Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Functional Model For Masticatory-Related Mandibular, Dental, And Craniofacial Microevolutionary Change Derived From A Selected Southeastern Indian Skeletal Temporal Series, Donna Catherine Markland Boyd

Doctoral Dissertations

In the present study, 66 metric as well as numerous morphological observations are utilized from 299 individuals representing a skeletal temporal series (Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian) from West, Middle, and East Tennessee. These groups reflect a documented subsistence shift from a relatively hard-textured, hunting and gathering Archaic to a soft-textured, Mississippian agricultural diet. Mandibular, craniofacial, and mandibular anterior dental dimensions are compared within and between these groups in order to evaluate a model of masticatory-related diachronic change in the mandibular complex.

This model proposes strong correlations between mandibular, craniofacial, and mandibular anterior dental measurements within each group. Cumulative age-related functional stress …

A Study Of The Characteristics Affecting Organizational Behavior Of Nursing Homes And Related Home Care Facilities During Emergency Evacuations, Barbara Muller Vogt

Doctoral Dissertations

Both emergency planners and disaster researchers cite the lack of empirical data on the problems and needs of special populations during emergency evacuations. Although most evacuations of nursing homes and related care facilities are carried out successfully, the effectiveness of an evacuation (as measured by time to evacuate) appears limited by certain constraints. Among the factors affecting such evacuations are resources (such as the number of staff available at the time of the evacuation), type and number of clients, and community characteristics such as population density. This study describes selected organizational characteristics of nursing homes and related care facilities which …

Doing Crime: An Analysis Of Repetitive Property Offenders' Decision-Making, Kenneth D. Tunnell

Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past two decades social theory and research have focused increasingly on issues of criminal decision-making and deterrence. This inter-disciplinary movement draws from criminology, economics, and psychology, which share common assumptions that point toward a model of rational decision-making. Each body of thought considers criminal decision-making as being no different than non-criminal decision-making. Deciding whether to commit a crime is considered a "decision problem," a unique one no less, but a decision that is resolved similarly to other decision problems.

The central objective of my research is to enhance our understanding of decision-making, specifically individual career criminal decision-making about …

Victorian Material Culture In Memphis, Tennessee: The Mallory-Neely House Interiors As Artifact, Lawrence Allen Ray

Doctoral Dissertations

The interiors of the Mallory-Neely House are valuable surviving documents of nineteenth century American culture warranting careful research, preservation and interpretation. Victorian Village, where the mansion is located in Memphis, is a nationally recognized enclave of nineteenth-century domestic structures. Previous research has centered primarily on the genealogical background of the owners and to a much lesser degree on the architectural history of these houses; none had focused in a scholarly manner on the interiors and furnishings. This is especially true of the Mallory-Neely House, the only one containing its original interior decor. These represent stratification of occupation and renovation by …

An Experimental Study Of Small Animal Remains In Archaeological Pit Features, Thomas R. Whyte

Doctoral Dissertations

Shells of terrestrial snails and bones of small vertebrates such as toads, frogs, shrews, and mice are often recovered from pit features on archaeological sites in eastern North America. Attempts by archaeologists to reconstruct human subsistence behavior are impeded by an inability to determine whether these small animal remains represent cultural refuse or natural entrapment. An exploratory experimental program aimed at mitigating this dilemma was conducted along the Tennessee River near Knoxville, Tennessee from May 1985 to June 1986. The goals of this experimental program were to determine (1) the causes of natural entrapment of animals in pits, (2) the …

Lithic Analysis And The Discovery Of Prehistoric Man-Land Relationships In The Uplands Of The Big South Fork Of The Tennessee Cumberland Plateau, Terry Andrew Ferguson

Doctoral Dissertations

Prehistoric man-land relationships within the uplands of the Big South Fork River valley in east-central Tennessee were studied by lithic based settlement analysis. Lithic artifact assemblages from 45 sites located within three study areas in contrasting biophysical environments were investigated. Investigations were designed to identify culturally meaningful patterning in the information content of the archaeological record and to draw inferences concerning adaptive behavior. Patterns were evaluated for the study areas, viewed holistically and synchronically, and for individual sites viewed diachronically. The analytical investigations focused on the assemblage variability present within and between the study areas and concerned variation in patterns …

The Social Reality Of A Group Of Rural, Low-Status Appalachian Women: A Grounded Theory Study, Judith Ivy Fiene

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was designed to develop a deeper understanding of the social realities of low-status, rural Appalachian women. Its methodological base is to be found in phenomenological philosophy which points to the power of the social context in the construction of social meanings.

Existing studies of low-status Appalachian women present conflicting pictures of the women and contain little information regarding the women's point of view. Some observers have portrayed the women as members of a traditionalist subculture -- unable to adapt to the modern world -- exhibiting dysfunctional personality characteristics (Looff, 1971; Photiadis, 1970; Polansky, 1972; Weller, 1965). Other observers …

Feedback And Learning Style In Concept Teaching Computer Assisted Instruction, William Bruce Allen

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of informative feedback in CAI and to examine possible interactions between learning style and type of feedback. An additional focus of the study was a subject matter error analysis that provided the basis for two of the six types of feedback studied. These two types of feedback were hypothesized to be more effective than the four types of feedback that were developed without consideration for common errors in the subject matter.

The study involved a two factor (feedback and learning style) repeated measures design. The participants were 106 undergraduate students …

Precolumbian Flaked Stone Assemblages In The West Indies, Agamemnon Gus Pantel

Doctoral Dissertations

The present work examines the history of the development of West Indian lithic research and proposes a new classificatory mechanism for West Indian flaked stone tool analysis based on technological process. Precolumbian flaked stone assemblages in the Caribbean have been classified in the past using continental models of hunting and gathering societies and stylistic variation in the artifacts has been used to explain cultural variation among early precolumbian periods. Samples of lithic assemblages from Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are the materials used in the present research. The effect of raw material on …