Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Social And Ecological Approach To Mosquito Species Distribution Across Land Use In Bangor, Maine, Megan L. Schierer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mosquitoes are ubiquitous pests and infectious disease vectors. However, not all mosquito species bite humans, or are competent pathogen vectors between bloodmeal hosts. Along with climatic variables like temperature and rainfall, mosquito species distribution is determined by aquatic habitat availability for juvenile mosquito development, and terrestrial habitat and host availability for adult mosquitoes. There is variation in the preferred aquatic habitat for gravid female oviposition and subsequent larval development. Some mosquito species’ oviposition and development are associated with ephemeral water sources (e.g., floodplains), others prefer more permanent water sources (e.g., bogs or vernal pools). Other mosquitoes have evolved to occupy …

Educating Dietetics Students About The Nutritional Concerns Of Older Adults, Lily Brickman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The percentage of individuals in the United States who fall within the 65 years and older cohort is anticipated to increase substantially over the next decade due to the large baby boomer generation aging into this category by 2030. Consequently, the healthcare demands of older adults are expected to increase, and medical and healthcare providers must be educated and prepared to meet the unique needs of this population. The purpose of this study is to help learn why interest in FSN 406 Nutritional Care of Older Adults has been so low since its inception in 2020, and whether other institutions …

Socio-Economic Resilience Of Natural Resource Dependent Communities, Gabrielle Sherman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Resilience is described as the ability of a system to absorb shocks and stressors while retaining functionality. Within the context of communities, shocks may consist of disruptive events such as recession, natural disaster, local losses of industry, and social unrest. Resilience therefore is the ability of a community to continuously support human well-being in the aftermath of such an event. Although it is observable that certain communities perform this function better than others following a shock, no exact measurement of resilience exists. Instead, its presence is implied through the measurement of proxies known to contribute to socio-economic condition as well …

Assessment Of Historical Climate Variability In Maine With Implications For Future Agricultural Productivity And Adaptation, Carly Frank

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is a wicked problem with global impacts, one of which being the sustainability of the existing global food system. As temperatures and variability in precipitation are projected to increase, the challenges to agriculture are expected to intensify. This thesis examines the Maine historical climate record over the growing season, in combination with future projections, to assess how conditions have changed and will change with agricultural implications. In this analysis, relevant climatic variables are analyzed, and agriculture-significant measures are derived for Maine’s three climate divisions using four decades of daily and monthly gridded datasets. In addition, this thesis explores …

Miss Usa Meets Feminism: A Qualitative Study Exploring Contestants' Thoughts On Feminism, Julia Van Steenberghe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore pageant contestants’ thoughts on feminism. A total of 12 of the 51 state titleholders who had competed in the 2020 Miss USA Competition were interviewed. They were recruited through letters sent to individual State Pageant Directors of Miss USA. The objective of the study was to gain an understanding of how women who compete in beauty pageants view their participation in light of feminism. The focus of the interviews centered on their motivations for participating, pageantry support for feminist ideals, their own self-identification as a feminist, and any criticism they may …

Outdoor Pursuits And Outdoor Learning At Rural Maine Schools: A Positive Outlier Approach, Lauren E. Jacobs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the barriers and facilitators to outdoor learning and outdoor pursuits (OPs) in some of the most rural isolated K-12 schools in Maine. The purpose was to understand why some of these schools incorporate a lot of OPs and outdoor learning into their curriculum while other schools do not. Outdoor pursuits and outdoor learning in school settings are worthy of study because they provide students with opportunities to increase physical activity, benefit from time in nature, and make important connections to local culture (Lim et al., 2017; Schafft, 2016; Trembley et al., 2015).

This study employed a comparative …

Climate Care: Pathways For Coastal Community Resilience, Jessica Reilly-Moman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change increasingly impacts coasts worldwide. The ability of coastal ecosystems and the human communities who are part of them to absorb disturbance and maintain function or transform, or resilience, is of critical importance to managing these impacts. However, to date, climate resilience largely has focused on biophysical impacts and technocratic solutions, while issues of social and environmental justice and human well-being become more acute and entrenched. Consequently, I ask: How can coastal communities cope with climate change? To answer this question, I leverage traditional, emergent, and novel social research methods in Mexico, Central America, and Maine. Using ethnography, interviews, …

Using Photovoice To Navigate Social-Ecological Change In Coastal Maine: A Case Study On Visibility, Visuality, And Visual Literacy, Kevin P. Duffy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Media representations of the environment support specific cultures of viewing that can create expectations about how to observe social-ecological interactions in everyday life. While public perceptions may appear, in some cases, to reflect these normative representations, more critical and participatory approaches to environmental research and management have begun to complicate these representations as they are negotiated through intrapersonal, interpersonal, and group communication. Working from a visual cultural approach that interrogates issues of visibility, visuality, and visual literacy, this dissertation theorizes how coastal residents represent their own observations and experiences of environmental change through photography and what impact their views have …

Marine Aquaculture In Maine: Understanding Diverse Perspectives And Interactions At Multiple Scales, Melissa L. Britsch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Coastal oceans are changing and experiencing increased use. The social and ecological benefits of healthy coastal oceans are well documented and include habitats for marine species, storm protection, and recreational opportunities (MEA, 2005). As the impacts of human activities are recognized, questions about how ocean spaces should be used are becoming more common. These questions are complex and involve many tradeoffs. Understanding the values people hold about uses, and how activities and ecosystems overlap, is critical for weighing tradeoffs and improving future management. I use the northeastern U.S. state of Maine to study human interactions with coastal oceans. Maine is …

Social-Ecological Heterogeneity Shapes Resilience Of Small-Scale Fisheries: An Interdisciplinary Analysis Of The Mexican Chocolate Clam Fishery In Loreto, Mexico, Kara E. Pellowe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

All benefits provided by natural systems are embedded within coupled social-ecological systems (SESs). Fisheries are clear examples of SESs: through fishing, humans affect ecosystem structure and functioning, and in turn, receive benefits, including sustenance, employment, and cultural value. Resilience, the ability to maintain structure and function in the face of change, is key to sustaining the social and ecological components of fisheries-related SESs and their interactions. Many factors contribute to resilience, including heterogeneity. By identifying heterogeneity in these complex systems, we are better able to understand the capacity of fishery-related SESs to adapt to change, and contribute to management that …

Battle Over Black Bears: Investigating Perceptions Of The Black Bear Hunting Referendums In Maine, Francesca A. Gundrum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human dimensions of wildlife is an emerging discipline that seeks to understand the complex relationships between people, wildlife, and their conflicts and/or interactions (Decker, Riley, & Siemer, 2012). Human dimensions utilizes several tested theoretical frameworks to investigate these complexities, such as cognitive hierarchy theory and wildlife value orientations (WVOs). Both of these theoretical frameworks were examined in this study, which investigated the content of news media during controversial American black bear (Ursus americanus) hunting referenda in Maine, and key stakeholder perceptions of black bear management. Maine is the only state that allows hunters to take a black bear over bait, …

Challenges To Economic Resiliency And Performance: Measuring The Regional Impacts Of Rurality And Space, Elena S. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is commonly observed that there are inequalities found in economic growth, development, and performance between different regions. Because of this, it is vital for regional planners to have knowledge to which economic problems are present (Armstrong and Taylor, 2000; Martin, 2005). With such knowledge, planners are able to tailor and implement regional policies in an informed manner that is better suited to address economic problems. Found in this work are two studies that contextualize separate economic problems which have been extensively discussed within regional sciences and rural studies.

The first study seeks to assess how a county’s degree of …

Juggling Multiple Roles: An Examination Of Role Conflict And Its Relationship To Older Adult Volunteer Satisfaction And Retention, Jennifer Crittenden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Volunteering among older adults has been associated with numerous benefits for older adults and their communities. As the U.S. population continues to age, new and continued opportunities for engagement emerge not just within the formal volunteering arena, but also within paid employment, caregiving, and informal volunteering. Grounded in role theory, this study examined the extent to which current volunteers experience role conflict and role enhancement between their volunteer role and other social roles that they occupy. Specifically, this study examined the following research questions: 1) Does role conflict predict satisfaction with, participation in, and/or intention to remain in the volunteer …

Gain Vs. Loss And Near Vs. Far Spatial Distance Message Framing And Support For Aquaculture Among U.S. Seafood Consumers, Sandaruwan P. Kumara

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the U.S., the aquaculture industry receives differential support from various publics due to the health and environmental concerns of seafood consumers. Since consumer communication plays a significant role in policy support, understanding how messages about aquaculture should be framed is important. This study investigated the influence of gain vs. loss and near vs. far spatial distance framing on support for aquaculture among seafood consumers in the U.S. The study used a 2*2 experimental design to vary gain/loss and near/far framing among 1052 U.S. residents from all 50 states. An online questionnaire, distributed by the survey firm GfK, was employed …

Immersed In Fire: The Use Of Virtual Reality As An Attitude Assessor And Boundary Object In Wildland Fire Management, Casey Olechnowicz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interest in using prescribed burning as a forest management tool to promote forest health and regeneration is growing in Maine. The goal for this research was to better understand the way that the public perceives prescribed burning practices in wildland-urban interfaces, with an emphasis placed on how immersive imagery, closely related to virtual reality (VR), compares to traditional communication methods. We specifically focus on the social acceptability of prescribed burning and analyze how the level of immersive imagery is related to that acceptability (Ahn, 2015; Bricken, 1990; Fogg, Cuellar, and Danielson, 2009; Smith 2015; Wiederhold, Davis, and Wiederhold, 1998). The …

Window Inserts And The People Adopting Them: Building Sustainable Communities In Maine, Daniel Sean Mistro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Residents of Maine face a large monetary expense to heat their homes in the winter. In Maine it takes 540 gallons of heating oil each year to heat a typical home [1]. Interior window inserts may be a practical solution to improve comfort, save money, and consume less environmentally harmful fossil fuels during cold winter months. The window inserts discussed in this paper are custom measured to fit into a window and consist of a wooden frame that is wrapped in two layers of polyolefin film and weather stripped for a snug fit. Commercial inserts cost $20-$36/square foot, or approximately …

Grassroots Diplomacy And Vernacular Law: The Discourse Of Food Sovereignty In Maine, John Welton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies the discourse of food sovereignty in Maine, a coalition of small-scale farmers, consumers, and citizens building an alternative food system based on a distributed form of production, processing, selling, purchasing, and consumption. This distribution occurs at the municipal level through the enactment of ordinances. Using critical-rhetorical field methods, I argue that the discourse of food sovereignty in Maine develops a ‘constitutive’ rhetoric that composes rural society through affective relationships. Advocates engage the industrial food system to both expose its systemic bias against small-scale farming and construct their own discourse of belonging. Based upon agrarian values such as …

Social Ecological Food Systems: Sustainability Lessons From Maine Dairy Networks, Julia B. Mcguire

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Milk production has played an integral role in the culture, landscape, and economy of Maine’s agriculture. Maine dairy farmers have faced numerous sustainability challenges to economic, environmental, and social aspects of their industry. Like many other complex social ecological systems, the Maine dairy industry faces a gap between scientific knowledge and actionable management or policy. A cultural dichotomy exists between conventional and organic farming. Shifting the focus from this binary, metrics such as social capital may play a key role in solving sustainability issues. Difficulties arise in the governance of complex social ecological systems when the scales of assessment, management, …

Redefining Transitional Justice In The North American Context? The Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth And Reconciliation Commission, Evan P. Centala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that a transformative justice discourse needs to be adopted by the current field of transitional justice in order to account for the many developments in the field. Using the case of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission, it presents the innovative approaches and unique context the Commission operates in, following a transformative methodology to affect fundamental social change through the political, economic, and social structures that allowed the violence and harm in question to pass. Distinguishing itself from a transitional context where regime change exists with an objective to establish democracy, this thesis suggests …

Building Bridges For Women Through Service-Learning: Bringing Students And Communities Together To Combat Domestic Violence In Honduras, Darlene Metcalf-Bergeron

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis defines service-learning and domestic violence, while describing how bringing students and communities together through service-learning courses can build and has already built bridges for victims of violence against women. Collaboration is essential in the quest to raise awareness about domestic violence through education. This thesis will demonstrate through data and photojournalism this collaboration between students of SPA/MLC Service-Learning Classes of UMaine from 2006 through to and including 2011.

As the themes in this thesis develop the reader will also begin to question what lies just beyond our borders and behind closed doors for women of the twenty-first century. …

Domestic Transracial Adoption: In The Words Of African American Adoptees, Ellen M. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract not provided by author.

Cops, Cameras And Accountability: User-Generated Online Video And Public Space Police-Civilian Interactions, Douglas Alan Kelly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Video captured by increasingly ubiquitous civilian cameras and communicated to a mass audience over the Internet is capable of bypassing police jurisdictional influence over traditional mass media and may be affecting police-civilian interactions in American public space as the initial cusp of a paradigm shift. Historically, the ability to visually record activities in public space was reserved to those with the resources and the motivation to devote to the task. Police and traditional mass media wielded power through cameras, power often not available to the public. Today, police often find their cameras outnumbered by those under autonomous citizen control. An …

Cripping The Workspace: Performing Physically Disabled Professional Identity In Personal Narrative, Julie-Ann Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is a performance of identity analysis of 26 physically disabled professionals‘ open-ended personal narratives. Through adapting Riessman‘s five steps to narrative analysis to a performance methodology and applying Bamberg‘s narrative positioning, this study crystallizes the ongoing formation and re-formation of physically disabled professional identity in time, space, and discourse and the possibilities to reiterate, dismantle, and transform these meanings in future interactions. From a performance perspective, a story not only reflects reality, but is its own reality, constituting meaning and understanding in time and space. Physical disability is at once a personal experience and a shared cultural creation …

Girls In The Woods: An Exploration Of The Impact Of A Wilderness Program On Adolescent Girls' Constructions Of Femininity, Anja Whittington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historically, the wilderness and outdoor recreational activities have been portrayed as a masculine domain. In spite of this, women's participation in wilderness programs has increased, illustrating what research has proven-that women reap positive mental, physical, and spiritual outcomes from participating in outdoor experiences. Research on the benefits for female participants focuses primarily on women's experiences; however, little research investigates the outcomes of girls' participation. More specifically, the literature neglects the study of how participation in outdoor wilderness programs challenges conventional notions of femininity. The goal of this study was to 1) add girls' voices to the research on the outcomes …

Class And Gender Roles In The Company Towns Of Millinocket And East Millinocket, Maine, And Benham And Lynch, Kentucky, 1901-2004: A Comparative History, Betty Duff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Company towns were products of nineteenth and early twentieth century attempts to attract and control the labor force needed for industrial production outside of urban areas. A comparison of the paper mill towns of Millinocket and East Millinocket. Maine, with the coal mining towns of Benham and Lynch, Kentucky, explores different management philosophies and methods of labor control employed in towns constructed by corporations in the early twentieth century. Great Northern Paper built Millinocket and East Millinocket; United States Coal and Coke, a subsidiary of United States Steel built Lynch, and Wisconsin Steel, a subsidiary of International Harvester, built Benham. …

The Rogues Of 'Quoddy: Smuggling In The Maine New Brunswick Borderlands 1783-1820, Joshua M. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Smuggling has been an important problem in American-Canadian relations. Yet the nature of smuggling is little understood; it is by definition an elusive, secretive, and subtle practice. This dissertation explores smuggling as a social force within a border community on the United States-Canada boundary. Smuggling almost always involved the illicit crossing of political boundaries, and as such can be used as a means of studying popular attitudes toward the creation of national borders. Moreover, because smuggling is directly related to the transition to modem capitalism, this study sheds light on the roots of both American and Canadian economic development. The …

The Domestic Violence Myth Acceptance Scale: Development And Psychometric Testing Of A New Instrument, John Peters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since 1980, researchers and practitioners have had access to valid and reliable measures of myths about rape (Burt, 1980) and child sexual abuse (Collings, 1997). Despite the utility of such measures in research and program evaluation, no such measure of domestic violence myths currently exists. The present study was undertaken to fill this gap. In this study, domestic violence myths were defined as stereotypical attitudes and beliefs that are generally false but are widely and persistently held, and which serve to minimize, deny, or justify physical aggression against intimate partners. Based on defensive attribution and radical feminist theories, these myths …

Selling America: The Boy Scouts Of America In The Progressive Era, 1910-1921, John Phillips

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Created in 1910 during the Progressive Era the Boy Scouts of America was a civic reform, middle-class, professional organization intent on building the characters of America's juvenile boys, believing that America's transformation from a rural and small town culture to an ban society had removed some of the traditional character building opportunities from the boy's normal daily routine. The BSA was mass-oriented and commercial in nature, utilizing a sophisticated advertising program through which it sold itself as the nation's premiere patriotic character building organization and communicated a nationalistic political mythology. The BSA's emphasis on advertising, not just as a method …

The Good Girl Bad Girl Dilemma: Exploring Rural Maine Girls' Sexual Desires, Behaviors, And Relationships, Mary Madden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the past decade, feminist researchers have re-framed girls’ developmental issues examining the complexities inherent in growing up female in a patriarchal society. In particular, these studies have provided information on the complications girls encounter in their efforts to negotiate ideals of white middle-class conventions of femininity. In the few studies that examine how these ideals of femininity effect girls’ sexuality, rural girls from poor and working-class families are rarely considered. The goal of this study was to deepen and expand the current understanding of adolescent girls’ sexuality by bringing the voices of rural girls from poor and working-class families …

The Content And Process Of Women’S Decision-Making Viewed Through The Lenses Of Feminine/Feminist Ethics And Roman Catholicism, Nancy Parent Bancroft

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to expand the understanding of ethical decision-making by contributing women’s experiences and thoughts to the issue. Fifty women shared a decision that they had made or were in the process of making having to do with their health or reproductive life. The research method of phenomenology was used with the women in the semi-structured interviews in an attempt to capture the meaning that they gave both to what they paid attention to and to the process that they used in arriving at their decisions. After researchers gained as clear a rendering as possible of …