Digital Commons Network^™

First-Generation College Students And Class Consciousness : Exploring How Social Class Influences College Adjustment, Rachel L. Redd

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

First-generation college students (FGCS), defined as students whose parents have not obtained a bachelor’s degree, is a new identity constructed primarily over the past decade. Utilizing the umbrella term of FGCS is problematic as it places a heavy concentration on parental education and lack of cultural capital, ignoring how current class experiences in the context of other identities, such as race and gender, shape adjustment to college. The purpose of this quantitative study was twofold: (a) to examine whether class consciousness affects first-generation students’ adjustment to elite, non-profit private undergraduate institutions, and (b) to examine how the intersectionality of race, …

Lightning Flash Rate In The Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela Related To Sea Surface Temperatures And Tropospheric Air Flow, Deirdre Smith

LSU Master's Theses

Northern Venezuela's Lower Maracaibo Basin (LMB) has the highest lightning flash rate (LFR) density in the world. The area receives approximately 200 flashes per km^2 annually. Local topography as well as local and global scale climate drivers have been shown to influence the frequency of the lightning storms, known as "Catatumbo Lightning". This research focuses on influences on LFR in the LMB by local and global sea surface temperatures and elements of local tropospheric air from 1996--2015. Sea surface temperature and tropospheric air data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are used in Spearman rank correlations to determine relationships …

The Photodegradation Of 2,6-Dichloro-4-Nitroaniline (Dcna) In Freshwater And Saltwater, Emily Noelle Vebrosky

LSU Master's Theses

The fungicide 2,6-dichloro-4-nitroaniline (DCNA) is applied to crops grown in areas near both freshwater and saltwater bodies and it can enter the surface waters where it is susceptible to photolysis; limited information is published on the photodegradation of DCNA. It has been shown that the salinity of seawater can influence both the overall rate of degradation of chemicals and impact the distribution and types of photoproducts generated during the photodegradation processes of a pesticide. The photodegradation of DCNA was measured in distilled water, artificial seawater, estuarine water, and phosphate buffer to determine the degree of differences in the degradation rate …

Examining Preschool Teachers' Subjective Beliefs Toward Developmentally Appropriate Practices: A Saudi Arabian Perspective., Ahlam Abdullah Alghamdi

All ETDs from UAB

The purpose of the current study was to explore preschool teachers’ subjective beliefs toward developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) and developmentally inappropriate practices (DIP), as identified by the National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, an investigation was conducted on what might account for cultural influences regarding teachers’ beliefs toward DAPs and DIPs. Q-methodology, as a mixed-method approach, was utilized to collect, analyze, and interpret the data in a two-phase, sequential explanatory design. In the first phase, 37 preschool teachers subjectively sorted 50 cards representing DAP and DIP items in terms of what they considered …

The Role Of Glutamate In Immune Cell Infiltration And Excitotoxic Mechanisms In Autoimmune Demyelination, Kirsten Scarlett Evonuk

All ETDs from UAB

Multiple sclerosis is the most common neurological disorder in young adults. Current treatments modulate the immune system, but no treatments prevent central nervous system damage. Inflammation occurs even during disease remission, contributing to ongoing damage and resulting in disease progression. The lack of neuroprotective treatments despite continued inflammatory onslaught in the central nervous system indicates the need for therapeutic discovery in this area. One potential therapeutic target is glutamate, whose dysregulation in multiple sclerosis has been implicated in excitotoxic cellular death. Herein we describe the roles of glutamate in multiple sclerosis and explore the blockade of a source of excitotoxic …

Detecting The Spatial Patterns Of Blue-Green Algae In Harsha Lake Using Landsat 8 Imagery, Jing Huang

LSU Master's Theses

The incidence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) caused by blue-green algae has been increasing in coastal and freshwater ecosystems of the United States in recent years, and has had great influence on ecosystem, economic, and public health. This thesis aims at testing the feasibility of using machine learning methods in comparison to traditional regression models to detect and map the blue-green algae distribution in low-medium biomass waters (Chl-a < approx. 20 μg/L) from a Landsat 8 image with the support of some in situ Chl-a measurements in Harsha Lake, Ohio. Two algorithms were compared: one is the conventional empirical method – Stepwise Multiple Linear Regression – to see if there is a strong linear relationship between measured Chl-a concentrations and the Landsat 8 spectral data in the study area, and the other is one of the most popular machine learning methods–Random Forests. Major findings include: (1) both a conventional linear regression model and a Random Forests model worked well in mapping the extent and biomass of blue-green algae in Harsha Lake on September 21, 2015, but the Random Forests model outperformed the linear regression model; (2) the prediction surface from the Random Forests method illustrated that 89.30% of Harsha Lake’s area had Chl-a values less than 10 µg/L on the sampling date, while only 10.70% of the entire study area had Chl-a concentrations between 10 µg/L and 20 µg/L. Higher Chl-a values (especially for Chl-a larger than 10 µg/L) were mostly distributed in the mouths of rivers or streams, which might be caused by the influx of nutrients from agricultural or urban land use by rivers and streams. The results show the utility of the Random Forests approach based on Landsat 8 imagery in detecting and quantitatively mapping low biomass HABs, which is considered to be a challenging task.

Metric Variation In The Human Sacrum: Costal Process Length Among Black And White South Africans, Christy Rose Wayne

LSU Master's Theses

Considerable attention has been given to the measureable differences that exist between different human populations in the size and shape of the pelvis, with Africans having a narrower pelvis than Europeans. By collecting data on sacral breadth from a South African skeletal population, this study (1) tests the hypothesis that African blacks possess a narrower sacrum, and by inference pelvis, than whites and (2) considers whether the size variation between blacks and whites is due to nutritional, historical and social differences, to a genetic basis related to climatic adaptation, or to both. White South Africans were found to possess a …

The House In South Asian Muslim Women’S Early Anglophone Life-Writing And Novels, Diviani Chaudhuri

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation undertakes the first sustained examination of representations of Islamicate material culture, domestic interiors, residential forms, and historic sites in the early Anglophone writing of South Asian Muslim women. Reading the memoirs of Pakistani diplomat Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah, From Purdah to Parliament (1963), in conjunction with three early Anglophone novels, namely, Zeenuth Futehally’s Zohra (1951), Mumtaz Shah Nawaz’s The Heart Divided (1957), and Attia Hosain’s Sunlight on a Broken Column (1961), I develop the analytic category of autoethnographic spatial discourse in contradistinction to the harem fantasy inflected colonial spatial discourse prevalent at the time in order to describe the …

Conceptualizing And Operationalizing Human Wellbeing For Ecosystem Assessment And Management, Sara Jo Breslow, Brit Sojka, Raz Barnea, Xavier Basurto, Courtney Carothers, Susan Charnley, Sarah Coulthard, Nives Dolšak, Jamie Donatuto, Carlos G. Garcia-Quijano, Christina C. Hicks, Arielle Levine, Michael B. Mascia, Karma Norman, Melissa Poe, Terre Satterfield, Kevin St. Martin, Phillip S. Levin

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

There is growing interest in assessing the effects of changing environmental conditions and management actions on human wellbeing. A challenge is to translate social science expertise regarding these relationships into terms usable by environmental scientists, policymakers, and managers. Here, we present a comprehensive, structured, and transparent conceptual framework of human wellbeing designed to guide the development of indicators and a complementary social science research agenda for ecosystem-based management. Our framework grew out of an effort to develop social indicators for an integrated ecosystem assessment (IEA) of the California Current large marine ecosystem. Drawing from scholarship in international development, anthropology, geography, …

Maternal Mortality: A Policy Comparison Between Nigeria And India., Rachel Quarles

Dissertations and Theses

A staggering number of women die from preventable deaths each year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. India hosts the greatest number of actual maternal deaths in the world, although Nigeria’s ratio of maternal deaths to live births is greater than India’s. This thesis focuses on the experience of these two countries in order to determine if India’s governmental policies, level of government corruption, and traditional practices directly lead to its comparably better maternal health statistics. India has demonstrated lower ratios of maternal mortality and more consistent improvement in maternal health indicators than Nigeria as a result of stronger …

A Computational Intelligence Framework For Smart Grid, Yufei Tang

Open Access Dissertations

With the recent development of electronics technique and distributed generations, such as wind power, solar power and electric vehicles (EVs), modern power system is advancing towards a critical and promising intelligent generation known as the smart grid. During the upgrade to this new generation, stability and security concerns have also been raised with complex communication and control challenges. Even worse, because of the new constraints placed by the environmental and economical concerns, the system planning and operation is toward maximum utilization of the existing infrastructure with tight operating and stability margins. The decreased system stability margin together with the increased …

Taking Religion Outside:New Secular Identities Between Autonomy, Contingency And Total Immersion, Antonio Petrov

NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning)

The secular has proven to be a condition all too intertwined with Christianity and Western narratives. However, the truth is that the religious and the secular are not opposites but they are inextricably linked within the geographic. This research is inspired by geographia [geo-earth and grapho-write], writing about earth. Observations, speculations, interpretations were made and stories recorded to illuminate how explicit intersections between religion and the environment expands the identity of the sacred. A study was made of critical cultural concepts that project objects into geographic objects, geographies, or both. It acknowledges architecture transcending beyond the traditional. The goal of …

Planning Guide For A Total Market Approach To Increase Access To Family Planning: Toolkit And Glossary, Christopher Brady, Laura Weeden, Jane Hutchings, Jerry Parks

Reproductive Health

PATH has drawn on its global experience from our total market approach (TMA) work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Uganda, and Vietnam to produce a TMA planning guide to increase access to family planning. The guide (Planning Guide for a Total Market Approach to Increase Access to Family Planning—Module 1: Landscape Assessment) and toolkit, produced by The Evidence Project, contain practical information and specific tools to help organizations and other planners conduct a landscape assessment, the first phase in developing a TMA. | These resources are part of a larger toolkit, which also includes an …

Power Usage In The Bidyadanga Community And Its Relationship To Community Health And Well-Being. Project Report., Anna Dwyer, Tanya Vernes

Nulungu Reports

No abstract provided.

Representation And Governance In International Organizations, David P. Rapkin, Jonathan R. Strand, Michael W. Trevathan

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

What does representation mean when applied to international organizations? While many scholars working on normative questions related to global governance often make use of the concept of representation, few have addressed specifics of applying the concept to the rules and practices by which IOs operate. This article examines representation as a fundamental, albeit often neglected, norm of governance which, if perceived to be deficient or unfair, can interfere with other components of governance, as well as with performance of an organization’s core tasks by undermining legitimacy. We argue that the concept of representation has been neglected in the ongoing debates …

Race To Incarcerate: The Causes And Consequences Of Mass Incarceration, Marc Mauer

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

3d Tool Evaluation And Workflow For An Ecological Approach To Visualizing Ancient Socio-Environmental Landscapes: A Case Study From Copan, Honduras, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Shona Sanford-Long, Jack Kerby-Miller

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Architectural reconstructions are the centerpieces of ancient landscape visualization. When present, vegetation is relegated to the background, resulting in underutilized plant data—an integral data source for archaeological interpretation—thus limiting the capacity to take advantage of 3D visualization for studying ancient socio-environmental dynamics. Our long-term objective is to develop methods of 3D landscape visualization that have value for examining changes in land use and settlement patterns. To begin to work toward this objective, we have (1) identified 3D tools and techniques for vegetation modeling and landscape visualization, (2) evaluated the pros and cons of these tools, (3) investigated biological and ecological …

Maritime Alpine Cairns In Southeast Alaska: A Multidisciplinary Exploratory Study, William J. Hunt Jr., Ralph J. Hartley, Bruce Mccune, Nijmah Ali, Thomas F. Thornton

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

This report describes the goals, data recovery methods, data analysis, and conclusions of a pilot project “A Multidisciplinary Exploratory Study of Alpine Cairns, Baranof Island, Southeast Alaska,” funded by the National Science Foundation under Project No. 1230132. The project brought together experts in the disciplines of archaeology (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), lichenology (Oregon State University), and Tlingit oral history (Oxford University) to address questions regarding artificial prehistoric, high altitude cairns. Data were collected in 2013 and 2014. Pedestrian archaeological inventory recorded 50 cairns at 5 sites. Archaeological data includes cairn dimensions, GPS positions, still photographic images, and video documentation. Four cairns …

Building Resiliency In Response To Sea Level Rise And Recurrent Flooding: Comprehensive Planning In Hampton Roads, Joshua G. Behr, Rafael Diaz, Molly Mitchell

VMASC Publications

[Introduction]

Over the past few decades, the Hampton Roads region, with its extensive coastline, has been experiencing more frequent flooding from surges and precipitation caused by tropical storms, nor’easters and heavy thunderstorms (Figure 1). Recurrent flooding is “flooding that occurs repeatedly in the same area over time due to precipitation events, high tides or storm surge.”¹ The recurrence of tidal/surge flooding in Hampton Roads has increased from 1.7 days of “nuisance” flooding per year in 1960 to 7.3 days per year in 2014.² Although there is no definitive region-wide data to document the increases in precipitation-induced flooding, there …

Seventh-Day Adventist Approaches To Other Religions: Preliminary Findings From 1930-1950, Part I, Andrew Tompkins

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.

The Dynamics Of Domestic And International Cargo Theft, Barry Conlon

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

Edge County Syndrome: Rapid Growth And Conflict And The Challenges They Create For Public Administration, David N. Hamilton

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

County government is an overlay of history striving to adapt to an uncertain future. Increasing arrays of complex issues face public administrators in counties as they grow and urbanize within metropolitan regions. Of the 3,031counties in the United States, 1,100 are now included within the 366 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and that number is growing as urbanization expands. As development pushes outward into the peripheral suburbs, county officials are confronted with emerging issues that existing policies fail. The challenge remains an open question that this dissertation attempts to address by exploring the theory that high-velocity growth in counties located …

Metropolitan-Wide Governance And An Innovation District: Smart Growth Reforms To Increase Economic Competitiveness In Warsaw, Poland, Janice C. Griffith

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

The Capital City of Warsaw, Poland faces several challenges in becoming a global city that thrives on innovation and high-tech, knowledge-based service industries. Almost totally destroyed during World War II, the City has reconstructed itself from scratch, but it lacks a good spatial design, and its underdeveloped infrastructure and transportation system remain problematic. Further, urban sprawl has enveloped Warsaw’s metropolitan area, and the City has no authority outside of its jurisdictional boundary lines to address this issue unless it obtains cooperation from surrounding municipalities. This article contends that Warsaw cannot be economically competitive in the global economy unless it creates …

Social Dimensions Of Alzheimer’S Disease Among Caregivers In Oaxaca, Mexico, Jonathan Yahalom

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation provides an analysis of the social construction of Alzheimer’s disease within Teotitlán del Valle, a rural Zapotec-speaking community in Oaxaca, Mexico. It explores how Alzheimer’s disease is locally understood, how this understanding reconfigures traditional meanings of old age, and how broader social issues are negotiated through this reconfiguration. Through 10 months of fieldwork this dissertation draws on ethnographic observations and interviews with 22 family caregivers across 9 households. This study is noteworthy for being the first known investigation in Teotitlán whose primary data was collected in the Zapotec language. Further, this dissertation integrates methods across psychology, gerontology, and …

To Come Alive In Our Experience: The Sounds Of Listening In Sigurd F. Olson, Allison Fulton

Honors Papers

My research explores the reflective qualities of nature that can lead to different ways of being in and of the world. In The Singing Wilderness, Sigurd Olson details his experiences in the Quetico-Superior region, an international wilderness of lakes and forests on the border of Canada and Minnesota that is replete with spaces for reflection. Olson encourages his readers to listen to the sounds, songs, and silences of the wilderness. I address his creation of a literary terrain he made accessible to his readers by acting as a guide to the imaginative wilderness with a literary canoe and paddle.

Managing Racist Pasts: The Black Justice League’S Demand For Inclusion And Its Challenge To The Promise Of Diversity At Princeton University, Tomoyo Joshi

Honors Papers

I examine online diversity initiative pages, student activism and administrative responses in Fall 2015 at Princeton University as a case study. In the first section, I analyze Princeton’s online diversity initiative page “Many Voices, One Future” by demonstrating how “diversity” becomes individualized, commodified, and quantified. In its claims to aspire to equality (or equal representation), the discourse of diversity ignores historical and sociopolitical contexts of oppression that produce and maintain difference in the first place. In the second section, I investigate how the actions of the Black Justice League challenge or the rhetoric of diversity that the administration embodies. Further, …

Inverted Quarantine: Individual Response To Collective Fear, Katherine Parker Moncure

Honors Papers

In his 2007 book Shopping Our Way to Safety, sociologist Andrew Szasz coined the term inverted quarantine to describe a phenomenon in the way that Americans react to the changing natural environment. Inverted quarantine, or the impulse to remove one’s self from perceived environmental dangers, often manifests in consumption behavior such as consuming only organic food, drinking filtered or bottled water, moving from a city to a suburb, or even being enclosed in a gated community. Although inverted quarantine may result in some form of protection, in the long run it is unsustainable in the face of the changing natural …

Storytelling, Community And Dialogue: The Making Of And Yet We'll Speak At Grafton Reintegration Center, Lillian W. White

Honors Papers

This honors thesis examines the purpose, process and intellectual framework of an original theater project devised with incarcerated men. Through analysis of the ethnographic and theatrical approaches used in the creation process, the author and lead artist of the project examines the artistic, political, and ethical dimensions storytelling as social practice in the context of the American prison system.

1919 Conference Report, Buffalo, Ny, Christian Endeavor Society

Books

No abstract provided.

Consuming The Image: Hierarchies Of Beauty And Power In Us Latino, Colombian, And Dominican Cultural Productions, Angela Postigo

Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies

This dissertation focuses on dominant contemporary depictions of women in order to investigate the related processes of producing and policing physical attractiveness and privilege in mainstream cultural productions. I examine how certain US Latina, Colombian, and Dominican female portrayals fit definite paradigms of ideal beauty and contribute to patterns of power within magazines, films and television, music, and literary novels. I explore the ways in which the majority of dominant representations in all three countries favor specific beauty ideals linked with an Anglo or Northern European archetype, thus limiting the acceptable model and excluding a great part of the racially …