Digital Commons Network^™

Mobile Phone Communication Competence (Mpcc): Development And Validation Of A New Measure, Emil Bakke

Masters Theses

More than two billion people around the world have adopted mobile phones for communication. Interpersonal communication research has found that communication competence is an essential human need required to fulfill interpersonal objectives to achieve physical and psychological satisfaction (Spitzberg and Cupach, 1984), however, mobile phone communication competence has yet to be studied. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a new scale designed to measure Mobile Phone Communication Competence (MPCC); a principal component factor analysis uncovered the structure and dimensionality of the MPCC measure. The results from the factor analysis in this study identified six constructs: asynchronous …

An Ethnographic Inquiry Into Prudent Behavior And Culturally Correct Attitudes Of Ethnodoxologists Living Among The Lakota Oyate, Joseph T. Dorer

Masters Theses

For centuries, the indigenous people of North America have been plagued by white encroachment. People of European descent have come among Native Americans in almost every form imaginable. They have been treasure seekers, soldiers, bearers of horrific diseases, liars, rapists, murderers, missionaries, anthropologists, government workers, doctors, and teachers. In the summer of 2004, in spite of my own reluctance, I became part of this historically menacing group. Still, I am somewhat different than the others I’ve already mentioned–I came as an ethnodoxologist.

Other ethnomusicologists have come among the Lakota people to study music and culture including Frances Densmore, R.D. Theisz, …

Moving Melodies: Contemporary Music Culture Of Mongolian Nomads And Opportunities For Contextualization, Erica Marin Logan

Masters Theses

There are many obstacles to sharing Christ with nomadic peoples. Obstacles include distance of travel from one family group to another, the mobility of these family groups, the finances and investment to locate the families every season, the lack of fellowship and discipleship materials for those that do become Believers, and the peer pressure that these Believers face in the midst of this lack. What resources can be offered to fill this gap? How can the Gospel be communicated in a relevant and engaging way to a people group that is spread out across hundreds of miles, resistant to sedentary …

To Give Or Not To Give; Attributions Of Philanthropy Motivation In Fundraising Letters, Chelsey N. Willis

Masters Theses

Bernard Weiner’s work with attribution theory and help giving is used in this study to explore two research questions on communication in fundraising. First, the study looks at how communication from a cancer centre foundation effectively motivates their community and local philanthropists to give money to their program. The study also looks at how the donor’s response motivates the foundation to continue to attract donations. Three hypotheses were made and tested. This study started with a textual analysis of appeal letters from a cancer centre. Letters, based on the textual analysis, were then created as the variables for the study …

Understand The Misunderstanding: A Study Incorporating Uses And Gratifications Theory On Why Chinese Film Audiences See America The Way They Do, Meng Zhao

Masters Theses

The Uses and Gratifications Theory states that audiences are active and they seek satisfactions when selecting media. This theory redirects the typical theoretical emphasis on media content to an emphasis on the active audience. The present study focuses on this theory by evaluating the gratifications Chinese audiences receive when watching American films. It discovers gratifications Chinese audiences seek in films, in general, and how their gratifications may be fulfilled by watching American films. The preference for American films among a majority of Chinese audiences would likely affect Chinese audiences’ understanding of the American culture. To be more precise, the study …

Incorporation Of Space Syntax Theory In Determining Safe And Efficient Construction Site Layout, Minsuck Cho

Masters Theses

Facility layout is an important to determine a proper arrangement of temporary facilities in a construction site. It significantly impacts productivity and safety of construction. The objectives of layout planning are to minimize travel distance and time, to decrease the facility transportation and setup costs, and to improve site safety. Despite the importance of facility layout, it is often overlooked in the planning phase. Several models have been developed taking some of these factors into consideration; however, construction managers and site planners often regard cost as the most important factor in layout planning and pay less attention to safety and …

Living And Dying On The Margins: A Journey Into The Culture Of Pink And Black Women’S Narrative Accounts Of Breast Cancer, Cleothia Gill

Masters Theses

This thesis examines black women's understandings of and experiences with breast cancer through the use of narratives. These narratives offer different positions from which to critically analyze the dominate conceptualization of breast cancer in American society, which is primarily associated with white, middle class, heterosexual women. There is a focus on issues such as breast cancer 'risk', increased mortality rates among black women, dominate discourses and media representations of breast cancer, and mastectomy and body image. African American women's stories are used to 'deconstruct' and reveal how this disease is socially constructed in ways that has profound impact on their …

An Investigation Of Kavilorai: A Hero Stone Site In The Nilgiri Mountains Of South India, Jacob Landon Bach

Masters Theses

This study explores the hero stones of the Nilgiri Mountains of South India. This project has focused on the site of Kavilorai for developing a stylistic base to compare other sites of the region with. After analysis it was determined that Kavilorai contained four separate, but connected stylistic expressions carved on the hero stones. The findings when compared with other upper elevation sites corresponded to a high quality/low quality theme, often incorporating the ritual suicide sati. When comparing the stylistic representation of the carved figures to the Badaga Lingayat temple of Seminatum there surfaced strong thematic and stylistic connections. The …

A Study Of Body Scent As A Social Identifier Among Members Of The Arabic Culture, Mia M. Wilson

Masters Theses

Body scent plays a major factor in how individuals interact with one another. While Americans have their own perception of what is "proper" body scent, they still remain uninformed about the various ways body scent is used to deliver social messages and form interpersonal relationships within other cultures. With many immigrants continuing to move to the United States (Frey, 2004), American societies need to become educated on other cultures' social aspects of body scent to avoid alienation of foreign communities. This qualitative research study explores how individuals of the Saudi Arabian culture use body scent as a social identifier to …

Soil Sisters: Independent Land Owning Women In Coles And Douglas Counties, Illinois, 1870-1930, Rachel E. Kleinschmidt

Masters Theses

In the Midwest during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many women owned and worked on farmland, but the male-dominated capitalistic farming system negated much of the legal and economic authority they had as farmers. Progressive Era changes in the farming system shifted family farming systems to profit-driven business-oriented farms, marginalizing women's productive contributions. Single and widowed women farmers in Coles and Douglas Counties in Illinois managed to retain ownership of farm land despite gender and legal biases inherent in common law practices defined by patriarchy.

A survey of local history sources, including federal census data, probate records, and …

A Genetic Assessment Of The Red Squirrel In Illinois: Natives, Immigrants, Or Exotics?, William Beatty

Masters Theses

A small population ofred squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) has existed in Iroquois County, Illinois since the 1970' s. The origin of this population is unknown, but some accounts suggest they are the offspring of released red squirrels from Minnesota. Alternatively, they may be a remnant Illinois population or more recent immigrants from Indiana. Finally, this population could reflect a mixed ancestry of the above scenarios. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was utilized to determine the genetic relationships among red squirrel populations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. My results showed low levels of haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity in the Illinois sample. …

Individual-Based Artificial Ecosystems For Design And Optimization, Shivakar Vulli

Masters Theses

"Individual-based modeling has gained popularity over the last decade, mainly due to the paradigm's proven ability to address a variety of problems seen in many disciplines, including modeling complex systems from bottom-up, providing relationship between component level and system level parameters, and discovering the emergence of system-level behaviors from simple component level interactions. Availability of computational power to run simulation models with thousands to millions of agents is another driving force in the widespread adoption of individual-based modeling. This thesis proposes an individual-based modeling approach for solving engineering design and optimization problems using artificial ecosystems"--Abstract, page iii.

Resiliency In Hispanic Middle School Students: A Direct Assessment, Randy Horner

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study is to identify the level of resiliency found in middle school Latinos in the south suburbs of Chicago. The Hispanic population is currently booming with the most growth coming from Mexican Immigrants. Many young Hispanics face munerous stressors attributed to cultural issues and low Socioeconomicstatus (SES). Few studies have examined resiliency in young Hispanics. Resiliency plays an integral part in adjusting to life, and a lack of, or passel of it can lead to maladjustment or negative outcomes. This study compared the level of resiliency between Hispanic middle school males and Caucasian middle school males. …

The Cultural Dimension Of Emotional Intelligence And Its Clinical Implications, Koyeli Sengupta

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the role that culture plays in emotionaJ intelligence, in people's ability to use emotions adaptively in their daily lives. Specifically, it presented existing cross-cultural research literature on emotional intelligence, with particular focus on the emotional competencies of Americans and Indians. The literature on cross-cultural psychology of emotions revealed cross-cultural similarities as well as differences in each phase of the emotion process. It supported the view that considerable universality existed with regards to perception of emotions in facial expressions, while the major sources of differences were detected in the processes ofregulation of emotion …

Breaking The Be Nice Rule: Direct Action Community Organizing, Adriana Rosas

Masters Theses

Focusing on the Kalamazoo Homeless Action Network (KHAN), this thesis explores the dynamics of transformation in community organizing, and the crucial and often complicated role of anger in that process. Current Anthropological literature on the topic of resistance and poverty leaves unexamined the micropolitics of individuals' transformation as they become civically engaged as well as the laborious organizing techniques culminating in such events that lead to social change and individual empowerment. I will contribute to the literature on poverty and resistance by examining the 'behind-the-scenes' dimensions of direct action community organizing that influence individual and social transformation. Through this examination …

An Analysis Of The Woodland Ceramics From Galum Crossing (Site 21c4-29): An Early Late Woodland Occupation In The Southern Illinois Interior, Gabrielle Aberle

Masters Theses

Situated on upper Galum Creek at the northwest margin of the Big Muddy River drainage basin, the primary occupation at Gal um Crossing consisted of an early Late Woodland habitation dating from approximately A.D. 450 to the early A.D. 700s. The cultural-historical affiliation of the Woodland occupation and the relationship of Galum Crossing to local and regional contemporaneous sites were assessed using radiocarbon dating and an attribute-based analysis of the Woodland ceramic assemblage. This provided data for examining the designation of the proposed Jamestown phase (Moffat 1991, 1992) as a transitional unit between the Middle Woodland Crab Orchard Tradition and …

An Unequal Consumption? Sex And Gender Differences In Tuberculosis, Sarah K. W. Avink

Masters Theses

In the developing world today, tuberculosis (TB) accounts for 26% of avoidable deaths (Holmes et al 1998). Poverty is considered to be a main risk factor for TB, and since some estimates show that women make up 70% of the world's poor (Thorson and Diwan 1998:11), one might conclude that the incidence of TB worldwide would be much higher for women than men. However, reports reviewed in this thesis show the reverse to be true, with an adult annual male notification ratio for TB at 1.5 to 2.1 times higher than that of females. Both biological reasons and social factors …

Millennial Media: A Fantasy Theme Analysis Of The Short Film "Narrow Roads", Auri - Christopher Colin Jones

Masters Theses

As we move into the future of , society has become more involved with the media they consume. Younger generations in the past generations have been effected and have affected media development in various ways. The Millennial generation of today is no exception. This thesis discusses the effects of media on the millennial generation through fantasy theme chains of an original video narrative. Millennial students will watch the narrative and discuss with other Millennials the themes presented and perceived from the video. The results from this study will give a look into how millennial interaction about visual media makes a …

Building A Predictive Model For Paleo Indian Archaeological Site Location Using Geographic Information Systems, Zachary Jaime

Masters Theses

This research is a multi step method to predict unknown Paleoindian archaeological site locations within Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, situated in the southeastern corner of the state, using a Geographic Information System (GIS). The GIS technology is being used to predict Paleoindian archaeological site locations and will help demonstrate the geographic similarities and differences between already known Paleoindian archaeological sites and random non-site locations in the Pine Bluffs region. Using GIS, one can note the similarities and differences between the Paleoindian sites and the surrounding landscape and, with help of logistic regression analysis, one can predict the location of unknown Paleoindian …

The Gyftakis Site: A Reevalutation Of A Middle Woodland Site After 30 Years, Michael R. Fournier

Masters Theses

This research is the catalogue and study of the Gyftakis Site (20MK51) excavated in 1973 by Dr. James Fitting. The first part of this study involves the cataloguing and description of the artifacts excavated by Dr. James Fitting at the Gyftakis site located on the Marquette Mission block in St. Ignace, MI.

The second part of the research involves using SPSS to analyze the decorative techniques used on the Gyftakis pottery. A chi-square test was performed first to see if the ceramic decorations were not just defined by a random distribution. After that the ceramic decorations were analyzed in both …

The Role Of Latinidad In The Worship And Formation Of Identity Of A U.S. Hispanic, Pentecostal Church, Kristina Arellano

Masters Theses

This case study examines how culture influenced the worship of one U.S. Hispanic church made up of thirteen different nationalities. I examined how Latinidad, a unified Latino identity, assisted in the construction of Iglesia Ebenezer’s collective identity enabling them to worship together despite their diversity. I observed several worship services and interviewed eleven participants during my fieldwork: three pastors, two youth leaders, and six worship-team musicians. I compared and contrasted case studies of the musicians to construct a collective identity of this small group. A final analysis compared my fieldwork observations and the perspectives of all eleven individuals to establish …

The Music Of A Kalinga Peace-Pact Celebration: Making Place Through The Soundscape, Glenn Ress Stallsmith

Masters Theses

Music and place are two phenomena that have been objectified by researchers in the past. This thesis treats both as social processes created by subjects in local, specific contexts. The Kalinga peace pact system forms an intricate web of bilateral agreements between forty or more culture groups in the northern Philippines. Each agreement is celebrated when it is formed or when a peace pact holder from one group passes the responsibility on to his son. This thesis examines eight musical scenes at one peace pact ceremony celebrated in the Mangali culture area in April 2005. It analyzes the music performances …

Gender, Race, And Membership Status: Perceptions Of Hazing On A University Campus, Robyn Bethany Paige

Masters Theses

This thesis addressed the issue of hazing and specifically the potential relationship of three demographic factors, race, gender, and membership status, on student attitudes about hazing. This research to improve the understanding about what motivates individuals to engage in such behavior is designed to provide help to practitioners in creating better prevention and education about hazing.

An on-line survey was used to collect data from students at a large, public, Research I institution in the Mid-west. The survey was based on Sedlacek and Brook's (1970) Situational Attitudes Scale. The original instrument was modified to fit the topic of hazing. It …

Presenting Problems And Treatment Outcome Of College Counseling Center Clients: The Role Of Gender And Academic Major, Erik Lennart Timothy Fister

Masters Theses

The current study examined whether gender and/or academic specialization had any relationship to students presenting issues, symptom severity, and treatment outcome at a university counseling center. The participants were 484 clients and the data were collected at an East Coast university counseling center. Clients were included for the analyses if they were a new intake, clearly fit into one of six categories for academic major, and attended more than one session. Each client filled out both the Personal Information Form (PIF) and Behavioral Health Questionnaire (BHQ) at intake, and was administered the BHQ prior to each subsequent session. Based on …

Media's Portrayal Of Women: Impact On Aggressive Attitudes And Beliefs, Danielle Trezek

Masters Theses

The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative study was to examine images in magazine advertisements and the impact of these images on aggressive attitudes and beliefs towards women. The three research objectives were: 1) to explore the appeal of the portrayals of women in magazine advertisements to males and females, 2) to examind the attitudes and acceptances of violence, gender-roles, and gender stereotypes of the participants after viewing the different portrayals, and 3) to compare the results of males and females to explore the differences in aggression between genders. The participants consisted of 71 college males and females from a Midwestern …

Holding Her Hand, Chris Ellen Lamb

Masters Theses

The history of GLBTQ YA (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning Young Adult) literature has seen the introduction of very small amounts of fiction over the years. Publication of the first YA gay novel in 1969 opened the doors for many writers interested in pursuing the genre. However, even since this year (the year of the semi-liberation of gays during Stonewall) we have only seen a small amount of titles provided to young readers. In the past decade, interest has begun to turn to a more accepting, emotional and physical based portrayal of GLBTQ teens in their literature.

Since the onset …

Dancing Through Film Musicals: Narratives In Motion, Dara Phillips

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to discover if and how dance communicates vital plot and character information nonverbally. The example analyzed was the film Singin’ in the Rain. This thesis examined the six dance sequences in the film to determine if the dancing is an integral, powerful, and significant communicative addition to the film. Walter Fisher’s Narrative Paradigm was used in conjunction with Seymour Chatman’s concept of kernels and satellites to determine if the dances communicated significantly to the film’s viewers. The Narrative Paradigm, though loosely framed, provided the concepts of coherence and fidelity. These concepts helped determine if …

The Analysis Of Ceramic Symbolism From The First Street Site In Barbados, Aya Hashimoto

Masters Theses

The expression of race and racism in material culture is of increasing interest in historical archaeology ( e.g., Epperson 1990, 1999, 2000; Mullins 1996, 1999). This study investigates 6 ceramic sherds from one vessel associated with a white urban domestic site on First Street, in Holetown Barbados. This vessel conveys a racist message. A black slave in a loincloth serving tea to a white person is transfer printed on the ceramic. The ceramic seems to be an annular designed pearlware from England in the first half of the 19^th century.

By interpreting the meanings of the ceramic decoration, this …

Incisal Dental Microwear Of The Prehistoric Point Hope Communities: A Dietary And Cultural Synthesis, Kristin L. Krueger

Masters Theses

The prehistoric coastal communities of Point Hope, Alaska have been considered important Arctic archaeological sites since their initial excavations in 1939. The majority of the archaeological artifacts are grouped into two temporally distinct cultural components, the Ipiutak (2100-1500BP) and the Tigara (800-300BP). Although debated, Arctic archaeologists have suggested that the Ipiutak depended heavily on land mammals with only seasonal reliance on sea mammals, whereas the Tigara relied primarily on sea mammals including whales. While both groups clearly utilized foraging subsistence economies, the contrasts in their food acquisition strategies would have placed different demands on the males and females, particularly with …

Linear Enamel Hypoplasia And Dental Disease: Implications Of Health And Lifestyle Behaviors Of The Urban Enslaved From Two Burial Grounds In Bridgetown, Barbados, Jennifer Yamazaki

Masters Theses

This project investigates aspects of diet, health, and lifestyles of enslaved Africans of Bridgetown, Barbados during the 17th-19th centuries. The dentition of 10 Pierhead and Fontabelle individuals was examined to provide evidence of stress and coping capacities experienced within the urban context of slavery. Linear enamel hypoplasias (LEH), dental disease, and cultural modifications were noted. The frequencies of the pathologies were calculated and the peak age of stress occurrence for LEH were timed and compared with other New World enslaved populations in order to determine if differences existed in overall health and lifestyle experiences between those enslaved in cities and …