Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Fair Labor Standards Act: Revised And Updated (2012), Richard Stokes

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

This document details the specifics of the act: what the act requires, who is covered and who is not covered, hours worked and compensation, overtime pay, record keeping, and penalties.

An Interview With Dr. Theda Skocpol, Sarah Russell

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

No abstract provided.

Critique Of Microcredit As A Development Model, Grace Levin

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

The field of microcredit (otherwise known as microfinance, microlending, or microcapital) has expanded rapidly since the 1980s as an economic means of lifting people out of poverty. Generally, microcredit has been accepted as an effective method for empowering both individuals and communities. In recent years, however, critics have brought to light some of the problems associated with microlending, such as the complex socioeconomic factors that can cause loan programs to fail. These problems stem from the basic tenet of microfinance: the need for lending programs to be managed locally in order to understand the needs of a community and assess …

Working From Within: Observations Of Non-Governmental Efforts To Decrease Social Marginalization In Buenos Aires, Elisabeth Tilstra

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

This essay is a modification of an excerpt from the senior thesis written for the Chancellor’s Honors Program at The University of Tennessee. The complete project—titled “Bringing the Outside In: An Examination of Non-Governmental Aid Organizations in Buenos Aires”—first examines the political and economic history of Argentina as a context from which to understand the current stage of actors in the social sector. Then, drawing from my fieldwork in the slums surrounding urban Buenos Aires, it introduces the twelve organizations I studied that work with issues of poverty and development, exploring organizational elements that aid or limit a nonprofit’s efficacy. …

African Irregular Migrants In Malta: Exploring Perceptions And Renegotiating The Socio-Cultural Siege Of Malta, Hannah E. Durick

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

This paper discusses the influx of African irregular migrants seeking asylum in Malta and how their arrival and growing presence in Malta is perceived by the Maltese. Since becoming an EU Member State in 2004 Malta has been overwhelmed by the number of irregular migrants arriving on its shores while en route to continental Europe. Due to its proximity to the North African coastline Malta becomes a frequent, albeit unintentional, destination for African migrants who are rescued in Maltese waters and subsequently placed in a closed detention facility until their legal status is determined in a court of law. Although …

Technical Bulletins: Online Data Backup (2012), Justin O'Hara

MTAS Publications: Technical Bulletins

This publication describes how city data may be lost or compromised and practical ways to protect data with a backup.

Technical Bulletins: Developing Your City's Archival Policy For Electronically Stored Information (2012), Josh Jones, Justin O'Hara

MTAS Publications: Technical Bulletins

This publication is intended to provide guidance, especially to smaller cities, in the creation and implementation of a practical and cost-effective archiving policy for Electronically Stored Information (ESI).

Promoting And Developing Oromummaa (Power Point), Asafa Jalata

Sociology Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Executive Summary Report, Ua/Sc Wg

DataONE Sociocultural and Usability & Assessment Working Groups

This report contains information on attendance, work completed, and work planned for the Usability andAssessment and Sociocultural Working Groups at the DataONE All Hands Meeting that was held September 2012 in Albuquerque, NM.

The National Security Presidency In The Post-9/11 World, Thomas C. Scandlyn

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Cultural Anthropological Research In The Business Environment, Caitlin Farmer

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Local Residents' Experience Of The Coal Ash Spill In Kingston, Tennessee: A Phenomenological Study, Amy Lynn Mathis

Doctoral Dissertations

On December 22, 2008, near Kingston, Tennessee, a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) retention pond holding approximately 1.7 million cubic yards of coal fly ash failed, spilling the ash into the nearby Emory River and inundating farms and homes in the Swan Pond community. As a result more than 100 people were permanently displaced from their homes and the clean-up effort is ongoing.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of living near Kingston, Tennessee, in the aftermath of the spill. Using existential phenomenology as the guiding research methodology, I interviewed 9 participants from the area and asked …

Characteristics Of Foster Parents Willing To Care For Sexual Minority Youth, Justin Douglas Bucchio

Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

Sexual minority foster youth living in out-of-home care are in need of enhanced services to promote successful development. Scholars have focused on providing insight into the lives of these youth as well as effective treatment approaches. None have focused on the willingness of the providers of their care. This nationwide non-probability cross-sectional study assessed foster mothers’ (N = 304) willingness to care for sexual minority youth, using secondary data analysis.

Willingness was assessed using the Willingness to Foster Scale (WFS), which identifies four levels of willingness ranging from not willing at all to willing without any extra help …

New Insights On The Peopling Of The New World: Analysis Of Migration Waves And Ancestral Areas Of The First Americans, Barbara Kathleen Alsup

Doctoral Dissertations

There is much debate regarding the ancestral area(s) and migration patterns of the first migrants into the Americas, referred to here as Paleoamericans. Using craniometric data of a comprehensive sample of Paleoamericans, Archaic Americans and modern, worldwide populations, various statistical analyses were conducted to further investigate these research questions, such as principal component analysis, Mahalanobis squared distance matrices and matrix permutation and design matrix analysis.

Most results indicate that the Single Wave model for movement into the New World is best supported by this data. This finding is among the first in providing craniometric support for a single wave into …

Migration, Residential Preference, And Economic Development: A Knowledge-Based Approach Regarding Locational Preferences Of Two Disparate Subgroups Of The Creative Class, Charlynn Alita Burd

Doctoral Dissertations

The creative class literature centers on regional economic development, urban policy, and amenities. The creative class literature is considered at the metropolitan scale and is argued to be highly mobile. According to Asheim and Hansen (2009) , there are three knowledge bases of the creative class, analytic, synthetic, and symbolic. The three knowledge bases vary across two dimensions of ‘climate’. People climate refers to factors that positively effect the location of people, while business climate refers to factors that positively effect the location of businesses. The analytic knowledge base is comprised of economic activities that are based …

Records Of The Institut Fuer Deutsche Ostarbeit (1940-1943): Using Anthropometrics Of Polish Populations To Examine Secular Trends And Region Specific Variation, Alicja Karolina Lanfear

Doctoral Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation was to describe population variation and secular trends in anthropometrics of Polish people before, during, and after World War II. The records of the Institute fü[ue]r Deutsche Ostarbeit (USHMM, 2008a), a dataset containing anthropometrics of the Polish population that were taken by Nazi Germans during WWII, was used in combination with other published data sources (Boas, 1928; Sikora, 1956; Stołyhwo et al., 1956; Miszkiewicz, 1956; Miszkiewicz, 1960; Total n= 17,732). Population structure was analyzed at three levels; town, municipality and county. Secular trends in cranial and body dimensions were investigated over an 85 year period …

Deciding To Divert: Domestic And International Sources Of Constraints On Leader Decision-Making, Norris Thomas Feeney

Doctoral Dissertations

Domestic unrest is a constant feature in the international system. Aside from the impact unrest has on domestic populations, political turmoil also has consequences for other states in the international system. A long-held belief, backed by anecdotal evidence, is that leaders use aggressive foreign policy to divert public attention in periods of declining domestic political fortunes. However, consistent evidence for this pattern of behavior has not emerged across large-N analyses in the extant diversionary literature. This dissertation advances the search for evidence of diversion by assessing the likelihood leaders of various regime types will divert, comparing not only non-democracies with …

Assessing The Effect Of Relocation Control On Psychological Well-Being Of Assisted Living Residents, Young Sook Kim

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Recent evidence and prior research document that increasing numbers of older adults are experiencing relocation to an assisted living facility (ALF), and that involuntary ALF relocatees face a great risk of psychological distress because of the numerous stressors associated with this relocation. However, little empirical research has clearly investigated the interrelationship among major factors and their effects on the psychological well-being of AL residents: relocation control, mediators of stress (e.g., social support, self-reported health, and functional impairment) and psychological well-being.

This study had two aims: (a) to investigate the relationship between relocation control and psychological well-being (e.g., depression, …

Consumers' Correspondence Inference On Celebrity Endorsers: The Role Of Correspondence Bias And Suspicion, Taewoo Kim

Doctoral Dissertations

The main purpose of this study is to find out whether celebrity endorsers’ behaviors, such as large endorsement contract and multiple product endorsement, will influence consumers’ correspondence inferences on those celebrities’ genuine attitudes towards the endorsed products in print advertisements and how such attributional inferences will differ according to the perceived level of product congruence with the endorser. For meaningful analysis and interpretation, the differential effects were examined in terms of correspondence bias and suspicion of ulterior motives. The bias refers to people’ attributional inference tendency to relying on other persons’ dispositions; whereas, the suspicion of ulterior motives accounts for …

Re-Conceptualizing The Information Use Environment: Enablers Of And Constraints To Human Information Behavior In Hospice Care Volunteerism In The Southeastern Appalachian Region, Sheri L. Edwards

Doctoral Dissertations

Hospice care has seen an explosive growth in the last decade, with 42% of all deaths in 2010 in the US occurring under the care of a hospice program. A central aspect of hospice care is (unpaid) volunteer work, which is unique among other types of volunteer work in that it is strictly regulated by the Medicare hospice benefit, in which 94% of all hospices currently participate. As a cost-saving measure, Medicare requires that at least 5% of total patient care hours are undertaken by volunteers. However, hospice care faces a number of challenges, including a rapidly aging society that …

Unit Cohesion, Attachment, Personality Factors, And Mental Health In Veterans Of Iraq And Afghanistan, Allison Adrienne Whitesell

Doctoral Dissertations

One hundred forty seven veterans of Operations Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) and/or Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) completed an internet survey with questions related to unit cohesion, romantic attachment style, personality factors, and mental health symptoms. Participants completed five self-report measures: the PTSD Checklist-Military, the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-21, Deployment Social Support scale from the Deployment Risk and Resiliency Inventory, the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Short Form, and the International Personality Item Pool Big Five Short Form Questionnaire. Most participants were male and Caucasian. Hierarchical linear regression analysis results indicated that emotional stability predicted both general distress and PTSD symptom severity, while avoidant attachment …

An Examination Of Shame And Traditional Gender Roles On Behavioral Response In Non-Stranger Sexual Assault With College Females, Alison Megan Nathanson

Doctoral Dissertations

Non-stranger sexual assault commonly occurs on college campuses across the country, placing college females at risk for the negative consequences, including increased psychopathology, social difficulties, and academic failure. Research suggests that college women with a history of sexual abuse are often revictimized by acquaintances during their college experience. The mechanisms underlying the connection between sexual abuse and adult sexual assault remain unclear. The present study examines the indirect effect of shame and traditional gender role beliefs on heterosexual females’ behavioral response based on history of sexual trauma. Results indicate that neither shame nor benevolent sexist ideals mediate the relationship between …

Multicultural Personality, Hardiness, Morale, Distress And Cultural Stress In U.S. Service Members, Catherine Joan Herrera

Doctoral Dissertations

Modern military missions place numerous demands on service members, pushing them to negotiate technical, tactical, personal as well as cultural challenges. Although research in other fields has explored the issue of intercultural stress and resilience, to the author’s knowledge, none of these efforts have empirically examined these concepts in U.S. military samples, despite the frequent expatriation associated with a military career. The purpose of this study was to explore how factors of multicultural personality (Cultural Empathy, Open-Mindedness, Social Initiative, Emotional Stability, and Flexibility) as measured by the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire, relate to hardiness, morale, cultural stress as well as PTSD …

The Impact Of Relational Aggression And Friendship Quality On The Pathway From Parental Psychological Control To Child Internalizing Symptomology, Alden Elizabeth Gaertner

Doctoral Dissertations

The current project examined two competing models investigating the role of child relational aggression and friendship quality in the association between parental psychological control and child internalizing symptomology. An at-risk sample of predominantly minority children (n = 132, 55% male, 86% minority) ranging from 5 to 14 years of age (M = 8.83, SD = 2.43), recruited from a Knoxville, Tennessee area Boys and Girls Club was used to examine the proposed construct relations. Interaction terms between study variables and gender and age were also examined. All structural equation models yielded a poor fit to the data. Multiple regression …

Examination Of The Big Five And Narrow Traits In Relation To Learner Self-Direction, Jeral Ray Kirwan

Doctoral Dissertations

Self-direction in learning is a major topic in the field of adult learning. There has been extensive coverage of the topic by theorists, researchers, and practitioners. However, there have been few studies which look at learner self-direction specifically as a personality trait. The present study addresses the relationship between learner self-direction and other personality traits of college students when the traits represented by the five-factor model of personality (Digman, 1990) are differentiated from narrow personality traits. Archival data were used from an undergraduate sample at a large Southeastern U.S. university (sample size = 2102). Correlation and multiple regression …

Municipal E-News: Issue 43: December 2012, Mtas

Municipal E-News

The “Municipal E-News” was created by MTAS in 2009 as part of our continuing efforts to meet our mission of providing timely, valuable information and assistance to Tennessee cities.

Exchange December 2012, Institute For Public Service

The Exchange Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Self-Directed Learning And Information Literacy Among Adult Learners In Higher Education, Tiffani Reneau Conner

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-directed learning and information literacy. Participants completed the Personal Orientation in Self-Directed Learning Scale ([PRO-SDLS], Stockdale, 2003) and the Information Literacy Test ([ILT], James Madison University, 2003). The PRO-SDLS is a self-report scale consisting of 25 statements about self-directed learning preferences in college classrooms. The ILT is a 60-item multiple-choice test that assesses the information literacy skills of college students. Correlation, ANOVA, and multiple regressions were used to test relationships and differences between self-directed learning and information literacy. Despite claims that teaching information literacy creates self-directed learners, composite scores …

Public Libraries And Homeless Lgbtq Youth: Creating Safe Spaces Through Cultural Competence, Julie Ann Winkelstein

Doctoral Dissertations

This social justice research case study was conducted in an effort to understand the role of the public library in the daily lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) homeless youth. Concerns about the influences of space, power, human rights, and marginalization informed the researcher and served as critical guides. To gain insight into this question, one-on-one interviews were conducted with public librarians, service providers who work with homeless youth, and the youth themselves. Grounded theory provided a basis for the analysis of the collected conversations.

Six theoretical concepts of time, attitude, building relationships, welcoming, feeling safe and …

An Archaeological And Historical Investigation Of A 19th Century Leprosarium At Hassel Island, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Amanda Marie Barton

Masters Theses

Located on Hassel Island, a small island off the coast of Charlotte Amalie, in St. Thomas, USVI, a small leprosarium, or quarantine hospital for those affected with leprosy, was in operation from 1833 to 1861 as a way to isolate those with leprosy from the general population. Surface and sub-surface excavations took place over the spring and summer of 2008 in preparation for proposed National Park Service hiking trail that would be laid parallel to the site remains.

Firstly, this thesis provides a historical background on leprosy, as well as a background on how leprosy and disease has been studied …