Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Exploring The Relationships Between Rap And Hip-Hop Music Use And Objectified Body Consciousness, Body Dissatisfaction, And Gender Norms In Female Juvenile Delinquents, Nina Simone Brathwaite

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Various forms of portable media (e.g., television, movies, magazines, internet, music) are increasingly accessible to and used by the average adolescent in the U.S. (American Psychological Association [APA], 2007; Ward, 2003). Two of the most popular genres of adolescent entertainment, rap and hip-hop music are frequently criticized for their use of misogynistic images and lyrics that objectify women and glorify sex, drug use, and violence (Bretthauer, Zimmerman & Banning, 2006; Conrad, Dixon & Zhang, 2010; Ward, 2003). Although understudied, one could argue that increased accessibility to and use of such media that fosters sexually-explicit and -objectifying messages common in Western …

The Impact Of Anti-Byod Policies On Generation Z Hospitality Employee's Engagement, Danny Crinson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As an industry hospitality typically reacts to problems rather than tackling them proactively. One of the greatest problems currently faced by the industry is the low engagement rates across employees. These low levels have been linked to many issues including low morale, productivity and high turnover rates. One way to try to remedy this issue before it worsens would be to look at future hospitality employees and try to understand what will engage them. Doing so will allow human resource leaders to make changes to any polices which currently do not synchronize with these engaging factors. With research suggesting that …

The Relationship Between Sex-Typing And Help-Seeking Behaviors In Adults, Joshua Juvrud

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The process of expressing what is masculine promotes attitudes and behaviors that can discourage men from seeking help, contributing to numerous health issues in males. The purpose of this study was to explore how personally endorsed gender stereotypes vs. gender stereotyped attitudes impacted help-seeking behavior. In the current study, female and male adults completed challenging puzzle tasks, recalled previous health help-seeking behavior, and completed sex-typed measures. Females utilized personally endorsed gender stereotypes more during the puzzle tasks, while males utilized both personally endorsed gender stereotypes as well as gender stereotyped attitudes. When males recalled health-related events, however, personally endorsed feminine …

Eating Pathology, Supplement Use, And Nutrition Knowledge In Collegiate Athletes, Holly Beth Lapota

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Eating pathology (e.g., body dissatisfaction, binge eating, purging, restrictive eating) and substance use (e.g., dietary supplements, legal and illegal drugs) proliferate university settings in the United States. Within university settings, athletes appear to be at particularly high risk for eating pathology and supplement use due to the external pressures to be attractive, the need to perform at optimal levels, and the specific characteristics of sports in which they participate. Furthermore, the degree to which athletes understand what constitutes healthy eating and exercise habits is understudied and may relate to eating pathology and supplement use. To build on existing research, the …

Beliefs In Action: Ideologies, Motivations, And Capital Among English As A Second Language Learners, Damon Lasiter

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Language learning motivations among immigrants are tied - via language ideologies - to socio-economic position, social networks, and problems encountered by the language learners in their everyday lives. Research into immigrants' reasons for language learning has often overlooked these factors (see Klassen & Burnaby, 1993, and Norton, 1995), but I offer in this thesis that the above factors are foundations for many immigrants' language ideologies - beliefs that people have about language. These language ideologies are, in turn, the foundations upon which one's motivations to learn a language are based. Using a Bourdieuvian paradigm, where inequitable positions of power exist …

Calibration Of Microscopic Traffic Flow Models Considering All Parameters Simultaneously, Victor Hugo Molano Paz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study proposes a methodology to calibrate microscopic traffic flow simulation models. The proposed methodology has the capability to calibrate simultaneously all the calibration parameters as well as demand patterns for any network topology. These parameters include global and local parameters as well as driver behavior and vehicle performance parameters; all based on multiple performance measures, such as link counts and speeds. Demand patterns are included in the calibration framework in terms of turning volumes.

A Simultaneous Perturbation Stochastic Approximation (SPSA) algorithm is proposed to search for the vector of the model‟s parameters that minimizes the difference between actual and …

Examining The Inner Experience Of Left-Handers Using Descriptive Experience Sampling, Aadee Mizrachi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research suggests there are anatomical asymmetries of the human brain associated with right-hand or left-hand preference. In addition, left-handedness has been related to a wide range of psychological and physical problems. Despite these relationships, little is known about the inner experience of left-handers.

The present study, a replication of Mizrachi (2010) using a larger sample, used Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES) with three objectives: 1) examine the inner experience of left-handers; 2) compare the results of the present study to the results of Mizrachi (2010); and 3) compare the inner experience of left-handers to that of the general population as reported …

On The Merits Of The Resource Curse Theory: Resource Rents And Corruption, David Paul Snyder

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the breakup of the colonial empires following World War II, many newly independent states have embarked on a path of seeking political and economic development. Scholars studying this phenomenon soon became aware of an interesting puzzle. Why do the economies that have substantial natural resource endowments at their disposal tend to develop at a slower rate than economies that are less endowed with natural resources? From this question, the resource curse theory was derived. The resource curse theory has three main claims. The first claim is that resource rich economies grow at a slower rate than non-resource rich economies. …

A Social Justice Perspective In Anti-Bullying Program Implementation, Monica Vanderheiden

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Oppression is in our everyday lives. Children get to experience it first hand in school by simply being different than others. Bullying has become a serious problem in American schools and many programs have been implemented to address it. This thesis grew out of a large evaluation study of anti-bullying program implemented in a large school district located in the Pacific Southwest. The main goal of this thesis is to continue the research process of the large evaluation study by focusing on the theme of implementation. Another goal is understand social justice as it relates to anti-bulling program evaluation. In …

Testing Orthodox Utilitarian And Extrajudical Determinants Of Incarceration In The U.S. At The State-Level, 1980-2005, Pavel V. Vasiliev

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project is a theory-driven secondary data analysis of state-level incarceration trends in the U.S. between 1980 and 2005. I replicate and advance Smith's (2004) study of the relationship between the socioeconomic, demographic, political, electoral, and criminal justice factors and incarceration rates at the state level. The purpose of this project is to determine the empirical validity of the major explanations of the incarceration trends in the U.S. I advance Smith's (2004) study using important novel elements. First, I extend the scrutinized historic period by a decade by compiling time-series data for 1980-2005. Second, I employ a more sophisticated analytic …

Coping With Pediatric Cancer: Conversational Methods Utilized By Parents And Children When Dealing With Pediatric Cancer, Chelsi Morgan Walls

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study analyzed how people perceived parents should communicate with their child regarding pediatric cancer treatments. When dealing with pediatric cancer, it is vital that parents and their child communicate about the illness in order to effectively cope with the cancer. Using Uncertainty Management Theory, appraisals, inferences, and illusions, are examined in this study to discover how much affect-management and buffering would be used to manage the illness. Under UMT, the coping mechanisms of affect-management (i.e., religious coping and behavioral disengagement), and buffering (avoidance and child distraction) depend upon how individuals appraise the uncertain situation (positive vs. negative), the inferences …

The Role Of Social Physique Anxiety And Social Appearance Anxiety In The Body Checking Behaviors Of Male And Female College Students, Emily Katherine White

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Body checking is defined as behavior aimed at monitoring changes in one's weight or shape, such as measuring or pinching certain body parts, repeatedly checking one's shape in the mirror, trying on clothes to gauge fit, feeling for protruding bones, or frequently weighing one's self. Theoretically, body checking may be the behavioral manifestation of a core feature of eating disorders: overevaluation of body weight and shape. Although the nature and correlates of body checking in female and male college students without eating disorders are understudied, one recent study by Haase and colleagues (2007) found that social physique anxiety mediated the …

Exploring Heterosexist Bias And Oppressive Bullying In Anti-Bullying Prevention Programs, Shayna Yamashiro

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Children in the K-12 school environment who identify in the sexually underrepresented groups experience the effects of heterosexism, which is a manifestation of oppressive bullying. This work explores and analyzes the results of Anti-Bullying Prevention Pilot Program (ABPPP) which is a large-scale three-year evaluation. This study analyzed qualitative data (structured interviews) by utilizing a Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) and Mixed Methods approach to find the emergent theme of heterosexism. Grounded Theory was then used to code that information. This work found thick descriptions which illustrated the presence of heterosexist bias in the qualitative data. Thus, this writer proposes a model …

Using Brief Experimental Analyses To Identify Effective Math Interventions For Early Elementary Students, Chelsi Ronatta Clark

Dissertations

athematics difficulties, this study aimed to use a brief experimental analysis (BEA) to identify effective interventions within a response to intervention (RTI) framework. Participants included four lower elementary school students who exhibited marked problems in mathematics. The effects of mathematics interventions to increase mathematic computational fluency and accuracy were assessed during the BEA. The intervention that produced the greatest gains during the BEA was compared to the intervention that produced the least gains during an extended analysis phase. It was hypothesized that: (a) during a BEA of math interventions, students will demonstrate differential responding across interventions; (b) during a BEA …

The Developmental Ramifications Of Vanuatu's Intellectual Property Commitments On Joining The World Trade Organization, Miranda Forsyth

Pacific Studies

After over a decade of protracted negotiations, Vanuatu joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2012. Intellectual property provisions formed part of Vanuatu 's accession package, and included some Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs) Plus provisions. This paper will look at the potential effects that these new undertakings will have on two key areas of development, namely, health and education. It argues that the new intellectual property framework is likely to have detrimental effects on access to both medicines and other medical technology and also educational materials, which is at odds with the developmental aspirations of membership. …

"The New Economy": Utilizing Creative, Cultural, And Innovative Industries For Sustainable Socioeconomic Development In Fiji, Salvin Nand

Pacific Studies

Today, creative, cultural, and innovative industries are becoming important differentiators and drivers of competitiveness and economic development in many regions of the world. Creative industry has many characteristics, including being knowledge intensive and of high economic value. These characteristics determine that the development of creative industry not only directly promotes economic growth but also drives upgrades of other industries, thereby promoting economic growth indirectly as well as directly. The Pacific region has long been projected as a pristine paradise with vast cultural, natural, and biological resources that have unique opportuities for sustainable economic development in Pacific Island countries. Pacific Island …

Intangible Cultural Heritage In The Pacific Islands: Why Europe Should Listen In, Katharina Serrano

Pacific Studies

Pacific Island countries (PICs) are developing countries that represent one of the culturally richest and most diverse regions worldwide. A decade ago, the realization evolved at the international level that intangible cultural heritage (ICH) represents a development tool with an inherent commercial value. Regional initiatives are currently trying to balance objectives of development and protection of ICH with the need for commercial exploitation and effects of commodification. Yet the same cannot be said about the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between PICs and the EU. This article advocates that current efforts by the European Union (EU) in supporting regional and national …

Traditional Knowledge And Patents: A Brief Summary Of The Epo's Perspective, Enrico Luzzatto

Pacific Studies

Knowledge of the legal provisions of the European Patent Convention (EPC) relevant to traditional knowledge (TK ) is essential to TK holders such as in Pacific Island countries so that they can actively protect in Europe any TK-derived invention they may want to develop. It is also of fundamental importance to be able to properly defend their rights if a European patent application that could be based on their TK is filed without their consent. This paper introduces the role and structure of the European Patent Office (EPO) and basic legal requirements, as set out in the EPC, that are …

Protecting Nature And Culture: Enhancing Legal Frameworks For The Conservation Of Heritage In The Pacific, Erika J. Techera

Pacific Studies

It is well recognized that for Pacific Island peoples, nature and culture are inextricably linked. The protection of the natural environment and biodiversity, for example, are essential for the maintenance of traditional and contemporary lifestyles and cultures. Conversely, many aspects of Pacific intangible heritage, including traditional knowledge, are inherently associated with natural resources. Therefore, in this context, the protection of nature and culture cannot be separated. More broadly, the preservation of the unique biological and cultural diversity of this region is of importance for all people. The significance extends beyond ensuring cultural integrity and environmental health to providing a possible …

Vol. 36 No. 1/2 (2013): Pacific Studies Full Issue, Et Al Miranda Forsyth

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US $26.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, …

Copyright Prosecution-The Fiji Experience, Joseph Daurewa

Pacific Studies

Since the introduction of the Copyright Act of Fiji in 1999 and its recent amendment, Fiji has seen a fluctuation in the respect afforded to intellectual property rights. This research looks at copyright infringement, in particular movie piracy and the laws that relate to it, including the Berne Convention, other relevant international instruments, and domestic laws. Research was undertaken in assessing a recent movie piracy case, which serves as a precedent for movie piracy cases in Fiji. This particular case shows that Fiji is ready to undertake efficient and effective prosecutions of movie piracy cases. However, it also shows a …

Food Security In Pacific Island Countries, Sue Farran

Pacific Studies

This paper considers the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges confronting the use of intellectual property regimes in the context of food security. While there has been some shift in agricultural practices, subsistence cultivation remains an important aspect of the daily lives of many Pacific Islanders and reflects traditions that for centuries have preserved biodiversity and provided a buffer against crops failures and food loss caused by natural disasters. Climate change, population growth, the cost of imported foods, and loss of traditional knowledge mean that many of these aspects of food security are under pressure. Intellectual property regimes which result in disease-resistant …

Music In Traditional Exchanges In North Vanuatu, Monika Stern

Pacific Studies

Music is a social phenomenon all owing the possibility of indefinite recreations. Depending on the cultures, places, and times, musical exchanges have been locally managed in various ways. Today the tights to copy a particular music are a sensitive topic of current international interest because of the development of the music industry. In Vanuatu custom, a principle close to the concept of intellectual property rights has existed for centuries for music or other intangible knowledge. Traditionally, not everyone has the right to hand over certain parts of this knowledge; complex rules must be observed. Although for most sets of music …

Books Noted: Recent Pacific Islands Publications: Selected Acquisitions, January 2012-December 2012, Riley Moffat

Pacific Studies

THIS LIST of significant publications relating to the Pacific Islands was selected from new acquisitions list received from Brigham Young University-Hawaiʻi, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, University of Auckland, East-West Center, University of the South Pacific, National Library of the Australia, Melanesian Studies Resource Center, Center for Pacific and Asian Studies, University of Nijmegen, University of California, San Diego, Secretariat of the Pacific Community Library, Center for South Pacific Studies, University of New South Wales, Macmillan Brown Library at University of Canterbury, and the Australian International Development Assistance Bureau's Center for the Pacific Development Training. Other …

Medicaid Expansion, Long-Term Care Financing In Retirement States And The Post World War Ii Birth Cohort, Toni P. Miles

Center for Policy Research

This policy brief contains a formal consideration of ideas discussed during a presentation to the 2012 Syracuse Seminar on Aging. Like most briefs, it will appeal to policy makers and academics craving detailed demographic, fiscal and policy data. Before diving into this brief, I would encourage readers to view the presentation video (available at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=bsv8K7DdJFY). As you will see, the seminar was informal and the discussion was wide ranging. In contrast, this brief focuses on limitations faced by states as they finance longterm care. It is primarily concerned with the Medicaid expansion and growing need for care as the …

A Geomechanical Study Of The Mississippian Boone Formation, Karen Nicole Mason Buckland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Boone Formation in northwest Arkansas is a chert-limestone sequence analogous to the subsurface Mississippi Lime reservoir in parts of Oklahoma and Kansas. It has low permeability and produces via horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The response to stimulation by fracturing is dependent on the quantity of chert in the area. Chert nodules and laterally extensive chert layers in the sequence are variable. Locally, cm- to dm-scale chert bedding is continuous and comprises up to 50% of the outcrop. Elsewhere, the chert is nodular and intermittent.

Samples collected from representative outcrops spanning the thickness and aerial extent of the formation …

Interest Group Scorecards And Legislative Satisfaction: Using Ratings To Explore The Private Bias In Public Policy, Daniel E. Chand

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite their importance to our system, the study of interest groups has produced few concrete findings compared to other actors such as administrative agencies and political parties in the policymaking process. The absence of generalizable findings is partly explained by the unpopularity of the topic, but is primarily due to a deficiency of easily accessible data and lack of agreement over how to operationalize important concepts. In the following dissertation, I employ interest group "scorecards" (ratings of members of Congress) as an approach to examining interest groups in a generalizable manner. Specifically, I use scorecards to test the pluralist assumptions …

Imagining Kurdish Identity In Mandatory Syria: Finding A Nation In Exile, Ahmet Serdar Akturk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation looks at the activities of the Kurdish nationalists from Turkey who were exiled in Syria and Lebanon during the period of the French mandate, and especially Jaladet and Kamuran Bedirkhan. Scions of a princely Kurdish family from the Botan region in Eastern Anatolia, the Bedirkhan brothers initiated a Kurdish cultural movement in exile following the failure of two armed rebellions against the new Turkish Republic in 1925 and 1930. Central to this cultural movement was the publication of journals in Damascus and Beirut, namely Hawar (1932-1943) Ronahi (1942-1945), Roja Nu/Le Jour Nouveau (1943-1946), and Ster (1943-1945).

This study …

Three Essays On Social Health Insurance In Developing Countries: The Case Study Of Ghana, Stephen Ofori Abrokwah

Dissertations

More than 2 billion people live in developing countries with health systems constrained by inequitable access and inadequate funding. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 150 million of these people suffer financial breakdown every year having to make unexpected out-of-pocket expenditures for emergency care.

To improve health and reduce the financial burden on households, a number of developing countries, including Ghana, Colombia, and Peru, have recently introduced social health insurance programs which are heavily subsidized. The dissertation is a collection of three essays looking at how individual health care choices changed as a result of the availability of …

Sharing: Social Behavior In Situations Of Risk, Stephanie Theresia Stilling

Dissertations

The present study will experimentally investigate human cooperation (sharing) in a laboratory foraging task that simulates environmental variability and resource scarcity (shortfall risk). Specifically, it investigates whether a risk-reduction model of sharing developed by evolutionary biologists (derived from a risk-sensitive optimization model known as the energy-budget rule) could predict human cooperative behavior. Participants respond to earn points exchangeable for money when point gains were unpredictable. Failures to acquire sufficient points result in a loss of accumulated earnings (a shortfall). Participants are given the choice between working alone or working with others. The difficulty of meeting the earnings requirement is manipulated …