Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Essays On Capital Structure Of Nations, Giovanni Perez

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

How To Maximize Your Small Business's Impact On Social Media, Brianna J. Arnaud

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is meant to be a learning tool to help small businesses use free social media accounts as business marketing tools. The manual is broken down into chapters highlighting the importance of “Knowing your Audience,” “Branding,” “Constructing a Post,” “Using Visual Rhetoric,” and “Expanding your Audience.”. This thesis is inspired by scholars of English, internet linguistics, journalism, gender theory, professional writing, and rhetoric. It is also inspired by a survey of 18 small businesses in the Lafayette, Louisiana area. The survey helped to focus my research on the social media issues of small businesses in the southern region of …

Entwined Threads Of Red And Black: The Hidden History Of Indigenous Enslavement In Louisiana, 1699-1824, Leila K. Blackbird

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Contrary to nationalist teleologies, the enslavement of Native Americans was not a small and isolated practice in the territories that now comprise the United States. This thesis is a case study of its history in Louisiana from European contact through the Early American Period, utilizing French Superior Council and Spanish judicial records, Louisiana Supreme Court case files, statistical analysis of slave records, and the synthesis and reinterpretation of existing scholarship. This paper primarily argues that it was through anti-Blackness and anti-Indigeneity and with the utilization of socially constructed racial designations that “Indianness” was controlled and exploited, and that Native Americans …

A Sociopolitical View Of Mental Health: An Exploration Of The Lived Experiences Of Policymakers Regarding Their Perspectives Surrounding Mental Health Policy Construction, Katie C. Fetzer

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A substantial gap exists between those who are considered experts on mental health (e.g., academics, mental health professionals) and those in charge of constructing mental health policies (e.g., legislators, Senators). This gap is in areas of both knowledge and professional relations. Mental health professionals are not adequately trained to engage in policy advocacy and reform efforts and have little to no policy advocacy training (Smith, Reynolds, & Rovnak, 2009). Policymakers lack necessary knowledge related to mental health for effective mental health policy construction (Corrigan, Druss, & Perlick, 2014; Lee, Smith, & Henry, 2013). As a result of this gap, mental …

Seeing Red: Immigration And Asymmetrical Partisan Polarization In The United States, Robert M. Worth

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Since the mid-1970s, partisan polarization has been increasing in Congress and the Presidency, and, although most voters lack a stable, consistent ideology, non-ideological forms of partisan polarization have emerged in the mass public in recent decades. Moreover, ideological polarization among elites is highly asymmetrical, with increased Republican conservatism accounting for most of the increased ideological distance between the parties. Here, I develop a racial-threat backlash theory and argue that increased rates of immigration are associated with increased asymmetrical ideological polarization among elites and in the mass public. Tests of this theory on voters, the mass public in the states, state …

Sacred Dictators: A Wholly Unholy Relationship Between Dictatorships And Religious Leaders, Thomas Mcquaid

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

How a single party and personal dictatorship survive has been a question of much debate among scholars. Geddes (1999, 2003) creates a model to determine which survives the longest. Within her model, she finds that a single party dictatorship – one with a party apparatus – survives longer than a personal dictatorship – one where a single person has sole policymaking ability. She argues that the fundamental difference between the two is how each treats the opposition. The party apparatus allows a single party dictatorship the means to silence the opposition by coopting it into the party structure whereas a …

New Orleans: A Living Laboratory Dueling Narratives-Tourism Vs. Freight, Peter Alexander Webb

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This research concerns the history of how the stories—narratives—which people tell about the Port of New Orleans and its related freight transportation have impacted Port-related traffic congestion on the last mile. “Last mile” refers to the last segment of a freight journey. In the context of the Port, it is the distance between the Tchoupitoulas Street exit ramp on US 90 and the entrance/exit of the Clarence Henry Truckway. The Clarence Henry Truckway is a 3.5-mile one way in/one way out dedicated truck route behind the floodwall of the Port on Tchoupitoulas street. Its access is threatened by proposed tourism-related …

Visual Pleasure And Racial Ambiguity, Ruth M. Owens Md

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

I struggle to present work that reflects a psychological expressivity which at the same time conveys intellectual concepts that are of concern to me. It seems that the fluidity of an image can communicate a certain pathos, and correspond to the fluid nature of one’s identity. Drippy paint, distorted bodies, and vertiginous video clips can give an indication about what a body feels like from within. Depictions of these bodily feelings help to communicate ideas about what it means to be alive in general, and a mixed race woman, in particular.

A Longitudinal Examination Of The Association Between Contextual Stress, Parenting, And School Readiness, Jessica M. Grande

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Contextual stress has been associated with poor school readiness skills during early childhood. This study evaluated mechanisms by which parent’s exposure to poverty-related contextual stressors influence the acquisition of school readiness skills from child age 2 to 4 among 167 parent-child dyads. Parent report of contextual stress and observational measures of parenting quality were collected during the children’s 2-year-old assessment. Teacher reports and children’s scores on school readiness tasks were collected during the 4-year-old assessment. Two approaches were used to understand the process by which contextual stressors influences school readiness; the accumulation of stressors approach and the constellations of stressors …

Parental Stress, Anxiety, And Depression And Child Emotional Intelligence In Children With 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome, Megan A. Goldfarb

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Children with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) have serious medical, psychological, and behavioral symptoms that are stressful to their parents. Higher general intelligence quotients (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EI) in children could allay parental stress. Self-reported stress, anxiety, and depression were measured in parents of children with 22q11.2DS (n=42) and a healthy control group (n=20) in relation to children’s IQ and EI. Children with 22q1.2DS had lower IQ and EI scores. Parental groups did not differ in their reported stress, anxiety, or depression. Children’s IQ and EI levels did not relate to parental measures of affect even in the 22q11.2DS …

A Narrative Inquiry Into African American Female Faculty Research Mentorship Experiences In Counselor Education, Chantrelle D. Varnado-Johnson

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative, narratological research was to gain a deeper understanding of the stories of three African American counselor educators who experienced research mentorship as counseling students and faculty members while working towards tenure. The three participants were employed as assistant professors in CACREP-accredited counselor education graduate programs provided their perspectives of research mentorship. The primary research question for my research was: How do pre-tenured African American female counselor educators perceive their research mentorship experiences? The foundation for my study was provided by the review of literature focused on critical race theory, marginalized groups in academe, mentorship among …

South Broadway: A Qualitative Analysis Of Legal Marijuana And Place In A Denver Commercial District, Nicholas T. Van De Voorde

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The economic impact of legalized marijuana has been massive, but does legal marijuana have the impact to create new types of urban spaces? The legalization of formerly illicit vices has created urban spaces thematically constructed around vice, such as The Strip in Las Vegas (gambling) or The Wallen in Amsterdam (prostitution). This paper suggests that legalized marijuana similarly has the potential to construct vice-themed urban spaces in a post-industrial economic paradigm defined by consumption. Using Denver’s South Broadway (an urban area that has been rebranded as “The Green Mile” due to the outgrowth of marijuana businesses in the area) as …

Using Digital Mapping Techniques To Rapidly Document Vulnerable Historical Landscapes In Coastal Louisiana: Holt Cemetery Case Study, Alahna Moore

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis outlines a technique for rapid documentation of historic sites in volatile cultural landscapes. Using Holt Cemetery as an exemplary case study, a workflow was developed incorporating RTK terrain survey, UAS aerial imagery, photogrammetry, GIS, and smartphone data collection in order to create a multifaceted database of the material and spatial conditions, as well as the patterns of use, that exist at the cemetery.

The purpose of this research is to create a framework for improving the speed of data creation and increasing the accessibility of information regarding threatened cultural resources. It is intended that these processes can be …

'Geaux Guard' And The Shift To The All-Volunteer Force: The Economics Of The Louisiana Army National Guard, 1973-1991, Titus L. Firmin

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

After the Vietnam War, increased defense funds assigned to the Army National Guard stimulated and supported small communities in Louisiana. Recruits from economically depressed regions lined up to join the Guard because of the competitive pay and the generous education benefits it offered. In the mid-1980s, when a state budgetary shortfall threatened to limit the stream of federal funds and close local armories, communities in Louisiana rallied to keep the doors of their armories open. This paper examines how the readiness efforts of the Louisiana Army National Guard affected the economies of small communities as defense dollars increased following the …

The Relationship Between The Hearing Distressing Voices Simulation And Changes In Empathy Among Master’S Students In Counseling, Jeffrey G. Strozier

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the hearing distressing voices simulation training, Developing Empathy for the Lived Experience of Psychiatric Disability: A Simulation of Hearing Distressing Voices (HDVS), developed by Patricia E. Deegan, Ph.D., will affect counseling students’ empathy for clients diagnosed with schizophrenia, as measured by the Jefferson Scale of Empathy – Health Professions Students version (JSE-HPS). The experimental design was a quasi-experimental, one-group, pre-test/ post-test, and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy – Health Professions Students version was used to measure empathy. A total of 55 participants were drawn from a convenience sample of …

Attentional Sub-Processes Involved With Emotional Eating, Gregory Denke

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Emotional eating behavior is characterized by eating a large amount of calorie dense sweet and/or high fat foods in an attempt to control, cope with, or avoid negative emotions. Numerous factors are likely to contribute to emotional eating behavior, including attentional factors, such as rumination and avoidance coping. Rumination based emotional eating (attention focused on negative stimuli while mindlessly eating) is often utilized to improve mood while dwelling on problems. However, for those inclined to escape/avoid troublesome thoughts, another type of emotional-eating pattern may be used. By focusing attention on food, emotional eating is believed to distract individuals from negative …

Einstein Or Columbine: Impact Of School Environment On The Socioaffective Development Of Gifted And Talented Adolescents, Rebekah Granger-Ellis

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Why do some gifted minds thrive in life while others fail to fulfill their potential? The spotlight on violence perpetrated by bright individuals questions what went wrong, could it have been prevented, and whether schools are meeting the needs of gifted individuals. Thus, it is important to examine the impact of participation in various gifted and talented programs on the socioaffective development of gifted adolescents. The purpose of this study was to understand (1) if gifted individuals’ social and emotional development were similarly developed as their academic and creative abilities, and (2) if a particular school environment led to differences …

“More Human Than Human”: Lacan’S Mirror Stage Theory And Posthumanism In Philip K. Dick’S Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, Richelle V. Finn

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In my thesis, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is examined using French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan's mirror stage theory. In the novel, humans have built androids that are almost indistinguishable from humans except that they lack a sense of empathy, or so the humans believe. The Voigt-Kampff Machine is a polygraph-like device used to determine if a subject shows signs of empathy in order to confirm if one is an android or a human. Yet, should empathy be the defining quality of determining humanity?

In his article "The mirror stage as formative of the function of the …

Mental Health Practitioners Perceptions’ Of Presence In A Virtual Reality Therapy Environment For Use For Children Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Panagiotis Markopoulos

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) think and understand social contexts primarily from a visual stand point. Feelings of being present in their social environment are a key component to their development (Strickland, Marcus, Mesibov, & Hogan, 1996). A virtual reality environment (VRE) can provide a therapeutic setting for children with ASD to learn social skills (Ehrlich & Munger, 2012). In the present research, a pilot study was used to assess the validity of a Second Life VRE developed by the researcher (Markopoulos, 2016b) by comparing the VRE to a real life film by The National Autistic Society (2016) in …

Asphalt Magnolias: Women In Southern State Police And Highway Patrol Agencies, 1972-2012, Genevieve May

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Women are under-represented in both numbers and at the command level of police agencies after over 40 years of women in policing. The national average for women in policing, as reported by the 2012 Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Report, was 11.9%. Women in state police and highway patrol agencies are well below the national average, particularly in the southern states where the percentage is below 6%. This study uses qualitative data to examine the role of gender and the gendered organizational structure and culture of police agencies through interview data from 24 women troopers and one academy cadet …

Post-Katrina Retention Of Law Enforcement Officers: A Case Study Of The New Orleans Police Department, Richard A. Williams Sr

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a case study of the New Orleans Police Department and identified factors that affected the retention of law enforcement officers post-Hurricane Katrina. The NOPD was chosen because the agency was an extreme case and experienced the unprecedented separation of over 300 officers during and post- Hurricane Katrina. The variables examined included tenure, age, salary, education, and job satisfaction, as well as, race, sex, marital status, and New Orleans residency.

This research is significant because in a time of decreasing budgets and increased cost to replace employees, where skills are scarce and knowledge is important, recruitment is costly, …