Digital Commons Network^™

The Ontological Sociology Of Cryptocurrency: A Theoretical Exploration Of Bitcoin, Omar Eliud Villarreal Robledo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For millennia, money has been a basal element of everyday life reality in market-organized societies. Albeit money has changed extrinsically (e.g., form, use, utility) countless of times, some intrinsic characteristics remain the same, i.e., money is reified value. But why? What gives money value? Even more crucial, what is money in the first place? This exploratory study delves into the intricacies of money, in particular the revolutionary 21st century pecuniary techno-phenomenon, a cryptocurrency called Bitcoin. Though cryptocurrencies have been the topic of several financial and legal scholarly publications for a few years, we rather focus our analysis on Bitcoin's ontological …

Understanding The Factors Associated With Engaged Scholarship: A Case Study Of Sociologists In The University Of Cape Coast, Ghana, Rebecca Maame Ahima Tachie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although initially established for the purpose of training teachers and management staff for the formal education sector, one of the major objectives of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) is to establish partnerships with both local and international communities and organizations in ways that simultaneously enhance academic scholarship and socioeconomic development. For this reason, this study examined the significance of university policies on community engagement and the practice of public sociology. Specifically, the influence of epistemological dispositions and perceptions concerning disciplinary, institutional and social demands on engaged scholarship are addressed. The challenges associated with the practice of engaged scholarship and …

The Twenty-Sixth Amendment, Russell James Henderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a history of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Passed by Congress in 1971, it set the national suffrage age at eighteen for all state and federal elections. It remains the last federal amendment to broaden voting rights and the most quickly ratified amendment to the Constitution. Those few scholars who have written about the 18-vote law uniformly explain that it emerged as recompense for patriotic duty; i.e. if teenagers were old enough to fight for America in Vietnam, they were also old enough to vote in U.S. elections. This dissertation agrees that young Americans …

Academic And Language Socialization Of Russian Ma Tesl Students At Us Universities: Struggles, Triumphs, And New Identities, Marina Lepekhova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Each year a great number of students leaves their home countries to study abroad. As a result, international students constitute a considerable portion of student body in us universities and around the world. For many students, study abroad is a holistic and a life-changing experience. Life in a foreign country and everyday exposure to new social and academic cultures make international students undergo an uneasy academic socialization process and re-imagine themselves through the use of second language (l2). This process is simultaneously coupled with academic and language socialization practices that construct novices as certain kinds of situationally organized persons, with …

Gender, Genre, And “Quality” Television: The Field Of Television Production In America From 1951 - 2013, Joseph Andrew Hoff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gender has a major impact on how society is organized. Societal processes taking place within fields continually shape and recreate our concepts of man and woman. Within television this is no difierent. Although a field closely tied to capitalistic economic interests, television has been afiorded a slight amount of autonomy that has allocertain shows in certain genres to be engaged with by audiences much like literature that is rich in symbolism and open to multiple interpretations. This study addresses how gender has structured the field over three distinct time periods as it expanded and provided men with opportunities and resources …

Is Your Parenting Style Hindering Your Child’S Chances At Succeeding In Their Post-Seconday Education? A Pilot Study Of Parent Gender And Parenting Style Effects On College Student Adjustment, Natya Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research was conducted on parent gender and parenting style effects on college student adjustment. Literature suggest that an authoritative parenting style is most optimal for adolescent outcomes contributing to adjustment in the following ways: social, attachment, personal emotional and academic. The current study utilized a convenience sample of 52 participants that examined the associations of parent gender and perceive parenting styles on college student adjustment. Significant relations were found among the differences between maternal and paternal permissive parenting on overall student adjustment.

How Does Place Affect Access To "What Works?": Knowledge Usage In Urban And Rural Ngo Intervention Design, Caitlin Brooking

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a state often ranked last in health rankings of note, Mississippi stands to benefit greatly from health interventions developed and implemented by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). NGOs depend on governmental and private foundation support, and, precipitated by recent legislation, these funding sources increasingly require “evidence-based practices” (EBPs). NGOs must cope with and adapt to the added expertise, data collection, and evaluation necessary to meet these requirements, tapping into their social networks to gain access to capital across ties. However, urban and rural environments present different concentrations of institutions and organizations, perhaps resulting in unequal abilities for urban and rural NGOs …

If There Wasn’T Farming, Somebody Wouldn’T Eat: Small Scale Agriculture, Community Autonomy, And Food Sovereignty In Mississippi, Irene Van Riper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the historical context of small scale farming and grassroots social movements in Mississippi’s history, and investigates the ways small farmers and community advocates are drawing upon their land-based heritage and local knowledge systems to create community-controlled food systems in dialogue with broader national and global conversations about sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty. Employing a multi-scalar method of analysis, the research studies issues from the perspective of individuals, communities, institutions, as well as national and transnational systems. The work draws from previous scholarship in environmental studies, agroecology, critical race studies, rural sociology, critical historiography, agrifood studies, and regional …

William Eggleston's Guide To The Suburban South, Amanda Katherine Malloy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1976, Memphis, Tennessee, photographer, William Eggleston, had his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. This exhibition was the first dedicated to a single photographer working in color. While Eggleston’s use of color was groundbreaking, his depictions of contemporary southern life were similarly exceptional. Working against previous photographic representations of the South, Eggleston presented a region succumbing to national homogenization through land development, commercialization, and suburbanization. Eggleston’s monograph resulting from his debut exhibition at MoMA, William Eggleston’s Guide, tells the story of this changing region, from the outdoor spaces that were once agriculturally …

Project Meshnet And The Politics Of Scientific Practice, Garreth Blake Gardner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I seek to demonstrate that innovative, socially circumscribed use of networking technology is changing the possibilities and practices of grassroots political movements, and conversely, that a politics of resistance aimed against real and perceived sociopolitical circumstances is shaping the use of technology. I examine the Project Meshnet community’s endeavor to create a decentralized alternative to the current, global Internet infrastructure as residing both in the context of decentralized but still institutionally-guided technology production and in the context of recent social movements characterized by de- centralized, non-hierarchical power structures, mutual aid, and other features. I conducted this research using the participant-observation …

How The Soul Slips In: Virginia Woolf's (Un)Natural History Of Dogs, Allison Castle Combs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dogs have a crucial place in articulating ideas about class and sexuality in Woolf and her milieu. Her works move from considering dogs as representative instruments of class and gender in Mrs. Dalloway, to thinking more complexly about the dog/human boundary in Orlando. Human-to-animal ontologies are an evaluation of human biopolitical affiliations, where human social categories and function are embedded and reflected in canine behavior. The “anthropological machine” and the fabulated nature of the human world is exposed in contact zones associated with problems of sexuality, class, and gender, as these internal and external distinctions are able to evade human …

Decolonizing Revelation: A Spatial Reading Of The Blues, Rufus Burnett Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Decolonizing Revelation: A Spatial Reading of the Blues demonstrates that the cultural phenomenon of the blues is an indigenous way of knowing that offsets the hidden logic of racialized dominance within modern Christian understandings of revelation. In distinction from the Christian, Religious, and racialized understandings of the blues, this dissertation focuses on the space in which the blues emerges, the Delta Region of the United States. By attending to space, this dissertation shows how critical consideration of geography and region can reveal nuances that are often veiled behind racialized and theologized ways of understanding the people of the Delta Region. …

Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Marshall Mcluhan And Communication Ethics: The Taming Of Americanitis, Julie A. Cramer Hunsberger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1880 neurologist George Miller Beard identified the diagnosis of neurasthenia. Popularly referred to as Americanitis, Beard treated an increasing number of people for symptoms of anxiety, malaise and gastric discomfort. Per Beard, the illness resulted from the rapidly changing mechanical landscape of modernity. Similarly, contemporary Media Ecology literature suggests that Americanitis continues amidst our current digital moment. Manifest as narcissistically anxious nervous exhaustion, digital Americanitis results due to technological encouragement of existential and communicative closure, thereby negatively implicating the human condition, human communication and communication ethics practices. As such, this project considers Marshall McLuhan’s Media Ecology to examine the …

Every Parent's Worst Nightmare: Surveillance Of Criteria-Based, Rampage School Shooters, 1995-2015, Paul Lomax

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rampage School Shootings are a violation of one’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of individual happiness. Little children, school teachers head out to school, only to never return home at the end of the day. Idiosyncratic psycho-social behaviors drive Rampage School Shooter (RSS) violence. The fact of the matter remains true; Rampage School Shooters don’t “… ‘just snap’… They plan” (U.S. Secret Service, 2002, p. 11). This descriptive, exploratory study consists of RSS cases (N=59) derived from triangulated, retrospective, historical accounts (1995-2015). A quantitative, non-experimental research design was employed.

The purpose of this epidemiological (i.e., descriptive, exploratory, predictive) …

Patterns In Dental Health: Investigating Dental Disease At The Archaeological Site Of Kuelap In Chachapoyas, Peru, Vu Tran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social organization influences individual well-being and overall community health, which may lead to health disparities that manifest in teeth. The research in this thesis explores social variability by analyzing patterns in dental disease at the archaeological site of Kuelap in Chachapoyas, Peru. The ancient Chachapoya (AD 900-1535) were a complex society but the nature of that complexity is not well understood based on traditional archaeological correlates. Since burials at Kuelap lack grave goods that are often used to discriminate variation in social status or identity, bioarchaeological dental proxies were tested. The dental remains of 106 individuals (7 subadults, 54 adult …

Collaboration Between Academic Affairs And Student Affairs At Public State Colleges In The Southern United States, Geoffrey Fortunato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Throughout history, higher education has reiterated the importance and significance of collaboration between all institutional divisions and departments (Kezar, 2003). As the responsibilities and operational functions of each division have increasingly become more specialized and complex, effective collaboration remains a barrier in the optimal functioning of institutions throughout the country (Kezar). The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the current perceptions and practices of collaboration between the Academic Affairs and Student Affairs divisions at state colleges geographically located in the Southern region of the United States, through the lens of Morten T. Hansen's T-shaped model of disciplined …

Preliminary Investigation Into Biological Sex Estimation Using Trace Element Analysis In Human Hair, Abigail Woltering

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In forensic anthropology the estimation of biological sex of unidentified human remains is critical, as it essentially halves the number of potential identities. Sex estimation is also important in bioarchaeology, because the creation of the biological profile is critical to the interpretation of different sociocultural aspects of past populations. Furthermore, certain aspects of the biological profile are sex specific, so it is important to be able to accurately determine biological sex (France 1998). Typically, biological sex is estimated by assessing sexually dimorphic differences within the pelvis and skull. However, because sexually dimorphic differences arise during puberty it is difficult, and …

Developing Methods For The Estimation Of Stature And Their Use As A Proxy For Health Among The Ancient Chachapoya Of Peru, Armando Anzellini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Population mean stature and patterns of health are often linked in anthropological studies, yet few studies control for the multifactorial nature of achieving adult standing height. This thesis explores the intersection of health and stature by analyzing the skeletal remains of 161 adult individuals from the archaeological site of Kuelap, in the eastern slopes of the northern Peruvian Andes, and also tests current biometric methods for estimating stature from skeletal remains. This Chachapoya site dates to the Late Intermediate Period (AD 900 – 1470) and Late Horizon (AD 1470 – 1536) and resides in the high altitude sub-tropical forests of …

The Crossed Bands Motif: What Does It Mean?, Brittany Luther

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The crossed bands motif is an iconographic symbol that appears among many Mesoamerican cultures' art including Olmec, Izapan and Maya spanning from the Early Pre-Classic to the Classic periods in Mesoamerica. Pierce explains in his theory on signs that icons, symbols and indices all contain meaning. This meaning was given to the signs by the one who commissioned the medium on which the sign is placed; therefore it is important to understand the meaning of these signs to learn more about the person or people who built them. The crossed bands motif has previously been studied based on individual pieces …

On The Back Of The Crocodile: Extent, Energetics, And Productivity In Wetland Agricultural Systems, Northern Belize, Shane Montgomery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ancient populations across the globe successfully employed wetland agricultural techniques in a variety of environmentally and climatically diverse landscapes throughout prehistory. Within the Maya Lowlands, these agricultural features figure prominently in the region comprised of northern Belize and southern Quintana Roo, an area supporting low-outflow rivers, large lagoons, and numerous bajo (swamp) features. Along the banks of the Hondo and New Rivers, the Maya effectively utilized wetland agricultural practices from the Middle Preclassic to the Terminal Classic Periods (1000 B.C. - A.D. 950). A number of past archaeological projects have thoroughly examined the construction and impact of these swampland modifications. …

Keeping Quiet: Investigating The Maintenance And Policing Of Male-Dominated Gaming Space, Christopher Charles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the near parity between the number of female and male gamers (Entertainment Software Association, 2014), studies on gender in videogames illustrate a culture that typically reflects hegemonic masculinity and excludes women on a multitude of levels. Because these interactions occur within real and virtual space (both online and within games), a holistic approach is warranted to analyze these mechanisms of oppression. This paper seeks to uncover the ways by which gaming culture is maintained and policed as a male-dominated space, through qualitative data collection. By using ethnographic, participant observation at a large, multi-genre convention the experiences of both male …

"Sealing The Bond": A Qualitative Study Of African American Funeral Rituals, Danielle (Grant) Graham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Death is a universal phenomenon; yet, reactions to death are uniquely diverse. Handling the loss of a loved one has the potential to completely change how an individual sees their world, and their response to death can vary by race, religion, gender, and culture. The bereavement process in many ways is culturally guided, and understanding how culture guides the bereavement process through rituals is imperative. Despite cultural difference, responses to death within the academic community are only representative of one group of people. This study looks at funeral rituals seen within the African American community, and addresses possible meanings behind …

From Turkeys To Tamales: Paleoindian To Preclassic Period Faunal Use At Maya Hak Cab Pek Rockshelter In Southern Belize, Stephanie Raye Orsini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Very little is known about Paleoindian and Archaic subsistence strategies of the people of Mesoamerica prior to the development of ceramics. Rockshelters with good preservation and stratigraphic deposits can provide excellent contexts for a comparative faunal analysis though time. In February of 2014 the Bladen Paleoindian and Archaic Project (BPAP), directed by Dr. Keith Prufer, began excavations at the rockshelter Maya Hak Cab Pek (MHCP). The site has evidence for human activities from the Paleoindian period (11,500 BC to 8,000 BC) through the Preclassic Maya period (2,000 BC to AD 250). This research uses zooarchaeological analysis to investigate animal use …

To Have Done With Forgiveness: Capitalism, Christianity, And The Politics Of Immanence, Timothy Snediker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This essay seeks to formulate a critical account of the genealogical link between capitalism and Christianity by interrogating the ontology and the processes of subjectivization which subtend these two apparently disparate social and political formations. To this end, I make use of the philosophical thought of Gilles Deleuze, in particular his readings of Spinoza, Foucault, Nietzsche, and Sacher-Masoch. The central themes of the essay--the identity of God and money, and the vicissitudes of the creditor-debtor relation--culminate in a theory of a theodicy of money, which deploys an apparatus of forgiveness in order to obscure and displace the stakes and …

Social Dimensions Of Alzheimer’S Disease Among Caregivers In Oaxaca, Mexico, Jonathan Yahalom

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation provides an analysis of the social construction of Alzheimer’s disease within Teotitlán del Valle, a rural Zapotec-speaking community in Oaxaca, Mexico. It explores how Alzheimer’s disease is locally understood, how this understanding reconfigures traditional meanings of old age, and how broader social issues are negotiated through this reconfiguration. Through 10 months of fieldwork this dissertation draws on ethnographic observations and interviews with 22 family caregivers across 9 households. This study is noteworthy for being the first known investigation in Teotitlán whose primary data was collected in the Zapotec language. Further, this dissertation integrates methods across psychology, gerontology, and …

Assessing Safety Culture Among Personnel In Governmental Construction Sites At Saudi Arabia: A Quantitative Study Approach, Omar Alrehaili

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Safety is an essential issue for organizations to survive, especially for hazardous industries such as the construction industry. The construction industry is considered to be one of the major industries that help in the growth of the economy and the infrastructure of all countries. Recently, scholars have paid increasing attention to the concept of safety culture due to its role in decreasing the occurrences of accidents and injuries. Safety culture has become the focus of all industries and has received much attention in recent years, especially within the construction industry. Absence of this culture is a major cause of injuries …

A Comparison Of Shovel Testing And Surface Collection As Archaeological Site Discovery Methods: A Case Study Using Mississippian Farmsteads, Cameron Smith Howell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shovel testing and controlled surface collection are commethods of archaeological site investigation that are generally approved by state and federal agencies as well as the academic community for cultural resource management projects and research. While both techniques are equally utilized, little research has been conducted on how equivalent these techniques are in terms of their efficacy for finding site. This thesis seeks to find a way to compare these techniques by creating mathematical models to describe how well the methods behave when tested on known datasets generated from Mississippian period farmsteads. The predicted performance can then be compared to real …

Linearly Stressed To Death: Consideration Of Early Childhood Stress As A Main Contributor To The Regional Variability In Classic Maya Mortuary Profiles, Nicholas Billstrand

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Late and Terminal Classic periods were times of great social, economic, and political change in Maya civilization. Scholars have suggested that increasing levels of dietary stress during this time may have been the result of ecological instability, drought, warfare, and significant levels of population movement across the Maya lowlands. All of these processes may have affected human health and left measurable markers of stress in human skeletal material. The burial population recovered from two sites on Ambergris Caye, located near the coast of Belize, have significantly more sub-adult individuals than sites in inland Belize, such as Actuncan, suggesting the …

Intermediate Russian Through Formula Tales, Tamar Karakozova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation presents a study of on the benefits of formula tales in university-level foreign language classrooms during grammar practice activities. The study investigates students’ attitudes toward the use of such texts in the post-secondary foreign language environment. In addition, differences between and among the participant-students is analyzed. Cognitive learning theory, noticing hypothesis, and content-based instruction provide the theoretical framework for the study.

Funneled Into Prison: Race And Behavior Modification At A Mississippi Alternative School, Daniela Alexandria Griffin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

African American youth are 3.5 times more likely than their white counterparts to be expelled from traditional public schools and sent to an alternative school—an exclusionary disciplinary setting focused on behavior modification. Yet how administrators and faculty supervise students’ behavioral achievement in these settings is seldom examined. This research investigates how faculty and administrators define and implement a behavior modification program at Richmond Learning Center, an alternative education setting in Mississippi, and places African American boys as young as 12 years old on a path to prison. To understand how faculty and administrators perceive and practice this program, I performed …