Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Examination Of Sagebrush Rebellion Communications Using Narrative Policy Framework, Amber Overholser

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Despite being rich in resources, a growing population and open spaces, the Old West has often erupted into the “Angry West” (Lamm, R. D., & McCarthy, M. 1982), as individuals, interest groups and political leaders throughout the West have demanded the turnover of select lands within the region for local control, development and/or private sale. One of the most well-known and heated public lands debates took place during the late 1970s and was called the Sagebrush Rebellion. Rebellion leaders gained national attention as they emphasized the need for autonomy, resource development and equality with Eastern states through the turnover of …

Persuasion Of Online Crowdfunding Videos, Matthew Roe

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Crowdfunding is a relatively new and exciting way to get investments for a business startup or other project. We use the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to explore how individuals are persuaded by the project videos on a crowdfunding platform called Kickstarter. ELM is a psychological model used to understand how people are persuaded. Our results support most of our hypotheses and showed that the need for cognition, which reflects the personal tendency towards the central route of ELM, does increase an individual’s intent to back a project. We also discovered that intrinsic motivations and product quality have a stronger effect …

The Role Of School Boards In Addressing Opportunity And Equity For English Learners In The U.S. Mountain West, Carrie Sampson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Locally-elected school boards in the United States may be the public’s closest democratic link to public education. Yet, little is known about how school boards balance their representational obligations with their responsibilities to address educational inequities. The purpose of this study is to examine how school boards address policies and practices for one of education’s most vulnerable populations, English learners (EL). Applying the conceptual framework of social construction theory for policy design, which assumes that policy is heavily influenced by the social construction of target groups, this multiple-case study includes data from 30 interviews, four years of school board meeting …

"Nobody Can #Dragmedown": An Analysis Of The One Direction Fandom's Ability To Influence And Dominate Worldwide Twitter Trends, Nicole Kelsey Santero

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With more than 25 million followers and counting, One Direction is currently the biggest boy band in the world, and its fans—known as “Directioners”—have become one of the most visible and recognizable fandoms to utilize social media, especially Twitter. Drawing upon an updated version of a fan theory highlighting the interpretive community and social hierarchy that exist within a fandom, this study examines the participatory culture among One Direction fans online that helps them create and dominate worldwide Twitter trends, as well as overshadow what is regarded as more serious news topics. Although previous research studies have examined Directioners and …

Yiddish Diction In Singing, Carrie Suzanne Schuster-Wachsberger

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The standard for classical singers in the United States to be trained in the singing diction of the German, Italian, and English languages. This sung diction varies from the spoken diction for those languages and is therefore important for singers to study in classes dedicated to singing language pronunciation. Literature is also available for the instruction in the singing diction of numerous other languages including Latin, Spanish, Czech, Russian, and Hebrew. While there is a vast scope of languages represented by vocal diction guides, there is no available singing diction guide for Yiddish songs, despite the spectrum of classical vocal …

Growing Together? Community, Culture, And Gardening In Downtown Las Vegas, Tyler S. Schafer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this manuscript I explore the issue of how groups appropriate broad cultural trends in local contexts. Using the case of a community garden in Las Vegas I examine how social space is imbued with meaning and how those meanings come to shape the subsequent interactions that take place in the meaningful place. This research draws from four years of participant observation at Vegas Roots Community Garden (VRCG), 20 in-depth interviews, hundreds of informal interviews, and content analysis of documents produced by others about the garden and by the garden organization about itself.

I expand on Howard Becker’s (1974) work …

Building Categories To Guide Behavior: How Humans Build And Use Auditory Category Knowledge Throughout The Lifespan, Christina M. Vanden Bosch Der Nederlanden

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Although categorization has been studied in depth throughout development in the visual domain (e.g., Gelman & Meyer, 2011; Sloutsky 2010), there is little evidence examining how children and adults categorize everyday auditory objects (e.g., dog barks, trains, song, speech) or how category knowledge affects the way children and adults listen to these sounds during development. In two separate studies, I examined how listeners of all ages differentiated the multidimensional acoustic categories of speech and song and I determined whether listeners used category knowledge to process the sounds they encounter every day. In Experiment 1, listeners of all ages were able …

The Impact Of Successful Ncaa Division I Athletics Programs On The Social Capital Of Urban Communities, Paul Woody

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examined how urban communities might grow social capital from the passion and support offered by a college athletics program. Given the increasing emphasis on fiscal responsibility from local governments and public universities, recognizing how college athletics programs influence local community social capital, such as anchor attachments formed by alumni and fans, is an important perspective. Historically, the exhausted conversation has focused on economics, such as the economic impact of athletic venues and franchises. (Coates, 2007; Crompton, 2004). Through decades of research, social capital has been measured at various depths and viewed through social, economic, psychological, and even historical …

Investigating How Restaurant Week's Price Promotion Affects Diners' Online Perceptions, Jian Zhao

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Price promotion is being widely employed in the global restaurant industry. This exploratory study uses online user-generated content (UGC) to investigate how price promotion affects diners’ perceptions. The study uses secondary data extracted from a Chinese third-party review website, Dianping.com. The data was separated into Restaurant Week’s price promotion group and non-price promotion group for comparison. Structured content analysis and further chi-square tests were used to analyze qualitative data, and a two-way MANOVA was applied to analyze quantitative data. Empirical evidence shows that food, service, and environment are the top three determinant attributes for full-service restaurants, and they are not …

2016 May, Office Of Communications & Marketing, Morehead State University.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for May 2016.

Review Of Beyond And Between The Cold War Blocs, Wen-Qing (Wei Wenqing) Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In their introduction to this special issue of The International History Review, Janick Marina Schaufelbuehl, Sandra Bott, Jussi Hanhimaki and Marco Wyss state that this collection of papers examines “what independent pathways” existed for peripheral states, independence movements, or regional alliances “within the Cold War system that were not directly subjected to the East-West confrontation” (902).And there is, in principle, much to recommend this endeavor. As the introduction rightly points out, there is abundant evidence of middle and smaller powers as well as non-state actors who pursued their objectives through “an extensive array of strategies” that “did not easily fit …

Crowd-Sourced Text Analysis: Reproducible And Agile Production Of Political Data, Kenneth Benoit, Drew Conway, Benjamin E. Lauderdale, Michael Laver, Slava Mikhaylov

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Empirical social science often relies on data that are not observed in the field, but are transformed into quantitative variables by expert researchers who analyze and interpret qualitative raw sources. While generally considered the most valid way to produce data, this expert-driven process is inherently difficult to replicate or to assess on grounds of reliability. Using crowd-sourcing to distribute text for reading and interpretation by massive numbers of nonexperts, we generate results comparable to those using experts to read and interpret the same texts, but do so far more quickly and flexibly. Crucially, the data we collect can be reproduced …

China’S “Asia Dream”: The Belt Road Initiative And The New Regional Order, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since Xi Jinping became leader in 2012, he has redirected Chinese foreign policy. This article examines the role of peripheral diplomacy in Xi’s emerging grand strategy. While it is popular to look to theories of the international system – offensive realism and liberal institutionalism – to explore this issue, this article follows constructivism to take seriously the role of ideas and domestic politics in foreign policy-making. Through an analysis of official and unofficial sources, it traces linkages between ideas, institutions, and behavior in Chinese foreign policy. In particular, it argues that Beijing is combining new ideas (China Dream, Asia Dream), …

Growing Up Before Their Time: The Early Adultification Experiences Of Homeless Young People, Rachel M. Schmitz, Kimberly A. Tyler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This paper explores the experiences of early adultification among 40 homeless youth aged 19 to 21. Findings from semistructured, face-to-face interviews revealed the experiences of early adultification among homeless young people. We used both initial and focused coding and the final qualitative themes emerged naturally from the data. Early adultification encompassed the following processes, which were closely tied to prominent descriptions of family conflict and caregiver neglect: premature caregiving, early independence, and parenthood. Premature caregiving burdened participants with familial responsibility such as caring for younger siblings prior to their leaving home. Early independence occurred when young people provided for their …

Remittances As Contributor To Risk Management And Poverty Reduction In Grenada, Dianne Jntl Rosemary Forte

Dissertations

A Small Island Development States (SIDS) viewpoint is underrepresented in the existing migration literature. That perspective is necessary because SIDS geography creates a unique set of social and economic circumstances that predisposes small states to high vulnerability to external shocks from environmental events and influences emigration decision making. Like other SIDS, Grenada is characterized by small land mass, small population, limited opportunities for productive labor, and limited resources to efficiently support all the requirements of modern institutions. This has resulted in high levels of emigration and a pattern of circularity as Grenadian households make rational decisions to manage risk and …

The Relation Of Adolescent Narcissism And Prosocial Behavior With Cooperative And Competitive Attitudes, Erin V. Moran

Honors Theses

Narcissism has been correlated with prosocial behavior in adolescents (Kauten & Barry, 2014, 2016). However, whether adolescents with high levels of narcissism use more egoistic (i.e., self-serving) or altruistic (i.e., helping others with no direct personal benefit) prosocial behaviors has not been investigated. This issue was addressed in the present study, and attitudes of cooperation and competition were also examined as moderators in these relations. The current study involved 147 at-risk adolescents, ages 16 to 18 (113 males, 34 females) who were enrolled in a residential program. The data were collected through self-report questionnaires which assessed narcissism (i.e., non-pathological, grandiose, …

Compassion Fatigue And Educational Preparation Among Mississippi Child Welfare Workers, Meredith D. Mcphail

Honors Theses

The prevalence of trauma among youth involved with the child welfare system affects not only these individuals but also child welfare service providers, namely social workers, who experience this trauma indirectly through interaction with the children. This exposure places service providers at risk for compassion fatigue, in which these workers themselves experience trauma symptoms or are less able to complete job tasks. It is especially important to address the issues of negative personal reactions among this population in order to best care for social service workers in Mississippi and identify strategies to effectively improve Mississippi’s child welfare system. As such, …

Best Practices For Delivering Accelerated Vocational Instruction To Veterans And Transitioning Service Members, Zachary S. Huitink

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This data brief includes summaries of the examination of Del Mar College, Tarrant Community College, and Wake Technical Community College's vocational accelerator programs for student veterans.

Advancing Veteran Success In Higher Education: Case Highlights Of Vocational Accelerator Programs At Del Mar College, Tarrant County College, And Wake Technical Community College, Zachary S. Huitink

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

Del Mar College, Tarrant County College, and Wake Technical Community College exemplify how institutions committed to advancing veterans employment can leverage external funding to design, develop, and deliver accelerated vocational instruction to veterans and transitioning service members. Through an examination of the programs’ approaches to recruitment and service delivery, as well as a survey of their achievements to date, the case highlights identify five best practices that could inform other efforts to use vocational acceleration as a means of advancing veterans employment.

May 2016, Volume 12, Number 1, Winthrop University Archives And Special Collections

Retrospect: News from the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections at Winthrop University

No abstract provided.

Time For A Fresh Look At Housing As Eu Report Shames Ireland, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Now that a new minority administration is here, it’s time to look at ways this government can improve on previous ones. One positive step could be to take on board the findings of a recent EU report on procurement practices. Entitled “public procurement—a study on administrative capacity in the EU”, it looks at the systems and structures of individual member states.

You Can Forget About A Housing Recovery With Our Skills Drain, Lorcan Sirr

Media

Over the past 10 years or so, civil service and local authority staffing levels have been dramatically reduced. Those who retired have not been replaced, and other employees have left for the private sector or have taken early retirement because they were unhappy with pay cuts and changes to their contracts.

The results have been mixed. No doubt money has been saved through reduced state pay and some of the employees who left might have been of limited value in the first place. Workloads have increased for those left behind, but there have also been costs that show not all …

A Letter From Your Library Liaisons, Zach S. Henderson Library

Library Publications (1999-2023)

• Meet Our New Associate Dean, Clement Lau
• Henderson Library Receives the Institute of Turkish Studies Library Grant
• Summer Reading?
• Thank You For Your Support

Branding Faith: Do Christian Ministries Reach Millennials With Branding?, Bolashade Hanson

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research study is to discover what branding techniques used by Christian organizations are effective in connecting with Millennials and why, and to determine what are effective branding practices in a religious context. A convergent parallel mixed–method research design was used to gather the data. It included a content analysis of the branding components of four Christian organizations that target Millennials—The Passion Conference, The VOUS Conference, Acquire the Fire and Winterfest. A survey of 150 Millennials of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds within the age range of 18-34 was conducted to collect quantitative data on Millennials’ predispositions …

Position The Brand: Identify The Role Of Social Media For Public Accounting Firms In Digital Age, Linbo Yao

Masters Theses

Due to the popularity of social media, accounting industry gradually adapts to using social media for their social benefits and social business. Various social media platforms provide new approach for accounting companies to get involved in this modern digital age. The present study is intended to investigate the roles of social media in public accounting firms in modern digital age by comparing three largest public accounting firms’ social media usages in Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Facebook is community-based network that allows people to connect and make friends with each other. Twitter is a micro blogging network that delivers short and …

All Lives Matter: Media Agenda, Brittany Minard

Masters Theses

This thesis proposal addresses the role that the media play in influencing public opinion with specific attention paid to CNN and Fox News in the way that they covered the shooting of Mike Brown by officer Darren Wilson in August 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri. The research has been divided into several sections starting with an introduction which includes, a statement of the problem being addressed, the significance and purpose of this study, and a section about myself as the researcher. This is followed by a literature review which consists of explaining the Agenda Setting Theory to examine how the media …

Divergent Discourse: A Case Study Analyzing The Effects Of Campus Communication About Sexual Assault, Melissa H. Nipper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research analyzes campus discourse at a university in south central Appalachia in an effort to highlight the role of communication in the prevention of sexual assault and its powerful effects on communities and individuals. Using a critical feminist lens, this qualitative case study identifies the communication goals, interpretations, and strategies of two important speech communities who participate in sexual assault discourse on college campuses—campus professionals who communicate about the issue of sexual assault (issue managers) and sexual assault survivors whose identity is shaped by sexual assault (identity managers). While both groups talk about the problem, the parties diverge on …

Choral Theatre, Albert Joseph Wolfe Jr.

Dissertations

Jamaica gained its independence from Great Britain in 1962, after some 300 years of colonization. Prior to Independence, the standard arts education curriculum was decidedly British and Western European. That which was labeled Caribbean or Jamaican “folk” by the British was deemed inferior and was not taught, demonstrated, or performed in formal settings. Thus, generations of Jamaicans never observed or imagined a Caribbean aesthetic in the visual and performing arts. Instead, pre-Independence Jamaicans were taught British and Western European music and performed it the “British” way.

Today, Jamaicans boast a number of artistic developments that are instantly recognized across the …

Three Essays On Random Mechanism Design, Huaxia Zeng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation studies a standard voting formulation with randomization. Formally, there is a finite set of voters, a finite set of alternatives and a lottery space over the alternative set. Each voter has a strict preference over alternatives. The domain of preferences contains all admissible preferences. Every voter reports a preference in the domain; a preference profile is generated; and the social lottery then is determined by a Random Social Choice Function (or RSCF). This dissertation focuses on RSCFs which provide every voter incentives to truthfully reveal her preference, and hence follows the formulation of strategyproofness in [26] which requires …

On Refined And Robust Inferences For Spatial Econometric Models, Shew Fan Liu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Asymptotically refined and heteroskedasticity robust inferences are considered for spatial linear and panel regression models, based on the quasi maximum likelihood (QML) or the adjusted concentrated quasi score (ACQS) approaches. Refined inferences are achieved through bias correcting the QML estimators, bias correcting the t-ratios for covariate effects, and improving tests for spatial effects; heteroskedasticity-robust inferences are achieved through adjusting the quasi score functions. Several popular spatial linear and panel regression models are considered including the linear regression models with either spatial error dependence (SED), or spatial lag dependence (SLD), or both SED and SLD (SARAR), the linear regression models with …