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Articles 1 - 14 of 14

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Identifying Causes Of Variation Among Per Capita Incomes Of Sub-Saharan African States, Vinod Kannuthurai Jan 2014

Identifying Causes Of Variation Among Per Capita Incomes Of Sub-Saharan African States, Vinod Kannuthurai

Honors Theses

In this work, the author utilized a statistical analysis to assess variations in per capita incomes among sub-Saharan African states. The factors tested include education and healthcare investment, mineral and oil dependence, agricultural dependence, landmass size, population size, level of instability, economic freedom, and political freedom. Although the author found mineral and oil dependence to be the most statistically significant factor in determining variations in per capita income, there was still a great deal of variation among sub-Saharan African countries with mineral and oil dependence. Thus, the author employed a case-study involving Botswana and Zambia, two commodity dependent states with …


The Evangelical Church And Creation Care, J. B. Burt Jan 2014

The Evangelical Church And Creation Care, J. B. Burt

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to determine the extent to which creation care is reaching and influencing the patrons in the pews of Evangelical Christian churches as well as to determine if Evangelicals will ever be prepared to take a strong and widespread stance on the environmental issues of our time. A mixed method research design was employed that consisted of three focus groups that served to directly inform the development of an online survey. Survey respondents consisted of 283 primarily Mississippi residents and students attending colleges and universities in Mississippi. Results illustrated that a majority of Evangelicals do …


The Changing Climate And Adaptation Strategies For The Mississippi Delta, John Jenks Jan 2014

The Changing Climate And Adaptation Strategies For The Mississippi Delta, John Jenks

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.


Online Sales Tax Policy: A Study Of New York And Georgia State Laws And The Federal Marketplace Fairness Act, Madison Elizabeth Coburn Jan 2014

Online Sales Tax Policy: A Study Of New York And Georgia State Laws And The Federal Marketplace Fairness Act, Madison Elizabeth Coburn

Honors Theses

The physical presence standard for remote sales tax collection, established in 1967, remains the standard for sales tax collection today. Advances in technology have led to increases in online shopping. Online retailers act under the physical presence standard. Throughout the United States, many individual states are facing economic challenges either as a result of or in conjunction with states' inability to collect sales tax from some online vendors without a physical presence in the state. The challenges include loss of revenue due to uncollected online sales tax and lack of fairness for brick-and-mortar retailers that do remit sales tax to …


Legal Education Reform: An Analysis Of The Current State Of The American Legal Education System Post Maccrate, Matthew Todd Kiefer Jan 2014

Legal Education Reform: An Analysis Of The Current State Of The American Legal Education System Post Maccrate, Matthew Todd Kiefer

Honors Theses

The legal education continuum in the United States is under scrutiny from external and internal forces. This thesis examines a wide range of legal reports that focus on the current state of the most important part of the continuum, law schools. It specifically asks the question whether there is need for significant and possibly comprehensive change in law schools and if so what those changes would need to be. The thesis first explores the history and formation of legal education in America and its regulatory associations. Then it focuses on the MacCrate Report as comprehensive tool for understanding the legal …


The Role Of The United States Navy In Sustaining And Protecting The Global Economy, Richard U. Beneke Jan 2014

The Role Of The United States Navy In Sustaining And Protecting The Global Economy, Richard U. Beneke

Honors Theses

Because of the rapid changes occurring in the world, the United States government is being forced to evaluate if the navy has become obsolete. With current cuts coming to the navy it seemed an important aspect to investigate. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether or not the United States should cut funding for the Navy by looking specifically at the impact the United States Navy has on the Global Economy by securing shipping lanes and the free navigation of the sea. The study will be conducted as a literature review. In the thesis, the nature of …


Exploring The Potential Effects Of Election Day Voter Registration In Mississippi, Adam M. Blackwell Jan 2014

Exploring The Potential Effects Of Election Day Voter Registration In Mississippi, Adam M. Blackwell

Honors Theses

With recent Supreme Court decisions and state legislative initiatives, policymakers and scholars heatedly debate voting rights in America. The debate typically centers on policies that seek to affect the accessibility of voting. Election Day Registration (EDR) is one voting policy being discussed. Allowing voters to register on Election Day is a policy currently used in eleven states and the District of Columbia, and states with EDR rank highest in the nation's voter turnout rates. In this thesis, I analyze the voter turnout effects and Election Day Registration policies in North Carolina and Minnesota, as well as the political environments surrounding …


Perceptions Of Cold Case Work In Mississippi Law Enforcement, Lindsey Pittman Jan 2014

Perceptions Of Cold Case Work In Mississippi Law Enforcement, Lindsey Pittman

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to see whether law enforcement personnel in Mississippi believe cold case units and, specifically, analysts are beneficial and worthwhile. This study will focus primarily on whether having used the Mississippi Cold Case Unit (MCCU) has had an impact on people’s perception of analysts and analytical methods within the law enforcement community. The study was conducted through the use of an online survey using Qualtrics Research Suite (Appendix A).The responses were then analyzed using the statistical software GraphPad Prism 6. Responses showed that there is very little difference in perception of the MCCU between those …


Conservative Values And Minority Outreach, Diego Garcia Jan 2014

Conservative Values And Minority Outreach, Diego Garcia

Honors Theses

This thesis focuses on the values that underlie positions in political issues among three minority groups (African-Americans, Jewish- Americans and Hispanics). The primary focus of this research is to determine the extent to which the values that these minority groups hold align with conservative values; secondarily, the thesis considers the extent to which conservative politicians could use such alignment to appeal to minorities. This thesis also includes a brief series of recommendations for the Republican Party to be more effective at appealing to these minority groups specifically.


Integrated Conservation And Development Projects (Icdps): Characteristics Of Success And Recommendations For Implementation, Emory Smith Jan 2014

Integrated Conservation And Development Projects (Icdps): Characteristics Of Success And Recommendations For Implementation, Emory Smith

Honors Theses

The aim of this study is to investigate integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) and to help improve their future implementation by identifying the underlying philosophies that make ICDPs successful. Conserving natural ecosystems in developing regions is important, but it is difficult because local people use those ecosystems for their sustenance and are not capable of forgoing that use unless some other means exists for them to earn a living. Consequently, ICDP emerged in the early 1990's as a means to both conserve natural resources and provide economic development for the local people. This thesis provides an in-depth analysis of …


Collaborations Of Hope: Network Theory And The Assessment Of Anti-Human Trafficking Nonprofits' Relationships, Gabrielle Barrientos Jan 2014

Collaborations Of Hope: Network Theory And The Assessment Of Anti-Human Trafficking Nonprofits' Relationships, Gabrielle Barrientos

Honors Theses

My research utilizes network theory to assess nonprofits' relationships in the anti- human trafficking sector. I explore nonprofit relationships with other anti-human trafficking nonprofits and governmental agencies through a survey I developed and administered to anti-human trafficking nonprofits and coalitions. I selected all survey recipients because of their focus on addressing human trafficking. Out of 50 organizations, 16 participated in the survey. I found that all of these organizations collaborated with other nonprofits and all but one with government. All organizations valued nonprofit collaboration and all but one valued government collaboration. The majority or organizations valued both collaborations equally, which …


The Morality Of Scottish Independence, Hunter Nicholson Jan 2014

The Morality Of Scottish Independence, Hunter Nicholson

Honors Theses

In September of 2014, Scottish citizens will have the opportunity to vote for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom. The present research uses the work of philosopher Allen Buchanan to judge the moral arguments for and against Scottish independence. Preferences of Scottish people were gathered through interviews with two professors of Politics and Governance at the University of Edinburgh, as well as members from every major party at the Scottish Parliament, and over sixty citizens from across Scotland. The interviews were qualitative in nature and were analyzed with Buchanan's assessment of arguments for secession. The most prominent justifications concerned enhancing …


Borderline Depravity: The Impact Of U.S. Immigration Policy On Human Smuggling At The Mexican Border, Chloe J. Gilroy Jan 2014

Borderline Depravity: The Impact Of U.S. Immigration Policy On Human Smuggling At The Mexican Border, Chloe J. Gilroy

Honors Theses

Human smuggling at the southwest border has undergone a series of dramatic changes following the advent of militarized enforcement after 9/11. These changes have culminated in drug cartels becoming involved in the market for human smuggling as service providers. This role constitutes a massive departure from the traditional working dynamics of the market, and has created a human rights crisis with far-reaching implications. Accordingly, this thesis attempts to answer the following questions: Why are Mexican drug cartels entering into human smuggling? What part has U.S immigration policy had in incentivizing their involvement? When did their involvement begin? To answer these …


The Relationships Between Local Food And Food Security In Maine, Erin Love Jan 2014

The Relationships Between Local Food And Food Security In Maine, Erin Love

Honors Theses

There is a food systems paradox in Maine: the State has one of the highest levels of food insecurity in the nation, while simultaneously experiencing a local agriculture boom. Maine has some of the largest percentages of young farmers and women farmers in the country and is home to the second highest number of artisan cheese makers of any state in the country. Amidst this exciting, sometimes quirky, agricultural activity there is a critical need for food systems development in the state, especially in the context of serving vulnerable populations. This thesis explores the ways in which Mainers are working …