Digital Commons Network^™

Corruption And Coordination In Russia’S Economy, Peter Kalev Elias

Theses and Dissertations

This project seeks to bring a deeper understanding of non-western, authoritarian economies to the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) literature. Many of the most stunning practices of post-Soviet Russia, such as corporate takeovers, the virtual economy, and informal sector jobs find their roots in Soviet practices that were originally implemented to avoid an inefficient and overcontrolling centralized government. Culturally, some of these institutions have roots in historical institutions of patronage and self-interested giving. As such, Russia’s particular version of capitalism as it presents today makes sense historically when the evolution of its institutions are taken into account. Further, instead of characterizing …

Aid Worker Burnout As Injury: Policy Implications For The Aid Sector, Melissa Lynn Quimby

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Aid work is a valuable service provided to the world’s most vulnerable people, and it can often be dangerous, exposing workers to such security concerns as isolation, contagious diseases, and trauma. The chronic stressors that often accompany aid work can result in the debilitating effects of burnout, the symptoms of which are defined here as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and decreased personal achievement. There is a gap in the literature describing how aid organizational culture contributes to the prevalence and severity of aid worker burnout that this research intends to fill. Applied research focus: I investigated the concept of burnout …

Literate Activity Research And Narrative Analysis As Frameworks For Educational Change: An Examination Of Writing Instruction In Two Alternative Education Programs, Leslie Rae Hancock

Theses and Dissertations

How are narratives, as mediating cultural tools within activity systems, influencing or shaping the ways in which alternative high school teachers are designing, developing, and implementing their writing instruction? This thesis seeks to answer this guiding research question by investigating the writing pedagogies and praxis of two Illinois alternative school teachers. Using literate activity research and narrative analysis as guiding frameworks for the research, a qualitative study was conducted to examine participants’ activity systems and their uptake of two broader cultural narratives: the “at-risk student” and “general writing skills instruction” narratives. Data was collected over the course of the study …

Perceptions Of Masculinity And Femininity In Online Dating Profiles Of Men: Intersections With Race, Luke Alexander Ploessl

Theses and Dissertations

Many people currently find a dating partner online, which at many websites involves viewing the profiles of several users and deciding which to pursue. Considerable social scientific research has studied this new way of seeking dating partners. The purpose of this thesis study was to examine how people believe online dating site users would perceive a man on these sites based on the profile characteristics mentioned regarding femininity and masculinity in combination with a race-based filter (Black or white). These variables were manipulated within a Qualtrics survey with four vignette hypothetical profiles (a white man with a masculine profile, a …

“Never Again Is Now ” Use Of Cultural Frames In A Social Movement Organization, Erik Paul Carlson

Theses and Dissertations

The immigrant rights movement is a social movement that has been active in the United States for many decades and adopted as well as changed focus over time. There are many social movement organizations working within this social movement but one of great interest to my research is Never Again Action (NAA). NAA is a national Jewish protest group, which has called for the end to all deportations and the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). NAA is primarily working from a position of an ally to migrants in a social movement with the aim to further rights for …

#Blackfemaleteachersmatter: The Experiences Of Three African American Female Teachers Who Left The Classroom During Their Induction Years, Ashlye Victoria Wilkerson

Theses and Dissertations

This study captured the lived experiences of three African American, female classroom teachers who left the profession within three years of beginning their careers. The main goal that led this research was to center the perspectives of African American women in the conversation about teacher retention, turnover, and attrition percentages that plague the field of education. The primary questions that guided this study were: (1) “What can be learned from the life stories of former African American female teachers who left the teaching profession from South Carolina public classrooms during their induction years?”, (2) “What do their life stories reveal …

Making Yourself At Al-Dar: On Islamic Education, Social Imaginations, And Affective Possibilities, Alia Amr Amin Shaddad

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the Dar as an alternative space of knowledge, and unravels how its different contexts and rhythms allow us to imagine what that alternative means in the everyday. In order to do so, this thesis unpacks questions of space, time, subjectivity, and potential. I look at the ways in which this Dar is constituted as a space through its relations with other spaces and by engaging questions of temporality. By doing so, this thesis maps this space to make clear what and how it is, and highlights the historical and geographical context it exists in. This also includes …

Composition, Context, And Community Integration: Evaluating The Relative Strength Of Environmental Factors On Mental Health Outcomes Using A Social Ecology Model, Douglas John Archie Iii

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between environmental factors and individual health outcomes has historically been a major area of interest for multiple scientific disciplines. However, the specific environmental factors relevant for describing this relationship and effective measuring methods are unclear. One approach that may assist in addressing these issues is by analyzing this relationship using a comprehensive theoretical framework. This study used a social-ecological model first proposed by Moos and colleagues (Insel & Moos, 1974: Moos & Moos, 1976) to investigate connections between environmental factors and mental health recovery outcomes of psychiatric distress, management of mental health symptoms, and recovery-oriented behavior. A series …

Food Choice Decision-Making Among School-Going Adolescents Amidst The Nutrition Transition In Urban Accra, Ghana, Krystal Krsna Rampalli

Theses and Dissertations

Like many countries of the world, Ghana is experiencing a nutrition transition and rising non-communicable diseases. Adolescents are susceptible to diet-related health risks as they experience significant physical and psychological changes, which are happening in tandem with food environment changes, including widespread proliferation of large portion and package sizes of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods. Both local and multinational food and beverage companies have encouraged consumption of their products through various marketing tactics targeted directly to adolescents. Some of these tactics include the use of characters or celebrity endorsement, promotional discounts, and appeal to sociocultural values, including messages about body size preferences. …

Supporting The African American Prekindergarten Student Through Standard Academic English Instruction, Trent Gibson Rogerson

Theses and Dissertations

The objective for this research was to determine if prekindergarten African American students would show gains on English language assessments after receiving targeted Standard Academic English instruction. The research question asks, “How can a specialized English language intervention be utilized to identify the strengths and areas of improvement for African American preschool students?” The hypothesis was the students who received targeted instruction in Standard Academic English would perform better on the post-test than on the pre-test given before the instruction period. For this study, eight prekindergarten students were allowed to participate in the research. The students were administered an English …

University Students' Perceptions Of Writing Assessment, Hanan Alaa Hegazi

Theses and Dissertations

Instructors and students are the pillars of higher education. There is substantial interest in teachers’ beliefs, preferences, and perceptions in language assessment research, with an emphasis on writing assessment. Additionally, there is a growing body of research investigating students’ perceptions of assessment. However, research that examines how students perceive writing assessment is limited. Therefore, this study investigates two aspects: (a) students’ perceptions of their writing ability and (b) their perceptions of writing assessment in an English-medium private university in Cairo. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach for data collection, which involved distributing student questionnaires, conducting semi-structured interviews, and collecting writing …

Contemporary Native American Art: Contemplating Fashion And Indigenous Craft, Madison Seiter

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on Indigenous and contemporary cultural representation expressed in the art of Wendy Red Star, Lisa Telford, and Jamie Okuma as presented in their clothing, shoes, and jewelry. These artists challenge marginalization through their works while also showcasing hybridity, cultural reclamation, and continuity through the materials and processes utilized. This thesis examines the elevation of Indigenous craft within the framework of recent craft theory. It explores what their art communicates in the contemporary art world and considers their significance to Native tradition, generational knowledge, innovation, and technical skill. The works discussed recognize the importance of Native art expressing …

The Banality Of Corporate Evil, Amina Dessouki

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis critiques the notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) through tracing the multiple dynamics between a multinational corporation and a development consultancy working on a recycling project in collaboration with the Zabaleen in Mansheyet Nasser, Egypt. The thesis looks at the ways in which actors negotiate their different positions, the harmonies and discordances that unfold through various agendas coming together, the silences produced, and the ways in which structural violence is intensified under the guise of development. The thesis contrasts the detached efforts of corporate workers and development consultants with the lives of the zabaleen, who live in a …

Humor Production And Coping On Distress And Help-Seeking Attitudes Among Polynesian Americans, Augusto D. Gancinia Ii

Theses and Dissertations

There is a need for more psychological studies that inform culture-specific adaptations in psychotherapy among Polynesian Americans. The use of humor has been identified as a potential adaptation in psychotherapy. Humor can be a catalyst for building and strengthening a healthy working alliance between counselor and client. The utilization of humor in therapy has significantly reduced mental health-seeking stigma. Evidence of the use of humor exists among Polynesian people prior to western colonization of Polynesia which suggests humor to be a culturally salient practice. The current study explored attitudes of seeking mental health counseling among Polynesian Americans while investigating the …

The Application Of Photogrammetry For The Recording And Analysis Of Antemortem Cranial Depression Fractures, Keri Porter

Theses and Dissertations

Compared to other methods for digital modeling, photogrammetry is portable, user-friendly, and cost-effective. Despite the potential benefits to the subfield of bioarchaeology, few investigations into this technology have occurred. This research attempts to fill the gap by investigating the accuracy of photogrammetry for recording antemortem cranial depression fractures (CDFs). Using the Mississippi State Asylum skeletal collection, dry bone measurements of CDFs were compared to those on photogrammetric models. Additionally, three volunteers of various skill levels attempted to identify these fractures using the digital models. Results showed that despite accuracy in recording maximum length and width measurements, maximum depth could be …

A Zoological Spectacular: Conservation In An American Zoo, Rita Bouwens

Theses and Dissertations

Accredited US zoos aim to support wildlife conservation and educate and influence the public and create a conservation-minded community by curating immersive multispecies experiences. In this case study, I examine how zoos may practice conservation through the frameworks of biopolitics, spectacle, affect, and mainstream conservation paradigms. To conduct this research, I interviewed 10 zoo staff from the animal, education, development, and retail departments of a Midwestern zoo. Their rhetoric about zoos and how they practice conservation suggests that zoo staff aim to generate affective responses from guests by displaying animals in managed care. These affective responses that staff hope to …

The Little Devil, Stefan Peña

Theses and Dissertations

The Little Devil is a series of moments in the life of a character named Boy. The story follows a loose plot that jumps around different time periods and states of mind of the protagonist in an imaginary town that has elements of both a small midwestern town and a semi-arid desert.

Mr. Crow, a local entrepreneur, and Irene who owns the local diner are both heavily involved in the lives of other citizens and use secrets as a form of currency. However, Mr. Crow uses his knowledge for personal reasons while Irene simply wants to know truth.

Although it …

How Are Police Lineups Represented In Popular Crime Shows In The U.S.A? An Examination Of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Luis Fernando Chavarria

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to explore police lineups as portrayed in crime-related TV shows in the U.S.A, such as Law & Order: SUV. The data used is from 25 episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The methodology used for this study is grounded theory and content analysis. results of the study by themes which are: DNA evidence, police lineups, and lineups used in court. From these themes codes were further highlighted and noted. Based on the episodes for the show and real-life lineup procedure practices, there were inconsistencies about clothing, physical characteristics of suspects, incorrect lineup …

Politics Of Controlling Birth: C-Section, Use Of Contraception And Obstetrics Violence In Bangladesh, Sadia Sharmin

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the increasing rate of cesarean birth in Bangladesh through the lens of the population control program. Based on three months of data collection, the study explores various politics of the government’s population control program, leading me to argue that cesarean birth is an implicit way of controlling overpopulation in Bangladesh since it limits women’s reproductive choices and thus contributes to population control. Using ethnographic vignettes, I discuss how my research findings point to the government’s disparate population control politics and how this has given rise to various forms of obstetric violence against women. The study also addresses …

Necessitation Through Growing Entanglements: Why We “Can’T Live Without” Some Products, Jakob Braun

Theses and Dissertations

Much research has been concerned with what constitute necessities and how they are related to pertinent concepts, such as needs, wants, desires, and luxuries (Belk, Ger, and Askegaard 2003; Duncan 2002; Fraser 1998, Hoyer and MacInnis 2004; Kerin, Hartley and Rudelius 2004; Sheth and Mittal 2004). Using thing-focused approaches, earlier studies are primarily concerned with classification schemes using dichotomies such as need-want and necessity-luxury. Studies that employ a human-focused perspective challenge these divisions and argue that necessities cannot be studied without considering the social and historical contexts (e.g., Buttle 1989; Firat 1987). Notwithstanding the important contributions that these studies have …

Pre-Columbian Cultivation Of Agave Species Through Rock Mulching: Potential For Modern Applications, Hector Genaro Ortiz Cano

Theses and Dissertations

As global temperatures rise, cultivation of C3 and C4 crops in arid and semi-arid regions will face major challenges in producing biomass for billions of people. Conventional agricultural techniques that require copious irrigation will need to be complemented with dryland-farming techniques and drought-tolerant crops, such as those from the Agave genus, which use CAM photosynthesis. In the past and present, humans from arid and semi-arid regions of America have maintained a symbiotic relationship using and cultivating Agave (Agavoideae, Asparagaceae). In pre-Columbian times, Native Americans from arid regions relied on Agave cultivation as a subsistence crop to produce food, medicine, and …

Effects Of Feeding Enrichment On The Behavior Of Ex-Pet Ring-Tailed Lemurs (Lemur Catta), Amanda Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

Environmental enrichment is a prevailing tool used to enhance the welfare of captive species. Benefits of enrichment commonly range from promoting activity levels to reducing stereotypic/abnormal behavior. This study investigated the impact of two forms of feeding enrichment on the behavior of ring-tailed lemurs confiscated from the illegal pet trade.

Optimizing University Campuses For Learning, Wellbeing And Equity: An Applied Study Of Higher Education Facilities Organizational Systems, Melissa Nergard

Theses and Dissertations

College and university campuses are designed and maintained by experts in facilities management and planning. What is lacking in these processes is expertise in learning environments and creating spaces that are healthy and inclusive. University organizational structures aid in the autonomy of academic freedom and the nimbleness of research endeavors but hinder operational effectiveness of the campus as a learning and research environment. A more integrated approach, which optimizes the knowledge on campus regardless of where it is housed, can mitigate the unintended conflicts that develop through the disparate approach to learning, equity, and wellbeing in the built environment. This …

The Significance Of Significance: Decolonizing Cultural Resource Management Practices In The Upper Midwest, Justin Allen Woods

Theses and Dissertations

Indigenous communities across the United States were coerced and tricked into signing treaties that ceded significant portions of their ancestral lands. This land holds cultural value to the tribal members, however academics and archaeologists who do not often shared these values analyze these landscapes to determine their cultural and historical significance, a decision-making process mandated by federal and often state law that has important economic, political, and social consequences. This paper analyzes examples from one context, cultural resource management (CRM) projects in the Northern Great Lakes Region of Wisconsin, Michigan, North and South Dakota and Minnesota, as a case study …

A Study Of Social Modernization And Gender Roles In “Their Eyes Were Watching God” And “The Great Gatsby”, Rebecca Renne Soto

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on a study of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Scott F. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The research explores the idea expressed within the opening lines of Hurston’s novel; men wait for their dreams to come to them, while women work towards making them reality. Marshall Berman’s All That is Solid Melts into Air: the Experience of Modernity serves as the foundation upon which the central argument of this paper is built. This study applies Berman’s theory to argue that analyzing Gatsby and Their Eyes through the lens of modernity brings the reader to …

Detecting Remnants Of The Past: Archaeo-Geophysical Prospection Of Fremont Sites In Southern Utah Valley, Jacob P. Jepsen

Theses and Dissertations

The variable contexts of Fremont habitation sites in Utah Valley often make identification of those sites very challenging for archaeologists. Pit houses and other structures throughout the valley are frequently in plowed fields or other disturbed contexts that obscure their more exact location and nature. The application of geophysical technologies at archaeological sites throughout the world, including in North America, has proven to be an effective means of subsurface archaeological survey. However, geophysical techniques have been underutilized in Fremont archaeology. This paper reports on the employment of two geophysical methods, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and fluxgate gradiometer surveys, at three known …

Methodological Considerations And Use Wear Analysis Of The Late Archaic Sites Of Duck Lake And Popper From Grand Island Michigan, James William Hill

Theses and Dissertations

This project analyzed use wear on 100 artifacts recovered from two Late Archaic sites located on Grand Island, Michigan, Duck Lake and Popper. I have divided my project into three phases. The first phase involved a simple presence/absence study of microwear on a sample of informal and formal tools from Grand Island. The goal of this phase was to create a replicable methodology and scoring method for the different types of wear identified in the Grand Island assemblage. The second phase involved several tasks. Initially, I reconstructed several tools from quartz, quartzite, and chert from Grand Island and then used …

On Displacement And Music: Embodiments Of Contemporary Nubian Music In The Nubian Resettlements, Fayrouz Kaddal

Theses and Dissertations

Between 1961-1964, an estimated number of 113’000 Nubians, who were living south of the site of the Aswan High Dam, the area now beneath Lake Nasser, and Wadi Halfa, north of Sudan, were displaced to an area near Kom Ombo, 20 kilometres away from the Nile and 50 kilometres north of Aswan. This major project of resettlement occurred for the construction of the Aswan High Dam, Nasser’s signature mega-project. The 1961-1964 displacement was the culmination of earlier waves of relocation that Nubians witnessed during their recent history. In 1902 the British constructed the Aswan (lower) Dam by the first cataract …

Postcolonial Narrative And The Dialogic ImaginatioN: An Analysis Of Early Francophone West African Fiction And Cinema, Seydina Mouhamed Diouf

Theses and Dissertations

Francophone West Africa, in the aftermath of colonization, found itself at a crossroads between the necessity to address the problems of neo-colonialism while affirming its cultural identity and the need to embrace a universal message. That dilemma is not shared by literary critics who regard the work of early generation writers merely as an “empire writing back.” In the many classifications of West African literature, the emphasis is oftentimes put either on the importance of a counter-discourse that also rejects Western aesthetics or on the effects of post-independence disillusionment. This study argues that early francophone West African literary productions took …

Investigating Intersubjectivity Between Preschool Teachers And Children During Instruction: A Case Study, Andrianna Eleni Smyrniotis

Theses and Dissertations

Early childhood teachers attend professional development sessions, take college-level courses, or read articles, and will, at some point, be exposed to some concepts found in Vygotsky’s (1986) cultural-historical theory of cognitive development as they are deeply embedded in education standards, professional standards, texts, and journals throughout the country. And yet, some concepts, including scaffolding (Wood et al., 1976), are the result of misinterpretations and the assignment of a label over the years (Gonzales Rey (2008). A largely overlooked concept accurately relating to Vygotsky’s work is intersubjectivity (Trevarthen, 2008), defined as mutual understanding, among teachers and children, for concept development. Intersubjectivity …