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University of Massachusetts Amherst

Theses/Dissertations

2015

Doctoral Dissertations

Articles 1 - 30 of 58

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Phonologically Conditioned Allomorphy And Ur Constraints, Brian W. Smith Nov 2015

Phonologically Conditioned Allomorphy And Ur Constraints, Brian W. Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation provides a new model of the phonology-morphology interface, focusing on Phonologically Conditioned Allomorphy (PCA). In this model, UR selection occurs during the phonological component, and mappings between meanings and URs are encoded as violable constraints, called UR constraints (Boersma 2001; Pater et al. 2012). Ranking UR constraints captures many empirical generalizations about PCA, such as similarities between PCA and phonological alternations, the existence of defaults, and the interaction of PCA and phonological repairs (epenthesis, deletion, etc.). Since PCA follows from the ranking or weighting of constraints, patterns of PCA can be learned using existing learning algorithms, and modeling …

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Rightward Movement: A Study In Locality, Jason Overfelt Nov 2015

Rightward Movement: A Study In Locality, Jason Overfelt

Doctoral Dissertations

The irregular behavior of rightward movement presents a challenge to theories that treat such configurations as the direct product of the mechanism responsible for leftward movement. For example, rightward movement appears not to be subject to certain island constraints and famously appears to be subject to stricter locality conditions than leftward movement. This dissertation presents investigations of two particular instances of rightward movement in English: Heavy-NP Shift (HNPS) and Extraposition from NP (EXNP). I argue that, by identifying the proper analyses for these phenomena, we can begin to attribute their apparent differences from leftward movement as the products of more …

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The Formation Of Youth-Led Participatory Networks In Urban Bangladesh: A Case Study Of The Bgreen Project, Fadia Hasan Nov 2015

The Formation Of Youth-Led Participatory Networks In Urban Bangladesh: A Case Study Of The Bgreen Project, Fadia Hasan

Doctoral Dissertations

Through the lens of a participatory action research platform that I founded called The BGreen Project (BGreen), my research explores networked political economic connections that were developed as a result of this academic-community initiative. BGreen was a participatory action research platform that connected urban high school, college, university youth in an assortment of participatory/deliberative activities in the fields of education and environment. With their ongoing engagement in the participatory network called BGreen, Bangladeshi youth are negotiating their affiliation to diverse political economic structures (for example, their educational institutions) in creative ways and forging innovative methods of transformative participation as …

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Audible Voice In Context, Airlie S. Rose Nov 2015

Audible Voice In Context, Airlie S. Rose

Doctoral Dissertations

The term audible voice refers to the sound of the text experienced by the reader during silent reading. It was coined by Elbow in his Landmark Essays to help the field of composition wrestle more productively with the concept of voice in writing. In this dissertation, voice is not a metaphor. Drawing on contemporary work in psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology, and consciousness studies, it examines the phenomenon of audible voice as a form of inner speech[1]. The premise of this study is that the experience of audible voice by the reader is a unique intersection of the individual's inner landscape …

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Economics Of Fixed-Dose Combination Drugs Approved In The United States, Jing Hao Nov 2015

Economics Of Fixed-Dose Combination Drugs Approved In The United States, Jing Hao

Doctoral Dissertations

Patent is the most important form of intellectual property protection for new drugs. Patent extension and market exclusivity currently serve as major regulatory incentives to promote new drugs. Combination drug, or fixed-dose combination (FDC) are formulations that contain two or more active ingredients in a single pill. FDCs, especially combinations of singe drugs that are already in the market, are common strategy for brand-name drug companies to extent the patent and exclusivity life. The substitution of single drug products that soon have generic alternatives with newer, brand-name combinations lead to potential increases in pharmaceutical expenditures and raises concerns on economic …

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New Wenzhou: Migration, Metropolitan Spatial Development And Modernity In A Third-Tier Chinese Model City, Sainan Lin Nov 2015

New Wenzhou: Migration, Metropolitan Spatial Development And Modernity In A Third-Tier Chinese Model City, Sainan Lin

Doctoral Dissertations

Migration has asserted great influence on urban spatial structure, especially during China’s recent waves of rural-to-urban migration. This dissertation focuses on Wenzhou, a third-tier Chinese city that served as a national model for the re-introduction of small-scale private enterprise in the 1990s. Wenzhou’s economic success generated migration that has served as a catalyst for new forms of urbanization in which migrants play a central role. I aim to examine and understand the distribution patterns of migrant settlements, their changes over time and the ways that the formation of these settlements has impacted emerging urban form. There are two primary components …

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Consumers' Cooperation In The Early Twentieth Century: An Analysis Of Race, Class And Consumption, Joshua L. Carreiro Nov 2015

Consumers' Cooperation In The Early Twentieth Century: An Analysis Of Race, Class And Consumption, Joshua L. Carreiro

Doctoral Dissertations

Consumers’ cooperatives are commonly associated with members of the middle class who use their buying power to support local economies and encourage the equitable production, distribution and consumption of food. However, consumers’ cooperation was initially introduced to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century via labor organizations. Consumers’ cooperation continued to develop as a form of consumer activism during the Progressive Era as the consumer became a more influential figure in American society. One faction of the consumers’ cooperative movement, which sought to transfer power to the working class, was unique compared to consumer movements of the time which were …

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Essays On Inequality, Credit Constraints, And Growth In Contemporary Mexico, Leopoldo Gómez-Ramírez Nov 2015

Essays On Inequality, Credit Constraints, And Growth In Contemporary Mexico, Leopoldo Gómez-Ramírez

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents four essays on inequality, credit constraints, and economic growth in the Mexican economy in its recent history, or “contemporary Mexico”. In the first essay, it is argued that the possibility that wealth/income inequality could affect economic growth has been neglected in the contemporary Mexican economy literature. Also, preliminary thoughts on the channels through which inequality could have been affecting growth are offered. In the second essay, a time series, macroeconometric analysis on the possible relationship between inequality and aggregate production (GDP) in Mexico is presented. The analysis suggests that an increase in inequality boosts the economy, but …

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Tacit Web: Entrepreneurial Discovery, Institutional Complexity And Internet Diffusion, Meelis Kitsing Nov 2015

Tacit Web: Entrepreneurial Discovery, Institutional Complexity And Internet Diffusion, Meelis Kitsing

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how institutional frameworks and entrepreneurial discovery processes condition internet diffusion. While internet and internet-based technologies have received considerable scholarly attention, the dissertation emphasizes tacit elements in understanding internet diffusion. In order to do so, it incorporates perspectives on insttitutional complexity stemming from interactions of formal and informal institutions and different institutional logics. Empiral part consists both macro level comparisons of Estonia and Slovenia as well as micro level analysis of internet diffusion processes within Estonia. Estonia and Slovenia are selected for comparison because of considerable variance in insitutional frameworks. At the same time, both countries are relatively …

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Emerging Climate Change Publics: Cultivating Sustainability And Justice In The Pioneer Valley, Vanessa Adel Nov 2015

Emerging Climate Change Publics: Cultivating Sustainability And Justice In The Pioneer Valley, Vanessa Adel

Doctoral Dissertations

Climate change is setting off erratic weather patterns and environmental changes that threaten the livelihood, stability, and survival of the planet. Communities and institutions around the globe are sounding the clarion call about these devastating impacts, advocating for sustainable practices and deep changes to every facet of our lives. This dissertation research consists of an ethnography of a local network of actors and organizations who are responding to climate change, centered on those who define sustainability as integrally connected to justice. I analyze this network of activity through the lens of the concept of an emerging public. I start from …

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Time To Leave Uchronia: Queer Eco-Temporalities For A Livable World, Claire S. Brault Nov 2015

Time To Leave Uchronia: Queer Eco-Temporalities For A Livable World, Claire S. Brault

Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation is a Feminist contribution to Environmental Political Theory focused on temporality. My research investigates the tension between the urgent need to act fast in a fast-changing world, and the necessity for time to pause and think through such radical and rapid changes. As it signals our nearing the planet’s limits, the emergence of the “anthropocene” crisis challenges growth-driven “progress.” I begin this dissertation with a survey of Environmental Thought that helps situate my contribution to the ongoing debates in this field, underscoring that as ecosophers pose the question of the nonhuman, in so doing they also are confronted …

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Analysis Of The Impact Of Technological Change On The Cost Of Achieving Climate Change Mitigation Targets, Robert W. Barron Nov 2015

Analysis Of The Impact Of Technological Change On The Cost Of Achieving Climate Change Mitigation Targets, Robert W. Barron

Doctoral Dissertations

There is widespread consensus that low carbon energy technologies will play a key role in the future global energy system. Many of the low-carbon technologies under consideration are not yet commercially available, and their ultimate value depends on a host of deeply uncertain socioeconomic, environmental, and technological considerations. While it is clear that significant investment in the energy system is needed, the optimal allocation of these investments is unclear. This dissertation develops a methodology for (1) analyzing the impact of low carbon energy technologies on the cost of meeting emission reduction targets (policy cost) and (2) using this information to …

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Three Essays On Macroeconomic Implications Of Contemporary Financial Intermediation, Hyun Woong Park Nov 2015

Three Essays On Macroeconomic Implications Of Contemporary Financial Intermediation, Hyun Woong Park

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation contributes to the growing literature on macroeconomic models with a financial intermediary sector. The first two chapters use the circuit of capital modeling methodology to study the relation between growth and profitability in capitalist economy where credit is essential, and the third uses a more standard macrodynamic model to investigate how securitized banking, which relies on short-term collateralized borrowing, as opposed to traditional commercial banking, generates procyclical bank leverage, which in turn leads to supply-led fluctuation in credits and ultimately to a boom-bust cycle of asset prices. In chapter 1, I extend the baseline model of circuit of …

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The Labor Share Question In China, Hao Qi Nov 2015

The Labor Share Question In China, Hao Qi

Doctoral Dissertations

In this study I explore why China’s labor share measured by the conventional approach experienced a major decline over the period from the mid-1990s to the outbreak of the global financial and economic crisis in 2008. I adopt a Marxian approach to address this question. Following the Marxian approach, I focus on how the power relation in the sphere of production affects labor’s share. I argue that major changes in the power relation that took place during the transition of China’s economic system have played a crucial role in the changes of distribution. To this end, I build homogenous series …

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Essays On Information, Income, And The Sharing Economy, Anders F. Fremstad Nov 2015

Essays On Information, Income, And The Sharing Economy, Anders F. Fremstad

Doctoral Dissertations

Many privately-owned items are somewhat non-rival in consumption, so there are often benefits to borrowing and lending underutilized goods and exchanging used goods. Although sharing is ubiquitous, it is understudied in economics. This dissertation seeks to help develop an economics of sharing. Chapter 1 presents a simple mathematical model of the “gains from sharing”, which connects the literatures on club goods, household economies, collective action, community governance, and decentralized cooperation. I argue that the level of sharing in society depends not just on technology but also on the norms that govern how people cooperate, on people’s preferences around privacy and …

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Structural Transformation, Culture, And Women’S Labor Force Participation In Turkey, Yasemin Dildar Nov 2015

Structural Transformation, Culture, And Women’S Labor Force Participation In Turkey, Yasemin Dildar

Doctoral Dissertations

Turkey has experienced important structural and social changes that would be expected to facilitate women’s participation in market work. Social attitudes toward working women have changed in recent years; women are becoming more educated; they are getting married at a later age; and fertility rates are declining. Despite these factors, women’s labor force participation rates are very low in comparison to the countries at a similar development stage. This dissertation analyzes the underlying causes of low female labor force participation in Turkey. In addition to a background chapter (Chapter 2) analyzing structural transformation and employment generation patterns, the dissertation has …

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A Grounded Theory Study Of Social Process That Influence A Child Being Overweight In Thailand, Jumpee Prasitchai Nov 2015

A Grounded Theory Study Of Social Process That Influence A Child Being Overweight In Thailand, Jumpee Prasitchai

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research study is to develop a model of social processes that influence a child being overweight. This qualitative research study utilized Grounded Theory as a methodology to collect and analyze data. Postpositivism and Symbolic interactionism were used as a philosophical basis in this study. Research samples were parents/caretakers who have overweight children seven months to three years of age, and visited the Out Patient Department at Ramathibodi Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. Data collection was from interviews, observations, document reviews, and journal writings. Data analysis followed the Glaser’s GT approach, which included two steps, substantive and theoretical coding. …

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Essays On Growth Complementarity Between Agriculture And Industry In Developing Countries, Joao Paulo De Souza Nov 2015

Essays On Growth Complementarity Between Agriculture And Industry In Developing Countries, Joao Paulo De Souza

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines three aspects of the macroeconomic role of agriculture in the industrialization of developing countries. In the first essay, I utilize instrumental variable techniques to empirically identify the effect of growth in agriculture on growth in manufacturing. Using data for 62 countries and instrumental variable techniques, I find that higher land yields in agriculture raise growth in manufacturing in the short to medium run. Along with extensions of the basic empirical model, this finding suggests that land-saving technical change can stimulate demand for industrial goods, raise fiscal revenues, and provide foreign exchange earnings to finance capital accumulation. In …

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The Shifting Structure Of Chicago's Organized Crime Network And The Women It Left Behind, Christina Smith Nov 2015

The Shifting Structure Of Chicago's Organized Crime Network And The Women It Left Behind, Christina Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

Women are underrepresented in crime and criminal economies compared to men. However, research on the gender gap in crime tends to not employ relational methods and theories, even though crime is often relational. In the predominantly male world of Chicago organized crime at the turn of the twentieth century existed a dynamic gender gap. Combining social network analysis and historical research methods to examine the case of organized crime in Chicago, I uncover a group of women who made up a substantial portion of the Chicago organized crime network from 1900 to 1919. Before Prohibition, women of organized crime operated …

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Implementing Universal Social And Emotional Learning Programs: The Development, Validation, And Inferential Findings From The Schoolwide Sel Capacity Assessment, Cheyne A. Levesseur Nov 2015

Implementing Universal Social And Emotional Learning Programs: The Development, Validation, And Inferential Findings From The Schoolwide Sel Capacity Assessment, Cheyne A. Levesseur

Doctoral Dissertations

In order to effectively transport universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programs into natural settings, it is important to understand implementation barriers that may hinder the likelihood of successful outcomes (Fixsen, Naoom, Blasé, Friedman, & Wallace, 2005). The current study is primarily based on the notion that within the planning phase of implementation, few technically adequate assessment measures targeting both organizational capacity (OC) and provider characteristics (PC) for SEL programming actually exist. The purpose is to extend the SEL implementation assessment literature by developing a new rating scale designed to measure SEL implementation barriers (School SEL Capacity Assessment [SSCA]) and …

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The Economy Effect, Jeremy N. Wolf Nov 2015

The Economy Effect, Jeremy N. Wolf

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the production of “the economy” as a structural effect. Following the work of Timothy Mitchell, JK Gibson-Graham, Michel Foucault, and others who have suggested that the economy is a relatively recent innovation, this dissertation traces its development, and examines some of the implications that such a claim might have for contemporary politics. The dissertation begins by identifying a set of six characteristics that characterize the contemporary economy. Chapter 1 reviews relevant literature regarding the ways in which we theorize objects that are produced and contingent, but nevertheless real, with a focus on the concepts of “structural …

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The Effects Of Using Security Frames On Global Agenda Setting And Policy Making, Sirin Duygulu Elcim Nov 2015

The Effects Of Using Security Frames On Global Agenda Setting And Policy Making, Sirin Duygulu Elcim

Doctoral Dissertations

Why do transnational advocacy campaigns on environmental, health, human rights or humanitarian causes sometimes (but not always) frame these problems as security issues? This is an important question because there is an under-analyzed assumption made by some transnational advocacy networks (TANs) and securitization studies scholars that framing an issue as a security threat has an overall positive effect on convincing states to take actions in addressing transnational social problems. The lack of systematic comparison across cases limits our ability to reveal the advocates’ motivations in adopting security frames and the contrasting effects that securitization might have at various stages of …

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Ts'msyen Revolution: The Poetics And Politics Of Reclaiming, Robin R. R. Gray Nov 2015

Ts'msyen Revolution: The Poetics And Politics Of Reclaiming, Robin R. R. Gray

Doctoral Dissertations

As a result of the settler colonial project in North America, Ts’msyen have been thrust into a state of reclamation. The purpose of this study was to examine the distinctiveness of what it means for Ts’msyen to reclaim given our particular history and experiences with settler colonialism. Utilizing the poetics and politics as a theoretical, methodological and practical framework, this dissertation synthesizes the motivations, possibilities and obstacles associated with Ts’msyen reclamation in the contemporary era. Further, as a contribution to the literature on decolonization, Indigenous nationhood, Indigenous subjectivity, Indigenous methodologies and repatriation of Indigenous cultural heritage, I report on two …

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Behavioral And Neural Mechanisms Of Impulsive Choice, Jesse Mcclure Nov 2015

Behavioral And Neural Mechanisms Of Impulsive Choice, Jesse Mcclure

Doctoral Dissertations

Impulsive choice is defined as the preference for a small immediate reward over a larger delayed reward. Individual variablity in impulsive choice correlates with many socially relevant behaviors. Although forms of impulsive choice have been studied in both behavioral ecology and psychology, the exchange of knowledge between these fields is just beginning. Drawing from both of these fields will improve our research methods allowing for a more detailed understanding of this complex behavior. Existing tasks to measure impulsive choice conflate the delay and quantity of the reward. To address this, I have drawn from foraging research to establish a method …

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Creating The Ideal Mexican: 20th And 21st Century Racial And National Identity Discourses In Oaxaca, Savannah N. Carroll Nov 2015

Creating The Ideal Mexican: 20th And 21st Century Racial And National Identity Discourses In Oaxaca, Savannah N. Carroll

Doctoral Dissertations

This investigation intends to uncover past and contemporary socioeconomic significance of being a racial other in Oaxaca, Mexico and its relevance in shaping Mexican national identity. The project has two purposes: first, to analyze activities and observations of cultural missionaries in Oaxaca during the 1920s and 1930s, and second to relate these findings to historical and present implications of blackness in an Afro-Mexican community. Cultural missionaries were appointed by the Secretary of Public Education (SEP) to create schools throughout Mexico, focusing on the modernization of marginalized communities through formal and social education. This initiative was intended to resolve socioeconomic disparities …

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Predicting Social Skills And Adaptability In Preschoolers With Behavior Problems, Nastassja Marshall Nov 2015

Predicting Social Skills And Adaptability In Preschoolers With Behavior Problems, Nastassja Marshall

Doctoral Dissertations

Social skills and adaptability have been associated with a host of positive child outcomes. However, previous research has rarely examined the extent to which child symptomatology and family environment are associated with social skills and adaptability in children. Furthermore, no studies have looked at these associations longitudinally in preschool children with behavior problems, for whom social functioning may be especially important. The current study examined the relationship of five predictors (child oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), child attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), marital conflict strategies, parental depression, and parental warmth) with social skills and adaptability measured in preschoolers with behavior problems at …

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The Influence Of Expectancy Persuasion Techniques On Socially Anxious Analogue Patients' Treatment Beliefs And Therapeutic Actions, Rebecca M. Ametrano Nov 2015

The Influence Of Expectancy Persuasion Techniques On Socially Anxious Analogue Patients' Treatment Beliefs And Therapeutic Actions, Rebecca M. Ametrano

Doctoral Dissertations

Although patients’ psychotherapy outcome expectations correlate with posttreatment outcome, there is limited research explicating treatment elements that causally influence these expectations. Most relevant studies have focused on varied deliveries of a treatment rationale. Although elements of rationale delivery appear important for altering patients’ expectations, many studies have been marked by methodological shortcomings, such as lack of a control group. In this clinical analogue experiment, I examined the influence of expectancy persuasion methods, delivered in a video-based presentation of a cognitive-behavioral treatment rationale for social anxiety, on analogue patients’ post-rationale treatment beliefs, treatment motivation, social anxiety symptoms, and therapeutic action. One …

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Community-Based Memory Screening Intervention And Memory Knowledge In Older Adults, Tessa S. Lundquist Nov 2015

Community-Based Memory Screening Intervention And Memory Knowledge In Older Adults, Tessa S. Lundquist

Doctoral Dissertations

As the United States’ population ages, there is a growing need for older adults to screen for age-related memory problems. Four theoretically-derived psychosocial factors are predictive of dementia screening intention: perceived benefits, perceived susceptibility, self-efficacy, and knowledge about aging memory. The current study preliminarily tested whether these factors could be increased with a community-based, educational memory screening intervention. Educational presentations were offered at community senior centers and data on psychosocial factors and willingness to screen were collected pre- and post-presentation from 32 older adult participants (age M = 78.69, SD = 7.12). Perceived benefits and self-efficacy significantly increased from pre- …

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A Longitudinal Study Of Fathers' And Children's Depressive Symptoms, Marianne H. Tichovolsky Aug 2015

A Longitudinal Study Of Fathers' And Children's Depressive Symptoms, Marianne H. Tichovolsky

Doctoral Dissertations

Depression is a common, chronic condition that affects both adults and children and causes significant impairment across a variety of domains. Having a depressed parent puts children at risk for developing depression themselves. While there is considerable research examining the effects of maternal depression, relatively few studies have focused on paternal depression and its relation to child depressive symptoms. Longitudinal studies of paternal depression are especially scarce, and very few studies have examined both paternal and child depressive symptoms over an extended period of time. The present study examined whether and how paternal and child depressive symptoms covaried over a …

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“Of All, I Most Hate Bulgarians”: Situating Oplakvane In Bulgarian Discourse As A Cultural Term For Communicative Practice, Nadezhda M. Sotirova Aug 2015

“Of All, I Most Hate Bulgarians”: Situating Oplakvane In Bulgarian Discourse As A Cultural Term For Communicative Practice, Nadezhda M. Sotirova

Doctoral Dissertations

The following dissertation raises these questions: how do people talk about their communication, and what role does this play as constructing a widely used cultural resource? The specific data concerns oplakvane, referring both to a key cultural term and a range of communication practices in Bulgaria. This term, and these practices are explored through the theoretical and methodological frame of cultural communication (Philipsen, 1981-87), ethnography of communication (Hymes, 1962), and cultural discourse analysis (Carbaugh, 1992, 2007a, 2010). The analyses demonstrate how oplakvane, which can loosely be translated as “complaining” and “mourning”, functions as a deeply shared cultural resource for communication …

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