Digital Commons Network^™

The Marketing And Branding Of The Church In America, Joshua David Gregory

Honors Theses

The objective of my thesis is to examine the church and its efforts to market to the consumer-centric society that is America. In the United States, churches have evolved and changed in many ways since our ancestors came to America. In what we call the “Bible Belt,” the area from Texas to Florida, there is a church on nearly every comer. The question becomes “Is variation a necessity?” One might say that all religions offer the same transaction in that they exchange the meaning of life for some investment by the believer (Twitchell, 2004). My intention is to focus specifically …

Is Legal Pragmatism Normative?, Garrett Lane Roberts

Honors Theses

Through the centuries people have been asking pivotal questions regarding law and legality. What is law? How should we interpret it? Who gets to decide? In what follows I will explore these questions in hope of gaining a greater understanding of the American legal system. Specifically, I will argue that legal pragmatism is in fact a normative theory that provides a good method of adjudication. This work will require that I investigate the jurisprudence of Oliver W. Holmes Jr. and modem legal pragmatism. Also, I will highlight some theories of legal realism and natural law theory.

Correlates Of Consistent Condom Use Among Female Entertainment Workers In Shanghai, China: A Repeated Measures Analysis, Xiushi Yang, Guomei Xia

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Female entertainment workers (FEWs) in China are at increased risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, but correlates of their risky sexual behaviour remain poorly understood. Using data from a series of four surveys, this paper employs repeated measures analysis to identify individual and social correlates of consistent condom use among FEWs in Shanghai. Results reveal that both individual cognitive and social influence factors are statistically significant in their bivariate relationships to consistent condom use with a stable or non-stable partner; only prevention motivation and perceived self-efficacy in condom use remain significant in the multiple regressions. When individual and …

Rural-Urban Migration And Mental And Sexual Health: A Case Study In Southwestern China, Xiushi Yang

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Massive rural–urban temporary migration has taken place amid China's rapid economic growth and development. Much has been written about the economic causes and consequences of this massive migration; less studied are the potential health and behavioral impacts of migration on migrants. Using data from a population-based sample survey conducted in southwestern China, this paper examines the potential impact of rural–urban migration and post-migration urban living on migrants' mental health and sexual risk behavior. The results suggest that regardless of places of origin and destination temporary migrants had on average poorer mental health and riskier sexual behavior than non-migrants. Compared to …

Latino-Indigenous Influence On U.S. Catholicism In Demetria Martínez's Confessions Of A Berlitz-Tape Chicana, Elizabeth Coonrod Martínez

Diálogo

The ideas presented by New Mexico novelist-writer Demetria Martínez in her collection of columns, Confessions of a Berlitz-tape Chicana, explore how she espouses and represents Latino Catholicism, applied as a practice rooted in indigenous culture merged with Catholic imagery during the colonial era. Her writing and stances indicate that Latino Catholicism is built on principles of community and social justice. Critical commentary is drawn from Chicana/o writers and recent texts on Mexican-American spirituality.

Vatos Sagrados: Cursillo And A Midwestern Catholic Borderlands, Adrian Bautista

Diálogo

This article uses a gendered religious borderlands perspective to analyze the Cursillo experiences of Latino Catholic deacons in the Diocese of Cleveland (OH) and the Diocese of Toledo (OH), who trace their family histories to Texas, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. By considering experiences of religious ecstasy, male social bonding, and spiritual activism as a result of Cursillo participation, this article attempts to provide insights into the complex relationships among gender, race, and religion. Joining other recent scholars who have conducted intellectual inquiries toward gendered borderlands literature, my drawing, based on semi-structured interviews and archival research, attempts to demonstrate the significance …

Players: Gender And Sexuality In The Universe Of Don Delillo, Alexandria Nicole Tidwell

Honors Theses

This project considers Don DeLillo’s body of work (specifically the texts Cosmopolis, Players, White Noise and Libra) in terms of gender and sexuality, two areas often overlooked by the current body of scholarship on the writer. My analysis is informed by contemporary queer theory — that is to say, an assumption of the constructed nature of gender and sexual difference runs through the work. I begin by defining two intertextual systems at work within (My first chapter deals with the capitalist system of Cosmopolis and Players, a closed network serving to mirror and critique modernist assumptions; and my second chapter …

Memphis Carnival Traditions: Maintaining Identity In A Changing Society, Katherine Hitt Kenwright

Honors Theses

The Memphis Cotton Carnival began in 1931 as a way to use the main product of Memphis—cotton—to bring the city out of the Great Depression. Through various incarnations, Carnival has endured and today stands as one of the longest-standing traditions in the city. Its founders envisioned a meeting of the minds of the city's industry leaders accompanied by a series of events as a celebration for Memphis residents, as well as a way to increase tourism in the city. Cotton Carnival and Cotton Maker's jubilee, a celebration started in 1935 for the African American community in Memphis, have changed and …

Creating Knowledge, Volume 6, 2013

Creating Knowledge

It is my great pleasure to introduce the sixth volume of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences’ “Creating Knowledge,” our undergraduate student scholarship and research journal. First published in 2008, the journal is the outcome of an initiative to enhance and enrich the academic quality of the student experience within the college. Through this publication, the college seeks to encourage students to become actively engaged in creating scholarship and research and gives them a venue for the publication of their essays.

This sixth volume is, however, unlike the previous ones in one major respect: the papers in this …

Neuroticism As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Family History Of Drinking Problems And College Alcohol Use, Pahul Hanjra, Arden Moscati, James Clifford, Amy Adkins, Danielle Dick

UROP Posters

Literature has long suggested a correlation between family history and alcohol dependence; heredity plays a role in risk for alcohol dependence. To investigate the influence of the personality trait neuroticism as a moderating factor of the relationship between family history of alcohol dependence, and an individual’s alcohol consumption, analyses were conducted in the Fall 2011 Spit for Science cohort. Survey questions examined the binary variable of whether participants reported a family history of drinking problems, as well as the continuous variable measuring the number of alcoholic drinks participants had consumed in the past 30 days. There were a total of …

How Important Is Being "Liked"? The Relation Between Facebook Use And Well-Being, Lauren Oglesby, Allison Crowley, Prachi Desai, Jhaminique Lynwood, Meredith Murgia, Kelsey Richardson

UROP Posters

Facebook is used by approximately 1.06 billion(Craig,2013) to keep in touch with family and friends. However, the question remains whether Facebook is helpful or harmful to people’s well being. According to a research study conducted by Gonzales and Hancock (2010), Facebook use enhances self-esteem by providing multiple opportunities for selective self-presentation through photos and personal details. Another research study by Twenge, Freeman and Campbell (2012) found that participants who spent time on social network sites endorsed more positive self-views. While some research indicates that Facebook has a positive effect on the user other studies suggest that Facebook use is detrimental. …

The Narcissistic Teammate: Effects Of Narcissistic Subtypes On Self-Serving Attributional Biases, Ashley Brown

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"The self-serving attributional bias in collaborative group efforts is the tendency for individuals to take more personal responsibility for the group's success and less personal responsibility for the group's failure. Much previous research has linked narcissism with self-serving behavior. Narcissism can be broken down into the grandiose subtype, characterized by superiority and entitlement, and the vulnerable subtype, characterized by low self-esteem and preoccupation with others' opinions. The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether grandiose and vulnerable narcissists engage in self- serving behavior differently in various situations. College students completed a team activity, which involved completing cognitive tasks …

The Effects Of Social Media On Fashion Consumption, Sydney Mccarthy

Honors Theses

The fashion industry, like most business in general, has been heavily impacted in recent years by the introduction of online social media. Social media has changed the way in which people not only communicate, but also how firms advertise and reach their consumer. The purpose of this research was to explore the ways social media impacts fashion consumption, specifically among the female, college-age demographic. Secondary research was used in the initial stages of the process to gather information prior to conducting primary research. Both qualitative and quantitative research was then conducted. The primary method for collecting qualitative data was personal …

Shame On You: How Media Affects The Formation Of Negative Body Image In Adolescent Women, Brittany Lee Cosenza

Honors Theses

The culturally accepted body ideal is grov^dng increasingly thinner. Youns women seem to be particularly susceptible to an internalization of this ideal throuah media exposure. This susceptibility led me to explore the relationship between media exposure and negative body image. After examining a plethora of literature on the subject, I discovered that body dissatisfaction seems to have become the societal norm for adolescent girls. Images of women in the media have become a source of comparison that often results in a discrepancy betv^^een actual physical body t>T?e and the idealized body type. Objectification theory^ explains how media may lead …

An Exploratory Study Of Automated Tools To Support Scrum-Based Project Management In Agile Software Development Teams, Nirmal Dharmaratne

Honors Theses

The growing use of Agile Methodologies for project management has led many organizations to utilize agile-based project management tools. This thesis explores areas for improvement in project management tools for software development teams using the Scrum methodology. A qualitative research method was used to gain insight on the users' satisfaction and possible new utilities to create that would complement the OnTime Scrum project management tool. This paper further describes the methods and experiences encountered in the designing and implementation of a Work Breakdown Structure website tool that was selected as a utility to support project management.

Gender, Sexuality, And Music Education, Jordan Wesley Tippitt

Honors Theses

Abstract: This thesis was written to study how inequalities of gender and sexuality reveal themselves in music education. I wanted to study gender and sexuality as a social construct to better understand how these groups have an effect on the music education experience. I found that music education is lagging behind most other academic subjects in understanding gender/sexuality; furthermore, the discipline does not seem to be heading in the right direction. I found it tremendously difficult to find any queer theory literature based around music education. After my research I concluded that in its current state, music education is not …

Thematic Transformation In The Operas Of Francis Poulenc: Gender, Spiritual, And Psychological, Elizabeth Brooks Bruening

Honors Theses

Although Francis Poulenc is perhaps best known for his one hundred and fifty contributions to the genre of French art song, melodie, this study focuses on his mere three operatic compositions. This work illustrates and analyzes the theme of transformation within each of Francis Poulenc’s three operatic compositions: gender transformation of Les Mamelles des Tiresias (1944), spiritual transformation of Dialogues des Carmelites (1953), and psychological transformation of La Voix humaine (1959). Research was conducted through viewing each production and studying its musical score and libretto. Published works ranging from scholarly articles to Poulenc’s personal journal were consulted in order to …

The Art Of Peking Opera: Chinese And European Operatic Traditions: Commonalities And Divergences, Portia Nicole Davis

Honors Theses

Peking opera is an art form that combines music, singing, dancing, acting, and acrobatics. The skill necessary for performance is shown through the vigorous training required of the actors that portray characters on stage. A study of Peking opera’s history allows a better understanding of the developments and changes that have occurred to make Peking opera what it is today. Peking opera’s costuming and makeup, stylized movements, and stage presence set it apart from other Chinese art forms and operas that one could see around the world today. One major development of Peking opera occurred during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). …

The Refuge Of Fools, Merrill Lee Girardeau

Honors Theses

The main character of The Refitge of Fools, Mar>’ Canon Israel, resembles H.L. Mencken's iconoclast. Mencken v\Tites that an iconoclast uses an instinct that supersedes the logic of religion, a logic he calls "the refuge of fools." Known as M.C., Mar\- Canon attends a private Christian high school in the South. Instinct acute, however, she regards the "God concept" with extreme suspicion. The Refuge of Fools visits her junior year of high school, each chapter taken from a month of that year. Her lifelong friend Palmer wants to change the nature of their friendship but cannot decide whether to …

Millions Of Owners, Not Hundreds Of Millionaires: An Analysis Of The Middle Class As A Requisite Condition For Democracy In Contemporary Russia, Isaac Alan Lichlyter

Honors Theses

Building on Lipset's modernization theory, this thesis makes the argument that a robust, independent middle class is vital for the long term sustenance of liberal democracy in Russia. Following a discussion of scholarly literature on what constitutes democracy and the middle class, a historical analysis compares and contrasts the trajectories of the middle class and democracy in Russia from the late-Soviet Era to the present, This thesis draws on public opinion polling, media reports (both Russian and foreign), and scholarly works to perform a mixed qualitative and quantitative analysis to show that middle class Russians provide the most reliable base …

When Cultures Collide: A Comparative Study Of The Culinary Cultures Of Uruguay And The Lebanese Community In The Mississippi Delta, Claire Nicola Reid

Honors Theses

Every world culture defines itself differently through the application of similar qualifying processes. Gastronomy is an important one of these processes. This thesis aims to explain how food both aids in and exists as a reflection of cultural identity by asking these questions: What are the specifics of how gastronomical processes are applied in Uruguay and the Mississippi Delta? Do the two regions share similar cultural identification structures? If so, in what ways are they similar, and what do these similarities mean in the context of identity construction? In doing this, | aim to explain why culinary practices, more so …

An Investigation Of The Green Grove Initiative, Haley Brooke Kesterson

Honors Theses

Game days, particularly football game days, at division one universities generate a great deal of waste. At the University of Mississippi, the amount of waste generated on home football game Saturdays has been increasing. Increasing recycling by spectators may decrease the amount of waste generated and reduce the negative environmental impact of game days. The purpose of this case study was to explore the development and evaluation of interventions that may be effective for increasing recycling behaviors. Various interventions were implemented at each game of the 2012 season. Recyclables were collected and waste was measured following each game. Games with …

The Same But Different. Negotiating Cultural Identities By Migrant Children In Irish Mainstream Classrooms, Svetlana Eriksson

Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies

This article looks at peer dynamics in the mainstream classroom to explore the ways Russian-speaking children/adolescents in Ireland negotiate their cultural identities and their otherness outside the home. The article presents the analysis of semi-structured interviews with thirty parents and their children between 10 and 18 years of age from Russian-speaking families from Russia and Latvia. The participants dwell on how comfortable they feel at Irish schools and what factors impact their feeling of sameness/otherness. The interviews with both generations contribute to creating a multi-dimensional picture which reveals that the perspectives of the agents involved in this study are not …

A Collaborative Social Computing Model For Transdisciplinary Problem Solving, Jerry Allen Higgs

All ETDs from UAB

The capacity to address and solve today's complex problems is becoming exceedingly more difficult because of the transdisciplinary nature of our current system of knowledge. Innovative solutions are no longer the by-products of centralized offices and laboratories. In fact, crafting solutions for truly complex problems requires a collaborative sharing of knowledge that transcends the artificial boundaries of departmentalized offices and research facilities. For decades, segmented information systems built on distributed platforms have kept transdisciplinary problem solving fragmented, without the ability to effectively share knowledge or data. This segmentation has stifled the progress of research reaching beyond the traditional boundaries of …

Interracial Couple Status In Relation To Birth Outcomes Among Singleton Infants Born To U.S. Resident Mothers, 2004-2008., Su Jin Jeong

All ETDs from UAB

Due to the growing trend in interracial marriages in the United States, the issue of birth outcomes to infants born to such couples deserves more attention and examination. The purpose of this population-based, cross-sectional, observational study is to examine the association between interracial couple status and birth outcomes (i.e. low birth weight, very low birth weight, preterm birth, very preterm birth, small for gestational age) among singleton infants delivered in the United States. Interracial couples are defined as those in a relationship who are not of the same race or ethnic designation. Non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, Asian, Chinese, Filipino, …

Predictors Of Falls Among Older Adults, Jaspreet Kaur

All ETDs from UAB

With an aging population, more attention has to be focused on the needs of older adults, especially regarding medical and psychological concerns. Thirty-three percent of older adults fall each year, and falling is one of the leading causes of accidental death nationwide. The objective of this study was to identify predictors of falls among sedentary community-dwelling older adults (age 65+). The study employed a secondary data analysis of measures collected in the Physical and Cognitive Exercise Study (PACES). Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate whether individual or composite measures of vision, cognition, and physical functioning were associated with an …

The Effect Of An Intensive Oral Hygiene Regimen On Gingival Inflammation During Pregnancy: Clinical And Laboratory Analysis, Maninder Kaur

All ETDs from UAB

Background: Recent evidence suggests that systemic inflammation as host immune response to oral microbial challenge may well underlie the observed association between periodontal disease and preterm birth/low birth weight (PTB/LBW). The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the effect of vigorous oral hygiene regimen on gingival inflammation and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF)/serum biomarkers (TNF-&alpha, IL-1&beta and IL-6) during pregnancy and its impact on pregnancy outcome. Methods: 120 participants with pregnancy between 16-24 weeks gestation and with gingival index (GI) scores &ge 2 at &ge 50 % of tooth sites were recruited from the available pool of patients at …

Use Of Social Ecology And Mixed Methods Research To Develop An Instrument To Assess Determinants Of Hiv/Sti Risk Among A Young Adult Population, Lasonja Bonita Kennedy

All ETDs from UAB

Globally, 340 million people are affected by HIV/AIDS. Approximately 50,000 are newly infected within the United States each year with HIV. One in five of those infected is unaware of his/her status. Young adults are particularly impacted by the disease; 39% of new HIV infections are diagnosed in individuals between the ages of 13 and 29. To comprehensively examine the independent and interrelated determinants of HIV/STI risks among young adults, the researcher developed, validated, and psychometrically examined a self-report instrument guided by constructs from the Social Ecological Model (SEM). Development and validation of the content within the survey was conducted …

Hard On Your Heart: A Qualitative Description Of Adolescent Prenatal Stress, Candace Clayton Knight

All ETDs from UAB

Introduction: Pregnancy during adolescence is potentially stressful due to the concurrent tasks of navigating the typically tumultuous adolescent stage of development and the life altering experience of pregnancy (Kaye, 2008). There is a growing body of research linking prenatal stress to poor birth and developmental outcomes such as premature birth and low birth weight infants (K. Keenan, Sheffield, & Boeldt, 2007; Mulder et al., 2002), which makes describing the relatively unexplored perceptions and experience of stress during adolescent pregnancy important. The life course framework, with its emphasis on social, environmental, and family risk factors, has implications for reducing disparities among …

Parenting And Parole: The Effects Of Incarceration On Motherhood, Latoya Ledyard

All ETDs from UAB

The female prison population is the fastest growing prison population in the United States. The rise in female incarceration over the past several years has become a growing concern partly due to the damaging effects on the family; a phenomenon largely attributed to mandatory sentencing guidelines and gender-neutral policies. Research literature on the unique challenges faced by parenting women and the development of reentry programs that foster family reunification has emerged in recent years, but there is still much work to be done. Using in-depth interviews with 14 residents of a transitional center for women in Alabama, I seek to …