Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Testing The Transfer Of Hydrologic Model Parameters Across Scales: Modeling The Emory River, Daddy’S Creek, And Crooked Fork Watersheds., Benjamin Bryan Arthur

Masters Theses

Modeling the hydrologic response of small watersheds is often hindered by lack of data. We cannot calibrate robust models without ample and sufficiently accurate precipitation and discharge measurements. Limited data prevent the calibration process from estimating parameter values that adequately depict the physical characteristics of the watershed. But physical characteristics change gradually over space and hydrologic processes behave in predictable ways across scales. These factors suggest that the modeling of data-limited small watersheds could be improved by using the physical characteristics of a large, data-rich watershed to estimate the characteristics of a small watershed.

This thesis presents such an application. …

Tax Structure And Political Support: Equity-Related Goods Taxation., Jonathan Mckernan

Masters Theses

We focus this paper on a political economic question, What determines the U.S. states’ sales tax treatment of equity-related goods? We consider a good to be “equity related” when its consumption is essential to survival. States sometimes choose to tax these goods uniquely, often exempting them from the sales tax base. The equity-related goods for this paper are food, clothing, water, electricity, household fuel, and natural gas. All these goods are for home consumption. This question is relevant to the larger issue of how tax structure evolves or is determined. We test the theoretical explanation of tax structure determination that …

Subsistence, Butchery, And Commercialization In Knox County, Tennessee, Rachel Jeannine Windham

Masters Theses

A multifaceted approach to zooarchaeology is used to attain a broader diachronic view of Upland South subsistence and market activities as commercialization increased nationwide. Greater beef consumption is evidenced through faunal remains as availability and affordability increase with technological advancements. Paralleling this trend is an increased acceptance and purchase of Georgian cuts (individual hams and beef steaks) gaining popularity over time.

In order to investigate this pattern, a sample of six historic archaeological sites in Knox County, Tennessee, differing in proximity to urban markets, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and temporal context was chosen. General time ranges from the late eighteenth through …

Examining Values Through Aphorisms, Lauriann L. Hebb

Masters Theses

Many psychologists agree that studying values is an important aspect of understanding human nature (Allport, Rokeach, etc.). In spite of this consensus, there is little collective research on the subject. This is due, in part, to variations in instruments.
Therefore, the purpose of the present research was to (a) assess the underlying structure of responses to a set of aphorisms, (b) to examine potential reasons for differential endorsement and (c) to explore the relationship between a set of aphorisms and traditional psychosocial measure of values as well as personality.
Study 1 included 928 participants, and the objective was to examine …

A Radiographic Study Of Third Molar Agenesis In A Sample From The American Midsouth, Alexandra Y. Hentisz

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of third molar agenesis in a sample from the American Midsouth. The sample included 118 black males, 115 black females, 100 white males and 100 white females. Panoramic radiographs of the dentition for each individual were studied to ascertain whether any of the third molars was congenitally absent. The results were submitted to statistical analysis.

The results showed that white males have a significantly higher propensity to be congenitally missing a third molar than black males, with p<0.001. Likewise, whites are more likely to be missing a third molar in the mandible than blacks, with p=0.007 in males and 0.041 in females. There was no significant difference between the sexes for each ancestry, nor was there a significant difference between sides.

The lower frequency of third molar agenesis in blacks (5.6%) compared to …

An Integrated Framework: Applying Attitude Theory To Environmental Concern & Public Support For Environmental Policy, Aaron Scott Routhe

Masters Theses

There is increasing public debate over how to meet future water supply needs in historically humid, water-abundant areas such as the southeast United States. Citizens and policymakers struggle to reach accord on the appropriate environmental policy proposals for meeting those needs and the political strategies for implementing them. This study examines the social-psychological factors affecting environmental policy by developing a heuristic framework that integrates the recent conceptualization of environmental concern by Dunlap and Jones (2002) with the attitude-behavioral theories of Ajzen (1985) and Fishbein (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). Specifically, it tries to understand and predict expressions of public support (i.e. …

The Quality Of The 1998 Skillathon And Premier Exhibitor Program As Perceived By Participants, Facilitators, 4-H Agents, And Ffa Advisors, Mary Ingram

Masters Theses

This study primarily focused on the skillathon's ability to meet educational objectives as well as an evaluation of the award recognition for participants. The specific objectives of the study were to: (1) Characterize the participants of the 1998 Beef and Sheep skillathons; (2) Characterize the present and past skillathon facilitators; (3) Characterize the 4-H agents and FFA advisors of past and present skillathon participants; (4) To determine the participants’ perceptions of how the individual skillathon stations in Tennessee help increase their knowledge of a specific animal industry; (5) Determine the level of which the following skillathon goals are met: a)To …

A Bioarchaeological Analysis Of Fains Island, Michaelyn Suzanne Harle

Masters Theses

The Fains Island site (40JE1) is a Late Mississippian, Dallas Phase site located in Jefferson County, Tennessee. Fains Island was excavated as a Works Progress Administration project in 1934. A total of 300, mostly mound based, burial features were recovered from the site. The purpose of this study is to present bioarchaeological data from Fains Island. Analysis was conducted for the total skeletal sample (N=338) in order to assess morbidity and mortality. Analytical techniques included aspects of paleodemography (through the use of a hazard model), and paleopathology (i.e., porotic hyperostosis, dental hypoplasia, periostitis, dental caries, trauma, and other descriptive pathological …

Organizational Commitment, Perceived Supervisor Support, And Performance: A Field Study, Sarah K. Soulen

Masters Theses

This study examined the relationships among supervisor support, organizational commitment, and job performance in a work environment. Specifically, differential relationships between supervisor support, affective commitment, and continuance commitment were explored. The relationship between commitment dimensions and job performance in the presence of supervisor support was also investigated.

A sample of 96 social workers completed measures of affective commitment, continuance commitment, and perceived supervisor support. Participants’ supervisors provided ratings of job performance and withdrawal behaviors. Results indicated that affective commitment is positively related to supervisor support (r = .42, p<.01) and performance (r = .18, p<.05). Continuance commitment was unrelated to any measured variable. When added to the model, affective commitment did not predict performance (β= .11, SE= .17, p>.05), but perceived supervisor support did significantly predict performance (β = …

Providing Customized Real Time Traffic Information Through The Internet: Implementation Using Gis, Moinak Chatterjee

Masters Theses

For my Masters thesis I implement a web enabled GIS application for presenting personalized real-time traffic condition information. Due to the dynamic nature of traffic condition reporting, often large amounts of data have to be reported. The process of introducing personalization to traffic condition reporting hopes to reduce the amount of such data transmitted to users. The personalization of the presented traffic condition information is achieved by storing geographic definitions of routes and travel zones frequently traveled by the client. Since traffic update areas frequently requested for daily travel routes are often geographically identical, stored routes or zones can be …

Communicating With Female Philanthropic Donors: How Various Methods Of Thanking Women And Informing Them Of The Use Of Their Gifts Impact Giving, Amber M. Kleopfer

Masters Theses

This study was designed to test the impact of two separate variables – (1) thanking philanthropic donors through varying degrees of one-way and two-way interpersonal interaction and (2) informing donors about usage of previous similar gifts – on the philanthropic giving behaviors of two separate populations of female patients who were asked to contribute to a breast cancer research fund via an annual solicitation mailing method.

The first portion of the study examines the thanking variable by comparing the annual giving behaviors of a population of female breast cancer donors before and after the donors are thanked through various methods: …

The Mountain Folk Of Rugby, Tennessee: An Archaeological And Historical Study Of The Massengale Home Site (40mo146), Kimberly S. Pyszka

Masters Theses

The town of Rugby, Tennessee was established in 1880 as an utopian colony for the middle and upper class "second-sons" of England. However, the English colonists were not the first to settle in this remote area. Settlement began in the 1820s with the earliest settlers being farmers who lived off the land producing virtually everything they needed to survive. One of these early families were the Massengales, who first owned land in the future Rugby area in the mid-1820s.

In an attempt to learn about the Massengale family, archaeological testing was conducted at their home site, located a short walk …

The Effects Of Sun And Shade On The Early Stages Of Human Decomposition, Carrie Srnka

Masters Theses

Existing literature on human decomposition has noted the importance of sun versus shade locations. To date, no study has focused on this variable exclusively. While the affects of temperature are becoming well recognized, there is conflicting information surrounding direct sunlight or lack thereof. Some researchers note that decomposition progresses faster in the sun, while others note that it is faster in the shade. The only existing study of such information was performed in the state of Washington using two pigs. Therefore, the goal of this study is to bridge the gap between animal and human decomposition and to note the …

Tilting Copyright Balance: Two Sections Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act And The Progress Of Science And Useful Arts, Robert Wilton Fox

Masters Theses

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 was the latest substantial revision of U. S. Copyright Law. Implemented largely as a response to the Internet, the DMCA has become a central target in a struggle over the power of copyright law--a law the first Congress designed in 1790 in keeping with the language of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States to promote the "Progress of Science and the useful Arts." But how is that progress best assured? Increasingly over the years, the promotion of science and useful arts has become a single claim encompassing …