Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Providing A Prescription Of School Choice To Improve Mississippi's K-12 Educational System: A Dose Of Education Savings Accounts Mixed With Charter Schools And Private School Vouchers, Eric Bennett

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the research surrounding school choice programs, such as charter schools, private school vouchers, and education savings accounts (ESAs). My research investigates academic effects, fiscal effects, impact upon low-income and minority students, parental involvement and satisfaction, and public opinion of school choice programs. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to answer my central research question of, What is the ideal school choice picture for Mississippi, with two goals in mind: 1.) To rescue children currently trapped within underperforming schools without the means to transfer to a higher quality school. 2.) To reform the K-12 educational system in …

Urbanization And Exclusion: Examining The Wages Of Migrant Workers In The Chinese Urban Labor Market, Evan Heitzmann

Honors Theses

This work is primarily an examination of the economic effects of the Hukou system on migrant workers who live in cities. By endeavoring to control for any differences in background and human capital, I will attempt to isolate any premium attached the possession of urban Hukou. What, if any, benefit or advantage do urban citizens have over rural migrant in cities? Will they be favorably treated and will migrants be discriminated against? These are all questions that my project seeks to answer through the construction of a linear regression model that estimates the wages of both urban and migrant workers. …

Stuck In Traffic: The Effects Of Regional Trade On Human Trafficking, Jacob Smith

Honors Theses

Human trafficking represents one negative side affect of an increasingly interconnected, globalized world. What characteristics of regional trade drive bilateral human trafficking flows? Resource dependent states, or states with an economy established primarily through resource exports, interact with more industrialized states to push and pull populations into human trafficking schemes as a byproduct of economic and political linkages. The adverse conditions of resource dependence push populations into trafficking networks while traffickers and trafficking victims are drawn to economic opportunity in more stable regional trade partners. This theory is tested using ordinal logistic and OLS regression, utilizing cross sectional and time …

Barriers To Access Under The Affordable Care Act: An Analysis Of Marketplace Enrollment, Jessica Ann Johnson

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to understand how the Affordable Care Act impacted certain groups who had faced barriers to accessing health insurance prior to the passage of the act. It provides a fundamental understanding of the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act and discusses dis- parities amongst, and challenges incurred, by different groups in the current health insurance sys- tem, Research focused specifically on demographic factors of income, gender, primary language spoken, ethnicity, education and age as Ill as looked at the effect that urban setting and sufficient internet access had on enrollment rates. In order to understand the impact …

An Examination Of The College Major Decisions Of Students At The University Of Mississippi, Jonathan P. Evans

Honors Theses

Factors such as socio-economic status affect students' level of educational aspiration. Furthermore, major (and thus career choice) may be influenced by race or gender. This study demonstrates the effects of academic aptitude, race, gender, first generation status, and importance of expected future earnings on undergraduate students' college major decision. More specifically, this study examines if these factors lead to an increase or decrease in the probability of students choosing a major in a specific field. The likelihood of choosing a major in a specific field is relative a baseline category, which can be changed.

The Social Web: Leveraging Social Capital To Maximize Relationships And Minimize Churn In The Telecommunications Industry, Kristen Ellis

Honors Theses

As innovation in technology continues to be a driving force in the telecommunications industry, companies are left struggling to provide services of equal caliber to maintain satisfaction and remain relevant in the eyes of consumers. Because of this, a common misunderstanding many companies have is thinking that the best way to retain or acquire new consumers is solely through innovation. While still very important, companies must also strive to better understand the needs of their customers with regard to the cultivation and maintenance of social capital. The purpose of this thesis was to examine how social capital is becoming a …

Keeping Students In School: An Analysis Of Dropout Prevention Methods In Canton, Mississippi, Mary Elizabeth Kakales

Honors Theses

With a graduation rate of 29.7% and a dropout rate of 59.8% reported in 2005, the Canton Public School District qualified as one of the most low-performing school districts in the United States. Recently, though, the district has experienced significant improvement in these areas, reporting a graduation rate of 72.2% and a dropout rate of 17.8% in 2013. In this thesis, I analyze Canton, Mississippi's dropout prevention methods and conclude that their success is attributed to the combination of a community-wide effort and desire to be worthy of honor and respect alongside Canton Public School District's extensive Dropout Prevention Plan. …

Understanding Effective Venues Of Women Representation In Latin America: An Empirical Study Of Millennium Development Goals 3 And 5, Sheila Arun Kumar

Honors Theses

Recent research concerning women and politics focuses on identifying what factors cause and stimulate women participation in politics. This thesis uses the indicators for Millennium Development Goals 3 and 5 as a measurement basis for an empirical study to determine if certain factors effect women participation in Latin American politics. Data for these goals, to Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women and Improve Maternal Health, were collected for various Latin American countries across a 2000-2015 time series. Along with this data collection, this thesis focuses on testing two specific factors to determine their effectiveness on women representation in Latin America. …

Memory In The Fingers: An Exploration Of Knitting Through The Lens Of Modern Knitters' Lives, Sinclair Rishel

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the history of knitting through the lens of modern knitters' lives. Information about the history of knitting was gathered from various printed and online sources. A series of interviews were conducted with knitters of different ages, experience levels, professions, and socioeconomic circles. Among these were beginning knitters, casual knitters, semi-professional knitters, professional knitters, and a knitting celebrity. The interviewees were asked about their knitting lives, including personal history, motives, preferences, and habits. Using the research and the interviews to inform each other, the researcher compiled a report on each subject which included their responses and the historical …

An Analysis Of The Archaeological Collection From The Jaketown (22hu505) Site At The University Of Mississippi, Alexandria Elizabeth Gochenauer

Honors Theses

Jaketown (22HU505) is a significant prehistoric site that is located in the Lower Mississippi Valley. A collection from the University of Mississippi was found in storage and contained an amalgamation of surface collections from Jaketown undertaken during the 1950s and 1970s that were never analyzed and reported. Analysis of the artifacts that constitute the UM Collection may have a meaningful impact on our understanding of Jaketown's importance. Analysis enabled the identification of the number of Poverty Point attributes, diagnostic features of the Poverty Point culture period, present in the collection. Future research may lead to new knowledge about prehistoric settlement …

Chief Justice Roberts And The Salience Of Issues Before The Modern Supreme Court, Anna Whisenant

Honors Theses

This thesis studies whether the Roberts Court has been hearing more important issues than the Warren, Burger or Rehnquist Courts. I operationalize important issues as pre-decision salience and measure mentions of cases in the first section of two newspapers. The research shows that the Roberts Court has been hearing more important issues than the other modern Courts. I reason that the Roberts Court has been hearing more important issues because interest groups and individuals are turning to the Court to make policy. Because the Court is becoming a more important policymaking institution, scrutiny of the Supreme Court will increase.

Executive Federalism Comes To America, Jessica Bulman-Pozen

Faculty Scholarship

This Article proposes a different way of thinking about contemporary American governance, looking to an established foreign practice. Executive federalism – “processes of intergovernmental negotiation that are dominated by the executives of the different governments within the federal system” – is pervasive in parliamentary federations, such as Canada, Australia, and the European Union. Given the American separation of powers arrangement, executive federalism has been thought absent, even “impossible,” in the United States. But the partisan dynamics that have gridlocked Congress and empowered both federal and state executives have generated a distinctive American variant.

Viewing American law and politics through the …

Conservative Tests Under Satisficing Models Of Publication Bias, Justin Mccrary, Garret Christensen, Daniel Finelli

Faculty Scholarship

Publication bias leads consumers of research to observe a selected sample of statistical estimates calculated by producers of research. We calculate critical values for statistical significance that could help to adjust after the fact for the distortions created by this selection effect, assuming that the only source of publication bias is file drawer bias. These adjusted critical values are easy to calculate and differ from unadjusted critical values by approximately 50% – rather than rejecting a null hypothesis when the t-ratio exceeds 2, the analysis suggests rejecting a null hypothesis when the t-ratio exceeds 3. Samples of published social science …

Pre-Service Teacher Social Networking Decisions And Training Needs: A Mixed Methods Study, Helen Crompton, Kelly Rippard, Jody Sommerfeldt

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The use of social networks in America has risen nearly tenfold in a decade, rising from 7% in 2005 to 65% in 2015. This rise in the use of social networks has presented new ethical, legal, and professional challenges for educators. Teachers are held to higher standards of moral behavior than the general population. This mixed-methods study examined the types of social networks used by pre-service teachers and if they are making good decisions when using social networks. The findings show that the pre-service teachers were unsure what to post. Based on this finding, the researchers provide training suggestions to …

An Evaluation Of A Smartphone–Assisted Behavioral Weight Control Intervention For Adolescents: Pilot Study, Chad D. Jensen, Kristina M. Duncombe, Mark A. Lott, Sanita L. Hunsaker, Kara Mcrae Duraccio, Susan J. Woolford

Faculty Publications

Background: The efficacy of adolescent weight control treatments is modest, and effective treatments are costly and are not widely available. Smartphones may be an effective method for delivering critical components of behavioral weight control treatment including behavioral self-monitoring.

Objective: To examine the efficacy and acceptability of a smartphone assisted adolescent behavioral weight control intervention.

Methods: A total of 16 overweight or obese adolescents (mean age=14.29 years, standard deviation=1.12) received 12 weeks of combined treatment that consisted of weekly in-person group behavioral weight control treatment sessions plus smartphone self-monitoring and daily text messaging. Subsequently they received 12 weeks of electronic-only intervention, …

Evaluation Of Protein Source At Breakfast On Energy Metabolism, Metabolic Health, And Food Intake: A Pilot Study, Lauren A. Cambias, Brianna L. Neumann, Charlayne Mitchell, Jamie I. Baum

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Over 30% of adults in the U.S. are obese. A primary contributor to obesity is an unhealthy diet related to imbalanced macronutrients. Diets higher in protein (PRO) rather than carbohydrate (CHO) are associated with increased energy expenditure (EE) and reduced food intake. The objective of this pilot study was to determine if protein source at breakfast influences EE in young men (n = 4; ages 18-35). Participants consumed three isocaloric (whey (WP), pea (PP), beef (BP); 275 kcal, 62% PRO, 23% CHO, 15% Fat) drinks in a randomized, crossover design study with a one-week washout period (time between the administration …

On The Horizon: Marriage Timing, Beliefs, And Consequences In Emerging Adulthood, Brian J. Willoughby, Jason S. Carroll

Faculty Publications

This chapter overviews marriage formation patterns and beliefs about marriage during emerging adulthood. Although marriage is no longer a transition occurring during emerging adulthood for many individuals, this chapter describes how marriage still has an important impact on emerging adult development and trajectories. The authors first note the major international demographic shifts in marriage that have occurred among emerging adults over the past several decades. They then highlight how research findings on beliefs about marriage have offered evidence that how emerging adults perceive their current or future marital transitions is strongly associated with other decisions during emerging adulthood. The chapter …

For Love Or Money? The Economic Consequences Of Delayed Marriage, Jason S. Carroll

Faculty Publications

It has been well documented that over the last few decades we have seen a substantial increase in the median age of marriage in the United States. In fact, we are currently at all-time historic highs in these trends. According to the Current Population Survey from the U.S. Census, the median age of marriage right now is nearly 29 years of age for men and 27 years of age for women. Given the trajectory of this trend over the last several years, we are quickly approaching a time in our culture where half of marriages will occur for individuals after …

The Benefit Of Friends: The Importance Of Sexual Restraint And Friendship In Marriage Formation, Jason S. Carroll

Faculty Publications

For young adults today, the word "friend" has multiple and sometimes contradictory meanings. For example, the term "friend" can refer to one's "best friend (BFF)" or "boyfriend" or "girlfriend"–labels that typically convey an ongoing relationship of commitment and concern between two people. But at the time, someone can be "friends" with several hundred people on their Facebook page, many of whom he or she never associates with or barely knows. And even a stranger is considered "friendly" when he is nice or courteous, even though there is no ongoing form of friendship in that association. In our modern society the …

The Fall Of Fertility: How Same-Sex Marriage Will Further Declining Birthrates In The United States, Jason S. Carroll, Walter Schumm

Faculty Publications

The current debate over the definition of marriage is typically portrayed as a decision to "expand" or "extend" the boundaries of marriage to include same-sex couples. This argument, however, rests on the assumption that the basic nature off marriage will remain largely unchanged by granting marriage status to same-sex partnerships and that all this policy change will do is absorb same-se partnerships within the existing boundaries of marriage and emend the benefits of marriage to a wider segment of society. Indeed, the very term "same-sex marriage" implies that same-sex couples in committed relationships are already a type of marriage that …

Sibling Experiences: Living With Young Persons With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Tina Dyches, Beth Ward, Brianna Smith Tanner, Barbara Mandleco, Donna Freeborn

Faculty Publications

Like other young people, those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have an impact on siblings in both positive and negative ways. Research indicates positive attributes include maturity and responsibility; positive self-concept; less quarrelling and competition; admiration for the person with ASD; and satisfactory sibling relationships. Negative attributes include fear of frightening or violent behavior, decreased sibling intimacy, and social and emotional difficulties. However, most research relies on information from parents/teachers, rather than from siblings. Therefore, this qualitative descriptive study explored experiences of 11 brothers and 11 sisters living with a young person with ASD through audiorecorded semi-structured interviews. Analysis revealed …

Early Prerogative And Administrative Power: A Response To Paul Craig, Philip A. Hamburger

Faculty Scholarship

What does English experience imply about American constitutional law? My book, Is Administrative Law Unlawful?, argues that federal administrative power generally is unconstitutional. In supporting this conclusion, the book observes that eighteenth-century Americans adopted their constitutions not only with their eyes on the future, but also looking over their shoulder at the past – especially the English past. This much should not be controversial. There remain, however, all sorts of questions about how to understand the English history and its relevance for early Americans.

In opposition to my claims about American law, Paul Craig lobs three critiques from across the …

Reliability Generalization Of The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure- Revised (Meim-R), Timothy B. Smith, Hayley Marie Herrington, Erin Feinauer, Derek Griner

Faculty Publications

Individuals’ strength of ethnic identity has been linked with multiple positive indicators, including academic achievement and overall psychological well-being. The measure researchers use most often to assess ethnic identity, the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM), underwent substantial revision in 2007. To inform scholars investigating ethnic identity, a reliability generalization analysis was performed on data from the revised version (MEIM–R) and compared with data from the original MEIM. Random-effects weighted models evaluated internal consistency coefficients (Cronbach’s alpha). Reliability coefficients for the MEIM–R averaged α = .88 across 37 samples, a statistically significant increase over the average of α = .84 for …

A Vous De Amatongas: The Voice Of Amatongas, Matthew T. Adler

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Effort, Luck, And Voting For Redistribution, Lars J. Lefgren, David P. Sims, Olga B. Stoddard

Faculty Publications

We conduct an experiment to determine how the correspondence between economic rewards and effort, as opposed to luck, affects subjects' ex post voting over redistribution. We find that a large, statistically significant proportion of both high- and low-payoff voters are willing to vote contrary to their self-interest in favor of groups that exert proportionately more effort. We confirm these results in an additional, distinct sample. We also show that when subjects' own effort is greater than the group's average effort level, they exhibit greater self interest in voting for redistribution compared to subjects whose effort is below average. Our results …

No Association Between Latent Toxoplasmosis And Multiple Body Measures In U.S. Adults, Bruce L. Brown, Andrew N. Berrett, Shawn D. Gale, Lance D. Erickson, Dawson W. Hedges

Faculty Publications

Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908) is an intracellular parasite that can cause ongoing latent infection persisting for the duration of a non-definitive host's life. Affecting approximately one-third of the world's population, latent toxoplasmosis has been associated with neuropsychological outcomes and a previous report suggested an association between latent toxoplasmosis and adult height. Given the large number of people with latent toxoplasmosis and its potential associations with human height, we sought to better understand the association between latent toxoplasmosis and human morphology by evaluating seropositivity for T. gondii and multiple body measures reported in the National Health and Nutrition Examination …

What Mediates The Relationship Between Religious Service Attendance And Aspects Of Well-Being?, Scott A. Baldwin, Patrick R. Steffen, Kevin S. Masters

Faculty Publications

Religious service attendance predicts increased well-being across a number of studies. It is not clear, however, whether this relationship is due to religious factors such as intrinsic religiosity or due to nonreligious factors such as social support or socially desirable responding. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between religious service attendance and well-being while simultaneously examining intrinsic religiosity, social support, and socially desirable responding as potential mediators of the relationship. A sample of 855 participants (71 % female, average age 19.5) completed questionnaires assessing religiosity, social support, socially desirable responding, and well-being. Path models were …

Landscapes Of Interaction: Understanding Social Landscapes Through Quantitative Models Of Artifact Distributions, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

Exchange of material goods is one of the most basic forms of human interactions. By tracing the distribution of ceramics, stone tools, and other materials archaeologists are often able to make inferences about the nature of interactions, and about the economic and social relationships of the people involved. These artefact distributions are a fundamental feature of social landscapes, with the potential to reveal much about the structure of social life. But artefact distributions are often complex and difficult to describe, especially at large spatial scales, and they often require some form of abstraction to make them comprehensible. Archaeologists have therefore …

Establishing A Communal Network For Professional Advancement Among Librarians Of Color, Tarida Anantachai, Latrice Booker, Althea Lazzaro, Martha Parker

Librarian Publications

This chapter examines the ways in which collaborative partnerships among librarians of color, within and even across institutions, can greatly assist in job satisfaction, retention of professionals, and bolstering librarians’ sense of support throughout their careers. It also provides specific examples and models in which these collaborations have occurred, including those that the authors have experienced and, in many cases, initiated

Die Collins: W. Collin, Hofbuchbinder & Ernst Collin, Der Autor Des Pressbengels, Peter D. Verheyen

Librarian Publications

Die Berliner Buchbinderei W. Collin mit ihren Leitfiguren Wilhelm und Georg Collin, die letzten Hofbuchbinder zu den preußischen Königen und deutschen Kaisern, sowie der Antiquar, Schriftsteller und Redakteur Ernst Collin, zählten zu den bedeutendsten Persönlichkeiten der deutschen Buchbinderei von Mitte des 19ten Jahrhunderts bis in die 1930er des 20ten Jahrhunderts. In dieser Zeit erlebte die Buchbinderei infolge der industriellen Revolution eine Umstrukturierung von kleinen Handwerksbetrieben zu Großbuchbindereien. Dies führte mit sich Vereinfachungen und Rationalisierungen an Technik, Material, sowie ästhetische und wirtschaftliche Änderungen. Als Hofbuchbinderei hatte die Firma W. Collin unter Wilhelm und Georg Collin besonderen Zugang zu und Aufträge von …