Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating Resilience In Syrian And Jordanian Youth, Rebecca Wener Wener

Public Health Theses

This paper uses baseline data collected from the Child Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM) that was administered to a sample of 603 Jordanian and Syrian adolescents living in Northern Jordan during Fall 2015 as part of a broader evaluation of the impact of a mental health and psychosocial wellbeing intervention. Data were analyzed to 1) determine whether the questionnaire performed according to the 3-factor structure predicted in the literature and 2) explore relationships between CYRM scores, individual, family and contextual factors, and measures of mental health, stress and wellbeing. With some exceptions, the predicted 3-factor structure was found within the Syrian-Jordanian …

Care-Seeking Patterns Among Rural Communities In The Republic Of Congo, Haotian Cai

Public Health Theses

In 2014, a mobile pharmacy project was launched to provide accessible and affordable medicines to Yaka hunter-gatherer communities in the Likouala and Sangha regions of the Republic of Congo. This mixed methods study describes the use of available health services by the minority Yaka and the majority Bantu served by the mobile pharmacy and to compare the health-care seeking behavior among these different communities. Overall, 178 households were surveyed about their utilization of available health services and the order in which they seek health services in the event of illness. To provide context to these responses, 18 key informants were …

Crossing Cultures: A Sicilian And American Family In Western New York, Thomas Macpherson

Geneseo Authors

Crossing Cultures by visual artist Thomas MacPherson is a graphic narrative spanning generations of two immigrant families: one Sicilian and one Scottish.

Unlike most Italian immigrants at the time the author’s family settled in small town America and struggled for acceptance while confronted with local prejudices. The book tells stories of hardships faced by a family at the boundaries of Italian and American cultures, and examines the intersection with German and Scottish Americans as the family married out of the circle of Sicilian immigrants.

Alongside the story of MacPherson’s Sicilian family is the MacPherson’s journey to assimilation and establishment of …

Hands Up: A Systematized Review Of Policing Sex Workers In The U.S., Fabian Luis Fernandez

Public Health Theses

This work lays the foundation for a study of criminalization and its effects on the health of street-based sex workers in the U.S. seeking to: 1) conduct a systematized review of sources from across the country settling on seventeen that describe experiences of harassment, false arrests, theft, physical abuse, sexual assault, HIV criminalization, survival tactics, reporting practices, and positive relations with law enforcement and 2.) compare the U.S. literature to international research, reflecting on the ways that public health researchers remain complicit in sustaining these harmful institutions by failing to consider diversity, the criminalized context of sex work, the links …

"Yeah, I Taught Myself On Youtube": Young Women And Navigating The World Of Traditional Crafting, Emily A. Gardner

Honors Program Theses

In this study I work to understand how US women ages 18 to 24 navigate the world of crafting (e.g., crocheting, knitting, quilting, etc.) and how their motivations and methods may differ from the older women that traditionally inhabit that space. In-person interviews with ten younger women and results from an online mixed methods survey show that young women who participate in crafting show that young women primarily use crafting as a way to cope with stress from school and work, they participate in informal groupings to develop friendships and gain technical crafting insight, and they use internet sites extensively …

The Adolescent Refugee Experience: Cultural Attitudes Of High School Burmese Refugees Living In Iowa, Alexis Helgens

Honors Program Theses

This research seeks to explore the experience of a group of high school refugee students who currently reside in Waterloo, Iowa. At home, the Burmese refugee high school students are surrounded by a rich Burmese culture; they interact with the Burmese language, food, and family. In school, they are surrounded by American systems; English is the only accepted language, and American pop culture is inescapable. With a growing number of refugees entering the country, it is vital to understand the experience and perceptions of developing young adults. Better understanding will facilitate in giving schools and other services tools to equip …

Rights For Resilience: Food Sovereignty, Power, And Resilience In Development Practice, Marygold Walsh-Dilley, Wendy Wolford, James Mccarthy

Geography

Even as resilience thinking becomes evermore popular as part of strategic programming among development and humanitarian organizations, uncertainty about how to define, operationalize, measure, and evaluate resilience for development goals prevails. As a result, many organizations and institutions have undertaken individual, collective, and simultaneous efforts toward clarification and definition. This has opened up a unique opportunity for a rethinking of development practices. The emergent consensus about what resilience means within development practice will have important consequences both for development practitioners and the communities inwhich they work. Incorporating resilience thinking into development practice has the potential to radically transform this arena …

Liberty And Justice For All? : Ethics In The American Criminal Justice System, Haley Hasenstein

Honors Program Theses

The American Bar Association (ABA) claims a commitment to ethics for all that fall under its jurisdiction. As a part of the Bar Exam that lawyers must take to join the Association they are issued a character and fitness test, where some prior misbehavior may disqualify an individual from becoming barred. “Miscarriages of justice” is a common theme among literature about lawyers in the criminal justice system. In this study I will shed light on some of the ethical discrepancies in the legal profession’s values and practice. This study focuses on criminal lawyers’ experiences with personal ethics as well as …

Contrasting American And Chinese Exceptionalism : Representations Of Political Corruption, Tatiana Rice

Honors Program Theses

This thesis compares media portrayals of political corruption in the United States of America versus the People’s Republic of China. Political corruption is considerably understudied and poses a serious threat to the social, political, and economic wellbeing of all nations. By studying each country’s corresponding media portrayals, this thesis was able to identify how seemingly opposing styles of government and culture framed political corruption in their own nation and abroad. In examining each country’s national newspapers, this study resulted in two major findings: 1) each country had differing ideas of corruption; and 2) these portrayals played a role in framing …

Music And The Child, Natalie Sarrazin

Milne Open Textbooks

Children are inherently musical. They respond to music and learn through music. Music expresses children’s identity and heritage, teaches them to belong to a culture, and develops their cognitive well-being and inner self worth. As professional instructors, childcare workers, or students looking forward to a career working with children, we should continuously search for ways to tap into children’s natural reservoir of enthusiasm for singing, moving and experimenting with instruments. But how, you might ask? What music is appropriate for the children I’m working with? How can music help inspire a well-rounded child? How do I reach and teach children …

Teaching Autoethnography: Personal Writing In The Classroom, Melissa Tombro

Milne Open Textbooks

Teaching Autoethnography: Personal Writing in the Classroom is dedicated to the practice of immersive ethnographic and autoethnographic writing that encourages authors to participate in the communities about which they write. This book draws not only on critical qualitative inquiry methods such as interview and observation, but also on theories and sensibilities from creative writing and performance studies, which encourage self-reflection and narrative composition. Concepts from qualitative inquiry studies, which examine everyday life, are combined with approaches to the creation of character and scene to help writers develop engaging narratives that examine chosen subcultures and the author’s position in relation to …

A Comparison Of Four Methods Of Dental Age Estimation And Age Estimation From The Risser Sign Of The Iliac Crest, Rebekah A. Goltz

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Age estimation techniques are of medicolegal importance for estimating the age of living asylum seekers. as well as for unidentified human remains from forensic cases. As there are many techniques for age estimation, this study compares four different methods using dental radiographs of modern subadults (under 18 years) to determine which is more accurate for the modern sample. Additionally, this study explores age estimation from apophyseal fusion in the pelvis using the Risser method of the iliac crest compared to estimates of dental age. This study additionally compares the accuracy of four dental age estimation methods, including: Schour and Massler …

Extra Studies In Rio Grande Valley History, Milo Kearney, Anthony K. Knopp, Antonio Zavaleta, Thomas Daniel Knight

Studies in Rio Grande Valley Regional History Series

Vaqueros del Valle, a poem / Manuel Medrano -- Matamoros and the Tejanos of Victoria and Goliad in the Texas Revolution: conflicting loyalties and ‘Assiduous Collaborators’ / Craig H. Roell -- Antonio Canales Rosillo / James Mills -- The origins of Salome Balli McAllen / Thomas Daniel Knight -- Sally Skull: the legend / Sondra Shands -- The Kawahata Family comes to the Valley / Randall Sakai – The Battle of Reynosa / Jesus Ramos -- Los días siguientes a la toma de Matamoros por los Constitucionalistas / Andres Cuellar -- H-E-B: an American and Valley success story / Norman …

Hacia La Justicia Sociocomunicativa: Trabajo De Campo Multi-Situado, Teoría Transnacional E Hiper-Auto-Reflexividad, Rosalynn A. Vega

Anthropology Faculty Publications

En este escrito, reconozco que las narrativas del padecer se despliegan dentro de ámbitos discursivos y ofrezco varios métodos para avanzar hacia la justicia sociocomunicativa. Primero, sugiero llevar a cabo el trabajo de campo “multi-situado” y que este método etnográfico sea respaldado por teoría multisituada. Enfatizo la importancia de la hiper-autoreflexividad al intentar disminuir las inequidades estructurales que puedan influir al antropólogo en su obtención de narrativas del padecer y su interpretación semiótica de ellas. Analizo unas narrativas breves que surgieron de mi trabajo de campo sobre el parto humanizado en México para demostrar cómo el biopoder condiciona lo que …

Volume 28 — Religions Of Africa And The Ecology: Strategizing For Environmental Protection, The Ecumencial Association Of Nigerian Theologians

Bulletin of Ecumenical Theology

No abstract provided.

Public-Private Partnerships: Instruments To Enhance Education, Training And Employment Opportunities In The Republic Of South Africa, Lynne Scott Jackson

Dissertations and Theses

Since the fall of apartheid in 1994, government, business leaders and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are in a unique position to engage civil society and link educational institutions with industry-specific partners committed to stimulating economic development and employment options for citizens. This thesis explores the conditions under which public-private partnerships (PPPs) are likely to successfully generate sustainable youth employment and equip citizens with transferrable skills and the conditions under which they are likely not to generate opportunities. The thesis argues that PPPs are most likely to be successful when there is grassroots buy in from local communities. Based on the literature …

Peer Review: Navigating Uncertainty In The United States Jury System, Anna Offit

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Article examines American prosecutors’ approaches to uncertainty during voir dire. At different points during trial preparation— and during jury selection itself—lawyers draw on multiple interpretive systems to make sense of ordinary citizens. Taking Assistant United States Attorneys in a federal jurisdiction in the Northeast United States as a case study, and drawing on ethnographic research, I focus on three systems prosecutors alternately (and sometimes simultaneously) use to evaluate jurors: (1) probabilistic and evaluative analogies, (2) juror-types generated from the details of criminal cases, and (3) local knowledge stemming from prosecutors’ relationships and experiences outside of the courtroom. I show …

San Antonio De Pocotalaca: An Eighteenth-Century Yamasee Indian Town In St. Augustine, Florida, 1716-1752, Amanda A. Hall

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Following the Yamasee War of 1715, many of the Yamasee Indians rekindled alliances with the Spanish and returned to La Florida. San Antonio de Pocotalaca (1716 to 1752) was one of three initial Yamasee Indian towns to relocate from South Carolina and settle on the fringes of St. Augustine. In South Carolina, Pocotalaca (referred to there as Pocotaligo) served as the primary upper town of six Yamasee towns and was the political center for conferences and council meetings between Yamasees, their Indian allies, and South Carolina officials. When Pocotalaca relocated to St. Augustine after the Yamasee War, the town …

What Predicts Law Student Success? A Longitudinal Study Correlating Law Student Applicant Data And Law School Outcomes, Alexia Brunet Marks, Scott A. Moss

Publications

Despite the rise of “big data” empiricism, law school admission remains heavily impressionistic; admission decisions rely on anecdotes about recent students, idiosyncratic preferences for certain majors or jobs, or mainly the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). Yet no predictors are well-validated and studies of the LSAT or other factors fail to control for other factors. The lack of evidence for what actually predicts law school success is especially surprising since, after the 2010s downturn, law schools now compete for fewer applicants. We fill this gap with a two-school, 1,400-student, 2005--2011 longitudinal study. We coded nondigitized applicant data and used multivariate …

Political Dynamics Of Transnational Agrarian Movements, Marc Edelman, Saturno M. Boras Jr.

Publications and Research

In Political Dynamics of Transnational Agrarian Movements Marc Edelman and Saturnino M. Borras Jr. offer a state-of-the-art review of scholarship on transnational agrarian movements (TAMs), a synthetic history of TAMs from the early twentieth century to the present, and an analytical guide to TAM research.

Leading Behavior, Positioning, And Group Spacing As Indicators Of Dominance In Hapalemur Griseus, Kimberly Foreit

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Female dominance is a rarely occurring behavioral trait across mammals but a trait that is commonly observed in Malagasy lemurs. On the other hand, intersexual dominance dynamics are only known for 36% of all lemur species, being best documented in species with high rates of agonism, such as ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta). Other social cues such as leadership during group movements and positioning within the social group can be used to determine dominance, but few lemur studies have utilized these behaviors to test for dominance. In this study, I quantified intersexual relations in bamboo lemurs, Hapalemur griseus griseus, an herbivorous …

To Belief Or Not Belief : Shifting The Pedagogical Focus From Beliefs To Behaviors : An Analysis Of Community College Faculty Pedagogical Beliefs, Perceptions, And Instructional Behaviors, Robin James

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the pedagogical beliefs and instructional practices of community college faculty members. The dissertation uses a qualitative interpretive inquiry approach to explore the contextual understanding of pedagogy and teaching of community college. Drawing from the theoretical framework of pedagogy, teaching and beliefs, this study examines the interrelation of each construct in relation to prior experiences and classroom instructional behaviors. Utilizing Stark, Lowther, Sossen and Shaw's (1991) Contextual Filters Model (CFM) this study explores the cognitive and contextual factors that are intertwined with planning and instructional delivery. Further, this research study is founded on the premise that community college …

The Genre Of The Linguistics Article Within Studies Of Language Variation And Change : A Diachronic Perspective, 1891-2015, David Durian

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

I analyze the rhetorical and structural elements of the genre of the linguistics article, specifically within the subfield of studies of language variation and change, also known as "American sociolinguistics." As my analysis demonstrates, the genre of the linguistics article in studies of language variation and change can most profitably be analyzed as having been shaped by intellectual movements occurring during three distinct eras. During the first era (1891--1954), the variationist linguistics article was primarily a "discovery text." That is, many of the topics discussed are first studies of those topics or first studies of the communities in which particular …

Undocumented Fears: Immigration And The Politics Of Divide And Conquer In Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Jamie Longazel

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

The Illegal Immigration Relief Act (IIRA), passed in the small rust-belt city of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, in 2006, was a local ordinance that laid out penalties for renting to or hiring undocumented immigrants and declared English the city’s official language. The notorious IIRA gained national prominence and kicked off a parade of local and state-level legislative initiatives designed to crack down on undocumented immigrants.

In Undocumented Fears, Jamie Longazel uses the debate around Hazleton’s controversial ordinance as a case study that reveals the mechanics of contemporary divide-and-conquer politics. He shows how neoliberal ideology, misconceptions about Latina/o immigrants, and nostalgic imagery …

Native American Identity: A Review Of Twenty-First Century Research, Bridgett G. Giordmaina, Carolee Dodge Francis

McNair Poster Presentations

The purpose of this literature review is to exam research on Native American identity within the social sciences in the twenty-first century in order to identify trends in research topics, various perspectives, and potential future studies, through the review of a sample of 86 publications relating to the topic of Native American identity. The sample was retrieved utilizing three scholarly databases across a wide range of fields of study. Publications are examined by area of focus and publication year.

What Is Known About Secondary Grades Mathematical Modelling, Micah S. Stohlmann, Lina Devaul, Charlie Allen, Amy Adkins, Taro Ito, Dawn Lockett, Nick Wong

Teaching and Learning Faculty Research

Mathematical modelling is garnering more attention and focus at the secondary level in many different countries because of the knowledge and skills that students can develop from this approach. This paper serves to summarize what is it known about secondary mathematical modelling to guide future research. A targeted and general literature search was conducted and studies were summarized based on four categories: assessment data collected, unit of analysis studied, population, and effectiveness. It was found that there were five main units of analysis into which the studies could be categorized: modelling process/sub-activities, modelling competencies/ability, blockages/difficulties during the modelling process, students’ …

Older Mexican Americans: Role Of The Family And Mental Health Service Utilization, John M. Gonzalez, Denise Longoria, Romeo Escobar, Leyla Feize

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

This study explored role of the family and mental health service utilization by older Mexican-Americans. Using qualitative exploration, the study investigated family factors influencing their mental health service utilization. The researcher used a purposive sample and interviewed 20 older Mexican Americans, who completed outpatient mental health services located in Texas. Kleinman’s explanatory model (1980) guided the ethnographic content analysis. Findings show the family took several roles to facilitate use of mental health services. The family was involved with respondents throughout the process of help-seeking and accessing mental health services. Family members helped respondents recognize their mental distress by noticing behavior …

Inter-Sexual Social Interactions In Cebus Capucinus, Margaret S. Buehler

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Researchers examine an animal's behaviors in order to determine how they enhance the animal's fitness. However, animals often exhibit behaviors that expend energy, but do little to improve its proximate survival or reproductive success. These behaviors may represent long-term strategies and are therefore more difficult to document than behaviors that provide immediate benefits. I observed white-faced capuchin social behavior in Costa Rica with the goal of identifying inter-sexual social behaviors that are intentional, regular, and serve no immediate reproductive or survival advantage. For example, interactions with males and non-cycling females provide no immediate reproductive benefits I observed interaction patterns between …

Co-Creating Leadership And Knowledge Creation : Relationships Among Leadership Dispositions, Conditions For Knowledge Creation, And Modes Of Knowledge Conversion In Principal Mentoring, Ryan D. Anderson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the leadership behaviors and conditions for creating knowledge present during mentoring between mentee principals and mentor principals. Using a survey instrument, 511 mentee principal respondents provided information on the extent of co-creating leadership dispositions, conditions for knowledge creation, and modes of knowledge conversion that were present in the mentoring process. The mentees also provided their perspective on the importance of co-creating leadership dispositions, conditions for knowledge creation, and modes of knowledge conversion. A 7-point Likert scale was used for both sets of questions. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the extent of each of the factors of …

The Introduction Of Montessori Teaching And Learning Practices In An Early Childhood Classroom In A Remote Indigenous School, Catherine Holmes

Theses

The purpose of this research was to observe and describe the effect of Montessori pedagogy in a remote Aboriginal Early Childhood program to ascertain whether this alternative approach to education provides a more culturally appropriate practice than past methods. The significance of the study lies in the need to "close the gap" (Department of Premier & Cabinet [DPMC], 2016, p.1) between the achievement of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. The study endeavours to describe the effect of Montessori pedagogy through the response of those most closely associated with Aboriginal education: students, parents, caregivers, community members and educational professionals.

Three dimensions of …