Digital Commons Network^™

Can They Lock You Up And Charge You For It?: How Pay-To-Stay Corrections Programs May Provide A Financial Solution For New York And New Jersey, Alison Bo Andolena

Seton Hall Journal of Legislation and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Vibe Et Al Eds' "Istoriia I Etnografiia Nemtsev V Sibiri. [History And Ethnography Of Germans In Siberia.]" - Book Review, Walter Sawatsky

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Graphical User Interface Design Factors: College Students Perceptions Of Electronics Websites Trustworthiness, Zue Anne Zapanta

Theses and Dissertations

With many online businesses "crashing and burning", building an online relationship with consumers is a crucial endeavor for e-commerce businesses. Other researchers have found that trust play a key role in every business relationship, especially in the faceless realm of e-commerce. The graphical user interface (GUI) of an online retailer's Website serves as the face of the business through which customers form first impressions that may influences their perceptions of trust and decisions to purchase. Therefore, this study was designed to explore how college students from an Upper Midwestern university perceive electronics retailers' Website trustworthiness through GUI design features.

Qualitative …

Understanding Casino Visitors' Decision-Making Processes Within The Perspective Of Responsible Gambling: An Application Of The Model Of Goal-Directed Behavior, Hakjun Song

All Dissertations

There has been relatively little theory-based research focusing on casino visitors' behavior. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has been criticized for not considering the effect of past behavior and for not incorporating emotional factors in its theoretical frame. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to examine casino visitors' behavioral intention for casino gambling using the Model of Goal-directed Behavior (MGB) as a new theoretical framework to understand visitors' behavioral intentions to gamble in casinos. This study also aimed to not only compare the Extended MGB (EMGB) with the original MGB, TPB, and Theory of Reasoned Action …

Social Networks In The Tourism Industry: An Investigation Of Charleston, South Carolina, Tianyu Ying

All Dissertations

Over the past decades, increasing attention has been given to the networking in the tourism industry (Lynch, 2000; Pavlovich, 2003). The existing literature mainly focuses on the interrelationships among tourism stakeholders at sector level and the structure of the interorganizational networks in tourism industry. However, little research has been done to examine the possible antecedents and outcomes of the tourism networks and the interrelationships between the network structures at different subject level (i.e., interpersonal and interorganizational) and in different social contexts (i.e., online and offline). The purpose of this study is to address these research gaps by empirically examining the …

Assessment Of Destination Brand Associations: An Application Of Associative Network Theory And Network Analysis Methods, Xu Chen

All Dissertations

Recent tourism management research has seen increasing discussions of applying branding concepts into destination marketing. However, brand association and its importance in creating strong and unique brands have not been studied adequately. The purpose of this study was to identify the underlying dimensions that people use to describe destination brands and examine the structural relations of the destination's brand association.
Brand association focuses on analyzing the characteristics consumers' knowledge, perceptions and attitudes associated with a brand and how brand associations interact with each other. Research on brand association provides measurement constructs to evaluate branding effectiveness and offers marketing professionals the …

Essays In Contemporary Tax Law Changes, Arpita Biswas

All Dissertations

In the first essay, I provide estimates of price and income elasticities of charitable contributions which reveal substantial differences in giving patterns across different income groups. The paper develops an intertemporal model of giving which predicts that lowering current income taxes induces substitution away from current giving towards giving in future periods. Cragg's Generalized Tobit model applied to Consumer Expenditure data from 1997-2006 provides estimates of income and price elasticities conditioned upon contribution, which range between 0.17 to 0.81 and −0.50 to −1.16 respectively. Empirical analysis shows substantial evidence of intertemporal substitution, implying that if the difference between future and …

A Mixed Methods Study Of Community College Students On Academic Probation: The Limiting Effect Of Academic Doublespeak, Kristine D. Duffy

Education Doctoral

A mixed methods study of students placed on academic probation at Onondaga Community College (OCC) in Syracuse, New York, revealed that voluntary participation in an intervention program yielded limited change in participants’ grades when compared to probationary students who did not participate. Only 29% of participants and nonparticipants improved their grades to return to good academic standing. Grades were compared between the program participant group and the non-participant group and a statistical analysis applying an independent sample t -test (comparing the mean GPAs), as well as an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) (comparing the means of three groupings) resulted in no …

Social Networks And Beliefs Of Mexican-American Parents As Predictors Of Parent Involvement, Maria Filomena Leo

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Parents interact with school officials as social actors, with the cultural and social capital they possess. The school as a social institution operates within given processes to deliver educational services. The needs of both the parent and the school system may not always be suited to a harmonious relationship: still, it is possible to build a system to close that gap. In such a system each can reach across to help one another. This happens when schools understand the social forces that motivate parents to become involved with schools for the sake of their children. This study surveyed Mexican-American parents …

Multiform Segregation In The Context Of The Urban Crises In Las Vegas And Los Angeles, 1930 - 1980, Colin M. Fitzgerald

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Multiform segregation in the context of the urban crises was a complex socio-historical phenomenon. The primary focus of this study addresses racial segregation in at least three basic societal areas: housing, employment, and education. Through the spatial separation of multiple ethnoracial groups such as African Americans and Mexican Americans, multiform segregation precipitated the urban crises. In the 50-year period this study covers, Las Vegas and Los Angeles sustained a two-tiered class system according to the prevailing racial attitudes of each city's business elite. As a resort city, Las Vegas could not endure ethnoracial tensions while Los Angeles' industrial base provided …

An Analysis Of The Equity Of Utah’S Public School Funding System, Garrick Peterson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There has not been an equity study of the public school funding allocation system, in the state of Utah, since 1990. The purpose of the study was to conduct an analysis of the equity of the Utah state funding allocation system for K-12 education including a trend analysis for the decade 2000-2009. The conceptual framework for the analysis applies four broad concepts of equity framed by Kern Alexander; (1) communitative equity, (2) distributive equity, (3) restitutive equity, and (4) positivism. The analysis of the Utah State funding system used Berne and Stiefel's methodology and included commonly used statistical measures of …

High School Student Interests In Architecture, Construction, And Engineering Education, Krishna P. Kisi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

It is a common and widely held belief that the greatest influencing factor for high school students to enter an architecture-, construction-, or engineering-education program is because either their parents, relatives or friends work or have worked in the industry. However, there is little research that supports this belief. The focus of this research was to analyze characteristics and academic interests of Clark County School District (CCSD) Career and Technical Academies (CATA) students enrolled in architecture, construction and engineering (ACE) curricula.

This research analyzed data collected from a survey conducted by CCSD of their students enrolled in ACE courses. Comprehensive …

Grassroots Human Rights Activism In Contemporary Colombia, Louis Edgar Esparza

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Activists who become involved in radical politics often put themselves in dangerous situations to achieve objectives that seem highly improbable. More often than not, their efforts are thwarted, yet many activists keep trying. How does one sustain the vision that drives high-risk activists over the long-term in the face of such resistance to change? Using interviews with grassroots human rights activists in Bogota, Colombia, this dissertation explores theories of high-risk political behavior. It argues that the analysis of processes of coming to engage in high-risk activism lends robust insights into what makes a person decide to participate in high-risk activism. …

Terrorism And Counterterrorism: A Comparative Cross-National Analysis, Eran Shor

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

What factors influence with the way in which particular countries at specific times respond to the threat of terrorism? This dissertation shows that the answer for this question is more multifaceted than the literature on state counterterrorist policies often suggests. Many scholars of terrorism follow an (often implicit) assumption that when faced with the threat of terrorism governments simply do everything they can to minimize this threat, and therefore, that declared counterterrorist policies are directed first and foremost at preventing future terrorist acts. This instrumental rational-action logic is especially dominant in the public domain, and in the rhetoric of politicians, …

Making The Vulnerable: Role Of The State In Creating Inequalities In Urban China, Zheng Zhao

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In the sociological literature of stratification structure in post-reform China, the market transition debate in the 1990s has dominated this field by proposing competing arguments on who, redistributors or direct producers, had been and would be more benefited economically after the Economic Reform initiated since 1978. Sociologists participated in this debate framed their arguments into a state vs. market theoretical dichotomy, and used redistributors and direct producers as empirical representatives of state and market respectively. Therefore, the rise of economic statuses of people in these two groups indicates whether market mechanism or state redistributive power is more responsible for changes …

The Production Of Pride: Institutionalization And Lgbt Pride Organizations, Lauren Joseph

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This dissertation examines the process of institutionalization for cultural social movement organizations, drawing on twelve months of intensive ethnographic fieldwork and archival research in four LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) Pride organizations in three cities: New York, NY, Boise, ID, and St. George, UT. Pride events are marches, parades and festivals that celebrate LGBT identity. This study focuses on activities and decision-making involved in the production of pride events throughout the year. While some social movement theorists treat institutionalization as the final stage before organizational death, this dissertation shows that institutionalization can signal organizational growth and survival. The dissertation …

The Viability Of Podcasts In Extension Education: Financial Education For College Students, Lori Hendrickson, Rebecca Hagen Jokela, Janene Gilman, Sara Croymans, Mary Marczak, Virginia Zuiker, Patricia D. Olson

Journal of Extension

The article examines the viability of podcast use to provide financial education for college students by Extension educators. A focus group study of college students was conducted by a team of Extension educators from the University of Minnesota Extension related to the potential use of podcasts. Eight focus groups were conducted at a variety of colleges throughout the upper Midwest. Researchers found podcasts are not a stand-alone educational approach, but potentially a tool in a blended learning approach. Implications for using podcast and other technologies in Extension education are discussed.

Radovan's "State-Church Relations In Slovakia. The Current Structure And Trends In The Development Of State-Church Relations" - Book Review, Lucia Grešková

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Institutional Data Book 2009-2010, University Of Minnesota, Morris Office Of Institutional Research

Institutional Effectiveness and Research Reports

No abstract provided.

The Live Experience Of Non-Degree Learners From A Time Modified Traditional Baccalaureate In Nursing Program, Stephanie S. Deboor

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

By the year 2016, it is projected that a million new and replacement nurses will be needed throughout the United States. The traditional 4-year baccalaureate program alone cannot adequately sustain this demand. The immediacy of the current nursing shortage demands our educational systems respond by building and maintaining a workforce that is sufficient to support the health care needs of our society. In an attempt to meet this challenge, nursing schools around the country began exploring the option of creating accelerated programs for those who already possess a bachelor's degree in another field without compromising the integrity and quality of …

Students' Perceptions Of Classroom Justice And Their Use Of Politeness Strategies, Charles K. Rudick

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to investigate how students' use of politeness strategies differed based on their perceptions of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice when they engaged in a face threatening act (FTA) with their instructors. Participants included 76 undergraduate students enrolled in undergraduate communication courses at a large mid-Atlantic university during the summer. Results revealed that students engage in all types of politeness strategies when speaking with their instructor, with students reporting the bald-on-record strategy the most frequently. However, students' use of politeness strategies did not significantly differ based on their perceptions of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice. …

Examining The Relationship Between Ethnic Identity And Spanish-Language Media Use Among Bilingual Hispanics, Using The Media Gratifications And Social Identity Theories, Arminda Munoz

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between Ethnic Identity and Spanish-language media use among bilingual Hispanics following the Media Uses and Gratifications Theory. Participants in survey included 83 undergraduate university students enrolled in entry-level communication courses. Relationships between participants’ bilingual skills, ethnic identity, Spanish-language media use and gratifications outcomes were examined. Research questions focused on participants’ use of English and Spanish media use. Hypotheses focused on testing relationships between ethnicity, bilingual skills and media use. Results of the study are discussed. Conclusions, limitations and topics for further research are addressed.

‘Diversa De Mí Misma’: Silence As Performative Resistance In Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz, Marcia A. Caltabiano-Ponce

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz’s silences, including her final and mysterious withdrawal from letters, were not empty spaces at all but highly loaded performative resistances to patriarchal control. My work is based on Judith Butler's poststructural theory on performance and subject construction, with support from postcolonial and feminist theories. The approach is a break from the historical and popular gendered discourses that surround her final years, one that explores the loaded gaps and borders that provide liminal spaces for the transcendence of her voice and gender over the ages. I address the research, speculation, and theories that have misread …

An Ardent Flame: Witness To Distant Suffering, Human Rights And Unworthy Victims In The Coverage By The New York Times And Two Journals Of The Religious Left Of The 1980s Civil Wars In El Salvador And Nicaragua, Charles A. Flowerday

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

Scholars have investigated witness to distant suffering (WTDS) almost entirely in visual media. This study examines it in print. This form of reporting will be examined in two publications of the religious left as contrasted with the New York Times. The thesis is that, more than any technology, WTDS consists of the journalist’s moral commitment and narrative skills and the audience’s analytical resources and trust. In the religious journals, liberation theology provides the moral commitment, the writers and editors the narrative skills and trust and the special vision of the newly empowered poor the analytical foundation. In bearing witness to …

The Personal And Social Benefits Of Airplane Piloting As A Serious Leisure Activity For Women., Frances Louise Shupe 1956-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Serious leisure theory (Stebbins, 1992) is used to frame this examination of women's long-term involvement in airplane piloting. Through in-depth, semi-structured telephone and e-mail interviews with women having over 15 years experience as private pilots, this study examines their leading motivations and their personal and social benefits realized through airplane piloting as a leisure activity. Women's participation in amateur airplane piloting displays the six characteristics of serious leisure. In addition to the durable benefits ascribed to serious leisure, the respondents demonstrated several other personal and social benefits. The interview data revealed that women pursue airplane piloting as independent, interdependent, or …

A Case Of Identity, Robert R. Sillery

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

In this thesis, I examine the writing pedagogy known as identity negotiation. I focus specifically on the models Robert E. Brooke presents in his book, Writing and Sense of Self: Identity Negotiation in Writing Workshops, and in several essays. I also review later adaptations of this theory by such writers as Zan Goncalves, Nancy Welch, Lad Tobin and Bronwyn Williams. Finally, I will discuss practical applications of identity theory in the STRUGGLE program in Pittsburgh and in programs that are affiliated with the National Writing Project.

Throughout, I analyze and affirm Brooke’s argument that identity negotiation is so woven into …

The Cold War And Decolonization In British Guiana: The Anglo-American Intervention And Guianese Nationalist Politics, Joshua David Esposito

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis examines the end of colonial rule in British Guiana and what it tells us about the relationship between decolonization and the Cold War. It explores how the end of a four hundred year period of European nation-state domination of the world led to a complex shift in global power structures and considerable conflict. From 1953 to 1966 nationalist leaders in British Guiana struggled to achieve independence from Great Britain and fought to establish their position in the future government of Guyana. Colonialism, however, left a unique imprint on British Guiana's cultural development, and created a volatile society that …

Review Of Economics, Culture And Social Theory, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Drug Offenders’ Perceptions Of Motivation: The Role Of Motivation In Rehabilitation And Reintegration, Lior Gideon

Publications and Research

This article presents a qualitative analysis of participants’ perceptions of the importance of motivation in the detoxification and rehabilitation process. As part of an outcome evaluation of recovering drug addicts who participated in a prison-based therapeutic community, 39 participants (a nonrandomized subsample) are interviewed regarding their rehabilitation and reintegration experiences. Although many studies show that participation in prison-based drug treatment programs reduces the likelihood of recidivism, clients in this study suggest that other factors might be equally important, and in particular clients’ own motivation to change their lives. This study raises some questions about the true ability of drug treatment …

Physician's Experiences With Death And Dying: A Phenomenological Study, Deborah Jo Corker

Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological study attempts to gain the physician's essences, meanings and understanding surrounding death and dying. Starting with themes revealed in literature, in-depth interviews were used to ask selected physicians providing care: How does death affect them? Are physicians receiving adequate training in end-of-life care? Does the medical culture still see death as failure? How do they find meaning in end-of-life care? Using three different groups of physicians: early in career, mid-career, and retired, this research attempted to examine the phenomena of death and dying over apparent time and developmental experiences of physicians. Results: Physicians have not been adequately …