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Factors That Influence The Effective Number Of Political Parties In Southeast Asian Countries, Sagung M. Kertayuda

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the factors that influence the effective number of political parties in five Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand. Specifically, it will examine the association between the number of political parties as the dependent variable and the three independent variables, which are the electoral system; the social, religious and ethnic cleavages; and the role of patron-client relationships. This research is an attempt to provide a cross-sectional study of Southeast Asian political parties with an aim to uncover an explanation for the variance in the number of political parties found in the region. Specifically, the …

Food Sovereignty, Food Security, And Community Gardens In Rockford, Il, Walter William Furness

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Urban agriculture projects seek to ameliorate issues of food access and food sovereignty for people living in areas with low access to fresh foods, including food deserts. Within this discourse, community gardens have been promoted as vehicles to reclaim unused urban space, produce food locally, and connect populations to their food sources and larger community. A variety of community garden models exist, and the efficacy of different models is the subject of some debate. In Rockford, many community gardens grow food for donation to food pantries as part of a program to benefit socioeconomically disadvantaged persons in the city. However, …

Impression Management, Super Pacs, And The 2012 Republican Primaries, Nathan Katz

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Super Political Action Committees (PACs) are relatively new organizations within American politics that allow individuals to donate unlimited funds to campaign causes. This was particularly noticeable during the 2012 Republican primary, which was one of the most well-funded primaries in American history. One of the ways both candidates and Super PACs spend their money is for the production of campaign ads to develop candidate images. These advertisements contribute to a political impression management that develops candidate performances. I have used the Symbolic Interactionist perspective for this study because the theory states that the images or presentations of individuals are continuously …

Improvisation In Organizational Development : Basic Interpretive Examination Of The Improviser Facilitator In Corporate Training And Development, Nicole Annette Buras

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of trained improviser facilitators who are members of the Midwestern Improvisational Community and who utilize improvisational strategies in corporate training and development programs. The improvisers' experiences examined include their development, implementation, and evaluation of improv incorporated into corporate training and development. The conceptual framework drew from literature on improvisation, adult learning, and workplace learning. Extensive improv practitioner texts exist in performance arts and within corporate training and development; however, limited research exists surrounding improvisers' experiences employing improvisational philosophies and strategies in workplace learning.;This study employed a basic interpretive qualitative approach. …

La Musica Y El Cine Durante La Movida Madrilena Como Un Movimiento Politico Y Cultural, Salvador Macias

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The research I have done for this thesis is about the songs and movies that were created during la Movida madrilena during the decades of the seventies and eighties, and how this art served as an influence for those Spaniards who wanted to live with more freedom. In this thesis I analyze lyrics, as well as movies from the most predominant artist of that time; artists such as Alaska, Miguel Bose, Nacha Pop, Hombres G, Mecano, or the great film maker Pedro Almodovar, amongst other ones, are the ones in which I focused my research. Seeing these arts up close …

Portable Responsive Instructional Materials 1957 To 1982 : A Historical Content Analysis Using Failure Mode And Effect Analysis, Bettylynne F. Gregg

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This historical content analysis study examined portable responsive instructional materials used by United States teachers and students in primary, secondary, and higher education instructional settings for the period of 1957 through 1982---the beginning of the space race with the stimulus of educational funding from the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) to the introduction of classroom computers into the mainstream education population. During this period, a plethora of instructional materials was implemented in classrooms, which supported the audiovisual movement to improve performance and knowledge. This study focused on the pedagogical and functional uses of instructional materials from the specified period of …

Teac 921b: Seminar In Literacy Studies (Special Topics: Schooling And The Multilingual Mind)—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Theresa Catalano

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio will document the creation and implementation of a new doctoral seminar in my department. This introductory course to multilingualism and schooling (TEAC 921B) will cover topics related to teaching and learning in the multilingual classroom. The key goals for creating this portfolio are to aid me in creating this new doctoral seminar that reflects and builds on departmental goals for graduate students. In particular I would like to document and address the implementation of two new activities to my teaching ; a language study/journal, and the creation of a documentary film. I foresee using this course portfolio as …

Critique And Transformation: On The Hypothetical Nature Of Ecosystem Service Value And Its Neo-Marxist, Liberal And Pragmatist Criticisms, Andony P. Melathopoulos, Alex Stoner

Journal Articles

Ecosystem service valuation (ESV) attempts to transform the opposition of human economic necessity and ecological conservation by valuing the latter in terms of the services rendered by the former. However, despite a number of ESV-inspired sustainability initiatives since the 1990s, global ecological degradation continues to accelerate. This suggests that ESV has fallen far short of its goals of sustainable social transformation—a failure which has generated considerable criticism. This paper reviews three prominent lines of ESV criticism: 1) the neo-Marxist criticism, which emphasizes the “fictitious” character of ecosystem commodities; 2) the liberal criticism through Friedrich Hayek's concept “scientistic objectivism”; and 3) …

Discovery Islands, Earth Islands: The Theory And Practice Of Island Imagery In Environmental Thought, Naomi A. Bosch

Pomona Senior Theses

Earth Island is a core metaphor of activist thought often applied in Environmental Analysis and related fields as a tool for thinking about the planet’s limited resources. It puts forth the claim that if only we thought of the earth as more like an island, we would better understand our connectivity to other living things and be drawn to develop better and more extensive practices of environmental stewardship. This thesis uses personal accounts of environmental life philosophies and political practices collected from residents of the Discovery Islands in British Columbia as a site for analytical comparison between the theory and …

And I Heard 'Em Say: Listening To The Black Prophetic, Cameron J. Cook

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis aims to explore how conceptions of the black prophetic tradition, as discussed by thinkers Cornel West and George Shulman, might be expanded into the realm of African American musical traditions and genres. I argue that musical genres like the blues and hip-hop function as an affective discourse that aesthetically, politically and religiously function as sites of resistance to white supremacy and provide alternate pathways to liberation as compared to more canonical instantiations of the black prophetic. In particular I provide close readings of performances and art by Nina Simone and Kanye West.

U.S. Tax Imperialism, Diane Lourdes Dick

Faculty Articles

This article uses historical and legal analysis to demonstrate how U.S. domination over Puerto Rico's tax and fiscal policies has been the centerpiece of a colonial system and an especially destructive form of economic imperialism. Specifically, this article develops a novel theory of U.S. tax imperialism in Puerto Rico, chronicling the sundry ways in which the United States has used tax laws to exert economic dominance over its less developed island colony. During the colonial period, U.S. officials wrote and revised Puerto Rican tax laws to serve U.S. economic interests. In more recent years, U.S. tax laws have disadvantaged Puerto …

Stratification Economics And Identity Economics, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

Stratification economics represents an important new approach devoted to explaining economic inequality in terms of how social groups are separated or stratified along economic lines. This paper combines stratification economics with identity economics to address complications that the phenomenon of intersectionality – people having multiple social group identities – creates for stratification economics. It distinguishes two types of social identities recognized by social psychologists, categorical and relational social identities, and uses this distinction to explain how individuals’ personal identities, understood as ordered sets of social identities, can be seen to be both socially and self-constructed. Individuals order and rank their …

Agency And The Process Aspect Of Capability Development: Individual Capabilities, Collective Capabilities, And Collective Intentions, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This paper addresses the process aspect of capability development in connection with the debate in the capability approach over the relationship between individual and collective capabilities by combining Sen’s ‘privateness’ interpretation of different aspects of the self and Granovetter’s social embeddedness framework. It interprets Sen’s commitment aspect of the self in collective intentionality terms, uses this to explain his view of ‘identification with’ social groups, and then uses social identity theory’s distinction between relational and categorical social group identities to explain a general relationship between individual and collective capabilities. The paper applies this analysis to three broad domains of social …

Connections Between Voice And Design In Puppetry: A Case-Study, Ryan Skiles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Puppets have been entertaining, educating, and mesmerizing American audiences since the birth of our nation. Both in live theatrical events and TV/film, audiences have watched puppeteers bring their puppet characters to life with clever voice quality choices, unique characterizations, and vivid visual designs. This thesis is a case study that first borrows insight from cartoon character designers, animators, and voiceover actors to provide considerations for voice quality choices, characterizations, and design elements when creating a new puppet character. It then investigates the connections that exist between those three elements once a puppet is fully realized. In order to identify these …

When Oppressed Women Attack: Female-Enacted Violence Through Minority American Female Playwrights' Works, Kate Busselle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As an Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors, theatrical violence is something that has always captivated me. When a female combat instructor once told me that even though I throw a great punch I will never be able to use it because women are always on the receiving end of violence in theatre, I wondered if this was truly the case. After a thorough exploration of several works with theatrical violence, I am glad to say that it is not the case. When most scholars examine violence in theatre, the focus is either male-centric or specifically on …

An Empirical Investigation Of The Buddhist Concept Of "Not-Self", Christian Herwitz

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

All individuals have notions about how they would likely approach themselves under times of stress, as well as the ways which would be most helpful to them. The present study investigated four broad ways of approaching the self under stressful circumstances: self-esteem, self-control, self-compassion, and not-self. Not-self, a concept based in Buddhist philosophy, is novel to a Western population, and was the primary focus. In order to comprehensively examine the concept, data were collected from 168 undergraduates on responses to stressful circumstances: by bolstering self-esteem, engaging in self-control behaviors, engendering a sense of self-compassion, or accepting/letting go thoughts, feelings, wants, …

We Are Against Socialized Medicine, But What Are We For?: Federal Health Reinsurance, National Health Policy, And The Eisenhower Presidency, Jordan M. Graham

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This project investigates the foundations of post-war health care in the United States by examining the first major proposal for federal involvement in health insurance, after the defeat of national health insurance in 1949. In doing so, this project aims to also illustrate Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency as one of limited liberal, or “Tory,” reform. The majority of primary sources were located at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas. Secondary sources were chosen based on the frequency with which contemporary scholarship continues to rely upon and engage with them.

In the first two chapters, the thesis examines the …

Feminist Identities: Career Choices And Experiences Of College-Educated Women, Kerry Diekmann

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This qualitative study explored how feminism as a social identity impacts how women interpret their career and life experiences. The overarching research question that guided the study was: How do feminist-identified women make sense of their feminist identity, life experiences, and career path? The theoretical framework that provided the lens for the study included feminist, multicultural, intersectionality, and career development theories. Two distinct bodies of literature were reviewed to provide a foundation for the study: (a) women's career development, in particular, the supports and barriers experienced, and (b) feminist identity, including influences to adopting the feminist label and factors associated …

The Fertility Problem Inventory And Infertility-Related Stress: A Case Study, Staci Leigh Born

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

More than seven million people of childbearing age in the United States experience infertility. For women, the experience of infertility is stressful. The Fertility Problem Inventory (FPI) has been used to quantitatively measure women's experience of infertility-related stress. However, the construct of infertility-related stress is poorly described in existing literature. The purpose of this case study was understand how women experience the FPI as a measure of infertility-related stress. To address this issue, women who are undergoing infertility treatment completed the FPI and participated in unstructured interviews. Archival documents were also retrieved to corroborate findings and satisfy saturation. Results indicate …

Through The Looking Glass: Barriers And Coping Mechanisms Encountered By African American Women Presidents At Predominately White Institutions, Maria Louise Baxter-Nuamah

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research is to identify factors (experiences, career paths, and barriers) that influence the career advancement of African American women administrators in higher education. African American women's experiences in higher education are molded by both external factors and internal factors specific to "traditional" social roles within and outside of the university. This qualitative study examines the personal and professional growth of five African American women who rose to executive leadership positions as presidents at predominately white colleges or universities .

There are five main themes in this study. First, African American women who aspire to senior level …

Representing Us All? Race, Gender, And Sexuality In Orange Is The New Black, Michael Robert Chavez

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Orange Is the New Black is a Netflix television series that began in 2013. The series focuses on the lives of inmates in a fictional women's prison. Television series about prison have focused primarily on men in prison. This thesis will expand upon previous research on representation of minorities in television using a feminist media analysis to examine the first season of the series. I will explore how race, gender, and sexuality are represented within the series. I examine the representations of four characters during the first season. I chose these four characters because they represented different racial groups, sexualities, …

Is The Truth In The Comments? Anti-Feminism And Anti-Immigration In Norwegian Online Newspaper Comment Threads, Iselin Maria Ihrstad

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Norway has implemented many progressive social policies focused on the equality and inclusion of women, as well as immigrant and non-ethnic Norwegian individuals due to a commitment to state feminism. Yet recently it seems to be a number of anti-feminist and some anti-immigration stances expressed through online discussion threads. In order to highlight and explore the presence of a backlash against feminism and immigration in Norway, this study conducts a feminist textual analysis of online comment threads that follows pro-feminist online opinion pieces published in the two largest newspapers in Norway, Dagbladet and Verdens Gang (VG) published between July 2014 …

Imagen Y Percepción De La Inmigración Ecuatoriana En España, Jesús Calzas Millán

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

In the decade following the Ecuadorian financial crisis of 1988, Spain took in approximately half a million Ecuadorian immigrants. This study analyzes the social consequences of this migratory flow from a very particular point of view: the perspective offered by the mass media and literary works.

Using several reports as well as different newspaper articles and literary works, this project shows how this group has been stigmatized during their stay in the receiving country. The reader will be able to see that this stigmatization comes not only from the fact that it is possible to distinguish the Ecuadorian physically, but …

A Migration Analysis Of Demographic Transitions In The Upper-Midwest From 2006-2010, Andrew Brick

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Rural communities in the Upper-Midwest are essential for contributions to agriculture, oil and development of economic networks to larger towns and cities. Concerning rural population stability and transitions, this research study aims to discover complex migration flows by constructing specified groups of Upper-Midwest regions (i.e., Bakken oil, Taconite iron, high agriculture, developing area of rural depopulation and Interstate 94). Research questions on migrant distributions will be answered by investigating (in-) and (out-) flow data by demographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender and ethnicity) on a county-to-county level. By weighing total demographic populations, a more accurate representation of migration trends called Crude …

Makerspace: The Future Of Music, Anthony L. Paganelli

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Presentation regarding the use of Makerspace in creating and sharing music.

The Drunken Path: Discerning Women's Voices And Participation In The Informal Economy Of Illegal Manufacturing Of Prohibition Alcohol In The Historical And Archaeological Record, Kelli M. Casias

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis puts the Prohibition years in Anaconda and Butte, Montana, into historical, and sociocultural context to discover an engendered narrative of liquor law violators between the years 1923 and 1926 and to investigate the scope of the local informal, illegal, illicit economic systems dictating the distribution of illegal liquor during that era. The transference of the means and modes of production, as envisioned by Karl Marx, and collective social resistance serve as the theoretical frameworks for analysis and examination of three case studies. The first, Poacher Gulch is a remote mining site in western Montana, was the subject of …

Problems Of Teaching Religion In Public Schools In Bulgaria Today: Retrospective And Prospective, Nonka Bogomilova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Decomposing The Wage Gap: Analysis Of The Wage Gap Between Racial And Ethnic Minorities And Whites, Jennifer Kamara

Pepperdine Policy Review

Across the country in big cities, suburbs and rural areas, Blacks and Hispanics earn less in comparison to Whites. The prevalence of the wage gap for racial and ethnic minorities is widely known though the composition of that gap has been up for debate. Using empirical analysis, this paper first investigates the relationship between race and wages then, using Oaxaca Decomposition, decomposes the wage gap for these groups. Weighted regression analysis confirms previous research that indicates Blacks and Hispanics earn significantly less than Whites however decomposition results indicate alternate theories as to the basis of the wage differential. In metro …

Postbaccalaureate Stem Students’ Perceptions Of Their Training: Exploring The Intersection Of Gender And Nativity, Amy Roberson Hayes, Rebecca S. Bigler

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The number of international students in graduate school within STEM fields at US institutions has risen dramatically over the last few decades, whereas the numbers of US women attending graduate school in STEM fields has largely stagnated. These trends suggest the importance of intersectionality to understanding individuals’ pursuit of STEM careers. Here we examined doctoral (N = 270) and postdoctoral (N = 27) students' satisfaction with their graduate training at a large, research focused institution in the US as a function of the intersection of participants’ gender and nativity. Participants completed measures of occupational values, perceived fit of their values …

Adhd And Multiple Intelligences: Does A Pattern Exist?, Kathleen Mettler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has typically been treated with a deficits-based response while most research has ignored any intelligence differences between the subtypes, despite differing symptomology. This quantitative study explored whether or not a distinct pattern of intelligences existed within each of the subtypes or presentations of ADHD: inattentive (IT), hyperactive (HT), and combined (CT). Using Gardner's multiple intelligences theory, data were collected via an online, self-administered survey from a sample of 132 participants, over 18 years of age, with IT, HT, and CT ADHD. The goal was to identify the most predominant of 8 different strengths or intelligences. …