Digital Commons Network^™

Does A Criminal Justice Degree Produce Law Enforcement Officers?, Bryan Keith Murray

Theses and Dissertations

Police departments are being asked to diversify their ranks in a job field dominated by White males. Hispanics are predicted to be the majority-minority by 2043, few studies were conducted to explore whether Hispanic students majoring in criminal justice will pursue a career in law enforcement agencies upon graduation. Therefore, it is necessary and important to investigate the willingness of Hispanic students perusing a career in law enforcement agencies and what kind of factors behind this pursuit. This research anonymously surveyed 203 students currently enrolled in a four-year Hispanic university. Gender and the liberalizing effect served as the independent variables. …

White Power In Context: The Structural Correlates Of White Power Support Events In The United States, 2012-2015, Drew Cormac Medaris

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Much of the prior research on white power groups focuses on very rare outcomes – criminal events, especially violent ones – without as much attention devoted to the more common or fundamental activities that often work to start the mobilization process for ethnocentric groups and the individuals associated with them. Broadly, the goal of the current study is to fill this gap in knowledge by integrating prominent criminological theories and themes drawn from the Social movement literature in order to explore the geographic distribution and macro-level correlates of ideologically-motivated white power movement activities. Specifically, I implement content analysis techniques of …

Exploring Winery Operation As A Diversification Option For Native American Tribal Enterprises, Randi M. Combs

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to examine the perceptions of tribal members regarding the strengths, challenges, and opportunities presented by tribal winery operation. Specifically, issues of business diversification, marketing, perceived barriers to success, potential benefits to the tribe, and the role of agriculture in the preservation of tribal heritage were considered. A modified mixed-methods exploratory sequential research model was used to collect and organize data in two phases. Phase 1 quantitative data was used to inform the development of a Phase 2 qualitative interview protocol. Phase 1 found a significant relationship between a higher income level and a lower …

Rock Art Management And Landscape Change: Mixed Field Assessment Techniques For Cultural Stone Decay, Kaelin M. Groom

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As tourism continues to grow as one of the world’s most ubiquitous markets, the development and promotion of non-invasive techniques for cultural stone decay analysis and landscape change are vital to establishing conditional base-lines to best aid cultural heritage management (CRM) efficacy. Using rock art as a medium, this dissertation presents three independent case studies employing the Rock Art Stability Index (RASI) and repeat photography to explore the merits of mixed rapid field assessment techniques in relation to CRM and heritage tourism. While rock art is only one example of irreplaceable world heritage resources, examining how they decay and what …

Exploring Individual’S Explanations Of Economic Mobility Through The Gaze Of Intersectionality, Adam Alexander Broyles

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study looks at whether or not adopting intersectionality as a theoretical framework allows for a better understanding of individual’s explanations of economic mobility, rather than examining variables such as race, gender, and class as mutually exclusive from one another. The reason for this follows from the understanding that race, gender, and class can intersect to create unique views and opinions of the world and how it operates. Using the 2009 PEW Economic Mobility Survey as a secondary data source, I ran statistical regressions and interpreted the results.

Risks, Protections, And Weight Status Among Springdale High School Students, Leanna Christine Gavin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the role of sociodemographic characteristics and various Social factors in determining BMI among adolescent high school students. In a sample of 1,493 students at a public high school in Springdale, Arkansas, disparities in body mass index across race/ethnicity, gender, and Social class were assessed. This project also examined risk and protective factors in the individual, peer, and family domains as they contributed to weight status outcomes and disparities. Using a quantitative approach, BMI outcomes were examined in a four-step multiple regression model, considering both main effects and interactions of race/ethnicity, class, and gender, as well as risk …

Isis In America: A Sociohistorical Analysis, Kathryn Joanne Ratcliff

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During the summer of 2014, the terrorist organization Islamic State (commonly referred to as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS) garnered international attention after its unprecedented territorial acquisitions and violence in the Middle East. Today, ISIS vies with al-Qaeda for leadership of the global Islamic Extremist movement and has extended its violence all over the world, including the United States. U.S. based supporters generally choose to engage with the ideology in one of three categories: as a foreign fighter, domestic plotter, or domestic non-plotter. Despite this threat, there is very little quantitative research concerning U.S. ISIS supporters and …

The Hispanic Female Scholars: Experiences Of An Underrepresented Minority. A Study Of The University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Cecile Caddel

Theses and Dissertations

The study intends to illustrate how certain challenges influence the disparity of Latinas/Hispanic women pursuing a career in academia, in the Rio Grande Valley. Aside from the aspects, which drive these women to success, I also hope to uncover those, which restrict Hispanic women from achieving tenure within the university system. Conclusively, I intend to understand how the issues and circumstances of Latinas in pursuit of the professoriate, compares/differs from other marginalized groups.

The qualitative research process allows for individual interviews, in order to construct authentic interpretations of the challenges and conditions, which often affect the Hispanic woman in the …

An Analysis Of Material Support Of Terrorism And Violent Plots: Scale And Success, Ian David Brecht

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Following the attacks on September 11, 2001, material support of terrorism charges have served as a cornerstone in the U.S. Government’s fight against terrorism. However, empirical research looking at the usage of material support charges is lacking. The primary focus of this study is to determine if material support charges are related to increases in terrorist attack success and scale. Using the American Terrorism Study (ATS), 177 post-9/11 Islamic Extremist-linked court cases including material support charges and 140 terrorist incidents were coded and analyzed using chi-square, logistical regression, and linear regression models. Results revealed that material support charges are related …

A Study Of Innovation In Model Project Design: Addressing Mental Health Symptoms Among Co-Occurring Substance Use And Mentally Ill Clients Who Are Homeless In A Local Community Clinic Setting, Isis Dian Martel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Homeless persons with co-occurring substance use combined with mental illness constitute a particularly vulnerable subgroup with complex service needs. Unfortunately, the capacity to deliver critical treatment services has been extremely limited causing many from this population to remain untreated. Untreated co-occurring disorders can lead to a host of difficulties for both the individual and the community (Bouchery, Harwood, Sacks, Simon, & Brewer, 2011). Developing community based intervention services in Arkansas is a key activity necessary in strategically addressing this problem (Barbee, Gonzales, & Shelor, 2016). In partnership with the Arkansas Division of Behavioral Health Services, a local community treatment provider …

Where We Get Our News: A Multilevel Analysis Of The Media Framing Of Immigration And Crime, Cody Robert Tuttle

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite an abundance of literature demonstrating that immigration and crime are unassociated, public opinion often reflects the contrary. I examine a source that could contribute to this disconnect between research and public opinion – media framing – particularly, how the specific way that news outlets talk about immigration and crime, along with where they are located geographically, influence how prominently these stories are covered. I employ content analysis of newspaper articles from 2008-2012, which I geo-locate and pair with structural covariates gathered from several other data sources. I use multilevel models to analyze the effect of article-level framing and county-level …

Essays On Health Disparities And Income-Related Health Inequality In Sub-Saharan Africa, Marshall Makate

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation comprises of five empirical essays. Essay one assesses the impact of prenatal care quality and its components on child mortality using nationwide data from the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Surveys (ZDHS), 1999-11. Results indicate that increasing prenatal care quality by one unit improves neonatal, infant and under-five survival by about 42.33, 30.86, and 28.65%, respectively and all statically significant at the 1% level.