Digital Commons Network^™

Women And Healthcare In Appalachia: Impeding Circumstance And The Role Of Technology, Ashley Cano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For decades, healthcare access and quality in central and southern Appalachia have trailed the rest of the country. Entrenched poverty and low educational attainment compound healthcare problems. This study examines the healthcare obstacles women encounter in southern and central Appalachia and analyzes how technology use, such as Internet searching and social media affect women’s healthcare decisions. Data were analyzed from four focus groups conducted with women from the region. Results indicate that seeing a physician or not did not influence women’s propensity to search the Internet for health-related information or to seek support through social media sites. Additionally, women reported …

Oregon's Death With Dignity Act: Socially Constructing A Good Death, Erin E. Mauck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As aid-in-dying legislation expands across the United States, this study examines the dynamics influencing participation in Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. In addition to data from secondary sources, this thesis analyzes field research data collected in Oregon, including 14 in-depth interviews with volunteers and employees of two advocacy organizations at the center of legalized physician-assisted death. Themes emerged including the conditions that motivate participation, the importance of both personal and professional autonomy, the significance of a good death, and the growth of open dialogues about end of life choices. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the impact Death with …

Dollhouse, Whitney Goller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses the work in DollHouse, her Master of Fine Arts exhibition on display at Tipton Gallery, Johnson City, Tennessee from January 25 to February 5, 2016. The exhibition was an installation consisting of five sets, each containing furniture - both 2D and 3D - and a mask with instructions relating to a room found within a dollhouse.

The sets and supporting thesis explore the ideas of social norms, feminism, and identity, and how submission to ideologies can create emptiness, while engagement can prompt social change. Topics include the process and evolution of the work and the artists who …

Your Face Betrays You: A Fantasy Theme Analysis Of Lie To Me, Caroline Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research concerning the consequences of edutainment has revealed that television shows have the capability to influence audience members. As the lines between education and entertainment are becoming increasingly blurred, viewers may not be aware of how watching such shows impacts them. Lie to Me is a popular edutainment television series that educates viewers about the power of micro expressions. Ekman has dedicated a large part of his life to the development of research related to micro expressions. The show’s main character, Cal Lightman, portrayed Paul Ekman’s special talents and knowledge through his ability to detect micro expressions. The first three …

Adair Instrumental Genesis Inventory: Measuring Instrumental Genesis For Interactive Whiteboard Technology—An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods Design, Mindy H. Adair

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The adoption of interactive whiteboard technology in the mathematics classroom has been reasonably explored in terms of effective use (Glover & Miller, 2009), student engagement (Morgan, 2008) and achievement (Lutz, 2010), pedagogy (G. Beauchamp & Kennewell, 2013), and learning environments (Yang, Wang, & Kao, 2012). However, there has been little research performed regarding how teachers actually become effective at orchestrating and managing the technology in the classroom in terms of their level of instrumental genesis attainment. In this study, I examined how a teacher develops instrumental genesis, the two-fold process involving instrumentation and instrumentalisation, with interactive whiteboard technology through an …

Akratic Homo Economicus: Does The Neoclassical Economic Theory "Rational Agent" Assumption Accurately Depict Human Nature?, Marina Logachev

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neoclassical economic theory has long been scrutinized for its failure to be congruent with reality, often lacking generality and tractability due to, what many critics argue to be, unrealistic assumptions. One of the theory's core suppositions is a representative "rational agent" or homo economicus, whose self-interest and optimal choices, which are in state of equilibrium and efficiency are rooted in utility maximization of his well-being. Even though neoclassical economics claims to accurately depict human nature, from its very inception it has failed to incorporate human psychology and sociology into its foundations. As the behavioral and biological research became more …

An Introduction To The Psychedelic Pastoral: Tracing Mind-Altering Plant Life Into The Modern Industrialized West, Amy Nicole Buck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My Masters thesis offers literary pastoralism as a viable entry into the conversation on psychedelic plants and their use in mind-alteration by the industrialized West. I will, first, establish that the ancient pastoral tradition can be related to the existence of psychedelic plants, and that the use of such plants has inspired a deeper communion with various levels of the natural world. Next, my analysis focuses on parallels between pastoral literature and accounts of psychedelic hallucinations, which are often comprised of ultra-pastoral visions of landscapes, arabesques, and even cosmic space. These similarities suggest that psychedelic plants initiate a peculiar and …

Same Same But Different: The Self-Portraiture Of A Vietnam War Adoptee And The Poststructural Language Of Alterity, Joie Norby Lê

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the journey of a Vietnam War adoptee and the multitude of experiences that influenced her alterity. Through the development of a poststructuralist conceptual framework, the author reveals a philosophy of difference realized by philosophers such as Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Jean-François Lyotard, and Jacques Derrida. Using the method of self-portraiture, the author illustrates how this philosophy of difference was shaped as a result of her experiences and how those experiences have informed her engagement or disengagement throughout her K-12 and post-secondary education, her work as a student, and her beliefs as an educator. The study focuses upon …

How The Greek Press Constructed The "Greek Economic Crisis", Maria Elena Kuntz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since 2008, there has been a surge of interest in and research on the relationship between news media and economic reporting, particularly as it concerns financial crises. The 2008 U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, quickly followed by the economic crisis that began to unfold in Greece in 2009, spurred researchers to examine how newspapers around the world report on the complex, globalized economy. In the pursuit of understanding transnational economic processes, publics rely on news media to provide information about the meaning of economic events, especially crises. As such, newspapers are key players in constructing the narratives of crises.

This study …

Lonely Mystics: A Practical Theological Analysis Of Emerging Post-Secular Spiritualities, Paula J. Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1981, Catholic theologian Karl Rahner wrote about the increasingly lonely experience of the individual seeking an experience of God, a reaction to the continuing decline of church attendance and religious adherence. This prediction echoes today in the emergence of a plethora of spiritual offerings available to individuals outside of religious institutions. This suggests that many are seeking resources for spiritual wellbeing that were previously found or at least anticipated through religious affiliation. Two points of contention between emerging and traditional Christian spiritualities are centered on the locus of authority and the role of community, areas this dissertation explores.

"Spirituality" …

Continuity And Contradistinction: A Geography Of Religion Study Of The Ancient Near Eastern Storm-God Baal-Hadad, Jewish Elijah, Christian St. George, And Muslim Al-Khiḍr In The Eastern Mediterranean, Erica Ferg Muhaisen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For at least the past 800 years in the Eastern Mediterranean, communities of Muslims, Christians, and Jews have venerated three important figures: Christian St. George, Muslim al-Khiḍr, and Jewish Elijah. This is paradoxical, considering that common wisdom, and even religious studies discourse, suggests that Muslims, Christians, and Jews are distinct and separate, and particularly in the contentious Levant. Moreover, the figures there also share 'peculiar' characteristics: associations with rain, greenness, and fertility. One past study of this phenomenon argued that the figures' similarities arose from the fact that they were each a continuation of an important earlier regional religious figure: …

Jotería-Historias: Theories From The Fringes, Robert Mitchell Gutierrez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

By collecting the cultural/historical narratives of gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (GBTQ) Chicanos of Colorado, this research project locates theories in the flesh, or theories of resistance and agency, in the forms of cuentos, pláticas, chismé, mitos, testimonios, and consejos to explicate a queer of color performance of intersectional and decolonial politics. To set the context, several historical and political snapshots of GBTQ Chicano experience over the last 500 years are reviewed to demonstrate how communication about, for, and between GBTQ Chicanos operate in a liminal state (nepantla) where violence, marginalization, and oppression are …

Indigenous Curation At The Denver Museum Of Nature And Science, Julia Marie Strunk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the questions of how and why indigenous curation is incorporated into collections care and management for American Indian sacred, ceremonial, and religious items at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) through the examination of staff discourse. This thesis also discusses the importance of incorporating non-Western ontologies and epistemologies into classically Western science and natural history museums, and how this helps reconcile differing collections care and management practices. Through the presentation and examination of data and literature, I argue that it is important to include indigenous curation in museums because it aids in cultural revitalization and …

Pilgrimage, Spatial Interaction, And Memory At Three Marian Sites, Katherine Rousseau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Global mediation, communication, and technology facilitate pilgrimage places with porous boundaries, and the dynamics of porousness are complex and varied. Three Marian, Catholic pilgrimage places demonstrate the potential for variation in porous boundaries: Chartres cathedral; the Marian apparition location of Medjugorje; and the House of the Virgin Mary near Ephesus. These three places are porous in that they emplace the interactions of different groups, fostering the permeability of boundaries between categories of pilgrimage and tourism, commercial place and devotional place, and cultural and spiritual value. They also show varied degrees of spatial porousness, either topographically or in their connection to …

The Impact Of Philanthropy, Jonathan F. Denzler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Forwarding a narrative framework of philanthropic impact this thesis problematizes the evaluation methods used by social engagement organizations to measure the impact or change that they are contributing to in a community. By focusing on the example of food access, and the corresponding language of the "food desert", this project locates the power to control the framing of social issues in the hands of funders as opposed to those who experience the real life effects of living in poverty or resource-poor communities. This process then lets the philanthropists set a goal and meet that goal without ever truly communicating or …

Interpreting The Intangible: Challenges To The Display Of Dance Objects In Museums, Kathryn Louise Brundige Grossman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes Indigenous and non-Western dance objects in museums, examining the role of theory from material culture studies, critical museology and museum education on approaches to their interpretation and display. To explore this topic, I conducted a comparative analysis of Indigenous and non-Western dance object displays at four museums - Denver Art Museum, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History in Norman, Oklahoma - investigating the use of Native voice, reflexive analysis and multisensory elements in the exhibits' organization, narrative …

Museums, Disasters, And Resilience: The Presbytère's Living With Hurricanes—Katrina And Beyond Exhibit, Molly Hagan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project focuses on the entanglement of cultural heritage, museums, disasters, and resilience. Using The Presbytère museum's exhibit, Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond as a case study, I critically examined who is represented in the exhibit and how, what roles museum professionals and New Orleans community members held in the exhibit construction, and visitors' insight on the exhibit content. I argue that the promotion of New Orleans' culture and recovery post-Katrina throughout the exhibit has promoted the overall image of New Orleans and her residents as resilient. Framed by a variety of academic fields, this research contributes to …

Flinging The Apron And Tearing The Kerchief: Janie Crawford's Gestures In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Madeline Elizabeth Celley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I argue that in her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates protagonist Janie Crawford's development through her use of gesture. As the narrative moves throughout Janie's life, she becomes progressively able to communicate her feelings and desires through the use of her body's movements. By depicting Janie's subjectivity as fundamentally embodied, Hurston indicates an awareness of the cultural oppression Janie suffers, linking her body to those of women in the past that suffered as slaves. She draws attention to Janie's body by relying on her gestures in order to emphasize the …

Living Divided No More: An Exploration Of Authenticity In Philosophically Inspired Schools, Melanie Reiser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores school authenticity (SA) by conducting research at three philosophically inspired schools. The study investigates consciousness to identity, integrity to that identity, and ascertains characteristics of authenticity across settings through an investigation of the school's congruence between the philosophy and the school ecology. Two frameworks are utilized to explore school congruence. The first framework addresses establishment of identity--the school's attention to and congruence between the philosophy and their identified core educational principles. The second investigates integrity by exploring adherence to identity--in other words, the school's attention to and congruence between educational principles and the school ecology. I explore …

Relics Of Battle: War, Memory, And New Museum Theory In Military Museums, Megan Mccoy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The anthropology of museums, or museum ethnography, is a useful tool for critically analyzing the representational strategies of museums and their collections. This thesis focuses on the anthropological discussion of military museums and analysis of the material culture of conflict, and specifically on military museums in the United States and in Europe. Using a comparative approach, I look at how "new museology" and "new museum theory" is or is not being implanted in respective military history museum exhibitions, and discuss how personal and collective memory play a role in the construction of the military museum. I also consider how visiting, …

The Limits Of Human Flourishing: Reconstructing Theological Anthropology In Light Of Cognitive Disability, David N. Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The concept of human flourishing currently holds a position of prominence within Christian theology. Numerous theologies assert that a person enjoys the fullness of humanity, not through conformity to an essential nature, but through being a living demonstration of what human being can become. This approach to theological anthropology has proven especially useful for advocacy on behalf of marginalized groups. Nevertheless, because this approach identifies human being with the capacity for purposive agency, it remains incapable of affirming the full humanity of persons with profound cognitive disabilities. These persons lack abilities that purposive agency presupposes, such as self-representation, language, and …

The Spatial Distribution Of Terrestrial Stable Carbon Isotopes In North America, And The Impacts Of Spatial And Temporal Resolution On Static Ecological Models, Sydney M. Firmin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to the unique spatial and temporal characteristics of ecological phenomena, the extent and grain size of spatial data sets essentially filter the observations. This thesis examines the impacts of temporal and spatial resolution on the modeling of terrestrial stable carbon isotopic landscapes (isoscapes). I model the distribution of leaf stable carbon isotope composition (delta¹³C) for the continent of North America at multiple temporal and spatial resolutions. I generate each delta¹³C isoscape variation by first predicting the relative abundance of C3/C4 vegetation cover using monthly climate grids, crop distribution/type grids, and remote sensing data of plant …

Fluorine Dating Of Human Bone At The Pre-Columbian Maya Cemetery Of Caves Branch Rockshelter, Belize, Morgan Isaacs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis tests the ion-selective electrode fluorine dating method on the remains from the Maya mortuary site Caves Branch Rockshelter (CBR) in Belize. CBR is a cemetery containing at least 400 burials from the late Preclassic to the Postclassic periods. The intensive use and reuse of the site has disturbed the burial matrices, making it difficult to seriate the burials. Fluorine dating analyzes the amount of fluorine that has accumulated in bone over time. In principle, an older burial will contain more fluorine from groundwater than a more recently buried bone; however, this principle must be tested at each site …

I Live Peacefully In A Video Game World- Collected Poems, James Ardis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I Live Peacefully in a Video Game World occupies impersonal or passive forums such as comments sections, strategy guides, and video game patch notes in order to investigate the intimacy found within them. While conceptual poets have long explored hyper-contemporary communication ranging from spam emails to online reviews for Hollywood movies, these conceptual poets have often allothemselves to be constrained by their devotion to faithfully transcribing documents. The sections of this manuscript, then, are creative reimaginings of Youtube comments sections, strategy guides, and video game patch notes instead of precise transcriptions. This mixture of conceptual poetry and Prufrokian neurosis allow …

Dining With The Cyborgs: Disembodied Consumption And The Rhetoric Of Food Media In The Digital Age, Maggie Cotto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project explores digital media productions based specifically on food and cooking in order to demonstrate that new communication technologies are increasingly incorporating all five of the bodily senses. In doing so, they contribute significantly to the emergence of new ideological apparatuses appropriate for a global community. These apparatuses – including the formation of a posthumanist subject, the use of technology to support embodied cognition, and the establishment of entertainment as an ideological institution – have become the harbingers of a rhetorical evolution. Based on the work of Gregory Ulmer, along with Jacques Derrida, N. Katherine Hayles, Donna Haraway, and …

Quantitative Framework For Social Cultural Interactions, Taranjeet Singh Bhatia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For an autonomous robot or software agent to participate in the social life of humans, it must have a way to perform a calculus of social behavior. Such a calculus must have explanatory power (it must provide a coherent theory for why the humans act the way they do), and predictive power (it must provide some plausible events from the predicted future actions of the humans). This dissertation describes a series of contributions that would allow agents observing or interacting with humans to perform a calculus of social behavior taking into account cultural conventions and socially acceptable behavior models. We …

René Girard, Sacrifice, And The Eucharist, Michael Joseph Darcy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I examine the Sacrament of the Eucharist in light of the theory of sacrifice proposed by René Girard. Specifically, I consider the Eucharist within the context of the sacrificial nature of Christianity, a matter of some controversy as regards both the early thought of Girard and those who have taken up and developed his thought. In his early work Girard rejects the notion of a Christian sacrifice. In later works, the realization that Christian and archaic sacrifice are analogous realities that have a typological relation helps him come to accept the notion of a Christian sacrifice, but …

Creation In The Image Of God: Human Uniqueness From The Akan Religious Anthropology To The Renewal Of Christian Anthropology, Eric Baffoe Antwi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Judeo-Christian belief, based on the bible, is that "God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Gen. 1: 27). This dissertation explores the Akan understanding of the human person to shed further light on creation of human beings in the image of God and to understand and demonstrate the corresponding uniqueness of the human being among God's creatures. With the help of the Akan context, we note that every human being possesses a spark of God. God, who is relational, shares relationality with human beings.

Through the …

From Ashes To Ashé: Memorializing Traumatic Events Through Participatory Digital Archives, Patricia Carlton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic, cataclysmic events, whether caused by man-made or natural forces, threaten the safety, stability, and resilience of a community or state. Additionally, massive media exposure given to documenting and providing information, place the media consumers at psychological risk. As an alternative to broadcast news reports, online memorials and disaster archives provide the public the means and central locations for witnessing catastrophic events, as well as collectively commemorating and mourning the tragic losses. According to psychological and ethnographic research, narrativizing the trauma through shared memories and artifacts of mourning produce multiple therapeutic benefits, including the likely development of cognitive awareness, empathy, …

Devising Strategies, Managing Needs: A Multi-Level Study Of Homelessness In Central Florida, Rebecca Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The homeless are a marginalized population vulnerable to structural forces and policy decisions, including lack of affordable housing, systemic inequalities, and lack of adequate social safety net. Homelessness is commonly medicalized (linked to individual deviancy and mental illness) by service administrators and policymakers, causing structural causes to be overlooked. A "vertical slice" approach is particularly useful to show perspectives and strategies that affect homelessness from multiple levels. Using ethnographic research methods, this project explores homelessness in Central Florida from three distinct but interrelated angles: (1) the perspective of homeless persons, (2) the perspective of staff members at Hope Helps, a …