Digital Commons Network^™

`Roaming In The Garden Of Freedom:' Constructions Of U.S. Ideology, Identity, And The Past In Television News's Anniversary Coverage About The Berlin Wall, Rachel Eve Somerstein

Dissertations - ALL

This study employs a multimodal close reading to examine and compare how NBC's Nightly News and various primetime CNN news shows construct the story of the Berlin Wall's opening from 1990 through 2009. It does so first by examining the networks' 1989 coverage and assessing the themes and ideologies circulated when the Berlin Wall's opening was breaking news. These themes and ideologies are used as a baseline to assess anniversary coverage that aired from 1990 through 2009. In the process of this close reading, special attention is paid to silences and omissions amid itin images and spoken discourses; the circulation …

Selling Tradition: Impression Management And Draft Animal Agriculture Of A Mississippi Farmstead, Matthew Corbin Lance

Master's Theses

This thesis is a case study of a family of farmers in Mississippi’s Piney Woods who use horse-drawn equipment to grow crops. This practice is notable in the context of a larger agricultural system that prioritizes mechanization (particularly the use of tractors). The production style and their use of local direct selling via farmers markets allowed them to thrive economically because they were able to tap into a niche market of consumers desiring an alternative to the modern, conventional agricultural system.

Other literature on Alternative Food Networks (AFN) discusses the issues of alterity and appropriation—that is, whether AFN ventures are …

The Effects Of The Nat Turner Slave Revolt On The Health And Welfare Of 19th-Century Slaves In Southeastern Virginia, Jeffrey Clifford Auerbach

Master's Theses

The Nat Turner Slave Revolt stands as a major turning point in the history of American slavery and represents a fundamental shift in the master slave relationship. This event shattered the previous paternalistic view and caused a fundamental reorganization of slave life. Included in this reorganization was a shift in the subsistence practice, moving away from morenutritious food grown by the slaves themselves to poor quality rations provided by the masters. This change in subsistence practices dealt a serious blow to the nutritional health of those living in the area surrounding the revolt.

By examining stature recorded in the County …

Utilization Of Savings And Credit By Household Characteristics In Uganda And The Implications For Linkage Banking Programs, Kathryn Oswald

All Theses

The objectives of this thesis are to 1) estimate the overall distributions of household characteristics, 2) estimate the overall distributions of access to savings and credit products, and 3) determine the relationship between household characteristics and access to savings and credit products from various formal, semi-formal, and informal institution types. The goal of this thesis is to provide a direction for future linkage banking programs by finding which household characteristics should be targeted by this type of program. Panel data published by World Bank from the Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS) collected in 2005/06 and the Uganda National Panel Survey …

An Evaluation Of The Efficacy Of Self-Regulated Strategy Development (Srsd) On Improving Freshman College Students' Writing Abilities, Monica R. Chenard Psyd

All Student Scholarship

The purpose of this dissertation is to describe a doctoral research study designed to implement Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) writing revision strategies, delivered in a completely online format, for college students. There is an insignificant amount of empirical research that has been conducted supporting writing interventions for college students. Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) is a writing intervention for which a significant amount of empirical research has been conducted in regards to its efficacy in elementary, middle, and high schools, with results showing positive effects for students of all ages. SRSD has features that lend itself to web-based interventions as well. …

The Effects Of Perceived Gender Coaching Styles Of Female Coaches On Extrinsic Motivation Of Female Athletes On Team Sports, Cameron Sitler

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study investigated the effect of perceived gender coaching style and gender stereotypes on the extrinsic motivation of female athletes. A t-test was utilized, with Masculine and feminine coaching styles as independent variables. The research question asked whether female athlete’s extrinsic motivation could be affect based on the type of gender coaching style used by female head coaches. H1 predicted that a masculine coaching style, respectively, would negatively influence the extrinsic motivation of female athletes. Fifty-four college female athletes filled out an online survey consisting of The Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) (Pelletier, Fortier, Vallerand, Tuson, Biere, and Blaise, 1995) and …

A Historical Analysis Of The Reasoning And Rationale Behind The Federal Prohibition Of Marijuana, Carlos Caro

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This thesis argues that the federal government first created and then maintained the prohibition of marijuana as a reflection of and reaction to, social, political and economic events happening at large in the U.S. and abroad. This thesis primarily compares and contrasts the treatment of marijuana by the federal government and society at large during the 1930s through the early 1980s by building upon scholars’ previous links to race, ethnicity, class and morality to display a pattern of change that was convenient to the federal government’s continued efforts to prohibit marijuana. This thesis demonstrates that changes in attitude and perception …

University Response To The Dear Colleague Letter On Sexual Violence: A Case Study, Kimberly Poole

All Dissertations

Sexual violence at institutions of higher education has been a problem of concern for several decades. In April 2011, the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights issued the Dear Colleague Letter on sexual violence. This document offered guidance and recommendations to schools on ways to educate about and respond to sexual harassment including sexual violence. Since its release there has been limited research on its impact and university response. The purpose of this study was to learn more about one institution's administrators' response to the Dear Colleague Letter on sexual violence. A case study design was used to complete …

Transnational Historical Fiction In A Postsecular Age: A Study Of The Spiritual Theses In The Works Of Luis Alberto Urrea And Bahiyyih Nakhjavani, Mary Anna Sobhani

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study, employing a postsecular theoretical prism, analyzes the spiritual theses given expression through the historical fiction of Mexican-American, or Chicano, author Luis Alberto Urrea and exiled Persian Bahá'í author Bahiyyih Nakhjavani. This study examines three novels: Nakhjavani's The Woman Who Read Too Much, Urrea's The Hummingbird's Daughter, and its sequel Queen of America. These novels express world-views in which the spiritual has particular importance, not as a supersession of quotidian reality but in an integral partnership with it, the baseline upon which postsecular thought is built. This study concludes that such an expression of world-views signals towards …

August 2014 Commencement Program, Bowling Green State University

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Stand Your Ground Law: How Can A Ucf Student's Fear Of Crime Affect Their Opinion Of The Law And What Variables Affect The Student's Level Of Fear Of Crime?, Kelly Duckworth

HIM 1990-2015

A person's level of fear of crime or even their perceived fear of crime can affect how they view the Stand Your Ground Law and whether it is seen as beneficial or harmful to the general public. I begin with a discussion of the Stand Your Ground Law. Next, I report on research that examines the fear of crime and how it may shape opinions on the law as well as an individual’s level of fear. My research explores the relationship of these variables using survey data. I examine the attitudes of college students regarding their fear of crime to …

Examining Student Perceptions: Ethics And Misconduct In Today's Police Department, William Andrew Davis

Master's Theses

Police ethics and decision making are issues of concern to both academic scholars and police leaders. While previous studies have focused on perceptions of police officers, little research has focused on the perceptions of young people about police ethical decision-making. This study aims to capture such perceptions from a cohort of college students majoring in criminal justice. Students from an undergraduate criminal justice program (n=263) were surveyed to determine their attitudes toward various ethical components of police work, including the prevalence of misconduct and the impact of a college education on ethical decision-making. Moreover, the effect of successful completion of …

Coming To America: The Business Of Trafficked Workers, Valerie Francisco, Robyn Rodriguez

Faculty Publications, Sociology

The expansion of the United States’ current guest worker program is one policy measure that both political parties have agreed on in the immigration debate yet there continues to be a paucity of research on the experiences of migrants, many of whom are Asian, who enter the U.S. through the existing program. This paper examines the experiences of Asian guest workers with a focus on guest workers from the Philippines. Filipino migrants are an especially good case study for examining the United States’ guest worker program because the Philippines was amongst the top 5 countries supplying workers to the U.S. …

Putting The Microscope On Crime Labs: The Effects Of Evidence Complexity And Laboratory Type On Jurors' Perceptions Of Forensic Evidence, Miliaikeala S.J. Heen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An experiment was conducted to test the effects of evidence complexity and laboratory type on jurors' perceptions of forensic evidence. The study specifically focused on three types of labs: public labs, private labs, and "corporate labs." Public labs are managed by a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency, where evidence is usually analyzed internally at an agency. Private labs are those that have been formed as private businesses to provide services to federal, state, and local crime labs with overflow work. Corporate labs are managed by major retail corporations, and primarily service the needs of their store businesses, but …

An Exploration Of Object And Scientific Skills-Based Strategies For Teaching Archaeology In A Museum Setting, Candice L. Cravins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A pilot study conducted at the Utah State University Museum of Anthropology explores the most engaging strategies for teaching archaeology to children in a museum setting. During a week-long summer workshop event in June 2013, two styles or modes of teaching archaeology were contrasted and evaluated: object-based teaching and scientific-skills based teaching. The teaching styles are evaluated based on third and fourth grade students' level of excitement and engagement with various archaeology activities - which activities are the most interesting and engaging to children while they are in the museum? The first mode of teaching archaeology focuses on object-based learning. …

Gender, Humor And Quality Of Life In Workplace Sitcoms: A Content Analysis Examining Agency In Post-Recession Situation Comedies, Gwendolyn Logan Bost

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study used content analysis to analyze gender representations in post-recession workplace sitcoms using a typology developed using Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. 100 episodes of programming were analyzed by five graduate researchers for a total of 2579 cases. Though men dominated the sample, results were dissimilar from previous findings within some of the literature on televised representations of gender. Findings indicated that need type for most commonly expressed needs were split fairly evenly by gender, but that less expressed needs were more polarized with regard to gender representation. Women also met their own needs more than men did, and had …

2014 Life In Hampton Roads Survey, Part 5: Sea Level Rise And Environmental Risks, Public Affairs & News Bureau, Old Dominion University

News Items

[Introductory paragraphs]

The 2014 Life in Hampton Roads survey, conducted by the Old Dominion University Social Science Research Center (SSRC), contained an extensive battery of questions to determine how people in Hampton Roads felt about several environmental issues, with a major focus on sea level rise and flooding.

In all, 853 residents of Hampton Roads were interviewed over landline and cellular telephones for the fifth annual Life in Hampton Roads survey that was released this week in five parts.

The survey is designed to peer into social and economic indicators of quality of life in the region, with particular focus …

Liminal River: Art, Agency And Cultural Transformation Along The Protohistoric Arkansas River, Leslie Walker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For nearly a century, ceramic vessels looted from Protohistoric Native American Graves in the Central Arkansas River Valley have raised questions about the ethnic identity of the inhabitants of the region and their relationship to their neighbors in time and space. This analysis combines careful documentation of 1198 of these vessels with excavated sherds and other data from the Carden Bottoms site (3YE0025) and adjacent rock art sites in the Arkansas River Valley to provide a context for these vessels and, in so doing, defines the Dardenne Style of artistic production. Comparing motifs, and the manner in which they are …

Balance And Power In Older Adults With And Without A History Of Falls, Stephanie Michelle Gray

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to observe the differences between power and balance in older adults over the age of 65 with and without falls. A total of 62 community dwelling older adults between the ages of 65 and 92 participated in the study. Two groups consisted of 25 fallers and 37 non-fallers. No statistical differences were found between groups on age, height, weight, or BMI. Testing included the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) to test balance, the Tendo Weightlifting Analyzer (TWA) during a sit-to-stand to test lower body power, and the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) to …

Male Privilege, Sexual Double Standard, And Sexual Scripts: College Students' Perceptions And Influences Of Hooking Up, Mary Ellen Hunt

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Approximately three-fourths of young adults in college hook up at least once by their senior year (i.e., engage in a casual sexual encounter outside the context of a committed relationship). There are important gender differences which may inform how men and women conceptualize hooking up. Men and women may have different predictors of interest, expectations of sex, or attitudes toward sex. These gender differences are likely culturally constructed by the sexual double standard and traditional sexual scripts which project men to be the aggressive sexual initiators who want sex all the time, and women to be passive gatekeepers who desire …

Disturbance And Clonal Reproduction Determine Liana Distribution And Maintain Liana Diversity In A Tropical Forest, Alicia Ledo, Stefan A. Schnitzer

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Negative density dependence (NDD) and habitat specialization have received strong empirical support as mechanisms that explain tree species diversity maintenance and distribution in tropical forests. In contrast, disturbance appears to play only a minor role. Previous studies have rarely examined the relative strengths of these diversity maintenance mechanisms concurrently, and few studies have included plant groups other than trees. Here we used a large, spatially explicit data set from Barro Colorado Island, Panama (BCI) to test whether liana and tree species distribution patterns are most consistent with NDD, habitat specialization, or disturbance. We found compelling evidence that trees responded to …

Authentic Leadership In Higher Education: Influencing The Development Of Future Leaders, Sherry Fraser

Education Doctoral

Higher education institutions are confronted with, and impacted by critical national and global issues. Economic uncertainties and fiscal failures, increasing demands for tighter checks and balances, and widespread corruption of those in positions of leadership are just a few of these issues. Leadership has a direct impact on how effectively and ethically organizations fulfill their mission, meet their goals, and realize anticipated outcomes. This is particularly true today in the complex and fast-changing context of higher education in the 21st century. This study focused on higher education leadership using quantum and authentic leadership theories as the theoretic foundation. Mixed methods …

Exploring The Essence Of The Civil–Military Gap: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study Of High School Administrators’ Feelings Related To Jrotc, Ulises Miranda Iii

Education Doctoral

JROTC, as a national youth citizenship program, is not being offered equally to students throughout the country. The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological study is to determine how the values and attitudes of high school administrators affect unequal offering of JROTC. Through photo elicitation interviews involving six high school administrators in upstate New York, the study uncovers life experiences that may impact the likelihood of an administrator offering the U.S. Army JROTC program. Participants’ responses revealed several themes. These include: (a) JROTC is identified by a polished military uniform and style, (b) administrators have a large military contact reach and …

How Do College Homeland Security Curricula Prepare Students For Homeland Security?, John G. Comiskey

Education Doctoral

This dissertation analyzed the policies of colleges in the United States as they relate to homeland security curricula. The quantitative study surveyed college homeland security faculty to measure how colleges developed, categorized, and ensured that their homeland security curricula remained current as homeland security needs changed. The findings of this research will help colleges develop common and core homeland security curricula that prepare students for homeland security. The analysis of the survey responses determined that homeland security is an evolving academic discipline. College homeland security curricula were housed in various academic departments, were taught by faculty from various academic disciplines, …

Factors Influencing The Strategic Management Of Graduate Health Care Distance Education Programs: The Search For A Competitive Advantage, Jean-Nicolas Poirier

Education Doctoral

The purpose of the research was to identify and rate the factors that influence the development of a competitive advantage for graduate healthcare distance education programs as perceived by higher education institution administrators. For the purpose of this study, competitive advantage was defined as a benefit held by a higher education institution or program when it develops or acquires a value-creating quality that is not currently implemented by its competitors and is difficult to imitate. It promotes the development of a dominant position in a market. The research was performed using a quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional approach. An electronic survey …

Strengthening A Social Justice Lens For Addictions Practice: Exploration, Reflections, Possibilities And A Challenge To Our Shared Work To Promote Recovery Among The Most Vulnerable, Laura Burney Nissen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Addiction is commonly conceptualized as a personal problem, a family problem, a neighborhood problem, a community problem, and even a social problem. But how might addiction be understood as a social justice problem?

Substance abuse problems, addictions, and addiction treatment and the related preparation of professionals to fill its treatment ranks exist within an ideological and political infrastructure. Issues of social justice are often conspicuously absent as a primary consideration of the experience of people seeking treatment (acknowledging the treatment gap that impacts some people more than others), for communities ravaged by addiction (acknowledging that some communities are affected more …

Accessibility Of Tourism Websites: Attitudes And Behaviors, Filza Armadita

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

While developed countries continue to shape an industry that has somehow become an integral part of the society, it only seems fair that the industry should provide equal access for every member of the society, recouping members of the market that is excluded without notice. The basic tier of service in the web interface is to provide information, before any booking systems and online purchasing (Siegel, 1997). In the travel industry, this basic tier is achieved in many different travel businesses, but consistently in destination marketing websites that solely promotes a tourism destination through delivering information about the specific location. …

The Corrections System Must Make More Accommodations For The Needs Of Motherhood During Incarceration And The Parole Period, Susan Bloom

Theses & Dissertations

While the overall prison population has experienced an unprecedented growth period over the past thirty years, no segment has grown at a faster rate than the female population. Since the majority of female inmates in this country are mothers, it is imperative that the corrections system addresses the unique needs of this subset. This thesis investigates problems women face during the pregnancy period, while in labor and delivery, while their progenies are infants, children and adolescents and reunification issues during the parole period.

The Worship Of Semar: A Claim To "Jus Primordialis", Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

An ethnography of Paguyuban Cahya Buwana (PCB, The Community of the Light of the Universe) at Gunong Srandil, Central Java, a group dedicated to the worship of Semar. The study reveals how a community of Chinese in Central Java has moved beyond limiting ethnic notions such as Peranakan (Chinese born in Indonesia and adopting Indonesian language) and Totok (“newly-arrived” and retaining the Chinese language) to become entirely Javanese through entry into Kejawen (“Javanism”). This entry has been effected through their worship of Semar who has been described as the “father” of the Javanese.

Birth Cohort Changes In The Association Between College Education And Religious Non-Affiliation, Philip Schwadel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This article examines the changing association between higher education and reporting no religious affiliation in the United States. I argue that increases in higher education have led to a decline in the individual-level effect of college education on religious non-affiliation. Results from hierarchical age-period-cohort models using more than three and a half decades of repeated cross-sectional survey data demonstrate that the strong, positive effect of college education on reporti ti ng no religious affiliation declines precipitously across birth cohorts. Specifically, a bachelor’s degree has no effect on non-affiliation by the 1965–69 cohort, and a negative effect for the 1970s cohorts. …