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“These Sculptur’D Lines”: An Analysis Of Protestant Burial Practices On St. Croix During The Danish Colonial Period (1733-1917), Brittany Higgs

Theses and Dissertations

This study argues that there are temporally and socially observable trends present in a sample of Protestant cemeteries from St. Croix’s Danish Colonial Period, as evidenced by the analysis of gravestone characteristics including iconography, morphology, and epitaph. Specifically, gravestones within the sample became noticeably more simplistic in the mid-19th century, which directly reflects St. Croix’s economic decline following emancipation. Although the iconographic and morphological characteristics of the gravestones for men and women and children and adults are largely identical, the epitaphic inscriptions for these groups exhibit a great deal of differentiation. Through analysis of these epitaphs, we discover that society …

Gulf Trade Networks And Family Ties: French Migration Via New Orleans To The Lower Rio Grande Valley, 1848-1881, Kristen D. Kline

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis considers economic and social aspects of French immigration to the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of Texas during the mid-nineteenth century, with special emphasis on a small group of merchants who left France during the 1850s. It synthesizes the work of several scholars who have focused on French presence in the LRGV with others who have analyzed various economic facets of the LRGV during different periods between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. This study attempts to situate five families into the context of nineteenth-century European migration to the Americas, as well as into the Gulf maritime economy on …

Social Groups Characterization And Dynamics: A Network Science Approach, Josemar Faustino Da Cruz

Theses and Dissertations

Over the course of our lives, we tend to transition through many social groups. From an early age, our first social group is our family, then we have our schoolmates, later in life, our coworkers, and likely another family. As we move from one group to another, we embed ourselves in the dynamics of social groups’ losses and gains of new members. These dynamics are a complex system of interactions, which at scale, form the structural basis of our societies. In many years of sociological research, the details of social group interactions remained poorly understood. Certainly, not because of lack …

Evaluative Discourse As Community Identity Among Expatriates In Shenzhen, China, Karyn Harding

Theses and Dissertations

Expatriates are a modern-day community built by a rapid advance towards globalization. Expatriates are now likely to be self-initiated; that is, they chose to live in a foreign country rather than having been sent there by an employer, and they are changing the face of the global job market. However, their social interactions have not been the subject of much previous study. This paper delves into the ways that expatriates build and maintain their communities. In this case, participant observation and discourse analysis are used to study an expat community living in Shenzhen, China. As a group not defined by …

The Tragedy Of Theresa Sturla: Murder, Insanity, And Womanhood On Trial In Nineteenth-Century Chicago, Jake Engelman

Theses and Dissertations

On the morning of July 10, 1882, a young prostitute named Theresa Sturla murdered her lover, Charles Stiles, on the sixth floor of the Palmer House in Chicago. During her trial four months later, Sturla’s attorney employed a dual argument of self-defense and insanity. He claimed that his client suffered from dysmenorrhea, or painful menstruation, and that she had gone temporarily insane at the time of the murder due to her defective reproductive system. According to the defense, Stiles’ abuse toward his mistress had exacerbated the disease and her only solution was to respond with violence. After a month-long trial, …

Intraspecific And Interspecific Interactions Between Two Species Of North American Vulture At Feeding Sites., Dixie Claire Grammer

Theses and Dissertations

Vultures are a necessity to the natural world. These elite scavengers have the ability to eliminate disease, bacteria, and other harmful pathogens from the environment by simply eating infected carcasses. There are several species of vulture that are threatened with extinction due to a number of reasons, human connotation being one of them. These birds are often persecuted because of their appearance and also because of damage that they have caused. Although at times they may be considered nuisance animals, their need in their environment greatly outweighs the problems they sometimes cause. Research is a way to educate the public …

Writing Talk: Examining Dialogue Shared Among Sixth Grade Writers, Babette A. Griffith

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated how teacher-led and student-led conversations held within writing groups in one sixth grade class helped to support the acquisition of writing discourse and impact the writing decisions made by middle level writers. Additionally, a pre/post survey was implemented to investigate the writing dispositions held by writing participants by exploring the feelings, beliefs, and attitudes associated with writing. The survey provided additional insight into individual writer perspectives.

Analysis of the data showed that dialogue facilitated understanding and helped to encourage students to verbalize confusing concepts, clarify ideas, and utilize content terminology as thinking was made visible while conversations …

The Rohingya: Ethnic Nationalism, Domestic Diversionary Targets, And Burmese Post-Colonial Nation Building, Ibrahim Abd-El-Barr

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the question of whether recurring episodes of violence, forced displacement, and other forms of repression against the ethno-religious sub-nationalist identity group, the Rohingya, across Burma's (Myanmar) modern history, are rooted in the implications of post-colonial nation-building or represent independent and self-contained incidents of communal/ethnic violence. The sub-question of whether the modern construct of the Burmese state accurately fits the description of a modern nation-state or whether other paradigms or ideal types better capture the development of the post-colonial Burmese state, is also explored. By revisiting the main events/national framework which have amounted to the Rohingya's exclusion from …

Comparison Of Play Frequency In Four Sympatric Monkey Species In Kibale National Park, Uganda, Sara G. Lucci

Theses and Dissertations

This study describes play in red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus), grey-cheeked mangabeys (Lophocebus albigena), black-and-white colobus (Colobus guereza), and redtail monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius) to test Instinct-Practice Theory. Solitary locomotor play was different among the species. Rough-and-tumble play was different between male and female redtail monkeys. These results partially support Instinct-Practice Theory.

A Geoarchaeological Analysis Of The 2017 Excavations At The Hester Site (22mo569), James Lewis Strawn

Theses and Dissertations

The small number and diffuse distribution of sites with intact Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene occupations in the Southeastern United States consequently makes examining Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene settlement patterning in the region difficult (Goodyear 1999). The Hester Site (22MO569), located in northeastern Mississippi, contains intact Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene deposits that can potentially afford archaeologists with a better understanding of late Pleistocene/early Holocene settlement in the region (Brookes 1979; Goodyear 1999:463-465). Investigations at Hester by Brookes (1979) revealed a stratified site containing artifacts that represented the late Paleoindian through Woodland periods in the Southeastern United States. Burris (2006) developed an alternative typology by …

Impact Of Foot Type, Quadriceps Angle, And Minimalist Footwear On Static Postural Stability, Sachini Kodithuwakku Arachchige

Theses and Dissertations

Background: In years 2011-2014, 8.6 million sports-related injuries were reported each year and falls have been identified as a main cause. Purpose: To determine the impact of foot type, quadriceps angle, and Vibram™ footwear on postural stability. Methods: Twentyour males (age 21.38±2.50yr; height 1.74±0.06m; mass 71.24±10.37kg) were categorized as pronated, supinated, and neutral feet using FPI and bilateral quadriceps angles were measured. Participants were tested on barefoot, Vibram™ Bikila and Vibram™ Trek (VT), on stable/unstable, bilateral/unilateral, eyes open/closed conditions. Sway variables were analyzed using 3(foot type) × 3(footwear) repeated measures ANOVA. Pearson product correlation was performed for quadriceps angle with …

The Silent Epidemic: Disparities And Obstacles In Obtaining Oral Care, Heather Hicks

Theses and Dissertations

American’s agree that dental health is important and vital to our overall wellbeing. However, not every American is achieving the same degree of oral health. Obstacles that American’s face include dental health disparities, limited access to affordable dental care, and limited access to dental insurance. This study examined how disease risk is shaped within the culture of oral health in Florida. This study examined those who provide dental care, those who cannot afford dental health insurance but earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid, and those with dental insurance. Hypotheses two and three were proven to be true, while …

Sourcing Bifaces From The Alexander Collection At Poverty Point (16wc5) Using Vnir (Visible/Near-Infrared Reflectance) And Ftir (Fourier Transform Infrared Reflectance) Spectroscopy, Simon P. Sherman Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Poverty Point is a monumental earthwork center dating to the Late Archaic Period (ca. 3700-3100 Cal BP). The site is well known for its diverse collection of foreign lithic materials indicative of a wide-ranging acquisition network. Among the extra-local items recovered from the site are lithic raw materials that were used for bifaces in the form of projectile points and/or knives (PP/Ks). Here, I determined the atomic and molecular composition of 847 bifaces from the Alexander Collection using Visible/Near-Infrared Reflectance (VNIR) and Fourier-Transform Infrared Reflectance (FTIR) spectroscopy. The combined wavelength spectra datasets were compared to a raw material database to …

Human Behavioral Response To The Younger Dryas In North Alabama: An Analysis Of The Richard L. Kilborn Collection, Robert A. Barlow

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a collections-based project that employs approximately 1,300 projectile points to investigate behavioral response to the Younger Dryas in north Alabama (12,900 to 11,700 BP). I apply a version of the marginal value theorem to determine how changing resource structures caused changes in projectile point technology. I argue that changes in technology during the Younger Dryas were not conditioned by access or availability of lithic raw material. Instead, variation in technology is likely a response to changes in return rates from hunting and foraging. Further, the changes in hunting return rates correlate with changes in north Alabama forest …

Using Context To Communicate: Romanian Sign Language Learners And Their Communication Strategies, Rebecca Melville

Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the communication strategies used by second language learners of Romanian Sign Language (LSR), including learners of different proficiency levels, and investigates whether the learner’s proficiency level affects the kinds or variety of communication strategies they use. Unlike previous studies of communication strategies by language learners, it focuses on learners of a signed rather than a spoken language.

The study consisted of two tasks—the first being a structured task where the learner was given a list of ten words to communicate to an interlocutor (a Deaf native signer). The second task was less structured and asked the …

The Prey Drive Model Of Sexual Violence, Tiffany Dawn Russell

Theses and Dissertations

The current project introduced prey drive theory, a new conceptualization of human violence perpetration adapted from canine training and breeding literature. As with canines, prey drive theory conceptualizes human aggression as a manifestation of genetically predisposed dominance and competitiveness. To evaluate the concept of human prey drive, the current study developed a prey drive model of sexual violence that was tested within a community sample of men (N = 662). Four latent trait clusters formed the foundation of the model: sexualized prey dominance, sexualized prey pursuit, antagonistic preparedness, and malevolent personality. A new scale, the Masculine Dominance Index, was …

Male Educators Implementing Instructional Practices That Academically Engage Students, Kenneth B. Beneby

Theses and Dissertations

Male Educators Implementing Instructional Practices That Academically Engage Students. Kenneth Bernard Beneby, 2019. Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice. Keywords: teacher, African American male teachers, academic engagement, secondary teaching profession, pedagogies, African American male students

This phenomenological research explored how a selected group of African American male educators understood their own experiences while implementing strategies to academically engage African American male students. The research explored the public secondary education experiences of African American male educators to better understand their occupational understandings; how having more African American educators were helpful in …

Need Fulfillment And Happiness In Botswana, Carolyn Moe

Theses and Dissertations

Happiness has been an important aspect of people’s lives spanning centuries and continents; as such, it is a widely researched area. A current prominent theory in happiness research is Needs Theory which has the premise that there are universal human needs and having these needs met would lead to a person’s happiness. Most often, the needs referenced are those presented by Abraham Maslow including needs of physiology, safety and security, love and belonging, esteem, knowing and understanding, aesthetics, self-actualization and transcendence. However, some studies have found that there are individuals who do not fit this theory either through having their …

"General Conference Talk": Style Variation And The Styling Of Identity In Latter-Day Saint General Conference Oratory, Stephen Thomas Betts

Theses and Dissertations

Despite its exceptional importance as a cultural performance event in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, General Conference has received little attention in Mormon studies, to say nothing of sociolinguistics. Situated within the larger question of how the public language of Mormon authorities has changed over time, this thesis seeks to discover style features of what impressionistically appears to be a unitary General Conference style since 1960 (the era of church "Correlation"). Statistical analysis is then used to determine which of five sociolinguistic factors and three pairwise interactions between four of the five sociolinguistic factors most saliently conditions …

¡Tú No Eres Fácil!: Styling Black Hair And Language In A Dominican Beauty Salon, Amber Teresa Domingue

Theses and Dissertations

Women of the African diaspora living in the United States undergo a process of racialization that is informed by both their physical attributes and linguistic decisions. Fieldwork conducted in a Dominican beauty salon in Atlanta, GA during the summer of 2018 provided the data that is analyzed to explore the relationship between Dominican and Black women through the lens of hair care. Dominican stylists who spoke predominantly Spanish were able to provide services to Black women who spoke predominantly English using a combination of verbal and non-verbal communication. While previous scholarship on Dominicans in the United States has been overwhelmingly …

Leveraging Geotagged Social Media To Monitor Spatial Behavior During Population Movements Triggered By Hurricanes, Yago Martín González

Theses and Dissertations

In a world of increased mobility and interconnectedness, the study of spatial behavior becomes more relevant than ever. However, multiple researchers have highlighted that the understanding of these dynamic processes has reached a bottleneck derived from the rigidity of traditional spatial behavior inquiry methods and the unavailability of trustworthy and relevant information. These difficulties are even more prominent during emergencies and disasters as these events often create scenarios where spatial behavior does not follow regular and logical patterns and where conventional mobility datasets are often skewed or not existent. Thus, many scholars working within the spatial behavior sub-discipline are pursuing …

Visual Artifacts As A Mediating Factor In Collaborative Museum Design, Jacquelyn Claire Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The process of museum exhibit design includes a variety of activities, including collaboration on teams, consulting learning theories, following process models, brainstorming, performing evaluations, and using visuals. Although some articles mention these topics, very few provide specific details about these practices. This dissertation, which includes three articles, explores how design and visual communication occur in exhibit design. The first article examines how exhibit design teams function. The second article describes how they use visual representations to engage team members in ideation and concept development as they planned for new exhibits. This is based on the assumption that designers need to …

The Mediation Of The Cross: Spatiality And Syncretism In Pedro Páramo And Grande Sertão: Veredas, Faith Arianna Blackhurst

Theses and Dissertations

Juan Rulfo and João Guimarães Rosa stand at a literary crossroads, the intersection where traditional regionalists and celebrated Boom-era novelists meet. Although Rulfo and Guimarães Rosa chose the Mexican Llano Grande and the Brazilian sertão of Minas Gerais as the settings of their most celebrated novels, they go far beyond the techniques of traditional regionalism by distancing themselves from their national literatures. They universalize their narratives by incorporating universal religious themes, including the symbol of the cross. The symbol of the cross/crossroad has been analyzed and alluded to in a handful of essays on Pedro Páramo and Grande sertão: Veredas …

The People And Place Of Al-Hattaba: A Socio-Temporal Juncture, Heba El-Sawy

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on a neighborhood located in Historic Cairo called al-Hattaba. It is a neighborhood that is located on the citadel wall, houses over 500 families, and is considered a buffer zone to the citadel with an urban fabric that speaks to a different time and place that has managed to survive, rupture and challenge our own perceptions of mainstream urban planning trends. I focus on rhythms of change and the experiences of temporality in the everyday as entry points into al-Hattaba and its people. The times of al-Hattaba cannot be reduced nor contained into a linear progression of …

Assessment Of Needs And Barriers To Sex And Gender Education Among Social Workers In Egypt, Germeen Riad

Theses and Dissertations

Despite governmental and legislative efforts (Hassanin, 2008), societal tolerance of sexual and gender-based violence is widespread in Egypt, even among health professionals (Rasheed, 2011). Moreover, there is a lack of understanding and misconceptions regarding human sexuality. Such misconceptions often lead to harmful practices such as female genital mutilation/cutting, childhood marriage, and child sexual abuse (WHO, 2010). Child protection social workers must be equipped to deal with children who have been victims of such practices and must be able to provide the sex education that is necessary for its prevention. A survey of 86 child protection social workers and eleven in-depth …

Indigenous Knowledge: A Route To The Infusion Of Sustainable Development In Education., Ekbal Mohammed Mokhles

Theses and Dissertations

Indigenous knowledge is the unique knowledge confined to a particular community, produced in order to cope with agro-ecological and socio-economic environments. The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of some educators around the issue of infusing indigenous knowledge embedded in communities such as Nubia in their school curricula similar to what other models in indigenous communities in countries such as Hawaii, Brazil and Australia did to reform their curricula. The research is based on the assumption that a culture- and place-based learning in Nubia can promote the infusion of indigenous knowledge. Foucault's theory of power and knowledge …

The Potential Of Architecture: The Meaning And Purpose Of Commemorative Architecture In Islamic Civilizations, Natasha Pradhan

Theses and Dissertations

I have always found places that seem to exist "out of time" so to speak, extremely peaceful and alluring. These could include cemeteries, or even monumental and out-of-time structures like the pyramids. Yet there is something even stronger one feels when inside such a structure. That is, when a space - architecture - has been created that allows one to not simply witness something that seems to exist in eternity, but to reside within it. One cannot divorce these structures - and the human desire to construct them - from religion and religiosity. For throughout time, commemorative architecture has played …

Agency And Creativity: An Eye On Gender Identity In Four Egyptian Novels, Maha Mosalem

Theses and Dissertations

For most scholars, agency is a term that has most traditionally been coined with free will, resistance, and intentionality (Giddens, 1979; Ahearn, 2001). In this study, however, the construct is examined from a linguistic perspective aiming at exploring its creative dimensions in relation to gender identity in four Egyptian novels; Bayna ʔal-qaṣrayn (Palace Walk), ʔal-Bāb ʔal-maftūḥ (The Open Door), ʔu:ri:du rajulan (I Need a Man), and ʃaġaf (Passion). By adopting a mediated discourse analysis approach (MDA) (Scollon, 2002), this study examined the connections between discourse and action in social interactions. Using the grammatical, semantic, and discursive analysis, the examination focused …

An Unsilenced Text: The Literature Of The Female Voice In Hanan Al-Shaykh's Women Of Sand And Myrrh And Leila Abouzeid's Year Of The Elephant, Mariam Mounir El Batran

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a critical reading of Hanan al-Shaykh’s novel Women of Sand and Myrrh and Leila Abouzeid’s novel Year of the Elephant, focusing on how the women in these stories seek to articulate and enact their own agency in the face of attempts to limit them. Recent critical literature, such as Lila Abu-Lughod’s book Do Muslim Women Need Saving? have sought to use microhistories of individual women to counter the stereotypical image of Arab women portrayed in contemporary media, including modern Arabic literature in translation. My study has a parallel focus that will introduce new stories and models of …

Efforts To Involve Youth In Policy Making In Egypt Post-2014, Mohamed Hesham

Theses and Dissertations

Egypt has a large youth population; youth between 18 - 29 years represent one fifth of the population. Egypt has long faced challenges adopting serious national policies for youth inclusion and participation. There has been an absence of political commitment towards preparing youth for leadership in addition to promoting youth engagement in policy making. Reviewing youth participation literature reveals that the absence of such strategy can potentially contribute to social and political unrest in the society. Following the announcement of the year of youth in 2016 by the current political leadership, there were a number of initiatives and activities to …