Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Associations Among Mothers' Reports Of Family Daily Hassles And Family Resources And Children's Cognitive Ability: An Exploratory Study, Troy D. Stuart

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among daily hassles, family resources, and children’s cognitive ability. Particular emphasis was placed on examining the relationships among the variables by family structure. A total of 205 children in first-grade and third-grade and their mothers participated in the study. There were 120 children from intact families and 85 children from single mother families in the study. All mothers completed assessments on family level variables and all children completed the BIA test of cognitive ability. Multiple regression analyses were utilized to examine the relationships among the variables. Daily hassles and cohesion …

Common Sense Philosophy And Politics In America: John Witherspoon, James Mccosh, And William James, Scott Philip Segrest

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the political significance of the two leading strains of common sense thought in the history of American philosophy—Scottish Common Sense and Pragmatism—as suggested in the writings of John Witherspoon and James McCosh in the Scottish Common Sense line, and of the more famous co-founder of Pragmatism, William James. These two strains of American common sense are placed in context of the larger Western common sense tradition. Each is shown to aim at finding a solid middle ground epistemologically between skeptical doubt and idealistic certitude that could serve as a stable basis for moral and political life. Witherspoon, …

African-American Women's Reception Influence And Utility Of Television Content: An Exploratory Qualitative Analysis, Bettye A. Grable

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study featured 33 in-depth interviews of college-aged, African-American women and offers baseline exploratory data about how a majority cultural artifact like televised depictions become utilized in the everyday lives of an underrepresented group in media studies. This research represents one of a few studies to explore how black females decode and utilize TV content, and offers a new theoretical framework to explain informants' decoded receptions, influence and utility of television. An inductive analysis of interview narratives found that viewers use TV content like a looking-glass to understand how they are seen by others and where they fit in …

Verbal And Nonverbal Immediacy: Sex Differences And International Teaching Assistants, Tiwa Saechou

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explains theory and research concerning international teaching assistants, intercultural communication, nonverbal and verbal immediacy, cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning, and sex differences. One research question and five hypotheses were tested via MANOVA and correlation tests. Six hundred and seven undergraduate students completed instruments measuring verbal and nonverbal immediacy, and cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning. Results supported the research question and three of the five hypotheses. Specifically, U.S. Teaching Assistants used more nonverbal immediacy than International Teaching Assistants. Students’ attitudes toward International Teaching Assistants correlated with students’ learning. Students’ perceptions of ITAs and USTAs on verbal and nonverbal immediacy …

Relative Efficacy Of School-Home Notes And Teacher Feedback In Minority Elementary Students With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Andrea Nichole Jurbergs

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

School-home notes have proven to be an effective and acceptable method for improving children’s classroom behavior. School-home notes require teachers to rate students on any number of target behaviors and parents to provide consequences based on the evaluation. School-home notes recently have been shown to increase attention in low income children with ADHD. Although successful at decreasing off-task behavior in the classroom, treatment integrity (parent providing earned consequences at home) is not always maintained at acceptable levels. The goal of the current research was to dismantle the proven school-home note to identify the efficacy of the teacher feedback component alone. …

The Effects Of Sex And Context On Student's Interpretation Of Teachers' High Immediacy Messages, Carolyn Hornsby Rester

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Teacher immediacy has been positively associated with many desirable academic outcomes, including quality student-teacher relationships, student participation in the classroom and in extra-class interaction, and increased student learning. Thus, scholars have consistently encouraged educators to increase their use of immediacy in contacts with students. However, some previous research found that high levels of teacher immediacy can be problematic in relationships and detrimental to desirable educational outcomes. Immediacy behavior tends to promote personal relationships and inclusion. However, excessive immediacy may change the meaning that students receive from the behavior. Using a message interpretation perspective, this study examined how sex of the …

Efficacy Of Modified Parent Training To Facilitate Expressive Language Of Children With An Expressive Language Delay, Marie Henderson

LSU Master's Theses

This study aimed to study the efficacy of a modified parent-training program on parents’ use of language facilitative techniques. The training method employed a handout and discussion of the facilitative techniques and how they could be incorporated into play time with the children. Participants included 4 parent-child dyads recruited from a school for children with language delays. Effectiveness of the training was determined by taking data on parent and child behaviors from tape recordings of parent-child play interactions that occurred in each family’s home. Results showed that parents were able to use the procedures during baseline and maintained relatively stable …

Coverage Of The 2003 Post-Election Protests In Azerbaijan: Impact Of Media Ownership On Objectivity, Ilgar Khudiyev

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine bias in press news coverage of the 2003 post-election street protests, which resulted from the presidential election in Azerbaijan. This study provides a look at the extent of state and private media ownership of newspapers in Azerbaijan conducting a content analysis of three highly circulated local newspapers, one state owned and the others privately owned, during a three week period following the election day when the main subject of local newspapers’ coverage was protest actions in the streets of the capital city, Baku. The data are news and articles regarding the street …

A Radiographic Study Of The Impact Of Race And Sex On 1st And 2nd Molar Development, Suzanne Price

LSU Master's Theses

The assessment of child development requires standards in order to compare an apparent physiologic age to an actual chronological age. In assessing chronological age of an individual, the use of multiple indicators is ideal and important in determining age at death. For individuals under the age of about 21 years, dental development is the most reliable indicator of age. Research aimed at understanding the variation in tooth formation due to race and sex will help to more accurately determine the age at death of remains of subadult individuals. This project examined the impact of race, sex, and time period on …

Estimating The Postmortem Interval In Forensic Cases Through The Analysis Of Postmortem Deterioration Of Human Head Hair, Jamie Hughes Collier

LSU Master's Theses

Establishing the postmortem interval (PMI) of a decedent is one of the most important responsibilities a forensic investigator may face. An accurate PMI may aid in the identification of not only the victim, but also a suspect. Although many methods for determining time since death have been proposed, there is still a need to establish more reliable dating techniques. This study determines whether head hair from an individual deteriorates uniformly and if so, what association cuticle damage, fungal growth, and changes in proximal end morphology may have with PMI. Fifteen to 25 scalp hairs were pulled from nine cadavers located …

The Changing Face Of Rural General Practice: An Ethnographic Study Of General Practitioners And Their Spouses, Angela Durey

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Rural general practice is general practice at its best: a comment by one GP interviewed for this study was echoed by colleagues who viewed their work in a rural setting as challenging, diverse, rewarding and satisfying. Despite reported difficulties associated with rural general practice, many GPs argued that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. Few wanted to leave. Nonetheless, too few Australian trained GPs are willing to move from cities to work in the country. Consequently, overseas trained doctors have been recruited to fill vacancies or nurses provide health services in communities unable to attract a GP.

The Implementation Of Knowledge-Focused Practices In International Tourist Hotels : A Quantitative Study Of Knowledge Sharing, Jen-Te Yang

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study is to investigate knowledge sharing and leveraging of the flow of knowledge in international tourist hotels In Taiwan. It explores how, employees' competencies for and attitudes towards learning, sharing and storing knowledge influence organisational knowledge sharing. In addition, it examines the extent to which social interaction, leadership styles and organizational culture affect knowledge sharing. A further aim of the study is to explore whether knowledge sharing makes a significant contribution to organizational learning and organizational effectiveness.

Processual Media Theory, Organised Networks And The Politics Of Information Societies, Ned Rossiter

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis setss out to re-evaluate and re-think theories of communications media and theories of democracy formation under translocal, global and networked conditions. In order to do this, the thesis brings a combination of social and communications theory, political philosophy and "radical empiricism" to the study of the socio-technical dimensions of Net cultures. It examines the ways in which emergent networks of creativity, labour, organisation and intervention challenge the sovereignty of the state-corporation nexus, which functions tu restrict access and control information flows in the interests of security and profit. The thesis investigates the relationship between emergent forms of organisation …

Images Of God: The Effect Of Personal Theologies On Moral Attitudes, Political Affiliation, And Religious Behavior, Christoper Bader, Paul Froese

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Social scientists often explain religious effects in terms of religious group affiliations. Typically, researchers identify religious groups by denomination or some broader popular categorization, such as “fundamentalist” or “evangelical.” To capture religious differences more effectively, Steensland et al. (2000) propose an intricate classification of American denominations that takes into account the theology and historical development of various American religious traditions to predict individual attitudes and behaviors. We believe that equal care and attention should be devoted to the development of key measures of belief that may cross denominational lines. In this article, we propose one such measure: personal conceptions or …

Betting On Democracy: Electoral Ritual In The Philippine Presidential Campaign, Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr

History Department Faculty Publications

This article ofers an analysis of the ritual character of Philippine elections for national positions, particularly for the presidency. It is argued that the structuring of the electoral complex is akin to a ritual, specifically, a ritualized gamble or game of chance. The cultural figuration of elections is traced to long-term historical processes. The broad insights on Filipino political culture are supported as well as expanded by data collected by the lnstitute of Philippine Culture (PC), Ateneo de Manila University, from sixteen focus group discussions conducted nationwide before national elections were held on 10 May 2004.

Collaborating In Care: Developing A Model Of Dialogic Empathy In Nursing Education, Kimberlee Jean Trudeau

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The goal of this exploratory study was to teach nursing students to perceive empathy as a dialogic process versus as a personal characteristic through narrative reflection. This required the development of a dialogic empathy model for nursing education; that is, a model that presents empathy as a reciprocal process shared by the nurse and client within their interactions. Given the increasing cultural diversity between providers and clients in stressful medical situations, awareness of the interaction of the characteristics of oneself and another (i.e., dialogism) could potentially enhance both the efficacy and experience of care.

This study included (a) narrative reflection …

Response To Vinca Bigo, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Response To StéPhane Luchini And Miriam Teschl, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Response To Alban Bouvier, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Musical Stem Completion: Humming That Note, Jill A. Warker, Andrea Halpern

Faculty Journal Articles

This study looked at how people store and retrieve tonal music explicitly and implicitly using a production task. Participants completed an implicit task (tune stem completion) followed by an explicit task (cued recall). The tasks were identical except for the instructions at test time. They listened to tunes and were then presented with tune stems from previously heard tunes and novel tunes. For the implicit task, they were asked to sing a note they thought would come next musically. For the explicit task, they were asked to sing the note they remembered as coming next. Experiment 1 found that people …

‘We’Re Just Like The Irish’: Narratives Of Assimilation, Belonging, And Citizenship Among Arab American Activists, Caroline R. Nagel, Lynn A. Staeheli

Faculty Publications

This paper examines narratives of assimilation and belonging as activists attempt to position Arab-Americans as citizens and full members of the American polity. In interviews with activists, the experience of the Irish as immigrants and citizens was often invoked as the paradigmatic example of how immigrants are incorporated as citizens—an example that activists promoted as one that Arabs would follow. By invoking the Irish experience, activists hope to remind Americans that immigration history is not one of effortless assimilation, but is rather characterized by systematic exclusion and marginalization. In so doing, they articulate narratives of assimilation and belonging that draw …

Represent: The New York City Public Housing Resident Alliance And Its Struggle Against The Imposition Of The Neoliberal Agenda, Gretchen Susi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This research has focused on four interconnected topics: the formation of a citywide group of public housing residents and advocates (The New York City Public Housing Resident Alliance); a collaboration between the Resident Alliance and building trade unions in New York City to gain jobs for public housing residents—The TRADES Coalition (Trade Unions and Residents for Apprenticeship Development and Economic Success); public housing activism in an era of neoliberal reform; and efforts on the part of the Resident Alliance to engage in what Henri Lefebvre refers to as the production of space. It has examined how The New York City …

Religious Processions: Urban Politics And Poetics, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper, I will explore the ways in which processions, by their very visibility, foreground the relationships between the secular and the sacred, while contributing to a construction of identity and community, and simultaneously surfacing fractures therein. Using the example of multireligious yet secular Singapore, I will examine (a) the state's management of religious processions, including the regulation of time and space for such events, as well as regulations over noise production; (b) the tactics of adaptation, negotiation and resistance that participants engage in at an everyday level in response to the state's ideologies, policies, laws and strategies; (c) …

Pierre Bayle's Philosophical Commentary On The Words Of Jesus Christ: Compel Them To Come In, John Kilcullen, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this defence of religious toleration, Bayle discusses the words attributed to Jesus Christ in Luke 14:23, “And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be full.” Bayle contends that the word compel cannot mean “force.” From this perspective, he constructs his doctrine of toleration based on the singular importance of conscience. Bayle argues that if the orthodox have the right and duty to persecute, then every sect will persecute since every sect considers itself orthodox. The result will be mutual slaughter, something God …

An Exploratory Cross-Cultural Investigation Of The Organisational Strategies Employed To Prevent And Ameliorate Workplace Bullying In University Settings, Dragana Krestelica

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Workplaces abound in conflict. Individuals within organisations are therefore vulnerable to a wide range of intimidating interactional tactics. These tactics can have an extremely negative impact upon individual workers and upon subsequent organisational performance. Consequentially, the diverse forms of organisational social harassment, and specifically bullying, place a large financial burden upon both organisations and nations. Therefore, the identification of strategies used to prevent and ameliorate workplace bullying and an examination that highlights their comparative success or failure is of great importance for all employers, employees and government. This study focuses upon those strategies used to prevent and ameliorate such workplace …

Human Levitation, Simon B. Harvey-Wilson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Human levitation occurs when the physical body rises into the air and then hovers or moves around, seemingly in defiance of the force of gravity. Traditionally most levitation reports have originated from seven groups: shamanism, people supposedly possessed by demonic spiritual entities, those subjected to poltergeist activity, Spiritualism, people who believe they have been abducted by aliens, martial arts such as qigong and mysticism. These anecdotal reports generally describe levitation as rare, spontaneous and involuntary, although some people seem able to levitate at will. So far almost no scientific research appears to have been conducted into this phenomenon. In order …

Living Beyond The Unanticipated Sudden Death Of A Partner : A Phenomenological Study, Martin L. Rodger

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research project used a Husserlian phenomenologlcal approach to explore grief and Its Impact upon men and women who have experienced the sudden and unanticipated death of his or her partner. The use of Husserllan phenomenologlcal research Into thanatologlcal study Is a valuable method of exposing the experiences of bereaved people In a vibrant and deep manner. Husserlian phenomenology allowed the surviving partner to reveal every aspect of his or her everyday life and experlencas. It Included what grief meant to them, how It was manifested In their everyday lives and how their partner's death had Impacted upon his or …

Ownership Structure, Investment Behaviour And Firm Performance In Japanese Manufacturing Industries, Eric Gedajlovic, Toru Yoshikawa, Motomi Hashimoto

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Using data spanning the 1996-98 fiscal years of 247 of Japan's largest manufacturers, we empirically evaluate the extent to which a firm's investment behaviour and financial performance are influenced by its ownership structure. To do so, we examine six distinct categories of Japanese shareholders: foreign investors, investment funds, pension funds, banks and insurance companies, affiliated companies and insiders. Our findings strongly indicate that the relationship between the equity stakes of a particular category of investor and a firm' s financial performance and investment behaviour is considerably more complex than is depicted in simple principal-agent representations. Such a result emphasizes the …

Regionalisation And Singapore's Transborder Industrialisation: A New Perspective On Suzhou Industrial Park, Xun Cai, Lu Gao, Caroline Yeoh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The dynamics of international economic competition have prompted governments to re-examine accustomed policies, and search for alternative strategies, in order to re-position their economies for the future. This paper takes a look at Singapore’s search for a competitive positioning in the global marketplace, and focuses on the city-state’s much-publicized, and controversial, flagship project in China, viz, the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP). This strategic initiative is premised on the perceptions that Singapore’s positive reputation with multinational corporations, and ‘guanxi’ (or connections) with regional governments, will give the regional sites a strategic advantage in the competition for foreign investments. Earlier studies have …

Facing China: Taiwan’S Status As A Separate Customs Territory In The World Trade Organization, Pasha L. Hsieh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

On Nov 11, 2001, in Doha, Qatar, the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) unanimously approved Taiwan's application for WTO membership, just 24 hours after approving China's admission. Taiwan's choice as the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, abbreviated as Chinese Taipei, in the WTO, instead of its official name, Republic of China (PRC), shows its reluctant compromise with political reality. The PRC's claim that accession procedures applying to Taiwan and Hong Kong should be identical erroneous because, under international trade law, the ROC is the automatic government acting on behalf of Taiwan and …