relationship between the components of phonological processing and expressive and receptive language ability. The participants were 222 school-age children identified by their schools as having MID. Confirmatory factor analysis was …

Vocabulary And Reading Growth In Children With Intellectual Disabilites: The Influences Of Risks, Adaptive Behavior, And A Reading Intervention, Dana Donohue

Psychology Dissertations

Risk factors tend to be negatively associated with developmental outcomes such as academic achievement and language skills. Promotive factors, on the other hand, may foster resilience in at-risk children. Some children, such as children with intellectual disabilities, experience relatively more risks than other children do. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of risks, adaptive behavior, and an intervention on the language and reading growth of children with intellectual abilities over the course of a yearlong reading intervention in which they were participants. The results suggested that, on average, risks were negatively associated and adaptive behaviors were …

A Balancing Act Between Nationalism And Globalism: A Comparison Of Two Chinese Official Newspapers In Portrayal Of America 1989-2009, Shuhua Dai

Communication Theses

This study uses discourse analysis to investigate and compare the coverage of America in two Chinese official newspapers, the Chinese language People’s Daily and the English language China Daily in January in 1989, 1999, and 2009. This study compares the two newspapers in four aspects of the texts: topic selection, headline design, writing tactics, and visual components use, to find any differences in reporting tactics according to their different readerships. People’s Daily employed a constant editorial preference for political content and a provocative reporting tactics. Meanwhile, China Daily used a more global editorial approach. Its content and its reports were …

Examining The Role Of Communication On Sibling Relationship Quality And Interaction For Sibling Pairs With And Without A Developmental Disability, Ashlyn L. Smith

Psychology Dissertations

Sibling relationships in families of children with disabilities are generally positive despite difficulties that may result from the child’s disability. Many developmental disabilities have associated communication impairments that could affect how siblings interact with each other and the closeness between them. Research has rarely addressed the role of communication skills and how potential deficits in communication may impact the sibling relationship. The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of sibling communication interaction patterns when one sibling has a developmental disability and the unique role that communication skills play in the quality of the sibling relationship using both …

Small Finds From Chogha Gavaneh Site In The Islamabad Plain, Central Zagros Mountains, Iran, Firoozeh Forouzan

Anthropology Theses

This study examines small finds from the site of Chogha Gavaneh, Iran, including zoomorphic clay figurines, geometric-shaped objects, and sling bullets in order to deter-mine if they served an economic function during the Early Chalcolithic period (ca. 5000-4000 B.C.E.). A total of 104 animal figurines, sling bullets, and geometric-shaped objects have been found at Chogha Gavaneh. This research challenges previous archaeological interpretations of animal figurines that have interpreted them as being magical or lucky objects for hunting and religious rituals, or for use as game pieces, educational objects, or toys. Through the use of XRF (x-ray fluorescence spectrometry) analysis and …

Examination Of Perceived Norms And Masculinity Threat As Predictors Of College Men's Behavioral Intentions As Bystanders In A Party Gang Rape Situation, Doyanne A. Darnell

Psychology Dissertations

Sexual assault of women is a well-documented phenomenon in U.S. samples, particularly on college campuses. Innovative approaches to prevention encourage men and women to intervene as bystanders in sexual assault situations; however, bystander behavior is notoriously inhibited by various situational factors. This study used a mixed-method approach to better understand the role of situational factors in college men’s bystander behavioral intentions in a party gang rape situation. The first aim was to develop an experimental paradigm using vignette methodology to manipulate the amount of masculinity threat present in a party gang rape situation, which could then be used to explore …

Borders And Barriers: Perspectives On Aging And Alternative Medicine Among Transnational North Indian Immigrants, Kanan B. Mehta

Anthropology Theses

This study explores the practice of alternative medicine among a group of senior, transnational Indian immigrants. I analyze how cross-cultural ideologies influence aging and immigrant experiences in healthcare. I explore the ways in which transnational networks nurture social relations and aid in acquiring healthcare resources. This study also examines the developments that alternative medicine underwent during the colonial rule and how those developments affected the trajectory of biomedicine. I focus on the practice of alternative medicine as a significant contributor to immigrant health. Finally, I argue that we need to strive for a symbiosis between alternative medicine and Western biomedicine …

Racial Uplift And Self-Determination: The African Methodist Episcopal Church And Its Pursuit Of Higher Education, Shannon A. Butler-Mokoro

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

The African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, like many historically black denomination over the years, has been actively involved in social change and racial uplift. The concepts of racial uplift and self-determination dominated black social, political, and economic thought throughout the late-eighteenth into the nineteenth century. Having created many firsts for blacks in America, the A.M.E. Church is recognized as leading blacks in implementing the rhetoric of racial uplift and self-determination. Racial uplift was a broad concept that covered issues such as equal rights, moral, spiritual, and intellectual development, and institutional and organizational building. The rhetoric of racial uplift and self-determination …

The Political Economy Of Federal Assistance: Demand-Side Determinants Of New Awards In The 110th Congress, Matthew A. Lenard

Political Science Theses

An extensive literature examines how distributive (i.e., “pork barrel”) spending is allocated among congressional districts. Much of this research finds evidence that intra-chamber factors like ideology, party, and committee membership are the primary determinants of various forms of distributive spending. However, we know much less about how extra-chamber factors such as district-level demand and the economy impact the distribution of federal outlays. In this study, I find that district-level demand and variation in economic factors, in particular, income and unemployment, significantly predict the distribution of new bureaucratic awards in the 110th Congress. The results support the contention that districts get …

Analysis Of Four-Word Lexical Bundles In Published Resesarch Articles Written By Turkish Scholars, Betul Bal

Applied Linguistics and English as a Second Language Theses

This study investigated the use of lexical bundles in research articles written in English by Turkish scholars. For the purpose of the study, a corpus of published research articles produced by Turkish scholars in six different academic disciplines was collected. The four-word lexical bundles that appeared at least twenty times in this one million word corpus were identified and further analyzed both structurally and functionally based on the previous taxonomies developed by Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad and Finegan (1999) and Biber, Conrad and Cortes (2004). The results of this study revealed that the lexical bundles found have structural correlates as …