Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

John Bruce, Jr. : A Sixty-Nine Year Leadership Journey Throughout Change In The United States Army, Joseph Rakocy

Dissertations

Problem and Purpose

The U.S. Army has changed radically in the 68 years since World War II ended, from uniforms to vehicles, from weaponry to organizational changes. While still the Army, its workforce has changed greatly in gender, ethnic, and age composition. John Bruce, Jr. saw many of these changes during his 69-year career as both soldier and executive. How this leader responded to the changes in the U.S. Army over nearly seven decades was the problem I explored. The purpose of the study was to describe how 94-year-old John Bruce, senior executive at the U.S. Army’s Tank-automotive and Armaments …

Review Of Reflecting On The Future Of Academic And Public Libraries By Peter Hernon And Joseph R. Matthews, W. Bede Mitchell

University Libraries: Faculty Publications

Review Excerpt: A book about trends and issues shaping the evolution of American libraries by Peter Hernon and Joseph Matthews is almost self-recommending. The authors have many years of teaching, research, and service to the profession under their belts and are recognized as significant and influential leaders. Reflecting on the Future of Academic and Public Libraries offers guidance to library leaders on how to anticipate and manage change. Hernon and Matthews fear that librarians who are reactive and deal only incrementally with today’s profound challenges will preside over the withering of libraries into little used warehouses of legacy collections. The …

Factors That Relate To Registered Nurses' Readiness For Interprofessional Learning In The Context Of Continuing Professional Development, Collette Williams

Dissertations

Today’s health-care professionals practice in a highly technological, multidisciplinary environment. In order to provide safe, effective, and high-quality patient care, collaboration is required among all professionals. Traditionally each profession has operated independently in regard to continued professional development. The purpose of this study was to assess practicing registered nurses’ readiness toward interprofessional learning in order to align learning with current practice.

Method. An ex post facto study design was used to gather data to examine if there is a relationship between variables of demographics and readiness for interprofessional learning. The Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) assesses the readiness for …

Wheel Of Innovation : How Leaders' Attitudes And Behaviors Drive Disruptive Technology In The U.S. Navy, Eddy Wayne Witzel

Dissertations

Problem and Purpose

Innovative solutions in national defense are needed to respond to national security threats in our uncertain environment. Leader attitudes and behaviors have a substantial impact on innovation. Unfortunately we did not completely understand the effect of leader attitudes and behaviors on innovation and the team dynamics that lead to innovation, especially in the military. The purpose of this study was to determine how leadership attitudes and behaviors contribute to product innovation within the U.S. Navy and how leadership emerges within this complex adaptive system of innovation.

Method

The research was a qualitative design based on a multiple …

The Evolution Of A Social Movement: A Study Of The Madres De Plaza De Mayo, Grace Anne Boyd

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the evolution of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo social movement in Argentina from 1979-2014. The Madres de Plaza de Mayo are a social movement that initiated protests against the military junta that controlled Argentina from 1976-1982. The Madres were the mothers of people the junta had disappeared during its regime, and the protests were a demand for information about the missing children. After the fall of the dictatorship, the movement continued its protest for information. During this time, the movement underwent a structural split that coincided with ideological structure. I analyzed both internal and external factors …

We Live Like The Poor, But We Die Like The Rich: Cuban Biomedical Implementation And Its Implementation Within Ecuador, James Drew Toppin

Honors Theses

Shortly following the Cuban Revolution in 1959, communist leaders Ernesto Che Guevara and Fidel Castro made it a top priority to address the poor health of the country's citizens. By developing a large pool of physicians, Cuba instituted groundbreaking approaches to biomedicine that emphasize prevention and the physiciancommunity relationship. The high physicians per capita ratio also permitted Cuba to develop its now famous system of international biomedical diplomacy. Cuba's successes domestically and abroad occur within the context of the regional geopolitical environment, in which Cuba is subjugated to extraordinary economic pressures from the U.S. embargo. The superior health of the …

Investment In The Developing World: Democracy And/Or Transparency, John Carter

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the concept of transparency and its role in international investment in the developing world. Investment is essential to developing nations because of its overarching economic benefits, such as new avenues of employment, exposure to new markets and the financing of diverse development projects. The desire for increased capital from foreign investors has influenced and shaped the economic policies of developing democratic and autocratic states. One of the most recent trends in economic policy is the formulation and adoption of transparent vehicles, such as access-to-information legislation, which address perceived investor risk through certain actions, such as publishing various …

Promotion Of Environmental Engagement Through Positive Youth Development In Tanzania, Katherine Westfall

Honors Theses

With climate change and environmental degradation already having devastating effects on communities in sub-Saharan Africa, enhancing youth's commitment to the environment and mobilizing their pro-environmental action is increasingly urgent. In this study, we explored predictors of environmental commitment and action based on a model of positive youth development. We predicted that sociodemographics, self-efficacy, connection to nature, sense of community, and club participation would predict environmental commitment and action. Tanzanian youth (N = 959) from regions across the country completed self-report measures assessing these constructs. Using a series of logistic and hierarchical multiple regressions, we were able to predict statistically significant …

Bolivian Public Health Care: Interculturation For Indigenous Rights, Kendra Leigh Wright

Honors Theses

This thesis is concerned with Bolivian public health care, specifically how interculturation plays a part in bringing indigenous rights and representation. By examining indigenous traditional healing and Western medicine, this thesis attempts to answer the question of: is the role of pluralizing medical practices a mechanism that successfully gives more power toward the representation and inclusion of indigenous rights in Bolivia? If so, how exactly has interculturation taken place? This thesis hypothesizes that through projects of cultural sensitivity and the respecting of Aymara and Quechua languages, rituals, and traditions, indigenous representation is enhanced in the Bolivian public health care field, …

The Effect Of Auditory Distractions On Working Memory In People Diagnosed With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Kristen Laprade Johnson

Honors Theses

This study compared the effect of an auditory distractor on working memory in participants with and without ADHD. Undergraduate students (N-65) were asked to complete a memory task for 25 words in which a pulsating beep sounded from the computer during the middle 5 words. The results indicated that students with ADHD performed significantly worse in the presence of a distraction than those without ADHD. However, the present study also examined the effect of ADHD medication, taken the same day, on working memory. The results indicated that participants with ADHD who had taken medication performed better than those who did …

Online Sales Tax Policy: A Study Of New York And Georgia State Laws And The Federal Marketplace Fairness Act, Madison Elizabeth Coburn

Honors Theses

The physical presence standard for remote sales tax collection, established in 1967, remains the standard for sales tax collection today. Advances in technology have led to increases in online shopping. Online retailers act under the physical presence standard. Throughout the United States, many individual states are facing economic challenges either as a result of or in conjunction with states' inability to collect sales tax from some online vendors without a physical presence in the state. The challenges include loss of revenue due to uncollected online sales tax and lack of fairness for brick-and-mortar retailers that do remit sales tax to …

The Trajectory Of The Argentine Economy From 2001 To The Present: What Comes Next?, Mary Morgan Gladney

Honors Theses

This thesis looks at global economic factors and Argentina's internal economic policy and political conditions of the last decade to determine the near-term future of the economy. By analyzing the factors that previously influenced the trajectory of the economy of Argentina, I will try to answer this question: What is the trajectory of the Argentine economy in the current political climate? In 2001 after a ten-year period of economic policy reform, the Argentine economy collapsed. Over a decade has passed since the crash of 2001, and now Argentina is once again in a precarious position. The dependent variable of this …

Changes In United States Foreign Assistance Allocation And Its Effect On Terrorism, Mary Anna Smith

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to study what, if any, affect foreign assistance given by the United States had on terrorism around the world. In order to study this issue, the question, How have changes in United States foreign assistance allocation since the end of the Cold War affected observable terrorist activities?. To answer the research question, foreign assistance data from the United State Overseas Loans and Grants was compared to observable terrorist activities data from the Global Terrorism Database. This data was analyzed through statistical regression to find that there are fewer observable terrorist activities when more foreign …

Observing Academic Performance Based On Increased Educational Spending: An Assessment Of The Fedex Center At The University Of Mississippi, Matthew Williams

Honors Theses

In 2007, the FedEx Student-Athlete Academic Support Center, a renovation from the Starnes Center, was completed at the University of Mississippi to provide student- athletes a facility to improve academic performance in the classroom. FedEx donated $2.5 million to the project, covering half of the total expenditure. This private funding presents an opportunity to study how increased spending on education affected performance amongst student athletes in the classroom. Using semester-by-semester GPA of student-athletes and graduation rates from 2003 to 2009, it is possible to identify which students were exposed to the new facilities and thus, able to assess the effect …

An Investigation Of The Effects Of Hysteresis On The Rotation Percept, Maximilian James Shumake

Honors Theses

Although much research has been done on the role of hysteresis in apparent motion displays, no research has investigated the effects of hysteresis for rotary motion. The present experiment sought to determine and quantify the effects of hysteresis on the rotation percept. Participants viewed two types of apparent motion stimuli, which consisted of tokens appearing to move in a clockwise, counterclockwise, or chaotic fashion. One of the displays slowly changed from favoring a percept of rotation to a percept of non-rotation and vice versa. We fit the data using a logistic function and compared the point at which the direction …

How The Case United States V. Windsor Paved The Way For Same-Sex Marriage Legalization In The United States, Olivia C. Watkins

Honors Theses

This thesis looks at how the United States Supreme Court came to decide upon the issue of same-sex marriage. Starting in the lower courts and moving to the Supreme Court in 2013 and how the decision handed down by the court changed the law of the land. As well as how this decision has allowed for future changes in the law. Furthermore, how the new land has led individual states to overturn laws restricting marriage equality and how the Fourteenth Amendment can be used as a vehicle to legalize same-sex marriage across the states using the Courts decisions in United …

Filling The Gap: Nonviolent Strategies For Civilian Self-Protection During Mass Atrocities, Danny Hirschel-Burns , '14

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

This thesis seeks to highlight and understand the phenomenon of civilian self-protection during mass atrocities. I begin by demonstrating the structural barriers to international atrocity prevention and mitigation, and why civilian self-protection is therefore necessary. Next, to contexualize civilian self-protection, I look at why mass atrocities happen and how they work, arguing they are elite-led processes, but occur in a complex conflict system. The core of the thesis looks at empirical examples of civilian self-protection, theorizes their dynamics, and proposes avenues for their improvement. Finally, I use civilian self-protection to bridge divides between various theories and disciplines. This thesis is …

The Relationship Of Family, Church, School, Peers, Media, And Adventist Culture To The Religiosity Of Adventist Youth In Puerto Rico, Edwin P. Alicea Santiago

Dissertations

Problem. No formal study that considers the influence of the family, church, school, peers, media, and Adventist culture on the denominational loyalty, Christian commitment, and religious behavior of Adventist young people of Puerto Rico has previously been conducted. Therefore, pastors, parents, teachers, church leaders, and administrators have no data on which to base their assessment of the religiosity of Adventist young people.

Method. This study used youth ages 14 to 21 from the youth sample of the Avance PR study conducted in 1995 in Adventist schools and churches in Puerto Rico. For the analysis, the sample was divided. When studying …

A Quantitative Case Study Of Transformational Leadership Characteristics Of Valley View University In Ghana, Isaac Boateng

Dissertations

Problem. Finding transformational leaders for private higher education institutions in Ghanais a major problem facing the governing boards of such institutions. There is tremendous growth at Valley View University. Finding transformational leaders could help support the growth of Valley View University (VVU). The task of university leaders has become very complex, ranging from communication, interaction, collaboration, shared leadership, policy interpretation, meeting the needs of foundations, boards, parents, students, alumni, faculty, staff, accreditation boards and the government. Therefore, finding transformational leaders for Valley View University to meet the above leadership challenges is a major problem.

Purpose. The purpose of this study …

Dealing With “Prodromes” Through Social Media: Pre-Crisis Communication Of Hyundai Regarding Its Overestimated Gas Mileage Issue, Wonjun Chung, Young Kim

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

Compared to post-crisis communication, pre-crisis communication has received little attention in strategic communication research. As the population and use of social media platforms increase, so does the role they play in strategic pre-crisis communication. Based on a message framing approach, this study focused on examining how Hyundai Motor company (hereafter Hyundai) communicated with its publics through social media channels as a platform for their strategic pre-crisis communication response to the current technical issue, regarding its models’ overestimated Miles Per Gallon (MPG) flaw. A content analysis of 303 social media messages posted by both parties produced three significant findings: i) Hyundai …

Tweeted Out: Management Tools To Prevent Social Media From Monopolizing Your Time, Ashley A. Ahlbrand

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Book Review. Deficits, Debt, And The New Politics Of Tax Policy By Dennis S. Ippolito, Ajay K. Mehrotra

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Concentration Of Wealth In New York City: Changes In The Structure Of Household Income By Race/Ethnic Groups And Latino Nationalities, 1990 - 2010, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines the concentration of wealth in New York City between 1990 and 2010 using data on household income from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: The data indicate an extraordinary, and growing, concentration of wealth in the City at large and among each major race/ethnic group, as well as among the five largest Latino national …

Measuring The Good Life: An Evaluation Of Alternatives To Gdp, Meg Oka

Whittier Scholars Program

Gross domestic product (GDP) is one of the most widely watched and reported statistic of economic assessment. It measures the market value of all final goods and services produced in a country for a year. The White House, Congress, the Federal Reserve, Wall Street and business all use it for various purposes for preparing the Federal budget to planning production and investment. It is clear that GDP is widely utilized by countries, international agencies and the popular media and is an influential factor in domestic and global policy, legislature and debate. The GDP is only a measure for economic activity …

Parish Memorial Library 45th Anniversary, Patricia Campbell

Celebrations

Parish Memorial Library celebrated 45 years of providing services to UNM and the community during October and November 2014, with a lecture series and exhibit.

An exhibit of photos and other materials illustrating the history of the library was on display in Parish Memorial Library during Fall Semester 2014.

Executive Mba Students’ Information Skills And Knowledge: Discovering The Difference Between Work And Academics, Todd Quinn, Lora Leligdon

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This study explores Executive MBA students’ information seeking skills and knowledge in academic and workplace environments in order to improve on library instruction. Our research consisted of a survey and 12 qualitative interviews, sampled from two University of New Mexico EMBA cohorts. The themes that emerged included: EMBA’s specific skills and knowledge of their own industry’s information, difficulty in finding new information, several barriers, and lack of transferability. By discussing adult learning theory and focusing on transferability, we can help students acknowledge and transfer their information skills and knowledge between academics and work.

Report And Recommendations Of The Balance Of Crop Research Working Group Of The National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education And Economics (Nareee) Advisory Board, Mark Mclellan, Leo Holt, Twilya L'Ecuyer, Robert Taylor, Julia Sabin, Milo Shult, Anne Marie Thro, Paul Heisey

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In December of 2012, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST) issued a report to the President on Agricultural Preparedness and the Agriculture Research Enterprise. The PCAST report recognizes the long-term history of public investment in agricultural research. The report also recognized significant private investment into agricultural research. Significantly, the report is adamant that the agricultural research enterprise is not prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The report cited two reasons:

1. too little competitive research and
2. an imbalance of research priorities between private and public funding sources.

This report addresses the latter issue.

Members …

Reflections From The Past: Life Lessons For Better Living., Susan Stuntzner

Counseling Faculty Publications

The sections and skills presented in this book are a compilation of areas sometimes discussed throughout the disability literature as factors thought to be associated with adjustment, coping, and resiliency combined with my personal experience of learning how to deal with and overcome various situations. This book is broken down into 10 areas that are often discussed in relation to adjustment, coping, and resiliency. Within each section are the various “skills” I have used or further refined out of necessity when living with a visible condition. Most of these skills I have learned to use and incorporate as a regular …

The Choice Is Yours! Researchers Assign Subject Metadata To Their Own Materials In Institutional Repositories, Maira Bundza

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

The Digital Commons platform for institutional repositories provides a three-tiered taxonomy of academic disciplines for each item submitted to the repository. Since faculty and departmental administrators across campuses are encouraged to submit materials to the institutional repository themselves, they must also assign disciplines or subject categories for their own work. The expandable drop-down menu of about 1,000 categories is easy to use, and facilitates the growth of the institutional repository and access to the materials through the Internet.

Vignette: Clear Communication And When To Say "No", Kathleen Langan

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

This is an essay in the book One-shot Library Instruction Survival Guide and talks about the importance of good communication between librarians and course instructors with a clear understanding of the assignment so the instruction session at the library can be productive.