Digital Commons Network^™

Painting The City Red: A Close Look At The Homicide Trends Of New Orleans, Tatiana Obioha

Senior Honors Theses

New Orleans has had a consistently high homicide rate for around twenty years, but limited research has committed to discovering a successful solution to the pre- and post-Katrina crime problem. Prior research has been conducted to analyze whether the Southern “culture of violence,” poverty, income inequality, unemployment, gun ownership and legislation, gangs, and residential segregation affect homicide, but no study applies these factors to New Orleans. Using a case study analysis that applies these variables studied in prior research to New Orleans and information acquired from the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s …

Reassessing The Myth Of The Irish Channel: An Archaeological Analysis, Blair Alexandra Bordelon

Senior Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to uncover the history of New Orleans’s Irish Channel and, through the use of archaeological evidence from two household privies, to trace the social processes involved in the formation of ethnicity and social identity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Despite its name and the annual St. Patrick's Day celebrations that take place in its streets, the Irish Channel was never an ethnic enclave of Irish identity. With an equal number of Germans, along with some English and French immigrants, and certain streets comprised fully of African-Americans, the Irish Channel was home …

Robert Nathaniel Dett And The Music Of The Harlem Renaissance, Daniel Weaver

History Theses

While the contributions of writers and poets to the period of American cultural history known as the Harlem Renaissance are relatively well defined and understood, assessing the contributions of musicians has been more problematic. The topic has been covered indirectly through works of American music history and African American history, but there have been comparatively few works linking music directly to the goals of the movement. Much of the insight into music’s place during this period derives from contemporary writers such as Alain Locke and James Weldon Johnson, both of whom featured discussions of music in their writings. Relatively unknown …

Hand Preference For Tool-Use In Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus Apella) Is Associated With Asymmetry Of The Primary Motor Cortex, Kimberley A. Phillips, C. R. Thompson

Psychology Faculty Research

Skilled motor actions are associated with handedness and neuroanatomical specializations in humans. Recent reports have documented similar neuroanatomical asymmetries and their relationship to hand preference in some nonhuman primate species, including chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys. We investigated whether capuchins displayed significant hand preferences for a tool use task and whether such preferences were associated with motor-processing regions of the brain. Handedness data on a dipping tool-use task and high-resolution 3T MRI scans were collected from 15 monkeys. Capuchins displayed a significant group-level left-hand preference for this type of tool use, and handedness was associated with asymmetry of the primary motor …

Communities Of Memory: The Utah History Fair And The Utilization Of History And Memory, Nicholas Andrew Demas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Utah's students, grades 4-12, create projects for the Utah History Fair, Utah's National History Day affiliate program. As far as the rigors of youth academic prowess are concerned, National History Day and the Utah History Fair are amongst the top in the nation. Within the myriad of projects created by Utah's participating students is important information about what aspects of the past captures students' attention and why they choose to research their selected topics. Through a careful examination of student topics from 1981-1984 and 2009-2012, this project taps into what students comprehend about the past. Further inspection into why students …

The Biochemical Foundations Of Evolving Metalaw: Moving At A Glance To The Biological Basis Of Sentient “Essence”, George S. Robinson

Journal of Space Law

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Panels For Bovine Dna Identification, Kimberly A. Blanchard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have great power in resolving questions of unknown parentage on ranches or dairies where errors could have been made in pedigree record keeping or when such records were simply not kept. Currently a panel of 88 SNPs based on a panel originally created by USDA-MARC is commercially available from the company Fluidigm^®. Our objective was to determine whether or not the number of SNPs could be reduced to form a smaller, more cost-efficient parentage-testing panel. A smaller panel would be beneficial to farmers and researchers alike in the reduction of time spent running and …

Late Prehistoric Technology, Quartzite Procurement, And Land Use In The Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado: View From Site 5gn1.2, Jonathan Mitchell Peart

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis presents the results from archaeological test excavations at site 5GN1.2. The focus of this research is to evaluate Stiger’s Late Prehistoric settlement-subsistence hypothesis. According to Stiger, post-3000 B.P. occupations of the Upper Gunnison Basin were limited to big-game hunting forays originating from base camps located outside of the basin. Test excavations at 5GN1.2 documented archaeological deposits reflecting aboriginal occupation during the Late Prehistoric between about 3000 and 1300 years ago. Archaeological features include four hearths associated with abundant small-mammal remains, burnt plant seeds, stone tools and stone tool manufacturing debris.

Archaeological evidence rules out site 5GN1.2 as a …

Predictors Of Physical Activity Among Persons With Multiple Sclerosis, Emily Jean Bennett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic neurological disease with a wide range of symptoms that vary from fatigue to paralysis. People diagnosed with MS will have the disease for the rest of their lives because there is no cure. If there was a way to alleviate the severity of the symptoms or slow the progression of the disease then that would be something important of those with MS to know.

A health behavior that promises to slow the progression of the MS for people diagnosed with this disease is physical activity. Research has shown that an exercise program improves several measures …

Chinese People's Perceptions Of And Preparedness For Democracy, Xiangyun Lan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Democratization in China has been receiving attention from all over the world. In the US, a large percentage of media reports about China contribute to report democratization related political issues. And as a mainland Chinese citizen living under an undemocratic regime, I have always felt compelled to do research on democratization in China society. This thesis describes a research study conducted to understand how Chinese people understand the notion of democracy, and with this notion how they perceive to democratize their society. The result of this research's analysis shows that Chinese people view democracy similar to a western notion; and …

A Longitudinal Study Of English Narrative Discourse Development In Young Spanish-English Bilinguals, Abbie Olszewski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Producing oral narratives is the best predictor of later literacy functioning. The ability to use performance on oral narratives as a way to identify children who may be at- risk for academic and language problems is helpful for educators. For example, it is likely that children who are identified with language impairments or who are learning English as a second language may have difficulty creating narratives due to the inherent language complexity of creating narratives. Research has demonstrated that similar to English monolingual children, narrative ability has been shown to underlie literacy development for bilingual children. Although there are numerous …

Resilience And Resistance In Academically Successful Latino/A Students, Dennis Heaton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of this case study was to examine and explain the success of a group of Latino/a students whose educational success substantially exceeds the success of their peers. Ten middle school students, their parents, and selected school personnel who worked with them were interviewed. The student participants were purposefully selected based on their grades, attendance, and test scores. The adult participants were selected based on their relationship to the student participants.

The student participants were interviewed twice and the adult participants were interviewed once, using a semi-structured format designed to allow the interviewees to go beyond the interviewer’s initial …

Spanish-Speaking Parents' Negotiation Of Language And Culture With Their Children's Schools, Ronda L. Bickmore

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Latinos are now the largest public school minority population in the U.S. Because of a shift in the states, cities, and counties where Latinos are choosing to live, many schools that did not previously serve substantial numbers of Latinos are doing so now. Additionally, many of the Latinos in these new settlement areas are recent immigrants who speak little or no English. This qualitative study examined how immigrant Latino parents who speak little or no English supported their children in the English-speaking school system of the U.S. It specifically examined how 12 Spanish-speaking parents negotiated language and culture with their …

The Hidden Costs Of Terrorist Watch Lists, Anya Bernstein

Journal Articles

Courts have started to recognize standing to sue for those on the government’s No Fly List, which bars listed individuals from flying. This salutary step, however, leaves untouched the complex watch list infrastructure on which the No Fly List is built and whose flaws it inherits. Lower-profile watch lists have fewer determinate consequences on listed individuals than the No Fly List does. But, this article argues, they exact substantial costs.

This article first explains why the incentive structure of terrorist watch lists encourages government agencies to list more people than necessary and not to check their work. It then demonstrates …

A Social–Ecological Approach To Conservation Planning: Embedding Social Considerations, Natalie C. Ban, Morena Mills, Jordan Tam, Christina C. Hicks, Sarah Klain, Natalie Stoeckl, Madeleine C. Bottrill, Jordan Levine, Robert L. Pressey, Terre Satterfield, Kai M. A. Chan

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Many conservation plans remain unimplemented, in part because of insufficient consideration of the social processes that influence conservation decisions. Complementing social considerations with an integrated understanding of the ecology of a region can result in a more complete conservation approach. We suggest that linking conservation planning to a social–ecological systems (SES) framework can lead to a more thorough understanding of human–environment interactions and more effective integration of social considerations. By characterizing SES as a set of subsystems, and their interactions with each other and with external factors, the SES framework can improve our understanding of the linkages between social and …

Underrepresented Students' Perception Of Their Second-Year In College: A Phenomenological Study, Dena Kniess

All Dissertations

The majority of retention efforts have focused on the first-year of college, however just as many students leave college after their second-year (Berkner, He, & Forest, 2002; Lipka, 2006). Experiences of second-year students have been appearing in publications. These studies have identified the broad concerns of the second-year experience, but little is known about how the second-year experience is similar or different for underrepresented students.
This study sought to describe the experiences of underrepresented college students in their second-year of study at a predominantly White institution (PWI). The study was qualitative in nature, and used phenomenological research methods to form …

The Least Restrictive Environment Clause Of The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act And Institutional Ableism: A Critical Discourse Analysis, Laura O'Laughlin

All Dissertations

This study focused on terms anchored in special education and associated stigma of disability in schools. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ensured the right to education in US public school systems for students with disabilities. An associated term asserted that children with disabilities must be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Yet, IDEA did not address the institutional or social stigma arising in the wake of labeling students as disabled. The stigma, a result of ableism, promotes a premise of normalcy and marginalizes students with disabilities. This study was a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the LRE clause. …

Seven Strangers, Rhetorical Devices For Hospitality, Epiphany, And Repentance In The Media Flood, Jimmy Butts

All Dissertations

Beginning with the foundation that rhetorical devices are often inherently defamiliarizing, often to productive ends, this study explores the theories, ethics, and praxis behind defamiliarizing rhetorical tactics. Because of the cultural shift toward increasing novelty within 21st century media production, it is progressively difficult for the contemporary writer to speak into the boisterous public sphere, which in turn creates a growing need for uniquely unfamiliar modes of rhetorical intervention. Strangeness offers a lens for seeing deliberate stylistic choices within the information flood; additionally, it asks us to consider how we can compose for potentially disinterested audiences. The examination also suggests …

The Incorporation Of Deaf American Culture And History In Secondary Education Classrooms, James B. Smith

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Bilingual-Bicultural Education (Bi-Bi) has a positive impact on language development and social-psychological development of Deaf children (Baker, 2011; Scott, 2010; Humphries & Humphries, 2010). This development is predicated on the child’s access to American Sign Language (ASL); however, the role of Deaf culture and history in Bi-Bi is not well-defined (Ladd, 2003). Children at Bi-Bi schools and programs often acquire cultural aspects through social interactions among their Deaf acquaintances rather than in the classroom. The socialization and cultural sensitivity of Deaf children does not constitute a formal instruction and mastery in all the elements of culture, as often believed in …

The Impact Of Cultural Assumptions About Technology On Choctaw Heritage Preservation And Sharing, Jake A. Dolezal

School of Information Studies - Dissertations

Neither the effects of information and communication technology (ICT) on culture nor the cultural roles of ICT are widely understood, particularly among marginalized ethno-cultures and indigenous people. One theoretical lens that has received attention outside of Native American studies is the theory of Information Technology Cultures, or "IT Culture," developed by Kaarst-Brown. This theory was a groundbreaking and foundational way to understand underlying assumptions about IT and the conflicts surrounding IT use. Kaarst-Brown identified five archetypal cultural patterns or sets of "underlying cultural assumptions" about IT that impacted strategic use, conflict, and technology innovation. These dimensions included assumptions about the …

Removing The Classical Landmark: Assessing An Epistemology Governed By Methodological Naturalism, Kegan Shaw

Masters Theses

This paper proposes to assess the naturalist project in epistemology with an eye towards exposing the project as deficient for serving as a robust epistemological project. Epistemologists treasure a certain family of questions and burden themselves with a number of specific concerns the most important of which, I think, cannot be answered by the epistemological naturalist. Ignoring these questions, I will argue, essentially amounts to a dismissal of the principle tension that primarily motivates and properly guides epistemological theorizing. This tension is the familiar appearance vs. reality distinction and characterizes what I am calling the classical landmark or boundary-stone for …

Cypriot Religion Of The Early Bronze Age: Insular And Transmitted Ideologies, Ca. 2500-2000 B.C.E., Donovan Adams

Anthropology

The Early Bronze Age of Cyprus is not a very well understood chronological period of the island for a variety of reasons. These include: the inaccessibility of the northern part of the island after the Turkish invasion, the lack of a written language, and the fragility of Cypriot artifacts. Many aspects of protohistoric Cypriot life have become more understood, such as: the economic structure, social organization, and interactions between Cyprus and Anatolia. Despite this improvement in some areas, religion is still largely not understood. With the arrival of new animals and symbols, there is clearly a shift in reverence. However, …

Molecular Actions Of The Vitamin D Receptor In Mammary And Skin Carcinogenesis, Samantha L. Chu

Anthropology

Vitamin D has been linked to breast cancer risk in animal and human studies, suggesting that the active metabolite 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25D) might protect breast cells from transformation. In human mammary epithelial (HME-hTERT) cells, which express vitamin D receptor (VDR), 1,25D exerts anti proliferative and pro-differentiating effects, but the molecular mechanisms that mediate these actions are unknown. In previous studies we used genomic profiling to classify 1,25D regulated networks in HME-hTERT cells that may contribute to the anti-cancer effects of vitamin D. Through this approach we detected a 60-fold increase in the cytokine CD14 in HME-hTERT cells treated with vitamin …

Implications Of Tanzanian Culture On Nutrition And Their Effects In People Living With Hiv/Aids, Jennifer Pollard

Anthropology

Many Africans living with HIV/AIDS also suffer from malnutrition. Together, HIV and malnutrition greatly compromise the immune system of an individual, with each condition increasing the effects of the other. This field study examines Maasai in the Arusha region of Tanzania where approximately 5.6% of the population is infected with HIV/AIDS and 45% of children exhibit stunted growth, indicating chronic malnutrition within the population. Cultural factors including gender inequality, knowledge levels, and traditions associated with Maasai (the predominant tribe in the Arusha region) were analyzed in their contributions to malnutrition and HIV. The study was conducted over three months in …

How Expert Teachers In Community Colleges Describe The Process Of Becoming Master Teachers, Gloria A. Morgan

Education Doctoral

This research study is an examination of the process of how community college instructors describe the process of becoming master teachers. Master teachers are those recognized by the Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching award of the State University of New York. The purpose of the proposed study was to identify the habits, attitudes, and behaviors of these professionals. Using a quantitative research design, a sample of 9 community college instructors were interviewed using a semi-structured format. Directed content analysis using the theoretical framework of reflective practice informed the audience The findings suggest that the instructors at community college welcome change in …

Morphological Disparity And Macroevolution In Strepsirrhines, Platyrrhines, And Plesiadapiforms, Elizabeth Miranda St Clair

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

The level of adaptive diversity within an ecosystem or natural group is an aspect of biodiversity that is not necessarily available from counts of species or higher taxa. One method of estimating adaptive diversity is to measure the morphological disparity, or the range of variation observed in the sample. Morphological disparity can be used to investigate large-scale evolutionary changes in the fossil record, and has also been applied to a number of questions in extant organisms, ranging from investigations of diversification through time to understanding ecological community structure. In this dissertation, I investigated the potential for application of morphological disparity …

Agricultural Production And Stability Of Settlement Systems In Upper Mesopotamia During The Early Bronze Age (Third Millennium Bce), Tuna Kalayci

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the relationship between rainfall variation and rain-fed agricultural production in Upper Mesopotamia with a specific focus on Early Bronze Age urban settlements. In return, the variation in production is used to explore stability of urban settlement systems. The organization of the flow of agricultural goods is the key to sustaining the total settlement system.

The vulnerability of a settlement system increases due to the increased demand for more output from agricultural lands. This demand is the key for the success of urbanization project. However, without estimating how many foodstuffs were available at the end of a production …

Illinois State, May 2013, Illinois State University, University Marketing And Communications

State: The Magazine of Illinois State University (1999-present)

Illinois State University alumni magazine

What Privacy Is For, Julie E. Cohen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Privacy has an image problem. Over and over again, regardless of the forum in which it is debated, it is cast as old-fashioned at best and downright harmful at worst — anti-progressive, overly costly, and inimical to the welfare of the body politic. Yet the perception of privacy as antiquated and socially retrograde is wrong. It is the result of a conceptual inversion that relates to the way in which the purpose of privacy has been conceived. Like the broader tradition of liberal political theory within which it is situated, legal scholarship has conceptualized privacy as a form of protection …

Newsroom, Georgia Southern University

Newsroom (2006-2023)

• X-rays reveal Civil War artifacts at Camp Lawton