Digital Commons Network^™

The Game Of Unity?: The 2007 Cricket World Cup As A Catalyst Toward Caribbean Identity Construction, Peta-Gaye J. Wiggan

Communication Theses

It was paramount for the English-speaking Caribbean to host a successful 2007 Cricket World Cup and field an outstanding West Indian cricket team for the international sporting mega-event. For CARICOM and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), there were two principle goals – first, to exhibit regional Caribbean identity, and second, to be triumphant under the leadership of the West Indian cricket team’s captain, Trinidadian Brian Lara. Identities are multifaceted and intricate, negotiated and renegotiated, based on a history of economic, political and cultural forces. This thesis interrogates Caribbean identity through textual analysis of the broadcast of the opening ceremony …

The Revolving Door: How Leaders Push Teacher Turnover, Suzanne B. Miller

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

THE REVOLVING DOOR: HOW LEADERS PUSH TEACHER TURNOVER

by

Suzanne Kay Bryant Miller

In today’s age of accountability leaders of schools cannot afford to lose quality teachers. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requiring schools to staff all classrooms with “highly qualified teachers” creates a major challenge. Today, more than ever, school systems need to retain their experienced and effective teachers.

While many reasons have been attributed to the revolving-door phenomenon known as teacher turnover, this research suggests that school leaders’ behaviors play a major role in the issue. This qualitative inquiry focused on the perceptions of veteran …

Racial Uplift And Self-Determination: The African Methodist Episcopal Church And Its Pursuit Of Higher Education, Shannon A. Butler-Mokoro

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

The African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, like many historically black denomination over the years, has been actively involved in social change and racial uplift. The concepts of racial uplift and self-determination dominated black social, political, and economic thought throughout the late-eighteenth into the nineteenth century. Having created many firsts for blacks in America, the A.M.E. Church is recognized as leading blacks in implementing the rhetoric of racial uplift and self-determination. Racial uplift was a broad concept that covered issues such as equal rights, moral, spiritual, and intellectual development, and institutional and organizational building. The rhetoric of racial uplift and self-determination …

The Political Economy Of Federal Assistance: Demand-Side Determinants Of New Awards In The 110th Congress, Matthew A. Lenard

Political Science Theses

An extensive literature examines how distributive (i.e., “pork barrel”) spending is allocated among congressional districts. Much of this research finds evidence that intra-chamber factors like ideology, party, and committee membership are the primary determinants of various forms of distributive spending. However, we know much less about how extra-chamber factors such as district-level demand and the economy impact the distribution of federal outlays. In this study, I find that district-level demand and variation in economic factors, in particular, income and unemployment, significantly predict the distribution of new bureaucratic awards in the 110th Congress. The results support the contention that districts get …

Should We Press The Victims: The Uneven Support For International Criminal Tribunals, Michael D. Thurston

Political Science Theses

International criminal tribunals rely on international support. However, in the case of the ICTY and the ICTR, international support has been uneven. I argue that this uneven support is related to the post-atrocity status of the domestic governing authority. In cases where the governing authority retains the status of victim, as in Rwanda following the 1994 Tutsi genocide, the international community has been reluctant to back the ICTR in its attempts to prosecute all participants of the 1994 genocide. In cases where the governing authority retains the status of perpetrator, as in Serbia following the Bosnian genocide of the 1990s, …

Jake Wells Enterprises And The Development Of Urban Entertainments In The South, 1890-1925, Eric Dewberry

Communication Dissertations

This dissertation explores the development of commercial entertainments and film exhibition in the urban South around the turn of the last century through the growth and decline of Jake Wells Enterprises. A former professional baseball player, Wells invested in a wide variety of public amusements, with the core of his early business centered on establishing and organizing a string of vaudeville, popularly priced, and legitimate theaters throughout the largest cities in the region, a network he later transitioned to showing exclusively motion pictures. A thorough analysis of period newspapers, trade journals, and some business records covering Wells’ career provides much-needed …

No Such Thing As Collective Goods: The Political Utility Of Low Level Civil War In Northern Uganda, Alexandra Z.A. Wishart

Political Science Theses

With the extant work on civil war duration as a starting point, this project uses the Ugandan case to identify and address theoretical aporias in our existing understanding of the determinants of duration. The vast majority of existing work begins with the assumption that the rebel force is the determining factor in the duration of conflict. Challenging this assumption, I argue that civil war duration should be understood as a function of the calculations made by both the rebel units and the established state, a dynamic that has implications for the way in which we think of the preferences of …

Filling Gaps In The Schoolhouse Floor: The Differential Effects Of Graduation-Targeted Intervention Services On 11th Grade Academic Achievement In 2008-2009, Jessica A. Broome

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of graduation coach services in reducing student risk factors for dropping out of high school and increasing student academic performance, a strong correlate of student persistence to high school graduation (Battin-Pearson et al., 2000). The study employed a quasiexperimental nonequivalent control group design utilizing student risk ratio and individualized Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) scores in English/language arts and mathematics as measures to compare students who received the services of a graduation coach to those who did not. The sample for this study included 39,326 Georgia students continuously enrolled in the 11th …

History In The Making: The Impact Of Ideology In Lynne Cheney's Children's Books, Samuel Miller

Communication Theses

This analysis of children’s literature attempts to understand the relationship between social reproduction and ideology. This thesis argues that children’s literature written by Lynne Cheney is a cultural artifact that constitutes an ideological history. In addition, it argues that her books can be used by ideological institutions to strengthen socially accepted practices through the theory of social reproduction. Since there is a lack of theory regarding cultural artifacts in literary studies, an adoption from the field of pedagogy called the theory of hidden curriculum is used to explain social reproduction. The process of social reproduction reinforces socioeconomic structures put in …

Reducing Automatic Stereotype Activation: Mechanisms And Moderators Of Situational Attribution Training, Ioana M. Latu

Psychology Dissertations

Individuals tend to underestimate situational causes and overly rely on trait causes in explaining negative behaviors of outgroup members, a tendency named the ultimate attribution error (Pettigrew, 1979). This attributional pattern is directly related to stereotyping, because attributing negative behaviors to internal, stable causes tends to perpetuate negative stereotypes of outgroup members. Recent research on implicit bias reduction revealed that circumventing individuals’ tendency to engage in the ultimate attribution error led to reduced stereotyping. More specifically, training White participants to consider situational factors in determining Blacks’ negative stereotypic behaviors led to decreased automatic stereotype activation. This technique was named Situational …

The Radical Voice In The Rhetoric Of The Tea Party Movement, Joel M. Lemuel

Communication Theses

This study examines the analyzes the 2010 National Tea Party Convention in order to determine whether the Tea Party Movements’ rhetoric is unique from the rhetoric employed by previously studied movements. The study forwards the concept of a pseudo-movement: a movement that appears radical, but has normative, procedural goals.

The Buck Stops Here: The President As Manager Of The U.S. Economy During Crisis, Carol D. Walker

Political Science Dissertations

The President performs many roles, but one role of increasing importance over time is that of Chief Manager of the Economy. In the era of the modern presidency, there has been a growing institutionalization of the executive branch’s management of the economy. Presidents approach economic management differently depending upon their personalities, management style, and their time within both the crisis and the administration. Three case studies will be used to explore the differences and similarities in presidential actions during times of economic crisis: these case studies will examine the presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard M. Nixon, and William J. …

Strategic Positioning: Unesco's Use Of Argumentation To Encourage A U.S. Return To Membership, Jared L. Johnson

Communication Dissertations

This dissertation is an argumentation analysis of UNESCO’s use of argumentation theory to encourage a U.S. return to membership in 2003. The U.S. left UNESCO in 1985 under complaint that it had become politicized and was fraught with budgetary mismanagement. It is an attempt to bridge international communication scholarship and international relations scholarship on an organization that is positioned to have great influence in the international community.

What Counts? Assessing The Value Of Non-Text Resources, Tammy Sugarman, Stephanie Krueger

University Library Faculty Presentations

In this era of tightening budgets, librarians are increasingly turning to usage data from licensed resource providers to support difficult collection development decisions. The most recent release of the COUNTER code of practice for usage data reporting and the SUSHI XML protocol further support this decision-making process. Providing "COUNTER compliant" usage reports is an increasingly important feature expected of licensed digital materials by academic libraries. COUNTER reports are designed to primarily measure usage of textual resources such as: journals, e-books and database indexes. However, for multimedia resources that contain exclusively images, time-based media, or audio content, the usage patterns and …

"Now I Turn The Remainder Of The Service Into The Hands Of The Pulpit": Leadership In An African American Church, Kaniqua Robinson

Anthropology Theses

The research study examines the influence of an African American religious preacher in organizing his congregation into a socioeconomic community. The research question is as fol-lows: How does the leadership performance influence (a) the social interaction of his congrega-tion, (b) the mobilization of congregates into members of a social group, and (c) the development of his congregation into an economic system? This study examines the Pastor, his role, influence, and management of power. Weber argued that there are three pure types of authority: rational, traditional, and charismatic. For an African American religious preacher, the authority would be considered to be …

Ontology And Knowledge Base Of Brittle Deformation Microstructures For The San Andreas Fault Observatory At Depth (Safod) Core Samples, Cynthia Marie Broda

Geosciences Theses

The quest to answer fundamental questions and solve complex problems is a principal tenet of Earth science. The pursuit of scientific knowledge has generated profuse research, resulting in a plethora of information-rich resources. This phenomenon offers great potential for scientific discovery. However, a deficiency in information connectivity and processing standards has become evident. This deficiency has resulted in a demand for tools to facilitate and process this upsurge in information. This ontology project is an answer to the demand for information processing tools. The primary purpose of this domain-specific ontology and knowledge base is to organize, connect, and correlate research …

Narratives Of Social Change In Rural Buryatia, Russia, Luis Ortiz-Echevarria

Anthropology Theses

This study explores postsocialist representations of modernity and identity through narratives of social change collected from individuals in rural communities of Buryatia, Russia. I begin with an examination of local conceptualizations of the past, present, and future and how they are imagined in places and spaces. Drawing on 65 days of fieldwork, in-depth interviews, informal discussion, and participant-observation, I elaborate on what I am calling a confrontation with physical triggers of self in connection to place, including imaginations of the countryside and village, sacred and ritual spaces, landscapes, and the environment. I also explore how the anxieties embedded in narratives …

The Ties That Bind: The Role Of Place In Racial Identity Formation, Social Cohesion, Accord, And Discord In Two Historic, Black Gentrifying Atlanta Neighborhoods, Barbara Harris Combs

Sociology Dissertations

Recent research has uncovered a new phenomenon in some distressed areas, black gentrification. Black gentrification follows the same pattern as mainstream gentrification with one notable exception: In black gentrifying neighborhoods both the poor and working class residents who resided in the neighborhood prior to its “gentrification” and the new residents of greater economic means are black. An additional hallmark of black gentrification that distinguishes it from traditional gentrification is that black gentrifiers in black gentrifying neighborhoods often feel a responsibility or obligation to their lower income black neighbors. Prior to the economic downturn in the United States, some in-town Atlanta …

Analysis Of Precipitates And Waters Associated With An Alkaline Leachate, Gulf State Steel Property, Gadsden, Alabama: A Reconnaissance Study, Craig Vantrees

Geosciences Theses

Calcite stalactites ranging in length from several inches to a foot long are found forming on the southeastern slag pile at the former Gadsden Steel Mill of the Gulf States Steel Corporation. Analyses of samples collected per EISOPQAM guidelines include the following: petrographic, conductivity, pH, XRD, XRF, TDS, and major cations and anions. Preliminary field pH and conductivity measurements indicate that waters near the slag pile have a pH ranging from 11-12 and a conductivity ranging from 1115-6300 μS/ cm. Titration data indicate that the maximum pH value is 12.5. These calcite stalactites and stream coatings result from the dissolution …

We Must Grow Our Own Artists: Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton, Northern Arizona's Early Art Educator, William James Burns

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

What were Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton’s contributions to the progressive education movement and the Indian arts and crafts movement in the Southwestern United States at a time when the region was still very remote? Artist, author, amateur ethnographer, educator, and curator; these were but a few of the talents of Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton, co-founder of the Museum of Northern Arizona and early art advocate on the Colorado Plateau. This study investigates how Colton contributed to the progressive education movement and the Indian arts and crafts movement through the work that she did at the museum. There, she labored to increase public …

Mass Media's Relationship With Adolescents' Values And Behaviors: A Theory Of Mediated Valueflection, Melanie Burleson Richards

Sociology Dissertations

Mass media has long been thought to have a detrimental effect on an adolescent’s values and behaviors. Many social ills including violence, misogyny and negative health behaviors, as well as egoistic cultural values have been attributed to mass media’s influence. Yet the media is not all powerful, nor are its powers unable to be combated. In this manuscript, I analyze the Educational Longitudinal Study data from 2002 to 2006 to determine the real effects mass media has on adolescents in comparison to other influences. I find that not all media is equal in influence. Television and video games have different …

Ngo Responses To Counterterrorism Regulations After September 11th, Elizabeth A. Bloodgood, Joannie Tremblay-Boire

PMAP Publications

We examine variations in nongovernmental organizations' (NGOs') responses to post-2001 changes in counterterrorism regulations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. We connect the presence of different ideal type responses—hiding, shirking, vocal opposition, participating, and litigating—to the extent of change in regulations, the degree of uncertainty (and risk) created by new regulations, and the availability of political institutions for NGO participation in policy-making.

What Do Capuchin Monkeys Tell Us About Cooperation?, Sarah F. Brosnan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Nature may be red in tooth and claw, but working together with one’s group mates can be an efficient way to increase fitness. Cooperation is common, for example, among capuchin monkeys. These monkeys are not only willing to help others obtain resources, but are more likely to share with individuals who help them. Cooperation can be risky, however, and not surprisingly capuchins are much less likely to cooperate when a partner is able to monopolize the reward. However, they also pay attention to the partner’s behavior; monkeys who share with their partners promote successful cooperation, and thus actually receive more …

Taxpayers, Thieves, And The State: Fiscal Citizenship In Contemporary Italy, Emanuela Guano

Anthropology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Social Immobility And The Poetics Of Contentment In Paolo Virzí’S Caterina In The Big City, Emanuela Guano

Anthropology Faculty Publications

By intertwining fictional and actual circumstances and characters from Italy’s political and cultural scene, Paolo Virzí’s Caterina va in cittá/Caterina in the Big City tells the story of the difficulties encountered by Giancarlo Iacovoni and his daughter Caterina as they strive to carve a place for themselves in Roman society. This article argues that, while seemingly upholding the meritocracy myth, the film actually challenges both the inclusiveness feigned by Italy’s right wing populists and the emancipation promises of the Left. Furthermore, it suggests that Caterina in the Big City posits a poetics of contentment as the only viable option in …

Decentralization, Governance, And The Structure Of Local Political Institutions: Lessons For Reform?, Charles R. Hankla, William M. Downs

Political Science Faculty Publications

Many governments are devolving power to elected local councils, hoping to improve service delivery and citizen representation by bringing officials closer to the people. While these decentralization reforms hold the promise of improved governance, they also present national and sub-national leaders with a complex array of options about how to structure newly empowered local political institutions. This article draws on cross-national experience and the latest research to identify the trade-offs inherent in structuring local political institutions. The study’s specific interest is in the impact of strong, locally elected councils on governance and representation. Proceeding from an empirical basis that competitive …

Meat's Place On The Campaign Menu: How U.S. Environmental Discourse Negotiates Vegetarianism, Carrie Packwood Freeman

Communication Faculty Publications

Given the impact of America’s food choices, particularly animal-based foods, on life-sustaining systems, to what extent is the environmental movement making meat-based diets an issue? This research analyzes websites of 15 U.S. environmental advocacy organizations (EOs) to examine how they negotiate the question of animal versus plant-based diets and propose solutions for food producers and consumers. EOs proposed that industrial agriculture and commercial fishing/aquaculture severely limit destructive practices to more sustainably meet consumer demand for animal products. EOs offered consumers choices, including: 1) replacement of much industrial food with local, organic, and/or sustainable animal or plant foods, 2) reduction of …

"The Joshua Generation": Rethinking The Rhetorical Presidency And Presidential Rhetoric, Mary Stuckey

Communication Faculty Publications

While the “rhetorical presidency,” has been both accepted as a heuristic justifying the study of presidential speech on one hand and disputed as to its accuracy and utility yon the other, this model assumes a white male president who governs within a pre-cable, pre-internet political context. This essay will first briefly survey the history of the rhetorical presidency and then look closely at the factors (class, race, gender, and the mediated and even interactive nature of presidential rhetoric) that will need to be taken into account as scholarship on the rhetorical presidency - and on presidential rhetoric - moves forward.

Fiscal Decentralization To Rural Local Governments In India: A Case Study Of West Bengal State, Roy W. Bahl, Geeta Sethi, Sally Wallace

ECON Publications

Rural local governments in India provide essential services to over 70 percent of the national population. Yet, little is known about the efficacy of the financing system that supports these local governments, nor is there a fiscal information system that will allow a tracking of rural local government expenditures and revenues. In this article, we describe the role of rural local governments in India's; federal system, and use a database, newly gathered for West Bengal State, to present an analysis of rural local government financing patterns. We find that expenditures are significantly higher in less populated and more backward gram …