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Examining The Effectiveness Of Dropout Prevention Practices And Their Implications For Intervention With Public School Students, Louisa Pollack

Dissertations

Schools face the dilemma of transforming both the trend of students dropping out of school and the associated negative socioeconomic outcomes into a positive path of persistence and school completion. Despite ongoing efforts of the federal and state government, as well as those of the local school districts, this problem continues to burden the educational system and society as a whole. The opinions of those with the experience of dropping out and returning to school are pertinent sources of information on educative practices that can help stem the dropout rate.

A survey was conducted to gather the opinions of students …

The Objects Of The Whites: Commodities And Consumerism Among The Xikrin-Kayapó (Mebengokre) Of Amazonia, Cesar Gordon

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

In this paper I discuss the recent phenomenon of conspicuous and increasing consumption of goods among the Xikrin-Kayapó (Mebengokre) of Pará, Brazil. Money and goods have become embedded in every domain of Xikrin life, including kinship, economy, politics and ritual. Merchandise can now be seen as a total social fact in Xikrin‑Kayapó society. I show that this sort of consumerism results from a complex interaction between general principles of Mebengokre sociocosmology and the particular historical conditions in which such principles operate and are actualized. In particular, I suggest that the meaning and function of manufactured goods and money (“Whites’ stuff,” …

Internships At Consular Offices: A Gateway To International Communication And Careers, Margrit V. Zinggeler, Coral López-Gómez

Global Business Languages

Besides embassies and general consulates, honorary consulates play a very important role in helping citizens and businesses. The Consular Corps of Detroit (CCD; soon to be the Consular Corps of Michigan) is an organization that is made up of 37 consular offi ces. Through a collaboration project with the CCD and Eastern Michigan University (EMU), students at EMU have the opportunity to intern at consular offi ces, thus obtaining a unique glance at international communication and affairs. This article describes the system of consular offices in the United States, particularly in Michigan, looks at internship opportunities for students in consular …

Introduction To Ambiguity In Culture And Literature, Paolo Bartoloni, Anthony Stephens

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

A Description Of Data Citation Instructions In Style Guides, Mark P. Newton, Hailey Mooney, Michael Witt

Libraries Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Sci-Tech Book News Reviews, Susan Fingerman

Sci-Tech News

This section consists of 100 book reviews selected from Sci-Tech Book News, reprinted with the permission of Book News, Inc.

Blanchot And Ambiguity, Paolo Bartoloni

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Blanchot and Ambiguity" Paolo Bartoloni investigates the enigmatic and ambiguous turn of the famous Blanchotian statement "existence without Being." The intention of the article is to locate Blanchot's remark in the context of a discussion on history and its possible end, famously initiated by Alexandre Kojève in a lecture on 4 December 1937 at the College of Sociology in Paris; and provide insights into the difference that distinguishes Kojève's reflection on the end of history, Bataille's subsequent interpretation of it, and Blanchot's original conceptualization of a state of being suspended between nature and culture, history and the …

Ambiguity, The Artist, The Masses, And The "Double Nature" Of Language, Elizabeth Rechniewski

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Ambiguity, the Artist, the Masses, and the 'Double Nature' of Language" Elizabeth Rechniewski discusses the function of the European intellectual elite through a close reading of two very different yet related books, John Carey's The Intellectuals and the Masses, and Pierre Bourdieu's Les Règles de l'art. Through a contrapuntal reading of the arguments of these two critics, she argues that Symbolist experiments may actually be read as reactionist; in celebrating art's supposed conquest of independence and refinement, they are replete with nostalgia for a time when the artist and the intellectual were able to ignore the pressure …

An Investigation And Analysis Of U.S. Restaurant Tipping Practices And The Relationship To Service Quality With Recommendations For Field Application, Lei Wang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between tipping and service quality in restaurants. The central question is to find out whether tipping and service quality is correlated through literature review. The purpose of this study is to answer the research question and make recommendations for field practice accordingly.

The Gendering Of Nevada Politics: The Era Ratification Campaign, 1973-1981, Caryll Batt Dziedziak

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation examines Nevada‟s Equal Rights Amendment ratification campaign spanning from 1973 through 1981. Using legislative records, newspapers, archival records, oral histories and interviews; this work traces the creation of two distinct political cultures that arose in Nevada during this period. Women from both sides of this debate sought to make themselves heard in the political deliberations over this proposed amendment; thus finding new agency with which to express their political views. As ERA activists led a grassroots campaign for equality under the law, conservative women mobilized existing church networks to effect a massive counter attack. In the end, while …

The Determinants Of Colorectal Cancer Survival Disparities In Nevada, Lucas N. Wassira

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Different population groups across Nevada and throughout the United States suffer disproportionately from colorectal cancer and its after-effects. Overcoming cancer health disparities is important for lessening the burden of cancer. There has been an overall decline in the incidence of and mortality from colorectal cancer (CRC). This is likely due, in part, to the increasing use of screening procedures such as Fecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) and/or endoscopy, which can reduce the risk of CRC mortality by fifty percent. Nevertheless, screening procedures are routinely used by only fifty percent of Americans aged fifty years and older. Despite overall mortality decreasing …

Bordered Identities: Class, Ethnicity, And Transnational Social Networks, Rayette Ellen Martin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis looks at the bordered identities of middle class second generation Mexican Americans in Las Vegas, Nevada. Through an analysis of the borderlands or gray spaces that occur at the intersections of class practices, transnational relationships and ethnic identities, participants’ bordered identities were found to be reinforced, contested, and generally negotiated. Participants’ identities are flexible; their expressed identities change in relation to context or situation. In the United States, Mexicans and Latinos more generally have been subjected to racial and ethnic oppression since the Mexican American war ended in 1848.This long history of discrimination has maintained perceptions that all …

Still Flying: The Communicative Constitution Of Browncoat Fandom As Culture, Jonathon Nicholas Lundy

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In contemporary western culture, fandom is common. Many academics and members of the general public alike conceive of fandom as outside the norms of spectatorship; to be a spectator is to enjoy an interest individually and passively. However, others contend that fandom is a more significant cultural achievement.

This study qualitatively investigated how Browncoats, or fans of the cancelled television series Firefly , communicatively construct their fandom culture. Methods included participant observation, semi-structured interviews, data analysis through Grounded Theory, and a comparative thematic analysis of the original Firefly source texts and Browncoat cultural data in order to discover meaningful themes …

Selling Knowledge: A Sociological Analysis Of Attorney Advertisement In Las Vegas, Giselle Velasquez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

I analyze how Las Vegas attorneys represent themselves, their associates and clients in televised law firm commercials. I use attorney commercials as a case to explore cultural beliefs in media representations. Using an inductive method, I analyze the textual, visual, and aural symbols that appear most frequently in television commercials to interpret how law firm advertisements convey themes of attorney expertise, knowledge, ethnic and gender stereotyping. I introduce this study with a historical evaluation of the rise of advertisement in the United States. I continue discussing how the media is an important realm of discourse that affects people's identity. Using …

Mythscapes: Violent Spaces In Postmodern Literature And Culture, Jonathan R. Harvey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This project focuses on British and American speculative novels written between the 1960s and the 2000s that position the reader to critique the contemporary world. Depictions of violent, fictional spaces, or what I call mythscapes, are playing an influential role in literary, political, religious, and even scientific discourses. The mythscape can initiate introspection on real issues by suggesting possible alternatives, conjecturing about potential consequences, and posing compelling comparisons. I define "mythscape" as an imagined space that features: a setting that is nonrealistic and radically different from, yet implicitly contrastive with, material reality; a rhetorical stance, which is inevitably grounded in …

Evaluating The Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test Ii As A Diagnostic Screening Instrument Among Clinically Referred Children And Adolescents, Linda R. Marnic

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research was designed to investigate the diagnostic utility of the Bender Gestalt II (BGII) test using the Bender Global Scoring System (BGSS) and the Koppitz 2 scoring systems. The scores from these two systems were correlated with scores derived from the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Aged Children, Present and Lifetime Edition (KSADS-PL+), a semistructured interview along with Longitudinal Evaluation of all Available Data (LEAD) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Of the 115 children and adolescents who initially participated in the study to assess the validity of the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt II test …

Exploring The Utility Of A Giscience Approach To Modeling Invasive Species: A Case Study Of Ailanthus Altissima, Arthur Elmes

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis investigated the potential for integration of remotely sensed and GIS data into an agent-based modeling environment in order to model seed dispersal and subsequent establishment of windborne seeds. In order to explore the applicability of agent-based modeling to predicting seed dispersal, a case study was carried out using the representative example species Ailanthus altissima, an invasive tree found throughout North America's temperate regions. Seed movement was modeled in two stages, primary and secondary dispersal; primary dispersal was calibrated using existing field data, while secondary dispersal was calibrated only qualitatively. Establishment potential was accounted for probabilistically, based on landuse …

Politics And Civil Procedure Rulemaking: Reflections On Experience, Paul D. Carrington

Duke Law Journal

This Article is a reflection on personal experience as well as an account of what has happened to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in the most recent quarter century It observes that the Supreme Court of the United States has assigned to itself a role in making procedural law inconsistent with the Rules Enabling Act of 1934 or any more-recent utterance of Congress This procedural law made by the Court is responsive to the desire of business interests to weaken the ability of citizens to enforce laws enacted to protect them from business misconduct The Article concludes with the …

How Memory Affects Sense Of Self: Stories Of Traumatic Brain Injury, Leah Smith

Southern Anthropologist

(2010 Undergraduate Prize Winner.) How does memory affect sense of self? For traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors, memory has a large impact on sense of self. Some cannot remember who they were before the injury and have to rely on others’ memories or photographs to reinvent their sense of self. Others can remember who they were before the accident, but feel they are vastly different than their old self. How do TBI survivors negotiate reconstructing identities and sense of self when memories play a disconnecting role? Through this process, storytelling can help survivors recreate a sense of self that is …

'You Have To Go North To Find The South': Situating Central Florida In The South For Birth Research, Erica Gibson

Southern Anthropologist

This paper reports on situating Central Florida as a part of the South for birth research among midwives, a physician, and their clients. A comparison is made between historical and modern beliefs about what is represented by Southern values and ideals, and how the women and birth practitioners in this study do or do not conform to those ideals.

A Separation Of Church And Growth? The Intersections Of Seventh-Day Adventism And Economic Development In Puerto Rico, Josefer Montes

Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the intersections of religion and economics, specifically the Puerto Rican economy and the Puerto Rico Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA). Chapter II investigated the relationship between an economy that exports its currency and one that imports its currency by researching how United States monetary policy impacts the Puerto Rican economy. Through the perspective of the Optimal Currency Area (OCA) framework as posited by Mundell (1961) and employing a vector autoregression (VAR) model, the impact of U.S. monetary shocks was investigated by regressing those effects against Puerto Rican employment data. While the Puerto Rican business cycle generally follows that …

Presenting Jamaican Folk Songs On The Art Music Stage: Social History And Artistic Decisions, Byron Gordon Johnson

Dissertations

Jamaican folk songs have become a definitive characteristic of Jamaican culture. They are exemplars of a culture whose music reflects the lifestyle of most of its citizens. In modern times, their beauty has been show cased in local and foreign performances which exposes an element of the country to the world. Additionally, the arrangements of these songs by Jamaican composers like Noel Dexter and Peter Ashbourne have aided in their renaissance in modern times. This also attests to their high entertaining quality which most audiences have come to appreciate. To this end, this research analyzed the arrangements by Noel Dexter …

Is Obama Black: The Pseudo-Legal Definition Of The Black Race: A Proposal For Regulatory Clarification Generated From A Historical Socio-Political Perspective., Gloria J. Liddell, Peason Liddell Jr.

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Barack Obama’s successful run for President of the United States exposed many intriguing sociological and political issues in American society, not least of which was the question of race. Obama was the offspring of a mother of White European ancestry and a father of African ancestry. Obama is considered “Black,” though some would argue he could have been called “White” just as justifiably. The public discourse surrounding the election of President Obama highlights the need for clarification. In this Article, we explore the past to provide a foundational perspective. In proposing a somewhat unconventional definition, we seek to contain within …

Lords Of The Manor: Fighting California Slumlords With Private Multi-Plaintiff Implied Warranty Of Habitability Litigation., Christina Sosa

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

Full Issue 5.3

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

The Colby Echo (2010-12-01), Colby College

The Colby Echo

Published by the students of Colby College since 1877, The Colby Echo is the weekly, editorially independent student-run newspaper of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Published monthly, 1877-1886; semi-monthly, 1886-1897; and weekly, during the academic year, 1898-present.

Enacting An Assets Pedagogy To Develop Youth Assets: Teaching K-12 Urban Youth In An After-School Visual Arts Program Using Participatory Action Research, Maureen Mccarthy

Art Education Theses

Abstract

After my first years of teaching art within a school that perpetuated a deficit paradigm, I was one of two graduate students who taught with two professors in an alternative site at a community center with urban youth from ages 7-17 years. We enacted an assets model that sought to strengthen learners' artistic thinking. Using qualitative participatory action research, I began a study of the teaching practices of Ruth, one of the art educators, to find what happens when an assets model that strengthens learner's artistic thinking is infused into the goals of an after-school visual arts program. I …

The Effects Of Childbearing Patterns On The Timing Of Retirement, Hsiao-Yin Chung

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The effects of childbearing patterns on the timing of men's and women's retirement were examined. The data for this study come from the Health and Retirement Study, waves 1-7: 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004. A proportional hazard model (Cox regression) was chosen for this study. Two measures of retirement were considered: labor force exit and self-defined retirement. The results indicated that men with dependent children are more likely to postpone the timing of labor force exit and their self-definition as retired. At the same time, the study indicated that the presence (or absence) and timing of early …

Worker Cooperatives And Revolution: History And Possibilities In The United States, Christopher Wright

Graduate Masters Theses

Worker cooperatives have a long and tortured history, but recently they have been advancing globally on a more stable foundation than before. In this essay I provide a theoretical context for the current growth of cooperatives, drawing on Marxist theory to illuminate their potential. I also consider the sociology and economics of worker cooperatives, in addition to expounding and evaluating their history in the United States.

A case-study of a cooperative printing press in Jamaica Plain gives a more intimate portrayal of worker co-ops, and hopefully provides lessons for future cooperators. I interpret society as on the cusp of a …

Policy Transfer, Diffusion, And Institutional Change Under Uncertainty: The Role Of Policy Ideas, Yooil Bae

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.