Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Contentious Performances Of Culture Jamming : Art, Repertoires Of Contention, And Social Movement Theory, David M. Iles Iii

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Culture jamming is a form of contentious politics in which activists utilize ironic frames to challenge a dominant set of social relationships and institutions. Despite its contestational nature, scholars rarely apply the insights of social movement theory to explain this curious phenomenon. The main concerns of this project are to provide an empirical analysis of culture jamming organizations and to develop a theoretical approach to explaining repertoire change and tactical choice. The primary thesis mediating these empirical and theoretical concerns is that a close relation exists between the development of twentieth century art in advanced Western democracies and culture jamming. …

Educating For Environmental Justice : Social/Environmental Marginality And The Significance Of Experiences For Environmental Activism And Proenvironmental Behavior, Donovon Keith Ceaser

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Encouraging environmental action and greater proenvironmental behavior has been a main focus of environmental education since its inception. However, many scholars feel that environmental education has largely been unsuccessful at achieving these goals. To invigorate the potential of environmental education, researchers have become more socially critical and started questioning old stances such as addressing the role of action within environmental education and embraced new techniques like examining the role of personal experiences in shaping people sense of identification with the environment. This dissertation is four separate studies that examine how a socially critical environmental education can help produces students who …

Alexis De Tocqueville’S Political Science Of Revolutions; Theory And Application, Michal Maciej Kuz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the theory of revolutions presented in the main writing of Alexis de Tocqueville and its importance in the field of political theory as well as its possible application in the field of comparative politics. Scholars specializing in the study of the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville have for many years debated on whether the works of this author offer a comprehensive political theory of regimes and political change. This work supports the idea that in all his major writings de Tocqueville works within the same theoretical framework and develops his own typology of modern regimes. At the …

Sport Team Fandom, Arousal, And Communication : A Multimethod Comparison Of Sport Team Identification With Psychological, Cognitive, Behavioral, Affective, And Physiological Measures, Shaughan Alan Keaton

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The study of sport fandom is undertaken in a variety of disciplines, including but not limited to communication, psychology, sociology, economics, marketing and business. These investigations are significant because of the ubiquitous presence of sport fandom in world culture and its interdisciplinary adaptability in academia. To date however, there has not been a consistent conceptual or operational definition of sport fandom and related factors such as spectatorship, involvement and identification. Consequently, this lack of cohesiveness has serious ramifications, including lack of comparability in results and an inability to generate consistent evidence of the validity and reliability of the various self-report …

Organization Benefits - The Panacea For All That Ails You? A Dyadic, Dual-Earner Investigation Of Organization-Offered Benefits And Their Effect On Individuals And Their Partners, Suzanne Marie Booth-Ledoux

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In an effort to attract and retain top talent, organizations often offer and implement various organization benefits. The focus of this dissertation is on the outcomes of those offered organization benefits on employees and their partners. Three types of organization benefits were assessed: family-friendly benefits, financial and compensation benefits, and health care and wellness benefits. Additionally, the connection between the offering of these benefits with family-supportive organization perceptions was also examined. Family-supportive organization perceptions was shown to directly and indirectly link to individual-level outcomes including work-to-family conflict and psychological wellbeing. Moreover, because individuals do not exist in a vacuum (i.e., …

Strategic Interaction And Social Networks, Quqiong He

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays which investigate individuals’ interaction in different contexts using social network analysis. The first essay generalizes the models of link formation of Rogers (2005) by allowing that giving and asking choices can be made separately and simultaneously by each agent. We focus on two specifications of the relationship function: the concave specification and the linear specification. The second essay empirically tests how the pattern of village structure, in terms of lineage network composition, affects people’s reciprocal behavior, utilizing data from Chinese Household Income Project Survey 2002. The third essay demonstrates different types of asymmetries and …

Examining The Effect Of Innovation On The Market Structure Of The U.S. Media Industry, Thomas Edward Vizcarrondo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines if and how technological innovation influences market structure of the media industry. The empirical focus is twofold: 1) to measure and quantify the level of ownership concentration and competition (i.e., market structure) of the U.S. media industry, and 2) to examine the market structure of the media industry as a function of the adoption of three different media technologies, including television, cable television, and the Internet. OLS regression analysis is employed to address the following research question: How do technological innovations affect the market structure of the media industry? Results of the study provide support for the …

On Contests With Complementarities, Matthew Wiser

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, we consider the role of complementarities in contests. In most contests, there is either a single prize available, or multiple prizes whose joint value is simply the sum of the values of the individual prizes. We consider contests involving competitions for multiple objectives whose value depend on the combination of objectives won. These combinations of objectives are the basis for the complementarities we examine. We use contests consisting of multiple subcontests, with the subcontests determining the winner of each objective. The overall contest thus determines which combinations of objectives each player achieves, and thus the overall prize …

Belonging, Believing, Being: A Journey Toward Social Justice, Stacey Lynn Williams

Theses

Using Participatory Action Research, this study examined the student and staff’s experience of exploring social justice at the University of San Diego’s Women’s Center. Looking specifically at how the Center shaped the way that we understand and take up social justice, the inquiry examines our understanding and approach to our learning. Through artistic expression and dialogue, the research utilized a participatory approach that offers learning for both those interested justice and those committed to collaborative research models. I offer reflections about my own practice as an educator while sharing insights from participants in terms of the work of pursuing a …

State Energy-Based Economic Development Policies And Examples, Juita-Elena Yusuf, Katharine A. Neill

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

States have adopted various policies and initiatives to develop and/or expand their energy industries, many of which have been driven by economic development purposes rather than specific energy or environmental concerns. Of the many reasons states have considered explicit energy policies, the direct economic benefits of stimulating the economy—creating jobs and increasing revenues—have often been at the forefront of policy decision making. This research note reviews existing policies targeted at developing the energy industry and presents two typologies of state-level energy policies. The first typology offers an organizing framework for categorizing such policies by energy source (existing vs. new) and …

Sibling Closeness And Similarity And The Presence Of Perfectionism, Jennifer L. Crowe

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study explored whether characteristics of the sibling relationship are related to the level of perfectionistic tendencies that an individual reports. The framework of this study was based on Tesser's Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model, which says that the effects of comparisons with a close other, such as a sibling, can be mediated in one of three ways: (a) by reducing the closeness of the relationship, (b) by improving one's performance/impeding on the other's performance, or (c) by decreasing the relevance of the performance to one's self-concept (pursuing different areas and interests). Several hypotheses were offered which were based on the presumption …

Environmental, Human And Socioeconomic Characteristics Of Pedestrian Injury And Death In Las Vegas, Nv, Jennifer Renee Pharr, Courtney Coughenour, Timothy J. Bungum

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Background: Pedestrian crashes are a deterrent to physical activity, especially walking. The purpose of this study was to analyze pedestrian crash characteristics in Clark County, NV and to determine if there was a significant relationship between pedestrian crashes and socio-economic variables.

Methods: Police reported pedestrian crash data collected between January 2009 and December 2011 were analyzed. Frequencies and rates for pedestrian crashes, injuries and deaths were calculated for environmental and human characteristics. Chi square tests were utilized to determine if there were significant differences in environmental and human characteristics for pedestrian injuries and deaths. Zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression analysis …

Asymmetric Price Adjustments In Airlines, Diego Escobari

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

This paper uses a unique daily time series data set to investigate the asymmetric response of airline prices to capacity costs driven by demand fluctuations. We use a Markov regime-switching model with time-varying transition probabilities to capture the time variation in the response. The results show strong evidence of asymmetric price adjustments: positive cost shifts have a large positive effect, whereas negative cost shifts have no effect. The asymmetry is also explained by summer travel but not by the size of cost shifts. The findings show the importance of consumer heterogeneity and capacity constraints as a source of asymmetric responses. …

“Damning The Dams”: A Study Of Cost Benefit Analysis In Large Dams Through The Lens Of India's Sardar Sarovar Project, Evelyn Wong

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines the evaluation of the economic, environmental and social effects of dams, and lessons learned from previous dams. It then focuses on cost benefit analysis as a decision-making tool pre-project for evaluating the potential gains and losses of building a dam; and as a framework for evaluating dams in operation. It reviews the basic assumptions required for a legitimate cost benefit analysis, and the inherent limitations of this method. It uses the Sardar Sarovar dam as a case study for the use and abuse of cost benefit analysis in decision-making, interstate politics, propaganda and activism. It also illustrates …

Water Governance In Bolivia: Policy Options For Pro-Poor Infrastructure Reform, Daniel M. Maxwell

CMC Senior Theses

As the case with most countries across Latin America, unprecedented migration to urban areas has strained city infrastructure systems. More particularly, the region faces a pressing crisis of water security, where rapid urbanization has outpaced water sector development. This thesis addresses the water infrastructure reform in El Alto and La Paz, Bolivia, focusing on strategies to better promote water access for the peri-urban poor. The research investigates the level of progressivity of water service expansion and pricing regimes: in other words, does the present model of water distribution positively improve the lives of the poorest groups? By investigating these social …

Experiences With Digitization Of Customary Court Cases In South Western Nigeria, Yemisi Dina

Articles & Book Chapters

This article describes my experiences on the digitization project of customary court cases in South Western Nigeria. I made a presentation to the African Section of the FCIL-SIS at the 106th Annual Meeting of the AALL on July 15, 2013.

Customary law is based on the tradition, customs and values of the people, and it varies in different ways. The terminology “customary law”, according to Park, is just a blanket description, as there are so many ethnic groups. Customary law covers various legal systems depicting each tribe’s customs and values. These are the two forms of customary law that are …

Boredom On Facebook, Dylan E. Wittkower

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mothering Values : An Exploration Of Generational Differences In Values, Beliefs And Attitudes, Marguerita Walsh

Theses

Maternal employment has led to an increase in the need for childcare (Horgan, 2001). In 2005, the most valuable source of childcare for children of primary school age was unpaid relatives (Share & Kerrins, 2009). 33% of grandparents are involved in childcare on a weekly basis (Jones, 2011). Therefore, childrearing tasks are shared, and children may be exposed to a variety of childrearing values.

Given the key-role grandparents, and in particular grandmothers play in childcare, this research focuses on exploring the parenting values, beliefs and roles of maternal grandmothers and mothers of children under the age of ten and how …

Variable Appropriation Of An Online Resource Discovery And Sharing Tool, Victor R. Lee, Mimi Recker, Tamara Sumner

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Even when following best practices for participatory design, the appropriation of tools in formal education settings can be hampered by a number of factors. Drawing from a case of a web tool built to help teachers in five school districts find and share free resources in an educational digital library, we describe patterns of tool use and provide some explanations for variability in tool appropriation. We also suggest that future research consider school districts as complex systems of professionals whose interactions and inter-relationships may yield unexpected technology adoption behaviors.

Picking Up The Mantle Of “Expert”: Assigned Roles, Assertion Of Identity, And Peer Recognition Within A Programming Class, Deborah A. Fields, N. Enyedy

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Changing an established role in a classroom is difficult. It involves constructing a new set of relations within a community. In this article we investigate how students with newly developed interest and experience in programming developed outside the classroom pick up and establish their roles as experts in programming within the classroom community. More specifically, we focus on how two 11-year-old software designers shifted their established roles in their classroom to gain status as expert programmers. We use an identity lens to understand how peer expertise was established in the context of a classroom community, adopting a multifaceted perspective of …

Factorsaffecting The Occurrence Of Faculty-Doctoral Student Coauthorship, Michelle A. Maher, Briana Crotwell Timmerman, David F. Feldon, Denise Strickland

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Using faculty narratives, this study identifies factors affecting the occurrence of facultydoctoral student coauthorship. Norms of the discipline, resources, faculty goals for students, faculty goals for themselves, and institutional expectations emerged as dominant factors. Each factor is explored separately and as part of an interlocking holistic picture.

As Seen Through The Lens: Students’ Encounters And Engagement With Science During Outdoor Field Trips, Jonathan Z. Boxerman, Victor R. Lee, J. R. Olson

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Transhumanism And Society: The Social Debate Over Human Enhancement, Stephen J. Lilley

Sociology Faculty Publications

This book provides an introductory overview to the social debate over enhancement technologies with an overview of the transhumanists' call to bypass human nature and conservationists' argument in defense of it. The author present this controversy as it unfolds in the contest between transhumanists proponents and conservationists, who push back with an argument to conserve human nature and to ban enhancement technologies.

Readers are informed about the discussion over humanism, the tension between science and religion, and the interpretation of socio-technological revolutions; and are invited to make up their own mind about one of the most challenging topics concerning the …

The Role Of Maternalism In Contemporary Paid Domestic Work, Amanda Moras

Sociology Faculty Publications

Various studies of domestic work have identified close personal relationships between domestic workers and employers as a key instrument in the exploitation of domestic workers, allowing employers to solicit unpaid services as well as a sense of superiority (Rollins, 1985; Romero, 2002; Glenn, 1992; Hondagneu- Sotelo, 2001). Likewise, other scholars have pointed out that close employee-employer relationships may actually empower domestic workers, increasing job leverage (Thorton-Dill, 1994). Ultimately, these lines are blurry and ever changing as employers continuously redefine employee expectations. Drawing from a larger study involving thirty interviews with white upper middle class women who currently employ domestic workers …

Will "Smarter" Marketing End Social Discrimination? A Critical Review, Frances Grodzinsky, Andra Gumbus, Stephen J. Lilley

School of Computer Science & Engineering Faculty Publications

Purpose - There are two claims made by the web marketing/advertising industry. 1) By collecting, managing, and mining data, companies serve consumer’s best interests and 2) by adopting sophisticated analytics web marketers avoid discriminations that disserve individuals. Although we share an interest in ending social discrimination, we are more circumspect about pronounced individualism and technological fixes. Despite its appeal, or perhaps because of it, we should not accept the claim at face value. In this paper we argue that social discrimination may not disappear under smarter marketing; more overt forms may wane only to be replaced by more subtle forms. …

Impact Estimates For Static Spatial Panel Data Models In R, Gianfranco Piras

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

In the present note we demonstrate how to implement the Lee and Yu (2010) procedure for fixed effects spatial panel data models available from the R (R Development Core Team 2012) package splm (Millo and Piras 2012). Additionally, we also show how to compute the impact estimates introduced by Kelejian, Tavlas, and Hondroyiannis (2006) and formalized in LeSage and Pace (2009). Unlike Matlab (MATLAB 2011), there was no R function specific to static panel data models for the calculation of the impact measures. After receiving numerous requests from the users of splm, we decided to extend the cross sectional functions …

Communication And Media Studies Newsletter 2013 Winter, Communications & Media Studies

Communication and Media Studies Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Hilda Mueller: The Queen Of Speed, Geoffrey D. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

Hilda Mueller: The Queen of Speed concerns the life of Hilda Mueller Wuepper, a life-long resident of Bay City, Michigan who who won many races and set several world records from 1929-1933 within the sport of hydroplane racing.

Effects Of Emotion Regulation Strategies On Sexual Risk-Taking, Monica Lackups

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Sexual risk-taking is a growing problem and an area where there are significant individual differences in behavior. One contributing factor to risky sexual behavior may be emotion regulation difficulties. For example, suppression has negative effects on emotion experience, while reappraisal leads to increased well-being. Previous research has demonstrated the use of sexual behavior as an emotion regulation strategy in victimized populations. This study investigated whether emotion regulation strategies influence sexual risk-taking in a non-clinical college population. Individuals with higher levels of emotion regulation difficulties and higher suppression use engaged in more frequent sexual risk-taking behavior, whereas individuals who used reappraisal …

Incidence Of Sports-Related Concussion Among Youth Football Players Aged 8-12 Years, Scott O. Burkhart

Faculty Publications - Psychology Department

Objective To determine the risk of concussion among youth football players (ages 8-12 years).

Study design Participants included 468 male youth football players in western Pennsylvania during the 2011 youth football season. Incidence rates (IRs) and incidence density ratios (IDRs) of concussion were calculated for games and practices and for age groups.

Results There was a total of 11 338 (8415 practice and 2923 game) athletic exposures (AEs) in the study period, during which 20 medically diagnosed concussions occurred. A majority of concussions were the result of head-to-head (45%) contact. The combined concussion IR for practices and games was 1.76 …