Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Poetics And Politics Of Ivory Collecting And Display At The Milwaukee Public Museum, Arianna Wheaton Murphy

Theses and Dissertations

The museum paradigm shift, first identified by Weil (1990), is evident in the transformations of the poetics and politics of ivory collecting and display over the past 25 years. Based upon Igor Kopytoff's (1986) "biographical" approach to material culture, this thesis demonstrates how ivory in museums has accumulated substantial and diverse cultural meaning, priming it for fluctuation according to modern-day culture shifts. Evidence of fluctuations in the social understanding of ivory is based on a new political ecology, which recognizes that a socially constructed nature underpins wildlife conservation efforts and cultural responses to extinction, both biological and cultural. The interpretation …

Searching The Archive Of Our Own: The Usefulness Of The Tagging Structure, Kelly Lynn Dalton

Theses and Dissertations

To explore users' opinions about the search methods available on an online fanfiction repository, The Archive of Our Own, users of the Archive are offered an online survey with both quantitative and qualitative questions about various methods of searching the Archive. While quantitative responses are converted into percentages and cross-tabulated to compare responses from different groups within the survey-takers, qualitative questions are hand-coded for emergent themes. Overall the respondents hold positive opinions about the various Archive search methods and about Archive searching as a whole although they have many suggestions for improvements, including adding other search options, adding a weighting …

New Framework And Decision Support Tool To Warrant Detour Operations During Freeway Corridor Incident Management, Jing Mao

Theses and Dissertations

As reported in the literature, the mobility and reliability of the highway systems in the United States have been significantly undermined by traffic delays on freeway corridors due to non-recurrent traffic congestion. Many of those delays are caused by the reduced capacity and overwhelming demand on critical metropolitan corridors coupled with long incident durations. In most scenarios, if proper detour strategies could be implemented in time, motorists could circumvent the congested segments by detouring through parallel arterials, which will significantly improve the mobility of all vehicles in the corridor system. Nevertheless, prior to implementation of any detour strategy, traffic managers …

The Lifeworld In The Library's Backroom: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study Of The Cataloguer's Lived Experience Of Aboutness Determination, Wendy Gail Rondeau

Theses and Dissertations

This research is interested in the cataloguer's lived experience of aboutness determination. Aboutness determination, a part of subject cataloguing where the cataloguer attempts to identify the subject matter of a resource, is a process often taken for granted and largely neglected by the library community. Yet, aboutness determination is an essential stage in subject cataloguing worthy of greater attention. There is a need for a deeper understanding of the cataloguer's relatedness to the resource in aboutness determination. This hermeneutic phenomenological study examines the lifeworld of three professional cataloguers. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and through talk-aloud analysis of resources, the interpreted …

The Relationship Among Maternal Parenting Stress, Coping, And Depressive Symptoms Across Time, Karen Foren Lake

Theses and Dissertations

This study was a secondary analysis in which the relationship among maternal parenting stress, coping, and depressive symptoms over time in 161 low-income mothers who participated in an Early Head Start Pathways Project were examined. Measurements were assessed longitudinally over a 12 year period of time. Direct and indirect relationships were proposed between maternal mastery, pre-existing depressive symptoms, relationship with significant other, child behavior, child temperament, maternal parenting stress, coping, and later depressive symptoms. Results from path analyses showed that when assessed earlier in the childbearing years, mastery, depressive symptoms, relationship with significant other, child temperament, child behavior, and maternal …

Institutional Quilombos? Black Studies In Brazil And The United States, Dalila Negreiros

Theses and Dissertations

The literature on Black Studies, Afro-Brazilian Studies and Comparative Race Relations between Brazil and the United State has been dedicated to the study of Black activism and education. However, there is a gap in comparative studies focused on Black Studies units in the United States and Afro-Brazilian studies in Brazil. The dissertation “Institutional Quilombos? Black Studies in Brazil and the United States” investigates how Black Studies centers and departments in Brazil and the United States exist, survive and act politically as educational and anti-racist spaces in six different institutions: the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee; Harvard University; Temple University; the …

In The Shadow Of The Peñon: A Zooarchaeological Study Of Formative Diet, Economy, And Sociopolitics In The Río Pukara Valley, Peru, Matthew Christopher Warwick

Theses and Dissertations

In the Lake Titicaca Basin, the Formative Period saw extensive changes in the scale and nature of sociopolitical complexity, ritual practice and economic organization associated with the transition from small villages to the rise of regional Late Formative polities. These changes were partially fueled by the development and intensification of agro-pastoral economies. Consequently, it is essential to compare and contrast subsistence and herding practices associated with the domestic and political economies, given that these forces supported life at the village- as well as the polity-level. A growing database exists for animal exploitation associated with Formative through Tiwanaku Periods in the …

Never Put Your Head Down Unless You Pray: The Stories Of African American Men In The Wisconsin Prison System, Julia Marie Kirchner

Theses and Dissertations

Prior research on offender narratives has not examined culture as a factor in how prisoners explain their crimes. This qualitative ethnographic research project explores the self-constructions of African American male prisoners using both participant observation with active gang members on the street and discourse analysis of over 300 letters written by incarcerated men. Focusing primarily on six prisoner consultants, this study investigates the claims that offenders make about themselves in reference to their identity. These convicted felons justify their crimes as rational under the circumstances prevalent in segregated inner cities. In reference to economic crimes such as drug dealing and …

Soft Power, Ngos, And The Us War On Terror, Layla Saleh

Theses and Dissertations

Bringing together foreign policy literature and INGO (international non-governmental organization) scholarship, this dissertation seeks to explain geographic and temporal variation in the US government's use of hard, soft and smart power in the War on Terror. Making an important theoretical contribution, I revise Nye's concept of soft power, more rigorously conceptualizing it as a consciously-utilized strategy employing methods other than hard power (military or economic sanctions) to influence a target government or population to enhance US interests. Soft power is a strategic means of achieving a foreign policy goal. I conceptualize smart power as including both soft and hard power, …

Effigy Mounds, Social Identity, And Ceramic Technology: Decorative Style, Clay Composition, And Petrography Of Wisconsin Late Woodland Vessels, Jody Clauter

Theses and Dissertations

This ceramic analysis is focused on a combination of technical and decorative analyses involving energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) and petrographic data unused by or unavailable to previous researchers. The ceramics used in this study are non-collared forms of Late Woodland (AD 700 - 1200) types found across southern Wisconsin. Ceramic attributes from these data sets are analyzed using multi-variate statistical methods and the resulting clusters are plotted geographically. Results indicate regionalization of particular attributes with a major east-west trend noted in some cases. However, geographical plotting shows broad overlap among river valleys and locales. Importantly, EDXRF data demonstrates that …

Exploring Alcohol Expectancies In Korea And America Using The Holism Theory, Seokhoon Ahn

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examines what alcohol expectancies people in holistic and analytic cultures have, and how they affect alcohol consumption patterns. The past research on comparative studies of alcohol expectancies has lacked theoretical backgrounds that could identify the underlying factors that form different alcohol expectancies. The Holism theory was employed in order to investigate this research topic.

A survey was conducted in two large universities located in Korea and the United States. A total of 144 Korean students and 141 American students, ages 18-30, participated in the research. Results indicated that Koreans had higher social alcohol expectancies than Americans did, …

Behavior Analytic Goal Setting And Tracking At A Therapeutic Summer Camp: An Approach For Children With Autism Spectrum And Other Disorders, Whitney Victoria Boeder

Theses and Dissertations

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder characterized by abnormal or impaired development with deficits in social interaction, communication, and a restricted repertoire of interests and activities. There are a number of treatment options available, such as individual or group therapies. Therapeutic summer camps provide a unique service to individuals with ASDs, as well as an opportunity to create, set, and track behavior analytic goals over the summer. Research has demonstrated that summer camps are a promising therapy environment. Research on goal setting and tracking has shown promising results for progress toward behavioral goals. There is limited research on …

Experiences Associated With Non-Suicidal Self Injury: An Internet Survey, Shana Anne Franklin

Theses and Dissertations

Non-Suicidal Self Injury (NSSI) is characterized as self-harm without suicidal intent. NSSI typically encompasses behaviors such as "cutting" or "burning" one's self. Recent research has found NSSI to be increasingly prevalent in young adults, particularly those of college age, and that NSSI is associated with significant negative health consequences. Current conceptualization of NSSI includes four distinct functions described as The Four Factor Model of NSSI (Nock and Prinstein, 2004). The present study surveys UWM students to assess for NSSI and to follow-up with additional questions relating to the Four Factor Model. More specifically, the study aims to investigate the two …

An Anaylsis Of Patient-Physician Discourse: Comparing Physician Diagnostic Scripts To Patient Social Script Expectations, Denis Grimes

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how participants interpret physicians' diagnostic discourse and physician interruptions during the patient's disclosure of problems and concerns. Using medical diagnostic scripts written for upper respiratory infections, participants' reactions to physician attentiveness and physician interruptions were measured. When physicians interrupt patients during the patient's disclosure of problems and concerns, interruptions violate patient's social script expectations and negatively affect patient satisfaction. Physicians' demonstrations of attentiveness and explanations of the purposes for the interruptions do not compensate for interruption's effects, and satisfaction with physician behavior is reduced.

Material Expressions Of Social Change: Indigenous Sicilian Responses To External Influences In The First Millennium B.C., William Balco

Theses and Dissertations

Following the arrival of Greek colonists and Phoenician traders in the seventh century BC, indigenous Iron Age Sicilian populations underwent an intensive process of social transformation. As a result, many new behaviors, including those associated with Greek-style feasting and commensality, were introduced to indigenous Sicilians, together with the associated material culture. This study explores Iron Age indigenous Sicilian social responses to these interactions, focusing on the feast as a conduit of change and the concomitant transformation of feasting accoutrements. Vessel form, manufacturing technique, and surface treatment impact the emblemic ceramic styles used to communicate ethnic affiliations in the various social …

Rapid Knowledge Assessment (Rka): Assessing Students Content Knowledge Through Rapid, In Class Assessment Of Expertise, Erin Margaret O'Connell

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding how students go about problem solving in chemistry lends many possible advantages for interventions in teaching strategies for the college classroom. The work presented here is the development of an in-classroom, real-time, formative instrument to assess student expertise in chemistry with the purpose of developing classroom interventions. The development of appropriate interventions requires the understanding of how students go about starting to solve tasks presented to them, what their mental effort (load on working memory) is, and whether or not their performance was accurate. To measure this, the Rapid Knowledge Assessment (RKA) instrument uses clickers (handheld electronic instruments for …

Articulating The "L" Word Online: A Study Of Chinese Slash Fandom Of Super Girl, Jing Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a case study of one of the most popular online Chinese fandoms, Fei Se Chao Nv. This online Chinese fan forum is dedicated to slash writings and queer readings of androgynous female celebrities of a sensational Chinese reality TV show, Super Girl. The purpose of this study is to explicate the intricate negotiations between queer and normative cultures within this online, non-mainstream, fannish space. Through a discourse analysis of how the slash fans imagine lesbian relationships, narrate lesbian stories, and queerly gossip about the Super Girl androgynous celebrities in the forum, the study concludes that the fans' …

Motivating Healthy Diet Behaviors: The Self-As-Doer Identity, Amanda Brouwer

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Self-identity predicts healthy eating behaviors and intentions above and beyond Theory of Planned Behavior components (TPB; i.e., attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms), but interventions exploring the relationship between self-identity and motivation are limited. Self-as-doer identity may be an important point of intervention for healthy eating behaviors (Houser-Marko & Sheldon, 2006). Therefore, I investigated whether the experimental manipulation of a self-as-doer identity predicted improved healthy food consumption, intentions, and increased self-identity as a healthy eater compared to women who received nutritional education or no intervention directly following the intervention and one month post-intervention.

Method: Participants were 79 women …

Decadal Changes And Future Projections Of Precipitation In The Metropolitan Area Of Milwaukee, Anke Petra Maria Keuser

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated decadal changes and future projections of precipitation in the Metro Milwaukee and surrounding area, the largest urban area in Wisconsin. Spatial and temporal precipitation patterns derived for the Metro Milwaukee from the high-resolution gridded historical climatic dataset for Wisconsin were analyzed for 1950-2006. In addition, precipitation scenarios were generated via statistical downscaling of the Third Generation Coupled Global Climate Model (CGCM3) outputs. The delta method was chosen for the statistical downscaling of the CGCM3 output for the two future time periods, 2041-2070 (2050s) and 2071-2100 (2080s). The Mann-Kendall test and the Sen's slope test were applied to …

Quality And Coordination Of Care For Persons With Brain Injury In The Community: Developing A Survey, Brian Philip Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Because of increasing demand on primary care physicians and a complex, fragmented, healthcare "system", people now must coordinate their own healthcare and services. In response, care coordination has become a clinical specialty, typically done by nurses or social workers. People with disabilities (PWD) also must coordinate their care, including health and disability-support services, knowing who to call, advocating for themselves, and scheduling appointments, among other things. Such demands can be particularly problematic after brain injury, which may impair abilities to prioritize, coordinate, manage, and schedule activities. Coordinating services requires participation of the PWD, and supportive significant others (SSO). At …

A Story That Made You Up: A Novel, Rachel Haley Himmelheber

Theses and Dissertations

A Story That Made You Up traces the dissolution of a long friendship between two women, Mia, the novel's first-person narrator, and Jules. The focus of the novel involves the importance in women's lives of having close female friends, and the devastation that occurs when those relationships end. The novel begins with the termination of the relationship and then moves backwards, in achronological fragments, to tell the story of the full twenty-five year friendship.

Sports Participation Among South Asian Americans: The Influence Of Acculturation And Value Of Sport, Soumya Palreddy

Theses and Dissertations

Asian Americans, one of the fastest growing communities in recent decades (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008) continue to be underrepresented in sports in the United States. Recent trends in sport participation suggest that while other ethnic/racial minority groups are increasing their presence in sports, Asian Americans may not be increasing at a similar rate (Lapchick, 2008). For example, in collegiate athletics, only .005% of Asian Americans enrolled in college were also engaged in a sport, and in professional sports, only 1-2% of all players in major professional organizations identify as Asian American (Lapchick, 2008). Although statistics continuously reveal this trend, research …

The Evolution Of The Rok - U.S. Relations: A Multi-Method Analysis, Dohee Kim

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relations between South Korea and the United States and how they have evolved and what affected changes in these relations by focusing on the national development of South Korea. To address these two questions, this dissertation adopts both historical and empirical analysis. Historical analysis analyzes the evolution of the ROK - U.S. relations from the beginning to the present based on the framework of alliance theories such as the formation, maintenance, and termination of the alliance. Empirical analysis focused on factors affecting the relations between South Korea and the U.S. It adopts multiple regression analysis with …

Relationship Between Counter Movement Jump Performance And Extraversion Level, David James Cornell

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Sport psychology literature has demonstrated a relationship between personality and physical ability and athletic performance. In general, individuals who exhibit a greater degree of extraversion display a greater physical ability and athletic performance than individuals who exhibit a lower degree of extraversion. The physiology literature has also demonstrated relationships between extraversion level and movement time and electrophysiological mechanisms (i.e., muscle activity) during a fine movement task. However to date, no study has investigated if these physiological relationships manifest themselves during a gross movement task. If a relationship exists, it may provide mechanistic reasoning behind the previously observed relationships between …

Access To Spatial Data: The Political Power Of Legal Control Mechanisms, Patrice A. Day

Theses and Dissertations

According to the U.S. Supreme Court (Island Trees School District v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853, 1982), the Constitution presupposes that the free flow of information between the government and the public is essential to maintaining an informed citizenry, which in turn is essential to holding governments accountable. However, local governments are increasingly using various legal mechanisms to limit public access to geographic information (GI), and this in turn can potentially disrupt this balance. Licensing and copyright are two such mechanisms that local government agencies are using to limit GI access and distribution.

If information is power, whoever controls information, controls …