Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Quantification, Misc., Jan Anderssen

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation investigates various topics concerning the interpretation of determiner phrases and their connection to individual entities. The first chapter looks at a phenomenon called telescoping, in which a quantificational expression appears to bind a pronominal form across sentence boundaries, at odds with commonly assumed and well motivated constraints on binding. I investigate the limited circumstances under which telescoping is available and argue that the mechanism that makes it available should respect said locality constraints. In particular, I argue that the impression of co-variation arises not because of binding by the initial quantificational expression, but because an of independent, albeit …

Effect Of Color Overlays On Reading Efficiency, Rhonda Morrison

Open Access Dissertations

Reading is a skill that unlocks the doors of learning and success. It is commonly accepted that reading is a foundational skill that plays a major role in a child's academic success. The history of teaching reading includes many theories about the development of reading, the source of reading difficulties, and interventions for remediation. A large body of research has demonstrated that reading difficulties stem from a phonological basis and interventions that target this area are generally beneficial in helping improving reading skills (National Reading Panel, 2000; Shaywitz, 2003; Stanovich, 1986). However, there are some who even with extensive intervention …

Social Meanings Of Mortality: The Language Of Death And Disease In 19th Century Massachusetts, Jeffrey Keith Beemer

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the emergence and development of cause-of-death registration in nineteenth-century Massachusetts. I examine the historical, demographic, sociopolitical, and theoretical conditions that gave rise to the first state-implemented cause-of-death registration system in the United States, Massachusetts's vital registration system. Developments in almost every arena of social life during the nineteenth century were shaped in some fashion through disease. The disease ecology changed dramatically during this period shifting from acute infectious to chronic degenerative diseases, which marked the beginning of the epidemiological transition. Registration systems were key components in this transitional period, providing the raw data on which nineteenth-century public …

Attention To Television In Preschoolers Who Exhibit Adhd Symptoms: An Erp Investigation, Lindsay B. Demers

Open Access Dissertations

Children with ADHD suffer from low and high order attention deficits. Work by E.P. Lorch and colleagues shows that these attention deficits affect televised narrative comprehension. The purpose of this research was to determine the extent to which the televised narrative comprehension deficits are the result of an inability to inhibit processing of irrelevant information. To achieve this, data were collected from 16 healthy adults and 37 preschool age children who varied in their ADHD symptoms. Participants were instructed to attend to one of two simultaneously presented audio tracks from children's television shows. For all participants the video that matched …

Reclaiming America For Christian Reconstruction: The Rhetorical Constitution Of A "People", Joanna L. Brook

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the rhetorical constitution of a religio-political social collective which has come to be understood as Christian Reconstruction (CR). CR is guided by conservative Calvinism (Reformed theology) and upholds the ideas of theonomy, postmillennialism, and presuppositional apologetics. Some of the leaders associated with CR are R. J. Rushdoony, Gary North, Gary DeMar of American Vision and Doug Phillips of Vision Forum. A few of its key practices are homeschooling, the father ‘returning home,’ and having as many children ‘as God will allow,’ (a vision aligned with the Quiverfull movement). It is primarily a national movement within the United …

Utopian Gender: Counter Discourses In A Feminist Community, Jolane Flanigan

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation is an ethnography of communication, situated in the context of a feminist utopian community, that examines members' use of communication and communicative embodiment to counter what they consider to be oppressive United States gender practices. By integrating speech codes theory and cultural discourse analysis with theories of the body and gender, I develop analyses of spoken and written language, normative language- and body-based communicative practices, and sensual experiences of the body. I argue that there are three key ways communication and communicative practices are used to counter gender oppression: the use of gender-neutral words, the "desensationalization" of the …

The Interaction Between Endogenous Cortisol And Salivary Alpha-Amylase Predicts Implicit Cognitive Bias In Young Women, Donna Ann Kreher

Open Access Dissertations

Both animal and human studies suggest that cognitive bias toward negative information, such as that observed in major depression, may arise through the interaction of cortisol (CORT) and norepinephrine (NE) within the amygdala. To date, there is no published account of the relationship between endogenous NE and CORT levels and cognitive bias. The present study examined salivary CORT and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), an indirect measure of NE, in relation to masked affective priming of words in young female participants. Women with higher salivary CORT showed increased priming to negative word pairs only when sAA was also high; when sAA was …

Resisting Schools, Reproducing Families: Gender And The Politics Of Homeschooling, Brian Paul Kapitulik

Open Access Dissertations

The contemporary homeschooling movement sits at the intersection of several important social trends: widespread concern about the effectiveness and safety of public schools, feminist challenges to the patriarchal family structure, anxiety about the state of the family as an institution, and challenging economic conditions. The central concern of this dissertation is to make sense of homeschooling within this broader context. Data were gathered through interviews with forty-five homeschooling parents, approximately half of whom are religious and half of whom are secular. The interviews were organized around three central questions: 1) What are the frames that parents use to justify homeschooling? …

Youth And Economic Development: A Case Study Of Out-Of-School Time Programs For Low-Income Youth In New York State, Kristen Maeve Powlick

Open Access Dissertations

Children are conceptualized many ways by economists-- as sources of utility for their parents, investments, recipients of care, and public goods. Despite the understanding that children are also people, the economic literature is lacking in analysis of children as actors, making choices with consequences for economic development. Using a capability-driven approach and an emphasis on co-evolutionary processes of institutional and individual change, with mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, my dissertation analyzes the role of children in long-term economic development at the community level. I use a case study of community-based, out-of-school time (OST) programs for low-income youth funded through the …

French Postcolonial Nationalism And Afro-French Subjectivities, Yasser A. Munif

Open Access Dissertations

This research examines urban renewal in Clichy-sous-Bois, a suburb of 30,000 inhabitants located in the northeast of Paris. It studies the modalities of spatial racialization, nation building, and subject formation among Afro-French young men living in the city. It also builds on a world-historical perspective to explore the diasporic webs in which the lives of Afro-French are embedded. Taking spatial racialization as a point of entry, the study attempts to understand how governmental strategies and urban policies regulate lives and residential patterns in the city. Three lines of investigation are pursued: 1) an examination of Afro-French racialization and genealogies; 2) …

Essays On International Reserve Accumulation And Cooperation In Latin America, Luis Daniel Rosero

Open Access Dissertations

One of the defining trends in international finance over the last two decades has been the unprecedented growth in the levels of international reserves accumulated by emerging nations. In a global financial system characterized by market failures and sudden stops, many developing countries have opted for the protection provided by individual accumulation of reserves as a second-best outcome. However, as suggested by Rodrik (2006), among others, the accumulation of reserves comes at a hefty opportunity cost to the nations that hold them. It is this particular aspect that brings into question--or at least merits a re-examination of--the validity and efficiency …

Defining Legal Parenthood: The Intersection Of Gender And Sexual Identity In U.S. Child Custody Decisions, 2003-2009, Kristina A. Watkins

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines the contested terrain of family through qualitative analysis of child custody decisions. Legal parenthood was historically based on the heteronormative family ideal of a legally married monogamous heterosexual couple and their biogenetically related children. In the context of diverse family forms of the twenty-first century, however, courts struggle to draw the boundary lines of legal parenthood. Although previous research has examined the role of parental gender or sexual identity on child custody decisions, my research fills an important gap, as I analyze variations in gender, sexual identity, and path to parenthood for heterosexual, gay, lesbian, and bisexual …

Understanding Combat Related Psychological Difficulties In Veterans: The Role Of Context-Based Morality, Ramila Shadina Ali Usoof

Open Access Dissertations

In five multi-method studies this dissertation examined how context based morality may explain increased incidence of combat related psychological difficulties among US service personnel. We were particularly interested in the relationship between causing harm to others and moral self-perceptions and related emotional consequences. In studies 1 and 2 we found that our samples of Iraq and Afghan war veterans reported that a soldier would feel increased levels of guilt and shame and negative moral judgments of the self when they return home and reflect on incidents of harm that may have occurred during their deployments. These two studies were supported …

Three Essays On Racial Disparities In Infant Health And Air Pollution Exposure, Helen Scharber

Open Access Dissertations

This three-essay dissertation examines racial disparities in infant health outcomes and exposure to air pollution in Texas. It also asks whether the EPA's Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators Geographic Microdata (RSEI-GM) might be used to assess the effects of little-studied toxic air pollutants on infant health outcomes. Chapter 1 contributes to the ``weathering'' literature, which has shown that disparities in infant health outcomes between non-Hispanic black and non-Hispanic white women tend to widen with age. In this study, we ask whether the same patterns are observed in Texas and among Hispanic women, since other studies have focused on black and white women …

Mastering One's Destiny: Mastery Goals Promote Feeling Challenged In Identity Threatening Achievement Contexts, Jane Gage Stout

Open Access Dissertations

Three experiments integrated insights from achievement goal theory, social identity threat, and stress and coping research, to develop a theory-based strategy individuals can use to navigate social identity threat in high stakes achievement settings. In all experiments women were asked to adopt a mastery goal (focus on learning and building skills) or a performance goal (perform well; avoid errors) before a mock job interview. In Experiment 1, women expected their interviewer to be either sexist (creating identity threatening situation) or not sexist (a non-threatening situation). Women who focused on mastery rather than performance goals felt more challenged and less threatened …

Binary Rocs And Their Implications For The Measurement Of Memory, Chad Dube

Open Access Dissertations

Bröder and Schütz (2009) have argued that the curvature typically observed in recognition memory receiver-operating characteristics (ROCs) is a by-product of the ratings task often used to obtain them. According to those authors, ROCs collected by experimentally manipulating response bias are linear and consistent with the assumptions of threshold and multinomial processing tree (MPT) models. Two experiments are reported which are broadly consistent with previous work by Dube and Rotello (under review) in showing that ROCs are curved and consistent with signal detection theory (SDT) regardless of the procedure used to obtain them. These results have implications for how accuracy …

Solving The "Coffee Paradox": Understanding Ethiopia's Coffee Cooperatives Through Elinor Ostrom's Theory Of The Commons, Susan Ruth Holmberg

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation evaluates the applicability of Elinor Ostrom’s theory of the commons to other forms of collective action by mapping it on a case study of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union in Ethiopia and its efforts to overcome the vast disparities that have long structured the global coffee commodity chain (the “Coffee Paradox”). The conclusions I draw are the following. While Ostrom’s theory has serious omissions, it also sheds much needed light on the struggles of Ethiopia’s coffee farmers to overcome their poverty. Both the design principles that Ostrom identifies for governance rules and her list of predictors for …

Neil Postman's Missing Critique: A Media Ecology Analysis Of Early Radio 1920-1935, Donna Lee Halper

Open Access Dissertations

Radio’s first fifteen years were filled with experiment and innovation, as well as conflicting visions of what broadcasting’s role in society ought to be. But while there was an ongoing debate about radio’s mission (should it be mainly educational or mainly entertaining?), radio’s impact on daily life was undeniable. To cite a few examples, radio was the first mass medium to provide access to current events as they were happening. It allowed people of all races and social classes to hear great orators, newsmakers, and entertainers. Radio not only brought hit songs and famous singers directly into the listener’s home; …

A Question Of Comfort: Race, Whiteness, And The Creation Of Diverse, Inclusive, And Engaged Learning Environments, H. Elizabeth Braun

Open Access Dissertations

Most colleges and universities in the United States today claim that “diversity” is an important institutional value, but it is not always clear what this term means or how “diversity” is actually experienced and understood by students at predominantly white institutions. This ethnographic study examines a predominantly white liberal arts woman’s college in New England, applying data from participant observation, semistructured interviews, autoethnography, and textual data. My research addresses three intersecting areas of inquiry: the experience of students attending a predominantly white institution in relation to issues of race and racial identity, institutional practices related to race, “diversity,” and “culture,” …

The Phylogeography Of Marstonia Lustrica: Understanding The Relationship Between Glaciation And The Evolution And Distribution Of A Rare Snail, Thomas W. Coote

Open Access Dissertations

Marstonia lustrica is a poorly understood aquatic snail, relatively rare throughout its range and listed in the State of Massachusetts as Endangered (MNHESP 2010, Hershler et. al 1987). It is the northern-most cold temperate species of its genus, with other members of the genus occurring along the southern edge of its range and in the southeastern United States (Thompson 1977). The current range of M. lustrica appears to follow the maximum extent of the Laurentide Glacier (20–25 kya), extending from Minnesota to western Massachusetts. Research regarding the distribution, ecology, and phylogeny of M. lustrica in the State of Massachusetts and …

Constraining Interpretation: Sentence Final Particles In Japanese, Christopher M. Davis

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation is concerned with how pragmatic particles interact with sentential force and with general pragmatic constraints to derive optimal dynamic interpretations. The primary empirical focus of the dissertation is the Japanese sentence final particle yo and its intonational associates. These right-peripheral elements are argued to interact semantically with sentential force in specifying the set of contextual transitions compatible with an utterance. In this way, they semantically constrain the pragmatic interpretation of the utterances in which they occur. These conventional constraints on interpretation are wedded with general pragmatic constraints which provide a further filter on the road to optimal interpretation.

Reasons For Local Smart Growth Efforts: An Evaluation Of The Commonwealth Capital Program And Its Outcomes In Massachusetts, Jia Jia

Open Access Dissertations

The Massachusetts model illustrates the latest approach to smart growth - the incentive based program. This study examines the reasons for and actual outcomes of local smart growth efforts through one of the Massachusetts’ smart growth incentives - the Commonwealth Capital (CC) Program.

The main objectives of this research are built on two conceptual models through a mixed approach that combines qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative method is mainly utilized to evaluate the implementation of the CC program. The results indicate that the program is a good measure of municipal smart growth efforts representative of goals of the state. …

Mojarra Aesthetics In Piolin Por La Ma?Ana: A Time And Space For The Dislocated, J. Luis Loya Garcia

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation is a cultural analysis of Piolín por la Mañana, a Spanish-language radio talk show conducted by Eduardo Piolín Sotelo and broadcast from Los Angeles. The program expands the boundaries of the performing arts as well as the reach and elasticity of literary tropes and study. It connects often geographically disparate ―imagined communities‖ of working class Latino/as by revisiting traditional Mexican theater, joke delivery style, literary genre (e.g., magical realism and the picaresque), and taxonomies of everyday personalities. Central to my discussion of Piolín is listener participation, which stages community formation within the radio-text.

The introduction and the first …

Transnational Networks And The Promotion Of Conservationist Norms In Developing Countries, Kemi D. George

Open Access Dissertations

The political economic pressures of development contribute to unsustainable environmental practices in developing countries, and marginalize civil society participation. This dissertation looks at the following countries where policymakers are faced with strong incentives to foster rapid economic growth. In Jamaica, the bauxite industry demands mining rights in sensitive mountainous ecosystems. In Mexico, the tourist industry demands access to construct in vulnerable coastal environments in the southeast. In inland Mexico, unregulated agriculture threatens ecosystems in the Yucatán Peninsula. Finally, tourist and energy industries in Egypt demand access for infrastructure in sensitive ecosystems in the Red Sea region. In all of the …

Politics By Other Means: Rhizomes Of Power In Argentina's Social Movements, Graciela G. Monteagudo

Open Access Dissertations

The focus of my research has been the reverberations of the 2001 Argentine economic crisis, as they affected and were responded to by women in social movements. This dissertation contributes to studies of globalization by highlighting the unintended consequences of neoliberalism in Argentina in the form of the collective empowerment of women in egalitarian social movements. The negative consequences of neoliberalism are well known, but I found that these policies produced more than misery. They also helped to stimulate a new kind of politics —a set of autonomous movements aimed at democratizing society as well as the state. In response …

A Multi-Level Investigation Of Teacher Instructional Practices And The Use Of Responsive Classroom, Benjamin George Solomon

Open Access Dissertations

A year-long longitudinal study was conducted to quantify different types of teaching in the beginning of the year, and the effect of those choices on end of year instructional practices and student outcomes. Teacher practices were organized around the fidelity of implementation to the Responsive Classroom (RC) program (Northeast Foundation for Children, 2009). Most notably, a central RC tenant entitled “the first six weeks” was examined. RC is a universal prevention program that previously has been categorized as a Tier I social-behavioral program for students when considered within an RTI model (Elliott, 1999).

Twenty-seven teachers from the New England region …

State Hegemony And Sustainable Development: A Political Economy Analysis Of Two Local Experiences In Turkey, Bengi Akbulut

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines state-society relationships in Turkey through the lens of efforts to promote sustainable development at the local level. To this end, it first lays out a theoretical framework to analyze the political economy of local sustainable development, for which purpose the Gramscian state theory and its applications to the political economy of the environment are deployed. The dissertation thus situates the local social-economic-environmental processes within the making of state hegemony and the uneven impacts of state behavior on the society. The dissertation employs two case studies, each based on extensive qualitative study and quantitative data from the administration …

Why China Grew: Understanding The Financial Structure Of Late Development, Adam S. Hersh

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation explores how economic institutions governing finance and investment have con- tributed to growth in reform-era China. Economic and political reforms greatly transformed China's prior centrally-planned economy. Although reforms incorporated elements of market institutions and private enterprise, China's state institutions exercising extensive authority over a wide range of eco- nomic affairs critically and fundamentally played a central role in transforming this economy from one of the world's poorest to the world's second largest in the span of one generation. I explain the emergence of a unique configuration of institutions supportive of industrial policy implemented by largely autonomous local government …

The Potential Supply Of Cellulosic Biomass Energy Crops In Western Massachusetts, David Selkirk Timmons

Open Access Dissertations

Most energy sources are derived from the sun, directly or indirectly. Stopping the increase of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will likely require more reliance on current rather than ancient terrestrial solar input. Yet which forms of renewable energy are most appropriately used is a significant question for the twenty-first century. This dissertation concerns the potential supply of biomass energy crops as a renewable energy source in Massachusetts. Biomass represents a low-efficiency solar collector, and supplying society with an important portion of its energy from biomass would require a great deal of land. The cellulosic biomass crop evaluated in …