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2018

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Cruising To Be A Board Gamer: Understanding Socialization Relating To Board Gaming And The Dice Tower, Benjamin Wassink Jan 2018

Cruising To Be A Board Gamer: Understanding Socialization Relating To Board Gaming And The Dice Tower, Benjamin Wassink

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Dice Tower consists of 30 professional board gamers and has the largest online following with 60,000 podcast listeners and over 140,000 YouTube subscribers (Dice Tower, 2017a). This study uses Kramer’s Multilevel Communication Model of Voluntary Socialization (MCMVS) to understand how the Dice Tower gains followers and socializes others to become board gamers. This study applies MCMVS to a population with more ambiguous membership boundaries than volunteer organizations, specifically socialization to board game leisure. Through interviews of 18 participants and participant observation during a board gaming cruise hosted by the Dice Tower this study examines the role of the Dice …

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Understanding The Food Water Nexus: Characterizing The Impact Of Climatological Anomalies On Agrosystems, Patrick M. Wurster Jr. Jan 2018

Understanding The Food Water Nexus: Characterizing The Impact Of Climatological Anomalies On Agrosystems, Patrick M. Wurster Jr.

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate variability at global and regional scales is escalating with increased atmospheric carbon and is expected to magnify the intensity and duration of meteorological extremes, especially droughts. From the many environmental stresses that diminish crop production (e.g., soil salinity, frost, soil erosion) drought is one of the most prevalent. This study focuses on the sensitivity of three key crops produced in the northwestern United States to climatological anomalies, while controlling for attribution using anomalies in price. The study differs from similar studies in that we focus on variability in production which captures both yield (tonnes/ha) and cropping area (ha), as …

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Wonder Woman: A Case Study For Critical Media Literacy, Adriana N. Fehrs Jan 2018

Wonder Woman: A Case Study For Critical Media Literacy, Adriana N. Fehrs

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

To better grasp the messages Wonder Woman is sending to its audience, a Critical Media Literacy (CML), ideological, and feminist framework is used to examine whether, and if so how, Wonder Woman succumbs to stereotypes that are often portrayed in the media. These theories will be used in the ensuing project to build a curriculum aimed at high school students.The curriculum positions students to examine the hegemonic ideologies that are represented in pop culture, specifically Wonder Woman.

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Are Social Networks A Double-Edged Sword? A Case Study Of Defense Contractors, Xiaobing Shuai, Christine Chmura Jan 2018

Are Social Networks A Double-Edged Sword? A Case Study Of Defense Contractors, Xiaobing Shuai, Christine Chmura

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Faculty Publications

Utilizing a survey of defense contractors in the New England region, this study explores the effect of social networks on business performance—measured by annual employment growth and market diversification—during a time when defense spending in the United States was contracting. In contrast to prevailing literature focusing on entrepreneurial firms, this study offers insights on how social networks function in defense contractors, which tend to be mature firms. The main conclusion is that having more network connections is associated with faster short-term employment growth (from 2014 to 2015) for defense contractors, but there is a limit to that benefit. The analysis …

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Issues Of Equity Among Team Members In Special Education: Voices Of Parents New To Special Education, Amanda R. Johnson Jan 2018

Issues Of Equity Among Team Members In Special Education: Voices Of Parents New To Special Education, Amanda R. Johnson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires local education agencies to include parents as equal team members in the cultivation of their child’s individual education plan (IEP). Despite law, studies have shown that parents experience barriers to being included in the process. Barriers such as a lack of information, lack of understanding of the law, and feelings of unequal status or power as compared to school district team members have been noted. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions, feelings, and understanding of the initial IEP process as experienced by parents new to the world of special …

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Utilitarian And Community Values In Mainstream And Alternative Health Care On Martha's Vineyard, Sandra D. Polleys-Bunch Jan 2018

Utilitarian And Community Values In Mainstream And Alternative Health Care On Martha's Vineyard, Sandra D. Polleys-Bunch

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Problems endemic to Martha’s Vineyard’s health care system and community efforts to resolve them led to the this community study on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Such problems included Martha’s Vineyard’s sole hospital and nursing home’s declarations of bankruptcy in 1996, the fluctuation of quality of Vineyard health care organization relations with the community overall, the rate of uninsured that was two times that of Massachusetts overall, the Island’s isolation from mainland medical services, and its health care service scarcities. This ethnography focuses on utilitarian values to explain difficulties that Vineyarders experienced during their efforts to obtain health care and to improve …

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The Effects Of A Digital Educational Intervention On Undergraduate Nursing Students' Attitudes, Knowledge And Self-Efficacy With Female Genital Cutting, Najla Barnawi Jan 2018

The Effects Of A Digital Educational Intervention On Undergraduate Nursing Students' Attitudes, Knowledge And Self-Efficacy With Female Genital Cutting, Najla Barnawi

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Background: Due to increasing transmigration, care of women with female genital cutting FGC has become a national and global public health and human rights issue. The US is one of the Western countries that have a large number of women who underwent or are at risk to undergo FGC. Based on the US Population Reference Bureau (PRB) (2013), there were more than 507,000 females with different migration status who were subjected to some form of FGC. Around 55% of these women were during their reproductive cycle (15 to 49 years old). Caring for immigrant women with FGC, especially those who …

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Binghamton's Missing Teeth: A Study Of City-Owned Vacant Lots In Binghamton, New York, Pauline Helene Berkowitz Jan 2018

Binghamton's Missing Teeth: A Study Of City-Owned Vacant Lots In Binghamton, New York, Pauline Helene Berkowitz

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Vacant land prevails in shrinking cities that have experienced urban outmigration and economic decline. Low-income neighborhoods and blight lead to conditions where vacant lots exist, consequently producing disamenities for the residents that live near them. Considered magnets of crime and stigmatized for their association with urban decay, vacant land is an environmental justice issue not often directly addressed by municipal governments. Despite this, vacant lots can still be seen as potential opportunities to improve social, environmental and economic qualities of life for surrounding residents. Urban agriculture, rain gardens and pocket parks are examples of how vacant lots can be reused …

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Compliance With Imf Austerity: Labor Rights, Protest, And Repression, Brendan Skip Mark Jan 2018

Compliance With Imf Austerity: Labor Rights, Protest, And Repression, Brendan Skip Mark

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation explores the domestic consequences of International Monetary Fund (IMF) program lending. It argues that when governments implement austerity reforms attached to IMF loans it increases human rights violations and violence in borrower governments. A new measure of IMF compliance is developed and used to explore the consequences of IMF lending in the 21st century. Past research exploring IMF lending consequences has assumed compliance away. While IMF program lending is largely seen as a failure there is significant debate about the causes of failure. Human rights scholars have argued that austerity policies impose significant hardships on citizens in borrower …

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Awareness And Prevalence Of Human Milk Sharing And Selling In The United States, Elizabeth O'Sullivan, Sheelagh R. Geraghty, Kathleen Maher Rasmussen Jan 2018

Awareness And Prevalence Of Human Milk Sharing And Selling In The United States, Elizabeth O'Sullivan, Sheelagh R. Geraghty, Kathleen Maher Rasmussen

Articles

There are limited data available about the prevalence of human milk (HM) sharing and selling in the general population. We aimed to describe attitudes toward HM selling among participants in a qualitative‐interview study and prevalence of HM sharing and selling among a national sample of U.S. mothers. Mothers (n = 41) in our qualitative‐interview study felt that sharing or donating HM was more common than selling; none had ever purchased or sold HM. Three themes related to HM selling emerged from this work: questioning the motives of those selling HM, HM selling limits access to HM to those with money, …

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The New Mafia: Vladimir Putin's Inner Circle And Russian Organized Crime, India Trummer Jan 2018

The New Mafia: Vladimir Putin's Inner Circle And Russian Organized Crime, India Trummer

Honors Theses

The purpose of this project was to show the relationship between organized crime and members of Vladimir Putin's inner circle and the impact of the crossover of organized crime tactics and behavior to officials of the Russian government. To show this, this thesis looks at the ways in which four specific members of Vladimir Putin's inner circle, Igor Sechin, Sergei Glazyev, Viktor Zolotov, and Nikolai Patrushev, are involved in illegal activity that resembles the kind of actions that are perpetrated by organized crime groups and how their behavior is similar to that of the leaders of these groups. This thesis …

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University Belonging And Well-Being Across Contexts, Dakota Burton Jan 2018

University Belonging And Well-Being Across Contexts, Dakota Burton

Honors Theses

Belongingness has been presented in previous research as a fundamental need in which humans are motivated to seek out meaningful social interactions and contexts. In the current study, we sought to build on existing research examining belongingness in the university, by focusing on specific contexts in which first-year students are likely to meet belongingness needs. Participants in the current study comprised a sample of 299 University of Mississippi undergraduate, first-year students (23% male, 77% female). The study included seven questionnaires to measure the extent in which belongingness is related to well-being during the transition to college. The results of this …

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Investigating University Students' Cultural Competency In Relation To Time Spent Abroad, Elizabeth Baylee Edwards Jan 2018

Investigating University Students' Cultural Competency In Relation To Time Spent Abroad, Elizabeth Baylee Edwards

Honors Theses

Background: The world is becoming increasingly interconnected through the globalization of economy, resources, and social interactions, creating an environment where individuals must be able to respect, understand, and work closely with people of different cultures. The purpose of this research was to investigate how traveling abroad affects university students' level of competency in five cultural dimensions. Methods: An electronic survey, designed to evaluate cultural competency, was distributed to 6,000 randomly selected undergraduate students in January, 2018. Descriptive statistics were used to demonstrate sample profiles. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to determine factors of competency dimensions for global mindedness. A …

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The Space Between: The Interactional Dynamics Between Policy, Organizations, And Social Actors Within The Field Of Sexual Abuse, Elizabeth R. Taylor Jan 2018

The Space Between: The Interactional Dynamics Between Policy, Organizations, And Social Actors Within The Field Of Sexual Abuse, Elizabeth R. Taylor

Honors Theses

Federal and state policy pertaining to sexual assault is broad in its guidelines. In some cases, it is vague. This ambiguity often leads to multifarious interpretations of policy, which can diminish the overall effectiveness. While we know a great deal about how changes in policy shape the outcomes of survivors, we know very little about the context between institutional policy and institutional outcomes: the interpretive practice of social problems within the arena of sexual assault. Therefore, this project will advance knowledge in an area that has very little existing insight. Throughout this research, I observe and document how organizations negotiate, …

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Gender Bias And Sex Trafficking In China, Avery Kennedy Jan 2018

Gender Bias And Sex Trafficking In China, Avery Kennedy

Honors Theses

China's history shows a pattern of preference for sons over daughters. Chinese language and policies show evidence of this bias. This penchant has created a sizable gender disparity within China's population. The implementation of the One-Child Policy only exacerbated the gap between males and females. China's age-old preference for sons has negatively impacted modern-day China. The gender disparity generated a demand for women, which has been answered by sex trafficking women in China to be sold as brides and sex workers.

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¡El Nuevo Chile Papi!: An Examination Of The Influence Of Public Opinion On The Development Of Chilean Immigration Policies, Nicholas Senften Jan 2018

¡El Nuevo Chile Papi!: An Examination Of The Influence Of Public Opinion On The Development Of Chilean Immigration Policies, Nicholas Senften

Honors Theses

This study sought to determine whether public opinion in Chile had influenced the development of national immigration policies in the contemporary period. It used a comparative historical approach with a timeframe from 1989 to 2015. Because of the study's cause-and-effect element, public opinion served as the independent variable and immigration policy served as the dependent policy. The study measured public opinion through the usage of public opinion surveys previously conducted by the research institutes of The World Value Survey and Latinobarómetro Corporation. The study also synthesized written immigration policy and incorporated visa data from approved visa applications from the years …

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Everybody But Us: Constructing Evangelical Identities By Defining The Skeptic, Pace Tyler Ward Jan 2018

Everybody But Us: Constructing Evangelical Identities By Defining The Skeptic, Pace Tyler Ward

Honors Theses

Pew research shows that 25.4% of American Christians identify as evangelical Protestants, accounting for the highest percentage of Christians in America (20.8% identify as Catholic and 14.7% identify as mainline Protestants). Evangelical Protestantism may be the strongest religious force in the U.S. but defining the movement has proven difficult. Researchers have used a variety of definitions to develop a better understanding of evangelical demographics, geographies, or religious strength. My interests and the goal of this research deals more with the performance of these identities; I wanted to know how members of Welcome Church do their Christianity. This research focused on …

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Elder Care In Chile And The Us: Two Models Of Culture Change, Sarah Jane Robinson Jan 2018

Elder Care In Chile And The Us: Two Models Of Culture Change, Sarah Jane Robinson

Honors Theses

This project examines two long-term care models: the Green House Project model and the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged in Viña del Mar, Chile, under the lens of the long-term care culture change movement to explore what can be learned from each of these models to allow elders to grow in dignity and autonomy. The research methods used were primarily participant and non-participant observation, informal interviews, and review of social scientific and gerontological literature. Elements of culture change were found to be present in each model, both of which aim to provide person-centered care to elders. …

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Healthcare Certificates Of Need In Mississippi: Policy Review And Recommendation, Seth Dickinson Jan 2018

Healthcare Certificates Of Need In Mississippi: Policy Review And Recommendation, Seth Dickinson

Honors Theses

Healthcare Certificates of Need, often abbreviated as CON, are public policies implemented across America with many intentions but the primary purpose of engaging the healthcare marketplace in a way that allows for government regulation and monitoring. Over time, states have created their own types of certificate of need policies while others have abandoned these types of policies all together. Mississippi is a member of the former group that has crafted its own type of policies geared towards enabling Certificates of Need. As the healthcare marketplace shifts across America, this research delves into the certificate of need policies of states with …

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Spain's Rapid Transition: A Case Study Of Late Modernization, Sydney Elizabeth Brown Jan 2018

Spain's Rapid Transition: A Case Study Of Late Modernization, Sydney Elizabeth Brown

Honors Theses

Throughout the mid-twentieth century, Spain was under the control of dictator Francisco Franco. Under Franco's rule, while the rest of the world was modernizing, Spain was a very conservative and traditional society, with many of its traditions and ideals centered on the Catholic Church. As time went on, Franco was forced to loosen his control on Spain ever so slightly, allowing Spain the freedom to begin the process of modernization. However, it was not until after the death of the dictator that the modernization process in Spain was able to fully take off. Spain is a unique case of modernization, …

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Housing Policy Alternatives For The Lafayette-Oxford, Mississippi Community, Alice C. Norman Jan 2018

Housing Policy Alternatives For The Lafayette-Oxford, Mississippi Community, Alice C. Norman

Honors Theses

This thesis explores housing policy alternatives to address housing insecurity in the Lafayette-Oxford, Mississippi community and similar non-metropolitan communities which are experiencing accelerated growth. Policy alternatives were collected through a systematic literature review of the University of Mississippi's One Search database. Findings reveal that there are a number of housing dynamics in U.S. cities which require different considerations in regards to policy alternatives. Policy alternatives discussed range from subsidized affordable housing, the removal of regulations on new developments, social housing, voucher programs, rent control, creating city connections, unemployment insurance, community land trusts, shifting responsibility to a higher level of government, …

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Interculturality In Health: The Infant Mortality Rate Of Bolivia, Allen G. Crosthwait Jan 2018

Interculturality In Health: The Infant Mortality Rate Of Bolivia, Allen G. Crosthwait

Honors Theses

The Bolivian government implemented an intercultural reform in 2006 in an attempt to improve the quality of health for its indigenous citizens throughout the country. One of the biggest focuses thereof was to improve the infant mortality rate, as it has historically far surpassed the rates of other Latin American nations. Though superficial data presented by the government seem to suggest that the intercultural reform has been an unprecedented success, very little extensive research has been done on the topic. My work gauges the merits of the intercultural reform and assesses which areas particularly have been successful. To do so, …

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The Future Was A Riot: Causes Of Youth Unemployment In Spain And Challenges To Immigration And The Welfare State In The Era Of The Common Market (1999-2016), Andrew Hayes Jan 2018

The Future Was A Riot: Causes Of Youth Unemployment In Spain And Challenges To Immigration And The Welfare State In The Era Of The Common Market (1999-2016), Andrew Hayes

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to exam the causes behind unusually high youth unemployment in Spain, even after the 2007-8 financial crisis has subsided. The primary means of investigating these causes is through constructing a set of empirical models and then using these models to perform several time-series regressions to find whether changes in educational patterns, demographics, and immigration have had any concrete effect on the youth unemployment rate and social capital. Some qualitative work is done; particularly in describing the legal structure surrounding unemployment and in the description of the Spanish welfare state. In my research, I find …

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Breastfeeding Support Programs: Systematic Review Of Socioeconomic Literature, Chinelo Ibekwe Jan 2018

Breastfeeding Support Programs: Systematic Review Of Socioeconomic Literature, Chinelo Ibekwe

Honors Theses

This thesis describes a systematic review and analysis of literature concerning breastfeeding and programs focused on improving breastfeeding participation. It examines breastfeeding programs with respect to intervention evaluation and the economic impact of breastfeeding programs, and scrutinizes social factors such as race, ethnicity, cultural identity, income, and age which potentially influence the outcomes of these breastfeeding programs. It explores how breastfeeding programs have reduced rehospitalization of low birth weight and preterm infants through the implementation of one or a combination of the following services to mothers and babies: breast pump supplies, education, and training on breastfeeding, transportation to and from …

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Cyber Security And Criminal Justice Programs In The United States: Exploring The Intersections, Brian K. Payne, Lora Hadzhidimova Jan 2018

Cyber Security And Criminal Justice Programs In The United States: Exploring The Intersections, Brian K. Payne, Lora Hadzhidimova

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The study of cyber security is an interdisciplinary pursuit that includes STEM disciplines as well as the social sciences. While research on cyber security appears to be central in STEM disciplines, it is not yet clear how central cyber security and cyber crime is to criminal justice scholarship. In order to examine the connections between cyber security and criminal justice, in this study attention is given to the way that criminal justice scholars have embraced cyber crime research and coursework. Results show that while there are a number of cyber crime courses included in criminal justice majors there are not …

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Applying A Total Quality Framework To Qualitative Research Design: A Review, Paula Boros Jan 2018

Applying A Total Quality Framework To Qualitative Research Design: A Review, Paula Boros

The Qualitative Report

In Applied Qualitative Research Design: A Total Quality Framework Approach, Margaret R. Roller and Paul J. Lavrakas present their Total Quality Framework (TQF) designed to help researchers understand qualitative research is required to be creditable, analyzable, transparent, and useful. The authors show how qualitative researchers can utilize these four TQR fundamental elements to identify strengths and limitations of their qualitative methods and design process.

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The Politics Of Immigrant Rights: Between Political Geography And Transnational Interventions, Deborah M. Weissman Jan 2018

The Politics Of Immigrant Rights: Between Political Geography And Transnational Interventions, Deborah M. Weissman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Planning For A Nondriving Future: Behaviors And Beliefs Among Middle-Aged And Older Drivers, Annie C. Harmon, Ganesh M. Babulal, Jonathon M. Vivoda, Brian J. Zikmund-Fisher, David B. Carr Jan 2018

Planning For A Nondriving Future: Behaviors And Beliefs Among Middle-Aged And Older Drivers, Annie C. Harmon, Ganesh M. Babulal, Jonathon M. Vivoda, Brian J. Zikmund-Fisher, David B. Carr

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

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Teleconsultation Using Mobile Phones For Diagnosis And Acute Care Of Burn Injuries Among Emergency Physicians: Mixed-Methods Study, Anders Klingberg, Lee A. Wallis, Marie Hasselberg, Po-Yin Yen, Sara C. Fritzell Jan 2018

Teleconsultation Using Mobile Phones For Diagnosis And Acute Care Of Burn Injuries Among Emergency Physicians: Mixed-Methods Study, Anders Klingberg, Lee A. Wallis, Marie Hasselberg, Po-Yin Yen, Sara C. Fritzell

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

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Dissemination And Implementation Science For Public Health Professionals: An Overview And Call To Action, Paul A. Estabrooks, Ross C. Brownson, Nicolaas P. Pronk Jan 2018

Dissemination And Implementation Science For Public Health Professionals: An Overview And Call To Action, Paul A. Estabrooks, Ross C. Brownson, Nicolaas P. Pronk

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

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