Digital Commons Network^™

"Beating My Opponent": An Examination Of Frank Ocean's Strategy To Success In The Music Industry, Andre Ayers

Theses & ETDs

This paper examines the early career of sing and songwriter Frank Ocean as it relates to the corporate music industry and its history of Black cultural exploitation. Using the story surrounding the release of Ocean’s 2016 album Blonde, this paper explores how he successfully subverts conventional music industry practices regarding artistic direction, marketing and business practices. The framework of this paper emphasizes the importance of how artists form relationships with three key entities that ultimately enable them to build successful careers: artist and art, artist and audience, and artist and industry. Using this framework allows a thorough exploration of artistry …

The Effects Of Repression On Religious Belief And Practice In Soviet And Post-Soviet Russia, Eshel Rosen

Theses & ETDs

This thesis examines the effect anti-religious policies had on belief and practice in Russia during the Soviet period by examining that era and Post-Soviet Russia. Russian identity and governance have historically been tightly interconnected with the Russian Orthodox tradition, dating back to the baptism of Vladimir I in 988. Despite the deeply rooted tradition, Lenin implemented policies of repression to limit the role of religion in civil society. Throughout the Soviet period the state enforced many anti-religious policies that ranged in intensity. The main forms of repression were forced closures of churches, arresting of clergy, and preventing the religious education …

The Relationship Between The Notions Of Gender Roles In Flamenco Performances: How Are These Roles Defined In The Flamenco Culture?, Lucille Sanz

Theses & ETDs

Flamenco, as an art form, has developed a gender typecast in which the exhibition of physical movements, vocal interpretations, and the use of customary musical instruments have reflected long-established gender roles and hierarchy of a traditionally patriarchal society. This thesis analyzes how flamenco perpetuates traditional stereotypes of gender, the obstacles artists face within those roles, and how performers are challenging gender differentiation and integrate new gender imagery into modern-day flamenco. In its beginnings, flamenco was not a form of entertainment but instead a way of life where marginalized citizens expressed their fears, joys, and many other emotions via the art …

“Foodways At Twin Oaks Intentional Community”: An Ethnographic Study Of Eating, Working, And Growing Together, Amaranth Sander

Theses & ETDs

This is an ethnography of food systems at Twin Oaks Intentional Community, a rural income-sharing commune of about 100 children and adults in Central Virginia. I use data from three months of participant observation, interviews, and community records to analyze multiple aspects of on-site food production and consumption. I look at how the community produces a portion of its own food, through their dairy program and a large vegetable garden, as well as how the community allocates resources to purchase and obtain outside food and how these fit in with concepts of self-sufficiency and interdependence. I use an embodied approach …

The Theory Of Ideal Labor Compensation Based On Historical Methods, Clinton Overton

Theses & ETDs

Labor compensation is a topic that has been core to the field of economics for centuries. In this time multiple methods of compensation have arisen. These can be either monetary, in the form of salaries, wages, or commissions. They can also be non-monetary in the form of insurance, the providing of necessities. For wages and salaries, the main pitfall is in terms of verification. Without high levels of oversight employers cannot be certain that their employees are being productive for the amount they are being payed. These payment methods also do not necessarily give the employee incentive to take actions …

“Two Warring Ideals In One Dark Body”: The Persistence Of The Persephone Myth In 20th Century African American Women’S Literature, Ashley Miles

Theses & ETDs

Throughout American literary history, African American authors have had a complex relationship with the Classics. This thesis looks to works written by African American women authors of the 20th century that rework, appropriate, and adapt the Greco-Roman myth of Demeter and Persephone. In “The Anniad” (1949), Gwendolyn Brooks uses epic narrative style while alluding to the myths to elevate the story of a young African American woman, Annie, as she navigates her first love and loss amidst instances of racialized and gendered alterity. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970) appropriates the myth to parallel the traumatic repetitions of Persephone’s never-ending …

Institutional Injustice In West Coconut Grove: Discrimination Against Miami’S First Bahamian Community Throughout The Twentieth Century, Lindsay Mcelroy

Theses & ETDs

This thesis examines the West Coconut Grove community, one of Miami’s first permanent settlements by black Bahamian people. This thesis analyzes the vibrant community throughout the twentieth century and examines how action and inaction have affected the areas black residents. Chapter one argues that systematic violence, redlining, zoning, and segregation walls worked to keep Bahamian-born and American-born black residents in what white people perceived as their place, in a servile position and hidden in their black neighborhood. Chapter two looks at the long history of vibrancy in West Grove’s business community, which has suffered over the past few decades from …

The State Of Becoming: Constructing Masculine Heroes In Stalin’S Soviet Union, Miles Newmyer

Theses & ETDs

The Stalin period (1928-1953) saw more control over the artistic process than ever before. The state created an official canon of mythical characters that were part of a "great family," its father, Stalin. This thesis argues that the function of the filial images projected on Soviet society during the 1930s was to personalize loyalty to the “great family” and to Stalin. The regime’s heroes were mythologized beyond their human stature, its enemies subjected to damnatio memoriae. This project examines the filial identity of Stalin’s regime, as manifested in its art. This “family” organizes identity within socialist realism and in Soviet …

The Memory Of Single Motherhood In Contemporary Literature, Shelby Hennessy

Theses & ETDs

The overarching question in this thesis, How are single mothers remembered collectively in contemporary literature? joins two fields of academia, Literature and Memory Studies. The single mothersIdiscussmaybeunwed,divorced,orwidowed.My introduction analyzes the social prejudices directed against single mothers and draws on sociological and historical studies as initial evidence. Within the three chapters and the conclusion, I discuss eight literary examples of single mothers, from books published between 1976 and 2009, and accompany them with relevant memory theories by such scholars as Michael Rothberg and Marianne Hirsch. Each chapter examines one ofthree life stages, and asks: What is pregnancy as a single mother …

The Effects Of Term Limits On Legislative Polarization At The Subnational Level, Sebastian Plank

Theses & ETDs

Polarization has become a popular topic in the political science literature. The majority of research pertaining to this topic, however, has focused on polarization among voters or federal officials. What about polarization among state officials? Proposed causes of this phenomenon have ranged from racial division to psychological factors. Since institutions deal directly with legislatures, could they be a causal mechanism for this phenomenon? One example of an institution that could potentially influence legislative polarization is the implementation of legislative term limits. Do legislative term limits affect the polarization of state legislators? Based on the results of this study, term limits …

The Local Consumer Food Environment Of Sarasota, Florida: An Assessment Of Access To Healthy Food Choices By Median Household Income, Elizabeth Ramsamooj

Theses & ETDs

The local food environment is the proximal access of food retailers within a residential area. It comprises three domains, physical, social and individual or perceptions. Within these domains four aspects of the local food environment are recognized, community, consumer, information and organizational nutrition environment. For this thesis, I explore the physical domain of the local consumer food environment of Sarasota, Florida and how access to healthy food choices varies between census tracts with varying median household incomes. To measure access I used a mixed methods approach including the Nutrition Environment Measures Study Survey for stores (NEMS-S) and qualitative journals. A …

The Fire, The Forest, And The Witness Watching It: Mitski Miyawaki’S Physical And Musical Embodiment Of Gender, Asian American Identity, And Autonomy, Hayley Vanstrum

Theses & ETDs

This is an examination of musical artist Mitski Miyawaki’s construction of identity within her work and external life, centering themes of gender, race, performance, and public perception. I use a combination of personal accounts, interview quotes, lyrical analysis, and sociological/feminist theory to position Mitski within the realm of social transformation, arguing that her presence within the indie music genre carves out valuable avenues of identity exploration for her young, largely female and Asian American fanbase.

Adoption Out Of Foster Care: Using Subsidies As A Means To Increase Adoption Rates, Kaeli Williams

Theses & ETDs

This paper examines the factors that most influence a foster parent’s choice to adopt their foster child. To determine whether adoption subsidies, age, and race are influential factors in adoption choice we did a data analysis using data from 2015. We also conducted an in-depth literature review and created a supply and demand model to observe the effects of subsidies on adoption rates. Our results showed that older children and minorities, especially African American children are the least likely groups of children to be adopted. There was no obvious connection between subsidy rates and adoption rates. We conclude that this …

La Nueva Sandinisma: How Women’S Political Representation Aids In Sustaining Nicaragua’S Current Dictatorship, Tirza Morales

Theses & ETDs

This study explores how authoritarian leaders can use women’s descriptive and substantive representation to maintain power. I study this phenomenon by exploring the case of Nicaragua’s current autocratic regime under Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murrillo. Civilian dictatorships have to deal with threats from both the masses and the elite classes, and I examine how a government can manipulate women’s political representation to placate them both. Using Svolik’s (2012) concept of authoritarian control and authoritarian power sharing, I examine how descriptive representation can exert authoritarian control over the masses, and how substantive representation can facilitate authoritarian power sharing with elites. First, …

Potential For A 'Greener Sense Of Self' : An Exploration Of The Photocatalytic Degradation Of Water Pollutants Via Tio2 Nanoparticles Through A Citizen Science Framework And Its Impact On Environmental Stewardship Attitudes And Scientific Agency, Kristen Patterson

Theses & ETDs

Citizen science is a volunteer framework that has proven itself to be a powerful guide for environmental research, but has often limited volunteer participation to data collection. This thesis explores the potential of developing the citizen science framework in conducting water quality treatment. Chemically, the aim was to determine whether dye sensitization of titanium dioxide nanoparticles could increase their photocatalytic pollutant degradation efficiency. In this, a citizen science initiative was created around this tool and introduced to the Meadows Community Association in Sarasota, Florida, where we partnered to develop the methodology of and collect data for the project to speak …

Exploring The “Phenomenon” Of Female Dominance In Malagasy Lemurs: The World’S Most Endangered Mammalian Group, Maya Owitz Greenberg

Theses & ETDs

Literature on sex-biased power in nonhuman primates typically portrays male dominance as the baseline assumption, perhaps due to human cultural biases. Yet recent research incorporating a broader range of taxa and a more inclusive framework of social power increasingly sheds light on the true diversity of intersexual power dynamics across species. For example, female-biased power structures are widespread across Malagasy lemurs, representing nearly 30% of all primate species. To expand research into female power in lemurs, the present study investigated patterns of intersexual interactions in two small, captive groups of Mongoose lemurs (Eulemur mongoz), an Adult Group (two males and …

“How Do You Experience Language, Art, And The Body?”: An Exploration Of Trauma And Individualized Therapeutic Possibilities, Cait Matthews

Theses & ETDs

People commonly experience traumatic events that have lasting harmful impressions on the brain and body, yet the mental health care system is structured in a way that does not always easily provide accessible and effective individualized treatments. This study was interested in the relationship between survey participant preferences towards different therapy types and perceptions of experiencing language, art, and the body. Sixty-eight participants in total engaged with the survey; 57 completed up through the therapeutic preferences section; 45 completed the entire survey. The participants were asked if they had ever experienced therapy before, then if they had experienced trauma that …

Bounce For Your Ward: A Grounded Theory Approach Investigating The Role Cultural Intermediation Plays In The Development Of Local Sensibilities In New Orleans Bounce Music, Rosemary Demarco

Theses & ETDs

In this project I consider what role cultural intermediation plays in the development of local sensibilities. I investigated the latent messages in New Orleans Bounce rap through a mixed methods approach of a content analysis and grounded theory. Using a playlist curated specifically for this project by a well-known Bounce DJ in New Orleans, I conducted interviews with him to substantiate my findings from the data analysis and provide a more holistic view of Bounce rap. By applying a mixed methods approach to a traditional content analysis, I triangulated interviews, journal notes, and lyrical data to make sense of messages …

Glitch Healing, Zachary Schoenblatt

Theses & ETDs

The purpose of this study is to explore glitches in music, in order to understand glitches in society & what this reflects about our world and life itself. In order to do this eye facilitated a sound art installation called “Glitch Healing” featuring a song I created from glitches. What I learned from this was that things don’t always go according to plan, and I inadvertently learned about glitches within myself which previously I had not recognized. As a result I facilitated healing for myself and it caused me to reevaluate my own worldview & perception of life to one …

Sociology Of Sexualities, Kyla Bender-Baird

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Envisioning Critical Social Entrepreneurship Education: Possibilities, Questions, And Guiding Commitments, Mark Congdon Jr., Liliana Herakova

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Higher education institutions continue to be increasingly interested in examining how social entrepreneurship and community engaged approaches to education can work together. In light of the recent growth and interest in such programs, scholars and educators have called for attention to specific considerations when developing SE and community-based education, which can be summed up in three areas - pedagogy, relationships, and impact. The present essay builds on such propositions, and calls for a critically-orientated approach to SE, grounded in community engagement, collaborative dialogue among diverse voices, and a commitment to transforming oppressive structures

Unequal Sex Education: The Bible Belt Vs. New England, Nicole Mazzeo

Undergraduate Review

The Bible Belt1 in the Southern United States is known for its conservative values, which are largely influenced by the popularity of evangelical Christianity in the region. When looking at sex education, policymakers in the area tend to prefer abstinence-only-until-marriage (AOUM) education, if anything, to be implemented in schools (Guttmacher Institute 2019). In this paper, I will use data on the sexual health outcomes in the Bible Belt, as compared to the Northeast, to demonstrate that the lack of comprehensive sex education — and the popularity of abstinence-only education — contributes to inequality in our country.

Introduction To Metaeconomics, Gary D. Lynne

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Metaeconomics is fundamentally about the problem of having too much emphasis on the Market or too much emphasis on the Government. It is about the essential need to bring empirical reality and ethics into finding balance: It is essential to achieving a good capitalism. Why? Well, because of the natural tendency to excessive Greed. As DeWaal (2009) would have it, we live in an age of Empathy: Ego based Greed is out. The Greed needs to be tempered, balanced, and perhaps bounded, with Empathy-based ethics. And, as Metaeconomics makes clear, it is because there is a dual nature of human …

Aso Òkè Weaving Techniques And Perception In Iseyin, Oyo State, Nigeria, Idowu Jamiu Diyaolu, Halima Ronke Omotosho

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

There is need for more women to be involved in weaving activities in southwestern Nigeria. The study examined the techniques employed in local weaving in Iseyin and associated factors, as well as the perceptions of consumers on the woven fabrics. The study was carried out in Iseyin, a city in Oyo State, Nigeria, reputed for weaving aso-oke. Cluster sampling was used to select twenty weavers while simple random sampling was used to select eighty consumers. Interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data then analyzed and interpreted using descriptive statistics and correlation. The result showed that most of the weavers …

Suffolk University Alumni Magazine, Fall 2020, Suffolk University

Suffolk University Magazine

No abstract provided.

Washington University Magazine, February 2020

Washington University Magazine

No abstract provided.

2020 Intersession Catalog, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

Intersession Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Chapter 7: Statistical Identification Of Fraudulent Interviews In Surveys: Improving Interviewer Controls Appendix 7, Silvia Schwanhäuser, Joseph W. Sakshaug, Yuliya Kosyakova, Frauke Kreuter

Interviewer Workshop, 2019: Interviewers and Their Effects from a Total Survey Error Perspective

Table A7A.1 Number of identical response patterns

Chapter 11: Virtual Interviewers, Social Identities, And Survey Measurement Error. Appendix 11, Frederick Conrad, Michael Schober, Daniel Nielsen, Heidi Reichert

Interviewer Workshop, 2019: Interviewers and Their Effects from a Total Survey Error Perspective

Table A11A.1 Proportion of race-related items for which race of interviewer effects are observed across eleven published studies.

Table A11A.2 Virtual interviewer assignments and linked example videos, N=1,735

Table A11A.3. Debriefing questionnaire about respondents’ experience administered textually after the primary date were collected

Table A11A.4 Respondent – Virtual interviewer gender and race assignments, and match conditions N=1,735

Table A11A.5 Respondent characteristics, N=1,735

Table A11A.6 Questionnaire administered to respondents.

Table A11A.7 Respondent gender and race choices, N=1,735

Chapter 13: Interacting With Interviewers In Text And Voice Interviews On Smartphones. Appendix 13, Michael F. Schober, Frederick G. Conrad, Christopher Antoun, Alison W. Bowers, Andrew L. Hupp, H. Yanna Yan

Interviewer Workshop, 2019: Interviewers and Their Effects from a Total Survey Error Perspective

Appendix A: Example human text and voice interchange that includes clarification.

Appendix B: Coding Manual

Appendix A13C.1 (Data) attached below