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Assuming Responsibility: The Little Rock Branch Of The American Association Of University Women And The Little Rock School Desegregation Crisis, Kara D. Ellis

Theses and Dissertations

In September 1958, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus declared the four high schools in Little Rock closed in order to avoid court-ordered desegregation. Many organizations throughout the city protested and pushed for a re-opening of the schools. One of these was the Little Rock branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). As a group of educated women with prior activist experiences, the branch was particularly well-positioned to make a difference in the city. Furthermore, the national AAUW organization advocated that, during this period of societal change, branches act as catalysts for rational discussion within their communities. The Little Rock …

Teacher Candidates' Experience Of Ubd In A Social Studies Methods Course, Patricia K. Gulsvig

Theses and Dissertations

Teacher candidates in secondary social studies education come to their methods course eager to share their passion for the subject. Enthusiasm often turns to confusion and frustration when they are confronted with unforeseen decisions about the content they will teach before they determine the instructional strategies for teaching that material. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Understanding by Design (UbD) as a model in a social studies methods course for preparing teacher candidates to make purposeful curricular and instructional decisions.

This study took place at a small private Midwestern college and involved 10 participants between …

Impact Of Microfinance And Remittances On The Livelihood Of Nepali People, Bishal B. Kasu

Theses and Dissertations

This research is about the impact of microfinance and remittances on the livelihood of Nepali people. The research has adopted a quantitative approach and used the Nepal Living Standard Survey 2003-04 dataset. The research shows that microfinance and remittances have a clear effect on percent of expenses made on food, health, education, and the housing quality of Nepali people. Out of four dependent variables, microfinance is significantly associated with percent of expenses on food, health and housing quality. Amount of microfinance loans received is negatively associated with percent of expenses on food and quality of housing but positively associated with …

The Relationship Between Procrastination And Intrapersonal Intelligence In College Students, Christa Grant

Theses and Dissertations

Procrastination is ubiquitous, encompasses many domains of life, i.e., school, work, and home, and for many people has negative results. Therefore, researchers, educators, psychologists, and counselors need to discover ways to alleviate the problem. When Gardner's multiple intelligences are used in pedagogical implementation in elementary and high schools, researchers have found positive results. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between procrastination and intrapersonal intelligence as well as the other dimensions of multiple intelligence among students in higher education in order to illuminate possible solutions to the problem of procrastination. Because intrapersonal intelligence is associated with the …

Blogging Out Of Debt: An Observational Netnography, Wendy Garland

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to observe weblogs in their natural setting and to investigate the nature of collective learning within the debt blogging community. How individuals who blog their experiences with getting out of debt use their weblogs as well as the role of the commenter in the debt blogging process were also researched. Four distinct literature pools were used to frame this study including the theory of social constructivism, the context of communities of practice, the problem of consumer debt, and the medium of blogging. Utilizing observational netnography, six weblogs were researched which were comprised of individuals …

The Home Of Truth: The Metaphysical World Of Marie Ogden, Stanley J. Thayne

Theses and Dissertations

Marie Ogden's Home of Truth colony—a religious community that was located in southern Utah during the 1930s and 40s—was part of a segment of the American religious landscape that has largely been overlooked. As such, her movement points to a significant gap in the historiography of American religion. In addition to documenting the history of this obscure community, I situate Marie Ogden as part of what I call the early new age of American religion, an underdeveloped part of the broader categories of metaphysical religion or Western esotericism. This thesis also points to several other overlooked figures from the same …

You Don't Know Jack: The Dynamics Of Mormon Religious/Ethnic Identity, Michael R. Cope

Theses and Dissertations

For much of human existence identity was ascribed based on the group one was born into. In such cultures all aspects of social life were fused into one incontrovertible identity: group identity. However as modern mindsets took root individuals began to shift the foundation of meaning and identity away from the fixed focal point of the group to one of personal preference. In response to this modern trend many groups began to intensify the maintenance of group identity as paramount in the lives of group members. Hammond and Warner (1993) assert that a powerful mechanism for sustaining group identity is …

Emerging Adulthood In India, Liann Nicole Seiter

Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores the nature of emerging adulthood in Southern India. Survey data was collected from 450 college students in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India and 100 non-students from rural villages surrounding Coimbatore. Unlike American samples, the majority of the 18- to 26-year-olds studied felt that they had achieved adulthood. The sample emphasized attributes needed to fulfill family roles as characteristics necessary for adulthood. Differences in optimism levels were found between students and non-students. Arnett suggests that emerging adulthood would be affected by cultural influences. The unique cultural and structural influences in India such as, Hinduism, caste, gendered socialization, and the …

The Moderating Effect Of Adult Attachment Style In The Intergenerational Transmission Of Aggression In Marriage, Faith Rebekah Torres

Theses and Dissertations

Aggression in the context of marriage and family is a common and serious issue in therapy with couples and families. While it is known that aggression may be transferred across generations, the exact mechanism for how it is transmitted is not fully understood. This study presents adult attachment style as a moderator through which the relationship between family of origin aggression and marital aggression is developed. The present study examined Relationship Evaluation (RELATE) questionnaire data for 332 individuals. Anxious and avoidant attachment were examined as potential moderators between family of origin (FOO) physical aggression or parental hostile conflict style and …

As Crianças Invisíveis Na Literatura Brasileira: Meninos De Rua, Na Rua E Outras Crianças Em Situação De Risco, Mario Cesar Miranda Melo

Theses and Dissertations

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that tens of millions of homeless children spend a large portion of their lives on the streets, where they are exposed to all forms of abuse and exploitation. In Brazil, approximately eight million children are in this situation. Despite the prolonged and increasing gravity of this situation, there are few and only partial studies showing how these children have been represented in Brazilian literature. Brazilian authors ignored the problem almost completely until the decade of 1960, with the exception of Jorge Amado and a few others. Since then João Antônio, Rubem Fonseca, Clarice …

Pornography As A Leisure Behavior: An Investigation Of Pornography Use And Leisure Boredom, Casey B. Schenk

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to investigate pornography use in the context of leisure boredom. The sample consisted of N = 290 married couples (N = 580 individuals) from a large Northwestern city in the United States. When controlling for demographic variables, leisure boredom accounted for 2.2% of the variance within pornography use. Results suggest leisure boredom as a significant predictor of pornography use in married adults. A quadratic effect was also found, suggesting this relationship to be curvilinear. Findings are discussed around the use of leisure theory in pornography scholarship, in this case leisure boredom. Practical applications …

Environmental And Organizational Factors Influencing Similarities And Differences Between Nonprofit Human Service Providers That Are Faith-Based And Those With No Religious Affiliation, Geraldine Lewis Meeks

Theses and Dissertations

The American social welfare system is a mixed system consisting of loosely coupled government programs, private nonprofit and for-profit organizations, grassroots and religious entities. Although religious entities historically played a key role in the development of the social welfare system, the faith-based initiative of President George W. Bush targeted religious service providers to receive government funding and take on a larger role in service delivery to at-risk populations based on the belief that these providers were substantially different from traditional providers. Using a cross-sectional research design and a survey instrument created for the study, data was collected from 121 nonprofit …

Understanding The Relationship Between Interscholastic Sports Participation And Labor Market Outcomes: Interscholastic Sports As Cultural Capital, Matthew Kyle Linford

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the effects of playing interscholastic sports on labor market income in the United States for males (n=5782) and females (n=6266) who participated in the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. Previous research has explored the effects of human capital and social capital on positive life outcomes for interscholastic athletes, but little research has looked into possible cultural capital advantages gained through interscholastic sports participation. Using multiple regression analysis and controlling for the effects of human and social capital, I examine whether participation in interscholastic sports operate as cultural capital. Results indicate that after net of controls the …

Parent-Adolescent Discrepancies In Ratings Of Youth Victimization: Associations With Psychological Adjustment, Kimberly Goodman

Theses and Dissertations

Epidemiological research indicates that parents report lower levels of youths’ exposure to violence than youth self-report, and theory suggests that such discrepancies reflect parents’ lack of knowledge of youth victimization and impaired ability to help children cope with victimization. This study extends prior research examining the implications of parent-youth informant discrepancies on ratings of victimization. Latent class analysis (LCA) was employed to identify groups of dyads distinguished by patterns of parent and youth report of victimization, uncovering heterogeneity based on patterns of parent-youth ratings of victimization. Analyses examined how latent classes reflecting parent-youth agreement on victimization were related to adjustment …

Synthesis, Interdiction, And Protection Of Layered Networks, Kevin T. Kennedy

Theses and Dissertations

This research developed the foundation, theory, and framework for a set of analysis techniques to assist decision makers in analyzing questions regarding the synthesis, interdiction, and protection of infrastructure networks. This includes extension of traditional network interdiction to directly model nodal interdiction; new techniques to identify potential targets in social networks based on extensions of shortest path network interdiction; extension of traditional network interdiction to include layered network formulations; and develops models/techniques to design robust layered networks while considering trade-offs with cost. These approaches identify the maximum protection/disruption possible across layered networks with limited resources, find the most robust layered …

An Investigation Of The Lasting Impact The C.H.A.M.P/Gear-Up Program At Rowan University Has On Selected Alumni, Jamar Morton

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to determine the lasting impact of the C.H.A.M.P./GEAR-Up program alumni before the fall of 2004. The study involved 78 subjects, divided into two groups. Group one consisted of 70 subjects who participated in a survey. Group two consisted of eight subjects who participated in an interview.

The data collection instruments included a 30-item survey using the Likert scale format. The questions were arranged in a five factor grouping consisting of postsecondary exposure, identity development, social development, academic enrichment, motivational aspect, and program impact. The interview consisted of 12 questions ranging from general demographics, …

An Evaluation Of A Curriculum For Basic Training In Tesol, Gordon Travis Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

A formal evaluation of BYU's Basic Training in TESOL course shows the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum of this course. Interns take this course in preparation for international internships where they may be asked to teach English. However, the interns are generally not seeking majors or even minors in TESOL. Furthermore, most interns are not seeking any teaching major. Internship locations vary throughout the world and include, but are not limited to the following regions: Central and South America, Africa, Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. This MA curriculum evaluation project reports findings of a formal evaluation of …

Effects Of Climate And Density On The Survival Of Whiteooted Mice (Peromyscus Leucopus), Eric Richard Wengert

Theses and Dissertations

Short-lived rodents are sensitive to changes in environmental conditions and exhibit annual fluctuations under seasonal environments in northern temperate regions. I analyzed 34 years of monthly live-trapping data on whiteooted mice (Peromyscus leucopus) collected in Carter Woods, Ohio. I used a theoretic-information approach to select the best approximating models and analysis of deviance to infer effects of climate and density on survival of mice. I tested for a cost of reproduction to females and found no difference in survival between reproductive states. Directions and magnitudes of effects of climate and density varied over time. Increased variability in temperature reduced effects …

Ethnicity And Academic Achievement By Malaysian Eighth Grade Students, Hui Peng Liew

Theses and Dissertations

Malaysia’s preferential policies have reduced the educational attainment gap between ethnic groups. However, we know less about their effects on ethnic differences in academic achievement. With this point in mind, the overall goal of this study is to examine inter-ethnic differences in mathematics and science achievement based on the cohort of eighth grade (Form 2) Malaysian students who participated in the Third International Mathematics and Sciences Study Repeat Project (TIMMS-R). It sought to determine the extent to which theoretical propositions of the structural and cultural perspectives developed to explain achievement differences in the United States are applicable in Malaysia. Malaysia …

A Repeat Photographic Study Of The Natchez Trace Parkway: Has The Design Intent Of The Trace Changed, Elizabeth Towers Ogletree

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the Natchez Trace Parkway using the method of repeat photography to determine whether or not the design intent of the Trace has changed since its beginning. Based upon fifteen matched pairs of photographs, which are evaluated based on a content analysis matrix, the original design intent, recent design guidelines, and planned land use maps, the degree of change that has occurred along the Trace is measured. Time has wrought inevitable change along the Trace. The changes that have occurred indicate a further effort to preserve the original design intent of the Trace rather than a shifting of …

Catch-Related Attitudes Of Anglers And Implications For Fisheries Management, Susan F. Baker

Theses and Dissertations

A catch-related attitude measurement scale is used for discerning an angler’s evaluation of catching fish in four constructs (catching something, catching numbers, catching large fish, and retaining fish) in two studies. The first study was of resident (in-state) and nonresident (out-of-state) anglers at Sardis and Grenada reservoirs and the second was of hand grabblers and rod and reel catfish anglers. In the first study at Sardis Reservoir, there were no differences in catch-related attitudes between groups. At Grenada Reservoir, there were differences between groups toward catching large fish and retaining fish. In the second study, hand grabblers had stronger attitudes …

A Deep South Suburb: The Republican Emergence In The Suburbs Of Birmingham Alabama, Benjamin W. Robbins

Theses and Dissertations

In 1952, affluent white suburban citizens of Birmingham, Alabama voted overwhelmingly in support of Dwight D. Eisenhower. This thesis explores and examines why the emergence of a thriving suburban community that voted Republican occurred. This examination used a collection of numerous sources, primary and secondary. Newspapers served as the most important tool for discovering why the new suburbs aligned to Republicanism. The sources describe a suburban area that aligned with the Republican Party due to numerous reasons: race, Eisenhower’s popularity, the Cold War, and economic issues. Due to those reasons, the election of 1952 began to alter their society and …

The Virgin Of Guadalupe Comes To Mississippi: Social Stressors And Ways Of Coping Among Hispanic Im/Migrants, Mary Rebecca Read

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods study uses ritual analysis, key informant interviews, and a semi-structured questionnaire to explore stressors and coping among Hispanic im/migrants to rural Mississippi. The study applies Turner’s model of ritual analysis to the procession of la Virgen de Guadalupe for insight into the values, concerns, actions, and motivations of the community. Results from ritual analysis suggest the precession of la Virgen de Guadalupe unites the multi-national community and empowers the participants through their faith in God and la Virgen de Guadalupe. Results from the semi-structured questionnaire identify stressors among the Hispanic community relating to separation from family and friends, …

Walking On The Wild Side: An Examination Of A Long-Distance Hiking Subculture, Kristi Mcleod Fondren

Theses and Dissertations

A great deal of previous sociological research has examined the social contours of subcultures, focusing either on highly transient subcultures (e.g., among youth) or, conversely, stable institutionalized subcultures (e.g., among professionals). More recent scholarship has examined how leisure subcultures are formed and sustained around a particular interest or activity (e.g., windsurfing). However, little attention has been paid to the role of recreational settings (i.e., specific geographical locales) in the formation of leisure subcultures. Using the Appalachian Trail as a case study, I aim to fill that gap by examining a long-distance hiking subculture. I use ethnographic data collected from long-distance …

Mobility And Population Change In Northeast Mississippi: An Object-Based Seriation Of Projectile Points As A Relative Paleodemographic Indicator, Jason L. Edmonds

Theses and Dissertations

Archaeological considerations of mobility have primarily focused on the differences in and among the kinds or degrees of mobility itself, rather than addressing the underlying issue of why human settlement patterns were or are mobile. The focus of this study is to address such questions within Darwinian evolutionary theory. Using the concepts of bet-hedging, as used in biology, and waste, as used in archaeology, it is argued that mobility was selectively favored for its population limiting properties. Relative changes in the numbers of projectile points in each assigned class, ordered chronologically by seriation, were taken to indicate relative population change …

Unemployed Steelworkers, Social Class, And The Construction Of Morality, Paul Andrew Carruth

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the dynamics of economic relations and distributive outcomes according to displaced steelworkers' own accountings of deindustrialization and job loss. Whereas class analyses tend to investigate consciousness according to “true” versus “false” preferences and “post-class” scholars assert that “post-materialism” is replacing “materialist” social concerns, the author abandons these dualisms to demonstrate that workers use cultural codes of “purity” and “pollution” to represent and evaluate individuals, interests, and relations. The findings buttress the continuing relevance of social class for explaining social identity, consciousness, and antagonism.

A Rose By Any Other Name: An Examination Of Rural Lesbian Identities In The Upper Midwest, Kevin W. Martin

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the issue ofleshian identity presentation in the rural upper Midwest. The study focuses on how women in this area present themselves as lesbians. This was not expected to be a static process. On the contrary, recent developments in the sociological research of this topic have revealed (hat it is fluidic. Moreover, when applying the most recent models of expression, different lesbian identities are discernabie. Further, this process may be highly affected by symbolic interaction.

The data for this project were collected as two snapshots in time: 1995-97 and 2008. Women were recruited through a snowball sample technique …

Perceptions Of Weight Reduction Surgery: The Role Of Stigma And The Attribution Of Responsibility, Jessica Marie Behm

Theses and Dissertations

The amount of weight reduction surgeries performed in the United States has increased considerably within the last twenty years. Many people choose to undergo the procedure with the hopes of shedding the negative stigma of being obese and improving their life. The purpose of this study was to investigate how society views individuals who have elected to undergo weight reduction surgery. A questionnaire assessing the influence of three variables (Responsibility, Acceptability, and Stigma) on the perception of weight reduction surgery was developed and administered to 503 Midwestern college students. The respondents were presented with one of two vignettes depicting a …

North Dakota's Monuments: What They Reveal Of The State's People And Their Character, Jennifer D. Heth

Theses and Dissertations

Monuments and memorials are found in every society and civilization throughout history. These structures serve as commemorations of people, events, wars, victories, and disasters. The building of monuments allows the people of a society to express for posterity their jubilation, reverence, and grief. In turn, monuments and memorials reflect the values and beliefs of the society. As a result, historians study monuments and memorials to gain a better understanding of the people, culture, and values of a society or civilization. The study of monuments and memorials, as well as commemoration in general, is a growing field in both American and …

Patterns Of Differential Involvement In Terrorist Activities: Evidence From Dhkp/C And Turkish Hezbollah, Ismail Yilmaz

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the patterns of involvement in terrorist activities for the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) and Turkish Hezbollah members. The study is based on the assumption that terrorists differ in terms of their involvement in terrorist activities. In this sense, there are full-time and part-time terrorists. Full-time terrorists act professionally and do the assignments given by their commanders. Part-time terrorists, on the other hand, act on a non-professional basis and have their own motivations to participate in terrorist activities. For part-timers, there are various factors that may have an effect on their degree of involvement in terrorist activities. …